Online In Another World

The first to make his move as Scarlet, utilizing such speed that the scenery before his view seemed to contort, seeing everything around him as a blur as he pushed his physical capabilities high enough to match the seemingly unapproachable swiftness of the Dread.

Blood heated, flowing faster as Scarlet kept pace with the shadow-skinned being as the white of his eyes reddened in that moment in which he drove past the limits of his body.

["Blood-Red Dance"]

The Dread clearly did not expect anybody to come close to its own speed, to which the experienced member of the Nihilum Core used this to his advantage: Scarlet summoned a sword forged of blood before swinging it forth.

A result of the sword slash came as a scathing wind pressure infused with a cut of blood that allowed the range of the attack to slash far and wide through the valley, further turning the trees beyond into firewood as the Dread raised a split-second defense.

Though the intertwined skulls that acted as a sturdy barrier mitigated the colossal slash of blood, eviscerations were left on the Dread's body.

"Tch," Scarlet clicked his tongue.

In response to the half-successful attack, Dread's vibrations intensified as it shifted forward with speed that caused the wind to contort, lunging its hand towards the face of the blood-manipulating demon.

Crap…! Scarlet thought.

As the hand of the Dread neared the Nihilum Core member's face, he could feel the pressure of utter bloodlust oozing from that blackened palm, knowing full well that what was coming was coming quickly with the intention of death.

The aspect of death itself was imprinted on the skin of the Dread; a single direct touch of that malignant aura would provide the unfortunate soul with a one-way ticket to the afterlife.

"Hyraaaah-!"

Charging in just before the Dread could make contact, the helmed, suite-wearing adventurer that encompassed brute strength slammed one of his gauntlets towards the Dread.

'--!"

The light that followed the lavish gauntlets prompted even the Dread to act with caution as he pulled away, seeing those knuckles soar towards his head.

"--Phew!" Scarlet let out a breath of relief.

"You can thank me by buying me a beer after this," Briggs said.

"...After that, you can have all the damn beer you want–we're going to drive that bar out of stock!" Scarlet smirked, empowering himself with blood.

"Now you're speaking my language!" Briggs said, slamming his gauntlets together.

Even after the fruitless assaults so far, both of the Nihilum Core members stood tall, shoulder-to-shoulder with unwavering resolve, revealing their true strength at last.

"Hate to admit it, but this guy is nothing to scoff at. It's not going to take anything less than everything we've got, Briggs," Scarlet spoke with a more serious air about him.

Briggs nodded, "Yeah. I already figured that out myself. It's time to earn our pay."

A crimson material stretched across Scarlet's body, overlapping his attire in a refined armor of blood that possessed an opalescent sheen. In both of his hands, he forged blood sprouted from his own mana into twin blades, holding them in a reverse grip.

["Arterial Armor: Blood Edge"]

Briggs readied himself as he slammed both of his lion-faced gauntlets into the ground, embedding them multiple inches deep into the soil as he lowered his stance like a bull preparing to charge. An aura of rumbling light emitted from his form as his clothes began to tear off from his bulging muscles, which increased in size to reveal his dark-brown skin beneath, pressed with increased veins.

["Juggernaut of Light"]

In response to the two's all-out awakening, the Dread lifted a single finger before swiping it forward with a malediction of death:

["Augury of Evil"]

That whisper invoked a rapidly multiplying slice of darkness that spread itself out, crisscrossing and intersecting many times as it began cleaving through the surrounding area with merciless destruction.

Even as stone was chopped into perfect, tiny cubes around them, the two managed to hold their own–even flourishing in their response to the attack: Scarlet jumped up, spinning around with his blades creating a stream of sharp blood that repelled the cutting shadows.

Briggs dashed forward, moving as a construct of light as the image of a seraphic, white bull surrounded him as he blitzed through the array of shadows.

It was a fight that none could step in to aid with; the array of dark lines would turn any fighter into mincemeat, so long as they didn't possess extraordinary talent of their own. The battle surpassed anything that the group had witnessed; a clash of such a high-level that it felt as though a single second spent near it would result in death.

"Briggs!" Scarlet yelled out.

As the youthful, horned man in blood armor yelled out, he slid across the ground, avoiding a humming slice of darkness as he closed the distance between himself and the Dread. In that moment of life-or-death evasiveness, he reached under his coat before drawing a vial, throwing it towards the Dread.

"--?" The Dread looked at the vial.

Just as the malignant entity raised its hand to destroy the projectile storing blood, the vial shattered as the dark blood within it exploded, taking the form of many bindings before wrapping around the Dread.

Though the violent figure tried snapping out of the crimson bindings with sheer strength alone, it failed to replicate the feat it once did with blood–finding the current arterial fluid around itself holding on with a herculean tightness.

Scarlet held a serious expression, "--That's special blood there–straight from a Death Crusher, don't think you can snap out of it so easily!"

As the Dread gritted his teeth, trying harder to snap free from the tight hold of the unique blood, a massive glow came straight to his abdomen.

The large figure of Briggs stood in front of the Dread now, having appeared with that light-like speed as his glowing gauntlet was pressed into the stomach of the evil being.

"Gotcha," Briggs whispered.

Black blood spit out from the Dread's mouth as the vibrating entity was flung back, having no trees still standing to break its momentum.

"Don't let up–!"

Scarlet yelled out to his companion as he dashed forward with a subtle stream of red light trailing behind him in his unfathomable speed.

​ The blood-manipulator followed the knocked-back Dread, bringing both of his hands together as he combined both of his blood-forged swords into a larger, more daunting greatsword of crimson essence.

This is our chance…we need to finish it, now! Scarlet thought.

As he met up with the flung-back Dread, he went in for a strike towards its neck to behead the malevolent figure, though just as he swung his blood-made blade forward, the vibrating entity contorted its body around.

"--!" Scarlet's eyes widened.

In that moment between moments, there was no pulling back as the Dread reversed its own momentum, raising its left arm as it flexed it with darkness reinforcing its toughness–SQUELCH. It endured the sword strike, catching the crimson sword in its forearm, stopping it from going any further.

Before Scarlet could pull away completely, it was too late to avoid the volley of dark arrows unleashed at lightning-like speed forth.

One pierced straight through Scarlet's left shoulder, boring a clean hole as another went through his side.

"Scarlet!" Briggs called out, catching up to the fight.

Still, the Nihilum Core member didn't so much as falter to a knee as he gritted his teeth, staying standing as he was knocked back several meters.

"Push…Don't stop!" Scarlet screamed out.

Of course, they were veterans; trained to be elites among elites, of the highest caliber: Briggs swallowed his worry, pushing on without restraint as he slammed his knuckles together with a shock wave emitted from his position.

["Behemoth of Light"]

This time, a construct of light in the form of a behemoth surrounded Briggs as he dashed forward, roaring straight towards the Dread without a bone of fear in his body.

The warriors in this time…are amazing! The Dread thought with a vicious smile, So brave! So brazen! This reckless abandon–they are without a doubt, the greatest!

The Dread amplified himself with a massive aura of darkness before pushing both of his hands forward as Briggs neared him, unleashing a burst of far-encompassing shadows that shrieked outward.

"--!" Briggs raised his gauntlets like a shield in front of his body.

In an instant, the shriek of darkness unleashed by the Dread reached the span of the entire forest, further erasing the existence of the land of nature from the region.

–

Meanwhile, the others kept watch of Emilio, who was in a state that could hardly be passed as "survivable" as the young Dragonheart continued groaning, periodically letting out sharp yells of pain.

"Emilio…!" Melisande worriedly called his name.

"Tch…! I want to help him, but I don't know the first thing about magic!" Everett said.

The ground rumbled beneath them as Yuna and Asher looked over, witnessing the burst of darkness the Dread had unleashed, filling the false sky was a majestic array of black-and-purple light.

"...It's not getting any better out there," Yuna said.

"Still…we've got to help Emilio somehow!" Everett said, "He really stuck his neck out there for us earlier! Right, Melisande?!"

Melisande didn't respond for a moment as her focus was on the agonized young man, gripping onto his hand to provide support before she finally nodded, "...Yeah. Yeah! He needs us…!"

Asher looked at them, "Right now, the best we can do is…supply him with mana."

Reaching over, the injured Devilheart placed his hand on Emilio's chest, gifting portions of his mana to the unconscious Dragonheart.

"Wait, but…you're hardly in any better shape than him!" The red-haired demi-human called out.

"I'm fine…I'll manage," Asher said, wincing.

Seeing the injured man give his own mana, the others were prompted to chip in as well, placing their hands on Emilio's body as they aided him with much needed energy.