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"It looks like my dessert has arrived." The seductive sound of Evelynn's voice echoed directly in Mark's mind, tempting him to obey, but a wave of coldness swept through his consciousness, allowing him to regain control of his body. Without hesitation, he jumped back and drew his sword.
Red flames projected from the blade as he went on high alert. "Looks like the dessert wants to play." Evelynn's voice echoed again with a laugh, and at that moment, Mark realized she had vanished from inside the warehouse.
This was Evelynn's terror, her main ability, "The Veil of Night." Mark muttered as he swung his sword around him, spreading flames with the wind and forming a circle of fire around him.
"Hoho, it seems you know me; I'll play with you a little." Her voice came out of nowhere, and Mark's eyes narrowed as he saw the bodies of the victims start moving inside the warehouse. One by one, they stood up and walked outside with slow, lifeless steps.
Their eyes devoid of any life or emotion, and their faces full of agony, would give anyone nightmares and shatter their minds instantly. But not Mark. He knew these bodies were just empty shells with no combat power.
Ignoring them, Mark began scanning his surroundings fervently as the flames burned. His Sharingan spun rapidly as he tried to control his breathing.
"Ahh, someone help me!" At that moment, Mark heard a woman's scream coming from inside the warehouse, and the door opened before a purple-haired woman ran out, followed by the zombies.
Upon seeing Mark, the woman seemed to have a glimmer of hope and quickly ran toward him. "Please help me!" she cried, and Mark silently opened a gap in his flame barrier, letting her in.
"Thank you so much," the woman said, tears in her eyes. But before she could take another step inside the circle of flames, the sound of flesh being pierced was heard, "Sun Breathing, Seventh Form: Sunflower Thrust."
Mark's sword pierced through the woman's heart, making scorching flames erupt from her back. "Illusions don't work on me, Vora." When Mark mentioned that name, the woman's body rapidly changed, transforming into a beautiful female demon with sharp claws.
But soon, the demonic being began to scream. "AHHHH, IT BURNS, IT HURTS, IT HURTS!" Vora screamed as the flames engulfed her body and devoured her entirely.
Vora was one of the demons consumed by Evelynn, another of her ridiculous abilities. Using the Veil of Night, she could devour demons and make them part of her existence.
"YOU, VORA WILL KILL YOU." Vora said, but Mark pulled his sword back and, with a quick move, decapitated her, leaving her flaming, headless body. But even without a head, the body kept moving, slashing its claws toward him, startling him.
CLANK!
The sound of metal clashing was heard as her claws met Mark's sword, sending him flying back. "What tremendous strength. But more than that, how is she not dead?" Mark's mind raced as he saw Vora's body moving on its own and coming at him again.
Mark didn't dare face the claws again and started dodging. Luckily, although Vora was very strong, her body seemed to be driven by instinct alone, with no technique or skill other than brute force and speed that, to his Sharingan, made her as slow as a child.
Swoosh!
The wind cracked as Mark dodged again and counterattacked, cutting off Vora's hand. "At least it's not regenerating." Mark thought and calmly dodged and counterattacked, slowly destroying her body and making her unable to attack.
At that moment, Evelynn, who was observing everything from within the Veil of Night, was very confused. This was one of the few times in hundreds of years of existence that she felt fear of something as simple as fire.
"This fire seems made to burn demons." Her instincts constantly told her that if the flames touched her, they would never stop burning until Mark died or she disappeared.
This would have also been the case for Vora, but since she was tied to Evelynn, she could only die if the latter did. But the fire was preventing Vora's regeneration, putting her in a state of eternal burning.
Mark's current flames were a result of the fusion of Sun Breathing, created by Yoriichi, the greatest demon hunter, and Hanma blood known for its strength and vitality.
But of course, as an almost-ancestral demon, Evelynn had some ideas on how to overcome Mark's abilities. At that moment, on the battlefield, the soulless bodies slowly approached the circle of flames and were instantly set ablaze.
But oblivious to any pain, they laid over the flames, making the wall of fire disappear due to their bodies. Mark, who had just cut off one of Vora's legs, felt a sense of danger and immediately made a slash behind him.
In that instant, Evelynn's tail emerged from thin air, its sharp tip aiming for Mark's heart, but his sword intercepted it halfway.
Clank!
The sound of metal rang out, and Mark felt as if he had been hit by a truck before being sent flying several meters. "What power," he thought, looking at his arms trembling violently.
A cold drop of sweat fell from his forehead as he considered what could have happened if he had been hit. But he didn't have much time to think.
He didn't have much more time to think. "So, this is the rat I have to kill, Evelynn. You have definitely become softer." A voice sounded behind him, and Mark felt a massive presence behind him.
Steem, another demon tied to Evelynn, was there. His giant humanoid body with fish-like features due to his ears and scales made him look as terrifying as a river monster.
"Damn it!" Mark could only mutter this as he tried to form a wind barrier to his side. The next moment, a fist as big as his head shattered the barrier and hit him.
BOOM!
There was a loud crash as Mark was sent flying dozens of meters before crashing into the wall of a house, raising a cloud of dust and spitting out a mouthful of blood. His left arm was broken, along with several ribs.
Paff.
Mark could barely stand when he fell from the wall, feeling his vision blur and his legs tremble as blood trickled down his head and body.
Stimulated by the pressure, his Sharingan spun rapidly and gained another tomoe, but Mark knew it was useless at this moment. He could see the shadows of Steem and Evelynn approaching him with devilish smiles.
He knew that if they captured him alive, all that awaited him was torment and endless agony. Spitting out another mouthful of blood, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to stand up.
"Look at that, the little boy is resilient." Evelynn's voice echoed around as she slowly approached, laughing, but in an instant, her smile disappeared as her instincts began to scream warnings of danger.
At that moment, Mark's eyes unfocused due to pain and blood loss, but his Sharingan still spun constantly. He seemed to have lost consciousness while standing.
"What splendid determination. I'll savor every moment of your agony until your soul breaks," Steem said, continuing to approach Mark without fear.
When Steem was less than ten meters from Mark, he felt something was off. Flames began to rise from Mark's body, igniting part of his clothing and revealing his bare chest.
Mark's steady breathing started to alter the air around him, and if anyone looked closely into his body, they would see his lung contracting, forming the face of a demon.
At this point, flames began to stream out of his mouth, expelled by his lungs, lifting clouds of dust that formed the face of a bloodthirsty, flaming ghost behind Mark.
Steem felt fear for a moment but immediately grew angry upon realizing it. "You almost fooled me, boy, but I'm sure you don't have much strength left. This trick of yours won't scare me." Seeing the wounds on Mark's body, the demon convinced himself that it was just a last show of resistance and prepared to charge.
Mark, now unconscious, slowly raised his sword above his head with his still-functional right arm and held his breath as if anticipating something.
In this infinite second, Steem took a step forward, and then there was a half-second flash before the demon realized Mark had vanished from his original spot.
"What happened?" Steem said as a red slash mark appeared from the top of his head to the ground.
BOOM!
A sonic boom was followed by an explosion of red flames erupting from Steem's back and rising to the sky. His body, split in half, slowly fell to the ground, each half collapsing to the sides.
In front of him stood Mark, body completely hunched over, and his sword blade deeply embedded in the ground below Steem, now split in two.
Evelynn, who witnessed this scene, took a moment to understand what had happened, but soon after, she gave a devilish smile and began to laugh. "So that was your trump card, boy. Not bad, not bad." She said, approaching him again.
Her whip-like tail swayed in the air, preparing to pierce Mark, who was now lying on his back on the ground, completely exhausted. His arms and legs were entirely bruised from the previous attack, and his skin was pale from blood loss.
Time seemed to slow as Evelynn's uniform footsteps echoed, the moonlight glistening and the marks of destruction from the earlier battle spread everywhere, making the port look like it had been through a small-scale war.
In reality, only about 30 minutes had passed since the battle began, and the guards were already shouting that there was fire at the port, with the heavy steps of armored soldiers approaching the scene.
But they wouldn't arrive in time to save Mark. "Die," Evelynn said, launching her tail with the intent to pierce Mark's head, but at that moment, a crimson shadow grabbed his body and pulled him to safety.
Katarina let out a sigh of relief when she saw Mark was still breathing and looked at the demonic being before her, feeling a primal fear. She had heard stories about demons and supernatural beings inhabiting Runeterra, bringing pain and suffering to those who encountered them, but she had always thought those were mere fairy tales for children.
Yet, faced with the beautiful woman radiating a clearly evil aura before her, Katarina began to sweat cold. She was breathing heavily, indicating she had run a long distance to get there.
Rewind to an hour before, Katarina couldn't calm her thoughts and constant doubts and decided to search for Mark and question him about what he meant earlier.
She searched for him all over the city, even asking guards who told her he headed toward the slums. On her way there, she saw red flames rise from the port and immediately recognized them as Mark's, running toward the port, thinking it was an enemy attack or an assassination attempt.
She didn't know why, but she felt worried about Mark; not even she understood why. But she feared something might have happened, and when she saw the high flames erupting, she picked up speed, moving between rooftops like lightning.
By sheer fate, she arrived just in time to save him. "You owe me for this," she said to the unconscious Mark, drawing one of her daggers and pointing it at Evelynn, who looked at the two and clicked her tongue.
"Young love is so beautiful; what a pity I can't witness more of your relationship." Evelynn said, glancing out at the ocean where the first rays of the sun were beginning to rise.
"Tell your man that I'll be back one day." Evelynn said, and Katarina blushed for a moment, trying to explain, but Evelynn pulled a veil from the air and covered her body along with Steem's, making them disappear.
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Hello everyone, I am the author. Are you enjoying the combat writing? I would like everyone's opinion on whether the dialogues and combat scenes are well-written.