The white-haired girl from earlier bent down on a tree branch, mask in one hand and the upper part of her face out of view.
And the forest around her felt... quiet.
Too quiet.
She spotted several dar-tandemons dead on the ground. "I can't see any more of them. I think their numbers have been greatly reduced. Maybe the others fought as well. I guess not everyone is so much of a drag after all."
She got on her feet, putting the mask back on. Then she jumped down from the tree branch, landing softly on the ground.
"But still. I'm still a bit disappointed that there aren't any demons higher than the dar-tandemons here."
She sighed again and started walking away but then, halted after a few steps, head turning sharply to her right.
Slowly, she turned to the left, gazing intently into that direction. "I feel a strong energy pressure from there. What's going on?"
At the moment, a breeze washed over the area, causing the leaves of trees to rustle.
After a while, she turned to her heels, moving in that direction. "I don't know what's going on but it looks like it's worth checking out."
— —
Over at the scorched field, flames were brightly blooming almost everywhere you turned.
It was a disaster.
Almost like a forest on fire.
Emmanuel stood in the midst of the firestorm, breathing heavily, gripping his sword tightly.
The ori-tandemon was nowhere in sight and Emmanuel just kept turning, trying to find it.
'Damn that demon. Where did it go after lighting the whole place on fire?'
'Before I knew it, these weird veins started popping on his skin and just like that, his strength boosted up insanely.'
His eyebrows started twitching and he went down on one knee. His vision started getting blurry.
He placed one hand on his head. "I'm almost out of energy. This doesn't look good."
"Getting dizzy on a battlefield isn't advisable, you know that?"
Emmanuel heard from ahead. He lifted his head to see the demon walking out of the burning furnace.
Its limbs—forearms and shins—were burning.
The flames extended like veins all over its body—from head to toe.
Emmanuel gritted his teeth, forcing himself on his feet. "You..."
He ran at the wolf-headed demon through his hazy vision, swinging his sword around at it as it started evading his strikes with practiced ease. "What's wrong, young warrior? Your movements have gotten sluggish."
It dodged another attack, then ran one knee into Emmanuel's stomach, making him gag.
Emmanuel's sword disappeared along with his arm guard, as he went down, clutching his stomach.
The ori-tandemon grinned, grabbing him by the shirt.
It lifted him up to look at his face. "Whoa, whoa! Don't tell me you're giving up already?"
Out of nowhere, Emmanuel struck the demon with one foot, wind rustling out of the attack.
But the demon just stood there, unfazed.
Then it sighed. "You disappoint me."
Turning around, it swung Emmanuel from its back in a cutting arc, slamming him hard into the ground in front of it, forming a crater.
Emmanuel gasped from the impact, blood spilling from his mouth.
The demon then lifted one hand, sword appearing into its grip. "Then I'll just have to kill you here."
It brought down the blade at full force but then—
Emmanuel blocked with his sword, arm guard back on, brows furrowed. "I... won't... die here dammit."
The demon grinned. "Oh really?"
It pulled its weapon back, kicking Emmanuel away.
Emmanuel rumbled several meters away from the demon, coming to a stop.
It straightened up, looking at Emmanuel getting on his knees.
Emmanuel on one knee, held his left rib with one hand, glancing up at the demon. 'I can't die here. No matter what!'
Just as he said that, a scene of Emily running to him and shouting "big brother", flashed in his mind.
'I have to survive this no matter what!'
Then slowly, he picked himself up from the floor, sword glinting back into his grip. 'Emily... My family... is waiting for me.'
The demon's grin extended further, noticing the resolve in Emmanuel's expression. "How nice it would be to crumble your resolve."
Emmanuel took a stance—left leg forward, knees slightly bent, left arm arched forward and right arm pulled back, gripping the sword which pointed at the demon.
He started taking slow, deep breaths.
In a few seconds, steam started rising from his body.
"Huh?" The demon frowned. "Is he... absorbing heat from the flames around?"
As it gazed at Emmanuel, it could see some sort of energy flowing from the heat around and entering Emmanuel.
Meanwhile, Emmanuel stood, watching the demon.
'It's a good thing I made sure I had a high amount of sugar in my blood before coming here.'
'I can use the heat I absorb from the flames to burn up the sugar fast enough to increase my physical abilities. That way, I won't have to use too much of my energy.'
He suddenly dashed at the demon with a burst of speed, closing in on the demon in a matter of seconds.
The demon flinched, not expecting such an increase in power.
Before it could do anything else, Emmanuel slashed it on its chest upwards, blood splattering from the cut.
And it didn't end there.
A blazing inferno roared from the cut—deep, punishing—causing the wolf-headed demon to howl in pain.
Emmanuel grinned, glaring up at the suffering creature. "Let's end this, shall we?"
— —
Somewhere else on the island, in a forest, one of the masters—Jean—stood, gold arm guard on, looking up at the sky, eyes half-lidded, glowing yellow.
"It's down." He whispered, bringing a finger to his ear.
"Suz. Can you hear me? Yes. The barrier's gone. Yes. Now listen. There's something I'd like you to do."
— —
Far from the scorched field, in a forest, another master—Susanna—stood, finger to her ear.
"Okay. I'm listening... Mhm. Yes. Okay..."
As she kept listening, a dar-tandemon leaped, right behind her, spear thrusting down at Susanna's head.
"Understood." Susanna ended, but by then, it looked like it was too late.
The spear was already too close to her head to be evaded.
But instead of piercing her head, the spear struck the ground.
"Huh?" The demon looked in confusion as the only thing it could see was parting green mist.
Similar green mist warped behind it and out stepped Susanna, gold arm guard on her left arm, sword in her right hand.
The next thing the demon knew, its world was turning upside down.
Much to its surprise, it was looking at its own body standing. Except there was no head on its neck.
Susanna turned around, walking away as the demon's body dropped to the ground.
Although she had just killed, she had the most innocent face on. "First to go back to the ship."
Green mist converged into a circulating vortex in front of her and she walked through.
The green mist then diverged, disappearing into thin air, leaving behind nothing but silence.
— — — — —— — — — —— — — — —— — — — —— — — — —— — — — —
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