Vonica fired off two shots at the stray to which he avoided by sidestepping.
"You're going to have to do a little better than that! You'll find that I'm pretty different from most of the other stray devils that ran here!"
Immediately, Vonica closed the distance between them and threw a high kick towards the stray's face. The stray ducked and took a few steps back.
"I would not stay so still if I were you." Vonica said.
"Woah!"
An energy beam suddenly appeared, closing in on the stray from behind. He very narrowly dodged by moving to the left.
"Hey, what the hell was that?! Where'd that one even come from?!"
Vonica fired two more energy beams at the stray to which he moved out of the way of and immediately both beams again appeared behind him. The stray dodged both but just as he thought he had room to breathe, another arrived but this time from his side. He had little time to fully react and the beam slightly grazed his shoulder.
"You gotta give me a break!" the stray said, wiping blood off of his shoulder.
2Violet. Two flintlock pistols that fire high velocity energy beams but its real danger lies behind its true function. Once fired, Vonica can adjust a beam's trajectory freely within a ten-meter radius around herself. As long as the beam is in her control range, its direction can be shifted.
"You did ask me to do a little better, right?" Vonica said, smirking.
"Our lady friend's got jokes…"
In the distance, Lucen fought off the feral devils. Multiple lunged at him from the ground and from the air with their sharp claws. He dodged, weaving through them and hitting each feral devil with punches, kicks, and elbows.
Where the hell do these things even come from?! It's like they just suddenly spawned once we met that stray devil!
Lucen continued fighting them off, punching and kicking them but his attacks weren't as effective as they continued to get back up.
This isn't working… I can't knock them out. I… I have to kill them like Sana and Vonica did... But how?
Lucen kicked another feral devil in the face before backing up, putting distance between him and the group of ferals.
That's it! The demonic energy!
Lucen steeled his mind, focusing on bringing out the demonic energy from his hand like Vonica had taught him. In an instant, his hand burst into a blue flame, the process also made easier due to the glove. The ferals continued rushing him as he dodged and ducked through their attacks.
Alright! Now what…? Do I just punch them? Come on, Lucen. Don't hesitate. They're trying to kill me. They're wasps and I have a giant swatter in my hand!
Lucen rushed forward and punched a feral square in the face.
"GARRGGGH!!!"
"Holy crap—"
The feral's face immediately became engulfed in the blue flame and it fell to the ground. Lucen stared at it in shock as it writhed in agony, burning to death.
It's… It's dead. It just…
Lucen didn't have that much time to process what just happened as another pair of ferals attacked him. Lucen weaved through their attempts at striking him with their claws and kicked the both of them, knocking them back. Another feral lunged at Lucen but he saw it coming, stopping them in their tracks by grabbing their face. Immediately, the feral devil's head became engulfed in the blue flame and dropped to the ground, letting out an uncanny sound as it died.
As Lucen watched the feral die, his breathing sped up. His heart, beating a mile a minute. Lucen had never killed anything less than a flying insect before. He had watched the Azaroth sisters kill the feral devils and watched Lia kill the stray devil. While that had bothered him to a certain extent, he was able to contain himself because of course, he wasn't the one who was doing the killing. This case was different though.
As much as he tried to convince himself that they were simply insects, watching the feral devils bodies drop, knowing he was the one who killed them made him lose his composure. It made him feel sick to his stomach. To take the lives of creatures as humanoid as feral devils, as far as they were from being human, it felt disgusting.
But Lucen thought to himself, why was he feeling this way? It didn't make sense to him. For the past few days, he was made aware of what he's gotten himself into ever since that night in the alley. He watched the Azaroth sisters do the same thing. He knew he had to do this. He made the decision to bring out his demonic energy, despite never using it like this before, to kill them.
As more ferals attacked him, he continued punching them but at this point, he had lost his focus and he unfortunately paid for it as he dodged many of the ferals attacks too late. He winced as cuts formed around his cheek and arm as he continued trying to fight them off to the best of his ability.
Over in the distance, Vonica pointed her guns up and fired off two shots from both to the sky. The energy beams shot up and curved, going down at an angle towards the stray devil. Taking the quick opportunity, Vonica looked back to check on Lucen. She gasped as she watched Lucen fight off the more feral devils with his demonic energy coated fist and cuts all around his upper body.
I have to finish this up quickly!
As the stray continued to dodge through the energy beams, Vonica rushed him again. She attacked him with a mix of high kicks and shots from her pistol at close-range. The stray proved to be formidable as he continued to avoid and block a lot of the attacks albeit some of them nearly hitting him.
"I guess it's my turn. Can't play defensive forever against you." The stray jumped back and Vonica continued shooting at him, not letting him get a moment of rest. Suddenly, blue energy formed around the stray's hand and what seemed to be a small hand crossbow formed in his hands.
As the stray dodged more beams, he produced a blue misty-looking arrow on the crossbow and pulled it out. He then pricked his finger with the tip of the arrow and let a drop of blood fall to the ground. Suddenly, 4 large walls of mist formed around him and Vonica.
What is this?
In the mist, Vonica lost sight of the stray devil and couldn't see anything other than herself and the mist. She attempted to take a step but it felt like her foot wouldn't move at all. She looked down and noticed her ankle wrapped in the mist like a shackle.
"I wouldn't recommend that! As long as you're in the walls of Legends of Azure, you're stuck here unless I let you out!"
This is… inconvenient.
"Let's play a game! On the count of three, I'll show up in three different places. You get one shot to shoot whichever one you think is me. If you get it wrong, well… I'll shoot you, of course!"
"One!"
Surely he would not expose himself that easily… What is he playing at?
"Two!"
"Three!"
Three figures suddenly appeared. One in front of Vonica and two to her left and right. The mist had made it hard but they were just visible enough for Vonica to see. She pointed her guns in each direction and shot two energy beams. Both beams hit the figures on her sides and they disappeared. Then the beams pivoted, making a fast track for the middle figure. The beams went through the middle figure and it disappeared as well.
"Hey, that's cheating!"
I knew it. He is doing something to make me see illusions of himself…
"Unfortunately, I will have to punish you for cheating. Sorry!"
"NRGN—"
Immediately, a glowing blue arrow pierced Vonica's right shoulder. The impact forced her to drop one of her pistols and fall on her knees as blood trickled down her arm.
W-Where?! Where did it come from?!
Vonica winced as she slowly pulled the arrow out of her shoulder. She examined the bright blue arrow for a moment before dropping it and immediately put pressure on her shoulder to slow down the bleeding as she stood back up. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself.
"And she's back up! Looks like you're ready for round two, huh?"
T-Think. He is also within these walls. Something is allowing him to see where I am but his aim is not that precise. Otherwise, he would have been able to deal a fatal shot just then.
"This time no cheating! One!"
There must also be a reason why he is taking his time attacking me…
Again, three figures appeared in the same spots as last time.
None of these are him, that much is obvious. Think… Illusions appearing in three different places. His first shot hit my shoulder. He is stalling with this pointless game.
"!"
"Alright! Take a guess!"
This is risky but this is possibly the only way I can confirm this. I will have to play into it, just this once.
Vonica, with her left hand still covering the wound on her right shoulder, raised her pistol and shot directly at the figure in front of her and it disappeared immediately. Instantly, Vonica shifted her torso, turning at an angle.
"That one was incorrect! Unfortunately, you'll have to receive a penalty again!"
Another glowing blue arrow fired at Vonica but this time, only skimmed her right thigh instead of hitting her directly.
My hunch was correct. Your flaw has been revealed to me, stray.