For the record, my inner Cape Geek was squealing with child-like glee. I felt like a kid again.
Until I nearly got my head chopped off, that is.
I ducked beneath the swing and countered with a fiery slash, just barely grazing the demon as it warped away. Not a moment after it reappeared had it found itself jumping away from Antares. Her fist glided over its cheek, barely missing her target. The second the demon was about to move, she snuck in a surprise hit with her knee straight into its abdomen, knocking it into the air. This did not inconvenience the demon whatsoever as it flickered and vanished, reappearing far away from our reach. I tried to hit with my Summoned Swords again, but it destroyed them as easily it had last time.
"Goddamn Mover bullshit," Antares muttered angrily. "How is it moving so damn fast?!"
I was curious about that as well, but I had neither the time nor the energy to think about it. The demon's eyes glowed. "It's about to attack!"
"How can you-"
She stopped when she saw the demon vanish and reappear in front of me, bringing its blade down on top of me. I blocked with my scabbard and kicked it back, following up with three Summoned Swords that embed themselves in its thigh, shoulder and neck.
"It's eyes glow when it's about to attack," I told her as I braced myself for another attack. "From what I saw, it also can't control its movements while its moving around. It's actually holding itself back just to stand still or attack."
"Seriously?"
The demon took a step back and crouched, eyes glowing again before it vanished in a flurry of red. I felt it approach from behind and turned to block, only to see it vanish again inches away from me. I screamed in pain when I felt its blade slice across my back. Antares followed shortly after, struck in the back but unfazed by the damage. She managed to avoid the blade that attempted to impale her through the face, grabbing its wrist. Smiling viciously, she pulled on its arm and slugged it in the face, again and again until she managed to break off a few scales. She went for another punch, only for the demon's eyes to glow and vanish in its red haze, taking Antares with her.
I saw it dash about, appearing randomly all over the place before it finally came a halt in front of me, throwing Antares into me and knocking us both to the ground. I scrambled up to my feet quickly enough, but the Ward took a few seconds and was staggering.
"I think I'm gonna be sick…" Antares grimaced, a little green in the face. "I don't think this bastard is moving really fast so much as he is tearing through space."
Tearing through space? What does that-? I push that thought aside for the moment when I saw the demon lunge and reappeared on top of me. The scabbard deflected the first strike, but it went in for a second, which I blocked with Orthrus and countered with a quick slash to the shoulder. Thick black blood spewed across the pavement.
We were getting nowhere. At this rate, it was going to take us forever to kill it. And there was also the possibility that it would dash away when it realized how close we were to actually ending its life. Of course, that was assuming this thing had any sense of self-preservation. The major problem was its speed, but I could not think of anything that might help us or slow it down. Antares managed to latch onto it when it was moving, so anything latched on to it would come along for the ride.
A light bulb flashed in my mind.
I hope to god this works, because if not, this was going to hurt like a
bitch.
I switched Orthrus' flames for its ice and dragged it across the ground before swinging upward, sending forth a stream of ice in the demon's direction. It vanished to avoid the stream of ice and reappeared atop a lamppost. I sent a few Summoned Swords its way and watched it destroy them with ease. Its eyes glowed and went on the attack. Antares searched for it, bracing herself for the oncoming attack, but to her surprise it did not come for her but for me.
The moment I saw it materialize next to me, I grabbed its wrist as tightly as I could and ram Orthrus as deep as possible into its shoulder. The demon's eyes widened and promptly began to move.
I realized then what Antares meant about it "tearing through space"—actually, she had been downplaying it significantly. The whole world turned red: Rose, cherry, pink, cinnabar, chili, barn, cardinal, blood. All shades of red, swirling and mixing together like a distorted kaleidoscope. My stomach was doing flips. I did everything possible to keep my lunch from greeting me while maintaining a firm grip on the demon and my sword. Every few seconds the demon would stop and thrash around, trying to throw me off, then move again. All the while it was seemingly oblivious to the ice that was swallowing its arm.
"Freeze, damn you, FREEZE!"
After ten seconds of constantly moving and being thrown around like a rag doll clinging on for dear life, the trippy experience of being thrown through space-time at hyperspeed took its toll. As soon as the demon came to a stop it grabbed me by the throat and threw me aside, smacking me straight into a wall. My vision blurred for a few seconds. My head was spinning along with the world.
I heard Antares yell a battle cry, followed by the sound of ice shattering. My vision slowly came back into focus as I looked up to find the blonde Ward now holding Othrus and the demon slumped against a bent lamppost. It's entire left side was gone. Surrounding Antares were chunks of reddish-black chunks of ice.
"I'm borrowing this!" Antares called out to me. She winced momentarily, feeling the Devil's Arm judging her.
I remember Boss telling me that, even when turned into weapons, demons were finicky about who they obeyed. Orthrus in particular obeyed those who defeated him in single combat, willingly being a weapon for me to use when I defeated it. Antares, however, had not proven her worth. She was some stranger who grabbed Orthrus, thus the Devil's Arm reacted accordingly.
In this case, it would fight against her while she used it to fight the demon. A thin sheet of ice slowly encompassed her fingers.
I would have warned her about the dangers of using Orthrus, but I was so exhausted by my little trip to red land that I did not even have time to so much as give her a sound of disapproval before she jumped back into the fray. Unsurprisingly, the Bloody Cape did not have a single blade in its body. Another blade sprouted from its sole-remaining arm, countering her strike with its own.
From there, the game of cat and mouse continued. If the demon was inconvenienced by its newfound lack of a left limb, it did not show it or even mind; in fact, it seemed impressed that we somehow managed to do some real damage to it. It dashed about less and actually moved normally, struggling to keep itself grounded as it only dashed to avoid a blow or to get the surprise on Antares. It used its feet and claws to fight her alongside the sword growing out of its arm, showing that it was starting to take her seriously.
By contrast, Antares was proving why she has thought to be the second coming of Alexandria strength wise. Her punches shattered concrete and her kicks were kicking up drafts of wind. Her swings, while unrefined and clearly showing that she never used a sword in her life, were much stronger than what I could do. At one point, her swing managed to gouge out a decent-sized cut in the street. More often that not, her sword strikes managed to repel the demon's assault and give her ample time to deal some damage to the demon.
Unfortunately, as time moved on, it became clear that Antares, for as strong and powerful as she was, was running on fumes. By now, Orthrus covered up to her elbow in ice. I don't think she could let go of the Devil's Arm even if she wanted to. The frigid cold was affecting her considerably as her sword strikes and punches and kicks were getting sluggish. By contrast, the demon grew more excited. The damage dealt to its body, sporting several ice-covered gouges and slashes and cuts, seemed thrilled by the prospect of fighting a worthy adversary that could potentially kill it.
If Antares was moving slower, the Bloody Cape was moving faster.
I had to do something. I forced my body to move against its protests. Summoned Swords formed around me. I grabbed two of the Summoned Sword, holding them firmly in my hands and joined Antares once again.
The demon delivered a vicious roundhouse kick that knocked Antares away, and in the same movement, whirled around to block my swords as I brought them down. The Summoned Swords shattered on impact. The demon spun on its heel and went to decapitate me, but I brought myself down low and grabbed another pair of Summoned Swords, slamming my knee into its chest and ramming my swords as deep as possible into its open wounds. The demon kicked me away, but in the process, left itself open for Antares strike at its backside, carving open another wound.
It jumped away and disappeared in a red haze. By the time it reappeared behind me, ready to deliver a fatal blow, my Summoned Swords already materialized and intercepted the strike at my order. The blade was repelled and the swords shattered. Antares delivered a haymaker to its face, stunning it long enough for the both of us to slash away at its body. Black blood flew through the air with each slash. Just as I was about to ram another Summoned Sword through its body, it suddenly grabbed me by the face, lifted me into the air, and slammed me into the ground. I felt the concrete beneath my head shatter upon impact.
I felt my vision black out for just a second. The demon glared down at me, fangs bared and ready to bash my skull back into the ground, but before it could, Antares came in and shoved her knee straight into its face at full force, causing it to lose its grip on me and jump away.
"You okay?" the Ward asked.
I groaned in response, rising to my feet. "Yeah… You?"
"Peachy, except I'm freezing my tits off right now. Shit, what the hell kind of Tinker sword is this?"
"You wouldn't believe me even if I told you."
The demon releasing an ear-piercing, bloodcurdling roar caused us both to freeze. Its eyes glowed like fire and vanished. Our surroundings filled with red haze, swirling around us as though were in the middle of a storm. Its form occasionally appeared within the tightening circle of red, but it vanished just as quickly as we saw it.
This was it, the final stage of the hunt. If this thing was not trying to kill us before, it sure as hell was now.
Antares and I huddled close, our backs touching each other. I looked over my shoulder, seeing Orthrus having now covered her entire arm in ice. If we didn't finish this quickly, she was going to end up with more than just a minor case of frostbite.
My grip tightened around my Summoned Swords. We had to end this now. I was half-demon, right? That meant I was slightly tougher than the run-of-the-mill cape. Why not put it to the test?
"Get ready."
"Ready? Ready for what?!" Antares demanded in confusion.
The demon pounced. It dashed out from the red haze and plunged its blade deep into my chest. Blood gushed from my mouth. I think I felt its blade slice into my lung. It felt so hard to breathe. The demon glowered wickedly at me, sneering almost as it withdrew its blade from its new fleshy sheathe. I grabbed it as it attempted to pull out.
"Antares, now!"
The Ward realized what I had planned, and in a swift motion, brought Orthrus down on the demon's arm, severing it from its elbow. The demon cried out in pain as it stumbled back. In spite of the agonizing pain I was in and the fact that its blade was still lodged in my body, I didn't stop. With all the strength I could muster, I poured all that I had into this one last act. I shoved the Summoned Swords in my hands into its neck and
swung.
Black blood spewed across my face and on my visor. Some of it managed to find a way inside my mouth. It tasted foul and spicy all at once. The Bloody Cape's body went death still for a moment before its legs buckled and fell backwards, falling apart into dark embers and black specs that broke down into motes until there was nothing left. Even its decapitated head was not spared from this fate.
I stood still for a moment before falling flat on my back, gasping and coughing for air. My healing factor was kicking in now that the arm was gone, but holy fuck did it hurt. Seriously, why does healing hurt? I can literally feel my muscles pulling themselves back together and making new strands to make up for the ones that got ripped apart.
Antares fell on her rear, sweat caking her face. Somehow, she managed to relinquish her grip on Orthrus. The second the Devil's Arm was out of her hands and left on the ground next to her, the ice covering her arm fell apart and shattered upon impact.
Neither of us just said anything. We just laid there, processing what happened and the fact that we just survived a fight with the
Bloody Cape of all things.
Out of the corner of my vision, I saw a figure flying off. I think I saw them carrying someone, but I couldn't be sure. I hope that was Purity flying off with Rune.
"So…" Antares started. "That, uh…that happened…"
"Yeah…" I groaned.
"…you do realize I want answers, right?" she said while looking at me. "Like, who the hell are you anyway? And what the fuck is up with that sword?"
"Yeah…"
This was going to be a looong niiight…
Not gonna lie, I'm a little dissatisfied with how this fight went. Not sure what it is, but something about it just feels...meh.
Anyway, this came earlier than I was expecting. It would have been uploaded earlier, but I owed my fam food for all the help they've been giving me with re-arranging my room and setting up my first-ever gaming PC.
The next chapter will be the last chapter of the "Subhuman" arc, and after that is the Danny interlude. I'll hold off on the next arc until Adapt's "Occult" arc is also wrapped up.
By the way, regarding as to who or how many people died in the New Wave, whoever guesses correctly can ask me to write an omake. So long as it is within reason, of course.
