X stood still and unmoving. Stage 2 demons. Three of them. A single one almost killed his grandfather. X still remembered that monster with its blood-red skin, its claws digging deep into Frederick. The blue lightning that scorched everything it touched, and the immense speed it granted to the demon. There was no way to stop it, even with Uncle Ken. He was strong, but so was Frederick. X was lost in his thoughts, unable to make a decision. He wanted to run away but could not leave the kind knight to deal with them.
'W...we fight'
Brik spoke, trying to encourage his father figure, although he was shaking due to fear. Stage 2 demons were something he had only heard in stories before. He knew that if he fought them, he would die. Uncle Ken had told him of the times when he had to fight such demons with his squad, and how strong they were. The children's stories he had heard could not fully describe it. But he could save Uncle Ken. No matter what, he would save Uncle Ken. He had to believe that. He would save him. He could not lose him too.
'Brik, listen to me carefully. No matter what, do not come back. Run away. Save yourself. I will be happy, knowing that by saving the two of you, I have helped the world more than I could if I remained ali...'
Uncle Ken started to shake angrily, and tears flowed down his cheeks. He opened his mouth, but words didn't come out anymore. He knew that Brik would not go back, not when he was the only family the kid ever had. If anything happened to him, he did not know what the poor child would do. But that went both ways since Ken loved Brik more than his family, even when they were alive. Besides, he had to keep his promise to Senior Ossibus, no matter what. The debt of life would be paid.
X held Brik's shoulders and held him back with all his strength, but Brik did not budge. Brik was shaking his head, muttering "no" repeatedly. While he knew that Uncle Ken would probably not make it, he could not believe it. Uncle Ken looked away and spoke in a faltering voice filled with emotion, as though just like X, his tongue did not move to his will.
'Your father gave his life to protect me back in the demon nest, now it is my turn to save you, Brik. And if I have to give my life, I will. It was a real pleasure to know you, Brik. X, make sure he does not come back here. I would not want either of you to get injured. The past few weeks with the both of you, were the best part of my life.Run away, and do not look back, not even if the Lord of Light himself tells you to.'
The knight turned around and unsheathed his longsword, and for a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the sound of water droplets falling on the ground. Brik strained against his friend, wishing to fight with Uncle Ken. As he watched the knight jump down from the depression, landing on the ground with a loud thud noise that would have alerted the demons of his presence, Brik screamed at him, his voice breaking before it left his mouth, and Ken spoke the same words at the same time, the scream and whisper echoing with each other.
'Stay alive. Please.'
X wrestled with his friend, managing to pin the bigger kid on the ground and muffle him by clamping his hand inside Brik's mouth. He himself did not know what to do, but even though fear made him freeze in place, he knew that he had to follow Uncle Ken's instructions. He had to honor the knight, and what could be his last words. Reluctantly, he turned his head and looked forward. He had to know if Uncle Ken would make it or not. No, he had to know when Uncle Ken would make it. He won't die.
Ken walked into the village, breathing a deep sigh. Now that he was certain the kids would be alive, he was relieved. It was like someone had removed all the weight that was pressing down on his heart. He waved the sword, and it immediately caught fire. He touched a small house near him with his sword, and from the blade, deep orange flames spread, quickly turning the house into a torch.
Three demons bounded from the woods. They looked completely different from the Stage 2 demon X had seen in the village, yet they were very similar to each other. These demons were more akin to dogs, standing on four legs, and sniffing the air for the scent of blood. They all had a dirty golden coat of fur, their six-inch claws digging into the ground as they sped forward. Three spikes grew from their back, two above each shoulder, and the third one, larger in size and sharper, was placed in between the rest, running down its back like a shark's fin. Muscles that rippled while they moved, lean but strong, stretching as tight as a string.
These demons were some that they had to hunt regularly. The weakest Stage 2 demons, nicknamed hellhounds. Ken had killed hundreds of them and knew all of their weak spots by heart. Executing them won't be that hard, not with the traps they had laid down in this village. It was a simple, textbook procedure.
He moved from his current location, moving through the smaller, narrower streets of the village, burning everything in his way. The demons bounded after him, unfazed by the fire all around them. He stopped at a dead end, a high wall of stone blocking his path. Ken pushed a single stone brick, slightly to the left of the central one. The wall opened up and as Ken stepped through, the demons took a turn, reaching the same dead end. The demons rushed towards him, as the wall closed up, a little too late.
One of the three hellhounds had managed to successfully cross the wall before it closed and was now locked in combat with Ken. The fire knight swung his sword, hitting it square in the jaw. The demon stepped back and licked the blood from its scorched lips, glaring at the knight. Not giving it a moment of rest, Ken charged, swinging his burning weapon with such skill, the demon was unable to counter. But it was all in vain, as the demon quickly regenerated all its injuries, most of the attacks not cutting through its hard skin. Screeching with wrath, the demon lunged at Ken, slicing his right hand, and causing him to lose his weapon.
A loud scream was heard, making Ken understand that the kids were watching. At least they were far enough. He was done by now. His plan had succeded. The wall had given him enough time, and as he watched it crash down and get torn to shreds, he knew that in the end, he was winning.
Even though his right tricep was torn, even though blood was leaking through that wound like a river, and even though he was facing three enemies alone, each stronger than himself, Ken smiled. He picked up his sword and charged at the demons, having cauterized the wounds with his flames. The demons were perplexed by his sudden attack, having half-expected him to die without retaliating. The knight used their shock to his advantage, catching a demon off guard, and slashing at its chest with his sword, before kicking it back towards the destroyed wall.
The other two demons attacked, but he pushed forward, ignoring the slashes with their claws, and the impalings with the spikes on their back. The wounds marred his body, and blood rushed all over his body, but he did not give up. No, he attacked the demons mercilessly, making sure that he would kill all of them before dying. He had to keep his promise to Senior Ossibus.
He blocked a slash with his sword, the force of which had sent him flying. He crashed into a house, and touched it with his sword, setting the straw house on fire. The hellhound rushed forward, planning to finish everything using this opening. This was precisely what he wanted. When the demon was in the air, Ken leaped up, using all the strength he had been concealing, and swung his longsword.
It went through the demon's neck, metal slicing through flesh and bone like paper. One down. They were safer now, but not safe enough.
Just then, he noticed that the demon had managed to wound him before dying, its sharp, curved retractable claw clinging to his abdomen. Ken could not fall now. He pulled out the claw, stifling his scream, and used the torn part of his tunic to stop the blood loss. He staggered forward, dizzy from exhaustion and injuries he sustained . The other two demons charged at him, undoubtedly angry at the loss of their companion.
As they approached, Ken forgot about his exhaustion, forgot about the fact that he could wield a sword, and forgot about the fact that those kids were waiting for him to return alive. He dropped his longsword and focussed solely on his powers, the one granted to him by the crystal orb after the long struggle to become a Stage 2 knight. He closed his eyes and remembered the look on his senior's face during the ten-minute time window when they both were in the same Stage, right before he got his blessings. With a genuinely happy smile on his face, Ken released a burst of orange flames, lighting up like a lighthouse during stormy nights. His flames should be enough to activate it.
X had closed his eyes for a major portion of the fight, unable to focus on both it and restraining Brik. When his friend stopped moving however, he finally did open his eyes. Uncle Ken seemed to have given up, having dropped his sword and instead simply channeling flames. One of the demons seemed to have sensed that something was off, and stepped back, growling at the other to follow its lead. Just then, the whole sector of the village exploded in a burst of orange flames, something Ken should not have been able to do on his own. Another explosion occurred mere seconds after, destroying another part of the village. Around ten others occurred consecutively, and when X could finally see again, he could not believe what he was seeing.
Only one demon had died. The other was still alive, barely. Its golden fur had turned sooty-black, and it even had lost a limb, yet it still limped forward to finish the knight off. X faltered, unable to maintain his strength and hold Brik back. At that moment, Brik, who had almost gone mad, turned his head, screaming curses at X. Then he closed his mouth, pushing him away with a loud grunt, and leaped down, rushing to save the knight. Before, Brik might have only been a dead weight, but in the current situation, he was not. He was only five metres away, X right behind him when the knight was visible to him once again. Or at least, his dying body was.
Brik watched in horror as Uncle Ken burnt. Watched as he sacrificed his life for Brik. The person who was responsible for his entire life, who was practically his father. He watched silently along with his only friend, as the surviving demon ripped him apart, tearing off his arms, then biting off his head from his body.
There was an expression on Brik's face, something X thought was impossible for even the fiery kid to have. Pure wrath. Not the normal anger X saw commonly. This was cold, steely wrath.
A single loud scream was heard throughout the region, echoing through the village, and the woods, and the fields. Brik's muscles pumped up, getting much larger, struggling to expand under his tunics. He walked up to the demon. The flames that burnt him did not bother him. The pain in his head did not bother him. The sound of the bones of his arms breaking did not bother him. Nothing bothered him except for the existence of the demon.
The demon noticed him and charged despite being heavily injured, exhausted, and burnt. It rushed forward, ready to give Brik the same treatment it gave his father figure. It was so close it could get its claw into his skin, but Brik could not see it when his vision had turned to pure red. Its claw scratched Brik's chest and at that moment, the scream in his head, the pain in his muscles, the sound of bone breaking, and the near infinite anger within him burst out. Brik fainted, not knowing what had happened. All he knew was that Uncle Ken was dead.
X, too, was oblivious to the circumstances. By the time he had reached them, whatever happened had already happened. His friend was on the ground, unconscious. On top of him was the demon, dead. Impaled by the claws that pierced out of Brik's knuckles. Brik Ossibus was right. His surname did mean bone.
Out of his knuckles, sharper than swords, stronger than metal, claws made of pure bone pierced out, around twelve inches long, three in each hand. Shiny white, now covered in the dark blood of the demon, and the blood that streamed down his knuckles from the hole in his flesh where the claws protruded from.
X removed the demon's body, covered Brik's scraped arm with a torn piece of his robe, and turned back. He did not know what he was doing. It was like someone else was in his head, making him move. Pink light shone slightly from his eyes. Walking to Uncle Ken's burnt, dismembered body, torn by the demon and scorched by his sacrifice, X knelt, and his arms moved unconsciously, forming symbols in the air, and the body disintegrated into golden light. There was no need for a fire during his cremation. He had seen enough of that during his lifetime.