There he was, holding the golden great sword known as Lomaingrandr in his only hand. Luca wore a special type of armor that was forged from the scales and blood of a leviathan called the Leviticus Armor. His was made from a leviathan with blue scales, making it the blue variation. The armor itself was a darker shade of blue, but the blood of the leviathan gave it glowing, light blue patterns that ran along the chest, shoulders, and arms of the armor. Leviticus Armor is also highly durable, so Luca was able to withstand powerful blows without taking that much damage. His only weakness was that Luca is left-handed, but he lost his left arm over ten years ago, so he was at a massive disadvantage. Despite that, he was able to reach White-Rank, so he's a force to be reckoned with.
I couldn't see what he was fighting though. Only Luca was illuminated by the pinkish-red moonlight. The only things I could see were it's golden eyes, and it's furry, black paws pushing against Lomaingrandr. Luca seemed to be struggling with holding the beast back, so I rushed in as soon as I was able to stand.
"『Light Ray!』" I thrusted my finger outward, sending out a beam of light to attack the beast in between it's eyes. The hit connected, making the beast lose focus and disappear back into the shadows.
"Good shot, Gou!" Luca said as he ran off to follow the beast, vanishing into the shadows. I used my Seal Skill to create an orb of light to give me a way to illuminate the hall enough to follow Luca, giving the both of us a good field of vision. Unlike Magic, Seal Skills conjure natural things, so my light won't be put out because of not paying attention to it.
The beast was massive, so Luca and I could hear it stomping it's way around the castle. Luca and I continued to run to where the sounds were coming from, but we never saw the beast. This was no assassin, it was definitely a Fiend, but not one you could kill with Red-Rank or Blue-Rank techniques. We continued to run through the castle, down the stairs, in the kitchen, even into the personal library. Our running session ended when we made it to the vast garden of the "backyard" of the castle. It was surrounded with crops like tomatoes, carrots, garlic, beans, and garlic. The garden led to a large forest with hundreds of trees at the start of it, cutting it off from the backyard.
"We lost it." I said as I put out my Seal Skill. "I think we found our killer."
"Yep. Man, that thing was huge, most definitely an adult Fiend."
"Hey, what was that whip attack from earlier?"
"The thing had a forked tail as thick as a tree trunk. With the speed it was going, it would've caved your skull in. You gotta be more alert."
"The attack came from my left side! And in case you forgot, I'm lacking a left eye!"
"You know...you should start wearing an eyepatch, you'd really fit as a pirate." Luca joked. Ever since I lost my eye, he has not let go of the pirate joke.
"Oh, shut up. We should head back to Groanly's room, I'm sure we scared him and his lady friends pretty bad with all that commotion."
"Groanly? Seriously?"
"Hey, you heard how that guy was groaning. He sounded like he twisted his ankle mid session."
Luca chuckled and shook his head. He was probably tired, we had been up all day and night watching Wesely, so it wouldn't be weird to think he was at least a little exhausted. His dirt brown colored glove was bloodied, so he was either injured or was able to damage the beast. Either way, it was best to retreat back to King Wesely where we could fight more clearly instead of out here in the complete dark.
"Hey, Gou."
"Yeah?"
"What makes your Light Ray so special, huh? I couldn't get it to back off, but your attack had it running off."
"Ah, well, it has everything to do with your Inner Seal." I explained. "A Fiend's Inner Seal always has a dark-based attribute, meaning their major weakness is light-based techniques. Unfortunately for me, that means my major weakness is dark-based techniques, so this kind of thing can be lethal for me."
"Well, I guess that makes sense." Luca answered. When a technique hits you, Magic or Seal Skill, it'll attack your physical body. However, if the technique directly contrasts your natural attribute in your Inner Seal, it will attack your seal and hit your soul, making it do more damage. That's why Fiends take more damage from light attributes, since their Inner Seals always have the dark attribute. Luca doesn't really use his Seal Skill since he's a swordsman, so it's not like it matters, but his attribute is water-based, so he's useful for when we have to fight creatures with fire attributes.
"Wait." Luca stopped walking. "Gou, get ready." I didn't know why he stopped. Is the beast here? Did he sense it, or maybe he heard it?
"Is it here?"
"Yeah. Don't...move. Slowly...very slowly...start up your Seal Skill." Luca whispered. I froze. I don't know how Luca knew it was with us, or where it even was. The chilly wind blew on my back, sending shivers up my spine. It was silent apart from the gusts of wind invading our space. I could barely see, having only the red moonlight to light up my vision. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't terrified, but I kept my composure. I started to conjure light in my left hand and slowly started creating a spear of light in my right hand.
"Uh...Gou?" Luca whispered to me.
"What?!" I hissed silently. The suspense was really getting to me.
"I...might have lost it."
"What do you mean you lost it?!"
"I mean I lost it, Gou! Whaddya think?! It's gone!"
"HOW!?"
"Not so loud! It'll probably come back!"
"I hope it does! I wanna go home, so let's hurry up and kill this thing!"
"That's something a guy whose trying to die would..." Luca suddenly stopped. "Gou, I hear it."
"Seriously? From where?"
"It's in the trees near the tomatoes. Just aim for the center and you should be able to get a good hit on it."
"Roger." I pointed my finger to the trees that occupied the same area as the tomatoes. I carefully aimed my finger towards the space, charging up my energy to create a sizeable attack. The light I fire off acts as a laser, so in a situation like this, I could start a fire if I manage to miss. Thankfully, Luca's Seal Skill can help with that, so it's not much of a problem.
"『Light Ray!』" I fired my attack and increased the size of my ray significantly. I altered my light to give it mass, creating a powerful impact at lightspeed that crashed into the tress, causing a massive wildfire. The heat and wind blew into my face along with Luca's, sending the hair in our faces to the back of our heads. As my hair danced in the wind, Luca began to conjure water from his Seal Skill and started to put out the flames.
"Do you think I got it?"
"If you somehow didn't kill it by blasting it with a lightspeed cannon, you at least severely crippled it. We should be able to find a body if it's all still in one piece."
"Alright. Looks like our job here is d-"
I was flying. Not for long, because I slammed at full force into a tree. The worst part was that it was my chest that took the blow, so I had the wind knocked out of me instantly.
"Gou!!" I heard Luca call my name. It was after I was slammed into the trunk of the tree, as it created a loud thud from the impact of my chest slamming against the tree. My chest felt like it was going to explode. I coughed, and coughed, until my blood was staining the grass. I was trying my best to recuperate, but the pain was too much for me to handle all at once. I sat up against the tree and clenched my chest. I looked in the direction of where I flew from, only to find Luca flying towards me.