Beastforged Bond

B4 Chapter 48

The Hellhound was slower than Raffael Torch. It was not a Monarch, but that didn’t mean it was slow or weak. Raffael only had two Soulkins, so it was obvious that the Hellhound was powerful.Paralyze did not work nearly as well as I had hoped. The Hellhound shook off the paralyzing effect effortlessly and leaped at me. Twisting aside, I should have been able to evade the claws, yet they raked across my chest anyway. Even though they never touched me, my chest piece tore open in several deep marks. Blood gushed through the magical chestplate, only to cease within seconds.

Pond of Life and Pyromantic Recovery guided my body’s natural regeneration well enough for me to focus on the fight ahead. With Predator active, I wove around the next incoming attack and counterattacked. The blade in my hand cleaved through the air, Nullblade coating it. Yet, before I could hit the Hellhound, the beast erupted in a fiery explosion.

Facing the explosion’s impact head-on, I was hurled through the air. I shifted from the Soulfusion with Aureus to merge with Volix and unraveled into blazing flames–flames that consumed the Hellhound’s, turning them into fuel for yet another attack, but also for Pyromantic Recovery.

Searing hot flames sprouted from my back and expanded as Volix erupted with more power, devouring more flames around us. The Hellhound was not a purely elemental being like the Elemental Phoenix. It retained some control of its dark flames, but it did not necessarily need them to fight. It was a beast with great physical power, and it didn’t hesitate to display that.

Power I hadn’t sensed before erupted as soon as the Hellhound’s lifesource flickered. It diminished ever so slightly as it leaped into action, blurring before my eyes. A moment later, the beast was before me, its claws tearing on my armor and chest. Glistening light erupted as Mirage triggered anew, and I pulled back, blinking to the side. The next instant, earthen spikes burst from the ground.

The tips of the spikes were coated in Nullblade, an expensive and mentally draining measure, but it was worth it. The spikes tore through the beast’s legs and side. And once the toughest part had been pierced, the rest was much easier. It was just that my Earthen Aspect was too weak to kill the Hellhound instantly. The spikes cracked and crumbled as soon as the beast reacted. It twisted and turned, darkness oozing from its body.

Leaning into my bond with the Horror Tessar, both of its traits were activated. Illusion created afterimages of myself, each more grotesque than the other. They were much larger and emitted the same power a Ruler would. Momentarily confused, the Hellhound spat flames at the illusions. No damage was done, but Inflict Fear triggered at full power.

The Hellhound yelped and backed off. It shifted to a more defensive stance, its eyes moving from one illusion to another. But what it didn’t look at was the real me.

I breathed out, forced my racing heart under control, and channeled the power resting within me and the Elemental Phoenix.

My core tremored as the Insignia’s etching flickered to life. My chest burned, and the sensation did not lessen. It intensified, spreading to my throat and up to my head as I replaced the weapon in my hand with a glaive. Nullblade was the first to come into being. The glaive’s blade was embraced in a thick coat of raw power, and it happened all too naturally. It was effortless. Like it was meant to be this way.

Then came the pristine white flames. They erupted like a wildfire. Uncontrolled. Unbidden. .

I didn’t try to control them. Instead, I reached out to the pristine flames and asked for support. It was an effort of cooperation rather than forced coercion. And it worked. The pristine flames melted into Nullblade seamlessly. They merged, transforming into a starry sky. But the flames shrouding the glaive tried to merge further. They seeped into the weapon blade as well and tried to make it part of the whole. Instead, the glaive started to melt.

That only meant I had to act faster. So I moved.

Inflict Fear activated once again, and I blinked behind the Hellhound. Everything worked according to plan. Brandishing the glaive, I struck out, metal meeting flesh.

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The Hellhound yelped in pain and spun around, allowing me to ram the glaive even deeper. Twisting the blade, I unleashed the fire channeled within me and the Elemental Phoenix.

The beast writhed almost desperately as it thrashed around while the pristine fire and phoenix fire pumped into it, wrecking the Hellhound from the inside out.

But Raffael’s Soulkin was not dead. After the ecstasy of success faded came the realisation. My attack may have hit the mark, but so did the Hellhound’s.

Looking down at my chest, there was no sign of armor. The Hellhound removed it easily enough. I’d noticed that, yet I hadn’t paid enough attention to it. The loss of armor and some weapons had come naturally to me. After all this fighting, it felt almost natural, and that was the issue.

Because now, I stood there with a claw made of darkness stuck deep in my chest.

The Hellhound was not supposed to kill me. Raffael Torch’s order still rang in my head, but I’d trusted it too much. Not all Soulkins listened to their Blessed. Nor did every Soulkin understand their Blessed’s order in the same way.

The claw of darkness ripped downward, splitting my chest open. As long as I was breathing, the Hellhound would be fine. After all, I only had to be alive for it to complete its Blessed’s order. As for how alive…I sincerely doubted the Hellhound could care less.

Aureus let out a guttural roar and emerged from the World. He leaped at the Hellhounds, his weight increased by a dozen times. Gravity applied on the Hellhound as well, but it decreased rather than increased, granting the Earthheart the advantage he needed to push it away.

The Hellhound growled as it was yanked away and dug its fangs into the Earthheart’s shoulder. At the same time, a sting surged through my chest. The claw made of darkness was still there even when its owner was on the ground, spikes poking into its back, neck, and side.

Kill!!!

Nox hissed and joined Aureus. He looked worse to wear than he should have but the damage done to his soulfused appendages didn’t seem to affect his scythe arms.

The Ferronox Mantis’ eyes flashed dangerously as he shot forward, Nullblade and Predator active. Using the distraction Aureus offered, Nox began to stab and slash. Alas, his attacks inflicted barely any damage. Except when the scythe cut into already existing wounds. He ripped them wide open, turning insignificant wounds to mild injuries, and mild to worse.

Nox’s excited hisses echoed in my head. They resounded, muffling Sapsie and Cosmo’s worry – almost. The World Tree sapling focused her whole attention on my body. The Liferoot Gates glowed as life-attuned ether surged forth. Meanwhile, Cosmo tried to Blink the claw of darkness away – out of my body and existence. If I didn’t know any better, I would have said that it should work. Something was happening, and I was almost hopeful, but Cosmos failed.

Too weak to help me, Cosmo squeaked out loud and joyed the others, its potential as a spatial-attributed beast coming to light.

As for Volix, he channeled his power deep within him before materializing on Razarn as well. His frame was small, minuscule even, but he burst forth with unprecedented speed and tore through the Hellhound’s chest and erupted. His power expanded rapidly, and so did his body – inside the Hellhound,

The Hellhound thrashed around, its claws and fangs carving through the Earthheart’s scales and into his flesh. Being nowhere near the Overlord Rank, Aureus had been foolish to attack. He knew that, I knew that, was aware of the truth, but the Earthheart couldn’t endure the pain. pain. And I couldn’t endure his.

The Insignia buried deep within me burned even brighter than before. My World felt like it had been set on fire, but I reached out to it anyway. I grasped the Insignia etched on the core and forced it to do more. To be better.

And when it did, it almost felt like my World materialized outside my body. The blazing mark on my chest shone bright as the moon on a cloudless night. It spread outward and within, soothing the pain that threatened to consume me.

Leaning into the instincts that had yet to betray me, I tapped into the energy around me. My arms spread outward like the pristine wings that unfurled around me. They were made of fire but burned like eyes as they sprouted, revealing details I’d never seen when fused with Volix. But… I was not even fused with the Elemental Phoenix.

Volix was not in my World. He was inside the Hellhound, wrecking him from inside out, burning it at temperatures not even a Hellhound could easily endure.

The claws of darkness faded as soon as the brilliant light reached it. Then, my body knit itself together. No, I realized that was not quite it.

Threads of fire peeled from the magnificent, white wings on my back. The threads came to be, and they activated and consumed the power with Pond of Life and Pyromantic Recovery as they mended damaged intestines, broken rips, and the deepest of surface wounds. Sewn together by threads of glistening fire that consumed life as much as death. Pain and happiness.

Then the light faded. The wings dispersed, and the strength that supported me vanished.

As for the Insignia, it lost its luster for the first time since it formed.