The Jester of Apocalypse

All around them, they could hear the sounds of slithering, scurrying, sneaking, and, well, demons outright rushing toward them. Some were subtle and insidious, while others seemed to have a more straightforward approach to life.

Marven was sweating profusely as he got into a battle-ready stance. He had access to qi techniques this time because his weapon resembled a sword enough, but that didn’t change the fact that their current situation looked quite hopeless.

He had struggled mightily to take out a single demon last time; this time, there seemed to be dozens.

One of them jumped out, rushing straight toward Marven.

Marven readied his sword as every cell in his body lit up in anticipation of the attack. He lifted the blade, preparing an attack to distract the demon, then follow up with a kick, two slashes, and another kick to knock the demon back. He would clear a path in the other direction and carry Hunter and Harel while praying Dukean could make it out alone.

His sword lit up with a red light, and he fired the distraction strike, then prepared to…

The strike landed straight at the incoming demon’s midsection, and half of its gut was carved out.

Marven reflexively followed his muscle memory and continued with a stab, slash, and kick, managing to finish the demon off in seconds. Several others were already running toward them, but Marven’s mind was spinning with confusion.

Did he just get impossibly lucky?

There was no time to think.

Marven threw out a much larger qi technique, and the cavern's ceiling collapsed on the incoming demons. He turned to the others, “Run in the other direction! Dukean, try to find a way to hold them back from advancing while I break through!”

Dukean nodded and swiftly jumped behind Marven’s back. A searing burst of fire flew out of his hands, and was sent toward the pile of debris the demons were buried under.

The rock was heated until it glowed, and the demons screamed and thrashed to try and push their way out.

Dukean used his earth manipulation to lift a few large boulders, and whenever a demon made its way past the pile of debris, it found itself buried beneath a large stone or had its path cut off.

Suddenly, a blaring red light lit up behind them, and they turned, facing Marven. The obsidian branch he held in his hands was glowing with an oppressive light, and he swung it forward.

Several demons had nearly reached him in the time it took to prepare the strike, but now, they came face to face with a burst of energy as the massive attack flooded the cave with sword qi, crashing through the small group of demons and opening a path.

“Now!”

Marven grabbed Hunter and Harel while Dukean manipulated the air to accelerate after them. As a platinum path cultivator, he was far faster than Dukean, but he had no time to slow down as he dodged and weaved through countless tentacles that flew out to grasp his limbs.

They kept their attention firmly on Marven and the two he was carrying, which allowed Dukean to fly over and get a little ahead of Marven.

The three of them turned a corner and kept running. Marven couldn’t swing his sword as he held Hunter and Harel firmly grasped beneath his arms, but luckily, he didn’t seem to need to.

The demons were scrambling after them, but none were uninjured, so they couldn’t run quickly enough to catch up to them.

Marven found this encounter strange. The demons were too weak. The one he had fought a while back was a worthy nemesis. These demons couldn’t even compare to it.

The thing that unnerved him was… These demons were the same. Yet, they weren’t. But they were. Judging by their physical abilities, they seemed to be around as fast as the one he had faced before, and based on their strength, some even seemed stronger.

It was the way they used that power that was vastly inferior. Exactly what the hell did Marven face back then?

And was he at any threat of facing it again?

His blood ran cold as he realized that he had no way to tell. These demons were barely different than the one from before, and if any of them possessed skill similar to that one, there would be no way to tell.

He tightened his grip on the two kids. A sharp burst of pain spread through one of his arms, and he looked down. Harel was biting him.

“What are you doing!?”

“Let me go! I can run by myself!”

“You can’t keep up with us! Don’t be stupid! Stay still and wait until we have reached safety!”

Crash…

A large demon suddenly broke through one of the thickly overgrown paths to their side. Marven held his sword in the arm he was gripping Hunter, preventing him from fighting back. Harel used the distraction to free herself, and Marven had no choice but to drop Hunter as he turned to the demon.

Hunter flew out, and Harel jumped before him, catching him to prevent him from dropping on a sharp brush. There was no time for gratitude.

Marven obliterated the newly arrived demon’s skull, and Dukean blazed fire behind it, stopping several others from approaching.

Harel dropped Hunter down and used a pretty intensive qi technique on one of the demons. A flash of silver light flew out and struck the demon’s arm. It left a large gash but was far from enough to hinder the demon, let alone do substantial damage.

It did distract it for a moment, however, and created an opening Marven utilized immediately to bisect the demon at its waist.

Their pause had allowed the other demons rushing at them to close the distance, and Marven was forced to pick the two kids up again. Even though Harel protested, she didn’t resist, as she now knew that refusing a lift meant death.

As they ran through the cave again, Dukean desperately struggling to keep up with Marven, they entered a cave that was damn near impossible to navigate. Rather than obsidian growth, this was a cave lined by metal spikes from every direction.

Marven paused for a second, jumped, and kicked one of the metal spikes, breaking it off the wall.

He kicked it toward Dukean, not as an attack, but rather, slow enough for Dukean to catch it, “Shape that into a sword!”

Dukean immediately understood what Marven was after. The obsidian branch was like a conductor that could be used for techniques but couldn’t be properly used as a weapon. Even then, it couldn’t handle powerful techniques and could only be used for basic attacks.

Marven’s power was limited as all he could rely on were long-range techniques, which were incredibly demanding and traded power for range.

That wasn’t sustainable in this fight.

Yet, Dukean hesitated. His spirit powers were gold rank, and at that level of potency, his metal manipulation power should be able to bend the spike into the desired shape. However, he hadn’t used the power even once yet. He focused on the metallic object and…

It was damn near impossible to shape. He could bend or otherwise manipulate it by moving it through the air, but shape it into a sword?

It was pretty hopeless, but he had no choice. There was one thing he could do, however. Dukean ran, following Marven through the impenetrable forest of spikes.

It was a delicate obstacle course that required incredible skill to navigate, and luckily, neither Marven nor Dukean was lacking in that department.

The demons weren’t nearly as skilled. Sure, they could slither around the spikes, but they couldn’t fly over and around them the way Marven and Dukean could. This would be enough to lose the demons, as long as they don’t end up at a dead end.

Dukean kept most of his focus on running as he pinched the metal and pulled it with his fingers. While his metal manipulation power was unpracticed and lacking, the raw physical strength of someone on the gold path was enough to bend mundane metal, especially when used in conjunction with a manipulation power.

This metal was hefty and impressively tough for mundane material, but that didn’t stop Dukean from twisting and pulling it. It was a slow, annoying process that was more akin to shaping mclay than it was pulling metal, and Dukean wasn’t exceptionally skilled at doing it, but slowly, as they traveled through the cave, the spike looked more and more like a sword.

Twump…

Marven paused for a fraction of a second. He heard something move behind them. Was it one of the demons?

However, as he looked back, he couldn't see anything, even with the sight of a platinum-rank cultivator. So he turned around. And that was when he spotted it.

Standing on the tip of a spike, a firm, muscular figure appeared.

His fear from earlier turned out to be unnecessary.

It was easy to tell that this demon wasn't like the others.

***

The glass shrub could sense anything within the range of its roots, but that was quite a lot of information, even with how quiet this place was.

There was always a new sprout growing, earth shifting, old obsidian branches falling apart under its roots, and those damn demons scurrying around. There used to be a few monsters wandering around, but it had eradicated all of those that left the few caves where Master had trapped them. It still didn't know why Master commanded it to do that, but it was sure he had his reasons.

However, something was strange this time. It could sense a commotion, quite a big one at that. It followed its senses, finding a partially destroyed cave. Then, it tracked them further, eventually coming across dead demons it hadn’t killed and living ones that seemed injured and weak.

They were trying to make their way into one of those cursed spiky caves, ones of metal. It had been trying its best to push its roots through the ground in those caves, but it simply wasn’t worth it. Its energy was best spent on spreading its influence further out.

However, it was only natural that it would force a thin root or two into the caves anyway, if anything, to ensure that it could manipulate the puppet to go into those caves if necessary.

It followed its senses into those caves and…

The puppet froze.

Gabrias, tracking behind it, also stopped and wondered what was happening.

***

Dukean pulled himself off a spike, barely holding onto the half-shaped metallic weapon while he held his bleeding side.

Harel and Hunter hid between the spikes, trying to stay out of the fight.

While Marven, on the other hand, struggled mightily.

Crack…

The obsidian branch he had used as a weapon snapped like an ordinary twig as the demon swung its tentacles like whips.

“Harel!” Marven yelled, and Harel threw her branch at him. However, before it could reach Marven, another tentacle snapped at an impossible speed and pulverized the obsidian branch.

Hunter, to everyone’s surprise, used the moment to throw his branch as well, and the demon hadn’t been prepared to intercept it, so it managed to reach Marven.

It barely made a difference.

The demon stepped forward, dashing toward Marven.

Marven instantly used another qi technique, but the demon side-stepped it, swinging its leg and crashing it into Marven’s hip, who twisted his torso, minimizing the impact, but the demon was already swinging a tentacle from the other side to capitalize on his overextension. Marven was outmatched, but he wasn't to be underestimated.

He continued his twist into a turn and swung his torso beneath the tentacle, using the miss to counterattack with a kick.

No use. His leg was kicked aside, his back was whipped, and as he prepared to use another technique, the demon kicked his knee, pushing him over and completely destroying his balance.

It was over. The demon had the upper hand, and there was little to nothing Marven could do to recover on time. Just as it was about to sink its claws into his spine, a transparent shard of glass flew out of nowhere and impaled the demon’s hand.

Marven used the demon’s moment of hesitation to get off the ground and kick off a spike, going over to Harel and Hunter. The demon instantly followed up with a tentacle strike, but before the attack could land, several other glass shards also flew out of nowhere, stabbing into the tentacle and redirecting the strike.

Marven grabbed Harel and Hunter and began running. The demon jumped to follow, but another dozen shards flew out from the empty cave and stabbed into its side. This time, the demon twisted and knocked the bits of glass back, repeatedly striking them out of the air to shatter them into fine dust, but more and more kept coming with every second that passed.

It was enough to keep the demon occupied for a while as Marven and Dukean made their way away from the demon, oblivious to what the hell was happening.

Marven was sweaty and bloody all over, while Dukean struggled to run, gripping his bleeding side and breathing heavily. Yet, they both ran like the wind, fearing whatever the hell that demon was.

Marven finally understood what Neave had said. Indeed, the thing he had faced in the beginning…

That was definitely an inferior demon.