"Yep. We're getting closer to Lilith's fortress."
I remarked as I tore the head off a daemon knight, black ooze splattering across my face.
"These are the knights under Naberiax," Alisax replied, driving a jagged black dagger through a daemon's head. She spun, her longsword flashing, dismembering another with effortless grace.
Her movements were terrifyingly efficient, almost elegant.
"I'm afraid this means that Lilith is aware of your presence in this world," Alisax appeared beside me, her distorted voice hard, before punching a hole into a daemon that had sneaked up on me.
I swiftly switched weapons, throwing a spear that impaled a daemon in the chest.
I gritted my teeth as I stumbled forward. I haven't gotten used to fighting with one arm.
As if on cue, Alisax snatched the spear from the disintegrating daemon, spinning it to sweep away a group of the shadowy creatures.
Her combat skills left me in awe. She was disintegrating daemons with a single touch. Like me, it appears that she had mastered multiple weapons.
Master of multiple weapons and ranked at S-tier? She'd be a nightmare for anyone—even Kay.
Thank the Incarni that she hates the Daemon Queen.
Suddenly, the ground shook. A ten-foot daemon, armored in black shadows, loomed before me. Its great sword swung down, missing me by a breath.
Activating Haema, my blood appendages rushed at the daemon, ripping into its body. They contracted, pulling me toward the creature.
The edge of my sword flashed green and the daemon's head rolled to the ground.
As more daemons emerged from behind the rising, I concentrated, forming a blood arm where my right one should've been.
It felt… better. Stable.
"This feels much better," I smirked, transforming my white sword into the twin white daggers.
The basilisk emerald edges of the Fangs glowed, and I charged.
Leaping into the air, my blood appendages unfurled and shot toward the creatures.
My daggers met a daemon's blade mid-swing, a shockwave tearing through the air. Sparks flew as I spun, kicking the creature's side. It staggered back, but the force sent it skidding across the ghostly white ground.
A chill passed over me as Alisax appeared out of thin air, catching a daemon that snuck behind me by the neck and slamming it into the ground.
More and more daemons surrounded us as we fought viciously, each wave getting stronger than the previous ones.
Blood swirled around me, forming multiple Vortex Bloodlances that impaled the daemons to the ghostly white ground.
"This is getting annoying," I growled as a daemon drove a sword through my leg. Pain flared, white-hot, and consuming. The weapons of these daemons are worse than the ones in Blood Valley.
Another daemon swung an axe at my blood arm, but it passed through harmlessly.
Blood swirled on my palm and I unleashed a powerful Blood Grenade that tore apart the daemons.
Grunting painfully, I stumbled forward, crimson smoke trailing off my body covered in burns. I didn't have the luxury to move away when the grenade exploded, so I was caught right in the middle of it.
"Mordred!" Alisax yelled out, and her towering form appeared before me, the darkness trailing off her surrounding me as if enveloping me in a protective embrace.
"I'm fine," I muttered, pushing away the shadows. My strands healed my wounds, but I felt every throb.
Blood oozed from my wounds to the edge of my daggers, igniting into black and crimson flames.
Multiple auras pressed down on me as ten daemons emerged from the small rise before us.
Unlike the ones we'd faced before, these creatures looked more solid, their jagged black armor adorned with glowing purple patterns.
Their lean, towering forms, taller than Alisax, moved in eerie unison, the long plumes of darkness atop their helmets swaying with each step.
"They look more appealing than the others," I remarked, lifting the Fangs before me. Bloodfire seeped down my arms, encasing them in black and crimson flames.
Alisax stretched out her hand and her darkness converged to form a formidable longsword made of pure black metal adorned with glowing white runes.
"They are Naberiax's elite knights," her distorted voice wavered. "They used to be my soldiers. I trained them myself."
I sensed her resolve falter. Seeing her comrades whom she raised as warriors as those dark creatures must be devastating for her.
I stepped forward, combining the Fangs into my white sword, enveloped in my blood and Bloodfire. "How about you stay out of this, Alisax? I will take them on."
My daemon companion shook her head. "No. They're stronger than the others we've fought. They're close to S-rank."
I smirked. "So am I, Alisax."
Before she could protest, I entered my Triquetra state and shot forward, Bloodfire trailing behind me like a fiery comet.
I stopped just before the first daemon and tightened my grip around the handle, ready to attack.
But the daemon vanished in an instant. Pain flared through me as cold metal slid through my abdomen.
Shit.
I immediately jumped back, blazing pain ripping into my body. Before I could use Haema to heal, two black swords appeared in my peripheral vision, aiming for my neck.
Instinct kicked in, and I ducked, but a swift kick drove into my stab wound, nearly knocking me off balance.
My blood appendages instantly dug into the ground, absorbing the shock and keeping me upright
Two of them unfurled and shot out, aiming for the daemons flanking me, but they deflected them effortlessly.
Haema worked on my wounds as I forced myself forward, rage surging through me. My blade clashed with the daemon that had kicked me, sparks flying with every brutal strike.
We exchanged strike after strike, each contact between our blades generating ripples in the air while the other two daemons evaded my blood appendages.
Bloodfire flared along the edges of my blade, growing in intensity as more blood ran along its length.
Whenever blood splashed out at the daemon, the crimson and black flames would pounce on it like vipers.
The daemon knight lunged, its jagged sword aimed at my head. I shifted my head to the left.
The jagged edges of the black sword brushed against my shoulders as I rushed forward.
They hurt, but not as much as the hurt I will unleash on this son of a bitch.
That is if daemons can feel pain.
The tip of my sword broke through the daemon's armor, piercing its throat. The daemon suddenly froze as the paralysis effect took hold of its body.
Without stopping, I pushed deeper, running the blade through the creature's throat.
The blood on the blade splashed all over the daemon and Bloodfire pounced, consuming the daemon in seconds.
Pulling out my sword, I quickly twisted around to block the swords of the other two daemons that somehow managed to evade my appendages.
Their combined force pushed me back and in the corner of my eye, I saw Alisax dealing with the remaining seven daemon knights.
The daemons' coordination was flawless and uncanny. Each covered for the other as they unleashed a continuous assault on their vastly stronger foe.
Alisax was unaffected by this continuous assault as she gracefully deflected all of their attacks with deadly precision, never showing them an opening to attack.
But there is something wrong. She is on the defensive, trying to avoid directly attacking the daemons.
I gritted my teeth. She is holding back, reluctant to harm her former comrades.
This won't do.
"Bugger off, you bastards," I muttered, sending my blood appendages at the two daemons.
They quickly jumped back to avoid them but I acted quickly. Clenching my fist at the nearest daemon, I activated one of the newest codes I learned.
{Haema: Blood Maiden}
A powerful stream of blood flowed from my body and quickly moved toward the daemon. As the stream of blood got closer, it swirled and formed the shape of a woman.
The Blood Maiden stretched out her arms and quickly embraced the daemon.
As soon as the blood touched the daemon's body, crimson spikes erupted all over the Blood Maiden's body, piercing through the daemon's armor and body.
Black ooze seeped out of the daemon's body and onto the swirling crimson body of the Blood Maiden as her embrace tightened, trapping the daemon in place.
Swift as a flash, I was before the daemon. Bloodfire burned brightly as I drove my blade through the Blood Maiden and into the daemon's heart.
Without missing a beat, I summoned multiple Shredding Gyroscopes, sending them at the second daemon knight.
It deflected the deadly spinning orbs, but they kept coming.
With a burst of speed, I rushed at the knight. Weaving between the orbs, I reached its blind spot and went for the kill.
But the knight vanished, reappearing behind me.
Shit.
Instinctively, I twisted around, deflecting a deadly attack. Our blades slid against each other, Bloodfire igniting into a bright inferno.
I weaved around the daemon, coming right behind it. I raised my blood arm and a bolt of crystallized blood formed in the air.
Grabbing it, I drove it into the daemon's leg, pinning it to the ground. Morphing my sword back into daggers, I held one of them in a reverse grip and drove it into the daemon's head.
I yanked the dagger down, forcing the daemon's body to go through my second dagger.
Black ooze gushed out on me as I twisted the dagger blade embedded in its heart and dragged the blade sideways, slicing the upper torso in one swift motion.
As the remaining body of the daemon disintegrated into black smoke, I turned to join Alisax but stopped cold.
She stood alone, seven wisps of smoke fading around her. Her sword hovered near the ground, her grip loose, as though ready to drop it.
Looks like she finished them off herself.
I approached her, the pain in my body slowly subsiding as my strand continued to heal my wounds.
She turned to me, the darkness underneath her hood exuding a feeling of defeat despite her rather easy victory over the daemon knights.
"They were too far gone, Mordred. "I'm the fool who didn't accept it," she said with an empty chuckle.
She clenched her fist, an icy pressure washing over me. "But even I have my limits."
I glanced at the tendrils of smoke drifting into the crimson sky.
"You probably did them a favor," I said, looking at Alisax. "By killing them, you kind of freed them from their daemonic selves."
Alisax tilted her head at me. "That's a terrible way to reassure me… But thank you."
If she had a face, I swear she'd be smiling.
"Ah, Alisax. You're still soft as ever."
The hair on my neck stood on end. A chill swept down my spine as a guttural, distorted voice spoke.
A looming presence appeared behind me, the air thick with an overwhelming, revolting aura. My instincts screamed at me as I dared to look behind me.
What now?