Against The Goat!

"Who are you?!"

"I am called Scelus."

"Are you some kind of a goat spirit?"

"I am just the Scelus."

"...O-okay... Why are you looking for me?"

"Because you escaped from your prison."

Nox awkwardly scratches his cheek. He was ready to attack any moment but Scelus just stood across him without moving. Even while talking he was without emotions. Unlike his partner, Scelus looked alive at least. The Convict was practicing with his sword in another section of the forest. So Nox was alone against Scelus.

He released his domain but kept it underground. With this black smoke won't come out of the underground. But if the other side has a good perception it was useless. Still, it was better to be prepared.

"This is awkward... Are we going to fight?"

"Are you willing to surrender and deliver the Convict? If you do so you might not get many sentences."

"I am not going back!! I will never return that damn prison!!"

"Then unfortunately we have to fight."

Nox readied himself to attack but before he could understand he was kicked in the face. He was blown to the tree a few meters away. He crushed at the tree trunk and fell to the ground.

'I couldn't even see his movement! What the heck!? I need to be extra careful about him!'

Nox get up relying on his instincts dodged sideways. Scelus' fist barely missed his face and hit the tree trunk blowing it to pieces. A look of shock and fear appeared on Nox's face. Scelus doesn't have a bulky body, quite the opposite. He has a very frail-looking body. But with just one punch he showed the power his body possesses.

'There weren't any mana in that strike. So it must be a purely physical attack. He is even more dangerous than I thought!'

A magic circle appeared on Nox's hand and from the circle raging flames come out. Flames were jet black and took the shape of a dragon head. It rushed at the Scelus while he was analyzing the spell. Dragon hit the place where Scelus was and caused an explosion.

Nox didn't let his guard down and jumped at the branch of a tree. And sure enough, a spell hit the place he was previously. It was a wind blade sharp and powerful enough to cut down the tree.

'These trees are strengthened with the natural mana and yet he cuts them like butter! What kind of a freaking monster he is!?! Does Council have more monsters like him?!?!'

Nox focus on his domain and created ten big worms underground. As soon as they were completed attacked Scelus. While Scelus was busy with worms as big as a human arm, Nox gathered a huge amount of mana and turned it into several crystal spikes. He fired them to Scelus without hesitation.

Unlike what he imagined spiked did hit Scelus. They even pierced his body. Even worms bit into his body and slowly tore it apart.

"Was it this easy?"

Nox was dumbfounded by the Scelus' behavior. He was still standing at the same place. His body was covered with wounds. Some of them were extremely bad-looking. He was losing a lot of blood from all of those wounds.

'Blood? Spirits don't have blood... Wait a min-'

*ROAR*

Suddenly loud roar was heard inside the forest. Alerting anyone near it. Inferior spirits quickly run away from the forest. Even The Convict has shivered from the roar while it was at the other side of the forest. It knew from the moment it hear, this roar belonged to some dangerous creature. It quickly rushed towards Nox's location.

The source of the load roar was Scelus. His body enlarged and reached five meters in height. Horns on his head grew and turned dark. The previously frail body was now filled with overgrown muscles. All of the wounds have disappeared as well.

"Shit! A minotaur?! Aren't those creatures supposed to be fairy tales!?!"

Scelus rushed at the Nox. Before he could escape Scelus punched him. It was so strong that the tree was torn the shreds just by the after effect of the punch. Nox was even worse. He flew away fifty meters. Most of his body was damaged beyond his imagination.

Scelus slowly walked towards the Nox. At his, every step ground was crumbling. A few steps later he suddenly stops. Behind him was Nox sitting on a tree branch. The other Nox who was lying on the ground disappeared as black smoke.

Black tentacles shot out of the ground and bind Scelus. When he was completely bound by tentacles, a red light covered some of the tentacles. From the tips of the tentacles, it traveled to the ground.

Nox jump down from the branch. He didn't drop his guard and observed Scelus. He didn't imagine that he could turn into a minotaur. They were supposed to be just myths.

'What the heck? I like fighting but he is absurdly strong. If I didn't mix my concept and mana I wouldn't even have the chance against him. He is absurdly strong!'

If someone looked closely they could see signs of exhaustion on Nox. His mana reserves were almost spent. He abused his domain and even put Scelus into a strong illusion. But still, he wasn't done yet. His mana was recovering ridiculously fast. And soon enough his mana almost completely recovered.

'It works! I can steal mana from those who I trapped inside the domain. Still, keeping the domain active is too burdensome. Have to finish this fast.'

⟨Wraith Mode⟩

Mana gathered around Nox and took the shape of a ghost-like figure. From the wraith emerged a jet black sickle. Nox grabbed it and attack Scelus. The sickle was leaving behind a trail of darkness. When it get close to Scelus it shone with power. With a powerful strike, Nox beheaded Scelus. It was the special power of the sickle, it won't allow anyone to get away from its strike.

Scelus' lifeless body fell. Nox deactivated all of his spells and fell on his knees. He was panting hard. Only now does he realize how much mana he spends and put a burden on himself. Turns out the domain was putting a spiritual burden on him along with heavy mana consumption.

"I never had a fight like this. I felt like I could die anytime. Still, what's with the minotaur?! Even his mana is weird. It just like the... corrupted spirits..."

Nox glanced at the Scelus' body. His mana was indeed like the corrupted spirits, Spirit Realm's one of the biggest problems for ages. Even after Guardian started to die and with her the rest of the realm too, they were almost not affected.

Spirits were able to recover their mana by absorbing it from the realm. Guardians were providing and protecting the source for the realm to generate mana. But after Guardian lost the source everything changed. Realm siphoned her life force, which slowly killed her. And because of her being The Last Guardian realm was doomed. At least this was what Nox knew.

Even in these times, corrupted spirits were roaming Kawagurme and several deserted places. Even after many massacres, they were still alive and many. And they were still a threat for many spirits. Hundreds of spirits fell on the hands of corrupted spirits.

"They... can't go this far... right?!"