Chapter 922 Chapter 921: Challenge
Jahi's great sword cleaved down and cut deep into the Fiend's crossed arms, its leathery flesh getting cut with ease as the Demoness tried to carve into the Fiend's torso, only to have her blade lodged deep into the forearm of Ka'Minvis, the lion headed Fiend giggling quietly as it endured a devastating strike.
"Powerful, powerful~! That's that Asmodia blood for you... powerful indeed~! But... is it-?"
Clenching its arms, Ka'Minvis used the fact that Jahi's blade was lodged into its flesh to its advantage as it tightened its muscles around the blade, allowing it to pull back and try to yank the sword free from Jahi's hands, even as Anput slammed her heavy spear into its side and punctured its flesh.
Even as Satanya flickered behind it and began to carve away at its legs, the Fiend remained locked with Jahi, refusing to budge as it continued to pull her sword from her hands, trying to disarm the Demoness even as more and more of its body was decimated with injury...
Or at least, appeared to be decimated with injury; each cut that Satanya scored on its legs, the giant gaping hole on its side, the scorched flesh on its body... all of it was healing at insane speeds, and Ka'Minvis just giggled again before releasing a breath of turbid, torrid air from its unhinged jaws, which caught my attention immediately.
With the Fiend now temporarily stationary, the Domain got to work almost immediately and began to encase its feet and calves in frost, which was beginning to rapidly spread upwards, creeping into the regenerating cuts and slowing them down briefly, while also making it easier for Satanya's blade to cut through the leathery flesh, giving the Demoness some deeper cuts as she increased the power of her swings.
Feeling the frost begin to make its ascent, the Fiend grunted as it tried to take a step back, doing its best to ignore the wounds on its legs and using its sheer willpower to lift the damaged limbs and move them, allowing it to also engage Jahi in a tug of war for her sword, the two still pulling and trying their best to gain control of that dual metal blade.
My wand flashed around as I traced out the runes for a spell, the usual cyan glow being replaced instead with a softer, brighter pinkish glow as I funneled some of the Lust Mana out of my Core and into the wand, instantly catching the attention of Ka'Minvis and making the lion snarl as it turned its head towards me, only to have Anput slam her spear into its jaw and crack its neck to the side, giving me the second I needed to create a giant blade of ice that I raised straight up towards the ceiling, illuminating the area in a pinkish glow that radiated a bone chilling freeze, becoming the center of attention instantly.
Ka'Minvis tried to free one of its arms as it watched the blade begin its 'slow' descent down towards its skull, but as it did so, Jahi angled her sword and tried to push it forwards, forcing Ka'Minvis to pick between my towering blade of pink ice or her dual metal, Light Mana infused sword that was pointed straight at its Core.
The choice it made wasn't an easy one, but it grunted again as it watched the blade come crashing down onto itself, using the last moment it had to shift itself to the side and escape being cleaved cleanly in two down the middle and instead sacrificing its left arm and some of its leg, the blade smashing into the earth and shattering upon impact.
A wet thud followed the crunchy crash of the blade exploding, and a leathery, red furred arm found itself on the gravel below, the sudden severance of its connection from the Fiend unclenching its muscles enough to allow it to slide off of Jahi's blade.
Bright crimson blood spurted freely out of the arm socket for a brief moment, only to coagulate almost instantly as the flesh knit over itself, the muscles and tendons beginning to reform as the Fiend's insane regenerative factor was put on display, but before it could truly be made use of, I flourished my wand and controlled the myriad slivers of pink ice, forming a cloud of sharpened shards that flew straight towards the Fiend's shoulder, as well as the wound on its leg.
As my ice burrowed into the wounds and began to counteract Ka'Minvis' healing, Anput pulled her spear back and lanced it forwards once more, this time aiming for the Fiend's other arm and dealing significant damage to Ka'Minvis' remaining arm, cutting the muscles and snapping the tendons in hopes of allowing Jahi to free her blade or slide it forwards.
Behind, Satanya aimed instead for the Fiend's lower spine, carving away the flesh around it and revealing the golden bone that held so much importance to the Fiend's physiology, attacking it a moment later and making the Fiend go limp as it suddenly lost control of its lower half, the damage to the nerves that were bundled around and between the discs of the spine being added to a swiftly growing list of wounds that it was unable to heal immediately.
As soon as Ka'Minvis fell to its knees, unable to stand now that its nerves had been so badly damaged, Jahi was able to utilize her newfound leverage and her strength to stab her blade straight into the Fiend's chest, sliding the golden blade into the large red torso and causing Ka'Minvis to cough up blood as she twisted the blade a moment later.
Missing an arm, most of its lower back, having a giant wound in its side and its remaining arm, and now having a blade lodged into its chest infused with Light Mana... it would seem that Ka'Minvis had made a significant mistake in its challenge against the four of us, not accounting for our strengths, our abilities, and our mana types...
It would seem that the Fiend was done for as Jahi sent a thick pulse of mana flowing into her sword and caused most of its torso to burst outwards in an explosion of red and gold as a large hole formed where Jahi's blade was, but the fact that Ka'Minvis was still grinning, that it's eyes were still glowing with mirth and bloodlust...
All of that - paired with the lack of an System notification - made me trace out another spell as I launched a thick rod of ice straight into the cranium of the lion headed Fiend, not wanting to risk allowing it to go into a second phase or somehow regenerate everything by informing us that its Core was actually in its skull... and yet, as its head popped and showered Jahi and Satanya in blood, I still was left with a silent mind, no notification popping up at all at the 'death' of Ka'Minvis.
Jahi pulled her blade free and took a step back, watching as the rest of the Fiend's 'corpse' fell flat in a pool of bright crimson blood, while Anput and Satanya both mimicked the blue skinned Demoness as they stared at the headless, heavily damaged corpse of Ka'Minvis, only for all three of them to turn to me as they watched my frost continue to spread and consume the rest of its body.
When its body shattered completely, I still was left frowning as my mind remained silent, and that made all three of them frown as well as they looked back towards the puddle of blood and pile of ice shards, wondering what had caused me to go ahead and destroy the remnants of a valuable trove of materials.
But, when the sound of clapping echoed around the grotto, we all looked back towards the lake to see a tall, lithe red skinned man clapping slowly, a wide grin splitting his handsome face.
Long golden hair flowed down onto his shoulders, whilst the black and gold coat that covered most of his body from sight was flipped back to reveal the twin curved blades that he unsheathed, each one dripping with blood already.
"Not too shabby, not too shabby~! That was rather impressive, you four~! Splendid coordination, incredible wit, beautiful execution~! Impressive, impressive~!"
Flourishing his blades, the man took a bow and continued to speak, his silky voice contrasting the sharp, twisted blades as he said "I will admit that Min isn't the strongest or the smartest ever, but the healing factor is what makes Min strong. That speed, the power... second to none as well for what it is~! Ah, and Min did well, didn't they? Come on Min, we need to take a bow for the opening act~! Come come~!"
Standing back up, the man smirked as he tapped the two blades together, only to tilt his head to the side as a spear was chucked at him, causing him to click his tongue and shake his head, feigning disappointment.
"Opportunistic, but rather rude! We are in an interlude, Miss Jackal! An interlude! The actors are to take a momentary pause as we move on to the next scene... Come on Min."
Tapping his blades once more, we all leapt back as we heard a soft, annoyed growl coming from the pile of shards and pool of blood, which we watched swirl into the air before reforming the lion headed Fiend from before, the giant, muscle bound creature growling again as it rose beside the man, getting to its feet slowly but steadily.
"Now, I believe proper introductions are in order, hm~? I am Ka'Vis, and this is Ka'Min; we are... bound together, as one - Ka'Minvis. And today, we shall be giving you the show of a lifetime!"
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