CHAPTER 34: The Wolf and Panther 3

"I should have known there was something strange about you" The demon laughed. "Draghyr will be most pleased with this development" it added exposing dangerous teeth in a scary grin.

Leo didn't share his take or view on what the demon had said and instead stooped in a sprinting position. "It seems like demons and creatures from the forsaken realm look the same with this eye"he mused while staring deeply at the black mist representing the demon's real self.

A few seconds had passed and yet neither of the two had made a move as though waiting for their opponent.

"Screw it! The demon roared in impatience, his hands clenched in fists and moments later travelling towards the feline's face.

Leo dodged the fists by a breath of his hair and quickly retaliated with a deadly right kick, the demon looked like he had expected this counter attack and with surprising agility jumped back, disengaging from Leo.

"Perfect "Leo smiled

"Crap" the demon cursed when a blue silhouette crashed into him; a massive punch sinking into his belly and sending him flying through the castle gates and onto the outside road.

Getting up he swiftly rolled to the left evading a dangerous downward punch that sent little bits of stone flying.

"How did he get so strong and what the heck happened to his wounds? This question unfortunately for the demon, didn't seem to have any immediate answer and it wasn't like the assassin was going to give him enough breathing room for thinking of one. "Still all this means is that I will have to bring in the big guns".

Leo charged once more sprinting at breakneck speed before throwing a mighty right punch.

The demon had obviously seen that attack coming and as such dodged accordingly, only for him to curse when an even mightier heel struck him on the neck.

*Crack*

The demon or rather Wulfe's neck broke on meeting the hard ground in what would have normally been a fatal blow to any mortal. Leo's heel still remained on the neck for a split second before the feet kicked off, launching the assassin into the air and away from the black tentacles that had just sprouted from the demon's back.

"It seems like you have faced one of my kind before"

Leo remained calm as ever not giving a reply of any kind because unknown to the demon he was already 'seeing' what was supposed to be a sneak attack.

The 'azure' eye revealed to Leo smoke like tendrils flowing from the demon; each of them travelling towards him.

And so the feline remained rooted in one spot plotting a counter attack of his own as he got ready to move.

*CREAK!!

Rows of black like tentacles immediately burst out from the ground behind Leo; their pointed tips all heading for his back while the demon himself charged forward, giving the assassin not a single hope of escape from this double attack.

Though Leo had not expected the demon to run forward, he was still very much prepared and had a countermeasure of his own. Focusing on the space around him, Leo smiled "I think I finally understand the purpose of this grid".

All the lines in the grid were simply gaps through space where a slash was possible meaning in front of Leo was some kind of graph that showed every possible slash the assassin could perform through anything contained in the grid.

This information he had gathered was quite good though it didn't explain why all the slashes had worked together earlier to dice up the reaper.

A certain blue line in the grid captured his attention and soon everything fell into place.

"CRAPP!! The demon exclaimed trying to jump when he observed the faint blue line running across his host's abdomen. His tentacles on the other hand weren't so wise and continued stabbing forward, totally oblivious to the danger.

*SWISHH!!

The demon's body divided into two perfect halves staining the cobblestoned red while his tentacles disappeared into a black mist as soon as the faint blue line tore through their center.

"This isn't good" Leo gulped on noticing the black mist that seemed to be growing despite the attack meted out to it.

Trusting his instinct, he didn't move forward and simply stood, preparing to attack when the chance arose.

"To think that I would be using this form against a mortal" the demon growled.

Slowly but steadily black tentacles drew back the other half of Wulfe while even more thicker tentacles surrounded the two halves; the mana around them becoming darker and sinister by the second.

Leo's right eye opened wider in slight fear when the swirling black mist in front of him grew to the size of a castle.

On the outside the demon had Wulfe's old appearance save for the two obsidian horns sprouting from the forehead and two upsides down onyx wings that sprouted from his host's back.

"Feasting on your soul will be most pleasant"

A huge gust of wind followed the demon's ascent into the sky, while an extremely loud maniacal laughter drowned out the noise of the stone like feathers that rained down the ruins.

Leo at this point realized the demon's plan but being left with no choice ran forward leaping and rolling to evade fatal feathers but ignoring the few inevitable ones that had sliced through various parts of his fur before embedding into the ground.

Still he kept on heading for his friend's silhouette until the gravity of the demon's attack became clear as crystal

"NO!!!!

For a brief second the azure eye dimmed revealing to Leo the battered state of his friend. Bethran laid in a puddle of crimson surrounded by onyx feathers and shrouded in a vast layer of feathers that turned him into some kind of pincushion, his eyes were closed as though not wanting to see the state of the rest of the body. Surprisingly only his head remained in one piece.

Leo moved closer, wiping off a few tears before with one shocking burst of energy pulled out all of the nasty feathers, and then he advanced, not uttering a word until he finally stood in the center of the ruins.

"Let's get this over with" were the only words that escaped the assassin's mouth. The right eye became azure again illuminating the streams of tears flowing out of it and revealing the position of the sadistic being that had done all this.

"And so the fun begins" The demon laughed diving down to meet the growling bleeding beast below.