Lynel watched the exchange from a decent distance.
To him, their little fight was slow, even a bit clumsy.
But he could certainly see what Terrick was talking about.
'Is this kid's experience truly only with sparring against my son?'
Fault's growth rate was astonishing, so far.
He was minimizing his movements, barely avoiding death by centimeters.
He was still yet to throw an attack at the daemon, though. Fault has been on the defensive the entire time.
'He's been properly buying Hale time…'
Lynel cranes his neck to look at Hale, whose eyes were wide, a nice little shine was peering through the white shirt on his back.
His infusion was quite large. It wouldn't have mattered if it was just on his torso, but…
…it spread to his arms as well.
'Two classes…'
Lynel hadn't seen a two-class infusion in ages.
He smiled a bit as Hale began to move.
'I see what people mean now…'
Hale thought to himself as he began walking.
His arm tensed as he took step after step, walking to where Fault and the daemon stood.
'This feels… incredible.'
He felt his infusion. It felt like warm water was flowing along his back. It felt like the air heated up toward his spine, like his shirt was heating up to shield him from the cold.
He felt mana gathering into the mark. He couldn't see, hear or taste the mana, but some sixth sense within his body was sharpening, allowing his skin to take it in and convert it to his ability.
He didn't know what his ability would be, though.
And that's what he was about to find out with this activation.
He had seen how Fault held out. Barely keeping up with the ravaging strikes of a rabid daemon, but he managed to keep up nonetheless.
Hale's infusion was fully formed.
The mana surged toward his shoulder and elbow.
Within his spine, it plummeted down to the bottom of his back, applying strength to his feet.
He bent his knees and jumped.
VWOOM
It propelled him forward like a spring, the glow in his back surging at a higher pulse.
He reeled his arm back…
Fault turned his head toward the glow in his peripheral vision. His eye widens as he immediately takes a jump backward.
"DO IT!" He shouted as he ducked behind cover.
Whatever Hale was charging looked like a strong blow, perhaps the couple of boxes he jumped behind in this alley were too small.
Hale arrived at the daemon, his arm fully prepared to punch.
Steam bellowed from his forearm and wrist, his skin heating up to a red glow.
"HAAAAH!" He roars triumphantly as some force behind his elbow glows golden, propelling his fist forward like it was out of his control.
The Chaotic could hardly react, its focus was still on Fault even when he jumped away. Therefore, it had no hope of dodging the speed from this blow.
"...!?"
It attempted to lean its head back to escape, but it was nothing except pure vanity.
Hale's fist connected with the daemon's toned stomach. Just a light tap despite the speed of his arm.
BWOOOM
A hole that blew away a majority of the Chaotic's torso appeared. Its entrails, ribs, spine, and other bones were all that remained.
No wind, no large explosion.
It was like the muscle and flesh of its stomach was entirely ripped out, leaving only organs and bone.
It stood in shock, its wing twitching, its face contorting to agony.
"G-gh…. GAAHHHHH!!!"
It turned its head to the sky, its jaw unhinging as a shrill scream wretched from the depths of its core.
Immediately, the arm on its injured side of the torso fell off. It still twitched and grasped at nothing, writing on the floor.
No blood spewed from its wound, just a dark substance that seemingly evaporated into the night air as it exited the daemon's body.
Its red skin was turning dark.
Then-
SHK
Its teeth grit, showing the gnashing array of spikes in its mouth.
It began to heal.
The muscles reformed, wrapping around themselves and contorting back to their original position. Its flesh regrew back on top of the muscles. Its pitch black veins formed through the flesh.
It grinned.
Hale was stunned, his eyes wide as his face paled.
"W-wha…?"
The daemon's arm flew back on as its abdomen fully repaired.
A second, sharp wing sprouted from the small of its back.
Lynel's eyes widened, and he immediately began to sprint toward them.
'A second wing!? They can't handle that!'
If a Chaotic acquires its second wing…
"GRAHHHHH"
It roared, its claws sharpened and its wings ended on bladed edges.
Like weapons.
It immediately threw a bladed side of its wing to Hale's torso.
CLANG!
The wing's blade collided with Lynel's gauntlet.
He looked at Fault and outstretched his hand, the gauntlet on Fault's right hand immediately flew toward him.
"Alright! Testing is over! Back up, both of you!" Lynel barks commands at Fault and Hale.
"Y-yes!"
Fault moves to assist Hale, who was beginning to stumble over after using his infusion.
Together, the two begin to run down the street, the sparks and clangs of what sounds like metal clashing behind them.
As Fault runs with Hale's arm around his shoulders, he finds where a small barricade of guards were lined.
"Over here! Show me the other one!"
Fault dives under the guards' shields and hands Hale over to the medic-looking guard.
Hale was panting, he overexerted his infusion after just barely forming it.
"He'll be fine. What about yourself?" The medic turns to Fault.
"I-" He stumbles a step forward, nearly losing his footing.
"Easy, kid." Terrick catches him.
Fault looks up, recognizing his voice.
"W-what happened?"
Terrick sighs as he eases Fault to sit down with the rest of the guards.
"Chaotic species of daemon. Must've flown over the city walls with one wing…"
He gets a tense look on his face and sighs.
"Well, my father's fighting it now, so it should be over here in a bit…"
"What exactly is a 'Chaotic'...?" Fault asks.
Terrick ruffles his hair, "I'll explain later. For now, let's just wait this out…"
Fault nods as another medic checks over his injuries.
"Multiple bruises, could be internal… Do we have a sight-enhancing infusion nearby? Preferably one that can see through skin or muscle?"
No one volunteers, to which he sighs, "Hah… alright."
He continues to check through Fault, "Cuts ranging from… three centimeters to… ten centimeters across his face. A gash in his leg, another on his torso."
Fault raises his eyebrow, "Huh?"
He looks down at himself and blinks.
The medic was right, but how? He hadn't felt these cuts at the time.
"Easy, kid." The medic tilts his head back to rest against the wall, "Your adrenaline's still probably pumping, so you're about to feel worse once it fades."
"So…"
"I'll knock you out for now."
Fault stares at him.
"...what?"
The medic only smiles with his hand on Fault's head, a soft purple glow illuminates from the medic's chest, and it connects to Fault's head.
His eyes roll back and he falls asleep immediately.
"Huu… alright." The medic sits back and looks at Terrick.
"This kid's a monster, you're aware of that, yes?"
Terrick smiles back, "Mmm, perhaps."
The medic shakes his head and looks at Hale, also putting him to sleep with his purple infusion.
"Both of them are." The medic adds.
Hale's infusion isn't something to do with physical strength, the steam that rose off his arms proved that. But something with speed, for sure…
Fault, on the other hand, didn't have a visible infusion, or some mana-reinforced ability. As far as the medic could tell, he fought against the one-winged Chaotic with just his strength.
"Insane… both of them."
Terrick nods slowly, "Mhm…" He looks around, "Does anyone know when Duke Lynel will be done dealing with the daemon?"
Just then, a thud sounded out in the middle of the crowd of guards.
A corpse.
"E-eek!" Someone shrieks, and immediately gets laughed out by his surrounding peers.
It was the daemon's corpse. It looked unrecognizable, nearly.
Mangled.
It had dents in its skin, its wings were torn off, and its arms were completely destroyed and bent in horrific angles.
Lynel walked toward the guards and soldiers with a sigh, his armor was covered in black blood and essence that was steaming.
Especially his gauntlets.
"W-we greet the Duke!" A guard salutes, and the rest follow suit.
"Down." Lynel grumbles.
He looks at the daemon's corpse, then at the unconscious Fault and Hale.
'A daemon typically doesn't just go up a species in the midst of a battle… it was probably hiding its second wing in its back.'
The thought made him sick.
"The chaotic was most likely close to reaching a Devil species."
The guards, Terrick, and the medic look shocked at his statement.
"H-how could you tell?"
"The damn thing had its second wing already buried in its back."
The guards recoiled, then looked at Fault, still sleeping soundly.
The ash-haired boy with one eye was covered in wounds and cuts, bruises and gashes.
But one thought resounded through everyone.
'This kid held off a two-winged chaotic for six minutes…?'
Shock was written in the air between everyone there, even Lynel was surprised at the kid's fortitude and tenacity.
All while he barely knew how to fight.
According to Hale and Terrick, Fault had never trained before, not once.
Yet he was moving like that?
Lynel couldn't help but smile a bit, "Absurd…" His gauntlet, now clean, reaches up to scratch at the scruff of a beard on his chin.
As he does so, a civilian walks himself into the crowd of guards.
"E-excuse me… pardon me…"
He arrives just a couple of steps away from the duke, and looks around.
He sees Hale, still asleep next to Fault, and smiles gently.
He looks at Duke Lynel and bows his head, "G-good evening, my Duke…"
Lynel raises an eyebrow and looks around at the guards. They were all just as lost as he was.
"...and you are?"
The man looks up, he was wearing large, rounded glasses. He had a small mustache under his nose and he seemed to be quite elderly. His brown hair whisked in the small gust of the night breeze.
He wore formal clothes, more of a butler's attire than a nobleman's, but it was quite clean and well made.
"I-I'm a scouter for Ayen Academy, I had one recommendation letter remaining, and…"
He looks at Hale, "...I'd like to recommend that blonde-haired boy to Ayen Academy."