Chapter 41: Awakened

Whity was seen running at high speed through out the woods. Jerome's head are held tightly between his jaws as he carefully maneuvered through multiple branches in his path. Right behind him from a mile away were a group of generals that are tasked to eliminate them. Every second that passes, the more they slowly catch up to them. Whity didn't dare to look back. As he continues to run, he immediately halted when he saw that he's at the tip of the cliff. He turn around to try to look for another way but was intercepted by multiple generals all around him.

"Nowhere to run now filthy drakier." One of the them talked and upon inspection, it was none other than Horan. Whity growled when he recognized the one that beat him on their last battle.

"How poetic is it to be slayed by the one who beat you last time. I don't know how you survive the last time but it seems fate had deemed you to die by my hands."

A blood mist sword appeared on his hand and immediately made a dash towards Whity. Sensing the immediate danger, Whity made a rather dire move as he jump towards the edge of the cliff, just in time to avoid the blade.

Horan curses when he was unable to hit him while the other generals quickly fired multiple long distance attacks. Whity had fallen and was lucky enough that he didn't got hit by even one of their attacks. However as he looked down, he saw a wide and deep view of the lake from below. He braced himself as he fell down with a big splash.

The generals soon resume their run from the other side of the cliff. Horan looked on at the lake where Whity dropped with a sneer on his face. A few seconds later and he followed suit towards his fellow generals.

Meanwhile, Juha is currently panting on the ground. Her body had numerous wounds and bruises. Her clothes had multiple tears in them and all of her limbs had been broken in an awkward angle. Right beside her is the crouching Sentient Lord, caressing her face with his blooded left hand.

"That was a lot of fun, Juha. Well for me that is."

Juha was too weakened to reply. She could only looked towards her tormenter with every fiber of hatred inside her.

"I promise y-you this. K-Killing me right here will change nothing. King J-Jerome w-will stop you."

The Sentient Lord let out a loud laugh at her proclamation.

"Seriously? Do you even hear yourself? What could he possibly even do to me? As I said before, he is weak. The best he can do is kill one of the weaker generals but against me? He will not even realize that he already lost."

"You're w-wrong."

"Oh? Pray tell Juha. What gave you such confidence. Cuz from the way I see it, all you've ever spout today are nothing but lies."

"N-no. He is different. Far different from any of us."

Whity can be seen emerging from the lake, his body weakened and full of wounds. Despite his injuries, he continued to held Jerome's head tightly in his jaws. He resumed his run soon after.

"I saw how far can go even without his evolution. What he lacks in strength, he makes up for his amazing intellect."

Whity encountered a few undead in his tracks however he made short work of them. Their bodies had been launched to the ground in pieces.

"Unlike you, he never stops improving."

As Whity continues to slaughter every undead coming in his way, one or two of them got a lucky shot at him causing more wounds appearing on his body. Growling in anger, Whity used his claws to mutilate them in a very gruesome way. As the fight continues, a few drops of blood had landed right in Jerome's gaping mouth.

"Too bad he focuses too much on his inventions instead of improving his body but I guess it's not such a bad thing."

Whity resume his run once again. This time, there's not much undead trying to ambush him. Unbeknownst to him, the splattered blood on Jerome's face is slowly dissapearing.

"He can be strong however he wants. And when he finally reached his full potential, he will become something that even you have failed to accomplish…"

As Whity continues his pace, he was suddenly hit in his shoulder by certain general. Whity howled in pain causing him to let go of Jerome's head. He crashed through a nearby tree with a loud thud. Jerome's head was in air before getting caught by the unknown General. He stared at the severed head in curiosity before attempting to crush it with his bare hand.

"And what would that be?" The Sentient Lord questioned.

Just as the general is about to crush the head, he grew alarmed when his hand was suddenly absorbed towards Jerome's head.

"What the- AAAAAAHHH!!!"

He screamed in complete agony as his whole body is suddenly absorbed. Whity stared at the floating head in shock and curiosity as he wonders how his master made the enemy go away.

And right before his eyes, the severed head had regenerated his body back. His skeleton, muscles, limbs, skin, all had came back. Once it's done, Jerome is completely whole again. His naked form had stayed afloat in the air for a few seconds before dropping to the ground. He landed with grace in a crouching position.

"Complete ascension."

Jerome opened his eyes and his redish pupils are nowhere to be seen. His entire eyes are instead fully shrouded in darkness as if he has the eyes of the abyss itself.

Multiple sounds can be heard from a far distance and it seems it's closing in fast. Whity tried to stand up but were unable to due to his bad leg. Soon enough, the group of Sentient generals had appeared and surrounded them once again.

"Well, well, looks at what we got here." Horan stated as he stared at the complete form of Jerome. Garka on his side noticed few pieces of clothing that are similar to them on the ground.

"Something's not right", Garka muttered.

"So he's whole again. It doesn't matter, I will finish him right here, right now." Horan quickly rushed towards Jerome with his red mist blade in hand.

"Horan, wait!"

"Die!"

As he swung his sword, a dark flame suddenly emerged and quickly enveloped Horan's striking hand. Horan immediately screamed in agony.

"Wha- what is this?! It's spreading! I can't regenerate!"

Those were his last word as he was then fully enveloped in the fires of darkness. He never had to scream long as he was immediately turned to ash in mere seconds. The other generals got tensed at Jerome's display of power.

Garka and a few of them are now more wary than before. When Jerome turned his head to look at them, they assumed their battle stances and prepared themselves. Jerome held out his palm towards them and summoned a gigantic wave of dark fire towards them.

Garka grew quickly alarmed at the attack. "All of you, get behind me!" His order was immediately followed by his fellow generals. Garka held out his hand and formed a wide barrier. When the flames made contact, he could feel that his barrier is slowly being eaten away. 'Those flames are not normal.' He thought as he put more power into the barrier. As time went on, it seems that the flames are never ending. Garka could feel his body slowly losing strength. The flames are just a few centimeters away from his palm. Remembering what happened to Horan moments prior when he was touched by the dark flames, he grew anxious. Just as his hand was about to make contact, the flames suddenly dissapeared. Garka let out a deep breath he never knew he had.

He checked on his fellow generals and was relieved that none of them were unharmed.

He stared towards the surrounding but was shocked when he noticed that the entire forest have been completely burned. Not a single plant life had survived from Jerome's attack. All that's left are nothing but burnt soil. The generals were also shocked by the destruction those flames caused. Garka resume his focus towards Jerome once again but realized that he was nowhere to be seen. Even the drakier was nowhere to be found.

"Damn it, they escaped."

Back at the ruined nest. Both Juha and the Sentient Lord saw a humongous dark flame fully enveloping a large part of the forest from afar.

The Sentient Lord narrowed his eyes at this while Juha's eyes were wide in shock before turning it into admiration.

"My K-king."

The Sentient Lord heard her and scowled as he then held her by the throat.

"What was that?" He demanded.

Juha only let out a chuckle at him. "I don't k-know. I'm as shocked as you are. To think that he had this much power all this time…"

"Lies. You know something. Tell me right now and I might let you live."

Juha only looked him in the eye with no fear. "Did you take me for a fool? We both know that you won't let me live so why bother? Plus even if I did know something, I will still not tell you anything."

The Sentient Lord stared at her for a few moments before making his decision.

"So be it."

Juha closed her eyes, fully knowing her end is drawing near.

'Jerome…I'm sorry.'

And Juha Bara was no more.