Battling One of THEM

A surge of powerful Qi emanated from the shrouded man as his body bulged and his muscles tore. Blood, so much of it, that no human can ever hold withing, and more, much more surged out creating a silhouette of a true demon descending upon the land. A monster, a behemoth of blood.

Crimson red, humungous, and dangerous. It had two enormous arms that hung from its shoulders. Each of them was thrice the width of a man's waist. On top of the shoulders were two pointed blades of bone. While his head was grotesque and monstrous it had a lone horn on its forehead protruding upwards.

It had no legs, as it looked to be floating from the waist up.

It dripped from blood and gave a dangerous air of corruption around it. Something primal within me stirred, it was fear.

'Damn, he turned fully… Back away Basara. Don't let it get its hands on the book.' Said Nocturne in a warning tone.

Forcing my self to move, I went towards Lady Lissandra.

My leg barely able to move, I moved towards her, putting all my weight on my left leg.

Once I reached her, I shook her a bit hoping to have a response. Thankfully, she opened her eyes, she looked to be in a daze as she looked at me, but the moment she saw the blood behemoth her eyes widened.

"No time! We need to move, Now!" I said as I pulled her up.

"Where do you think you are going!" roared the monster, a voice that didn't sound human at all shook my very soul.

It moved its hands and the Headmaster showed up before us.

Swinging his staff a huge barrier emerged, the hand of the beast was destroyed by contact forcing blood to spray out. However, the whole barrier, with but a single hit shook as if it was about to break at any moment.

'Reinforced with the Death shroud, it is not an ordinary one of them ' Said Nocturne.

"Headmaster. With your old injuries, do you think yourself able to defeat the current me?"

The old man laughed under his veil.

"Indeed, these old wounds caused me to fall behind and unable to fully exert my strength, many had thought me unfit, due to me clearly being far weaker than my subordinates. However, do you know why I still remain the headmaster?" said the old man as he pushed his right hand forward and a wave of energy washed over us. "Because never had I ever lost a single time against any of your kind!"

The barrier that was created by the headmaster shuddered and a palm the size of a mountain came down crashing towards the blood made beast.

"Futile!" roared the beast creating a similar-sized palm made entirely of blood, it roared then moved his hand forward forcing his blood palm into a clash against the palm of light.

All the spells I used, all the abilities I saw before. They all paled compared to the scale of these two's fight. How can I even reach there? Fight the calamity? Defeat the singularity? What an absurd dream.

'Calm your mind Basara!" said Nocturne "These attacks are normal for someone of their age and experience. Worry not, you still have much to learn. A day will come when you will treat attacks like these as if they were but a nuisance.' Said Nocturne as I felt that he was looking through my eyes, more interested in the blood made beast than the fight itself.

A shockwave soon washed over us. Ripping trees and upturning the earth. Blood and energy washed over the forest.

"You can't beat me, old man! I am not like those of inferior strength! I lived for hundreds of years and I survived hundreds of battles! The day where I die shall never be today!" roared the creature of blood as he created a humongous sword, thrice his size, and chopped downward.

'That barrier won't hold.' Said Nocturne.

"Today I will have to prove you wrong!" roared the old man as an enormous pitch-black shield emerged from nowhere.

'A dragon scale? These still exist? Huh, this was truly annoying back in the days, but it is only good for defence.' Said Nocturne

The sword cut down while the huge shield blocked it with ease. The blood that splattered afterwards fell on trees corroding them. As if it was a potent acid.

"Basara, take the princess and leave this place. I can't both protect and fight against this thing!" said the old man

'Indeed, two people of equal strength fought, the one protecting is always disadvantaged against the one attacking. You must leave this place.' Said Nocturne

Looking at the monster that was fighting the Headmaster I felt a bit of shame leaving him here… thus I asked

'Hey, Nocturne… you said that this Scythe can kill anything as long as it has life in it right?' I asked

'Indeed, however, with your current wounds, you will have no chance of getting closer to him. Let along wounding him.'

'Indeed you are right' I said as I smiled 'Of course I can't, not with my current strength.'

"Lady Lissandra… can I ask you for a favour." I said looking at the pale looking lady who I was supporting with my shoulder… or was she supporting me?

"Hu? Ah, Yes?" she said looking a bit lost, trying to assess the situation.

"I need your help removing some of these cuffs. The ones on my right thigh," I said

"You have more of these? No wonder the earth you walk on caves…" she said as she looked at my wounded leg.

While I tasked her to remove the limiters on my right thigh. I began by removing the ones on my hands.

"Oh my god, the wound is too deep… she said with a shocked expression… we need to treat this fast!"

"Don't worry about that. Just help me remove the cuffs, it is getting harder and harder to remain standing." I said

She then unlocked the first, then the second, and a third.

"That is enough," I said.

"Huh? You clearly have more, I should remove them."

"Ah, no, I made a promise to someone that I will have to keep them on unless my life is threatened," I said with a smile

"Isn't your life threatened right now!" Shouted lady Lissandra.

With a smirk, I answered, "Apparently not." Then I removed three from my other thigh, and two from each arm.

Ten rings removed. Ten rings remain. And a body limiter.

The mere fact of raising my left arm made me feel reborn. Energy, so much of it exploded from my now unrestrained arm. Though still many rings are still attached to me, a huge burden was removed.

I don't really understand why Master Shen asked me to never remove them, but it seems that they are tempering the body, every hour, every minute, and every second. Indeed, tools of torture used this way can be of great help towards becoming stronger.

Holding the scythe with both hands I strengthened myself

"Haste! Strengthen! Empower!"

Body lightened, joints reinforced, muscles pumped. My suit was about to be ripped from its place once the muscles in my body bulged out.

The huge monster of blood discarded his giant sword that dissipated in the thin air. His two hands grew enormous claws and swung forward slicing at the air and aiming at the huge black shield.

"Good he is distracted, careful Lady Lissandra please step a bit back," I said to the beautiful lady who immediately retreated.

Using all my strength, I bent my body back. With both hands firmly gripping the Scythe, I haeved a heavy breath then I jolted the weapon forward with enough strength that I felt my muscles tear.

The scythe flew into the air with enough strength and speed that made the very wind fear and release howls as it parted giving the weapon way to fly forward.

The scythe whirled as it spun around itself like a saw disk.

The fight between the two was instantly halted as the scythe tore through the air. The blood made beast tried to stop it with using his right hand.

"Idiot," I said as I laughed

The moment his blood made hand made contact, Nocturn spoke enthusiastically,

'I got him' 

A surge of immense dark Qi blasted through the forest. Waves upon waves of dark Qi washed over the empty space, then an orb, the size of the sun materialized from the tip of the scythe. The weapon began consuming the blood beast like a hungry flood dragon swallowing the sea.

"No!" Roared the creature. It felt danger, its hideous expression for the first time changed to fear.

It tried to pull itself out of that mess, to no avail. The gravitational pull only grew stronger as his body began to tear. His hand was consumed and his chest was soon to follow. The black orb ate away at the man's blood and what seemed to be supporting flesh as if it was in unbearable hunger.

The beast's body tore, his blood seeping away from his muscles, revealing white bones and tearing muscle fibres.

The beast screamed and howled, trying to pull itself. But the black orb ignored his pleas as it absorbed him in. Every time he trashed around he would sink deeper until the skin of its face melted, until the eyes popped out, and until the bones on its skeleton crumbled.

With a final howl, the beast that brought fear to the world was destroyed into nothingness, dissipating within the orb.

'Holy shit… that was awesome Nocturne!' I said addressing him

'Indeed it was potent, however… think not that an ability this powerful can be used without backlash… be prepared you will suffer the consequences of this…I didn't want you to use this scythe's power so early on… I am sorry"

Nocturn's words were grim. I expected as much. with this much power, there had to be a price to pay.

The black orb soon dissipated and nothing but torn dirt and uprooted trees could be seen for a long distance.

In the middle of the zone, there was a paper that glowed faintly.

The old man looked stunned as he grabbed the paper and approached me saying

"I believe… this belongs to you." Said the old man as he handed me the page

Looking at it, there were several strange words, exactly like the ones that I have in my book.

'This is what he stole from Nocturne I guess'

Once I grabbed the paper, the black book floated from its position as I always hanged it on my side.

It opened where a torn page was and the paper perfectly attached itself there.

The world began to turn as I started to feel a bit dizzy. It seems that I lost a lot of blood.

I will be needing that pill I guess… looking around I saw that the wing of the moonlight butterfly destroyed.

Shit…

"Hey, Basara… are you alright?" Lady Lissandra asked as she approached, supporting me by the shoulder.

"Headmaster! He doesn't look alright, look!" she said pointing at my skin.

Dark veins soon began to primate my body, as an old curse was swimming through my flesh with every single strand of it burning its way deep into my figure.

It hurts, yet I didn't even have the strength to express it. The book fell and I dropped to my knee, not even Lady Lissandra could support my weight as I fell.

Pain, the searing and suffocating pain!

"This looks like Their mark!" said Lady Lissandra "He can't be one of Them!" she said crying out.

Them? Ah, I remember, They grow black veins like this when they are in need of blood… am I turning?

"Don't worry, he is suffering from Qi deficiency… however, I never saw a case this severe… let's get him back to the school first." Said the old man as with a single swipe of his hand a gust of wind carried all three of us.

Closing my eyes in hope to fall asleep I was jolted back with insufferable pain… it seems that I will have to suffer a bit before I could regain my sense… this is going to suck.