Supreme Monarch



Plod. Plod. Plod...

 Grim footsteps echoed through the chambers as Bam subconsciously took a step back, the grip on his sword loosened for a moment as an uncontrollable terror gripped his heart.

 The source of such menacing footsteps soon walked out of the tunnel, dragging something behind his back.

 The figure was a demon with blood-red pupils with a vertical slit. His body was contorted weirdly and his arms appearing longer than they should and his back hunched slightly due to his lazy posture. 

 With a slightly red skin tone and a sickly build, he gave the feel of a nocturnal creature from the deepest parts of the sea rather than a lesser demon. However, the twin curved horns protruding from his head and the thinly red tail scrapping the ground. as he walked confirmed his race.

 Clad in tattered leather armor with huge bags under his eyes, his skin practically clinging to his bones with barely any flesh on them, he almost seemed as though he was one of the walking dead. 

 Despite his tired expression and weak-looking frame. His cold gaze and dominating aura made Bam's skin crawl. Even for someone that had been thrown into countless frontlines of active battlefields, he had never experienced true terror like this. 

 What truly drove the nail in the coffin was when his eyes finally perceived what this demon had just dragged into the room as though it was nothing more than a bag of flesh to him.

 His long and bony hand gripped the hair of a slender figure clad in leather armor as he casually walked into the chambers. 

 It was Kate, the former Hunter they had stationed at the entrance of this base to keep her safe, yet this had happened. Her face appeared to have been bashed in and she was bruised and battered everywhere else. It didn't seem to have been a fair fight on any level. 

 While the sight of this man dragging her unconscious body around as though she was nothing more than a doll made Bam's blood boil, his veins ran cold as the man's gaze landed on him. He knew he couldn't afford to lose control here. 

 After all, if this man was capable of doing that to a former Duranium-ranked Hunter, that meant Bam stood no chance in this fight. There was also no possible way for him to safely retreat. His only hope now was to stay alive until Blane comes back. 

 Bam's heartbeat grew louder as the man's gaze fixated on him. He felt as though it was almost in his throat as he couldn't bring himself to breathe. 

Just then...

The man made a cut on his thighs and then proceeded to ease a blade out of the blood that floated out of his wound as he looked at Bam, he then narrowed his eyes and said: 

 "Sigh... Such a bother. Why does everyone have to stress me out? Why did Nine have to assign such troublesome duties to me? Answer me, boy, where's number 10?"

 As he spoke, his left hand moved and tossed aside the body he was dragging as he took a step towards Bam who reflectively took a step backward. 

 "N-Number what?" 

 For a moment, Bam had no idea what this man was talking about before quickly remembering the words of his mistress concerning the secret organizations in the Demon continent. 

 He remembered hearing her speak with the Quantium ranked Hunter party, Evident on the issue a while back. Apparently, the organization most prominent in the Floato region was called the Dark Order but another organization has begun to operate only within Radiance City's borders recently. 

 If he remembers correctly, they were called Numbers and referred to their elite members by numeric figures. So who was this number 10 he was asking about? Bam had no clue. 

 "Playing dumb huh? Whatever then, I'll just have to force the information out of you, the last one didn't know anything either though. What a bother." 

 Bam swallowed a mouthful of saliva and tightens the grip on his weapon. He knew he had no chance of winning this encounter so he couldn't afford to lower his guard no matter how terrified he was. 

 He willed himself to stand his ground as his trembling hands became still once more and he finally took a step forward. His body was sending all kinds of warning alarms his way but Bam forced his mind to ignore them. 

 If he allowed himself to falter now, what would he do if his mistress' life was ever in danger? His eyes suddenly burnt with a renewed vigor as he prepared himself. 

 He pushed his senses to their limit as he observed even the slight motion from the enemy. 

 However—

 "What are you looking at?"

 That voice came from somewhere it shouldn't as Bam could not even fathom what had happened. The hair on his back stood as he hurriedly tried to defend himself from the enemy that had suddenly appeared behind him. 

 Pain suddenly blossomed on his defenseless back and he was very nearly tossed away.

"Gwaaargh!"

Bam stumbled forward several steps and collided against the wall next to the unconscious body of Kate. He had no time to think about what had happened — his enemy was already in front of him and a sharp pain arose from his right thigh.

 The hardened blood in the shape of a rapier had pierced through his thigh without resistance as Bam intuitively attempted to counter with a lazy sword slash but hit nothing but air. 

 Bam didn't hesitate as he fought through the pain and stood back up. Entering a defensive stance once more. He knew staying down would not do him any good so he couldn't afford to wallow in despair. 

 "Worthless."

 Seeing Bam struggle to maintain his stance, the man sighed as his feet kicked off the ground and he appeared beside Bam and thrust his blade.

 •Dragon's Heart• 

 •Steel Wall• 

 Refusing to go down so easily, Bam activated two skills simultaneously, something he had never done before. He couldn't afford to allow fear to get in his way right now and needed to increase his durability if he wanted to tank the attacks from such a strong opponent. 

 Although he still could not follow the attack speed of his opponent, he barely felt the pain from that last strike as his body slid through the room to the other side from the impact alone. 

 His innate ability was called °Guardian° and once activated, it increases his durability considerably as well as improves all his defensive skills, allowing him to even transfer damages between himself and any willing participants. 

 Meaning, if he were fighting in a group, he could distribute the damage they received evenly, lowering the risk of dying considerably which was how he survived the various battlefields he had been constantly thrust into. 

 "It seems you've deluded yourself into thinking you can keep taking my attacks if you simply boost your defenses, that's funny."

 The look in the man's eyes after seeing Bam's decision grew considerably sharper as his hardened blood sword drew in more blood from his thighs and grew larger, his aura also turned sharper like a snake eyeing its target before it struck.

 "Secret Technique - Crescent Moon Cutter "

 Again, Bam lost sight of his opponent as he felt the aura of death emitting from behind him. However, his Dragon's Heart skill eliminated any trace of fear from within him and his Steel Wall's skill was still active so Bam remained calm as he tightened the grip on his sword and prepared to counter. 

 However, 

 The man's blade swung at an alarming speed that was too much for his eyes to keep up with as three blood-red slashes in the shape of a crescent moon aimed at his vitals as they split the entire chambers in three. 

A chill rose from his guts and his throat suddenly grew hot. Bam reflexively raised his left hand to grab the heated portion in his body.

Pain shot through the hand holding his throat and fresh blood spewed forth, bringing with it a disgusting sensation of wet clothing. Had he not sensed his enemy's murderous intent, or if he had not had any skills active with the boost from his innate ability, his throat would have been cut through. Though glad to still be alive, he grits his teeth and bit back with as much strength as he could muster.

 Yet, his sword was met with no resistance yet again, but Bam did not give up as he immediately swung his blade at the empty air behind him. 

*Clang!

 As expected, his sword had met the blade of his enemy for the first time since this battle began. Even though he could not keep up with the man's pure speed, after receiving so many of his attacks one thing was clear to him. 

 This guy was not skilled with a sword.

 Although he was surely stronger than him, Bam hadn't seen him use any fencing moves except the secret technique earlier. Perhaps he was rightly underestimating him due to the disparity in their strength, but if he was going to fight using such simplistic movements and basic attack patterns, as a veteran swordsman, Bam could easily predict his moves no matter how fast he was. 

 And so...

*Clang! Clang!...

The sounds of metal striking metal resounded in the small room countless times as Bam accurately predicted where his enemy would strike from, completely ignoring his pain and the vast amounts of blood he was losing. 

 The reason he was able to do this was because he was keenly aware of his vital points whenever he attacked and his enemy couldn't help to go for them. 

 He has expected him to attack everywhere but his vitals in an attempt to torture information out of him but that had been a mistake. He wasn't sure why this demon didn't plan on keeping him alive but his lack of faints and techniques made his swordplay easy for Bam to understand and react ahead of time. 

 However, he was currently losing blood and his strikes were getting weaker and weaker as he continued the intense battle with a superior opponent. 

 How can he allow himself to die in a place like this? How can he allow himself to die when his mistress was expecting him back? Bullshit!

 Bam roared... 

 Bang!

 His next strike carried all his might and lifted the feet of his enemy as he was thrown back having not expected the sudden increase in strength. 

 However, that last strike had taken all he had and Bam was struggling to maintain his consciousness as he fell to his knees. 

 "Impressive. How unexpected."

 Despite that last-ditch effort to take his enemy by surprise, he had stood back up without even taking any damage.

 "I was going to keep you alive and torture the information out of you after taking a leg or two but I changed my mind. You can die along with that trash."

 • Blood Lance • 

 His sword slowly softened as it expanded rapidly in the air, forming a massive floating lance in mid-air as it slowly spiraled around stirring the air around it as it oozed an oppressive aura.

 Sensing his impending doom, Bam attempted to stand back up but fell back on his knees as his eyes felt lighter by the second as his body grew colder. He could barely maintain his grip on his consciousness as he couldn't help but dread his fate for failing to fulfill his duty to his mistress. 

 However, just as the lesser demon was about to aim his attack, a shadow suddenly appeared in the air behind him, and in the blink of an eye, he felt his head being severed from the rest of his body before he could even formulate a second thought. 

 "Be quiet and die." 

• Assassinate •