Return of the Demon Sovereign (Book 1) [MxM]

81. Assassins (2)

Several dozens of kilometers South of the battle, Leo and Astra were chatting with the other captains, but a loud noise rumbled through the land.  They turned their attention northwards and saw a large black mass of energy hit a red cloud. The black energy overwhelmed the red when it collided, but there was still an explosion.  It cracked like thunder, making the people around him duck and cover their ears.  Shortly after the noise, a gust of wind cut through them, tearing down their tents and startling their horses.

But Leo stood tall, staring toward the explosion's epicenter with a face wrought with worry.  Astra grabbed onto his sleeve.  She was pale and trembled a little.

"Brother... that was..."

Leo gripped her hand.  "I know."

He took off suddenly and grabbed the nearest horse. Although the sound made the horse skittish, Leo forced it to take off to find Erebus.

On the other side, Erebus watched the Devils move into a different formation. He counted them and knew that he still had over half to go.

His eyes blurred a little with blood dripping into them.  He held a dagger in his mouth, tore a strip of cloth from his shirt, and wrapped it around his eyes, sending him into a world of darkness.

"A shame. I believed you were taking this seriously, but I guess you want to meet death sooner rather than later."  The Dark Blood Devil said with a dark frown.

"You don't understand," Erebus said with a chuckle as another rune was placed on the walls of the dome. "Now I'm taking you seriously."

He stepped tentatively, and the world in his Shadow Domain lit up in his mind.  His senses became stronger, and he could even determine the irregular breathing of the Devils. The leader was supporting one of his arms, but he still seemed relatively unharmed.

Erebus felt the throbbing in his leg where the needle was still impaled.  His damaged ribs made it hard to breathe, and he could tell that several organs were damaged.  He was not in the best shape, and what made it worse was the threat from the Devil with the Dark Blood Magic.

"You're struggling," the Phonoi Heart whispered inside his mind.

Erebus sighed and ignored the voice. Instead, he analyzed the Devils' formation.  He was half annoyed and half impressed to see them adapt so well after losing so many people. He wanted to attack the leader while he had the energy, but he would lose his life here with so many people remaining.  He needed to buy enough time for Leo to arrive.

Erebus noticed a hand movement from the leader, and the Devils rushed towards him.  He took a deep breath.

Erebus didn't stand still to wait to receive their attacks.  He rushed towards the closest one, a swordsman.  He sidestepped the strike of the sword, and as he was passing the Devil, he slashed his daggers upwards, cutting an arm off.  The arm landed with a thud and was quickly followed by the screams of the Devil.

He felt a threat behind him, and he quickly ducked and spun on one foot in a crouched position.  He added shadow mana to his blade and cut the blade out in front of him.  The shadow mana extended out in a large fan shape.  The Devil's closest to it suffered deep lacerations on the thighs.

He jumped up and stabbed his daggers into the shoulder joints of another Devil and ripped off the arm.  As the dismembered arm was falling, he kicked it, aiming at the oncoming Devils.

One swordsman cut the arm in half and launched himself at Erebus.  Erebus jumped forward and used his shadow mana as a spear.  It ripped through the air towards the other Devil.  The Devil panicked for a moment, but several throwing daggers shifted the trajectory of the shadow spear, making it miss its mark.