The Way of a Demon Lord

The man took a step back. The opponent ahead had made only two moves till now. And this had already dropped him to such a dire state.

Blood drenched his coat- both the front and the back. His bleeding cheek barred him from uttering a word. Moreover, he could not even afford to take out a healing potion and drink it, for the monster ahead was damn too fast. The moment he took his eyes away from the masked being, death would invade.

Mister Ephialtes disappeared again. This time, the general was not going to make the same mistake. He sacrificed the range of his senses for sensitivity. His sense covered a radius of only three meters, but he could sense everything within- to the smallest movement of every grass to the trajectory of every dust particles.

No matter how fast the monster was, he was sure to react in time now. But seconds passed, and nothing happened. Everything remained normal- at least in the three meter range.

A whole minute passed, but nothing happened. Did the bastard know his range was receded?

Another minute passed. Cold sweat slid through his unharmed cheek. Should he increase the radius and sacrifice the sensitivity?

Seeing nobody in sight, and sensing nothing in three meters- he decided to increase the span of his senses.

But the moment he began to do it, something moved behind him- taking him by surprise. He did not even think of looking back and dashed forward using his wind attribute to the fullest. But he was a split second too late. A ghastly claw came out of nowhere and sliced the fingers gripping his sword.

A couple of his fingers fell off, along with the sword. But that did not stop the man from dashing all the way through. Just when he was about to pass the bridge, two claws surfaced from the ground and clasped both of his legs hard, digging those knifelike fingers into his ankle.

The sudden development had him tripping, but ironically- the hands that grasped his ankles saved him from falling down.

He used all of his strength to move his legs. But alas, all efforts were futile. The metal claws had already drilled deep into his bones. He was an augmenter, and his weapon and speed comprised more than half of his strength. He had already lost his weapon, and now- mobility. Furthermore, he was terribly wounded. The state of his mind was not any better.

Suddenly, he heard cracking and sizzling sound from above. The bridge just above trembled a bit, or was it just his imagination?

No, it was not.

The viaduct that connected the two buildings began to fall down.

He widened his eyes and slashed at the bridge, attempting to slice it into two. But alas, there was no sword in his hand. Nevertheless, he was a level 9 circler. Just the energy from his bare hand half-cleaved the concrete construct.

But that was far enough. Seeing no way out from the monster's clutch, he crouched down and covered his head with his hands.

The moment the bridge hit the general, the claws released their grip and retracted back to the ground. The shadow beneath him flashed away.

The construct crashed on the ground, shaking the earth and sending dust particles throughout the ground.

Adrian returned back to his original position yet again. The instant he got up from the shadow, he staggered back and fell down on his butt. He did not fight against the tiredness and lied down on the grass.

This new property of his was too ravenous. Not a single bit of energy remained in his body. He turned to the rubble. He used all of his energy to pull his lips to a smirk.

When he 'scratched' his own back, he formed a magic circle on his bare skin- hidden from the general. Black fluids exited from the circle and enveloped his body but did not harm him in the slightest.

He took that step forward to apply psychological pressure on the old man's mind. And he succeeded. The paranoid man decreased his range to three meters. And the viaduct- was out of that.

He shadowed to the second floor and released all of his summoned corrosive fluids- half on one junction and the other half on another. The concrete structure was thick it; time was required to corrode the junction and separate it from the buildings.

He zoomed back to the ground. He did not fully exit from the shadow even once despite the fact that it drained too much energy; the battle might have looked easy but it took a toll on Adrian's brain. After all, the general was the strongest entity he ever faced… in his human form that is.

When he sensed that the corrosion process was almost over, he charged at the old man from the opposite direction of the bridge. His target- the sword. He predicted the 'escape' path of the sentry, leaped out of his shadow and stretched himself to the limit to strike the man's fingers.

He successfully unarmed his opponent and dived back into the darkness. He raced past the man and clasped his legs just beneath the bridge- which was destined to fall down. Thankfully, the man was not decisive enough to sacrifice his legs and jump out of the danger.

Once the concrete crashed on the general's head, Adrian escaped to his location.

He could sense the man's presence inside the rubble. He was still alive. Adrian sighed.

The shattered fragments of the bridge began to tremble. "Aaaaaah!" An arm covered with blood and dirt surfaced from the rubble. The old man pushed the concrete away and limped out of the rubble. His condition could not get any worse- blood and concrete powder besmirched his entire body. One of his arms were hanging from his shoulder lifeless.

But the first scene he saw after coming out almost pierced through his heart.

Mister Ephialtes was lying on the grass- relaxing- facing his whole body towards him and using his palm as a pillow. He was so relaxed that it looked as if he were melding to the ground.

He yawned again; a yawn that said-

'I am too lazy to kill you.'