Akira wasted no time after his warning. He heard her voice in his head as she pointed her fist towards the morphing demon. His weapon was at the ready, but he dropped the idea of charging ahead; especially after he felt the presence of her invisible spell and saw the demon shoot two spears towards them.

The three of them were quite far from the demon. It was rare for spells to reach that far from the caster, but Haru had seen a few who could push way past those limits. In fact, his two comrades right there were examples of such few. So, he wasn’t willing to risk it. He swiftly lunged diagonally backwards and to the right by a couple of meters to escape the spear that was heading towards him, unaware that it would follow him.

Haru saw the slight shift in the spear’s trajectory as he lunged and realized the danger. Just then, he felt Akira’s spell grow in size and understood that she was using her spell defensively, to destroy the spears before it reached them. He felt a wave of relief. That spear was no joke. He was certain it would deal devastating damage if it landed.

Realizing the calibre of their opponent, Haru was concerned for Kazimir. He was certain the wind mage had definitely grown a lot stronger over the years, but wasn’t sure if he was ready for something like this yet. Heck, he could say the same thing about himself for that matter. But, if anything were to happen, better to him than Aki or Kazi.

Haru was behind the two—with Aki to his left and Kazi to his right—ready to lunge to either’s defence if required. This Demon looked strong; too strong. As tempting as it was to test his mettle against the abyssal creature, he would rather it be a swift fight. And his best chance at that would be to let the mages do their thing and not interfere. Him entering a melee fight would only be a hindrance to the two casters; not to mention, the opponent slung spells with non-linear trajectories. So, he hung back in a defensive position, waiting for an opportunity.

The Numbers:

Haru watched keenly as Kazimir’s spell hit the demon. The shapeless monster was swooped by the tornado. However, he couldn’t be sure if there was any significant damage done because the moment the wind mage’s spell ended, the abyssal creature was no longer on the ground, but up in the air—closer to them than before. Akira reacted quickly; he could feel the large invisible shockwave shoot out of her fist as the demon hovered above and ballooned.

There was a fraction of a second when he lost track of the spell, but the moment the crash mage opened her palm and the shockwave expanded, he could feel it again. He knew very well that Akira wouldn’t harm her fellow Knights. So, even though one side of the shockwave was expanding towards them, he was certain that she would have made sure it never reached them. He held his ground and watched. As he expected, the shockwave stopped well short of the trio.

Unfortunately, however, the now spinning demon seemed unperturbed as well. He knew that Akira’s spells had a powerful knockback upon hit. So, either the spell never hit the demon, or it had a trick up its sleeve that he couldn’t fathom. Haru watched as Akira slung another spell at the demon. This one was directed straight at it and he doubted she missed. Yet, the demon remained unimpeded; in fact, worse than unimpeded. It shot towards them in that humungous form, spinning.

Haru knew there was a high chance they were all goners if it landed right on top of them. He attempted to tap into his magic, but he knew it was a futile attempt; there was no response. He was still far from using it at will. Just when he was about to think there was no way to stop this onslaught, he felt a mana pulse emanating from Akira. He knew what it was. It was he who gave that amulet to her. And if it worked as it meant to, that should stop the demon ball shooting towards them.

Irrespective, he couldn’t agree more with Akira’s warning towards Kazimir. However, he also knew that the wind mage wouldn’t back down. If the demon landed after its spell being cancelled, Haru would spot his opportunity. Just after Kazimir dashed over him and slung a spell at the monster, the sword-wielding Knight would dash ahead. If Kazimir’s spell made contact, Haru wouldn’t miss the fact that it didn’t affect the demon at all. He was no stranger to immunities; his cloak boasted such capabilities. However, witnessing it not move an inch from Akira’s spells was unnerving.

Of course, these things weren’t going to make Haru hesitate. He had already charged; already committed to attack. Not until was he in melee range would he realize how tall the demon was. It had no recognizable features; just an amalgamation of large gooey masses. He couldn’t rely on combat techniques that he learned to fight humanoid beings. That made his choice easier; he focused on raw power.

Haru didn’t stop his dash when he got close. Instead, he used that momentum to add more power to the punch as he balled his left hand into a fist and drove it straight into the middle of the large mass. He hoped his attack, if it landed, would stagger the demon and make room for a follow up. If that was the case, he would immediately follow it up with a slash from his horizontal slash at the demon, aimed at its lower body. In case his sabre strike lands, he would immediately notice that his magical sword dealt no damage to the demon and finally understood the monster’s trick.

The Numbers:

There was fear, which induced the fight of flight reaction. Flight wasn’t an option. He had hung back when the demon was still far from the party. But now that the monster had closed the distance, there was no way he was going to let either Akira or Kazimir to be the frontline.

Thankfully, the amulet seemed to work. The demon wasn’t in its humungous ballooned form when it landed. Haru’s hand made solid contact with the demon and he could feel the creature go limp. He didn’t need to slash with his sword, but he did it anyway. Besides, he truly didn’t expect the demon to be defeated with just one punch from him. In fact, he was almost certain that wasn’t the case. It could only mean that Akira’s spells did hit the demon; just didn’t knock him back.

The fight was over and none of them had taken any significant damage. He could see why. Looking around, several buildings in the vicinity had turned into nothing but rubble. His focus on the incoming demon had blinded him to the destruction that Akira’s spells had caused in the area. He turned to look at her. For the first time, he realized how monstrously powerful she was…

And not moments ago, she had spoken in favour of Nerva.

He gulped.

He told himself she would never do anything to harm innocents, but the sheer number of times he had to repeat that in his head recently had made him begin to wonder.

After a short sigh, Haru deactivated his blade and turned to Kazimir. He smirked and shook his head in amazement. The courage the wind mage had shown today, despite knowing that he could lose his life if he made the slightest error, was beyond admirable. And even after that close brush with such a dangerous demon, he remained focused at the task; his thoughts were still about the people of the village under threat. A Rune Knight through and through.

Before they moved on, Haru gave Kazimir a nod; one of many meanings. The single nod conveyed his approval, appreciation, gratitude, and admiration, for he earned them all.

-Exit-