The Undead Guardian

Thud...

After seeing Arwan's body lifelessly drop to the ground, Theo walked towards Adrian who wasn't too far away.

"We'll purge you for a greater world," Theo said as he looked at the sleeping baby from the corner of his eye.

Stretching his hand to grab Adrian, Theo felt that if he touched Adrian he'd be left with deadly wounds.

As someone who trusted his instincts, Theo's figure vanished from where he stood in less than a second.

Bam!!

Theo appeared where his men were as he gazed at where he stood a few seconds ago with slight shock on his face.

In place of where he had stood was a crater about 2 meters wide and a meter deep.

'Must be the power of his curse.' Theo said with narrowed eyes as he looked at where Arwan's dead body was supposed to be.

Crack!!

"I didn't expect you'd be able to dodge that," Arwan said cracking his neck before retracting the bony red arm he had used to attack.

Arwan's current form was vastly different from how it was before as his short blond hair had taken on a jet black hue, his left emerald green eye had a blood red glow while his right seemed to contain immense cruelty in its greenish depths.

"Like I said, I'll make sure I protect Prince Adrian even if it costs me my life," Arwan said making the ethereal red skeletal armor that covered him look solid.

With a snap of Arwan's fingers, Adrian's form was covered by a Water Barrier to keep the baby safe from their battle.

"Let's begin." A helmet that looked exactly like the Skeletal Demon skull materialized on Arwan's head as his malevolent voice traveled through the cave.

'Just this once, I'll give you full control of your body but bear it in mind that you won't last more than an hour and you can't use Soul Consumption.' The Skeletal Demon's voice echoed in Arwan's mind.

'That's long enough to kill them all.' Arwan thought not bothering to question the identity of the person who spoke since he had gotten his memories back completely.

Walking from behind Theo's group, an Elf holding a longsword said with a cocky smile on his face. "I'll handle him, boss."

Theo glanced at the Elf who had talked before nodding his head. If he had to sacrifice all the people with him to gauge Arwan's strength, Theo would do so in a heartbeat as to him everything was a tool just like how he was someone's tool.

"Hehe... It's time I sent you to hell." The Elf said having a cocky smile on his face.

"You're weak. He plans to sacrifice you so that he can gauge my strength." With his left eye becoming a burning red transparent flame, Arwan said as he easily read Theo's thoughts.

"So, are you go-"

"Shut it, bastard." Arwan interrupted the Elf before he continued with a cold tone. "I'm going to be sending all of you to hell so it doesn't matter if your lives are wasted."

Arwan's voice malevolent yet domineering echoed through the cave as the air around them seemed to have become heavier.

Whoosh...

"I'll make you pay for tha-" Forced to stop his speech after Arwan's hand appeared in front of his face, the Elf could only let out a huh as Arwan's hand touched his face.

"You talk too much," Arwan said making a dangerous red aura flare up from his bone armor before coating his body in it.

Boom!!

Craacckk...

Slamming the Elf's head on the ground beneath them, Arwan had a smile underneath the Skull helmet he wore.

"Who's next?" Arwan asked as he stood up.

Their bodies trembled in fear as they stared at their friend's body that was embedded in the floor.

"Huh?"

"This guy is a monster."

"Is it too late to turn back Boss?"

They said in fear after watching the cocky Elf's body dissipate into dust.

"None of you have the right to leave," Theo said coldly staring at Arwan who stood before him.

"Stop making me wait." Tired of waiting for them to make a decision, Arwan tapped his toes as he planned to kill them all if they delayed any longer.

"Go..." Theo's voice was imposing as it echoed through the cave, forcing the bodies of the three men to come in front of him.

"Kill him," Theo said forcing the men to move like puppets towards Arwan.

"Please don't do this Theo. We'll die." One of the Elves said having a mixture of snot and tears covering his face.

"I knew you'd still kill us. You'll follow us to hell just wait and see you, bastard!" Another Elf barked as he drew his sword out of its sheath.

"I swear I'd be loyal to you Master Nand please just have mercy on me." As his body moved towards Arwan, the last Elf tried his best to get on Arwan's good books.

Looking at the Elf who had begged him, a smile blossomed underneath his helmet as Arwan said. "I would've given you a second chance but too bad you said the wrong name."

His voice laced with cruelty, Arwan's eyes glowed maliciously as he said. "My name isn't Nand anymore cause it was never my name."

"Well, that's enough talk for now," Arwan said increasing the length and width of the bony armor on his right hand.

After the bones were as large as that of a Giant, Arwan casually moved his hand to the side causing the gigantic red bones to hit the group of Elves.

Splatter...

Not being able to withstand the slap they just received from the gigantic hand, the trio were turned into meat paste as their blood painted the cave's walls.

As he reduced the size of his bony hand, Arwan charged towards where Theo stood.

Clang!

The sound of metal clashing filled the air as Theo appeared in front of Arwan before hacking his dagger toward the latter.

Despite the armor that covered him looking ethereal, Arwan was able to use it to parry Theo's slash toward his right arm.

Rapidly increasing the size of his right hand's bony armor after seeing an opportunity to attack, Arwan pushed Theo back before swatting his hand to his right. Intending to crush him like how he had crushed the other Elves.

Whoosh...

Narrowly evading Arwan's attack after getting pushed back by the former, Theo pulled out three Kunais before throwing them at Arwan —aiming at the gaps between his skeletal armor.

Clang....

Arwan swung his gigantic skeletal arm to the left knocking the Kunais that were aimed at him away.

Skiiiiiddddddd...

"Shadow Curtain," Theo said as he pulled out a pitch-black scroll from behind him.

As a black magic circle formed beneath the duo, it shot out a black beam toward the cave's roof consuming all light within the cave.

'How disappointing.' The Skeletal Demon said in Arwan's mind before it continued. 'Relying on a power that's not his is just pathetic.'

If Arwan had been paying attention to what the Skeletal Demon was saying, he'd have noticed that he just so happens to fall under those who relied on external aid during their fights.

'And so is my host.' The Skeletal Demon sighed as it classified Arwan under the group of 'Disappointing Individuals'.

Although using external power during fights now was a common thing and regarded as an individual's strength, it wasn't in the past especially when the Skeletal Demon was still alive.

"It's all futile." Smirking underneath his helmet, Arwan rapidly increased the size of his skeletal armor before coating it in a reddish aura.

Bam!!

Shatter!!

Casually swinging his gigantic arm downward, Arwan created a crater on the Cave's floor while also shattering the Magic circle that was on it.

As his cover vanished, Theo pulled down his mask before throwing a red pill into his mouth.

Not waiting for Arwan to retract his skeletal arm, Theo lunged towards Arwan with his dagger drawn.

"You're really stupid," Arwan said swinging his gigantic right skeletal arm towards his left —planning to swat Theo who was running towards him.

"No, you're the foolish one," Theo muttered crushing the pill in his mouth before expertly twisting his body to face the approaching arm.

Boom!!!

With his feet facing Arwan's gigantic hand, Theo kicked Arwan's hand away making Arwan lose balance as his hand was sent towards the right.

Barely landing on his feet, Theo ignored the pain that shot through his leg as he ran towards Arwan.

Appearing before Arwan in less than five seconds after having his physical prowess enhanced, Theo unhesitatingly stabbed Arwan's legs the only part of his body that was unprotected by his bony armor.

"Your body would gradually be destroyed," Theo said pulling his dagger out of Arwan's thighs before walking towards where Adrian lay with his bleeding legs.

Even though he had been able to knock Arwan off balance, Theo wasn't able to fully negate the power behind Arwan's attack, and after he forced himself to run just made the stare of his legs worse. Simply, their battle was a tie with Theo being the last one standing.