Sir Luminar darkly smiled.
"I win."
Then he thrust the blade towards Ashley's neck.
"Wait, stop!"
At that moment, a pulse left Ashley's body, causing Sir Luminar to shudder. His blade missed his throat, cutting the side of his neck.
Ashley, taking the chance, quickly grabbed his knife and stabbed Sir Luminar's foot through the little gap in his boot.
"Arrgh!" Ashley kicked Sir Luminar, pushing him a few meters back.
Sir Luminar frowned, a jolt of pain shooting through his leg. "What?"
Ashley's body bounced violently on the floor; purple pulses emanated from him, causing vibrations throughout the mall.
His veins glowed dark purple, and his eyes glowed a bright purple.
Then, Ashley shot to his feet. He carefully studied his body, feeling the large boost in strength and lightness in his body.
"Dark… Mana?" he mumbled.
Turned out his Dark Core successfully converted the Divine Mana to Dark Mana.
So now Ashley was brimming with Dark Mana despite never having summoned Dark Mana from his core.
That already placed him ahead of most Nether Contracted... if there were any other people who had survived their encounters with the terrifying Nether Beasts.
Sir Luminar's eyes narrowed. "The Divine Mana didn't kill you… but got corrupted instead?" he muttered.
Ashley clenched his fists and frowned. "Bastard tried killing me again…"
He picked up his butcher's knife, since, well, his other knife was stuck in Sir Luminar's foot.
"Alright, round two!" Ashley shouted.
This time it was Ashley who dashed towards Sir Luminar, instantly appearing in front of the unexpecting Divine Pawn.
Sir Luminar, though, reacted fast, raising his sword to block a slash from Ashley. His hand shuddered from the clash. "You've gotten… stronger," he whispered.
Ashley, not wasting time, slashed again and again and again, attacking from various almost unpredictable angles.
Sir Luminar surprisingly was finding it hard to keep up with Ashley's relentless strikes—almost.
With the graciousness and experience of a warrior, Sir Luminar parried away all of Ashley's attacks, though he did not get a chance to counter-attack.
Then Ashley gained the edge.
Sir Luminar slipped up for a second, causing him to expose his face to a slash from Ashley.
A shallow cut appeared on his smooth face, blood slowly dripping.
Sir Lumimar quickly retreated, this time not from studying his opponent but from wariness.
"Look at who's on the back foot," Ashley jeered.
Sir Luminar gently touched the cut, red blood painting his fingers. Then, his expression turned cold.
"I see that I've played enough with you…" Sir Luminar positioned his sword, holding them in both hands.
Then his veins glowed, Divine Mana flowing through them, giving them a golden hue.
"...let's be serious."
Sir Luminar moved fast, faster than anything Ashley had ever seen.
The next second he was in front of Ashley, swinging his sword in a downward arc.
Ashley retaliated, raising the butcher's knife to block, only for the attack he was expecting to never come.
"W…what?" His eyes widened in shock.
It was a feint!
Ashley felt a jolt of pain at his lower torso. Red blood spewed out of the large gash.
Without giving him a chance to retaliate, Sir Luminar swung again, then again and again, leaving large cuts all over Ashley's body.
Ashley groaned in pain and attempted a headbutt, only to be counterattacked less than a second later by the upgraded Sir Luminar.
Sir Luminar sensing the attack, moved his head first, clashing with Ashley's own and stunning him on impact.
Then, drawing his sword back, he stabbed it right through Ashley's lower torso, the bloodied metal passing through his innards with precise ease.
He twisted it, pulled it out, then kicked Ashley on his chest, sending him flying again.
Ashley bounced on and rolled across the floor like a rag doll, this time staining it in red with his blood.
"I can't believe I had to use my Divine Mana on a child of the outskirts no less." Sir Luminar's face twisted in disgust. "You were full of surprises young one, but this time you'll really die."
Despite the bone-rattling pain across his body and his haggard breathing, Ashley let out a maniacal laugh.
One would have thought that he had lost it, finally swimming in the embrace of deathly madness.
"Now you're talking like the bastard you really are," Ashley spat out a mouthful of blood as he slowly pushed himself off the floor, his legs weakly trying to support him.
He wasn't meant to be able to get up. No normal person should. Not after being repeatedly cut across the body and stabbed in the lower torso plus the steadily increasing blood loss.
But yet again Ashley wasn't normal. Rather, he as far from normal.
"I'll make this quick," Sir Luminar sighed, briefly astonished by the weak child of the outskirts determination.
He dashed towards Ashley, his Divine Mana still pulsing within with his blade above his head, positioned for a downward cleave strike.
Ashley smiled. "I'm not dying today," he whispered.
Suddenly, his heart began beating rapidly, or more accurately his Dark Core.
Corrupted Mana flowed from his Dark Core through his Mana Pathways to his Mana Zones at his hands, at his feet, at his torso, giving them an ethereal glow of dark purple.
Then it flowed to the Mana Zone situated at neck which channeled to his head, the now visible Mana Nodes, showing dark lines attached to his eyes.
Ashley's corneas were covered in complete black. His pupils began to glow purple, though this time mixed with a dark tinge, making it look like he was possessed — which ironically though not so literally — he was.
His biceps and triceps slightly bulged, with his leg muscles following up too. His fingernails grew longer and sharper, darkening to a jet black.
His teeth grew slightly longer and jagged with his canines longer and more pronounced than the others.
Then a mark appeared on his neck, taking the shape of a dark six-winged angel kneeling, and the mark glowed slightly.
His wounds and cuts healed and covered up at visible speed, impossible for a human — well a human that is.
Adorned in his cut black short-sleeved shirt and black with purple-stripped joggers, Ashley looked like a dark, ancient, feral humanoid Beast sent from the depths of the abyss to hunt for blood.
And that he was going to do.
Two dark miniature wings, each two meters in length, sprouted out from his back, scarce feathers on each.
Sir Luminar's expression darkened. Sensing the blaring danger, rather than retreating, he moved in with his sword raised.
Ashley casually glanced at him, causing his very core to shudder.
The sword swung down, slicing the air. Ashley though, lazily grabbed the swinging sword, holding it in place like it was a piece of paper.
Sir Luminar's eyes widened in shock and fear.
"Just die," Ashley muttered in an annoyed tone.
The world slowed for the Divine Pawn, then the next second he was flying across the mall before crashing into one of the aisles.
Sir Luminar slowly got up, then he hacked out a mouthful of blood.
Looking down at the area he had been hit, his eyes widened in shock.
The once impenetrable armor was shattered at his lower torso section. It looked like something the size of a fist burned through it, not caring for the source of the metal.
Ashley had punched him, and it was too fast for him to see it.
Sir Luminar, still in shock and pain from internal bleeding, smiled. "I guess I shouldn't have played with you."
Ignoring the pain, he held his sword in both hands and took a sword stance. "I'm now the reason why you've awakened your Dark Mana so I deserve some thanks."
"I should have done this the first time." He added through gritted teeth.
His heart area—his Divine Core— began to glow brightly, illuminating a golden hue through his armor.
Through his metal plates, Ashley saw the golden Mana flow through his body, spreading towards his arms, legs and torso but didn't go to his head.
[What are you waiting for, runt? Kill the damn bastard!] Calcifer screamed in his head.
Ashley however ignored him, seemingly interested in seeing the transformation of an Aether Contracted.
The transformation came to an end as golden feathers scarcely covered Sir Luminar's armor.
His head was adorned in a crown of golden feathers.
Sir Luminar with his glowing sword looked like an angel — without wings — sent to purge the world of evil.
He gently smiled, his eyes pulsing gold in resonance with his heart beat — or core beat.
"Now, round four."