Arcadia

Silence

The battle inside the compound continued. Nagendra flew about, damaging the surroundings with its tail. It swung wildly towards Yura. Seeing the tail come in close, Yura jumped to dodge it.

"Thunder Smash!" 

At Ren's command, his talismans flew around the enemy, shocking it with lightning bolts. The attack enraged the serpent even more. Ren clenched his fist. "I knew it. It is developing resistances."

The serpent flew forward, aiming for Ren. 

"Staunch Guardian Formation!"

Ren raised his hand, causing his talismans to fix themselves in a formation. The talismans form a barrier-like wall which absorbed the brunt of Nagendra's charge. A small stream of blood shot out of Ren's cheek as he struggled to maintain the barrier. 

"Let me help!" shouted Yura. She re-activated Lucent Heart and sprang from her position. Despite its damaged state, the rod still packed a punch, and a strike onto its wing was enough to weaken the snake.

Ren swung his fingers forward. "Staunch Guardian, Break!" 

Following the fluid hand motion, the barrier scattered into several talismans in an explosion. 

"Eat this!"

Jet re-joined the battle and delivered a powered uppercut onto the dazed snake's head. He followed it up with a wild swing across the snake's underside. The attack was able to send Nagendra crashing onto the wall ahead, collapsing part of it onto the serpent.

"Yes! That ought to end it!"

"Getting the last hit after everyone does the work is really a habit of yours, huh?" commented Yura. She managed to breathe a sigh of relief and shrugged. "Eh, at least that takes care of it."

Ren patted his clothes and shook his head. "Not so fast..."

Nagendra hissed, catching everyone's attention. Jet in particular seemed excited.

"Ah, so we'll have to beat it over and over again until Cyril gets tired of reviving it, huh?"

~~~~~

"Oi. What are you doing?" muttered Icaros. In his face was a digsuted look. His eyes twitched as he observed Cyril cutting himself once more.

Panting, Cyril looked at Icaros and replied. "Giving life to my precious Nagendra, of course. We are connected by blood. As long as I live, Nagendra can't die. Those three would be exhausted soon, and after they are taken care of..."

Icaros grinned. "So, if I kill you now..." He put both hands behind his back, seemingly preparing something.

"What can you do? Didn't my creations scare you so much that you fainted?"

As soon as those words left his mouth, Cyril stretched out his hand. Right when Cyril tried that stabbing attack, the area was filled with a sound resembling electric sparks. 

Cyril's eyes widened. Before he realized it, Icaros was in front of him. To further add to his surprise, Icaros was now holding two large kunai blades in reverse grip. The next thing he realized is that his extended hand has been cut off.

"Arghhhh!!!" shouted Cyril, seeing his hand slowly fall off. Icaros was not through, and he stabbed Cyril in the chest with one of the kunai blades. 

Cyril slowly fell down to his knees, blood flowing from his chest. Icaros' grin only grew upon seeing the demon's agony. Cyril struggled to mouth some incomprehensible words, shakily pointing at Icaros with his remaining hand.

"B-but...."

Icaros laughed hard at Cyril. "Just so you know, I'm one hell of an actor."

Icaros gripped his other blade and swiftly slashed Cyril's neck. His face showed no remorse, even as blood splattered to it. Admiring his own work, Icaros pulled the blade out of Cyril and walked away, licking the blood on his face away.