Jasper was jerked to the side as Weston turned in the air. He yelped as his feet started smacking against bushes and shrubs on the ground. He pulled himself up and raised his legs above the plants. His core was engaged, and he worked hard to fight against the jerking of Weston.
Jasper spun and saw the spirit hot on their tail. It seemed to be a strong Ethereal spirit. "Damn, it's fast." Weston muttered as he started climbing up into the sky. The serpent's body wriggled through the air and chased them upward. Jasper pulled his necrotic spirit into his arsenal.
The chase was getting out of hand pretty quickly. Weston barrel rolled through the sky as the serpent screeched behind them. A tunnel of wind encapsulated them as it materialized in front of the creature's mouth. The speed at which Weston flew was significantly reduced as the tunnel sucked air from around him. He looked back at the serpent with a frown. "Tenacious." He said.
His hand suddenly dropped Jasper. Jasper's eyes widened as he fell through the wind tunnel. It was hard to breathe. As he passed the barrier of air energy, he gasped. Weston floated in mid-air as the serpent shot toward him. He pointed the tip of his finger at it. Blue energy condensed at its tip. The swirling energy reached a critical point and shot forward in a beam. It sliced the wind tunnel in half and sliced into the serpent.
It screeched and wriggled rapidly in the air. It squirmed as its wound opened more and more. A 5 foot long incision was made between its midsection and tail. Jasper fell through the air. The wind pulled at his face as his hair flew wildly around. He flipped and repositioned himself in the air. Weston immediately shot down and chased after the falling kid.
Jasper's back faced the ground as he reached his hand up toward Weston. "HURRY!" He screamed as he neared the ground. He closed his eyes tightly as he expected to be turned to mush. His arm jerked as Weston grabbed his hand. Pain racked his shoulder as he felt some muscle fibers tear. Thankfully, his shoulder remained intact as he barely hung above the ground.
Jasper looked up at Weston with eyes full of gratitude before Weston dropped him again. His eyes went wide as his speeding form dropped a few feet to the ground. His feet touched down, but were unable to keep up with the speed. His upper body slammed into the ground and skidded across the dirt. His jaw clenched as he slammed against a warm mass. "Shit." Jasper finally came to a stop in front of the red dot he'd seen earlier.
Above him, Weston shook his fist. "Strike!" He said. Jasper groaned as he stood up. The thing he had slammed into was pushing itself to its feet. He looked the Pygmy spirit up and down. It had a single eye centralized in its face. A tusked mouth sat beneath it. Its teeth were red and sharp. It was about 4 feet tall and looked quite dense. Its arms flexed with muscle as its mouth blew out angrily. It had red skin and 4 arms. The extra set of arms crossed under the top set. Its legs were like small trunks of muscle. Around its shoulders was hair that was a dull yellow color. The shoulders looked like they had shoulder pads. Its hands had 4 fingers and long, deadly looking nails.
"A blood spirit?!" Jasper exclaimed. He took a tentative step back as the spirit recovered from Jasper's body. Scrapes covered him now, and he felt pretty damn bruised. However, he still hadn't suffered a serious injury. Blood spirits were significantly rarer spirits that were normally born in places of violent murder and bloodshed. They were also exceptionally dangerous spirits as they fed off of blood.
This meant they'd hunt down humans and bring their bloodied bodies to a lair. Jasper shrugged some of the unease off and pulled his spear off his back. He needed to be cautious and keep it as far from him as possible. The spirit growled and slobbered on the ground. It's eye watched Jasper hold his spear with both hands and slowly creep forward.
There was a tense moment before the two suddenly acted. The beast's powerful legs were fast and carried the spirit up to Jasper. In two of its hands, scythes made from blood appeared and spun rapidly. Jasper didn't want to get hit by them. The spirit tried to outmaneuver Jasper's spear but found it more difficult than it thought. The spear caught the spirit on the shoulder and threw it back a few feet. Its eye glinted as it rethought its approach. 'It's smart.' Jasper thought to himself.
It was a high-quality spirit. Jasper hopped forward and thrust his spear at the creature. He couldn't let it figure anything out. Jasper would try and take this fight methodically. One wrong move, and his throat would be cut. The spirit deflected the thrust with its blood scythes.
With his spear slightly over-extended, he was left vulnerable. It ran parallel to his spear toward him. He quickly moved his hands up the spear and used the butt to smash into the spirit's eye. It howled in pain and scrambled away from Jasper. Jasper sighed in relief. The spirit beat its bottom two arms against its chest and turned a darker shade of red. Its yellow shoulder pads began to bleed red.
Jasper wouldn't let it complete its transformation freely. He swung his spear downward onto its head. Two of its arms shot up and stopped the attack with its scythes. They struggled in a bout of strength as Jasper tried to push the spear down. The last of its body had entered this rage state. It looked even more ferocious than before.
Its last two arms created blood daggers and raised them above its head. Jasper's spear was thrown up as it overpowered him. Immediately, the blood spirit dashed toward Jasper, its mouth salivating. Jasper felt cold sweat appear on his back. He shifted his weight and spun on a dime. His shield arm came up and smashed the scythes back.
The two daggers tried to stab him from below. Jasper's one hand was able to grab a wrist and temporarily stop a dagger from piercing him. The other dagger stabbed into his upper thigh. Jasper shouted in pain and smashed the spirit back with his shield. It was pushed a step back before Jasper's knee slammed into its face.
As it was pushed back more, Jasper raised his leg into an axe kick. The creature raised its arms to block, but failed to make it in time. His leg broke through the block and went down on its shoulder. It fell to one knee. Desperate to win this fight, Jasper attacked again. The spirit smiled a crimson grin. Its bottom arms flashed out, throwing their daggers at a close distance. Jasper's eyes widened as he tried to contort his body.
The daggers slashed through him, leaving long gashes on his arm and the side of his chest. New daggers were created in an instant and supported the upper arms, blocking Jasper's attack. Jasper winced as he felt his spear get torn out of his hands. He pulled the sword from his back and readied his shield.
His golden eyes sharpened as his body went into overdrive. He was fighting for his life now. The two beings clashed, their weapons spinning in the air. Sparks flew as Jasper smashed a scythe to the side. After a few even exchanges, Jasper had blasted one of its scythes out of its hand. He took advantage of the opening and flashed forward, his arm reverberating with power.
The blow pushed through the remaining scythe, and the tip of his sword was able to slice through its large eye. It roared in pain and stumbled back. Suddenly, its weapons glowed brightly. Jasper's wounds glowed as well as specks of blood that had been flung from Jasper getting cut. As the blood glowed, it grew in temperature.
Jasper soon found his body seizing in pain as sections of his skin felt like it was melting away. He fell to the ground and choked on the pain. His breaths were short and panicked as the blood burned his body. After 10 seconds, the burning began to fade. Jasper lay on the ground for a moment, completely stunned. He quickly got to his feet and looked toward the semi-blinded spirit. Its eye looked fucked up and was leaking thick blood. It had walked a little away from Jasper and seemed heavily disoriented.
Jasper noticed a man a little older than him run up to him. "Hey, let me help you out with this spirit." He said.
Jasper's eyes narrowed. "I don't need help. Find your own fight." He shouted. The man glanced at Jasper before slowly creeping forward. Jasper could see the man's fingers twitch as he approached the creature with a dagger. "Leave asshole." Jasper said. His tone was pretty weak. He wasn't used to telling people off like that. The man ignored him more and began to intently creep up on the blinded spirit. Jasper reached the man and cocked his fist back.
His fist smashed his nose in and threw the man back onto his ass. The spirit reacted to the noise close to it and threw one of its sickles at it. Jasper's sword blocked the scythe as it almost hit the prone man. He shot a disgusted look at the man and resumed walking after the spirit. It just seemed intent on getting away now. Jasper limped after it. He winced as his side pulsed in pain.
His footsteps made the spirit spin around and gnash its teeth. It swung a scythe in his direction. Jasper swayed out of the way of the attack and pounced on the spirit. His consciousness became filled with the spirit energy of the blood spirit. As his fingers touched its warm skin, he felt a connection.
The taste of metal filled his mouth as he felt the spirit meld into his. He gasped slightly as the spirit melted into his body. A moment passed as he processed the situation. "Yes! Yes!" He pumped his fist and closed his eyes. He'd gotten a pretty strong and cool spirit. He stumbled slightly as he felt a little light-headed.
He sat down on a rock that protruded from the ground and watched the battle around him. It was nearing the end. More and more spirit tamers showed up and fought more and more spirits. Jasper could see the hedgehog spirit battling an Ethereal spirit that had seen Jasper earlier. The scorpion was approaching him now. Suddenly, a piercing wailing penetrated the air. Deeper in the battlefield, a dark gray paw passed through a whirling dark portal. The boss had landed.