Chapter 55: Flashes of Memory
The three men leaped in from behind, one swung down at full speed, another thrust, while the last slashed, each attack aiming for the of the young man, wanting ti kill him ine one swoop.
He looked back and then spun around with a powerful slash. A flaming arc cut through the air; each man tried to block, but the attack was too strong, pushing them back and leaving heavy burns on their clothes and bodies.
They all struggled back to their feet after that, looking at the young man with dark expressions.
"Your strength is definitely at least that of a three star mage, and your magic is similar," one of them said.
"You’re definitely not a nobody, to be capable of all this," he added.
"It doesn’t matter what you think. It won’t matter when I’m done." He rushed forward, attacking one, and the other three immediately dashed in that direction. But before they could close the distance, he spun, pointed his hand at them, and shouted, "Try Flame Blast!"
He bellowed the spell; a blue fireball formed in his palm, shot out, and split into three equal balls of flame, heading toward each of them.
While the fireballs tore through the air, he spun midair, landed on the ground, and lunged forward. The flames around his sword grew as he thrust at the last man. The man quickly raised his sword and parried the attack, but instantly his hands went numb from the power. The flames burned his hands even from that distance.
’Ack! How is a kid this young capable of such power?’ the man thought. He put all the strength he had into fully parrying the attack and backing up. He had only made it a few steps before the boy was already in his face again, moving forward extremely fast and thrusting once more.
The man moved to block, but to his surprise, the boy’s sword paused midair, he wasn’t going for a stab, but a slash. The man was taken off guard as the blade was about to cut through his gut. In a panic, he used a basic wind spell that didn’t require chanting, just a blast of wind, and at this range, it was enough to throw the boy back, giving the man time to retreat.
Each of the three in the back managed to block the fireballs the boy had launched, and all of them were fine. Despite the fact that the boy was generally stronger than them, they were all still skilled and experienced fighters, they knew how to handle themselves.
"This kid is extremely talented. How about we take him back? He’d make a great member of the organization," one of the men suggested.
"We can’t even subdue him yet," another said. The boy just stood there in the center, listening to them speak about him.
"Then we just have to use the item," one of them said, pulling out a ring. The moment the ring came out, a very potent and evil energy seeped from it. It was a golden ring with black patterns that leaked dark energy.
The moment that ring appeared, the boy’s head snapped in that direction. He looked at it, trembling. "That’s... that’s demonic energy," he stammered, his voice shaking.
The man holding the ring saw his body trembling and immediately assumed it was from fear of demon beasts. He broke into a reckless cackle.
"Hahahaha! Are you scared? Now that you’ve discovered we’re from the Cult of Demons and work with demon beasts?" the man laughed, outing himself and their identity.
"Hey! You can’t say that out loud! If someone else heard, you’d already be dead!" one of them hissed.
"Don’t worry, there’s no one else. And since we’ll be capturing this one, the pact remains safe," he said, then looked back at the boy, but that was when they noticed something had changed. The boy’s head was facing the ground, his breathing sounded like grinding sandpaper over wood.
The boy stood still as flashes began showing in his mind. The moment he sensed that demonic energy, memories started replaying, things he had suppressed for so long.
The flashes came bright and painful, the image of a woman’s head in his hands, her eyes stabbed out and her face covered in claw marks beyond recognition. The image of a man protecting a group of children as a ten-foot tall, lion like demonic beast with dark fur and a scorpion tail ripped his head off.
More and more images kept showing in his head. The pain became too much. He grabbed his head and collapsed to his knees.
"Arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
His scream of pain ripped through the forest. The four men stared in shock and confusion.
One snapped out of it and shouted, "Go and use the ring already! Something isn’t right with this kid!"
The one with the ring nodded and moved in, but the moment he was within two meters, there was a flash, and then nothing for a few seconds. Before he realized it, his hand had fallen off.
They all looked, stunned and confused. It took a few seconds for the pain to register, and the man instantly screamed, but before the sound could leave his throat, the boy moved so fast they couldn’t follow. He ripped out the man’s throat; blood sprayed like a fountain and rained down on him.
The three remaining men stared at him, hearts racing, minds screaming. They immediately turned and ran in fear.
"Demonnnnn!" one of them screamed as he stumbled to flee.
The boy picked up his sword and, with one full powerful swing, threw it like a spear. It ripped through the air, stabbed the man who screamed right in the back, and burst out the front, destroying his heart in one blow.
[Author note here, i plan to start releasing three Chapters a day for a while, so support with powestones and golden tickets to keep me motivated, see you in the next Chapter]