Arata and the rest of the men run. Yet out of the bushes comes the Erlking’s soldiers. The alraune dash towards the group, the human dolls all begin their aggressive stampede, yet Arata rushes out in front. The fear is underwhelming to me but… the soldiers can be affected. It’ll be hard to maintain control if I don't force these enemies to respect the threat of me.

  Arata summons the cauterizer, swinging the whip outwards, creating an arc of flames that ends by splitting open one of the alraune’s necks. The mana rich forest plays well to Arata's strengths. The alraune fell, split open again at the seams. It felt like the dolls were barely held together, the corpse popping outwards into a pool of gore.

  It's not just them being unable to affect me with the madness… it's their only form of range. They can still claw and bite but can't outrange the Cauterizer. Arata slashes deep into another alraune.

  Due to their attempt at encirclement, the forces were spread out. Arata was able to break through their ranks, fortunately enough. The men managed to leave the opening and entered the forest. Arata noticed the Alraune approaching from either side; they weren’t going to let him leave.

  I’ve got lives to experiment fighting these guys with… I’ll just say here. “Hey guys! There’s too many, I’ll block them off.”

  The soldiers look at him, stressing over the idea, they didn’t want to leave him. They didn’t know which way to go with Arata gone. However, they also didn’t object to the idea of not dying. Yet one person chooses to stay behind with Arata, Captain Morgan.

  “Arata… they can’t touch you if you have enough willpower, right? We’ll stand together and head back together. What kinda leader would leave you behind?” Morgan brandishes their sword. They begin to take off their armored gauntlet, revealing a wrist covered in several red rings. They slightly slash into their own wrist.

  “I haven’t ever shown my team my magic… you’re the first to see it, Ancestral Ventriloquy.” The blood pours out into strings, weaving itself into a red king, drawing its blade through Morgan’s control, being moved through the remaining strings attached to Morgan’s finger.

  From the slit open finger, a pulsation of energy sounds, travelling from the creature's blade, making a sound like a key unlocking.

  The rest of the men run away while Arata and Morgan draw the enemy’s attention. The slash from Morgan arches through the very front line, several enemies drop to the floor.

  Arata watches various alraune close in, their sewn-together bodies move in a way that feels like a crawl and a sprint simultaneously. Arata quickly swings the Cauterizer outwards at an oncoming group. His sword gets caught inside the skull of the beast as it wails out, falling dead. Arata, trying to get his sword unstuck, is left open, an alraune closes in to bite his nape.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Arata raises his arm, the mouth bites down, puncturing his skin. Damn I need to shake it off-

  That thought is cut short as a blade paves its way cleanly through the beast’s throat. Morgan’s summon serves to protect Arata. It does not stop, grabbing onto the alraune’s now still head by the top of its head and its jaw. Soon enough it rips the alraune’s head into two.

  This magic… maybe we’ve got a chance to survive. Arata grips the Cauterizer yet again, more alraune close in as he begins to hack and slash. Cutting down one just for another to crawl over its brother’s corpse.

  Morgan pierces through an alraune’s head, pulling out their sword and stumbling back. Both Arata and Morgan bump into each other’s backs, they no longer have room to retreat backwards. Furthermore, the enemies are coming in from multiple angles, encircling the two. Yet Morgan cuts open their second seal, now two remain on their wrist.

  “Morgan… we’ve bought enough time… they’ve spread out their ranks again, we’ll charge through the gap.” Arata charges towards the direction the rest of the soldiers went, swinging the cauterizer as molten slag sticks yet again across another alraune’s chest, splitting open. Morgan sends a shockwave through the crowd, sending dismembered flesh spreading outwards in an arc yet Morgan slips up.

  Claws scratch against armor, prying off metal right against Morgan’s cheek. The fingers dig deeper as blood begins to spurt from the knight’s face. Morgan slowly collapses over as the knight fades, returning into her body.

  Arata watches on in horror, gathering mana into his legs he quickly grabs Morgan to run away/ Shit! Where the hell are medics when you need them! I need to get Morgan to safety… I should be able to outrun them-

  Arata is stopped by a towering alraune, the creature’s mouth frothing as it stares down against Arata. The beast unhinges its maw as Arata flinches, looking away from the creature.

  The next second, the creature’s head begins rolling across the floor as in the direction Arata’s head turned, a screen of fog coats the battlefield. All the alraune spin around in a frenzied charge in the opposite direction.

  Yet in return, they are mowed down, a familiar smell of gasoline enters Arata's sinuses as flaming arrows pelt the creatures.

  Arata then hears a familiar childish voice call out to him, a creature with wings flying over, “Arata! Follow me, my men intercepted the rest of your army… they’ve all successfully evacuated but your friend is injured… let me take them, injuries don’t seem too serious.”

  Arata nods, now that his immediate worries have been alleviated, he begins to grin from cheek to cheek, “You’ve really grown up, Chive.”

  Arata's otherworld Log Book entry #8: Ancestral Ventriloquy

  The Captain's another beast, their technique is a form of augmenting their body. However, it steals energy from her movement, she seals her strikes in the form of red rings. She can store movements in accordance to her family’s ancestral sword techniques, strange since I’ve never known her family. This stores the energy of strikes they make against any opponents. By cutting them open, she can create an avatar capable of using the stored energy. It’s notable as the first time I’ve become acquainted with the idea of specification. Since your magic is defined by your will, the more precise that idea gets, the greater the proficiency.

  This is crazy, they’ve been storing their energy this entire time? So… why was this never showcased against Beelzebub. I don't blame their ability to do more for Selena's death but, I would want to know why. What's so different now?