Chapter Twelve

Kyle now understood why the demons were a hassle for the humans.

[Klang!]

"Eukh!?"

The demons were strong, overwhelmingly so. He has been fighting for some time now, but he had dealt no significant injuries whatsoever.

If anything, he was the one being pushed back.

With his right arm, he deflected the claws by using the black bracelet, the toughness of an artifact wasn't to be underestimated.

The red-eyed creature was too fast for him to get away from, making his condition undesirable.

Tasting the sweetness of iron, he abruptly lifted his right leg in an attempt to get some breathing space. But his flexible opponent only needed to twist his upper body backward to dodge it.

And even then, it didn't pause its continuous assault against him.

Its tactic was simple, to keep attacking until the opponent in front of its eyes die.

The arrogant youth changed the direction of his foot, blocking the claws using the sharp edge of the shoe.

Once he managed to stop it, he now had to deal with the other set of claws heading towards his right foot.

He directed his energy to his left shoe and propelled himself to the air. Although he was on the losing side, a smirk was still present on his face.

'This sensation, this is it!'

'The feeling of adrenaline flowing down my veins, and the taste of hopelessness facing against a powerful foe!'

'I love it!'

In his life, never had he experienced such a sensation. Every single mock battle he has gone through was supervised so nobody would get hurt. And one without supervision would prove to be too easy for him.

This was the first for him to face such a strong and fierce opponent.

He tried to calm himself down, but this newfound emotion was too strong for him to suppress.

Landing in a perfect posture, he smirked at the claws coming towards his face. This red-eyed creature showed almost no sign of fatigue even after dancing around throughout their fight, which excited him.

Kyle stopped in his track and reached out with his left hand. As expected, the creature twisted its upper body once again to dodge his hand while attacking him at the same time.

But what it didn't expect was the right foot coming to its left hip. In a flutter, it twisted its body again and tried to block with both of its hands.

Kyle's leg easily split the air, but the claws were too solid to even be scratched. The red-eyed creature slightly twisted its body to disperse the force that his kick delivered.

The young man took this chance to leap away and search for something that would help him to defeat this creature. Without any help, defeating it alone would be a herculean task.

He tried his best not to let the rampant emotions affect his judgment and scanned his surroundings.

No rogue artifacts were lying near him, only corpses and battles. His eyes moved rapidly, having Kyle's energy flow into them. Soon after, they stopped at a certain spot.

Flashes of memories went through his mind, and he moved away to dodge the red-eyed creature which plunged towards him. Unfortunately, his left cheek got scratched by the sharp nails.

The burning sensation on his left cheek further suppressed the excitement he felt. Although traces of joy remained, he mostly felt annoyance now. His initial goal was to observe, not to engage in a dance to the death.

With his sense of euphoria almost gone, his movements became slower. However, his mind was sharper than before.

Struggling, he parried the red-eyed creature attacks with the black bracelet on his right wrist. His body felt slightly sluggish due to the rapid consumption of energy.

After redirecting the claws to go past himself, he extended his right arm towards the creature—palm wide open.

Once again, the creature twisted its upper body backward. With a crack, it bent its body so Kyle's palm wouldn't be able to reach it.

However, Kyle moved his arm to the right, grabbing the creature's stretched arm.

His eyes lit ablaze as he focused his energy on the black bracelet. The bracelet devoured the energy it was given and the light around it, creating a shaded area around itself.

Kyle wanted to use this artifact for an instant kill, but it would be too costly in both time and energy.

The skin above his wrist was tainted with spots of grey, and minuscule cracks started to form on the bracelet.

It must've felt the danger brought with this change, as the human-like creature let out a high-pitched scream.

In an instant, the red-eyed creature twisted its whole body in an attempt to escape from Kyle's grasp.

The ground below them cracked as the red-eyed creature jumped up and down, its face now scrunched to the point of absurdity.

[Krack!]

Its forehead was covered in sweat, and it twisted its body to the extreme. But as if it was being held by a pipe of unbreakable steel, its arm only moved slightly.

Its upper and lower body was crumpled to the point where it would cripple a normal person multiple times already, but it kept moving around energetically.

At this pathetic display, a corner of Kyle's mouth rose.

"…!"

In this instance, it felt that something big was going to happen, and it's not going to be beneficial for it.

Perhaps Kyle sensed its peril, as the curve on his face deepened.

"Get fucked."

Kyle's right palm was now fully covered in black, and the bracelet started to fall apart rapidly. As the shards of metal turned into dust, so did the creature's left wrist.

"Kyaak!"

With everything above its left forearm gone, it jumped backward and held its left shoulder using its remaining arm.

As for Kyle, his wrist returned to a normal pink—and he ran after seeing the effects of the artifact he just used.

He exercised his energy and ran quickly, grasping his right hand occasionally. Even though the one injured was his opponent, but he couldn't help but feel phantom pangs of pain on his arm.

Corners of his mouth rose rigidly, and cold sweat slid down his back. When he tried to test the black bracelet in "his" room, he felt that something dangerous would occur.

Back at the academy, Kyle had never felt something that threatening coming from an artifact. Out of curiosity, he brought it with him to test its capability.

The arrogant man didn't know anything about its function and hadn't expected it to be that vicious. If he knew, he would've brought something more "tame."

On his heels, the red-eyed creature began to run rapidly, seemingly furious with the young man.

Although its movements were awkward, the speed it was traveling was absurd. In the short amount of time it was given, it had covered their distance greatly.

Passing upon people and creatures, Kyle finally saw the help he needed.

Reflected on his eyes was a fight between a hunched creature and a person. The hunched monster seemed to be on the losing side, but its baby-faced opponent still fought with caution.

Glancing back at his furious opponent, Kyle bit his lower lip. At this pace, he would get caught by the single-handed creature before he managed to reach Karan.

"Kyakk!"

Its red eyes appeared to glow slightly, furious at the culprit for its single-handed state. It reached out with its remaining arm in an attempt to shorten their distance even by a centimeter.

But to its surprise, the human in front of him suddenly turned around and launched himself towards its right palm—both feet directed towards it.

With difficulty, it defended itself with only one arm, but it felt another impact hitting his right claws soon after.

This time, the force wasn't directed with the intent of attacking. It felt as if it was directed with the intention of repelling the attacker.

And matching its thoughts, Kyle propelled himself forward. Peeking at the agitated creature, he thanked his opponent's lack of wits.

Had it owned a shred of human intelligence, it wouldn't have let him do the same trick over and over again.

But for now, it could only bear with the frustration of letting Kyle get away from it.

He landed perfectly amongst the damp ground and continued to approach Karan and his hunched opponent.

The baby-faced man notices him fairly quickly, and he pushed his opponent to Kyle's side. Without exchanging words, Kyle kicked the creature's back and pierced it all the way through its chest.

Their opponent wasn't even granted the permission of expressing its pain, as Karan instantly swung his blade to decapitate the hunched creature's head—instantly ending its life.

He muttered a quick thanks and noticed the red-eyed creature bolting towards them. The creature looked as if it was a piece of rag that had been crumpled, and its left hand was nowhere to be seen.

Karan's face became serious, and he dashed towards the red-eyed creature.