Chapter 14- Shadow Bringer (Part 1)
Rin tried to stand up while making sure Aria would not fall because of it. The girl was tightly stuck to him like a koala and didn't seem to have any intention of letting him go any time soon.
He could feel her still shuddering from time to time and even her tears soaked his shoulder. He really didn't know this calm and composed girl could break down like this because of something.
That made him question what happened even more.
'What the hell happened while I was inside that world? Ugh, I can't remember anything.' He scratched his head with a frustrated look.
"H-Honey… is that you?" Selina asked.
"Mother?" He muttered with a complicated gaze.
"Sigh, thank god!" Damian sighed with a relieved look. His face was sweating profusely as if he was back from a marathon.
"What happened exactly? I can't recall anything. Why is the room destroyed?"
The pastor and his parents shared glances between them before eyeing him silently.
"You don't remember anything?"
"None. I was inside a dark world but I wasn't able to sense anything from the outside world. Did something happen because of my awakening?"
Selina grabbed her husband's arm and nodded her head at him.
"Listen carefully, son… It has been almost an hour since you lost control."
"One hour?! I thought it was barely a few minutes at most… Wait, lost control? What do you mean?" He tilted his head confusedly.
"It's exactly what you heard…"
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[An hour ago.]
"Alfred, do something!" Damian said with an angry look as he protected his family behind him from the soul-crushing aura emitting from his son.
He wasn't sure what was going on but he was certain if things continued like this something gravely wrong will occur.
Rin was already long engulfed completely by the dark substance. There was no trace of his aura or presence at all. Not that they could search for it through that thick layer of the ominous and extremely evil aura.
The pastor tried to find a solution before things get hectic but it was his first time seeing such an occurrence. How could such an evil being get out of a holy place like the church of the goddess of the heavens?
'The aura is different from demons. But, it's equally evil. Should I use holy magic? But, the young master is still inside, it can harm him greatly.' He thought to himself.
Then, while they were trying to figure things out, the dark creature in front of them suddenly turned around.
Their bodies shuddered instinctively as they witnessed the hideous appearance of something completely out of their expectations.
A pair of glowing, violet eyes appeared on the creature's face. The eyes weren't looking like that of a human or even an animal. They looked like the result of a child drawing chaotic lines to form a messy circle.
It was horrifying to look at. Mind you, the people present were monsters in terms of strength and only a few could rival them.
Damian Silvereye is the strongest combat mage the Aviresion empire had ever witnessed. His wife Selina was a legendary healer that was rumored to be able to even heal the most lethal of injuries.
Even Aria, their daughter was an extremely talented warrior and could hold her ground against people double or triple her age with even more mana than her.
Yet, all of these talented individuals could only watch as the creature scanned them silently. It was exactly that suffocating silence that made them feel even more threatened.
Then, out of nowhere, the creature vanished from where it stood.
"Be careful, Selina!!" Damian shouted and pushed his wife to the side.
*Swish* *BOOOOM*
A split second later, the dark creature appeared again and punched Damian, sending him flying to the other side of the room. A huge hole was carved into the wall.
"Darling!!!" Selina screamed.
"Ugh… you bastard." Damian stood up and cracked his neck before spitting a mouthful of saliva mixed with some blood.
It seemed that hit didn't really affect him that much.
The creature looked at him silently for a few moments before vanishing again.
'How does he do that? I can't feel his presence at all?!' Damian readied himself for the upcoming attack.
But, he didn't see anything, he was standing against the wall so the only possible angles the creature could attack him from were the left, right, or above…
His eyes suddenly widened with shock as a horrifying thought got to his mind. But, as absurd as it sounded, his instincts, honed by countless years on the battlefield, had already accepted that idea as the reality.
Instantly, he created 5 barriers in front of him. Each barrier could stop huge magic projectiles from most elements and will still not break yet he used 5 layers of that.
'He is coming… from under me!!' His eyes turned fierce as he clenched his teeth.
*BAAAAAANG*
The creature didn't disappoint and rose from the ground before kicking the protective barriers.
The whole church shook violently and the ceiling started cracking. The aftershock from the attack destroyed the place and completely turned the pedestal into dust.
Damian didn't wait for the barrier to break and immediately created 5 ice spears with his left hand and 5 fireballs with his right hand.
He knew the risk he was taking could end up killing his son, but if he didn't attack, he could put his family at risk. It was a huge gamble he was willing to take for the sake of his daughter and his wife. He wouldn't hesitate now!
*BAAAANG* *BAAANG*
Each punch and kick the monster sent destroyed one of the barriers. He was hell on bent to reach Damian.
"HAAAH!!" Damian yelled and then sent all the projectiles after the creature.
It seemed that the latter felt the danger and immediately vanished again.
'Not now.' The man clicked his tongue and looked around him.
He still didn't know from where it could appear and that made him vulnerable to any sneak attack.
*Swish*
'From behind?!' He tried to turn around when he heard a sound.
"Leave it to me, father!!!" Aria was already on her way when the sneak attack happened.
Her sword unsheathed and flew to her side.
"Thunder spear!!"
*BOOOOOOOOMMM*
The sword turned into a yellow-shaped spear and pierced the creature. The sound of electricity filled the area followed by a huge cloud of smoke that covered the creature.
Damian immediately retreated to make some distance.
"Are you ok, father?!" Aria asked.
"Yeah. That thing almost got me." He responded with a grave tone.
He didn't understand why Rin turned into something like that. Was it because of a demon ambush? Was it some kind of curse? He had no idea.
The cloud of smoke soon dissipated and the sight they saw made them turn even grimmer.
The sword that should've penetrated the dark creature was instead held in its hand. The light in its ominous eyes grew even more intensely as if it was angry at this ambush.
Then, it tightened its grip around the sword and made a swinging motion.
"Retreat!!" Damian ordered.
*Swish*
The creature then threw the sword at them. The weapons pierced the air as it flew toward them.
*BOOOOOM*
The whole area turned into an electrified mess that could fry a normal human being to death.
*Swish*
Seemingly not satisfied, it used that mess to vanish again and appear behind one of them. It was Selina.
The latter couldn't react in time to the sudden appearance of the enemy.
The creature's hand turned into a black claw and swiped down, intending to decapitate Selina.
Damian's eyes retracted to the size of a needle as he watched his wife on the verge of getting killed. He knew he wouldn't be able to get her in time and his heart stopped for a second.
"Holy retribution!!" A loud voice shouted before a pillar of light fell down on the dark creature.
Damian didn't even wait to see who did that and pulled his wife away from there.
The latter was still seemingly in shock from what happened so she wasn't able to show any kind of reaction.
Alfred clenched his teeth as he used 70% of his mana pool on that single spell. It was one of his strongest holy magic spells so he was confident in its effectiveness against evil creatures. But, he still didn't know whether the thing that controlled Rin was an evil being or not.
"Rin…" Tears welled up in Aria's face as she fought the urge to cry and instead tried to focus on backing up Damian.
"Dammit! I can't fight with my full strength or I could harm Rin." Damian tried to find a way to stop the creature without harming Rin.
Seconds passed with Rin still inside the pillar of light that seemingly was trapping him like a magic cage.
Such strong holy magic could turn a demon into dust if he was unlucky enough to get stuck inside of it.
(A//N: Do you like this style of fighting scenes or should I change it? You can always give me feedback on the fights since it's by far my weakest point in writing :) )
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