Dragon of Endless Evil

Daemon and Victoria were sinking ever deeper into the Catacombs.

This time, he preferred to avoid any confrontation. On the second level, the daugrs were far more powerful than those of the first, and exhausting themselves here would leave them dangerously vulnerable for the rest of the descent.

" Luckily with my First Sense, it’s easier to dodge them... What would you do without me? " Victoria said.

" You brag about anything and everything, huh? " Daemon rolled his eyes.

" What? What’s wrong? You’ve really become grumpy. Is it because someone broke your heart? "

" What? Nonsense! It’s just that I’ve become more mature, and I have to be less lax if I want to stay human... Anyway, you can’t understand. "

" It is indeed a bit complicated, understanding your reasonings... I’d say that by hardening yourself, you might be becoming exactly what you don’t like... "

Daemon slowed his pace, thoughtful. " I hope not... "

Before he could continue, Victoria frowned.

" Something is approaching us fast! "

" Huh!? A daugr? I didn’t sense anything. "

Victoria closed her eyes, then opened them abruptly.

< First Sense of Water: Contemplation of the Sea >

" It’s there! "

Daemon drew his katana in a flash, just in time. The chi discharge struck the flat of his blade and lifted him off the ground. He landed three meters farther, his shoulder hitting the wall.

" Who is that!? "

A silhouette emerged from the gloom. Daemon first recognized the build, then the face. His sclerae had turned black, pupil and iris vanished into two bottomless pits, but there was no doubt, it was Conrad Nikmar.

’ The guy from the twelfth district? What is he doing here? ’

" This isn’t against you, fallen heir of the Sword Clan... But if I want to reach my goal, you must die. "

" Tsk. Markus’s underling? Is he the one sending you? Or did you contact the Spear Clan directly to hunt me down? "

" Underling? Before you die, I’ll teach you to call me by my name! "

Victoria slid to his flank, her palm tracing bluish furrows in the air.

< Second Sense of Water: Undulation >

A series of concentric waves burst from her palm and surged toward Conrad. He didn’t even turn his head. His torso pivoted at a minimal angle, his feet never leaving their position, and each wave brushed past him without touching.

’ His movements are illogical,’ Daemon realized. ’ He isn’t reacting to the attack. He already knows where it’s going to pass before Victoria has even launched it... Is this an advanced detection technique? ’

" Victoria, fall back! "

Conrad didn’t give her time to answer. He pivoted on the ball of his left foot, turning his hip in the same motion, and launched a circular kick toward Victoria’s ribs. She crossed her forearms to block in a low guard, but the impact went through the block and lifted her against the gallery wall, a cloud of stone dust falling around her.

"Kuh! "

Conrad didn’t wait for her to land: he had already leapt toward Daemon, in three steps he was already in front of him.

’ He has become so fast? ’

Daemon raised his katana to parry a first straight punch to the face, the blade flat against the forearm to absorb the shock rather than cut.

The shock climbed up to his shoulder, his fingers going numb around the hilt. Conrad followed immediately with a right hook that Daemon deflected by pivoting his torso, letting the fist slide against his flank, then a second blow, lower, that he tried to block with his forearm.

" Shii- that hurts like hell! "

’ It’s not only speed. He’s also powerful physically!? ’

Daemon stepped back with a sliding step, rear leg bent to absorb the support and keep his balance, then counterattacked with a right straight charged with chi that carved a furrow in the rock under his feet at the moment of the push.

Conrad intercepted the fist bare-handed, palm open then fingers closing around Daemon’s wrist with a force that nearly crushed the joint. Daemon felt his knuckles crack under the pressure, the grip already climbing toward his elbow to unbalance him.

He pivoted his torso, freed his arm then leapt backward to regain distance.

< Steel Breath! >

Chi flowed into his muscles, hardening his skin, reinforcing his bones beyond human limits.

He charged again.

The blade met Conrad’s guard, his own sword, brandished without Daemon having had time to see it leave its scabbard, and the impact sent a vibration so violent into Daemon’s arm that he nearly dropped his weapon.

" Obviously, with your privileged childhood... you’re actually just an incompetent! "

Conrad chained three rapid strikes of his blade in a single wrist movement, each aiming at a different point, forcing Daemon to retreat while parrying in urgency, katana always one strike behind, never having the initiative.

< Undulation! >

A palm strike, from Victoria who had gotten back up in the meantime, deflected the last strike to the side at the moment when Conrad’s blade was about to find Daemon’s throat. The blade sank into the wall instead of Daemon’s neck, making the wall explode in shards.

" It’s impossible! How have you become so powerful? Last time... "

Conrad stopped short and shook his head upon seeing the daugrs attracted by the noise of the fight, their silhouettes emerging from the neighboring galleries.

" I take back what I said. Even if you weren’t in my way, I would kill you anyway! You represent everything I will never have! "

He shook his head while clenching his teeth, tears flowing from his entirely black eyes.

Victoria approached Daemon and murmured: " Something’s wrong... "

" Obviously something’s wrong, didn’t you see his eyes!? " Daemon retorted while stretching his aches. Even if he had a good physique, the blows from Markus’s underling had been powerful enough to shake him to the bone.

" I’m not talking about that. You may not have noticed, but with my First Sense, I can clearly see that the undulation he produces... it’s not only Chi. "

" What do you mean? " Daemon turned his head toward her.

" Only son born into a powerful family, a golden spoon in your mouth, and in the snap of a finger you’re at the Second Sense... You disgust me! You’ve always been free to do whatever you wanted! Me, I had to sell my soul just to have even a semblance of freedom!! "

Conrad was scratching his temple, shaking his head violently.

" What is he talking about? What have you become Conrad!? "

" He seems to be going mad? "

" Mad... Yeah, that’s it. "

He stretched out his hand. His nails lengthened into black claws, the joints of his fingers cracking under the mutation. With a simple backhand, he swept away the approaching daugrs, a single discharge of power was enough to tear their flesh to shreds, projecting blackish limbs against the walls of the gallery.

’ Chi Projection... He’s at least at the Third Sense! ’

" I will drink your blood. Then, I will no longer be anyone’s underling... Powerful enough to be no one’s dog. Not Markus’s. Not the Clans’. Not Vamp’s! "

...

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