The horde of monsters surged forward, their jagged claws scraping against the stone floor and their gaping jaws dripping with thick saliva. Their bloodlust filled the cavern, a deafening cacophony of growls and thundering footsteps. Yet, in stark contrast to the chaos barreling toward him, Yomi stood unmoving, his expression calm and calculating.
He exhaled slowly, his hands beginning to move with the grace of a river's flow, weaving deliberate patterns through the air like an artist painting an unseen masterpiece.
Each movement was deliberate, echoing the evolving form of the skill "Hōdanka" he had mastered in his past life for crowd control. His breathing deepened, synchronizing with the rhythmic motion of his hands. This was no ordinary combat technique—it was the foundation for his ultimate skill among others.
Enman no Kizuna (円満の絆) — Harmony Bond.
Yomi smirked to himself as the monsters drew closer, his movements unhurried. 'How fortunate', he thought, 'that I created this technique during my reign as the Demon Lord.' The skill was unique to him alone, a manifestation of his understanding of both Ki and human connection. It amplified his Ki by forging a profound bond with another person—through shared emotions, physical touch, and, most potently, intimate actions.
The bond wasn't just a transfer of energy; it was a melding of will and purpose. By manipulating Lirien's desperation and her belief in him as her only hope, Yomi had drawn upon her natural Ki reserves, fortifying his own.
And through Aeloria's subconscious obsession with magic, coupled with his own intrigue in its mysteries, he had managed to channel their collective energy into something much greater, allowing him to heal her to an extent.
His hands now glowed faintly with a fiery aura, the residual Ki from both women enhancing his power tenfold. Between his palms, a small orb of fire began to form, pulsating with raw energy. Yomi's movements became sharper, more precise, as he molded the orb with deft control. The fireball grew larger with each rotation of his hands, crackling with power.
The monsters were mere feet away now, their snarls echoing in the cavern. But Yomi remained unshaken, his storm-grey eyes glinting with anticipation. He flicked his wrist, and the fiery orb hovered above his index finger, its heat radiating in waves. His voice, calm yet commanding, reverberated through the chamber.
"Second form: Hōdansha (放弾射) — Ki Bullet Barrage."
With a swift upward motion of his hand, the orb split apart, fragmenting into dozens of smaller fireballs. Each one blazed with a fiery glow, illuminating the dark cavern like a meteor shower. The bullets hovered for a brief moment before streaking in every direction, leaving fiery trails in their wake.
The cavern erupted in chaos.
Each Ki bullet detonated upon impact, sending bursts of energy cascading through the air. The monsters' roars turned to howls of agony as the fiery projectiles tore through their ranks. Individually, the bullets dealt moderate damage, but collectively, they unleashed devastating destruction. The relentless barrage illuminated the battlefield with rapid flashes of light, the sounds of explosions blending with the panicked cries of the creatures.
Yomi's expression remained composed as he watched the carnage unfold. The smaller orbs struck with precision, saturating the area with fiery blasts that left scorched craters and obliterated several of the monsters outright. The weaker creatures disintegrated under the barrage, their bodies consumed by the fire's intensity. The larger beasts stumbled, their armored hides cracked and glowing with heat, their once-ferocious momentum faltering.
Behind Yomi, Lirien and Aeloria lay on the ground, shielded from the chaos. Lirien's wide eyes reflected the fiery display, a mix of shock and awe etched across her face. She clutched her sword tightly, her earlier doubt and despair momentarily replaced by disbelief at the power Yomi wielded.
"How...?" she whispered, her voice trembling as she looked at the man who had once been their slave.
Yomi's lips curled into a smirk, his gaze never leaving the battlefield. The last of the orbs detonated, leaving the cavern eerily silent save for the crackling of lingering flames. The remaining monsters that survived the onslaught backed away, their primal instincts overriding their hunger as they recognized the threat before them.
"Hmm, disappointing," Yomi muttered under his breath, his tone dripping with disdain for both the monsters and the circumstances that had brought him here.
He straightened, brushing a speck of ash from his tunic as he glanced back at the two women. His eyes lingered on Lirien, a flicker of something unspoken passing between them.
The silence that followed Yomi's fiery display was thick with tension, broken only by the faint crackling of the lingering flames. The remnants of the horde, now nothing more than charred husks, littered the cavern floor. Lirien held Aeloria tightly, her breaths shallow and her body trembling from exhaustion. But before anyone could process what had just transpired, a dragging, manic laugh echoed through the cavern.
Raiven.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA"
The wounded mercenary clutched the bloodied stump where his arm had been, his fingers slick with his own crimson life force as he tried in vain to stanch the bleeding. His laughter was a grotesque sound, a blend of desperation and unhinged relief, as though he had survived not by wit or skill but by sheer, miserable luck.
"By the aeons..." he hissed between ragged breaths, his voice trembling with delirium. "The Dra'kesh... you... you've awakened, haven't you?"
Raiven's bloodshot eyes darted to Yomi, a gleam of greed and anticipation flickering within them. "A mage," he muttered, the corners of his mouth twitching into a crazed grin. "Not just any mage... but one leagues above that pathetic Aeloria. And bound to me... bound by that collar around your neck. My slave... my weapon." He wheezed a dry, mirthless chuckle, as though victory had just fallen into his lap.
Everyone's gaze shifted to Raiven, but it was Lirien who noticed it first: the tremor in the ground, faint at first but growing stronger with each passing second. Her head snapped toward the pool of water behind Raiven just as an ear-splitting roar shattered the uneasy quiet. The roar was not merely a sound—it was a force, a primal cry that reverberated through their bones, shaking the very mountain above them.
The creature emerged from the water in a violent explosion of spray and foam.
It was a titanic aquatic serpent, brimming with raw, primal energy. Its azure scales shimmered like polished gemstones, each one reflecting the faint, flickering light of the cavern in a mesmerizing display of color. The glow mirrored the churning surface of the pool, casting an eerie radiance that bathed the chamber in shifting blues and silvers.
Jagged ridges lined its powerful back, their coral-like spikes gleaming as though sharpened by eons beneath the water. Its head was a masterpiece of terror: crowned with horn-like appendages that curved forward like the prows of ancient warships, exuding both regality and menace. Its eyes blazed with an otherworldly golden light, brimming with a predator's intelligence and the unrelenting wrath.
The serpent's mouth opened, revealing an abyss bristling with rows of serrated teeth, each one designed to rend flesh and crush bone with terrifying ease. As it reared back, torrents of water surged violently around it, forming whirling geysers and churning whirlpools that radiated outward, consuming everything in their path. The very air seemed to tremble with its presence.
The creature's massive coils moved with a grace that belied their size, exuding an aura of dominance. Every shift of its body churned the pool into chaos, sending waves crashing against the cavern walls. This was no mere monster; it was a leviathan, a manifestation of the dungeons unyielding might.
The mountain shook as the creature let out another thunderous roar, the sound reverberating through the chamber. Debris rained from the ceiling, the ground trembling as though the mountain itself feared the beast's fury. Raiven froze, his expression contorting from triumph to sheer terror as he turned to face the nightmare looming above him.
"Slave!" Raiven's voice cracked as he stumbled backward, desperation etched across his face. "Buy me time! Hold it off—do whatever you must!"
Yomi did not respond immediately. He stood in place, his calm demeanor a stark contrast to the chaos around him. His sharp, storm-gray eyes narrowed as he studied the leviathan, his hands instinctively beginning to move in slow, deliberate motions, weaving through the air as though preparing for what was to come.
"Dra'kesh!" Raiven screamed again, his voice shrill. "That's an order! Protect your master, imbecile!"