CHAPTER 35: The Wolf and Panther 4

"Don't be so glum for soon, you shall follow your friend on a journey into the land beyond" cackled the flying demon.

Though outraged over the demon's distracting jabs, Leo remained cool and kept his eye glued onto the blurry movement of five obsidian claws that headed straight for his face.

Moving to the right made the demon's claw strike to lose its mark and consequently leave an opening that Leo gladly took. "That's going to sting" the demon winced slightly as a massive fist connected with his face, before sending him crashing into the floor.

"Strange, how did he see the claws? Was one of the questions the demon couldn't help but ask himself for his claws could be summoned from darkness at will and so weren't supposed to be expected or anticipated by any mortal foe.

"Or could he be a Halfling? The demon once again wondered, while taking to the skies in order to dodge a faint blue line that tore through his original position.

"No matter what he is, death is still inevitable".

More onyx feathers rained down onto the ruins; dropping in a hazardous pattern due to the disorderly motion of the demon in the sky and the wily assassin below that kept on evading the projectiles.

"I can't keep this up for long" Leo frowned, trying to look for an opening that could give him an advantage in this frustrating stalemate.

"At least Bethran's body seems to be safe". "But still it will only be a matter of time before that creature uses him to corner me".

Leo keeping this in mind was faced with two tough choices:

He could either leave the castle and take this conflict outside where he was pretty sure reinforcements from the Sun and Night might eventually join him; which will be quite good considering the fact that only the Supremes might possess the strength needed to kill the demon or he could find a way to head deeper into what was left of the hopefully empty castle and use its vast interior as an advantage pending when the Supremes could join.

The second option seemed like the best for now and the choice that could result in far fewer casualties compared to the first .

Taking a right, Leo headed for the castle with the vain hope that Princess Emelda would be able to call for help and summon the Supremes; the only people capable of defeating Wulfe.

The obvious question of where Patricia had disappeared to or what had been keeping the Supremes and god rank from heading to Magnitia weren't reasoned by Leo for such questions would only demand answers; answers that he couldn't provide or afford to mull over in his current situation.

Leo at a point stopped in his tracks when something seemed strange in the 'grid'; the term that he now used to refer to the space. Vague silhouettes many of which had not been moving since the demon's transformation, had now started to vibrate with a strange energy that appeared pitch black in the Azure eye.

"CHECKMATE!!!The demon roared, cackling while crossing his hands to witness the destruction he had just unleashed.

Luckily the disturbance from the silhouettes had made Leo to be on his toes, a move which had alerted him of what his foe had really been planning.

"WHIZZ!!!!!

The laid onyx feathers scattered throughout, instantly rose up from the ground, moving like though there were part of a sentient being before in a split second, tearing through the air; each of them heading for Leo in an inescapable circles of blades.

His first reaction or rather counter for this attack was a jump, which he did while bearing in mind that the demon would have already considered this in the first place.

As expected the dark shards instantly rose up following Leo, who had no choice than to perform an attack that could very well suck out the last amount of strength he still had left.

"Once again I failed despite all the 'Awakening' and 'Evolving' Sh*t about my so called race".

A bright azure light formed in the feline's mouth; illuminating the darkness before it escaped in a giant beam that headed straight for the approaching horde of blades. The beam travelled fast eliminating the blades of dark and travelling through the ground as though it had no clear intention of stopping.

The feline behind this seemingly last ditch attack dropped to the ground much later; left paw clutching a bleeding right eye and a furry head facing up at the grinning devil above.

"It seems that you have finally lost some steam, HUNTRAN!! The demon shouted, looking downwards at the assassin.

"Not even close demon" Leo smiled back removing a hand that used to be a paw not too long ago.

A bleeding right eye stared at the demon before shining with a bright azure color, while the two daggers at his side, shone with an even brighter silver.

"This form doesn't stand a chance against me whatsoever" the demon sighed. "So just hand yourself over or better still commit suicide and die with honor like the warrior your race had once proved to be".

"I guess, I will have to pass on this your 'generous' offer" Leo replied, dragging on the conversation for he had just noticed something in the grid that had given him a small sliver of hope.

"In that case I guess it's time for me to end this little meeting and go ahead with the second part of the contract that brought me to this delicious world".

"Are all 'Forsaken' creatures this talkative?

A voice from the ruins asked, momentarily catching the demon's and assassin's attention.

Standing atop the rubble pile near the gates, was a massive humanoid beast.

The beast stood at eight-foot-tall, had a wolf like in appearance and was covered in thick wire like white fur, but what captured the demon and assassin's attention wasn't the fact that a beast of fairy tales now stood meters away from them but rather, the two bright green lupine eyes on a grinning face that glowed in familiar fury.

"Bethran?

"It seems like it's not only you that have secrets Fanghyr" the wolf grinned. "And now the time has come for both of us to fight together once again brother".

"A werewolf and a Huntran? The demon frowned. "This is going to be such a headache.