The Hollow Watcher
The Hollow Watcher let out a death-curdling cry.
"Benedictio Divina, Velox Spiritus!"
Kaito instinctively cast, a form of muscle memory from countless battles, he surged forward with strength and speed. The bird swooped, a blur of black, but Kaito sidestepped its attack and countered with a quick slash, but his blade merely bounced off its feathers.
The bird flapped its wings, ascending quickly into the air, and began firing feathers like lethal projectiles. Kaito rushed to the right, tracing Durandal across the earth as he leapt. He managed to land a solid blow, knocking the Hollow Watcher back, but it remained airborne, ascending even higher. Kaito followed, casting a spell, "Gradus Caelestis!" Allowing him to walk on air using rectangular, light-like plates as temporary footholds.
From the bird's open beak, a concentrated beam of dark energy erupted, aimed directly at Kaito. But Durandal charged forward, bisecting the beam in two as it does. Kaito, approaching the bird, leaping upward, and performing a backflip mid-air to impale its back, driving it downward.
The bird staggered, its flight momentarily disrupted, but it twisted its body with surprising agility, spinning rapidly. Feathers spewed from all directions, a chaotic hail of sharp projectiles. Caught off guard, Kaito was impaled by a few, but he gritted his teeth and healed the wounds off with another quick spell. Weaving in between the lethal volley, Kaito spotted an opening. He slashed at the air, creating an air-slash imbued with holy energy, which slammed into the spinning bird, knocking it off its axis.
His assault continued, the bird proving more durable than its fragile appearance suggested. But as time went on, Kaito began to familiarize himself with the Hollow Watcher's patterns. It was fast, yes, but not to the unpredictable level of Roland. He landed heavy blows, damaging it severely.
Then, the bird let out another piercing shriek. It quickly ascended to the very top of the tower once again, and the feathers that had littered the ground below suddenly floated into the air, multiplied, and transformed. They swelled, taking on the similar size and skeletal shape of the original, becoming multiple birds. Seven or eight of them now surrounded the main one.
"It looks like a second phase," Kaito said, his voice grim.
This time, Kaito was on the defensive. Be it on land or in the air, the horde of Hollow Watchers followed him relentlessly, giving him no moment to counterattack or even breathe. Kaito decided it was time to unleash more of his own power. "Resonance!" he commanded, amplifying his abilities. He quickly used the approaching birds as literal footstools, leaping from one to another, gaining altitude and speed, closing in on the main Watcher atop the tower.
It tried to defend itself, but Durandal, managed to cut halfway through its wing bone. Kaito capitalized on the opening, brought his blade down, and severed its head. Yet, surprisingly, even without its head and with a severely damaged wing, the main Hollow Watcher could still move without issue. It even used its severed head, somehow still animated, to peck at him.
The other birds closed in again, but Kaito acted quickly, concentrating more power into his blade. He unleashed a powerful, focused blast of holy energy, obliterating the main bird. Its skeletal form and feathers melted heavily under his attack. The other birds, which had been approaching him, stopped abruptly, freezing mid-air before falling to the ground like a shower of discarded feathers. The main bird, emitting wisps of smoke from its ruined frame, finally toppled off the tower.
Kaito stood atop the tower, his breath coming a little harder now. Then, the grim scenery dissolved, returning to the familiar, comforting blackness of the world in-between.
Durandal floated cheerfully before him. "It was easy, wasn't it?" she asked.
"Yeah," Kaito admitted, wiping a phantom bead of sweat from his brow. "Let's try the elk next."
Durandal added. "As a head's up, this opponent is faster and can freeze you."