Kael Cor: A Vampire's Awakening Chapter 167 Campaign VII : Defeating The Ent & The Demon

KAEL, GUS, KODAK

Our rather tense standoff came to an end with Gus's words. That was when the real fight began. Roots bulged out of the ground as they shot towards our direction with such speed looking at them made me feel dizzy for a second. We scattered, each going into different directions and the root burst out of the point where we were standing just moments ago.

The root shot up like some sort of stalagmite, and when we dodged it, jumping into the air. Branches with sharpened end grew out of its side and shot at us like bullets from a gun.

Gus and Kodak both created a shield of blood that intercepted the incoming branch. But it was only able to withstand the onslaught of the branches for a second, before it pierced through their shield and went straight for them. Kodak was already wearing his armor, and there was a dull bang when the root hit it, throwing him across the chamber to come smashing on the wall.

Gus twisted his body in the air, and in amazing show of agility and dexterity he twirled a few times before coming down to the ground with a graceful movement. And that's when he decided to call out his armor.

Grey armor, with red highlights crawled all over his skin, giving him a dangerous kind of vibe as spikes came out of his fore arm, stretching out quite a bit like the tusks of an elephant or something similar. His helmet was shaped like the head of a griffin, complete with grey metal like plumes that served as his mane.

They moved and shook according to his breathing, and seemed to puff up to show aggression. Just like a real griffin.

He landed on the ground and shot towards the tree, daggers made from blood materializing in his hands.

But before he could get within ten meters of the tree, a gate made of really thick logs shot out of the earth, barely missing his face as he had to step back to evade. Then in an impressive show of flexibility those hands bent back and slammed the ground where Gus was standing.

Gus was fast enough to dodge, but a cloud of dust was raised as the ground was smashed into, releasing a ripple that slammed into us, throwing us backwards and off our feet. But Kodak was spared from the ripple of energy as he came flying back with a vengeance. He jumped into the air, his war hammer held high as he came up above the Ent.

But immediately there was a gust of wind that raised leaves into the air, and straight for Kodak. He was in the peak of his attack, so he could not dodge but face the tiny whirlwind of leaves and mistakes head on.

That was a mistake. Kodak lost control of his momentum as the harmless looking gust of wind took control of his body, and the leaves within the wind became tiny blades that began to grind at Kodak's armor.

At first his armor held, but mere seconds later, parts of it began to chip away, and I knew it was only a matter of time before that bulky armor was worn out enough that Kodak's real body would be exposed. And when that happened, he was going to be grinded into a meat paste!

Gus panicked as he came to the same realization as me. That was his brother up there, and the erratic movements of the whirlwind did not allow him time to gather his thinking faculties and use the teleportation skill of his power crest. I think the wind also had some sort of confusion effect, if not Kodak would have gotten away by now.

Gus raised his hands up, and I was shocked to see part of his armor had moved back to expose a nasty gash on both his wrists. Of course they healed rather quickly, but it was cut deep and long enough for a substantial amount of blood to have bled from the wound.

The blood took on a form I've never seen before. All of if turned into a mist like vapor that had a rather thick and noxious stench. Gus's eyes glowed blue as they began to cry blood tears, whatever it he was doing; it was a move he was most definitely not ready for. But it didn't look it could be stooped now. I pulled my sword and shield closer preparing to jump into the fray when I heard Gus's voice telepathically.

[Blood Child Rank Battle Skill: Sanguina's Corrosion: Mist]

The mist flew towards the Ent, eating away at everything in sight, melting them all into a puddle of red slag. But even with such a dangerous attack, it seemed as if the tree was really adamant about killing Kodak as it refused to let go and stop using its skill. I had to take action. I sheath my sword on my back, but still held my sword close to me, and then I pulled it out again, calling out the skill to myself.

[Perception Cutting Gleam]

A bright beam of light shot out from my sword and hit the Ent. For a fraction of a second the tree man lost his concentration, and the wind holding up Kodak faltered, and Kodak almost fell from the sky, but almost immediately the wind started up again and hoisted Kodak back into the air, it was obvious my mastery of that skill was at a really low level, but I was not done yet. I pulled back on my sword making sure it was pointed at the Ent; a sparkling blue glow came up as the rune circle from [BREAK].

Gus was already familiar with the destruction that was about to come forth. And even though Kodak might be caught in it, I could just as easily will the rune to not affect him.

I raised my sword up, and swung it down with a loud yell. [BREAK]! The debilitating beam of pure carnage shot towards the Ent, destroying everything in its part as earth was broken down into numerous fine pieces that the ground beneath us became sand. The leaves floating in the air were shredded into numerous pieces as they fell down to the earth like confetti in a birthday party.

The beam slammed into the Ent, bringing with an eerie silence that lasted for all of 5 seconds. Then the wooden face of the Ent twisted in agony as he said.

"Oh! That's not good."

And then in an impressive display every part of him burst into numerous pieces of wood and leaves, making splinters fly everywhere as a gale was started.

As soon as the Ent was destroyed, a heavy and formless pressure struck at my entire body and I was pushed down to my feet, spitting blood in the process and my eyes, nose and ears also bled.

Nature's backlash was still as strong as ever, and killing something as unique and powerful as an Ent had a cost, but at the very least I managed to resist. Though I don't think I would be any use in a fight for the next few minutes.

Kodak and Gus came up behind me, and helped me up to a standing position. I looked like a mess, we all did, and as Kodak's resplendent golden armor looked like it had lost its luster. Cuts, chips and cracks were all over its surface, and even Gus was not any better. But his armor survived to look relatively unharmed.

Looking at the state of our armors made me realize that if we didn't have them, then the attacks of the Ent would have been even more destructive and painful. I turned to Gus and said to him.

"Didn't you say it would only take us 5 minutes to beat the Ent?" I asked with a glare.

"I did, though I have to reassess my comment since it took us 4 minutes and 38 seconds. Including the time we spent in the hallway and the time wasted listening to that demon who I might add is hiding behind a wall on the left and trying to escape through a secret tunnel. But what's your point reminding me what I said?"

Kodak seemed to get angry as he reached over my side, forgoing our telepathic communication in favor of yelling at his little brother.

"You damn idiot! You completely jinxed us!"

And for the first time in ever! I actually saw Kodak act like a little kid as he jumped on his brother and they started rolling on the ground in a pathetic attempt at wrestling. I couldn't help the smile that broke out on my face, what they had is something I could never ever have.

Being brothers and friends are two different things, and the love they had for each other has been tested through numerous situations. It was a very strong bond that nigh unbreakable.

Gus would have been beyond terrified when he saw his brother hanging in the air with death coming closer by the second. This was just their way of expressing happiness that they were okay.

I nodded my head and swung my sword at a wall, using my just my perception of sword arts, a formless energy flew out of my sword and blew the wall to pieces, exposing a tunnel, and the demon trying to escape with the still glowing heart seed of the Ent. He looked at us guiltily and said.

"I surrender! No one has to die right? Just let me go and I swear ill never do another bad deed. I promise."

I raised my eyebrow and pointed my finger at him. Then I pointed at the spot in front of me, telling him to come over. Gus and Kodak stopped wrestling as they got up trying to look as intimidating as possible standing behind me.

Though I'm not sure how much credibility their ferociousness had, considering they were rolling on the ground mere seconds ago like five year olds. I stretched out my hand, and the demon placed the heart seed in it. As it fell into my hands, it glowed and pulsed before the voice of the Ent came out of it.

"Thank you, noble vampires for saving me; from millennia's of captivity and shameful wrong doings. My name is Tur'kutnasir'ketoinavas Oakenson."

[Blink]

[Blink]

"Err what?" I asked confused.

But Tur'kut what's his face did not call his name out again. Instead he jumped into a narrative that explained how he ended up here, and how he fell under the control of the demon. He spoke so fast I could hardly keep up with him. I thought Ent's were supposed to talk really slow; well this experience of mine threw that concept right out the window.

"So let me get this straight. You were planted here thousands of years ago, so long ago that you have no idea when. But when you gained awareness, you were already a Treant whose roots were spread all over this tower, gaining nutrients from the unique attributes of the tower, which is to say.

You're a tree that grew on what is most definitely the most fertile piece of earth in the whole universe, and you've been absorbing every ounce of creation energy since then, growing stronger and wiser to the point that your roots are spread across three sectors of the blue district, 23 areas and around countless other towers.

But about a ten or twenty thousand years ago, some crazy human guard had come here to summon a demon that would terrorize the vampires. Apparently this human guard was incredibly prejudiced, and his plan would have succeeded if he was not so weak. All he could summon was a low level grey demon that was nothing more than a common laborer in one of the nine circles of hell.

But even then the effort to summon the demon actually killed him, and the grey demon was let loose into the world without a master to keep it in check. But the grey demon was incredibly intelligent and well learned which was why he took the first opportunity he had to snatch your heart seed when it became obvious the tree man was rather innocent to the ways of the world.

Over time since the appearance of a demon would be met with extreme prejudice, the demon used you as a front for criminal activities, becoming the mind behind the gang lord known as the Curious Merchant. And everything was going well until I was made the lord and sole owner of the blue district.

At first the demon was willing to continue his activities, until I started my campaign against the criminal elements of the blue district. I took down their known associate Quoranis, and made it obvious I was coming for others. The demon got nervous, but there was nothing to be done about it. He had zero to almost no combat strength, with his true power being you the Treant. Wow"

Then I turned to the demon that looked like he was caught with his hands in a cookie jar and asked him.

"What do you have to say for yourself?" he sheepishly looked at me with teary pitch black eyes and said.

"I'm sorry."

Safe to say Kodak punching him in the face was totally warranted.

Chapter end