Kwangg!
Kwangg!
Series of blistering fast cuts went high and low. A mixture of sweeping slashes, lightning thrusts, and quick parries danced in the room. It wasn't an immense weight Hope was dealing with compared to fighting the Awakened, but his muscles burned from all the previous injuries.
And yet he couldn't stop. He had to fight. Again.
'Right-'
Hope swung right and blocked a lashing tendril.
'Left-'
He ducked and thrusted his shield upwards.
Hope couldn't believe he was thinking this…but…where the hell was the other Awakened?
'Down…'
Instinctively, Hope dropped to the floor.
The hound reeled away from the wall and passed over him. Its fearful leap then came into contact with the Awakened instead who tried to dodge.
But not fast enough.
Razored claws punctured the Awakened's shoulders as it pinned him. Before Hope could do anything, a screech then split in the air and the hound reared back.
A sword was dripping blood.
A deep cut had sliced into its chest, the flesh darkening into a bruised purple.
But in response, the hound hurled the Awakened violently aside.
CRASH!
"..."
Plumes of stone and dust shot up. The building shook.
Hope scrambled to his feet.
'He's fine.' Hope thought.
That guy was an Awakened after all.
How bad could it be?
Qraaaar!!
But the moment Hope got up, the hound redirected its fury and launched at him.
!!!
Recognized patterns flipped through Hope's mind as he then ducked and sidestepped the swing of claws.
Wooosh!
A leap of black raced at the corner of his vision and Hope parried it.
However, at the next split moment, Hope flung up his arm reflexively to guard his throat.
"Urk!"
And the hound's slavering jaws closed around it.
Slam!
It knocked him onto his back. Numbness exploded as he looked up and met the glaring fiendish eyes—skin ripped by the hound's teeth.
Qgrrrrrrr!
Its face a glossy black growled with predatory hunger as it tasted his blood. Hope's eyes narrowed while the hound's grew wide as if it were intoxicated.
He didn't waste a moment. Hope flipped out his pocketknife and punctured the hound's eye over and over again, holding its head close before it writhed away. It shrieked. The hound carried him as it raised its head and slammed down, the icy sting rippling like needles.
Hope then dismissed his shield from his left.
He then grabbed the hound's leg and pulled himself further underneath the curved belly. Seeing he was far enough, Hope summoned the shield in his right.
After the flash of Memory's light, he struck upwards with all his mustered strength.
And where the Awakened had carved into its chest, the [Ashen Shield] had also buried deep.
Qrraaaarr?!
The hound released his arm. Blood flowed like tar.
It stepped back. But with the last spite of energy, Hope had kicked the shield deep into its flesh.
Qrra- Qrraar!?
The hound stumbled, shrieking as it glanced at the wound. Its tendrils whipped around the room, having Hope roll side to side as the slices of darkness rained down.
Qrrr….qrr…
But the hound was injured.
It was vulnerable.
And that was enough to abandon all bonds of pain.
'Kill...'
Without wasting another moment, Hope dismissed and summoned his shield as he pulled to his knees.
Then his feet kicked off the ground.
It took all but three seconds to sidestep the tendrils and reach eye to eye with the demon.
And with a deliberate strike between the pale eyes, a slash tore through the damn skull—
Chiiik!
Then the shrieking stopped...
Thud!
Patpatpat!
The hound collapsed to the floor, the tendrils dropping like ropes all around one by one.
"Haaaa…"
Hope sighed, the ache returning as the rush of adrenaline waned. He stared down at the damn monster, the metal plate buried in its head.
The life wiped from the hound's eyes.
But when Hope looked up, he noticed the Awakened was also on its back with a sword stabbed into the hound's flank.
"..."
"..."
Hope did not want to say anything.
Or let another spite grow too soon.
Not until the Spell confirmed-
[You have slain an Awakened Demon: Night Hound]
'I fucking better have…'
Hope thought that as he dismissed his shield for the last time before he dropped to the floor in front of the 'Night Hound.'
He couldn't care less about the name. Sure, it may have sounded cool to someone else. Or lame. Whatever the case, it made the wounds on himself worth it if he'd slain it.
The Awakened paused as he watched him before pulling out his sword.
'He still hasn't said a word- No. He hasn't even made a noise-'
[You have received a Memory…]
'Huh?'
[Pearls of the Moon]
'Ah a memory.'
"..."
'Wait- a Memory?'
Hope blinked at the achievement.
He…really got another Memory.
But before he could even expand on that thought, the Awakened walked off the monster like it was a small hump and headed towards him.
Hope frowned. 'Does he still remember me-'
Grab!
Fingers suddenly closed over Hope's throat. His head tilted back from where he sat as the white mask stared above him blankly. Naturally, Hope grabbed the hand to loosen the grip. But he knew trying to remove the Awakened's arms would be a waste of energy.
'That's a yes then…'
And yet Hope wasn't too worried about it. Hope's injuries overruled any remaining concerns. And of course, he was still accompanied by his memory's voices that whispered in and out of his ears.
His body was already in constant war with himself.
"Huak-" Hope struggled against the grasp but stared nonchalantly at the Awakened. "Still not going to let me go huh…"
Kszzzch!
Then a static sounded from the Awakened's gauntlet. He seemed to flinch and sway a bit from it as if he'd forgotten.
Then a voice scratched through the noise:
"..ince…re..w…here…the..hell are you?"
"..."
"..."
'Now he shows up…'
Hope gritted his teeth, his eyes now showing impatience.
He weakly reached forward, trying to push the Awakened's arms off, then his chest. Of course, the Awakened was unfazed by the attempt.
However, Hope finally reached high enough where his true intentions were.
He dug his fingers into the punctured black fabric where the hound's claws had penetrated the Awakened; hot and sticky with blood; the warmth of flesh and tissue.
What hurt more, a touch on unblemished skin?
Or a touch on an open wound?
Hope's essence was already pouring out, rippling from his core to his hands loosely like a cool fiery stream.
His power poisoning the Awakened.
The Awakened stumbled. He swayed again, head bobbing back and forth before his knees finally gave way and collapsed to the floor—the pressure leaving Hope's throat.
Thud!
"..."
Hope blinked at the sight.
He had counted up to eleven seconds when he first grabbed the Awakened's hand.
But his Aspect didn't work fast enough. Or maybe the Awakened's will was too great. Whatever the case, Hope then thought maybe a deeper contact would work, instead of just 'scratching the surface.'
Hope stared in silence at the Awakened's slumber. The Awakened's loss of terrestrial consciousness was not dallying in this world like all the other people Hope subdued. This was his first time using it on an Awakened.
And...
'Huh...he's not actually asleep asleep…' Hope thought as he looked down at his hands coated with dust and blood.
He could still feel the coolness from his essence that seeped through his fingers. However, it disappeared as it came; the seal closed so as not to channel freely like an endless stream. A disadvantage if he would have wanted to utilize it more efficiently and delicately.
But his power had driven the Awakened into the Dream Realm.
Lodged in another life of far different nature from this one.
A place that was not so easy to wake up from no matter what actions or words stirred the Awakened's body in this world.