Harbinger of Oblivion

A few moments earlier, prior to the beginning of the battle.

[Those three lizards might be troublesome.] Sia commented as Achilles and she looked at the pterodactyls.

[I'll deal with them.] Achilles turned to Sia and spoke shortly.

[You sure? Won't you be at a disadvantage?] The little elf asked worriedly as she gazed deeply into his eyes.

[...I'll manage it somehow. Your powers are needed to handle the rest. We'll meet up to deal with the leader after we're done.]

[...Can you promise you won't let yourself get hurt?] Sia stared at him with motherly affection.

[...] Achilles silently looked at her before turning away.

A second later, the incandescent flame headed in their direction which forced them to split up.

Sia summoned her katana while clenching her heart tightly.

'Please be safe...' A suffocating feeling filled her chest whenever she thought that something might happen to Achilles.

A four-armed monster appeared in her view as it smashed down with its fists.

Sia did not bother to dodge as she raised her left arm slightly.

Boom!

Her figure was pushed to the ground for a few inches due to the impact, but the silvery-white-haired elf wasn't even fazed a little by its strike.

The giant struggled to pull its arms out of the enemy's clutch in vain.

[Brainless brute.] Sia muttered in scorn before slashing her katana upward.

BOOM!

The abomination got blown away for a few meters and soon managed to stop the momentum caused by the blow.

The giant stood up with a part of its face sliced and one of its arms nearly severed...and something was moving underneath its body.

'...They've become stronger.' Sia raised an eyebrow at the sight in front of her.

Suddenly, she felt something change in her mind, but she quickly shook it off.

The Corrupted's fists began emanating a red glow as it lunged at Sia again. The latter could feel immense power coming from those hands.

'Fast!' Compared to prior, the monster had vastly increased in both power and speed, to the point that even Sia herself needed to be careful.

When the beast was only a meter away from Sia, her grey eyes turned duller as the creature halted its movement for a moment.

The part where it was injured started burning like acid was eating away its flesh.

The creature was influenced by the pain for a split second, but that second did not last long enough.

The giant shook off the pain and its fists continued heading at Sia, threatening to blow her to pieces.

The latter summoned out a soul artifact in a shape of a blood shield to block the strike.

Boom!

The silvery-white-haired beauty retreated back momentarily because of the strike's force.

The blood shield got drained away of its blood a little as some parts around it became a wood color.

'It took a lot of time to store those blood!'

The soul artifact was called Blood Barrier — Tier D. Its effect was to absorb the blood spilled by the enemy to increase its defense and if the tank was full, it could unleash a devastating explosion on the surrounding area.

Sia received this artifact after killing a feral vampire belonging to the Demons as a favor for them.

Its effect was quite formidable and she didn't want to use it since the artifact's capacity was large and it took her a lot of time to make it nearly full.

[...We'll have your blood as a replacement for that.] Sia muttered before using Shunpo — a movement technique that she had learned from her mother.

She teleported behind the Corrupted and struck its back. Blood spewed out as the monster shrieked painfully. The blood shield beside her instantly sucked those blood and it released a faint dark red glow, seemingly hungry for more.

The abomination turned around and started attacking her relentlessly, but Sia simply used Shunpo and disappeared from its view, and attacked its blind spot over and over.

"GARGHHH!!!!" It screamed loudly from the corrosion effect and from losing blood nonstop.

Like a cornered beast, it resorted to one last measure — smashing the ground surrounding it crazily.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Sia had anticipated this so she quickly backed off as the ground crackled under the ferocious attacks.

The succubus intended to cut off its head while it was still distracted, but she noticed that another group of Corrupted was heading toward her.

She changed the grip on her katana as thunder began hovering around it.

BOOOM!!!

Sia swung her blade horizontally, the power coming from her second ability "Thunderclap Striked" sent out a decimating thunder wave that cut everything in front of her view in two.

The Corrupted didn't even have a chance to scream as all of them turned into smithereens instantly.

Her essences was drained significantly which made her face paler.

"Haa...haa..." She breathed heavily before regaining her breath.

As the abominations slowly vanished from the face of the Earth, their powers flew into Sia as she received an incredible boost of strength.

Her overall power immediately took a massive leap forward.

But she didn't get to enjoy this feeling for long as her heart abruptly jolted. A painful feeling welled up in her chest as a doubtful look appeared on her face.

Sia ignored everything around her as she dashed to where Achilles was.

Soon she arrived at her destination...and the sight that greeted her...made her heart feel like it just shattered.

[...Darling?]