The Sword Devil

by Nathan Valerio

  As Tryus’s speed began to slow as it felt his body start to numb, making it hard to move, it did one last drastic move that would probably attract friend and foe but was their only chance to attract someone strong enough.

  His throat actually clenched in a very unusual manner as it drew in a very deep breath before roaring.

  KKKRRRRRYYYYAAAA!

  Unlike the deep pitched dragon roar, this one was a high pitched screech that was reinforced a dense flow of Dragon Aura and densely packed Wind magic meant to transmit sound waves. This was called the dragon distress call, there was no skill for this, this was a biological ability each and every dragon has for when it is in a desperate situation. Almost always, a full grown dragon would never use it but it’s another story for the drakes, wyvern and low ranking or infant dragons.

  The sound would almost instantly travel 10 km within a few seconds and could reach almost 50 km after a few minutes.

  After releasing the screech Tryus tried his best to fly but eventually his wing’s stopped and he could only turn himself and numbly grab Univa near its body to cushion the fall allowing his body to crash through the trees and falling to the ground with a crash.

  Univa, who was still half wake, looked around where they were, she held her wand and tried to cast a detoxification spell alleviating the poison in her body. She looked at her leg and with trembling hands she removed the spike. “I-I need to move.” She muttered.

  HISS~!

  Her body trembled when she heard that. She looked up only to find a huge green Viper hanging from a tree. It’s thickness was nearly 2 meters and it looked like a vine.

  “Vine Snake…”

  “Hiss, Dragonssss blood!” It hissed.

  She paled even more as it spoke.

  WOOSH!

  Two large leaf like wings appeared making Univa tremble, “Winged Viper… T-There is no hope.” She thought while trembling.

  “Humansss blood… yoursss isss mixed with dragonsss blood.” the viper said licking the air. “You blood ssshall make me a dragon!” He shouted and shot toward’s Univa.

  “It’s over!” She thought before her mind dulled and she fainted.

  ROAR!

  At the moment she fainted, a sudden tiger’s roar followed by hundreds of howls and roars came from around when suddenly a huge black tiger with burning red and shining strips burst out of the underbrush and like a spark crashed into the Snake and bit into its wing as it landed on top and ripped it.

  HISS!

  The Winged Viper hissed in pain before whipping it’s body causing the giant tiger to be hit away.

  “Insssolent!” he hissed and suddenly pounced at it only to find shards of ice flying at it but after a moment it continued on as the ice was weak and didn’t even pierce the skin.

  The Tiger was, without a doubt, Ember in her demon form. With a burning in her eyes, her body was enveloped by a thick killing intent and aura that shined like a burning flame. Flame’s gathered in its mouth before it’s slit eyes shined and it roared.

  ROAAAAAAAA!

  From it’s jaws, Ember’s Demon Fire Breath burst out like an inferno engulfing the entire Winged Viper. Being a creature born from a Vine Snake, it was made of plants still and thus weak to fire. The reinforced Devil Feral fire was even stronger and covered the entire front half causing the Viper to hiss in pain as it dropped and rolled itself. The next moment it turned and bolted away.

  Ember roared causing the minion Devil’s to circle and stop it and she ran away.

  Slowly the area became quiet. Void, who was nearby, had been on one of the devils and went to kill the viper and hadn’t seen Univa since he sent Ember out first to stop whatever was attacking. The fact he knew it was an ally in danger was because the dragon’s distress roar was focused on considering humans as ally and magically, he knew it was a familiar.

  As the Feral Devil pack rushed after the Winged Viper it left Univa and Tryus, the dragon was still stabbed but as a dragon and as a familiar, it’s body was a bit stronger, allowing its mana to flow to the seal and back allowed it to slowly push some poison out.

  As for Univa, the mana flowing out of the seal entered her body and naturally flowed with more vigor and started to clear it from her as well and returned to the dragon.

  Soon she opened her eyes and saw the massive burn scar in the surroundings but could not move much as she used another detoxification spell, to no effect.

  WOOSH!

  Suddenly the huge Wyrm casually found them and landed, “Haha! Stupid girl and puny drake, this is what you get for resisting. Hmm… girl your blood smells like dragon. I had not noticed but now I see, you possess a dragon bloodline.” It said and licked its lips. “This is much better than the little drake.” He laughed but slowly the grin lowered and turned into a scowl.

  “Your desperate shout was heard but it's a shame that it was used up to deal with that pathetic Winged Viper. That stupid thing did not even sense such a burning hot creature coming at it. It’s a worthless thing for sure and deserves to be devoured by them.” He said.

  Univa could only cry while the Wyrm insulted her.

  “I have spent too long here. Let us kill you both and end this trouble.” He said and his long tail lifted.

  Just as it lifted, a very powerful raging fire blade slash suddenly launched out.

  This completely shocked and irritated the Wyrm as it turned its tail swung at the magic slash.

  “BEGONE!” He roared and smashed it to pieces.

  “Univa!” A cry came out.

  She turned and amazingly saw a large burning armored child. The voice reminded her of Xero, then she saw Ashley and confirmed this.

  “R-Run Xero! It’s more than level 41!” She shouted.

  “Be silent!” The Wyrm roared and suddenly swung its tail at her.

  “No!” Xero shouted and his body moved on it’s own. He grabbed into his bag pulling out a green sword while his armor glowed coming off.

  Within him, the sword spirit was completely unbound before his soul suddenly released a massive repulsive wave completely pushing the spirit away without giving it a chance to steal his mana before it pulled in the wind sword’s spirit and bound it all within a heartbeat.

  His armor changed to a green armor and wind gathered under his feet while he activated Ashley’s Super Pounce. With the wind under his feet, like a flash of green light he appeared in front of Univa.

  “NO!” She shouted but his armor suddenly shined as he turned to face the giant green tail and he pulled out a yellow sword. It rapidly grew but he slammed it down on the ground sending a mana wave to the ground causing the huge greatsword to be covered in reinforced solid stone similar to bedrock the formed a large shield around them.

  BANG!

  With a resounding impact, the bedrock cracked but the entire force of the tail was transmitted into the ground. Behind Xero, just behind Tryus, more than 20 meters of forest erupted as all the physical force of the tail was transmitted behind them all by transmitting the energy through mana in the ground and around them all allowing it loose after they were clear.

  “How!?” The Wyrm shouted as it pulled back it’s tail. Xero once more changed but this time he removed the iron sword but didn’t immediately change. “You meddlesome ant! You dare go against me!” He roared.

  “A wild beast like you still thinks you can make a move against my classmate! I’ll skin you alive!” Xero said as his brown eyes suddenly turned bright red. The Sword in his hand shine and turned into a ball of light that he grabbed with his left hand and then grabbed the light expanding from it and formed a curved blade. His body was covered in armor just like that of a strong knight.

  Univa that saw him protecting her, under the intense situation, turned bright red as her heart began to beat heavily seeing that small but strong back in front of her.

  “DIE!” The Wyrm roared.

  “This is incomplete but it's a good test.” Xero muttered. He slowly pulled out the spell while chanting,
“The Flames of hell temper the steel, the steel tempered by the heavens, the spirit of metal surge, ‘First Cut: Devil’s Gate Opening’!” He shouted and pulled the sword swinging it vertically. All the Sword Devil’s aura gathered on the blade’s edge and all the mana and aura merged after surging through the incomplete magical formula that was complete enough to attack.

  SHING! Click!

  With just the sound of the sword exiting the sheath and returning was heard as the shining mana blade burst out and impacted the dragon scales but to Univa, who found it impossible to resist, the blade didn’t break and instead intensified when it hit the dragon aura of the Wyrm. The dragon scales were split in half and the muscle was split more and more until it reached the bone. The Wyrm roared in pain as it felt the sword blade break but when it broke all those magic fragments turned into swords themselves and pierced into its body wrecking the area leaving as nothing more than minced meat near the tip of the tail.

  At this time, countless lights shined as the few dozen Sword Devil’s appeared and Ashley grabbed the Bloodvine Wood minion and linked with it.

  The next moment a strange event happened as similar type sword devils were grabbed by other devils and suddenly their bodies shined and almost doubled in size while two large swords formed in their hands.

  They each roared as they waited for the order of their master. Xero didn’t have time to appraise the fact that the Sword minions merged he looked at the enraged Wyrm that he was going to have to fight until someone strong enough to kill it appeared.

  The attack he used had used a lot of mana so he would only be able to use simple attacks or weak magic instead of the sword magic he had begun to develop.

  “I will eat you all!” The Wyrm roared and roared up causing his Dragon Aura.

  “Not if we eat you first!” Ashley shouted and alongside the Minions, she jumped just as Xero stepped forward and swung the sword in an overhead swing to release the magic slash that was soon followed by all the minions who rained down sword magic on the enraged dragon.

  Chapter 15

  Univa was in awe as she witnessed an amazing scene. The area in front of her, within a short two minute, had turned into a warzone. Countless thorn projections were all around, trees were broken, others split into many pieces, the ground had countless sword scars. In this short time, more than three fourths of the Sword minions had been smashed or hit away.

  The damage to the armor body eventually cause both merged spirits to retreat to their sword form which, amazingly, showed chipped or bent blades. They fell or stuck in the ground damaged.

  That said, even if there was a large number of casualty on the Sword Devil’s side, the Wyrm learned that even though not a single one of these cursed creatures were beyond level 30 their strength was clearly at the highest peak of level 40 and what is more they possessed and even more annoying aura ability that was so sharp that it could penetrate it’s scales. The sharpness and penetrating power of the Sword Devil’s aura caused the Wyrm to almost curse the heavens for putting these devils in his path. Especially when they kept it from running at the immediate moment because, as soon as it took to the air, countless strange swords appeared that they mounted and swarmed around it like vultures who pecked at its body.

  “ANNOYING LITTLE FLIES!” The Wyrm roared in rage while more thorns grew out.

  Xero’s eye turn sharp as the metal sword in his hand was shining. “Edge, protect Univa, completely block the thorns if possible.” Xero said.

  He was not using Edge to fly, instead he used a common Sword Devil Divine Greatsword.

  Edge appears and quickly flew down before stabbing the ground and growing big enough to cover the drake and the girl.

  “DIE!” The Wyrm roared and spun it’s body releasing a huge number of thorns that rained down everywhere.

  Ashley clicked her tongue, “So ANNOYING!” She roared as her sword burst into flames with red fire before she did a spin and strike out burning and cutting through the wave of thorns and hit the side of the Wyrm with the burning slash cut in the left side of the Wyrm’s body charring it’s scales and burning the flesh.

  He roared in pain but the thorns that did not go towards Ashley still went towards the others. Towards Xero his pupils shrank as he drew his sword and swung three times before sheathing and then drawing it once more causing all his mana blades to cut into the wave of thorns while any small ones that came at him would be stop by his aura.

  When Xero looked he was actually shocked to find that the Wyrm had turned tail and had already flown away.

  “We scared him away.” Xero said and released a sigh of relief,

  BANG!

  Just as Xero removed his eyes from the Wyrm a huge explosion came and when he looked, he saw the aftereffect from a huge bolt of thunder ripping a hole through it’s head and the 50 meter long Wyrm remained in the air for only a few moments it collapsed causing countless trees under it to collapse under it’s body weight

  “I applaud your performance child.” A voice said and Xero, Ashley and the minions turned with their sword at the ready but what they saw made their hearts sink. At nearly 200 meters long from the nose to the tip of the tail, a massive red dragon flew in the air.

  Xero was trembling until he saw an elder on the head of the dragon, finally calming down a bit. He released the linking but because he had been switching without having his mana taken, he had learned the trick and was able to completely expel the spirit without hurting himself now.

  Still he was quite exhausted from the fight, even if it was short, it was highly consuming and it was thanks to all the minions he had that he was able to fight for so long since it was a combined effort.

  “Child, I thank you for saving our young Miss.” the elder said while the dragon glowed and was absorbed into the familiar seal.

  “You watched in the sidelines for too long. Why didn’t you help!?” Ashley complained.

  The elder chuckled, “You were handling it, I wished to see the capabilities of one of the few people that was even stronger than our young miss in her year.” He said.

  Ashley snorted and ordered the minions to gather the injured ones to her quickly. They all unlinked and began to gather them for her.

  They all landed near Ashley were they found Edge with almost thirty large thorns penetrating him. “Edge are you okay?!” Xero asked as he ran over and pulled the thorns out.

  “Yes master, I have just been damaged on the blade, not my core. It will take just a few days of rest for it to heal.” He said allowing Xero to pull out the thorns and soon he shrank but the cracks and holes were still there making Xero frown and let him be absorbed into his body so he can go rest.

  The elder walked over to Univa and took a wand out and two small balls of mana shot out into the drake and her making them glow for a moment before their body completely cleared of the poison.

  The old man pulled out the thorn spike from Tryus allowing him to safely get up and bowing to the old man. “Child, once more I thank you, as well as you young man.” He said louder.

  From the bushes Void soon walked out scratching his head.

  “Brother?” Xero said surprised, “I didn’t see you before.” Xero said.

  “Yeah, Ember stopped a Winged Viper from eating her but I didn’t see her when I passed by so I didn’t know there was something even stronger after her.” He said scratching his head and bowing to the elder.

  “I must thank you both for your aid, we should warn the academy staff that there are still intelligent level 41 and above creatures around stalking the students. Anyway, on behalf of the Crost family, I thank you two.” He said and looked at the Wyrm while scratching his chin, “We can’t very well let either of you off without a reward so the two monsters killed, you both can keep, you both earned them. Oh, though I would like to purchase the Wyrm heart for the young miss, her familiar is at the critical junction to break through the level 30 and it would aid her a lot.” He said.

  “From last year I still ha
ve rewards of a demon dragon heart, I do not need more, I can gift it.” Xero said.

  The older nodded and flew over and soon dragged both the corpses back, the winged viper was a bit mangled and had bleed out. The Wyrm on the other hand had it’s back open and the heart ripped out. The heart was instantly fed to the drake so that it could start digesting.

  “Young miss, from now on circle the mana that is within your familiar through your body until the heart is completely digested. Only that way, when there is a harmony between you and your familiar will both of you instantly break through to level 31.” The elder said and took the girl on his dragon. “We shall leave first.” he said. Xero nodded and saw them off.

  “He sure is sneaky. He left us with such a massive corpse.” Ashley snorted before turning and shouting to her minions who all began to butcher the corpses skillfully and extracting each meat section without damaging it.

  Soon all organs and meat was extracted leaving behind only bone. As for those Ashley grinned as she looked at Xero expectantly. A 50 meter long Wyrm was a powerful thing but it was pretty much a long snake. A long snake like an anaconda have between 300 and 400 pairs of ribs along their body and with this an equal number of vertebra. As for this 50 meter long Wyrm, just the spine had almost 800 so the number of ribs was obvious.

  “You can use the bones to make minions, also Ashley, won’t it take long?” Xero asked.

  “Nope, unlike the dragon bones Grunt had, this is a low class dragon, it’s bones aren’t that strong but it still has the dragon’s aura so at most it will take around a month for the spirit sword to ‘be born’.” She said as she spread her hand and hundreds of Sword spirits shot out of her hands and each one entered one of the bones on the skeleton.

  Ashley then stored the now ready meat and then began to store the bones and almost overfilled three bags with it’s bones. As for the Winged Viper, it was a plant creature, it had no bones and its body was made of plant fibers but no bones. It wasn’t even a true dragon. Ashley offhandedly said that it made good firewood at least but still stored it so that she could feed the wood spirit swords making them evolve and form a weak dragon aura.