'A soul more valuable… could it be that girl?'
Vio couldn't help but recall the strange feeling she gave him and the even stranger obsession Zaves had toward her.
"Boom!"
A massive fireball hurtled toward the sisters, prompting Vio to push himself to save them.
His joints screamed like never before as he dashed toward them at the same speed as the giant fireball.
The sisters turned toward the attack, their legs frozen. One of them closed her eyes, surrendering to the inevitable, but Shama didn't. She was sure nothing would happen to them.
'The hero is here.'
Before they even understood what had happened, they felt a strong arm grabbing their waists and lifting them into the air.
"Boom!"
The massive fireball struck the ground, creating a force that only helped Vio get farther away, the girls still in his arms. The pressure was too much for the sisters, causing them to shut their eyes.
"Why, why, why!" Zaves screamed.
'Man, can't you mute your voice for the sake of what you worship?'
Vio was about to set the girls down the moment he landed, but his instincts screamed at him to keep moving.
"Swoosh."
The sound of slicing came from behind. Vio turned his head to see that Zaves had finally stopped stalling and formed two ice blades.
'Oh, so now he's serious.'
In a blink, Zaves was beside him, right where Vio was holding Shama. Vio twisted toward him, raising his knee to block the ice blades.
"Clash! Crack!"
Zaves' blades shattered.
[HP Decreased: 4,726/5,000]
Vio gritted his teeth, enduring the pain. Using the same leg, he kicked Zaves in the chest.
"Boom!"
Zaves staggered backward, giving Vio a chance to retreat, but Zaves wasn't about to let it slip by. While his body was still recoiling, he created two more ice blades and hurled them.
Vio's eyes widened as he crouched down, pulling the girls closer to him. The blades narrowly missed the sisters, stabbing into the ground behind them and releasing purple flames.
Using the wind, Zaves steadied himself, frowning. His eyes met Vio's as the purple flames spread around them.
"It's affecting you, but no, no, no, don't worry. Your brother is here to save you," Zaves said, creating two more blades and rushing forward.
Vio tightened his grip on the girls, spinning around to toss Shama into the air, followed by her sister, and seeing Shama thrown higher made Zaves distracted for a moment, giving Vio the chance to slam the ground with all his strength.
"Boom!"
The ground shook so hard that Zaves lost balance.
'Dash!'
Vio lunged at him with a direct punch, but the bastard Zaves used the wind to retreat. Vio's punch hit nothing but air.
Grinding his teeth in frustration, Vio leapt to catch the girls again.
'At least we've freed ourselves from his damn fire.'
Vio came up with a plan, rushed into the narrow alleyways of the village, with Zaves relentlessly pursuing him.
Vio exploited the maze-like alleys, twisting and turning. Each time Zaves thought he had a clear shot, Vio would suddenly change direction, making it impossible to attack them.
Frustrated, Zaves switched to a new tactic, leaping onto the burning rooftops.
From the rooftops, Zaves could occasionally catch glimpses of Vio and would send a hail of ice shards in his direction. Vio dodged them narrowly, thanks to his Dash skill.
Vio relied on his instincts to sense incoming attacks, saving himself at the last moment every time.
The game of cat and mouse continued for a while. Zaves began to suspect that Vio had a plan because his movements, which initially seemed random, were becoming more deliberate and calculated.
Vio had been memorizing the layout of the alleys. Once he found the right spot, he stopped abruptly and set the girls down.
He gestured with his finger for them to stay still. Vio turned and punched an oncoming ice shard.
"Boom!"
Electricity surged through Vio's fist, shattering the shard into tiny fragments.
Zaves froze in confusion, unsure why Vio had suddenly stopped. But he didn't care much, as his focus shifted to Shama, who was now behind Vio.
'Let's finish this'
Vio slammed his chest, his eyes daring Zaves to try and get past him.
"Oh, it seems I'll need to break you first. Fine, fine, fine. If my brother wants it, I'll make sure you get it," Zaves said with a grin.
'Cancel allocation.'
[Allocation Canceled]
[EP: 40/100]
Wasting no time, determined to end this once and for all, Vio dashed toward Zaves.
Shards formed at Zaves' feet, only to be shattered by Vio's punches.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Vio leapt over some shards, punching through others. Between strikes, he pulled out stones from inventory and hurled them.
But Zaves was ready. He either raised his hand to block or formed ice layers around himself. Vio's attacks were meant to distract, not damage.
Vio noticed that forming ice required Zaves to concentrate. All Vio wanted was to disrupt his focus as much as possible.
Dodging what he could and breaking what he couldn't, Vio continued rolling forward, hurling stones at Zaves.
Amid the chaos, Vio suddenly seemed to lose his mind, recklessly charging straight at Zaves. Even Zaves was caught off guard.
How could he not be? Vio was cautious the entire time, only advancing when he found a blind spot, which Zaves carefully avoided giving him.
But here he was, charging recklessly. Zaves wasn't about to let this golden opportunity slip away.
As Vio closed in, ice shards struck him from all directions.
[HP Decreased: 4,506/5,000]
Shards struck his shoulder.
[HP Decreased: 4,352/5,000]
Another hit his ribs.
[HP Decreased: 4,253/5,000]
[HP Decreased: 4,110/5,000]
Amid all this, he focused on protecting his vital areas, ignoring the pain spreading through his entire body.
[HP Decreased: 3,891/5,000]
Zaves finally understood his intention. Vio wanted to get close enough to create an opening to strike him with lightning again.
Using wind, Zaves pushed himself away, hurling more ice shards to keep Vio at a distance.
Vio broke one shard just to take a single step forward, only to be hit by several more.
[HP Decreased: 3,511/5,000]
[HP Decreased: 3,293/5,000]
[HP Decreased: 2,877/5,000]
[HP Decreased: 2,552/5,000]
The cycle repeated. Zaves kept retreating quickly while Vio sacrificed his HP to close the distance little by little until he reached his limit.
When Zaves saw Vio collapse to his knees, he stopped backing away and focused entirely on encasing Vio's body in ice.
"Brother, I'll be merciful. I'll only freeze you."
In a matter of seconds, Vio was entirely encased in ice, transformed into a frozen statue. Zaves dropped defenses, smiling in victory as he began to consider how to deal with Shama next.
[Agility Decreased by 100%]
[Low Temperature Detected]
Amid the flood of notifications, the frozen Vio gave a silent command in his mind.
'Teleport to Eye.'
[Item 'Teleport to Eye' Activated]
Zaves' eyes widened. How could they not, when his brother vanished right before him?
"Where did he go?" Zaves muttered.
He didn't know that if he turned, he would see Vio standing near a pillar. This was why Vio had moved so erratically before and charged recklessly—it was all for this moment.$$$$
'Dash.'
Vio slammed his foot, clenched his fists crackling with electricity, and shot toward Zaves like an arrow.
Zaves didn't understand, but he felt it. A sense of danger, so intense that he couldn't identify its direction or source. All he knew was that Vio always aimed for the head, so he created layers of ice to completely cover his head.
But the punch didn't target his head. It struck his lower back instead.
"Boom!"
'If you've memorized my moves, I've memorized yours too.'
The blow was so powerful that Zaves's back arched, throwing his head backward. That was when he saw Vio grinning, his other hand descending toward his ice-covered head.
"Boom!"
The impact smashed Zaves into the ground, sending vibrations through every piece of ice around them.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
Punch after punch followed. Vio was determined to shatter both the ice and Zaves' head.
[Low Temperature Detected]
Vio didn't care, continuing to pound away until his punches started to slow.
'What's happening again?'
A large crack appeared in the ice encasing Zaves' head, showing Vio that he was close. Raising both arms, Vio prepared to bring them down with all his strength. But his arms refused to respond as a familiar sensation returned.
Looking up, Vio saw that both his arms had been frozen by icy pillars gripping them tightly.
'Why… again?'
His gaze shifted to Zaves, whose palm was pressed against the ground, ice pillars rising from it to stop him.
Zaves' head broke free from the ice, and his sharp, hateful voice echoed.
"You, you, you!" Zaves screamed, his words dripping with rage. "Who asked for this?"
Zaves poured more energy into the ice pillars, lifting Vio off the ground so that his feet no longer touched it.
Standing up, Zaves' trembling body moved quickly to touch Vio's chest.
"I will, I will, I will…" Zaves said, his voice breaking and tears streaming from his eyes. "Kill that girl after you die. Forgive me, brother. There's no, no, no other way to free you."
Purple flames surged, engulfing Vio's body as terror spread across his face.
[A strange energy was detected permeating the hero]
Neither Vio nor Zaves could predict what happened next.
Vio didn't feel anything, which confused Zaves. Why wasn't he screaming?
"You… you… You have too much spirit," Zaves said, his voice trembling. "Don't worry, I'll end your suffering."
All the flames surrounding the houses and the corpses of the villagers rushed toward Zaves' body and flowed into Vio.
Vio, who felt nothing, observed his surroundings and noticed the ice beginning to crack.
"He's draining his energy… but why don't I feel anything? System, what's happening?"
[Unknown Energy Enveloping the Hero]
[No External Data Available on the Unknown Energy]
[Analyzing Unknown Energy Behavior…]
[Behavior Identified: The Energy Appears to Be Drawing Something]
'Something? What something?'
[Unknown. The Target Does Not Exist Within the Hero]
'Seriously?'
Zaves' skin grew paler as time passed, but his crazed eyes remained fixed. Whatever he expected to drain from Vio wasn't transferring, pushing him to pour even more energy into the process. The ice holding Vio started to collapse further.
"You idiot," Vio said with a smirk. "I still have legs. You know that, right?"
Even though he knew Zaves wouldn't understand, Vio said it anyway. At the same time, he kicked Zaves' face, sending him flying.
"Boom!"
Electricity surged through Vio's Gauntlets, freeing him. For the last time, he dashed toward Zaves.
Zaves, who had slammed into the ground, smacked it to generate wind and barely managed to stand.
He saw Vio approaching rapidly, but realized he had no energy left to create anything. He shouldn't have summoned the purple flames.
As a last resort, Zaves raised his arms to protect his head, but Vio's punch landed squarely on his stomach.
"Boom!"
Vio grabbed Zaves' head by the hair and slammed his face into the ground.
"Boom!"
Again and again.
"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"
Vio didn't stop until every ice shard, no matter how small, had collapsed. Then, he moved on to vent his anger.
Lifting Zaves, Vio placed his knee against his shoulder and slowly twisted his arm.
"Crack!"
"Aaaaah!"
With his knee pressing harder, Vio yanked the arm until the tissue tore apart like fabric. He didn't stop until the entire arm was ripped off.
"Aaaaah!"
The mission demanded that the demon feel pain. Vio made sure Zaves felt it fully, repeating the process with his other arm.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"Aaaaaaah!"
Was he done? No.
Stepping back, Vio placed his foot beside Zaves' head, grabbing it by the jaw.
"I'll make sure you know who I am. I'll make sure you know pain," Vio growled, sparks dancing in his eyes.
He tightened his grip and slowly pulled Zaves' head.
"Aaaaaah!"
Zaves screamed as he felt his head separating, his spine shifting with it. Then, with one final pull—Snap!
"Crack!"
"Aaaaaah!"
"Tick!"
Vio held Zaves' head and spine in his hands, while the body, which collapsed to the ground, sprayed blood like a fountain.
Vio didn't let himself rest until he heard the cold, echoing voice in his mind.
[Congratulations to the hero for slaying the first demon.]