Hoshi : Insurrection

Chapter 16 : Taxing Struggle.

"That's it! Even if it kills me, I will place all the aura I have to make you suffer!" seethed Honghui.

Hoshi stared at the enraged demon as it let all of it's purple aura out. The ground started shaking and a few rubble from the surrounding mountains began falling. The tremors were so intense that the warriors fighting outside the lake felt them including Erashi and Tamura.

The demon's orbital glow proliferated as a dark lightning surrounded his body. The demon lowered its stance and acted like a bull ready to charge at Hoshi with full speed and strength.

"Try and dodge this! You little shit!" Honghui swiftly charged at Hoshi.

Dodging the attack was out of the question as the demon was way too quick and had a disastrous range to deliver massive damage. Knowing this, Hoshi transferred aura in his right hand to create a red heavy bow while a sharp arrow on his left. He then promptly drew and released the arrow while aiming at the demon's leg. He succeeded in his counterattack to cause his opponent to lose just enough speed to allow a perfect dodge just before he got hit.

The demon cursed and took a swift turn to charge back at Hoshi before he could land on the ground. It's target tried to generate another arrow on his left hand but failed as he couldn't channel enough aura through it. As a result, he got struck by the demon's horns midair and was thrown back into the rocky boundary.

Forcing himself up, he noticed his entire torso brimming with deep cracks that another hit would totally demolish it. He once again tried to transfer the cracks throughout his body but only managed to succeed after letting both his arms stay exposed.

Honghui ceased his overflowing aura to focus it on closing his fresh wounds. Hoshi didn't waste this opportunity despite the damage he just took and transferred a bit of aura towards his legs to hurl himself towards the demon and launch a kick without infusing any aura in it. The demon blocked the attack using his less damaged hand, not knowing it was just a bluff to allow Hoshi to generate a sword using his exposed hand. Upon impaling the weapon in the demon's hand, he transferred his entire remaining aura into his right leg. The said leg now had three black rings with red flame originating from them at the lateral sides of his thigh, knee and shin.

"Not this again! Damn it!"
The demon faltered as Hoshi retracted his sword and delivered a devastating kick right in the demon's other half of skull, shattering it as well.

The impact unfortunately backfired as it used up every last bit of Hoshi's strength and completely broke him free of his transformation, revealing his normal form again. He fell a few meters away from Honghui as he lost consciousness. The good thing was, all his injuries from before were completely healed. His clothes were burnt up on each of his limbs leaving only his torso and pelvic area but even those were severely ripped. His scarf was also sorely frayed but wasn't falling off yet. Black smoke emitted from his entire body but he wasn't burnt from any place.

The demon loudly roared in agony as it clutched its face while copious amounts of blood spilled from it.

"I'll kill you for this! No one can save you now!"
Honghui attempted to heal his face but faced difficulties to fully close the wound.

Something was heard and seen beating inside his face as he got up and ran towards his tent to wrap its fabric around the wound. He then spent some time charging up aura and healing it as much as he could. Once healed, Honghui enraged and leaped towards Hoshi only to raise his claws after infusing them with aura in order to kill him. The purple glow in the demon's orbits still retained even after the extra layer.

"Stop! He is not done yet!" Dorian interjected.

"What are you talking about? Not done yet? This little bitch almost killed me!" fumed Honghui.