MANIFESTED

The warehouse at Ebonmere's east border, back to Jaxith who was standing seriously with his sword tip touching the ground, he was looking boldly with his scarlet eyes at his enemy, John Rascliffe, who is gradually losing his humanity and the dark energy corrupting his mind and changing his body body by the time, his yellow demonic eyes glowing from anger, fueled by hatred from Jaxith who sabotaged his plan, his rage combined with the dark energy completely blinded him, his desire to stop Jaxith before using the strange fragment turned into hatred and wanting nothing except killing the hunter, he even was blaming him for Edward's death now, if there's anything to tell from what's going to happen is simply don't mess with the dark energy unless you know what you're doing, and John here didn't succeed in his ritual and so he's not accustomed to the dark energy as he didn't use it before.

"She better be safe, Rascliffe, cause if you even touch a single hair strand from her I'll make sure that you wish death, and believe me, I'll not grant it for you.", Said Jaxith seriously, John grunted while kneeling down as getting ready to leap over Jaxith.

"Do people like you tend to talk like that always? I've already gotten sick from hearing your miserable words.", Said John in his new inhuman voice as his claws dug in the ground while positioning himself, his arms were emitting this strange violet aura.

"Then mark my words, cause mine will be the last you will hear.", Said Jaxith seriously before raising his sword in a ready stance after he mocked john cleverly.

"GRAAAAH!", Roared John as his body started releasing a considerate amount of dark energy and his arms glowed brighter before suddenly leaping over Jaxith with his claws extended.

Jaxith swiftly moved to the side to avoid John's expected leap without using his negative abyss dashes, John turned and tried to slash him with his left hand but Jaxith took another step backward easily, at this time John's right arm started glowing more and his body emitted more dark energy than before, he suddenly released a powerful fast slash towards Jaxith's chest, Jaxith realized that he doesn't have the time or the distance to avoid this powerful attack so he raised his sword to block this attack and activated his negative abyss to enhance his physical endurance while placing his left hand on the upper side of the blade in the direction opposite to the direction facing John's slash to further increase his control over the sword by supporting the total length of the sword and BOOOOOOOM!

A strong violet explosion was created in the close range around the strike where Jaxith was sent a few meters backwards with his feet strongly impeded in the ground to not lose his balance along with the dark vapour around him as a sign that he needed his negative abyss to maintain his balance, he ragained his posture while lowering his sword in a way that it grinded against the ground aggressively while creating sparks as a sign of his anger.

"S**t! That was a close unexpected attack, I can't rush anything before I understand what exactly is happening with him and what abilities he can execute, his arms has clearly developed and can use dark energy to create such a powerful attack as this, his nails are more of claws now and risking any simple scratch from it is suicide, dark energy is unexpectable.", Thought Jaxith while looking seriously at John who started scratching his head while kneeling on the ground and more dark energy is produced from him, the fragment inside his chest was glowing bright but Jaxith couldn't see it because of the little uncut clothes that hide this part and also the angle John was sitting in.

"AHHHHHHHH!", Cried John in pain before he placed his hand over his chest and looked at the ground.

"Useless, unworthy of bearing my blood or my name, that's what you're.", Remembered John, his father's words made him even angrier, that's the whole point, the negative thoughts, it's the fuel for the dark energy, the more John thinks about all of that the more the fragment becomes active, his mental torment is the fuel for getting stronger.

"He can't control what's happening to him, the dark energy is manifesting his body and mind, he already changed by the strange plates along his back and his violet arms and yellow demonic eyes and the way he moves, yet he's not possessed by anything like what happened with the scarlet giant and the assassin that was after Irene, that's something new, he's not used to the dark energy and it's obvious, but how did he use it? Either you're a demon or a hybrid, a dark caster who succeeded in his sacrificial ritual and was granted a scarlet vessel for dark energy or like me with the negative abyss, none of those situations apply to him, it's like there something is producing that dark energy and that's why he's in pain, but what's it?", Thought Jaxith while walking slowly around John without getting closer as he raised his sword again to get ready for whatever is going to happen.

"Come on, can't you even kill a simple hunter, after killing your wife I thought you would become a man.", Echoed these words in John's mind as he looked at Jaxith and Jaxith gradually started to look like Alphonse!

John gritted on his teeth which started looking sharper than before.

"DIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!", Cried John as he dashed furiously at Jaxith who immediately activated his negative abyss and started dodging and blocking John's random slashes which became faster now and even his body is getting faster because of the dark energy coursing through his body, everytime John's claws strike Jaxith's sword a little explosion is created, it's not as strong as the previous one because John doesn't charge them but still he's using a quick consecutive attacks which is more dangerous in this close range.

After several attempts to hit Jaxith, John failed to strike a single attack successfully and Jaxith has already memorized John's attacks sequences and just when Jaxith was getting cornered as behind him a large wooden box for goods and the wall by his right side, Jaxith crouched as John hit the wall aggressively by his hand before roaring loudly and dashing forward towards Jaxith who cleverly rolled aside by the negative dash to evade John completely who slammed the large wooden box which in turn started breaking over John.

Immediately John started removing the depris above him to see Jaxith but he wasn't seeing him and suddenly he noticed something behind him, Jaxith was already doing his negative dash with his sword slashing towards John's neck in a very close range!

Jaxith's experience was much higher than John who was doing random attacks and lacking the required experience to deal with someone like Jaxith, a simple trick is all what it took to create this open wide angle for Jaxith, but then something unexpected happened.

Just as Jaxith's blade touched John's neck to sever it a strong repulsion force was created in the form of a shockwave protecting John!

Jaxith was pushed away from John and he nearly fell off but he embraced himself by a quick roll backward then staying crouched while holding his sword tightly in his right hand with his left hand on the ground as he used it before to maintain his balance with the roll.

"What was that?", Thought Jaxith while looking angrily and there was a little surprise from what happened on his face.

John has already fallen in his place due to the impact from Jaxith's strong dashing slash, he expected that he's already dead but as he stood up slowly while putting his hand over his neck to find that he's literally unharmed.

"What happened? Did it protect me?", Thought John while looking at his chest, what happened now is an ability granted to John after the fragment fused with him, the chaos shield, it's an ability related to a certain species of scarlet demons which was developed further by one of the demon lord's private knights, the scarlet paladins, it protects John's body from any incoming attacks and produces a shockwave equivalent to the amount of power of the incoming attack, in other words, the stronger the attack John receives, the stronger the shockwave is, that depends on the amount of dark energy produced by the fragment also, so as long as the fragment is still active, he can't be penetrated by whatever Jaxith does.

"I need to know if what happened now is an ability he activated by mere luck or it's something permanent with his transformation, only one way to find out.", Thought Jaxith before dashing again with the negative abyss towards John who noticed Jaxith and because his body is enhanced by the dark energy now he quickly blocked Jaxith's swipe with his arms and clinging sound was produced with several sparks, John looked at Jaxith angrily who too didn't give a friendly look, Jaxith aggressively pushed his sword to the side along with John's arms quickly by the negative abyss then immediately performing a quick upper slash towards John's neck again, but the same happened again, just after the blade touched John's neck another shockwave was created pushing both of Jaxith and John away from each other but this time it was much lower in the terms of power.

"Got it, it's a counterattack ability, this time my strike was weaker than the one before and so the shockwave was weaker too, I can use this.", Thought Jaxith while getting ready to attack again and the negative abyss started getting active.

"The chaos shield.", Said John a bit loud while looking at his hands, he doesn't know what's this but he found himself knowing it, Jaxith now heard the name too and knows it, he just needs to know how to decipher this ability and put an end to this quickly.

Jaxith started going aggressive doing several slashes with his sword with the help of the negative abyss fast dashes and John was blocking some of them while some others hit him in several parts of the body with a shockwave from each one that Jaxith used as an advantage!

Jaxith used the small shockwaves force created by the not to so strong sword slashes hitting John's body as a new starting point for him to create a new sequence of attacks just from another angle by the help of the negative abyss to keep control, it was a great and difficult risk but Jaxith proved his skill to try and find a weak point and use it.

John was getting mad, Jaxith was hitting him again and again and again, he couldn't even see him proberly now, the difference between them in the terms of skill and experience was obvious, Jaxith was literally toying with John, he is pushed back due to the shockwave then immediately before John can react Jaxith activates his inhumanly speed and reverse the direction by using a dash in the opposing direction and so creating an open space to attack again and again and again, Jaxith was like a continuous aggressive machine, his attacks don't stop and always annoying John especially inside his mind.

"WEAK, PATHETIC, EVEN THOUGH YOU HAVE STRENGTH GRANTED BY LORD BLAMORE YOU STILL PROVE HOW WEAK AND UNWORTHY YOU ARE.", Echoed Alphonse words in John's mind while his image appeared here and there instead of Jaxith, his rage increasing more than before.

"GRAAAAH!", Shouted John before a strong explosion was created from his body because of the excessive dark energy produced from his rage and hatred!

Jaxith was pushed away from the explosion and even broke some of the large wooden boxes around as he tried to regain his posture before finally he stabbed his sword in the ground while resting and looking at John who was holding his head like a lunatic and shouting.

"I HATE YOU, YOU KILLED HER, NOT ME, AHHHHHHH!", Shouted John angrily before looking at Jaxith who was taking his breath after several consecutive usages of the negative abyss which started depleting him and yet he didn't scratch the noble, John started seeing even more emotional image now, it was Cristina! She was laying before Jaxith while bleeding.

"John, are you surrendering me again?", Said Cristina while tearing.

"No, I'm not doing this again, I'm not letting anyone take you away from me again.", Said John before a tear fell off his yellow eyes while walking closer, Jaxith gradually stood up before pulling his sword from the ground while looking at John who was talking to himself.

"The dark energy is messing with his mind, I need to detect the source of this power quickly before he gets even stronger.", Thought Jaxith before activating his negative abyss and tightening his grip on the sword.

"SHE WILL DIE JUST AS THE LAST TIME WHEN YOU WERE HELPLESS AND WEAK JOHN.", Said Alphonse who is now standing in Jaxith's place behind Cristina with his right hand glowing with dark energy over Cristina's head.

"Don't harm her.", Said John in fear.

"STILL LOOKING FOR OTHER'S HELP, THEN SHE'S GOING TO DIE, AGAIN AND AGAIN, AND AGAIN.", Said Alphonse in a threatening tone.

"GET AWAY FROM HER YOU MONSTER.", Cried John before monstrously leaping over Jaxith with immense dark aura and his arms glowing violet even more, his speed is very high right now a long with his furiousness and rage.

Jaxith immediately switched to the defense positioning and started blocking John's aggressive slashes which obviously became much stronger that on each hit Jaxith sword was resonating from John's strength.

John tried to grab Jaxith's head but Jaxith crouched and John immediately furiously dashed forward knocking Jaxith down then leaping over him with his jaw opened to reveal his new sharpened teeth, Jaxith rolled to the side and John slammed the ground with his jaw and claws dug tightly in the ground, while Jaxith was standing up John roared angrily before his arms glowed brighter and he swayed both of them towards Jaxith who noticed something is produced from them, he immediately used his negative dash to dodge to the side evading what appeared to be dark slashes produced from his claws in a medium range away from John, they're similar to the magic but in the form of dark claws travelling through the air, the second one reached Jaxith here who raised his sword to block it too and as expected he was pushed back a few meters before lowering his sword and taking his breath, it's getting harder now, he already used the negative abyss too much today, John is just getting stronger and Jaxith must find a way to kill him.

John stood for a moment while grunting and looking at Jaxith.

"I'M NOT LETTING YOU TAKE HER AWAY FROM ME AGAIN, CRISTINA IS MINE AND ONLY MINE.", Shouted John while looking at Jaxith.

"Cristina?", Thought Jaxith while memorizing John's moves in his head to get ready, that's Jaxith's best skill, he's a fast learner, he can turn everything to his favor once he understands his enemy more, and right now, he studied his new fast moves and the new slashing dark claws ability, just a little more and he will find a good spot to hit, he's the type that trusts himself and his sword.

John dashed furiously at Jaxith again in his demonic speed, he tried using his arms to grab or slash Jaxith but Jaxith was acting much better this time and even though John was much faster, Jaxith was evading and blocking all his attacks easily and now he started attacking too while exerting more negative abyss, a strike here and there with repulsions after each one.

Jaxith started shifting his moves a bit to confuse the inexperienced noble by blocking both of his charged fists and maintaining his place solidly as his feet dug into the ground a bit before Jaxith released even more dark energy that his body was burning with energy and pushed John away with his sword then immediately going for a 360° air double kick over John's face before landing and looking at the more furious noble because he was just getting attacked, he ran at Jaxith again doing his random attacks that Jaxith already knew so in a literally lightning speed, Jaxith did double slashes at both of John's arms, John suddenly found both his arms swayed aside leaving an open wide gap for Jaxith who didn't waste any time and immediately unleashed a powerful dash towards John's chest while shouting angrily and the dark vapour surrounding the place around him from the intensity and Jaxith's seriousness, his face expressions are f***in terrifying more than John himself!

the result of the strike was a very strong dark explosion from the chaos shield that both of John and Jaxith was pushed away from each other, Jaxith is already used to this and landed safely without any difficulties although he noticed that his hands were shaking a bit and his breath getting heavier, the negative abyss is extremely dangerous especially after a long time without usage, he has just started using it again in the past few weeks after more than seven years without using it, his body won't be able to keep up but he won't stop until he gets Irene back, nothing is going to stop the hunter from reaching his purpose, the stern cold look didn't leave his face even though he's getting tired.

John on the other hand wasn't looking good, he placed his hand over his chest while aching from pain, the fragment started glowing brighter its red color and Jaxith noticed a faint light coming from John's chest.

"What could this be?", Thought Jaxith, John's eyes were emitting yellow light and his body started releasing immense dark energy around him that even the ground around him wasn't visible.

"MORE, MOOOORE!", Cried John before standing up and looking at Jaxith in much dangerous stare than before, the fragment started calming down but John didn't as he swayed his arms while standing still sending the dark claw slashes towards Jaxith who dashes right then left again to evade the attack, John rushed in a speed that Jaxith didn't expect and in less than a second he was close to Jaxith's face but Jaxith quick reaction and cold nerve made him arch his back backward by the negative abyss allowing John to pass over him then just before John completely pass him, Jaxith catched his leg and pulled it aggressively while John roared and before he does anything about it, Jaxith started swaying John's body right and left, hitting his body as hard as he could by the strength of the negative abyss, each hit cracked the ground below John as Jaxith was grunting angrily before throwing him across the wall of the warehouse cracking it while looking angrily with his heavy breathing.

John didn't relent, he roared in an even more demonic sound before looking at Jaxith with his monstrous eyes and swayed his arms again to use the flying dark claws ability to push Jaxith away but Jaxith dodged them easily and dashed towards John to deliver another strike but John charged both of his fists and faced Jaxith's swipe with his double punch, the power here was in John's favor as Jaxith couldn't overpower it and found himself rolling backward while holding his sword.

John didn't waste anytime and several violet spots appeared over him.

"What's that?", Thought Jaxith while looking at John, he doesn't know that this is the shooting arrows that John used against Edward in the basement, in less than a second Jaxith understood what was going to happen.

"Dark magic!", Thought Jaxith while looking shocked before quickly dashing away as the arrows in a very high speed were casted towards Jaxith who safely evaded them and looked at the wall that they had penetrated before disappearing into violet vapour leaving their marks on the wall.

"One mistake with those and things will get complicated, dark magic is more dangerous and lethal than divine magic.", Thought Jaxith before looking at John and moving his legs to be in a ready stance but he felt a sudden shock coming from his right lap and looked at his right leg.

"Damn it!", Thought Jaxith while looking at his leg, there was an arrow that started disappearing too now, it hit Jaxith's leg and the pain wasn't the problem, it's the effect, Jaxith immediately intensified his negative abyss around his leg and focused his balance over his left one without relying on the right injured one.

"It's not just a simple offensive spell for creating damage, it's combined with paralysis spell, that's an advanced level for a beginner like him, unless!", Thought Jaxith as the negative abyss was only activated around his right leg and he was taking his breath while remembering the guard telling him about Alphonse Rascliffe.

"I've to prevent the spell from spreading through my body, the only way is to completely isolate the blood circulation from passing through my leg with the negative abyss and working with only my left leg, this will require even more dark energy to support my body through this fight, but in the same time the veins in my right leg won't be able to hold up for long and will explode due to the pressure from the negative abyss on them and also the pressure from the blood stacked inside, I must finish him soon and release the spell across my body and take Irene away before I get paralyzed, but I still don't know how.", Thought Jaxith, now he doesn't have much time and can only depend on one leg while John was getting stronger by the time, just one mistake turned the tide of the fight in the favor of john.

John suddenly leaped over Jaxith as a strong explosion was produced behind him due to his strength as his legs are getting stronger too and his body is literally shining from dark energy, Jaxith now is even slower as he can depend only on his left leg, he started dashing backward with his left leg while balancing his right side with his sword, sometimes he hit the ground, sometime the wall, he uses whatever he can to balance himself while John aggressively attacked Jaxith, he went for a strong bite but Jaxith placed his sword in front of his mouth and so John closed his jaws over it firmly, Jaxith stood solidly before John raised his body and head along with Jaxith himself and through Jaxith and his sword aside after swaying his head aggressively, Jaxith rolled painfully backward and depended on his sword to gain balance, his right leg completely affected his movement and balance and he even noticed that John's body is even getting bigger and taller, he won't be able to keep up with him for a long time in this manner.

John dashed in a high speed while the dark energy radiates from him enormously, he used his charged fists for a strong double down slam and Jaxith barely rolled away but the slam was strong and caused dark explosion that caused Jaxith to nearly lose his balance and depended on stabbing his sword in the ground at his right side, John again dashed towards Jaxith doing faster normal slashes with his claws trying to harm Jaxith who is still struggling with only one leg as the other was completely paralyzed, Jaxith hoped backwards on his left leg to increase the distance between him and John but John closed the distance with fast claws physical attacks, Jaxith tried to evade all of them but eventually an upper slash nearly stabbed his face but he barely moved his body by the negative dash and four scratches were formed on Jaxith's right cheek with blood droplets spilling from them, Jaxith shifted to offensive style and decided to try any attacks to reduce John's offensive mode, staying on the defense will only make it harder, Jaxith swiped his sword several times while John was blocking them as Jaxith was getting slower so he went for a counter grab but Jaxith rolled beside John and immediately unleashed his strong dash but with his left leg only, Jaxith aimed for John's chest again sending a strong slash that aggressively hit John while Jaxith was shouting in aggression as the sound of the strike resonated across the village!

Of course due to an attack like that the chaos shield produced a strong repulsive force even than before to protect John's body again, Jaxith was kneeling and resting on his sword stabbed on the ground while breathing heavily and the negative abyss completely absent except with his paralyzed right leg, he looked at his right leg and gritted on his teeth as the pain was getting higher in it, he looked boldly at John and noticed that his chest was shining again.

"Got you now.", Thought Jaxith before a sly faint smile was drawn on his face even though he was getting tired.

John wasn't looking good and was slamming everywhere around him in wrath and pain, his fragment started even producing more dark energy.

"ENOUGH ENOUGH!", Cried John, his sound was like a painful roar that echoed across the village and the warehouse itself started shaking, Emelia inside felt the place shaking and was getting afraid from the strange voices outside.

"You're so close John, we will be together again, don't give up now.", Said Cristina who was behind Jaxith, John's hallucinations was getting him harder than before, the dark energy is completely missing with his mind, the more the fragment produces dark energy the more his hallucinations and negative thoughts will destroy him, that's the law of the dark energy, that's why even though it's the strongest form of power along with the spiritual energy, it's forbidden, even Jaxith can't use it for long time and is getting tired already.

"I'm saving you this time, Cristina, please don't leave me alone again.", Said John before tearing, Cristina smiled before disappearing and suddenly Alphonse was in Jaxith's place again as a sign of danger, John gurgled as the tears fell off his face.

"He's getting abused mentally by the dark energy, he's already surrendering to this strange demonic power, I need to push whatever is in his chest further by messing with his mind more, if I managed to make it unstable than it's already then I'll have a shot.", Thought Jaxith before standing up and pulling his sword while adjusting his balance, his right leg is like a rag without any motion, he stood ready to start with his plan.

"CRISTINA, HUH?", Shouted Jaxith to get John's attention who was mad after hearing Jaxith say Cristina's name and started roaring before dashing like the demon he's towards Jaxith who swiftly dashed to the side several times just with the negative abyss in his left leg and body while using the sword to balance, John was even faster and angrier as the fragment has already pumped even more dark energy now.

"So tell me, Rascliffe, was she one of those w**res that you nobles pay money for a happy time with?", Said Jaxith boldly while dodging all John's attacks.

"QUIET!", Shouted John in agony while attacking in non stop, just hearing someone says something like that about his love torn him even more.

"SHE'S NOT CORRUPTED LIKE YOU AND THIS FREAKING WORLD.", Shouted John, but there was pain behind his voice, sadness beyond description that Jaxith doesn't know, he even was tearing after Jaxith said that about Cristina but he didn't stop his attacks although it seems he was losing focus, Jaxith noticed how John was affected by his words, he made a forward dash passing by John's side and used his left foot to make a swift 180° turn to face John's back with his sword directed at John's back by another strong dash! This quick turn with just a single leg required an enormous control over the negative abyss and enormous agility for this quick turn executed with double dashes in different directions that's nearly impossible to execute with a single leg, one to the front then stopping the negative dash before turning his foot and moving his sword's blade backwards before activating his negative abyss again to execute another dash towards John's back this time, the way Jaxith did it shows how experienced he's, and just as Blamore said before, the main problem will always be with the hunter, if he's really a one.

"DIDN'T KNOW THAT CRISTINA KNOWS HOW TO PLEASE MEN THAT MUCH.", Shouted Jaxith just before he slammed John's back with his sword through his negative dash.

Again, Jaxith was thrown away by the chaos shield but he's already missing with John's mind hard, and that's what he wants to reach.

"ENOUGH, please leave her out of this, LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS.", Cried John while holding his head and headbutting the ground aggressively several times that the ground Shaked faintly after each headbutt.

"Just a little more.", Said Jaxith in a low cold tone before standing up and getting ready again while looking at John's chest which is even shining more, the more Jaxith insults Cristina the more angrier and violent John becomes and so the fragment react with his negative thoughts of Cristina's loss and produces even more dark energy that burns John's chest further, it's getting out of control and of course harder, Jaxith must deal with this in the right way or a single mistake with only one leg can put him down easily.

John calmly stood up as his now taller figure is obvious, he was shorter than Jaxith but now he's a bit taller than him!

He looked at Jaxith with his tearing demonic eyes before roaring loudly and rushing towards Jaxith and punching him aggressively but Jaxith used his negative dash to jump above John who caused the ground to tremble because of his charged fist, Jaxith activated his negative abyss while a fearful look was obvious through his red eyes before doing a vertical lower dash as he slammed his sword blade over John's head aggressively causing John's head to slam into the ground while Jaxith took advantage of the chaos shield explosion and used it as a force to adjust himself in the air as he rolled swiftly backward before landing smoothly on his left leg!

Jaxith's agility and control along with his speed and negative abyss with just a single leg is remarkable, he looked at his leg before a painful look appeared on him then looking back at John who started looking around him like a lunatic while crying.

"I'm sorry, I can't do it, I'm weak, I can't even help myself.", Said John while searching for Cristina before he noticed that he's in the same room where he lost Cristina before in the sacrificial ritual, she was sleeping in the bed with Alphonse behind her and looking in a cold manner at John.

"No, NO!", Shouted John in his demonic voice before rushing towards Jaxith again with his chest still glowing red.

John started using everything to kill Jaxith, his violet magic arrows started casting from around John's body and Jaxith kept dodging and blocking some of them with his sword deflecting them away as any touch from them is a death sentence right now.

"LOOKS LIKE SHE'S DAMN GOOD IN BED IF YOU'RE FIGHTING FOR HER LIKE THAT.", Shouted Jaxith while blocking John's fists and dashing backward to avoid more of the violet arrows.

"YOU BASTAAAARD, I'LL SKIN YOU ALIVE!", Shouted John while crying even more, being unable stop Jaxith from insulting Cristina more felt like daggers stabbing him in the chest so he started even using more dark energy to try hitting Jaxith for once by his flying dark claws and violet arrows along with his normal slashes in close range to hurt Jaxith but he always fails as Jaxith literally was reading every move for him.

"Weak.", Said Alphonse who was placing Jaxith in John's mind.

"RRRRRRAGGHHH.", Roared John before trying to hurt Alphonse who is Jaxith but Jaxith swiftly dashed to the side and made a quick slash over John's face.

"AAAGH!", Cried John before looking monstrously at Jaxith.

"Pathetic.", Said Alphonse boldly, John even looked angrier.

"Looks like your babe is having another one in bed tonight.", Said Jaxith boldly, John sent some of his violet arrows before dashing again.

Jaxith dodged all of them simply by the negative dashes then rolled to the side to escape John's fists then hoped backward to avoid his claws from reaching him after his punches failed to hit him.

"John, please be quick.", Said Cristina who was coated in blood and sitting weakly beside Jaxith.

"NO! NOT AGAIN.", Cried John heavily before unleashing more dark energy, he wants nothing but to feel Cristina's touch again, her sweet and warming hug, he will do anything to save her even in this hallucinations.

"His chest is glowing like it's going to explode, time to finish this, but I need a little time to execute this attack, I need a trick to confuse him further.", Thought Jaxith while putting his hand over the sigma like golden mark over the sword's hilt at the base of the blade.

John increased his speed and did even more attacks until Jaxith found the perfect moment for using his trick, he dodged just beside John and while John looked at him and found Jaxith standing still he turned but suddenly.

"SIGHT OF THE ABYSS!", Shouted Jaxith as he raised his left arm towards John's face and a strange black mist was sprayed over John's face and he staggered back immediately!

"AHHHHHHHHH!", Cried John as he felt a horrible pain from his eyes and he even wasn't seeing anything, he was blinded!

"I only have a few seconds before the effect disappears.", Thought Jaxith before he put his left hand over the mark again but this time he pressed over it and strange mechanical voice was created!

"EXPANSION!", Shouted Jaxith before he pressed harder and the black titan started resonating hard in Jaxith's hand and suddenly its size became double its normal size! The length and the width of the blade were larger and the particles of the metal was resonating very hard that the blade wasn't stable and moving very hard in Jaxith's hand but he knows what he's doing, the sword was emitting vapour from the intensity of the particles movement and it was even shining, like there was strong energy within the sword itself.

Jaxith swayed his black titan to the side by his right hand only and activated his negative abyss.

"The source is unstable now, combining my strength and the speed of the negative abyss along with the weight of the black titan now couldn't be enough disrupt the stability of the source through the chaos shield, I need to activate Rodionse impulse.", Thought Jaxith before dashing towards John with the negative abyss and before he swipe his sword he rotated both of his hands over the grip in a specific motion, the golden mark started rotating intensely and suddenly the sword released a blue vapour that quickly made the sword resonate harder and create a strong force that let the sword dash on its own towards John!

Now Jaxith's speed and strength from the negative abyss and the black titan itself also created a strong force which also served as a further increase in the force of this exact attack, all of that combined by the weight of the sword which is the double now, Jaxith already created a devasting attack that aimed for John's chest!

John slowly opened his eyes and noticed the sword nearly touching him and Jaxith shouting aggressively while his eyes were wide from his anger with his silver hair coating his face like a freaking ghost!

"Just relax John, no need for further torment love.", Said Cristina who hugged John from behind him! He suddenly felt, safe?

EXPLOSION!

Jaxith was kneeling after this strong attack while taking his breath, he's already breathing heavier than normal, it's even closer to the time he first used the negative abyss after a long time against the scarlet giant, he even coughed blood!

He slowly stood up while holding up over his large sword, before looking at John who was lying on his back and looking at the sky, he's back to his human form and most of his clothes of course were torn because of his transformation, he was crying and looking lost, there were small pieces of the destroyed fragment around the area where Jaxith slammed John's chest and ended all of it.

"I tried, I really tried, I'm sorry, Cristina.", Said John helplessly while putting his hand over his stomach to try and feel her hug from before.

Jaxith now looked at him in an even emotionless stare, his red eyes contained only hatred, he moved his right hand grasping the sword's grip in a different motion than before and suddenly the resonation stopped and the sword started shrinking to its normal size, he pulled it and started limbing on his left leg while using his sword in the right hand to balance himself while walking closer to John, literally a cold look that doesn't bode well.