Battle

A ear-piercing roar came from not too far away and the young men now knew the beast's location. "What a powerful roar!" Eguru was fascinated. He couldn't help it. Even though this situation is dangerous he still couldn't hold back but be amazed by it. A thing for animals man.

"Now is not the time for that Eguru. Focus!" - "Got it."

Without hesitation he ignored his feelings and continued to look for the twelve fanged.

Having surpressed senses was awful. Instead of talking normally they almost had to yell and their nose didn't even help at all. The most reliable part of their body were their eyes.

Leaves falling down trees, branches cracking and even forest animals running away. All those things couldn't be perceived. Well, living beings didn't exist in a domain.

"Verzo! To your right!" Eguru shouted and the other man quickly leaped back, almost banging against a tree. In front of them was the monster that they've been looking for. Its size and looks truly were terrifying.

But not having the time to inspect such a monstrosity Verzo began attacking the twelve fanged. Eguru ran away and climbed on top of a tree. He was not in the position to help this man. Unfortunately he was... weak.

A 8 feet tall lion-head with the body of a dragon was facing them. Truly an ugly creature. 'It really has twelve fangs?!'

It definetely wasn't how he imagined it. Inside of the twelve fanged mouth there were fangs seperately moving and attacking? 'How is that even possible??!'

Not struggling to fight the creature Verzo gave it his all. When both of them were moving Eguru couldn't even comprehend what was really going on. It's as if two humans with speed buffs and skills fought each other. Though you can't really compare an animal to a human.

In other words, their battle was like a dance. Smooth and full of rhythm.

This choreography continued for another ten minutes when suddenly Verzo was thrown away into the distance. Right above him was the twelve fanged ready to smash his prey. "WATCH OUT!!"

He couldn't hear him. Eguru could only watch - he followed them. Running through the woods he almost lost orientation when the monster fell back and he could hear the noises it made.

Both - Verzo and the twelve fanged were lying on their back. Blood was leaving the beast's body where as the other man seemed to have broken ribs. He spat out a blood clot. "Eguru... Finish it off..", throwing the daggers in his direction Verzo put all his trust into his friend. If he failed to kill it now they'd both die.

Grabbing the blades which laid on the ground he nodded and approached the beast carefully. Step by step. 'I have to aim for its neck.'

Stepping into blood he was about to slip but fortunately didn't. Quickly slicing the neck he thought it was over.

Wrong.

"It didn't even leave a scratch?!!" Verzo looked up and both of them knew they were fucked. Once again the twelve fanged let out a roar and slammed Eguru through a tree. He was sent flying and took one more tree with him when he finally found himself on the floor.

'Did we... los..' Both of them went unconscious for a few seconds again before waking up. As Verzo realized what happened a wave of energy hit him and swiftly grabbing his weapon he rushed towards the beast.

Broken out of its domain no limitations were holding them back anymore. There was hope!

Yet another time they clashed into each other for a good minute. This time, they exchanged hits and Verzo gradually got slower. But so did the beast.

'I have to help him...!' Anger found its way into the young man's mind. All he did was being a burden to Verzo.

Suddenly a heat wave emerged around him and was followed by dark veils cutting through the air. 'What is this weird sensation? My body is light and doesn't hurt anymore...'

Getting up and examining his body he noticed his changes. His appearance changed drastically. His entire body was surrounded by shadow energy and one of his arms and his torso consisted of black smoke.

In his mind he unexpectedly found something truly precious. The key to controlling this power for now.

He just knew what do to and how it would help him.

As he saw what was happening in front of him he leaped towards the monster with rapid speed and acceleration - he was way faster than Verzo or the twelve fanged!

Still, he was too slow. His friend was slammed into the ground and the ground cracked. Even the trees around them couldn't stay unharmed. A few of them fell to the ground. Verzo was now two feet in the ground. However, the beast didn't notice Eguru!

Just a few meters before he faced the creature a massive amount of killing intent emerged from his body exposing himself to the twelve fanged. "It's over", he calmly said as his arm that turned into a shadow now held a great sword made out of shadow energy.

Precisely and swiftly he cut through the 8 feet tall monstrosity in front of him.

Blood splattered in a radius of at least 20 meters and Eguru was basically soaked in it. His body returned to its normal state and the creature disappeared into the shadows not leaving a single trace behind. Was it because it was killed by shadow energy?

It didn't matter. They won the battle! But at a great cost. All the pain he forgot now returned and he collapsed to the ground right before he made his way to Verzo who still didn't move.

None of them died but the injuries were severe.