Wits Against Flames

Boom!!!

"...!!!"

Juliette was frightened more than ever now. She was useless, and felt it herself. But right now, it was not a time to blame herself. Nor beat herself down.

She instinctively held onto Damien tightly. Damien himself did not mind, and hurriedly ran away with her in his embrace.

He was fast enough to appear as a blur, the spirit not being able to react in time. He then ran behind the nearest large rock he could see, and hid there with her.

"..."

"..."

Both held their breathes, afraid to let up at all.

Juliette was fearful, and was thinking about how dangerous this situation was. She was wondering why they were even here to begin with. Why did they have to risk their lives?!

Meanwhile, Damien was wondering how Juliette from back then managed to defeat her opponent. This trial was fair, hence Juliette's trial should be human friendly.

So, what the f*ck was that?!

Damien thought to himself.

From what he could guess, that thing was a spirit. Thus it had physical damage immunity, and could dish out long range attacks.

To sum it up, them as humans, were weak and invulnerable against it. Now, how did Juliette, who was fragile, pass such a trial back then? How did she pass such difficulty by herself?

Damien thought and thought, and it did not take long for him to come to a conclusion. Wits. She must have outsmarted the spirit, and using something against it.

But what? He thought while scouting the environment with his eyes. Ah, yes. The terrain.

As for why he was so sure that she was at the same environment as this one, he was not. He was just betting on it himself.

And since he came to a conclusion, he moved. He already had a plan in mind, and it was flawless, thus why hesitate?

Time... was still not on their side.

"I'll be back." He whispered lightly. Juliette was unable to react in time as a bolt of lightning burst out of the hiding spot they were in, and rushed towards another boulder.

"..."

She was left speechless and in shock.

She was wondering why he was brave enough, to rush out like they were not fighting supernatural beings right now. As well as how irresponsible he was, to just up and abondan her.

Twice.

As for Damien himself, Juliette was the least of his worries. He knew the current her was not as bold. She would not dare rush forward like him, or follow behind him.

She had trust that he had a plan. And she would resent herself if she were to ruin it, by becoming a burden. He knew her pretty well.

Thus right now, the only thing on his mind was to run. And so, he ran.

He ran so fast he seemed like a blur moving from boulder to boulder, until he hid behind a much larger boulder.

The spirit failed to respond in time once again. Every fireball it released was left far behind by Damien, and hence missed its target.

This enraged the spirit, yet also made it cautious and careful about Damien. His speed was inhumane.

He was becoming more of a threat now.

Hence it placed absolute focus on his actions. It was to the point that it was not aware of Juliette, who was watching both of them carefully, with a determined glare.

Meanwhile, as Damien hid behind the boulder, he subconsciously smiled. The same smile that the demon came to dread, and one that Juliette found mesmerizing.

He picked up a large rock with one hand and held it carefully. He breathed out lightly, and threw it as high as he possibly could, slightly towards the direction of the spirit.

All eyes were on the large rock, including those of Juliette as well. But Juliette only gazed for a brief moment, and after realizing the rock was not Damien she made her move.

Damien also made his move as well.

During that brief moment, he grabbed a smaller rock and rushed out of his hiding spot. He threw the rock towards straight the spirit, while making sure he ran, as fast as he could, towards yet another hiding location.

And it just so happened to be close to something that he deemed important for this battle. Something vital, that he failed to complete a moment ago!!

Damien hid behind the boulder that he found himself rushing towards, right after leaving Juliette behind.

He hid, as his thoughts ran wild with ideas.

Ideas on how to properly end the situation. And of how to quickly do so as well, in under three minutes at that.

After all, he did remember that, the more talented a person, the more trials they have to undergo. Hence the better the rewards they would obtain.

Back then, he had defeated his opponent in under two minutes, afraid of being left behind by those that entered before him.

And thus, the previous him had accepted the Superhuman Strength ability from defeating the demon. It did come in handy for someone who was already strong.

But it was but an Extra grade level ability.

It was rumored that those who defeated two trials, and forgo both abilities, would obtain an exclusive Unique grade ability suitable for them and their future.

And those talented enough to defeat the limit of five trials, would obtain an Ultimate grade ability as a starter pack.

They might not be able to use such abilities at the beginning due to their cost and resources, but the passive effects were still available!!

Imagine a "Fire Controller" Unique grade ability, it's passive effects would be having Fire Immunity to anything below Unique grade. That being, anything but gods.

Or a Unique grade "Supernatural Strength", the passive effects were an increase to Strength by a hundred times. Permanently at that. That would make anyone near godly.

Let alone an Ultimate grade "Godly Strength", that permanently increased Strength by a thousand times as a passive effect. One could already imagine.

Unfortunately, Damien back then had only defeated a single trial, and learned of this information years into the future.

He was unaware of how many trials he could take. And he was unaware of what position he would obtain if he had unleashed his completed potential.

Thus now, he was willing to find out.

And that would be three minutes after the appearance of the spirit. Every three minutes, a new trial would appear.

If after three minutes, no new trial appears, means you've reached the limit of your potential.

So far, he knew that the demon was his trial, and the spirit was Juliette's trial. The spirit arrived exactly three minutes after the demon arrived.

And now, two minutes were almost up, and they had less than a minute and a half to take this fellow down. Unless they wanted to fight a two on two battle.

"..."

So, Damien steeled his heart and smiled. He was risking his life right now, but that was what he loved about this new, coming Era.

Everything was a do or die. And he was a diehard. A daredevil. And he was all about that.

~~~

But then he suddenly thought about the trials. In the meantime, he was waiting for an opportunity to attack.

He was not sure about himself, but he knew that Juliette would face four trials today. Hence the minimum amount of opponents they would have to fight, would be...

Five.

And that was about to move to three soon.

'Got it. It's either you or me buddy, a do or die. And I cherish my life.' Damien thought to himself as he held a large rock twice his head in size.

It was not heavy, but more than attention grabbing. Plus, he knew that the spirit was now threatened by his existence, hence it would focus on his every step, his everyone move.

And that was what he currently desired.

He threw the rock as high as he possibly could, making sure that it was slightly towards the direction of the spirit.

Both the spirit and Juliette loked up, caught off guard by the fast moving rock. It's fast pace made it hard to tell what it was with a single, brief glance.

Hence why it took a second or two to verify that it was but a rock. It even took Juliette less time to think about what that action meant.

She hurriedly gazed at Damien, and realized he was no longer where he used to be. She then did not think much and also moved her body.

She ran from her hiding spot, to another one located back, and silently at that.

Avoiding a situation where the spirit would attack her, to force Damien out.

Juliette might not be battle oriented, but the thing she disliked the most, was being a burden to Damien. Or being used as a chip or a weapon against him.

Thus her thoughts were always focused on making things easier for Damien. Such thoughts even dominated her fear and rationale thought process.

It was a resonance of sorts, she thought.