Chapter 44: James Baldwin (II)

  High up in the air, James hovered motionlessly, as his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Even his overbearing jealousy toward Damon was reduced due to his sheer shock.

  “No! My secrets! Why did I use this stupid scroll?” James roared furiously. He was in utter despair at having disintegrated Damon, along with his belongings. The shout was so loud that it got caught in his throat, causing him to cough for a few seconds.

  After he regained his composure, James quickly flew down toward the deep hole in the ground, hoping to find some of Damon’s remains. However, before he managed to get far, his glowing vision caught a sign of movement. A figure glowing with arcane energy fluctuations suddenly appeared within the dense cloud of white gas and began soaring toward the skies, before shooting straight out of the top of the surrounding fog.

  It was Damon, still crouched on top of a large floating stone.

  “You survived!” James yelped in both surprise and elation, his entire face lighting up in happiness. Even the bloody tears flowing down his face stopped momentarily. This didn’t prevent him from pointing his bare scepter forward to cast a spell, causing numerous thick roots to burst forth from the ground, all shooting toward the airborne Damon.

  Damon withdrew multiple spell scrolls, activating them all at once. Every scroll erupted in a white light, flooding the sky in overwhelmingly bright brilliance. It was the simultaneous usage of numerous Flash spell scrolls. James covered his eyes due to the radiance before looking back. Despite the sudden distraction, his Entangle spell had managed to grab hold of Damon’s limbs and torso without any issue.

  Just as James began moving toward his ensnared victim, an unsettling feeling washed over him, sending a shiver down his spine. He paused and observed his captive with wary scrutiny. He realized the roots that he thought had seized Damon weren’t actually touching him, passing straight through as though he weren’t real.

  “Shit..!” James swore and channeled his arcane power once more to cast a new barrier, but he was too late. Twenty gleaming black arrows soared out of the remaining fog before piercing into his arms and legs. The force behind the arrows pushed him back toward the ground.

  The scintillating inner armor James was wearing began flashing erratically before the light completely disappeared as a loud sound of breaking glass rang out. By this point, he had already been grounded. The arrows successfully pierced through his limbs, five in each one, and pinned him to the dirt and gravel.

  The residual cloud of fog slowly dissipated, revealing the true Damon within, covered from head to toe in a scruffy gray cloak. The illusion that had been grabbed by the roots up above blurred for a moment before disappearing. He flew down atop his stone and landed in front of James. He slowly walked toward the bleeding man.

  James looked up at the sky with a blank face, having been blindsided by Damon’s tactics. He didn’t expect his enchanted inner armor would be so easily destroyed, either. Upon hearing the footsteps approaching, he looked in the direction of the sound. For a second, he was confused as to why he was so belligerently adamant to steal Damon’s secrets and kill him.

  A thin veil of dust was raised by Damon’s steps. It covered the area in a haze of moving particles. He looked down and met James’s gaze. He couldn’t help but wonder why. Why had James done this? He needed to find out before sending James to the afterlife.

  “Why did you do this? Why did you kill all those students and attack me?”

  Just as Damon began questioning James, there was a startling turn of events. James laughed maniacally as the trail of bloody tears reversed in direction and began travelling up toward his forehead, where a crystalline red gem emerged from underneath his skin, looking eerily similar to a vertical third eye.

  “Why? You want to know why? It’s because of you! A country bumpkin like you waltzed into the Academy and showed off your talents, as though you were above everyone else! Meanwhile, I had to toil away every day, slowly scrambling forward inch by inch just to barely reach this stage… How could I ever allow that? There’s no way… I must eliminate you now!”

  James let loose a ferocious roar as the blood seeping out of the wounds to his arms and legs began coagulating and squirming as it also made its way to the jewel in his forehead. Damon realized there was nothing else he needed to ask and stabbed James in the throat with Dawn’s Edge. At least, he attempted to, but his sword was stopped by a large, monstrous, red hand with sharp claws. It pulsated with a bloody light, and the surface of its skin looked similar to a living, shifting carpet of flesh.

  Damon quickly pulled his sword out of the hand’s grasp and jumped onto his large flat stone. Atop his trusty stone once more, he hastily flew backwards as he observed the transformation happening back on the ground. James writhed around as crimson light poured out of the red jewel on his forehead, encompassing his entire body. Popping and cracking sounds rang out as his body broke apart, releasing all of his blood from within. His blood assumed wriggling snake-like forms, entangling with each other as they enveloped him. Soon, the rest of him transformed into a monstrosity just like his hand.

  James stopped thrashing once his transformation was complete. He stood up and glared at Damon floating in the distance. The blood covering his face twisted into a malevolent expression, and his eyes were glued to Damon’s retreating figure. He crouched low and then launched himself toward Damon at a frightening speed.

  Damon watched James closely as he finished transforming. He began formulating a strategic course of action, as usual. Before he could finish planning, he noticed James crouching. Suddenly, the small figure of James in the distance grew larger at an alarming rate, arriving in front of him in mere seconds.

  As soon as James reached Damon, he swung his clawed hand in a swiping motion toward Damon’s chest. The kite shield automatically positioned itself in the path of the attack and blocked the claws, yet it was pushed back again. It crashed into Damon’s chest, the sound of bones breaking ringing out loudly. Damon, along with the shield, was pushed back by several dozen feet, as a thin trail of blood trickled down from the corner of his mouth.

  Before Damon could even register the pain coming from his chest, he heard a fierce snarl from in front of him, and he was sent flying once more. This time, however, he managed to cross his arms in front of his chest, blocking and dispersing the force transferred from the shield along his lean, muscular arms.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Finally able to catch his breath, Damon withdrew and activated numerous barrier spell scrolls at once. At the same time, he withdrew another second-tier essence stone, this one shimmering with a bright red light. He did not have the arcane power capacity to activate so many scrolls simultaneously. Although constant use of essence stones was both costly and damaging to his body, he had no other choice. He would not be able to withstand many more hits with his current body.

  Just as several multicolored barriers of light formed around Damon, James had arrived in front of him yet again. He clawed at Damon again, and the shield blocked him once more. Though this time, the shield collided against Damon’s outermost barrier and did not push him back.

  Damon smiled with satisfaction. Though it disappeared in the very next moment. James, seeing his target remain in the same position, began swiping over and over again with both his claws. The speed of his swings began to accelerate faster and faster, until they became red blurs. The shield was unable to move as fast as his arms, causing multiple of the attacks to land directly on the barriers, each hit tearing through one like peeling away a layer from an onion.

  As both fear and determination blazed in his eyes, Damon withdrew another glimmering second-tier essence stone from his storage pouch. This one was also glowing with a bright red light. With one in each hand, he shoved them forward, casting Fog once more. The area quickly became engulfed in white steam, immediately cooling down and condensing into a dense cloud of fog.

  Within this cloud, James lost sight of his prey. He growled as he spun around, his head turning left and right in search of the enemy. From the opposite side of the fog, Damon observed James with his Mindsense. It looks like my hunch was correct. He has completely lost all of his cognitive abilities.

  Damon was continuously refilling his empty reserves of arcane power with the second-tier essence stones. He now had only two left in his storage pouch. He needed to finish this battle quickly, lest he run out of resources or get caught using his mental abilities by a Senior from the Academy. Although the battle had been incredibly intense, it had only lasted a few minutes in total.

  The raw essence from the stones coursed through Damon’s arms and into his body, causing minor damage to his muscles. This was a problem that could only be alleviated once he formed arcane channels throughout his body in the Channel Weaving realm. He winced from both the pain caused by the rampaging energy and the internal damage he had suffered from the two consecutive blows from earlier. Though certain that he required medical attention, it was not as urgent as dealing with James.

  Once his arcane power level returned to around half full, Damon ultimately completed his plan of action. The moment the two essence stones turned into a dull gray and broke into pieces, he pointed his right hand down at the ground, causing the 20 arrows he had launched at James earlier to emerge once more.

  Damon then threw up Dawn’s Edge above his head, making hand seals with his left hand. It blurred before separating into 15 exact copies. He pointed to the swords floating above with his left hand, before twirling his finger once. The swords began spinning in a large circular motion, growing faster and faster until they resembled shiny golden swordwheels.

  Ha! An involuntary yell escaped Damon’s lips as he pushed both of his palms in the direction of James. James was currently flying through the cloud of fog, slashing in random directions with his claws. He seemed to have sensed something, as he stopped flying and looked around in every direction, before focusing below.

  At this moment, the fog parted in numerous locations as 20 sleek black arrows, rotating rapidly like a drill, soared through the air and reached James simultaneously. He howled in anger and swatted at them with one of his claws. He managed to intercept the majority with his swing, yet a few bored into his arms, with one managing to slip past and embed itself into his abdomen.

  The monstrous James roared with laughter as his primal intellect assumed he had managed to stave off the coming danger. The arrows piercing his body did not actually do much damage to him. However, the arrows were more than just mere arrows. They continued to rotate, drilling right through his arms and abdomen, leaving behind small holes.

  James looked down at his arms and abdomen, wondering where the black sticks had gone. While he was temporarily distracted by his own primitive thoughts, the fog above him parted as numerous radiant wheels of golden light flew at him. The wind generated from the spinning wheel pushed away the remaining fog. The golden wheels separated and circled him for a bit before approaching him from different directions at the same time.

  James could not figure out how to block the coordinated attacks and curled up into a ball, covering his head with his hard and sharp claws. He peeked through the blades that were his fingers, expecting the wheels to cut into him from every direction. Yet, that did not happen. Instead, they passed through his body and emerged on the other side without even touching him. His brows furrowed as he tried to make sense of what was going on. He was unable to understand what had happened, but he understood one thing. They had not hurt him.

  Ignoring the lingering images of the swordwheel, James could now see his target in the distance once again. He revealed a ferocious grin, his teeth also sharp with a bloody light. Right as he opened up his body to rush toward his enemy, his instincts screamed at him. He felt a strong wind caress the back of his neck. He had let his guard down, as his reduced intellect caused him to disregard the harmless golden wheels. He quickly flew up, but he was too late to evade it.

  A golden wheel zoomed past, and James let loose a bloodcurdling scream. He had managed to avoid the worst outcome, but as he looked down at his lower body, he couldn’t do anything other than roar in rage. His entire lower half had been severed, falling to the ground below. As he was looking down, the swordwheel had looped around and was again flying toward his head.

  With a desperate growl, James raised his claws in a defensive posture. Sparks erupted at the point of contact between the claws and the spinning sword. The clash caused his levitating upper body to be forced downward before crashing into the dirt with a loud thud. The dust drifted into the air, covering him in grime.

  The swordwheel had slowed down from the collision, reverting into the form of a small golden sword. It flew away, unable to get past the sturdy claws. Before James could even do anything, thick roots erupted out of the ground next to him and curled around his arms before pulling them apart. He struggled to free his arms, yet to no avail. He had been completely immobilized.

  Dawn’s Edge had been recalled to hover in front of him as Damon flew over to James. He landed on the ground before slowly approaching him step by step. When he arrived above him, James glowered at him while continuing to twist and turn in an attempt to free himself. The snarls coming from him were reminiscent of a cornered beast.

  Making a handseal with his left hand and pointing with his right, Damon commanded Dawn’s Edge to form the spinning swordwheel once more. After gaining enough momentum that it resembled a shiny golden disc, it proceeded to fly forward and cut through the floundering James's throat. He froze, then his head slid off his neck and rolled back, completely detached. The area was now blanketed in a chilling silence.

  Dawn’s Edge flew back into Damon’s raised hand, the ‘sever’ rune engraved into the blade flashing erratically before dying down. He had managed to defeat his second Channel Weaving Disciple. This fight had been even more grueling and dangerous than the last. His entire nose was flooded with the thick stench of rotting blood. The wriggling blood covering James had lost all signs of life, scattering around him in a large pool of red liquid. It decayed visibly, turning brown first and then black in a mere moment.

  The sticky black blood coated Damon’s shoes as he arrived right in front of James. James now resembled a shriveled old corpse of someone who had been dead for several years. Scrunching his nose in displeasure, he first pulled the five rings off of James’s right hand. Then he scoured his robes before finally discovering a storage pouch hidden near his waist. Finally, he reached toward James’s forehead and grabbed the now-faded crimson jewel embedded in the center.

  The moment Damon came into contact with the red gem, he gasped in shock.

  “This feeling… It’s mental power!”