Tsugi No Level

Chapter 17 Reading energy

Demo stands in the cloud of dust his actions and fights have created. The image of destruction he left behind was awe-inspiring for those who wished for strength. But Demo has lost himself in the pain created by the wound left by the Palindra. His consciousness slumbers in the darkness of rage. All he can see is what resembles a soul encased in a silhouette of the body it's encased in. The wound was inflicted by a big soul with a distorted flow in it, so his instinct is to destroy all similar souls first.

As he stands on top of the remains of a Palindra he looks over his left shoulder to the last Palindra soul still shining. His black eyes focused on the soldier with the big sword. The soldier Palindra meets his gaze. Instead of being overcome by fear, his warrior instinct kicked in full gear and he is hell-bent on killing Demo as revenge for those who have fallen. He readies his sword.

"KARNA! (COME!)"

Demo slowly walks towards the soldier. After the 5th step, he disappears from sight for most watching. But the soldier tracks his movements. Demo has jumped up and is rushing towards the soldier in a Superman punch pose to strike him.

The soldier calmly raises his hand up and right as Demo comes into the soldier's range of attack the soldier lowers his hand with his index and middle finger pointing down to hit the top of Demo's fist. This tap on the top of his fist forces his momentum to become distorted and off balance. His punch fails as he hits the ground and starts rolling over the ground. As Demo rolls the soldier sees this as a perfect chance to attack and jumps up with his sword ready to smash downwards and cut Demo in half.

While rolling Demo sees the soldier's soul closing in, and with one fluid motion he takes a squatting position. As the sword swings down Demo dodges to the right the soldier immediately stands up ready to continue. Demo runs towards the soldier and throws a high kick to destroy the soldier's head, but the soldier can see the kick coming so he ducks down and sweep-kicks Demo so that he falls again. Before the soldier can swing his sword down again, Demo is back up. The soldier starts trying to attack but Demo dodges the attacks.

Each slash ends up empty. The soldier smiles as he recognizes that Demo is doing all this by instinct. He is reacting at the last moment to dodge each blow and his reflexes are otherworldly which allows him to pull this off. The soldier feels this is worthy of praise.

"Arthalia (Impressive)."

The soldier recognizes that Demo's instinct is amazing but that instinct by itself has its limitations. So the soldier decides to up the ante. The soldier increases his murderous intent and the bloodlust he exudes from his sword. He then controls his energy by making it seem like several slashes are going towards Demo. Demo who has been moving on instinct doesn't know which attack is the real one. His senses are overwhelmed by the sheer number of possible attacks. Demo freezes and it's right then that the soldier sees his chance and swings his sword down with all his might.

But before it can reach Demo the soldier is kicked in his side and his sword misses its mark. Li-On has stepped in to save Demo. He recognized that the soldier had figured out the limitations of Demo and the trouble it could spell.

After being kicked the soldier looks at Li-On with rage. But then he sees the other S-ranked pupils and the remaining gym members that survived the ordeal also stand at the ready to attack. He understands that he is in a very disadvantageous situation. All of his squadron has been eliminated and him alone against this many would prove nothing but fatal. He looks up at the sky.

"Viendal Kherathis (He should be coming)."

He knows that the sudden death of his squadron will have alerted his leader who will then make his way down to help the situation or eliminate whatever killed them. But the soldier isn't certain he will be able to survive until his leader returns. He points his blade at Li-On and in the language of the current dimension he speaks.

"My name is Diwena, I will have my revenge."

And with those words, he jumps into the shadows and disappears as he flees to safety. But with the last Palindra gone Demo has lost the source of his rage but not the rage itself. He slowly stands up and looks at the remaining gym members with his black eyes. Li-On immediately recognizes that Demo has switched targets.

"KNEEL AND DON'T MOVE!"

He knows that Demo right now is trying to kill anything that might be considered a foe. So the best way to soothe him is to make sure you take the most submissive pose possible and lower yourself so as to not seem to be a threat. The lower-ranked pupils followed the order immediately but the S-rank's pride got in the way which caused a slight delay as they didn't understand why they had to kneel.

"FOOLS!!!"

Demo rushes towards the standing S-ranks ready to kill them all. But Li-On is able to cut him off before he reaches them. The shockwave of Li-On stopping Demo is enough to force all the pupils behind them to be pushed back a few meters. Li-On and Demo are now face to face and Li-On can see his own reflection in the darkness that dwells in Demo's eyes.

Just as Demo is charging up to fight Li-On he stops and looks at the sky. He senses a giant Palindra soul coming his way. During this small distraction, Li-On sees a chance to restore Demo to his sane self. He gathers energy in his fist that focuses on disrupting the flow of energy of anything it touches. He punches Demo in the back and as the energy goes through Demo's body it disrupts his rage and brings him back to his senses. Demo lowers his head as all the rage and tension that covered his body leaves him like steam coming off his body. He turns to Li-On with a confused look on his face.

"What happened?"

Li-On looks at him with a stern look and shakes his head.

"Nothing happened. Focus on what's coming."

Demo looks at him and then looks down at his body and wounds on his body. He grabs his chest but know that what is coming is more important than what happened before. And then it comes into sight. The leader of the Palindra lands in front of them.

He looks at Demo then Li-On and the rest of the group. He then focuses his gaze on Demo as he recognizes him to have the strongest energy out of all those present. The leader starts speaking in this dimensions language.

"Who are you?"

"I'm Demo."

"You have to die."

Demo gets into an aggressive stance and looks at the leader as his eyes go red.

"Try!"

The leader draws his sword and readies it for attack. But as he does he receives a message on his transponder. And everyone can hear the message as it comes through.

"PRIME PERFECT!!!!"

Chapter 17 Fin