Scarlet

So you’re absolutely sure he doesn’t recognize me as a blood lycan? Because those are some pretty wide eyes behind his helmet.

|Demon Captain – Subspecies: Triheart – Level 100|

“Yes, he’s most likely just shocked by how powerful you are,” Tar answers as I weave around the knights, taking advantage of the captain’s sudden wariness to slowly tear strips out of each one of them.

Well, if you say so. And this captain is a triheart, eh?

Not a very powerful subspecies of captain. I also believe I remember hearing at some point that this subspecies hates the term demon captain as well for some odd reason.

No idea why.

Trihearts are an odd demon, to say the least. They – just like every other demon captain – have three hearts. But unlike the rest, they have an etched skill linked to their hearts. Meaning that if they lose one of them, they lose the ability to use one of the three variable elements in that etched skill.

Or at least, that’s what the demonology textbooks I’ve been reading say.

The demon knights that I’m fighting aren’t too big a problem for me, considering that they’re almost twenty levels below me, but the captain could be an issue if he uses that etched skill of his.

I continue combating the knights, soon killing one of the five off and apparently pushing the captain back into action as he immediately rushes back in, his sword blazing a fiery red in the process. And this time I don’t simply take his sword strike with my claws. Instead, I summon a sword of blood and block it with that, only for the fiery sword to end up cutting through my own sword after just a second. But I don’t let the blow hit me, simply jumping backwards after feeling the difference between our weapons.

Yeah, didn’t really think that’d work. But it was worth a shot. Blood manifestation isn’t a high enough level by far to compare to a sword from Tartarus after all.

“Are you really human?” the captain asks, making me cock my head a little to the side and answer, “Yep,” before giving the order to my blood shadow, who appears right next to one of the knights and stabs it straight through the back, very nearly impaling its heart before it just barely stumbles out of the way.

One other thing I find rather amusing about this triheart is that trihearts apparently have the ability to tell apart lies from truth. So the look on his face right now is priceless since from his perspective, his skill should’ve told him that I’m telling the truth. Which I technically am.

“He also probably wasn’t expecting your blunt and short response,” Tar mutters, sounding amused himself.

The other demons around us attempt to join in our fight, but they’re so weak it’s rather pitiful to watch.

“You wouldn’t have been saying that just a couple months ago,” Tar comments, but I, of course, ignore him.

My blood shadow just runs around killing the other demons before they can even get close, meanwhile I flex my claws slightly as I alternate my gaze between the three remaining knights, each of whom are covered in large scratches from said claws all over their body, and the captain, who is just staring at me with his eyes widened in shock. Eventually though, he finally gets his act together and steps back, pulling the cloth away from the ring at his chest, making me understand very well what he’s about to do.

So I immediately rush for the closest knight and tear out its throat, the creature not having expected my sudden move before I continue past it as a bright light begins shining from the captain’s chest. One showing red, green, and blue lights that have alarm bells ringing in my head.

Both of the remaining knights turn in my direction, seemingly forgetting my blood shadow who rushes in and tears out their throats, capable of doing that without too much trouble thanks to both knights being almost two dozen levels below me. My blood shadow then rushes over to the captain as I rush around a pillar, the light shining from his chest reaching its crescendo.

I narrow my eyes from behind my cover, only for them to widen when I see three conjoined beams of energy – one of flames, one of wind, and one of water – heading straight for me. So I jump out of the way, making two of them branch off before the fire one strikes my cover. Then I run for a few seconds, only to jump again, once again making the beams branch off with the water one being the last one heading towards me.

This one is too close to dodge, so I instead turn around and create seven swords of blood in the air that I clash together as a sort of shield before pouring in massive amounts of blood into my blood claws skill and bring both of my clawed hands to cover my face in a cross formation. And the moment the blast hits my blades of blood, a loud noise akin to that of a waterfall echoes in my ears, giving me a headache. But soon enough, the swords shatter and the torrent of water moves on to hit my arms, pushing me back, my feet digging into the ground a little in the process. All the way until my back hits the wall and cracks begin to form in the wall as a result.

Eventually the blood layered in my blood claws begins to run low, so I layer a couple of plates of armor on my hands while pumping more and more in from my body this time, having run out of blood in my blood bank at some point. And that seems to do the trick as soon enough, the pulse of water finally trickles down to a stop, leaving me heaving breaths of exhaustion with my back against the wall. But that doesn’t last long before I raise my head to glare at the demon captain again.

I reach up and wipe my forehead of sweat before stepping out of the small crater I made in the wall – very thankful that the wall wasn’t thin – and heading towards the demon, who is looking rather tired from that attack, not to mention shocked at how well I defended against it.

Time to finish this.