10. Raid boss Veilhem (1)

Maki was shocked and baffled at the eccentric situation unfolding in front of her right now. 

The black knight who seemed to have lost his mind and attacked her.

The saintly woman who blocked the attack with only one hand and didn't even bulge. 

"You seem to have lost your mind already and acted based on your instinct, Veilhem."

"This proved to be more problematic than I had anticipated." Makima muttered lightly. 

To wake him up, Makima must somehow awaken the humanity within him without taking any damage. If she did, the damage would be transferred back to Veilhem and soon he would become hollow. 

They traded blows as both of them used everything they got in their arsenal. Foot, elbows, knees, fists, blades. But the difference between their figures wasn't something that could be taken lightly, even more so as Veilhem was a knight for god knew how long. His experiences and battle senses had been engraved in his body. His intuition was more than enough to make up for his current state of insanity.

Veilhem stomped her abdomen quick enough to slip through her reaction. 

Makima was sent flying back, crashing into the wall of the Training Compound, creating a large cavity on it, splinters splashed everywhere due to the impact of the kick. 

Veilhem turned his gaze toward Maki, his eyes full of the flame of madness and it made her feel terrified to the core. 

Cold sweat rolled down her back as she faced THE monster with nothing but her physical aspect, the worst part was that she was only 6 with little to no combat experience. 

HOW FUCKING GREAT IS THAT?

"I've seen your kind time and time again. You grasp the glimmer of whatever hope was displayed in front of you. Protect and fight for that same ideal with whatever you got, what little you have left… to prove what?" Veilhem mumbled maniacally as if mocking at himself.

"I was one of thee, once. Hell, I even maketh it till the end." He raised his sword and hung it over his shoulder.

"WTF are you talking about?!" Maki shouted, dragging her exhausted body up.

"Feigning ignorance ain't we? No matter what, Cometh forth, Seeker of Truth, what is that you seeketh for?" Veilhem motioned with his hand as he lowered his stance.

Maki was preparing to die here with him as she couldn't handle him right now. She growled at the clan in her head to let this monster roam freely. 

However, she suddenly felt a hand placed on her shoulder. Maki yelped in surprise and jerked her head back. There stood a stunning beauty with red hair and a calculating smile. 

Makima had empowered her body with the immense Curse Energy she had learnt to use just now to emerge unscathed. 

"Truly, a problematic situation." She concluded, wiping the blood which managed to escape her mouth with her shirt.

"How can we stop him?" Maki asked, her wariness was visible as she glanced over the black knight.

"I don't know?" Makima innocently tilted her head. 

"What do you mean you don't know?!" 

"Ahh, you would make a cute puppy." 

"This isn't the time for that!?" Maki's face reddened at the sudden remark.

Veilhem lunged at the couple with his sword. The old sword was bathed in the Flame of Madness coming from his soul. Even Makima felt danger upon glancing at it.

She picked up Maki by the scruff of her collar and jumped back.

Boom!—

The whole construction was cracking and on the verge of collapse at any moment. 

They rushed outside the compound. Makima pointed her finger at Veilhem and a soft word came out. "Halt."

Veilhem stood still at his spot as the crumbling building fell on him. 

Maki saw this and uttered. "Is it over?" 

"Of course not." To which Makima replied, rolling her eyes as if she just heard a stupid joke. If the knight could fight gods and come out victorious, these inadequate rubbles would be nothing to him.

Just as she said, from the ruin, Veilhem with his shambling figure crawled outside and let out an enraged bellow.

"Arghhhhhhhh!" 

He fell on the ground and from him, the Flame of Madness engulfed his entire body. It created an illusion of hundreds of wailing souls trying to escape from him. 

Boom! 

Another loud explosion occurs and some of the contorted souls fly out of his body. His voice warped into a cacophony of hundreds of people being forced to mix together to one. It was an abomination to say the least.

A few drops of blood flowed down Veilhem's hand as he greased the blade, increasing the flame's intensity.

They both saw this and Maki couldn't take it anymore of these illusions. She threw up directly.

Makima could probably use her Force Manipulation to kill him but that would create more problems as he wouldn't die and became hollow at an even faster rate. 

However, doing nothing wasn't a choice either as he would continue to wreck this place up. Surely she could deal with the aftermath but that didn't solve the root of the problem. Veilhem still went crazy.

They were caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Bloody hell." Suddenly, another man pushed the splinters out and dusted off his clothes. 

He had defined muscle and a visible scar at the corner of his mouth with disheveled black hair and eyes. It was Toji.

"And who may you be?" Said Toji. He locked his boring gaze upon Veilhem and back to Makima and Maki, a chuckle appeared on his boring expression. 

Well, to explain how Toji was here of all places… In short, he came here to steal some Curse Tools. Toji doubted they would make a big deal of it. For a big clan like Zenin, being snatched one or two Special grade Curse Tools was not that big of a deal. It didn't affect the political standing of the clan or anything.

Even if it was… he could kill some of those geezers to scare them like he did last time.

Toji had passed by the Training Compound on his way back but then the whole building collapsed. 

That summarized the whole thing. 

Toji saw the two of them fight and to be honest, he was quite impressed. The lady over there with blood stained her white shirt was using something that wasn't related to Curse Energy to stop the black knight in place. 

While the cosplayer knight…

He used his pure physical strength and some fucking flame to deal the damage. The flame that was on his sword made Toji feel a little overwhelmed but he didn't pay any mind. 

If Toji wasn't provoked then he would be a chill dude. Cracking his neck from side to side, Toji decided to walk off but then Veilhem glanced over the man because he was the closest. 

"Grant me that thing, the thing in your blood. The pigment of your dark soul." Veilhem reached out his hand before disappearing from his spot.

Toji was quite surprised but with his peak physical strength, he could sense the black knight approaching at a rapid speed. 

Clicking his tongue, he spatted out the Curse that held his arsenal and drew out the newly stolen Curse Tool from the Zenin armory. 

The Inverted Spear of Heaven.

Clang!

The loud sound of their weapons colliding with each other. Toji sneered at the knight.

His curiosity was piqued. Not many individuals could match him in terms of strength and battle senses. Toji pondered if the knight cosplayer in front of him had Heavenly Restriction like him too. 

Their battle continued as they moved at high speed that normal people couldn't even see. Only the sound of their weapon colliding were heard throughout the whole battle. A flurry of after images was the only thing Maki could see.

Maki was left in awed as their battle didn't involve any Curse Technique or Cursed Energy but pure physical prowess. 

'Could I be like that?' She thought.

Toji and Veilhem were seen once again and this time, Toji pulled out the chain from his Curse Spirit and hooked the Isoh into it, he swung it at Veilhem with a maniac laugh.

Veilhem ducked under it and landed a punch at the side of the Isoh, knocking it to make it lose the momentum.

However, the chain in Toji's hands moved like a snake and wrapped itself against Veilhem's arm, tying him up. Toji yanked hard to pull Veilhem closer to him but to his surprise, Veilhem was only flinching a bit and that was all.

Even with his immense strength and prowess given through the Heavenly Restriction, Toji couldn't move Veilhem. 

"Fucking monster." Toji murmured under his breath.

"Mimicry: Lord of Cinder: Yhorm The Giants."

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(A/N: Ahhh, Cliffhanger my old friend. Grant me your powerstones and reviews pls.)