"You have 82% of your total soul energy left," Landon said in Aiden's mind.
Blood Pact on the other hand suddenly unsheathed two short sabers from his back as he commanded.
"Everyone with me, watch out for his random bursts of speed, demon or man, I'm taking the head of whatever that thing is."
With Blood Pact's command, all the Contractors sprung into action. A scenario like this might have seemed overwhelming to some, but Aiden could handle it just fine as his advanced senses allowed him to.
Aiden found himself confronted by a formidable group of five Contractors, each with their own distinct presence.
Surge, the hulking heavyweight, brandished his imposing war hammer, ready to unleash devastation.
Blood Pact, the leader, emitted a dangerous aura, wielding two short sabers with deadly precision.
Another figure, lacking in body armor but not in determination, gripped a gleaming blade, his eyes ablaze with intensity.
Meanwhile, a slender individual clad in light armor wielded an unusual weapon resembling a cone, Aiden took note of that and planned to watch out in the future.
Beside them stood a robust figure adorned in formidable gauntlets, exuding an aura of unyielding strength.
Aiden's attention was also drawn to the two women observing from a distance. One, draped in black cloaks, emanated an aura of mystery and intrigue, while the other, with striking green hair and eyes, exuded an air of enigmatic power.
Each member of this team left an indelible impression on Aiden, their unique traits etched into his memory.
"Ahh," Aiden sighed in praise, as his heartbeat increased, right now he was fighting off the urge to turn tail and run, but Aiden knew that he was at their level already, if not stronger, he refused to let his fear get the better of him, "I'll give it my all."
"Clang!"
"Clang!"
Aiden's thought was interrupted by Blood Pact who had arrived before him, swinging his sabers at him with unrivaled skill.
With each collision Aiden was forced to take a step back, but then as if having eyes at the back of his head Blood Pact moved to the side giving way to a large bodybuilder called Surge, who swung his arms down with unperalled strength, as an invisible aruar clouded his war hammer.
Seeing such an attack, Aiden tried to retreat but before he could move he discovered that he was being held in place by black tentacles simultaneously rising from his shadow, Aiden could only block and so he did.
"Bang!"
"Shatter!"
A collision sounded out as Aiden's blade which was unsuited for such collisions shattered to bits.
Using the rebound from his shattered weapon, Aiden burnt soul energy breaking free from the shadows beneath him.
Aiden quickly retreated, putting some distance between himself and his enemies.
After shattering Aiden's weapon, the bodybuilder called Surge didn't seem to be in a hurry to follow as he made way for two more Contractor's behind him.
There were Blood Pact and the guy with a cone-like weapon.
At this moment they could be seen rushing towards Aiden with fearsious looks in their eyes their energy seemingly unending.
"Bam, hold him down," Blood Pact yelled alerting Aiden of a Contractor who had somehow caught up to him.
Glancing behind him Aiden noticed a burly man wielding gauntlets, but before he could ask how he got there the burly man attacked.
"Bam!"
A punch landed on Aiden's face, disorientating him as he staggered sideways, but the Contractor wasn't done as he continued hitting Aiden with a myriad of punches, before following up with a spartan kick to the chest.
"Bam!"
All these happened in seconds, Aiden was pushed back meeting Blood Pact who had already caught up.
"Slash!"
"Slash!"
Blood Pact swung his blades at Aiden leaving two bloody wounds across his face and chest.
While the man with a cone-like weapon retreated, a look of hesitation in his eyes.
In order to escape Blood Pact, Aiden suddenly burnt a large amount of soul energy on his legs pushing himself backward again to meet the Contractor with the gauntlets.
"Argh!"
As the agonizing pain from Blood Pact's attacks settled in Aiden grunted in anger as he burnt soul energy in his next attack meeting Bam's gauntlets head on, with a punch of his own.
"Bam!"
A muffled collision sounded out as Bam was pushed back. Aiden on the other hand wasn't unharmed, as he sustained nasty cuts on his fist steaming from, the Contractor's metal gauntlets.
At the same time, Landon's voice sounded out in Aiden's head as his wounds healed at speeds visible to the human eyes, "You're down to 30% of your soul energy create some distance-"
Simultaneously as Landon spoke, Blood Pact had caught up to Aiden again, swinging his blade at him again, with Bam recovering from the rebound, moving in from the back to deliver another attack with his gauntlets.
That wasn't all though, Surge had come around too swinging his war hammer towards Aiden, with the skinny Contractor with a blade finally moving in from god knows where
Aiden was cornered and injured, his soul energy reserves were also reduced, meaning there was no way he could handle all these Contractors at once, he needed to create some distance to eat a soul.
"Wait!"
Aiden suddenly thought about something as his eyes widened prompting him to try it out immediately.
In the next moment, a soul suddenly appeared in Aiden's mouth feeding him and refilling his pitiful soul energy reserves.
With full reserves of soul energy, time suddenly stopped as Aiden used the power of his eyes, the Contractors were helpless as Aiden's tail moved to the nearest Contractor, the man with gauntlets.
"Slash!"
A thin line was left on the guy's neck without him even realizing it, and just like that time resumed with Aiden feeling dizzy as he lost over 80 percent of his newly recovered energy.
"Booom!"
A loud and sudden commotion sounded out as Surge's war hammer hit the place where Aiden had been standing before.
Fortunately, Aiden was long gone escaping with a sudden burst of speed.
"Your wounds are fully healed, but it seems like you're gonna have to use your little trick again, you're down to 2%," Landon said.
During the fight just now, Aiden had discovered that he could make the souls he stored in his soul storage appear directly in his mouth.
At this moment, Aiden realized something, no one was attacking him anymore which was very surprising, we was prepared to use his eyes again but it seemed like it was unnecessary.
Looking around, Aiden discovered that all the Contractors including Blood Pact had formed a circle around him, looking at him as though he was some kind of monster as their eyes shuffled between the newly dead Contractor and Aiden.
At the same time, Blood Pact narrowed his eyes as he watched Aiden whom he had so painstakingly wounded stand there with a spotless face, Aiden had fully healed.
The thoughts running through the minds of the Contractors were one of shock and heavy apprehension as they gazed at Aiden wondering how he had managed to kill someone for the second time in such a close scenario.
As the Contractors hesitated Landon's voice sounded out in Aiden's head, "Stop playing around Aiden, eat a soul and use your soul armor."
Aiden, surprised by Landon's sudden prompt inquired, "How would my soul armor help in a situation like this?"
Although Aiden's ability was called soul armor, it wasn't truly useful for combat with weapons, instead, it was more suitable for hand-to-hand combat, for this reason, Aiden rarely used it.
As Aiden spoke with Landon the Contractors were doing something strange.
With Blood Pact's signal, the Contractors all brought out strange goggles from their pockets.
And in that moment Aiden noticed a green fog creeping towards him from all directions.
Almost immediately, Aiden was able to trace this greenish fog to the person standing close to the cloaked woman.
Soon the mist had completely enveloped the cave, hindering one's vision.
Looking around, Aiden sighed in amazement, not only could higher-level Contractors last longer they also had tricks like this up their sleeves.
This mist was enough to completely block anyone's vision, fortunately, Aiden wasn't a normal person, as to him his surroundings had just gotten slightly darker.
Shaking his head he consumed another soul, pleasure cursing through his bones as he recovered.
At this moment Blood Pact, Surge, and the other Contractors moved in again planning to take Aiden by surprise.
Upon seeing this, Aiden took Landon's advice and activated his soul armor for the first time since his breakthrough.
But in that moment Aiden felt an ancient power awaken in the depths of his bones causing him a sudden stinging pain.
"Argh!"
Aiden suddenly, let out a deep growl that echoed in the quiet cave as the pain caused him to stagger.
His shout elated the Contractors who mistook his pain for confusion caused by his inability to see.
"The demon is blind give it all you got!" Someone yelled.
As the pain subsided, Aiden noticed that the area from his elbows all the way to his fingertips was completely dark, like he had dipped his arm in high-quality dye, as a darkish steam-like substance emanated from his being.
That wasn't all, Aiden noticed that his fingertips had changed, with sharp claws replacing his fingernails, but that wasn't all, Aiden also felt as though he was wearing a glove.
Feeling amazed, Aiden used his left hand to lightly tap on his right.
"Tang!"
What followed was a subtle but audible ring, like metal hitting metal, "how strong is this?" Aiden thought eager to test it out.
"Swoosh!"
A sudden sound suddenly alerted him prompting him to lean back, but Aiden actually staggered, taking a few more steps back, from the sheer force of his movements.
"I couldn't control my reaction speed just now," Aiden thought in astonishment as he stared at the Contractor in front of him.
It was Blood Pact, and by his wide and shocked posture, Aiden knew that he was surprised at his sudden movements.
Taking a few steps back Blood Pact, made way for Surge whom he yelled to, "Be careful, I think it can still see."
"I don't fucking care," Surge yelled as he swung his war hammer bringing it down at Aiden with a sticking vengeance.
"I just realized something," Aiden yelled as he stretched out his arm.
Seeing Aiden's brazing actions the black-cloaked woman and the rest of the Contractors all narrowed their eyes as they observed through their googles, "Is he crazy?" They thought in tandem.
"I'm most likely stronger than you."
"Clang!"
Aiden's voice sounded out through the metallic sound that echoed in the cave.
The contractors shook in horror as they watched Aiden grab the hammer, completely neutralizing Surge's attack.
In that moment, Aiden who was expecting to feel the rebound of his foolish decision felt his arm vibrating with a power that wasn't his.
Looking closely Aiden noticed that a faint bioluminescent glow with a mysterious spiderweb pattern was beginning to appear on his arm as his armor absorbed the force of Surge's attack.
It only took a moment for Aiden to decide, and so he did applying a little force as he channeled this unknown energy.
"Bang!"
A loud muffled explosion sounded out as the hammer shattered, leaving everyone in a state of shock.
Surge who was at the receiving end of such an attack felt his heartbeat increase as fear clouded his actions, but before he could say anything he felt something pierce through his chest, in a rather forceful manner.
At that moment he looked below him, and through his heat vision goggles, he could see what seemed to be a limb impaled in his chest.
As soon as he processed what just happened, a sharp and intense pain erupted, radiating outwards from the point of entry like a fiery explosion.
It felt like a searing-hot dagger tearing through his flesh, each movement sending jolts of agony through his entire body. The sensation was overwhelming, drowning out all other thoughts and sensations as his body instinctively recoiled from the invasion.
"Sludge!"
An unnerving noise sounded out as Aiden ripped Surge's heart out.
That wasn't the end though, ignoring Surge's slumping body Aiden burnt soul energy at his feet moving with full speed towards the Contractor with a cone.
Seeing Aiden approach the Contractor panicked, and put the odd cone-like weapon in his mouth, ready to attack.
"Piiiiii!"
A deafening sonic wave was shot towards Aiden who crossed his hand to block, but it was completely ineffective.
As the deafening blast shattered the air, Aiden's world seemed to implode.
A searing pain pierced his ears like hot needles, followed by a sickening sensation of pressure building to a breaking point.
With a sharp crack, his eardrums ruptured, leaving him reeling in agony. Sounds became distorted and distant, drowned out by a high-pitched ringing that reverberated through his skull.
Disoriented and disoriented, Aiden struggled to maintain his balance, his senses overwhelmed by the traumatic assault on his auditory perception.
"Ringggg!"
A ringing sound was all he could hear causing him to stop for a few seconds and hold his head, stopping the sonic attack from causing more damage, and because of this, his wounds healed just as quickly.
Not minding his already healing wound Aiden ran through the sonic wave and when he arrived in front of the fear-filled Contractor he widened his hand as though he wanted a hug, and with all the force he could muster, hit him at both sides of his face.
"Pa!"
"Ringggg!"
The Contractor felt a ring, as well as two metal-like arms, threatened to break his skull.
Just when the Contractor was battling with that Aiden turned back as his tail cut through the man's neck sealing his fate, as he staggered to the ground.
Aiden was starting to get more accustomed to his tail, during the fight Aiden noticed that he couldn't get his tail to go fast enough without losing control over it.
And the speed he could control was evadable to any Contractor paying attention.
The only way he could use his tail was if he could distract his opponents and use his tail at a controllable but lethal speed, or just slow down time and use it at full speed.
"Ahhhhh!"
Aiden suddenly heard a war cry come from the side as another Contractor approached him with a blade, a contrast to his fearful demeanor a minute ago.
"Clang!"
A collision sounded out as sparks flew, but the Contractor quickly realized something was wrong, he couldn't move his blade.
"You're close to the loudspeaker?" Aiden's voice suddenly sounded out, confusion laced in his tone, as he tried to discern the reason for the sudden bravery.
Hearing Aiden's remark, the Contractor's face contorted in rage, "He's called Bat, you fucking monste-"
Aiden's tail suddenly moved again, piercing the Contractor before he could speak any further, he didn't wish to know the name of his enemy.
"You seem to have gotten much stronger after using your soul armor, but now the other Contractors are weary of you," Landon commented, as the Contractor slumped on the ground.
Hearing Landon's comment Aiden looked around and discovered that Blood Pact, the cloaked woman and the woman beside her stood frozen in fear.