"Malachi... theyâre.."
Swoosh!!!
Before the female silver furred ape, sorin, could get her words out, a gust of wind had already blown passed her, in its wake, over a dozen grotesque ape heads came flying.
"Damn... nasty things..." I swiveled, ducking a claw swipe to the head, Elira cleaving down, bisecting the unfortunate monkey cleanly in two.
My wings flapped violently, once, raising a gust powerful enough to displace the ones that had already surrounded me.
Yes, I was holding back.
Considerably in fact.
I was enjoying myself too much to let this fun end in one move, but unfortunately, it seems I was the only one with those scruples...
BOOOOMMMMMMM!!!!!
A shockwave traveled through the ground as Malachiâs figure became airborne, his staff held firmly in his hand...
"FILTHY BASTARDS!!!!
Raising the staff up, "KAIIIIIII!!!!!!!!" He swung down viciously, his downward momentum adding to the force of the attack as the air split apart..
"
SMAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!
The ground imploded as the monkeyâs staff connected with the earth..
A wave of flying bodies came pelting all around.
It was carnage.
The shockwaves spread, almost reaching me, yet before I could make any moves to defend myself..
Wooooshhhh!!!!
The wind split them apart, and thus, just like Moses splitting the seas, the waves passed by whilst I just stood there
"Now, this is getting weird." It wasnât the first time the atmosphere was getting involved, preventing any sort of inconvenience or harm.
It wasnât normal, I wasnât the one actively doing anything, it just felt like the atmosphere itself had begun acting up.
"Guess Iâll have to look into things soon." I hadnât bothered checking anything Iâd gotten from the battle before, having decided to leave it for when I got back to the academy, and it seems I would be needing to do so as soon as possible..
"Hahahahaha... take that, you smelly creatures!" Malachi laughed boisterously...
"Now, get this shit off of me." He immediately stretched his hand forward, yet before I could perform the surgery.
"Tha.. thanks.." a soft spoken voice interrupted us, the monkey instantly forgetting about his smelly hand..
"Haa.. I guess not today then." I muttered.
"Why do you sound disappointed, you bastard? You were looking forward to chopping his hand off werenât you?"
"I have no idea what youâre talking about!"
"Sick bastard."
I ignored the chicken-cat, turning my focus on the conversation currently going on.
Well, conversation would be putting it nicely, since it was mostly just Malachi stuttering like a fool, and the female ape blushing like a bigger one..
"Monkey love is confusing, I need a break."
"Hey, lovebirds, break it up! Letâs get moving!" I wasnât going to stand here and watch a conversation that didnât seem to be moving in any particular direction, Iâd rather go find some heads to bash in...
"But before that..."
Devour!
The familiar black mist spread out of me, covering the entire area, the bodies of the bloodvein apes disappearing one after the other as continuous notifications rang out in my head, notifications I promptly dismissed, not willing to go through anything right now.
"What.. what is this?" The female ape, sorin, was successfully broken from her lovestruck state the moment she felt the nefarious energy of my devour in effect, her voice trembling as she asked, body drawing closer to Malachi.
The monkey didnât miss his shot, placing a protective arm around her waist as he pulled her close.
"Thatâs my boy.."
"Donât worry, itâs just Dante being weird as usual, itâs nothing dangerous, well atleast not for us..." the monkey reassured the blushing female..
...
Finally done with my task,
"Malachi, where to next?" I asked, wiping off imaginary dust from my hands.
"Hmmm... let me check." He brought out a rough looking parchment, the lines almost faded..
"Is that a map?" I came beside him, curious.
"It is, dad gave it to me."
"Is it for this place?"
"Mm. Those that had come here before had taken their time to map out various places the crown and staff might be found, so those are where weâll be hitting first." He replied, finger pointing at a location, "here, weâll start here."
"Alright, good. But before we go, quick question." I stopped them..
"Huh?"
"Supposing we do find this crown and staff, who among you two gets to keep it and become the next king/queen." I asked, curious as to what solutions they might have..
"Pft... Is that what youâre worried about?" Malachi laughed.
"I wouldnât worry too much, human, that problem has already been solved." The female ape replied to me in an empty voice.
Seems she only blushes for hairy faces, not my problem though.
"And what solution might that be?"
"Of course itâs...
trial by combat!"
"Haaaa.... Of course, what did I expect?" I shook my head wryly, wings sprouting as I grabbed Malachi by his furry head, the monkey protesting wildly, I ignored him of course, swiftly taking off into the skies, next up, our first suspected locations...
....
"Hmmm? Now, thatâs strange?"
Leoâs confused voice reached my ears mid flight.
The other apes had summoned flying devices they mounted, sure, they could fly on their own, but none wanted to waste any energy they could be using to fight on just flying..
"What is it?" I asked
"I sense something...off."
"Off? Off how?"
"Give me a moment.."
The chicken-cat spread his wings lightly, a crown of light materializing above his miniature head, eyes closing briefly, before he opened them once more..
"I was right, interesting."
"Hey, idiot! Spit it out, whatâs interesting, stop holding out."I snapped.
"Yea, tell us, tell us.." the monkey became hyper as well.
"Youâre going to love this one Dante."
"Huh? Why?"
"Because I sense corrupted mana."
"Corrupted mana?" The moment I heard those words, my body stopped.
"Where?" I asked, voice cold and and unfeeling..
"Hahahaha... that way, but Iâll have you know, itâs not just corrupted mana I sense, thereâs primal energy too."
"What? Pick one, featherbrain, is it corrupted mana or primal energy?"
"Itâs both. Thatâs why itâs interesting, donât you think? Ahahaha.."
"Screw you.."
Before I could ask for more confirmation, the monkey in my grasp squirmed..
"Did you say primal energy and demonic energy(corrupted mana)?"
"Hmm. I did. You know something?"
The monkey grinned, a sharp, toothy expression...
"Ha...hahahahaha.. oh I do, I very much do, which direction." The monkey asked, suddenly excited..
"That way."
Seeing Leoâs pointing wing, the monkey squirmed out of my grasp before bounding towards that direction in haste.
"Yo! Dante, keep up, last one there is a fucking bloodvein!"
"Donât you dare pin those smelly bastardâs names on me!"
I snapped, wings spreading wide,
SWIIISHHHH!!!!
The air didnât detonate behind me, not this time, as the moment I flapped my wings, I was gone, no resistance, no turbulence, just gone.
"Okay, I might actually get used to this." I laughed.
Next up, the source of that confusing energy.
I was damned if Iâd let any source of corrupted mana survive this place.
"They all die!"
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A/N: damn bro? Edgy much? Itâs just corrupted mana, itâs not necessarily a demon though? There can be plants with demonic energy no?
Also, check out the miscellaneous Chapter, different energy types and bloodline grades have been added..
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Thanks for reading...