Rise of the Demon Slayers (2/2)

After carrying, more like dragging, an unconscious Kyrm off to the side I began to realize just how inhuman we really were, and I almost cursed Magna but I remembered that it was not only my decision, but everyone else's. Sighing internally, I turned around and faced my companions, each showing more than a small amount of admiration, apprehension, and outright shock. The atmosphere was turning awkward before Adam had stepped up and began to stretch and crack his joints before cocking a smile and saying "Y'know, it kind of pissed me off that you left me out of the fun!" before charging toward me at breakneck speeds.

This time, I wasn't going to have it easy as Kabuto enhanced Adam's speed, Senaris barraging me with massive icicles, Lyra trying to bind me with her shadows, Saya assaulting my senses with her sound magic, and Adam himself keeping me occupied in close quarters. Now my blood was pumping!

I ducked under Adam's punch and rammed my shoulder into his stomach, causing him to fly into one of Senaris' icicles, his blood spilling onto the grass. Adam stared in confusion as he realized that he truly felt no pain so, with an almost manic smile, he pushed off the icicle and began to renew our fight. Adam began to conjure stone spike under me as he reached for my throat, attempting to end the fight. I kicked off the ground, making spiderweb cracks in the ground, and created distance, but Adam kept conjuring those damned spikes under me, so I had to be light on my feet.

I attempted to get close to Adam so I could knock him out of the fight, but he conjured a strange metal wall in front of my attack before metal spikes erupted out of it, grazing my thighs and stomach. Adam's wild hair began to turn rigid and now had the appearance of sharp spikes. At the same time, Kabuto began to send a veritable wave of wind sharp enough to draw blood aimed at my neck while Senaris created a field of ice underneath me, making it hard to move accurately. I was pelted by Kabuto's wind, deep cuts dotting my body as my blood poured onto the ice below me and painting it red. I looked at my blood on the ground and my head started to pound, my mouth began to water, and my blood felt like it was writhing around in my body.

I followed my instincts and dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding becoming a Yuuki-on-a-stick while I unleashed the full brunt of my aura, melting the ice away in an instant and shattering Adam's metal spikes. The energy in my body felt like hot lead but I kept on going, barreling through all of the spells they threw at me. I felt a familiar feeling, it felt like I was moving through a thick, yet watery barrier as I dodged and parried various attacks. I once again gave into my instincts as another wave of attacks threatened to rip me to shred, and held my palms in front of me, yelling "Blood Magic: Sanguine Tide!"

The blood that painted the surrounding areas began to lift and shoot towards me, creating a massive tide of blood that negated the spells thrown. I took a step back and held my hands close to my side before I pushed them forward, causing the mass of blood to shoot forward, engulfing everyone in its path. I heard a sharp whistle from behind me, most likely Magna, but I pressed on, now wielding red lightning and blood. I kept accidentally biting into my lower lip because my already enlarged canines had grown even more, making it really uncomfortable to even move but I just ignored my uncomfortableness and rising uneasiness.

I saw Adam, Senaris, and Lyra drenched in blood while Kabuto, Rin, Elaris, and Saya were off to the side, waiting for me to attack. Adam was knocked cold after taking the brunt of my attack while Senaris and Lyra were trying to get to their feet, albeit unsuccessfully. Elaris and Saya decided that they had enough of waiting as the latter once again assaulted my senses with her sound magic and the former wrapped my legs in vines, leaving an opening for Kabuto to exploit. He saw this and sent a sharp crescent of wind towards my neck, hoping for a quick win. But I'm never that easy to win against.

I once again shred the vines apart with my aura and ducked under the crescent before blasting Kabuto with a bolt of lightning, sending him flying back a few meters. I appeared behind Saya and casually draped my arms over her shoulders with a bored expression on my face. Her face turned even more red than Kyrm's hair as she flustered and tried to swat my hands away. I let her go and gave a playful wink before appearing next to the still struggling Senaris and Lyra.

They both had saw what I had done to Saya and Senaris looked at me with a slightly flushed face while Lyra looked like she'd kill me if I ever pulled something like that on her, so I walked between them, laid down, and began to poke their cheeks while asking "Hey, when are you guys going to stand up? I get's boring waiting for everyone to recover when we feel no pain."

Senaris looked like she was about to pass out with how red her face was while Lyra was a bundle of pure rage. Even though she was making a cute 'hnnn' noise, I felt quite a bit of pressure from her, especially after my vision had turned pitch black while I was unceremoniously skewered by her shadow magic. I quickly burst her shadows apart before she could render me immobile and focused on my sense of hearing. I heard a slight shuffle from my left and immediately ducked, narrowly avoided what I assume was a kick. I jabbed out with my left hand, hitting flesh and startling whoever it was that tried to knock my head off.

My vision cleared almost immediately after and I saw Lyra on the ground glaring at me with a look of blame. I chuckled and turned my head to look at Senaris, who averted her gaze as soon as I looked over, and asked "Awww, why don't you want to play with me?" with a mock pout, causing her to also glare at me before conjuring 12 massive icicles around her. I smiled and leapt away, right into a waiting Kabuto. I twisted my body midair and avoided his crescents of wind and threw a left hook aimed for his jaw, which he surprisingly blocked before pushing me back toward Senaris with a gust of wind. I shattered the icicles headed toward me before landing in front of Senaris, and from the corner of my eye I saw Kyrm wobble to his feet and glare at me with eyes full of hate.

In less than a second Kyrm was behind Senaris with his mana sword about to plunge through her stomach in a vein attempt to reach me. I grabbed Senaris and threw her to the side, letting the sword plunge through my heart instead. Though I could feel no pain my blood began to burn within me as I looked at the crazed, almost smug, smile on Kyrm's face. My anger exploded and I could feel the energy inside of me begin to take split apart, a new energy signature forming alongside the lightning energy.

I put my hands on Kyrm's shoulders and began to press him into the ground while flooding his body with lightning causing him to cough up blood, which I used to form spikes of blood to gouge out his eyes. My fury had hit its peak as I watched Kyrm try to break free from me and grab Senaris. I snapped his left arm before breaking his nose with a headbutt. Kyrm activated his black fire in an attempt to fry me, but the lightning that surrounded our bodies broke it apart before it could even form.

Kyrm try to spit at me but I snapped his mouth shut with my knee, knocking him down to the ground. I stood over Kyrm and began to barrage his face with punches, turning him into a bloody mess. It wasn't until Magna grabbed my hand as I was about to punch him again that I realized he was already unconscious. I got up and looked around to see everyone, with the exception of Senaris and Kyrm, looking at me with unveiled worry, or even outright fear in their eyes.

Senaris gently tapped my shoulder and said "T-Thank you for saving me, even though it was pointless..." in a whisper.

I smiled and plopped my hand on her head and said "It wasn't pointless. What if we weren't in this place and you were about to get killed by that dumbass. I can't stand there and watch someone I care about get skewered." Senaris turned beet red and shuffled toward Lyra without looking back.

My gaze turned sharp as I focused on the unconscious Kyrm. When we get back to the academy I'll make sure he remembers his place. I clicked my tongue and began to walk over towards Kabuto when I felt like my heart was about to burst. I fell to my knees gasping for air while an unbearable pain assaulted me, bringing with it a sense of dread that I had never felt before.

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[SENARIS RAAL POV]

'I can't believe that idiot said such things in front of everyone! I mean I would've been fine if we were alone, wait no that would make it worse! I don't even know if I'm the same person anymore. Every time I see his stupidly handsome face and charming smile my hands turn clammy and my stomach feels all fluttery.' I thought as I hurried away from Yuuki and towards the safety of Lyra. I pat my chest to calm my furious heart, but despite how fast my heart was beating, it paled in comparison when I heard a familiar blood curdling scream come from behind me. I whipped around and saw Yuuki clutching his chest with blood streaming out from his eyes, ears, nose, basically every opening that he had there was blood flowing out from it. I heard shout and cries from behind me but they sounded like faint whispers as I kept my eyes locked on to Yuuki. I could hear my heart pounding against my ribcage but, despite my fear and trepidation, I began to slowly walk towards him. He noticed my approach and turned his gaze to meet mine with words coming from his mouth that never reached my ears. As I approached Yuuki, I knelt down and tried my best to hold back my tears, but despite my best efforts they came rolling down my cheeks. Even though he looked like he was in immense pain, Yuuki had a look of guilt in his eyes as he watched a tear stream down my face. I trusted my instinct and put my hand over his cheek, and met his lips with mine.

A foreign energy began to swirl in my stomach before transferring itself to Yuuki's body, seemingly reversing the flow of time as the blood on the ground began to float upward and enter back into his body. My cheeks felt like they were on fire as I quickly stood up and took a few steps back, waiting to see if anything had happened. Yuuki was still kneeling down, so I couldn't see his face, but he began to chuckle, and then that turned into a full blown laugh as he looked up at me and gave me a smile that twisted my heart in my chest as he said "You're sneaky when you want to be. I guess I'll just have to get you back for that one sooner rather than later!"