10: Demon Forest II

𝕮𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 10: 𝕯𝖊𝖒𝖔𝖓 𝕱𝖔𝖗𝖊𝖘𝖙 𝖎𝖎

Anthony took Fiona's explanation into deliberation. "We need to take down the first!" He yelped in realization.

"That won't work!" She snarled, "I already tried, that little damn pigeon would just make a hundred in a second and force you back to defence." She held her chin for a while before saying, "unless we find a way to short circuit it's power."

Anthony looked into the retrospect of his training, something matched both situations. His eyes goggled, "I know how!" He exclaimed. "The reason why it has limitless power to do clones is because... It has limitless Aura to absorb."

"It absorbs the never ending Aura rain!" Fiona realizes where Anthony was headed. "We stop this well... We fuck it up!"

"But how are we going to stop a rain that hasn't stopped falling ever once before?" Anthony asked.

"Shut it weak bones, I'm thinking," Fiona stood upright feeling the change in the atmosphere, "we have incoming."

Anthony scanned foward not seeing anything beyond rain. He sniffed only blood, but sensed the vibrations of thousands of Griffins coming their way. "We won't survive that, if we fight."

Fiona clenched her sword with both hands, "I have a plan. We just need to get close to the first."

Anthony exhaled. "We have to run through the entire thousand to get to the first."

"As fast as your legs can take you, don't stop... Just defend yourself from every attack you can," Fiona said. Her sword began to give off purple sparks, "i won't come back to save you if you get left behind!" She snarled.

Anthony nodded.

"Let's go!" She barked out charging forward.

Anthony follows behind, for a sense he appreciated her presence, it made him feel secure.

He began to hear the thousands of Griffins screeching. It gave him a great sense of foreboding.

Finally they were in sight coating the entire sky in black. And hardly could he believe he was running towards them and not away.

"Here those bastards come!" He heard Fiona mutter.

Brave but stupid! Anthony thought. Hundreds of Griffins doved down aiming for them claws and beak stretched out in assault.

"Ahhhh!" They gave a great battle cry clashing with the Griffins sword first.

Fiona met with the first Griffins slashing her sword and killing two at the same time. She kept her distance from them, sending out bolts of lightning from each swing of her sword to support her keep away strategy.

Anthony felt his dexterity falter greatly as he cut endlessly through the never ending flocks of Griffins. He did all he could to fend himself from the Griffins hitting his vital points, but the scratches and dents of their claws and beaks were prominent and unable to avoid.

He swings his sword for two Griffins headed his way, cutting two deep in the chest and sending out flames that disintegrated them.

The shrieks as the Griffins fell echoed deep into his ears. "Ahhhhhh!" He felt a claw make a deep cut into his back, he reacts before it can get any deeper running his sword through it's neck, beheading it. If they would carry on this way, the would reach their limits and die. Anthony grinded his teeth 'just a little longer!' He said within him.

Fiona stamina and speed were dragged, her hands heavy from striking down multiples of Griffins. Her leg was weary, they had covered hundreds of feet and she wasn't sure there were ever going to reach the first.

She lodged her sword into a Griffins head, she head butts another, she threw bolts of lightning to several others disintegrating them.

"Arghh!" She grunted feeling another claw graze her shoulder. She was beginning to loose speed in her defense allowing spaces for an attack to be layed on her.

A Griffin came from her side claw first, she sees this coming and swung her sword for it, at the same moment two other Griffins doved down digging their claws deep into her left shoulder. "Arrghh!" She hesitates.

The other Griffin successfully lodged it's claws into her gut. She screamed out in pain.

She slashed for the Griffin's throat but it barely dented it, her attack was without strength, the Griffin's hold made her paralyzed. The other two on her shoulder screeched bending down and showing their sharp roles of teeth.

"Hey!" Anthony launched into the air swinging his sword down diagonally severing both Griffins at once.

He lands on his feet and ran his sword though the skull of the other that dug into Fiona's gut, cutting it open and letting blood and it's organs spew out.

Fiona dislodged the Griffin's claw from her self. She fell to her knees using one hand to clutch hard to her gut and the other having a low grip to her sword.

Anthony swings his sword letting out an outburst of flames that sets ablaze dozens of Griffins. He launched to Fiona's right doing the same.

"I can't last any longer!" Anthony yelled lodging his sword into a Griffin's throat and slashing down the next.

Fiona grunted coughing, "I have to end this now!" She barked out.

"How?" Anthony asked thrusting his sword through a Griffins neck.

"I have to absorb all the rain, but I can't hold it for long you... Will have to hurry!" Fiona groaned as she warily raised her sword to point up to the rain clouds.

It was impossible to stop the rain, Anthony thought. And clearly not by absorbing it.

"Grraah!" She gave a great battle cry, her sword starting to enamate purple glow. The clouds began rumbling of thunder as a purple glow formed in it.

The Griffin's all came to an halt shrieking and writhing, clearly they were disoriented by what Fiona was doing.

Anthony turned to Fiona, he could sense the surge of Aura overflowing her, she had climbed to a greater feat of power. Her inability to have a limit, was rare and special.

"Arrgh!" She screamed in agony, her veins popping her muscles straining. She peered with Anthony's dumb stare, "kill! The! Damn! One!"

Anthony nodded, he turned around scanning the environment, all the Griffins were crumbling to dust. Still there were still too many.

"Ahhhhhh!" Fiona screamed in pain drawing more Aura. She felt her atoms increasing in pace and bombarding each other, if she kept on she felt she would explode, her body too had reached it's limits and was more than ready to stop. "Fuck weaklings!" She screamed scorning her bodies plead for rest. Her sword throbbed violently her body rattled, she began to feel dizzy her eyes were closing but she forces it open.

"Ahhhh!" She exhaled falling face down to the ground. Her body failed her, all her systems had disabled themselves, her hands grew heavy. "Anthony..." She whispered to herself as her last breath.

"Cut the damn pigeon's head off!"

The rain had seized, Fiona did it. Anthony thought, he finally had visual on the Griffin, it was different from the othets, purple in colour, it stood proudly dozens of feet away.

Anthony darted for it his sword raises high, to his surprise he was slower than before. He realizes it, he too didn't have Aura to draw from.

Realizing it's vulnerability, the Griffin began to flap it's wings in attempt to escape.

Not wasting time Anthony threw his sword with all his mouth letting it soar to the Griffin. His sword plants itself in the Griffin's left wing causing it to crash back to the ground unable to fly.

Yes! He exclaimed within. Now all he had too do was catch up.

The Griffin was only dazed by his attack for a moment, afterwards it uses it's teeth to dislodge the sword. It shrieked in pain as it does this. It turned it's gaze back to Anthony who threw a balled fist for it's face.

"Arggh!" He ran his fist through the Griffin's face taking it off it's feet and down crashing.

He pants having ran a long distance. Futher reaching out for his sword quickly to behead the Griffin.

"Tsk!" He is shocked to see the Griffin racing away. He wastes no time in running after it. He was too far away, to swing his sword but did aimlessly cutting through air.

He thought of throwing his sword again, but as the thought would cross his mind the opposition of the thought of his sword breaking won over it.

He swung his sword for the Griffin's leg, he misses by more than a foot.

He needed Aura to catch up to it, and that was clearly out of the option. "Ahhhh!" He swings his sword for it's leg again missing it by a foot, he trips on himself and crashes hard on the rock surface of the ground.

His heart palpitated, he quickly got up to be more than a dozen feet behind. He charged again with all his might and desperate to catch up.

All he did to catch up, was of no use his movements were dragged by fatigue. He was useless without Aura.

'Aura is in every organism!' He heard Senior Kiraya's words ring in his ears.

His eyes goggled, he came to an halt leaving the Griffin to continue fleeing. He took in a deep breathe and exhaled softly, trying to grasp the life force... The string of Aura in himself unsure of it working but in high hopes.

He felt a spark within him and a foreign more refined energy flood him.

Boom! Anthony launched into the air covering dozens of feet in seconds. His sword enamated a dark red flame more powerful than before, he had found the Aura of true self.

The cloud began let out it's rain heavily once more.

Anthony landed on his feet just a few feet from this Griffin. The rain soaking them both in an instant.

Almost immediately a black Griffin emerged from the back of the Griffin Anthony was chasing lunging for him.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Anthony let's his sword fly through the air with all his might. It lodges and protrudes out from the black Griffins chest.

Anthony launched for the black Griffin shoulder clashing it and dislodging his blade from it.

He crashed into the ground letting his sword fly again throwing it with all he had and sending it for the Griffin. "Die scum!" He gave his battle cry.

Unaware of the sword flying towards it, Anthony's sword lodges deep into it's back.

The Griffin gave a shriek but doesn't stop running. Anthony panics as his attack failed, if only he had tossed the sword with more force, maybe he would have struck a decisive blow.

In the next second a dozen clones emerged from the Griffins shoulders flying towards Anthony mouth wide open. He was defenceless so he braced himself for impact.

Boom!

A sword went past Anthony's head with a gale following, the sword severs in half three Griffins and planted itself into the neck of the first Griffin beheading it.

"Tsk!" Anthony mouth fell gape, he tilted his head back to see Fiona walking to him.

"Damn pigeons!" She snarled stopping beside Anthony. She opened her right palm widely letting her sword fly right in like a magnet attracting metal.

Anthony turned back to the Griffin limp on the ground. "How?" He asked.

Fiona smiled, "I am a powerful supreme being that's how." She answered proudly.

Anthony rose to his feet repeating her reply in his head. "Where are we going?"

"The peak is not too far from here!" She replied.

"How do you know?"

"I vibed it you dump!" She snarled, launching high into the air. Anthony follows.

After dozens of leaps Anthony caught the glimpse of light ahead, blue, was it an illusion? He asked himself.

Finally Anthony landed on the peak of the mountain crossing out of the rain, "Ho-ho!" He exclaimed excitedly.

"Finally we are out of the cow piss!" Fiona joked.

Anthony scanned down at the bottom a forest that went on as far as the eyes could see in the beautiful night sky... He had made it to the Demon Forest.

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