They attacked as a single, unstoppable unit, like shadows in the dark of the deep of the forest, biting and clawing at all who possessed that malevolent aura — They did not play fair, choosing to gang up on their opponents, who they did their best to rip apart. They didn't care for trivial things like honor or pride or fairness or even injuries. For they were undead, shadows that they may be; tiredness and fatigue was not something they could grasp — They existed for the hunt and solely served Corven. In terms of ruthlessness, they were incredibly efficient.
"The wolves of the forest stand with us! Nature stands on our side! We battle for survival! For honor! — For our school and our pride! Stand with me, Heavenly Faction, and victory is ensured! For the Academy! YAHHH!" Oscar Sky shouted, rallying a reinvigorated, nearly defeated Heavenly Faction, whom, at the sight of the wolves fighting by their sides, were reinvigorated to fight even harder. Even Josh Sky seemed to fight harder at his brother's words.
Corven stood there, brows twitching briefly at the absurdity of these humans. He knew his shadow undead could often be mistaken for living, breathing creatures, as they aren't like typical undead in that they reek of death. If anything, they're more like immortal shadow creatures than actual undead, even with their faint death aura that most others who weren't Underworld children, couldn't sense the purity of. That and the pure shadow aura they radiate. So to mistaken them for forest creatures wasn't that hard to do honestly.
'What a bunch of morons,' Corven thought to himself, before glancing back at where Eugene Vexx was fighting and badly beating Flicker, his Tainted werewolf summon.
Flicker was fast enough to teleport away from most of Eugene's attacks, dodging fatal strikes and weaving between slashes that would kill most others instantly — Sadly, not all of them were dodgeable. He sustaining wounds — mild to minor — beginning to bleed indigo blood from gashes that were taking longer and longer to heal the more he was cut, even with the werewolf healing factor enhanced by becoming a Tainted.
'That blade of his is causing soul damage,' Corven thought, gazing at Vexx's long sword. He narrowed his gaze. 'Less of a problem in short bursts, but every shallow cut or minor slashed contact with the sharp edge of that blade that draws any kind of blood, no matter how minor, seems to cause minor to mild soul damage, I sense. Accumulating this damage by compounded cuts and scrapes by that blade is unwise, the damage won't be something anyone can survive long against…But a multitude of numbers against a single blade should help even the odds.
'Shadow werewolves… Help your brother out.'
Instant, from various places on the battlefield, the shadow undead werewolves began converging, homing in on Eugene like a homing missile. And, as the shadow undead werewolves, whose power levels ranged from mid to high Tier A, helped Flicker in teaming up against Eugene Vexx, Corven decided to summon Asher to also help out his brothers and sisters.
'Be careful of Vexx's weapon — It causes soul damage, so avoid being pierce by it or letting it draw any damage from you at all,' Corven cautioned his shadow undeads and Tainted summons through their connection with him
'Yes, my Master,' Asher thought back, already moving across the battlefield toward Eugene in a blurred motion of movement.
Coven, being a child of the Underworld, had a natural innate understanding of how damaging damage to the soul truly was. It was an intuition of sorts that all children of the Underworld possessed — and one he inherited from his own father, Erebus. He knew that the soul was the source of identity and one's true self. Any damage take to it — no matter how small, minor or minute — could easily become ruinously disastrous; mayhaps even permanent. And, while Corven could always resurrect his Tainted at will, he knew even they weren't exempt from permanent death from soul damage.
Giving Flicker the same advice, Corven decided to shift his attention to where Matilda Lorens was doubleteaming with Durian Hades against one of the beings behind this incursion — the Peak level Legendary ranked demon masked member of the Infernal Guild — the one that had stayed behind while the other one that had arrived with him left to go to the other end of the forest, likely to cause a ruckus for the other students still in the Dark Forest over yonder, probably Celeste's and Jabari's groups.
And sure, both students had the power that allowed them to face High Legendary rank entities — Hell, Durian is a Peak level Legendary ranked cultivator, for Hades' sake!
And yet, their opponent was not ordinary. While, Durian may have been able to take on those of the same level of power as him and Matilda Lorens can definitely hold her own against power levels of similar statuses, and their opponent may have been a Peak level Legendary ranked opponent, but his devil mana made him much more of a Low Cosmic ranked threat than simply a Peak Legendary ranked warrior — It gave an unnatural boost that made the demon-masked bastard a psuedo-Cosmic ranked being, and that gap in power was not capable of being bridged, as evident by the masked. Cloaked individual currently ragdolling both Durian and Matilda.
Kicking Durian in the chest, the son of Hades went crashing into a series of trees, before colliding and making a deep, man-shaped hole in the mountain beyond.
Matilda tried to bind the masked assailant with her vines, but the demon masked man merely summoned an orange, noxious flame in the palm of his hand and burned the vines to a crisp.
'Hellfire...?' Corven guessed by its noxious aura, watching as the masked figure, cackling all the while, appeared directly behind Matilda. Grabbing the half nymph by her hair, he swirled and swirled mid-flight before he threw her miles away, clashing with trees, stones and the very Earth itself. 'Or maybe some weaker iteration of it…'.
J.C, who Corven had bound in shadows beside himself, watched it all as the masked man cackled in joy, watching Durian struggle to get out the Durian-shaped cave he'd been thrown into making.
'Let me go! I need to help!' came J.C's soul whisper, as he struggled to gain control of the shadows binding him. But, while he may be a child of the underworld with some degree of control over shadows, Corven was a son of Erebus — the progenitor of shadows and darkness. His control over shadows would never equate to Corven's. 'Let me go! I need to help my brother!'
'You fool!... Do you want to die?' Corven soul whispered back to the son of Hades, aggressively in annoyance. 'Two of our strongest have gone at that man and lost. We aren't on their level. Let's wait until sunset. We're children of the underworld—we're stronger in darkness. Perhaps all four of us team up at night...?'
A minute passed. J.C had stopped his struggling as he considered this. Both he and Corven had eyed the setting sun. They knew that when the shadows extended long enough, they could strike, after all.
'He's my brother,' was all J.C managed to soul whisper back.
'And we'll back him,' Corven stated surely, offering minor comfort with the softening of his voice. 'Let the shadows extend long enough to aid us. We'll face him at our strongest. Hopefully, it will be enough to even the odds.'
By the time this happened, both Matilda and Durian had engaged the enemy two more times. And each time they came back more beaten than the last — but alive. Barely.
It was obvious their opponent was playing with them — the sadistic freak. They were loud toys to the masked figure — it really pissed Corven off, but he controlled himself. He continued to wait.
"I don't know why the two of you are only watching your brethren die," the voice of the masked man sounded, startling both J.C and Corven.
"Even despite the fact that, not once looking their way, they knew he was addressing them. Why don't you come out to play? We could truly have some fun with 4 on 1, don't you think? I only came to eliminate the Champion of Hades — you other 3 are just bonuses. Why don't you come out to play and make this more interesting...?"
J.C and Corven almost simultaneously locked gazes for a moment. Deep down, they both knew that even with the cover of night backing them, they would have hardly any chance of actually besting this figure. After all, Matilda Lorens and Durian Hades were a Chaotic ranker and Legendary ranker respectively, and they were tossed around like ragdolls. And they were barely Demigo rankers… It wouldn't be fair however one looks at it.
'What now?' J.C soul whispered to Corven. 'Should we…like, go ahead and attack? He knows we're here.'
Then again, it wasn't like Corven was putting his all into shielding them with shadows. He had figured bare minimum shadow shielding would be enough to shield himself and J.C even from a Cosmic ranker. Had he put full intent behind his shadow shielding he knew that no being weaker than Celestial rank would have been able to sense him, let alone the one wearing the devil's mask, even with their high perception capabilities.
Taking note of the shadows that had extended around them, Corven noticed the sun had pretty much set. It wasn't night quite yet but it was close enough. Corven could feel his mana and shadow energy he'd been using up till now fill itself up as the stars above became visible. His stamina had more than doubled and his body felt brimming with nocturnal power.
'You're a child of Hades, right?' Corven asked, perplexing the boy, who nodded. 'The more death that is around you, the stronger you are, right?'
'Mmm…,' J.C confirmed.
'There are dead here. Do your thing, but do it discreetly,' Corven soul whispered. 'Stay close, stay silent and follow my lead. Give me a whisper when you're ready to attack. That goes to you, too, Lorens and Durian.'
Matilda was momentarily startled by hearing another's voice in her head, but when she considered her options, she decided it couldn't hurt to go along with it. They were, after all, in a forest — her place of power — and yet, somehow, she still lost against her foe. If there was another way to attain victory, no matter how unlikely the plan, she would see it through to execution.
Durian, on the other hand, stayed silent, hidden inside one of the many Durian-shaped holes dotting the Mountain face. The only indication he'd acknowledged Corven's words were the darkness discreetly cascading into one of the Durian holes — that, and a few, barely discernable, indigo blue balls wailing eternally (souls fallen in battle) that joined the cascading darkness.
"So you've decided to come out, boy?" the masked man turned to Corven, who had walked up before him. "Have you come to give your life up as tribute? It won't weigh as much as a Champion, but, as you know, champions of the gods are a rare lot, and I'd never turned down a good sacrifice."
"I'm afraid, to your delusion, that I am not sacrificing myself tonight," Corven said, looking at the stranger more closely now. He had to be tall — taller than Corven but shorter still than Master Athan, if Cor had to guess. He was dressed in a fancy cloak that covered his body, with a #5 etched into the right chest. It was made of an expensive cloth with a clip of the Infernal Guild's crest — an upside down demon mask of a horned, fangly, grinning demon in black, orange and red. The silk used in the cloak's interior was a comfy red-orange from what Corven could see from the inside of the hood.
"I am curious, though. Who are you? Do you have a name? I would like the name of the creature I'd be killing today. I mean, after all, you and yours have spilt demigod blood on this field today — It's only truely noble that I name the person — No, the creature — I am killing to avenge my demigod brethren."
There was a pause. Silence. Long silence.
Corven could sense the shadows hidden. J.C, as the descendant of Eres, gathered the power of nearby souls to fuel his power. He could sense the shadow of Matilda, who was hiding behind the cover of trees as she healed her wounds with her plant magic. And Durian, who was still gathering souls and darkness to aid him in his endeavors. He had a feeling that they were collecting the souls of all who had fallen in this battlefield, empowering themselves for one final clash.
It didn't seem like the stranger could sense them yet, but Corven knew this person must have demon blood in his system. That's the only explanation for the maleficious aura coming off him. He must have been a Demon or Devil Halfling.
When Corven was first learning about this new world he was getting into, he had learned briefly about Demons and Devils—embodiments of the darkest impulses and concepts of all living beings. Demons and devils, both powerful and strong compared to regular cultivators, were two different species entirely, with their own specialties and abilities.
Demons are more about primal rage, physical might and brute strength. They aren't dumb, not at all, anyway, but they aren't as clever as Devils, who are all about manipulation and control, making contracts and corrupting the innocent.
Demons and Devils even have their own different power hierarchies. For Devils, there's the Devil Halfling, then the Devil Spawn before Devil Imps, Lower Devil, Higher Devil, Devil Noble and then Devil Royal. Then there's the Devil Monarch, and, thankfully, there can only be 1 Devil Monarch per domain (i.e: Hell, Lust, worldly temptation or independent hellscape, etc.), which is good for everyone else, because Devil Monarchs are the peak of Devilkind—their power are on par with the strongest of gods.
For Demons, there's Demon Halfling, then Demon Spawn and Lesser Demon. Next there's Demon Fiend and Higher Demon before Demon Knight and Demon Lord. Demon Monarch follows much the same rules as Devil Monarch, but for Demons.
'But he's only a Halfling,' Corven thought, eyeing the stranger who still said nothing. 'We can hold him at least until the instructors get through — We have to. Whether he's a Demon Halfling or Devil Halfling, I'll do what is needed, that I promise.'
Suddenly and abruptly, the masked figure began chuckling, laughing even. He began speaking a rough, ugly language. Matilda had no intentions of trying to translate before he did it himself.
"So the boy wishes to play. Very well, then let us play. You can call me #5."
"Cor, we're ready," came J.C.'s voice.
"Let's give this bastard hell!" came an enthusiastic Matilda.
Durian said nothing, but he didn't need to. His eyes were on fierce and defiant, ready to give it his all one last time.
Appearing on either side of Corven, J.C. and Durian were powered up.
Appearing on either side of Corven, J.C. and Durian were powered up. Durian glowed with a faint ethereal soul glow of ghostly blue lining his body, the darkness adding a layer of power even below that ghostly glow. J.C. appeared to be glowing with a similar ghost-blue aura, though his was a body arcing with red voltages of lightning.
Even Matilda appeared on Cor's far left, eyes glowing green as the power of entire forests cascaded in the palm of her hand, glowing like faeries in her palm. Wherever she stepped, greens grew.
Lastly, Cor circulated his Ki. Thanks to his doppelganger's relentless practice, he'd become an expert while using Stage 1 Ki Awakening at the various parts of his body in a given fight.
He wasn't Stage 2 quite yet, but he felt his white flame within him burn to life, and he decided to wait no more.
Pressing his foot hard on the ground, breaking away the ground beneath his feet, he suddenly vanished with a BOOM!
Appearing directly before a startled masked man, he issued his orders via soul whisper.
"ATTACK!"