Ryder, the Dracogon just sent a message to you." Luxy suddenly spoke.
The words hung in the air like an executioner's axe, ready to fall with a bombshell. Ryder, who had just calmed down from the panic of losing Luxy mere moments ago, felt his newly regained peace shatter like glass.
It was as if someone had replaced his blood with icy water. He didn't know why, but he was feeling intimidated by the mention of the Dracogon.
"Great," Ryder thought sarcastically. "Just when I thought this day couldn't get any more exciting.
First, I get soul-teleported to hell's version of Wonderland you call the Astral Shadow plain, then I bond with a devil rabbit..
Devil viper bunny. Luxy snapped, annoyed by how Ryder was seeing him as a rabbit but Ryder completely ignored, and continues blabbering, with his heart shattered.
"...and now the local overlord wants a chat. Mom always said I'd go places." His hands trembled slightly, and he tried to disguise it by clenching them into fists.
Dracogon is not a local overlord Ryder, he is a monarch. Luxy corrected.
Although he was aware that this Dracogon was the ruler of all the devils and demons within his field of view, that wasn't enough to make him dread this much. Logic told him that fear should be proportional to understanding, but this – this was different. It was as if his soul recognized a danger he haven't yet encounter.
Could it be the tone of Luxy's voice? He wondered but then spoke, forcing his voice to remain steady.
"What was the message? What did he send to you?" Ryder asked.
Ryder's eyes darted around, half expecting the Dracogon to materialize from the shadows at any moment or to see maybe some sort of grand scroll, suddenly appearing from thin air or perhaps a demonic messenger with bat wings and red eyes, coming towards him.
Luxy paused for a brief moment before responding. "It is about your test. He said your test is beginning."
The moment Luxy said that, all the beasts that had been previously minding their business and doing their thing suddenly froze on their spot, unmoving.
"A test?" Ryder's eyebrows shot up. "What kind of test? Multiple choice? Essay? Please tell me."
Reality quickly answered the question Ryder bombarded to Luxy when he noticed the odd occurrence around them suddenly.
Even Luxy was quite puzzled at this. If Ryder were just an ordinary human, he would have attracted the attention of the beasts the moment he entered a certain range around them, but Ryder wasn't— not anymore.
The beasts were all different but unique in appearance, there were some with too many eyes, too many limbs, not enough limbs, and combinations of features that should never exist on the same being. But they all shared one thing in common now – they froze up on their spot with their eyes, directed at Ryder, staring.
They were looking at him with the kind of focused interest a starving man gives to a steak dinner.
Since Luxy contracted with Ryder, Ryder's aura and presence had automatically changed into his— changed to the aura and presence of a demon. Ryder was supposed to detected as a devil just like him, but for some reason, it felt like all the beasts ignored Luxy's presence and stared beyond, into Ryder's.
Soon, another revelation came to Ryder, which Luxy translated instantly.
"No, no, no! This is bad. Ryder, you have to run!" Luxy panicked, his eyes widened to the point where they looked like they might pop out of his fuzzy head. Ryder couldn't exactly see Luxy, but he could tell.
The sight of Luxy at the moment would have been comical under any other condition – a panicking bunny wasn't exactly the stuff of nightmares. But nothing about this situation was funny.
"Where should I run to? Why should I run?!" Ryder panicked as he frantically stepped his toe to the ground.
"All the beasts are going to attack you. The test is for you to survive a battle against his followers."
But even as Luxy spoke, Ryder could barely focus. He could see the hunger in the creatures' eyes, the tension in their different forms as they prepared to launch at him.
This wasn't going to be a match – it was going to be a massacre.
There won't hurt me much would they. Ryder slowly backed off as he questioned. What are the rules? Where is the refree.
"They're going to tear you apart," Luxy clarified. "Limb from limb. Unless you run. NOW!"
That was all the encouragement Ryder needed.
Turning around to the only direction where there were no beasts present, he accelerated towards it with a speed he never knew he possessed. It was the exact same direction where he had come from—the deserted forest. The skeletal trees and dead landscape that had seemed so eerie before now where now his only hope of escape.
Like crazed, mindless beasts, all the creatures chased after Ryder.
Like crazed, mindless beasts that they probably were, all the creatures chased after Ryder. They moved with coordination which surprised Ryder, spreading out to with the sole purpose of blocking all escape routes while closing up with Ryder.
Ryder luckily, was already heads above them, escaping into the deserted forest in time.
Ryder halfheartedly expected the beasts to halt right before the wasteland, but no, they didn't.
They didn't stop. If anything, they seemed to increase their speed as they rushed into the dead forest, destroying the skeletal trees in their way with terrifying strength, without slowly their overall speed.
"What does he want me to do about them? How am I supposed to pass the test?" Ryder questioned as he ran and dodged projectiles that were hurled towards him while maintaining a few meters' distance from a horde of crazed beasts right on his trail.
One creature, resembling a combination of a mantis and a gorilla in one body, launched what looked like a sharp spike from its forearms towards Ryder's head from behind. Quickly tilting his head sideways, it whistled past Ryder's ear, close enough that he could feel the wind, pushed by it.
Another beast – this one looking like it had escaped from a nightmare, with tentacles like octopus and teeth shark – spat a green liquid substance that sizzled as it sliced through the air towards Ryder's legs.
Quickly swerving towards a tree by the left, Ryder changed direction, dodging the attack.
Right now, he was harnessing Luxy's speed to the fullest extent.
"Why are you asking me?! You are the chosen vessel, not me. It is up to you to figure it out!" Luxy retorted angrily.
"Please tell me if you have a way to! I beg of you!" Ryder pleaded.
Luxy groaned in frustration before finally replying. "Right, right... You are meant to defeat them all, which is impossible because, since we are bonded, you are just as strong as me..."
Great. Ryder cheered up. And how strong are you?
"And I am just averagely strong, enough to go one-on-one with a good number of beasts there without getting killed."
"Darn it!" Ryder cursed and his hope went down the drain. "You can go one-on-one with some of the beasts here, but I am being attacked by all of them at the same time! They don't look like the kind that would patiently wait for you to fight them one after the other."
"Yes, that is the problem," Luxy panicked. "And they are gaining on us now."
Ryder, despite not wanting to, risked glance backward, a big he regretted in the next moment.
The horde was closer than he had estimated, close enough that he could see their appearance in details – the gleam of fangs under the dull sunless sky, the flash of claws at hair breadth from him, the bloodlust eyes of all shapes and colors. The fastest among them was mere inches away, its elongated limbs tearing the air towards his legs.
Unfortunately for luck Ryder this time, it succeeded. Its hand wrapped around Ryder's leg, halting him from moving even a muscle instantly.
"Can't I talk my way out, Luxy?" Tears drooled down Ryder's face as he realized his fate.
"Unfortunately, no!" Luxy extinguished Ryder last ray of hope.
*Wham!*
A heavy fist crashed on him, forcing him downward and breaking the solid, hard ground beneath his feet. The impact reverberated through his body, a wave shock that seemed to shake his very bones. Pain exploded across his entire body, momentarily blurring out his vision.
But the pain was bearable – it meant he was still alive. For now.
Being caught by one of the beasts was very much equivalent to being caught by all the beasts. He was being chased by all of them at the same time, after all.
Grabbing onto his neck was another devil beast, a humanoid one in particular. Its face was a ugly misinterpretation of human features, with eyes set too far apart and a mouth that split its face nearly in half, revealing rows of sharp needle-like teeth. Its grip was iron, cutting off his Ryder blood flow to his head.
"Luxy, please, can you help?" Jaxon panicked in freight. "I need your help!"
*Crack!*
Bending its hand sideways, the devil broke Jaxon's neck. The sound was horrible – a sharp snap that seemed to echo in the sudden silence that fell over his mind. Normally, a single punch from even the weakest beast should be enough to kill Jaxon, but that was in reference to the past.
Jaxon already had strength equivalent to a devil, so it was not much of a surprise that he took a hit, but that wasn't the biggest deal right now. His neck had been snapped, immobilizing his whole body.
Whether he liked it or not, he was going to die if he didn't find a way out, which would surely involve him moving.
Moving right now, won't be easy for Ryder... not with a broken neck.
"Luxy! Please help!"
*Boom!*
The next attack that collided with his body came from an enormous devil beast that leaped into the sky before crashing into Jaxon with its legs as thick as tree trunks, stretched out. The creature resembled a demonic version of a a giant frog, that seemed like something made made of nightmares and hatred.
The attack sounded like an explosion, destroying the entire ground as far as Jaxon could see with his enhanced eyesight.
Jaxon's entire bones were now shattered into countless fragments like glass, but strangely, he was still in one piece.
Only three out of the hundreds of beasts hard on his trail had made any contact with him. There were still hundreds of beasts readying themselves and waiting for their turn to attack Jaxon.
Despite how much stronger he was currently compared to his previous self, he wasn't confident that he would survive ten more attacks.
"I think I can help," Luxy, who had been silent all this while, finally spoke.
"Then don't tell me—do it!" Ryder screamed inwardly to Luxy.
As soon as Jaxon spoke, the mark on his shoulder slowly exuded black smoke. Luxy was coming out.
"Brace yourself because you are in for a rough ride."
Jaxon was feeling too weak to even scream as Luxy bit onto his fleshy back, then rushed away in a forceful blast, blowing up dust at his wake.
Hard on their trail were countless devils.
A giant piece of rock was hurled towards them, but Luxy quickly swerved sideways, dodging it.
More and more projectiles were hurled towards them, but Luxy managed to dodge them all. He was more than aware that he wouldn't last long if he kept running, but why should he when he had a plan?
Luxy wasn't by any chance the fastest creature around, so getting caught was an inevitable outcome.
A whip-like tail extended towards him, aimed to wrap around him, and unsurprisingly, it succeeded.
Opening his maw filled with sharp teeth, Luxy chomped at the tail so hard that it had to let loose.
Due to the seemingly short confrontation with the tail, a rock hurled towards them struck them unaware.
Blood spewed out from Jaxon's mouth as his body forcefully slammed to the ground.
'Lu... Luxy...' Jaxon spoke in his mind, his consciousness slowly seeping away.
'Are we going to make it?' Jaxon hopelessly asked mentally since he was too weak to move his lips.
For a moment, there was total silence. Since Luxy was no longer in his body but outside. He guessed that his message never got to Luxy, but surprisingly, a reply came.
'Yes, Jaxon, we are going to survive.'
*Crash! Crash! Crash!*
One after another, rocks that flew from the sky slammed into Luxy and Jaxon.
Their movement slowed after every hit until, eventually, they came to a halt, unable to move.
Grabbing Luxy by the neck, a particular devil stared at him with a cold gaze before flinging him away. Luxy was not the target.
The one meant to be killed was Jaxon, who lay on the ground, half-conscious.
'You said we would make it, Luxy, didn't you?' Jaxon tried to bite his lips to reflect his emotion regret and pain, but his mouth couldn't move; all it did was flinch.
*Dark Devil Art: Self Banishing!*
A heavy wave of rippling purple energy exuded from Jaxon's body, flinging the devil along with the other beasts closest to him away violently.
Black energy and red lightning distorted the air as Jaxon's body lifted upwards. It wasn't just him—Luxy as well.
'I told you we would survive, didn't I?' Luxy spoke with telepathy, transmitted his words directly into Jaxon's mind.
'Only in this plane... I hereby banish myself as an inhabitant.'