The forcefield barely cushioned the blow. We crashed so hard that we bounced up a couple of feet before falling back into the cruel embrace of the earth. Eran was tossed a couple of metres away.

Blood dripped from my lips. Before I could even orient myself, the scourging demons leapt at me, their clawed arms striking mercilessly. Thankfully, the protective wards had not receded even under the duress of the collision. I still felt some impact from those blows. My skin remained unharmed, the barriers perfectly neutralising the dark claws until a dozen such horrid devourers pinned me down under their collective weight.

The ward still held up, but I was being utterly thrown to the ground; my muscles could barely twitch under godawful strain. Even breathing became morbidly difficult as I accessed the two hundred and fifty-six threads woven in the silver bracelet.

With my essence flaring, kinetic power burst out from the protective wards and flung away the monsters wanting to have a bite of my flesh. It could not send them flying far enough that they would need a moment to return, but it did free me for a moment.

And a moment was all I needed to leap to my feet and activate the levitation boots again.

Eran was not so fortunate. He was thrown a couple of metres away, beyond the protective layers of my artifact, and had to fend off the demons without any protection or weapon. Although most of them engaged with me, a few still reached him and were already tearing at his flesh.

Unceremoniously, I accessed the inner space of the blessed stone in my bracelet and brought out Priam's sabre.

"Eran!" I shouted, leaping towards him before I could even balance myself in the air. Yet I had not even advanced a metre when the demons rammed at me, their acid attacks spitting about all around me.

I thundered at the ones impeding my way to Eran, my blade plunging towards one's head. The ghoul deflected the sword with a pale, sinewy arm, the edge of my sword sinking an inch into its flesh. Yet I could not shake off the feeling of being at a disadvantage. Its other arm sank towards my midriff, claws gleaming in the dying light. Even though the forcefield would protect me, I parried its advance, twisting the blade around its arm to cut off its clawed wrist.

A wind blade streaked out from my side and plunged into the skull of a devourer to my right, whilst once again I had no choice but to manipulate the protective shield to shove away all the monsters at my side.

Haste activated, I surged towards my friend. Eran tumbled backwards, his jaw clenched tightly in both pain and frustration, his clothes barely held by a thread. As I landed near him, a two-metre-tall monster slammed into him. It pinned him to the ground, its claws raking into his flesh.

With a desperate cry, Eran turned over the demon as the downward slope rolled them down. Even during the descent, they fought, the monster with its claws and jagged teeth, and Eran shoving with his arms and knees, fiercely wanting to gain the upper hand.

I dared not cast any spell, fearing it might hurt him. The sabre in my hand glowed in pale emerald light as I channelled my essence into its formation, while sixteen more threads flew towards the abomination. With the connection made, I yanked it towards myself. The bastard of a creature weighed too much to be carried by my telekinesis, but it did reduce the burden of my friend.

I did not know if Eran saw me in his tumble, but just as he was about to crash, he shoved the monster upwards, using the very motion that rolled them down. The abomination came right towards me. With my weapon ready, I did not miss.

There was no finesse or technique in my move as my sabre pierced its back. The force building within surged forth, and with no room for release, it emerged through the torso of the creature. A gaping hole opened with a fountain of foul blood pouring out. It screamed for one last time until I twisted and yanked the sabre upwards, dividing its upper body utterly.

"Eran!"

Eran was on his feet, chest bare with gaping claw wounds all over. The monsters had not had a bite of him yet, much to my relief. Swiftly, I landed beside him, kicking aside a devourer that leapt up at him.

"You fine?" he asked, his voice heavy, throat parched for air. Ghastly gore marred his face, concealing much of the acid burn, and the less that could be said about his wounds, the better. Yet he managed to find the heart to worry about me.

My sabre cut through another pair of limbs until it found its mark in the neck of a devourer. The compressed force surged, blasting apart its neck entirely.

"Duck!"

Even before the dead creature fell, and before Eran had time to comply with my request, I vaulted over him. Our eyes met for the briefest of moments, as my left arm thrust into the air, a wind blade bolted forth and swept over three demons that attacked him.

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The uncompressed gale flung the creatures as I landed before Eran, whilst a headless corpse tumbled at my feet.

"Are you..." A ghastly feeling gnawed at my heart for even asking such a stupid question. Eran was not all right. He was standing with his back slanted, the foul acid spittle and black blood smearing all over him.

"Give me a weapon," he asked, wheezing with his entire body.

I had no time to question his request. There were still too many of those creatures. And as the world descended into darkness, their numbers only increased.

Accessing the inner storage, I brought out the only article that could be used as a weapon. It was a hammer—a hammer for blacksmithing, and was not lengthy enough to be highly useful in battle. But my friend did not complain as I handed it to him.

Finally, implementing half of the essence threads of the [Band of Protection] to surround him in a protective ward, we began moving.

The range of my artifact was barely larger than my own domain of influence. I remained by Eran's side, using both my swordmanship and shaping to fend off the demons from cutting off our way of escape. Blighted hell, I did not even rest my feet and shoulders, shoving aside the abominations if I could.

I did not have to tell Eran about striking their heads. The hammer struck towards monstrous creatures in the storming form of Whispering Gale and Tidal Wave. He did not find the mark all the time. In truth, he missed and was obstructed more times than he struck, but I was there to make sure he did not fall under such disadvantage again.

Using Haste, I rammed into any demons in our surroundings, sometimes thrusting with my sword, sometimes my shaping ending their misery. In the gloomy darkness, my eyes only observed their flashing claws until my sabre bit through them.

My channels seared from extended overuse of my essence, but my Will remained indomitable. There was no surge of anger. Well, even if there was anger, it was burning cold. The dread I had once felt was shoved aside for far more practical emotions.

My sword bit through their numbers, chopping off the limbs of many, whilst the numbers beheaded were minuscule in comparison, much to my dismay. Good thing the devourers could not regrow their arms, and could only add to their numbers and moral support.

The twisted feeling in my stomach never subsided, not with the vile gore piling up around me. If I had time, perhaps I would have vomited my lunch. But now I could only ignore the contorting sensation, endure through the filthy reek, and make way.

The ghouls were relentless. Each time we broke through them and covered a dozen paces, a number of them lunged at us, bringing us back to the conflict. Even in flight, I barely found an advantage. The demons pulled us down by any means necessary. Surely, I could have escaped on my own, but I had never entertained the thought.

Their horrifying screeches had become a background chorus to my ears. It was not pleasant, but they told me the direction they came from. Then came the most unpleasant of screams, and I found the towering form of a devourer barrelling towards me. Standing over two and a half metres tall, the demon was likely the one that slammed us from the air. Its pace was terrifying, cutting through the obscuring mist like a knife.

My heart almost leapt out of my chest, but I did not forget to ram another attacking force towards the grotesque creature. To my surprise, it actually flung itself several metres in the air, evading the kinetic blow.

I managed the attack another time, which it dodged rather skilfully, until its form barrelled into me. I heard Eran's cry, but had no luxury to give him a glance. Mind chilled, my sword thrust towards the towering monster; an unstructured fire shaping flashed towards its form. None of it proved remotely effective as its clawed fist slammed into my arms, throwing off my weapon. My universe tilted, head slamming into the jagged rock, whilst half a dozen hammering blows thrust into my form.

No devourer joined to help. No devourer needed to help.

The ward still held up to the challenge, though gasps of indignation escaped my lips constantly. I activated Haste at once, but the demon had me pinned to the ground; the pair of fabricators could barely move me as much as I could move myself.

Its clawed fists joined together and continued in their assault, sending deafening booms that chilled my heart. Yet after a dozen such blows, I found myself in a rare moment of respite.

For the briefest of moments, I allowed myself to stop worrying about it and turned my gaze in search of Eran. My eyes failed to spot him, but there were a dozen of those repulsive demons gathering to my right.

The moment passed, and I looked within myself. What could I use to end this abomination above me? My thoughts surged, looking for something--anything that gave an edge over it.

I was already at the limit of my essence expenditure, and the silver bracelet had lost more than two-thirds of its charge as well. The forcefield did not consume much essence, since the kinetic force revolved in a cycle. It was the sheer number of times I released it as a kinetic thrust that consumed half of the power. A couple more times, and my defence would be disposable.

With that in mind, a few essence threads flew out of my palm to find the sabre a few paces away. I did not Will it to return to my palms. Instead, I utilised telekinesis to have the sabre hover up in the air, its pointy end perpendicular to my fractal sight--to the skull of the devourer.

I yanked at the threads that controlled the blade, pouring all my anger and indignation into the attack. The horrifying maw with layers of jagged fangs and twisting tongue hovered inches away from my face, while its arms clashing into the forcefield incessantly. It did not sense the assault until the sabre slammed into the skull.

The demon was an elite among the devourers, its flesh tough as iron. But slowly and surely, the sword bit into its skull, the sharp force digging in. To make it easier, I channelled the shoved forcefield towards its hideous face, squeezing it from both ends.

A raging cry escaped my lips, rising above their unholy chorus. The raw aetheric force thrust out of me was beyond anything I had ever exerted—anything any Common class shaper had ever executed.

For the briefest moment, my Will and the primal force of the universe became one, and all of it crashed into the abhorrent ghoul. The sword dug, crimson flame blossomed on its edge.

The demon screamed. A pitiable cry, filled with the dread once stitched deep in its twisted soul.

The flaming blade sundered through, puncturing its skull to draw out of its morbid orifice, and finally sank into the forcefield.

[Honour acclaimed: Nascent Demon Hunter]

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