Chapter 33 - The Devil's Mask

Calen's gaze faltered as he stumbled backwards in sheer agony and disbelief. A torrent of blood gushed from his chest, accompanied by an excruciating pain that ripped through his being.

He knew, at this harrowing moment, he had messed up.

The merciless claws of Sky found their mark, piercing his heart with unrelenting malice.

Gasping for air, Calen managed to rasp, "How did you find out?"

Sky's approach was chillingly calm as she closed in on the bewildered Calen.

"Your eyes. You can never fool the eyes. They say it all," she whispered and removed the tiny strips of cloth from his ears.

Her mouth unnaturally widened, stretching beyond limits, as she lunged towards Calen!

However, Ren intervened just in the nick of time, leaping at Sky with a dagger. Anticipating the impending attack, Ren swiftly altered her trajectory and aimed for Sky's neck with a dagger. To her dismay, the weapon failed to penetrate Sky's impenetrable skin, which seemed abnormally thick.

A torrent of curses raced through Ren's mind. 'Fuck! First, she took out Calen, and now this. How am I supposed to kill her?'

Ren was acutely aware of her limitations. She was nothing but an Initiate, still grappling with the true extent and nature of her ability. Unlike Reve and Calen, who had already begun to refine their abilities. She knew hers heightened her hearing ability to an elevated supernatural level, but was that all? Was there more to it?

'Focus, Ren. Think. Look for the weak point.' she echoed Reve's words in her mind.

Sky's skin was tough, proving impervious to daggers. That ruled out her main weapon.

A raygun might have been effective, but she was out of ray batteries right now.

There was also nothing to use in her surroundings, no means to gain an upper ground.

'No, actually, there is something. It may not be ideal, but I can use it to stall for more time.'

Immediately, Sky relentlessly attacked her with her deadly claws, but Ren skillfully evaded each strike. She gracefully maneuvered through the hall in search of an item.

'Ha!' A glimmer of hope flashed through her eyes.

She caught sight of a lifeless body and distanced herself from Sky. Seizing up the opportunity, Ren snatched up a gun that the deceased man had used to end his own life in what seems now like ages ago.

Examining the weapon, Ren sighed. 'It's just a regular gun, but it will have to do.'

She had no other choice than to make it work.

As Ren turned her attention back to her surroundings, she discovered Sky had vanished into thin air. In an instant, a sharp object sliced through the atmosphere and grazed Ren's skin.

She winced and focused her hearing, recalling her training.

'Focus. Focus. My heart is the world. I feel everything. I experience everything. I am everything.' She soothed with a mind sutra.

The moment she heard a sharp sound, she lightly twisted her body and delivered a forceful kick to Sky's abdomen.

Yet, Ren was the one left reeling from the impact.

Grimacing in pain, Ren hissed through clenched teeth, "Fucking bitch! What's your skin made of?"

Ignoring Ren's scream, Sky retreated into a shroud of white mist. An enigmatic aura engulfed her form.

Ren sharpened her heightened senses once more. Her surroundings became vividly clear. She could hear every living breath and even the lack of that!

A frown creased her face as she realized Sky's intention. 'Fuck, she going to sing!'

Raising the gun, she unleashed a flurry of bullets into the unseen distance. The echoes of an impact against the unseen target pierced the air.

A wry smile curved across her lips as she knew she had interrupted Sky's enchanting melody.

Bolting toward the direction of Sky, Ren's senses were suddenly assaulted by a vengeful scream emanating from the monstrous lady's mouth.

As the faint outline of Sky loomed before her, a sense of dread gripped Ren's trembling form. What unfolded before her eyes was a grotesque transformation. The once-humanoid figure gradually contorted into a nightmarish creature with four ominous legs.

The sight filled her with intense fear, and her eyes quivered as they beheld its monstrous form.

The creature possessed an eerie skin pattern, resembling that of orcas, with a sleek combination of black and white. It seemed to be a sinister hybrid, merging the body of an orca with the legs of a predatory land animal.

Nonetheless, its sheer size was enough to inspire horror, standing at an astonishing ten feet tall, while its deep black eyes exuded a chilling malevolence.

Suppressing her fear, Ren mustered a quip, though her voice trembled slightly. "So, that's your true form. It's something alright!"

Without a moment's hesitation, she aimed her gun at the monster entity and unleashed a relentless barrage of bullets upon it. However, her adrenaline and bravery were short-lived, as the clicking sound resonated, indicating the depletion of her weapon's magazine.

"Oh shit!" Ren exclaimed.

The monster charged towards her with undeterred momentum, seemingly impervious to the onslaught of bullets. She rolled away instinctively, but its claws grazed her.

In a fleeting moment of respite, the wisp of mist beside her materialized into the form of the monster.

Reacting swiftly, Ren attempted to duck, but it was too late. With a surge of terrifying ferocity, the monster's claws struck her, leaving deep claw marks etched into her flesh as she was violently propelled through the air.

Her body collided with the statue of Kathuk, shattering her ribs upon impact. Coughing up a mouthful of blood, she winced in excruciating pain.

As Ren struggled to regain her footing, the monster roared, readying itself to launch another vicious attack.

In a desperate attempt to defend herself, Ren raised her trembling hands to block the impending strike, but the monster's razor-sharp claw sliced through her defence.

She cried in agony as fresh wounds marred her body, each new injury intensifying her torment.

'I need to leave. It's unkillable!' A chilling scream reverberated within her mind.

Using the mist as cover, she darted through the hall; her gaze fixated on locating the main entrance.

Finally, she found it–a gateway barricaded by sturdy metal bars, prohibiting her from escaping the monster.

Fumbling desperately with the bar, her heart sank in fear as the monstrous creature gradually materialized behind her, closing in with predatory intent.

In an instant, the creature's gnarled hands seized her by the throat. Its jagged claws pressed menacingly against her vulnerable neck.

"No prey has ever escaped. Prepare to be eaten." The monster's words thundered in an incomprehensible roar, yet Ren oddly understood its intent.

Just as the creature stretched its maw to consume her, a massive object hurtled through the air and crashed into it in a devastating impact. It sent the monster barreling into the opposite wall.

A voice, infused with a quirky tone, sounded, "Boom! That's how to do a surprise attack!"

Calen emerged at Ren's side and lent a hand for her to lean on.

He sighed. "Wow, you are losing a lot of blood."

In the distance, the monster roared, making Ren and Calen alert of the impending danger.

Calen grimaced, an unusual tension gripping his usually carefree countenance. "Sky came through a hidden entrance. Find it. Quickly. I will keep her occupied as long as I can. Don't waste any more second."

"Duck!" Ren screamed in a cracked voice as she heard a sharp sound.

Calen turned around, saying, "Don't worry. It's–"

Ignoring her, Calen swiftly seized the statue of Kathuk with an otherworldly strength and swung it at the monstrous figure looming before them.

He grinned as his attack smashed the monster.

"-alright. It's just like playing tennis." Calen concluded his words with a casual tone. He appeared to be delighted with his new toy–the statue of Kathuk.

However, the monster let out another deafening roar. Calen nodded at Ren, signalling her to hasten.

The monster materialized close to him. This time, it ceased its assault and merely fixated its abyssal gaze on Calen.

"I killed you. How are you still alive?" the monster growled.

Calen coolly cracked his neck and wickedly grinned, "I'm a cambion. It's gonna take more than that to kill me. Now, get ready for an ass whooping."

Enraged, the monster bellowed, "How dare a food talk to me that way?"

With a display of its supernatural power, the monster materialized once again and launched a sudden attack. However, shockingly, Calen effortlessly evaded it, emerging unscathed.

Yet, Calen's smile faded as realization dawned upon him. "She wasn't targeting me. She wanted to separate me from the statue."

He knew the statue was the only thing that gave him hope of surviving this encounter. Crafted from a metal far stronger than those of ordinary daggers, it held the potential to inflict wounds upon the monster's resilient skin.

It held a certain poetic irony… killing a monster of the sea with the statue of the god of a sea god.

Calen sighed as he evaded yet another attack. "I guess there is no use hiding it anymore."

To fight the monster, he had to unleash all that he had. He needed to activate his numens.

All his life, he had moved from prison to prison, which gave him limited time to master spells. However, those years spent in confinement gave him an understanding of his own powers. They were the only thing he truly trusted in this chaotic world.

Calen tore off his shirt, unveiling an athletic physique adorned with numerous battle scars. He revealed a demonic tattoo on his chest that emitted an eerie black light. It bore the symbol of a devil's mask, with its grinning demonic jaws.

Touching the tattoo, an ethereal fragment of the mask materialized in his grasp. He pulled the mask out of his skin as he winced in pain.

Soon, he donned the mask, initiating a series of extraordinary transformations as a vile aura spread around him.

"Now, let me show you exactly what a cambion is all about."