The Primal Hunter

It was a fight that he knew they could not lose. One that could perhaps decide the fate of the planet he had now come to call home.

The King meditated as he healed himself as much as possible. He wished he was skilled in formations to set up a proper one to help him in his regeneration, but sadly that did not fall within his skill set. Having anyone else make such a magic circle also wouldn’t prove very effective due to the uniqueness of a Unique Lifeform.

Consuming a Soul Marble, the King slowly absorbed it, and he felt his body fill with energy. He would take another one just as the Ashen Phantom Devourer attacked again, but that would also be his final one.

One might ask why the King stayed in a losing war for months. There truly was no logical explanation for this besides an unwillingness to retreat and abandon his claimed territory. He was a King, and an enemy had invaded his domain, so he had a natural urge to defend it. That he also knew the benefits he could gain from killing another Unique Lifeform also played a huge factor. Finally, he still had a good chance due to his ultimate move.

Hours passed by as he progressively felt better. He purposefully did not heal his natural armor fully but allowed cracks and missing pieces here and there to properly look like he had been unable to properly recover. One might also ask if using these underhanded tactics wasn’t above a Unique Lifeform, but the King would find such a question utterly foolish. To purposefully give up an advantage and act with overconfidence was how he had found himself slain once already, and he had no desire to repeat that.

His prediction of twelve hours turned out to be slightly off as only nine and a half hours later, he felt the other Unique Lifeform approach. The Fallen King could only hope that the little hunter was ready despite the pushed-up timescale, and if not, the King would simply have to hold on a bit longer than expected.

The King teleported out of his residence and saw the approaching mass. A soul equally as powerful as his own approached, its size and power nearly fully recovered in such a short time span. The giant cloud of ash moved ever closer as the taunting words echoed.

“Yet you remain guarding your pathetic kingdom in your ignorance. Behold the result of your folly: death.”

It had almost become a ritual by now that the other Unique Lifeform would start by saying something taunting and slightly annoying. Not that the King had ever been bothered by such childish words. Like before, he simply engaged but made sure to hold himself back a bit this time around to appear weaker than he actually was.

The Ashen Phantom Devourer struck with full force right from the beginning. Evidently, the intent was to slay him as soon as possible and overwhelm him so that the King would use his trump cards while the Devourer was still close to full power.

Staying defensive was difficult even if the King knew he was just buying time, and he did launch the occasional attack to not be too suspicious. Luckily, the other Unique Lifeform could easily misunderstand his carefulness as doubt and weakness, making it appear less out-of-place than it actually was.

Massive waves of ash crashed against the telekinetically formed barriers of the King like the tide of the ocean crashing into a dam. With every second, they grew in power, and the King felt the constant eating away of his energy from the dark affinity of his foe.

Nevertheless, he was far from defenseless. Both his claws glowed golden as he tore the wave apart and unleashed several golden waves of pure force, breaking apart the body of the Devourer. It rapidly condensed a new one as a mountain of ash formed and crashed down towards the King. Hanging on with his barrier, he was sent down, smashing into the ground as hundreds of tons of ash fell upon his body.

With annoyance, the King raised two fingers and sent out two thin waves of force that he swiftly moved in a circle, cutting a hole in the ash. He barely got through before the hole closed, the King avoiding being crushed. Yet just as he was out of it, the King was struck by a blast of ash, sending him tumbling back. Sometimes the Devourer infused the ash with pure space energy, making it look like a transparent flame despite it simply being pure kinetic force infused into ash.

An annoying but highly effective attack.

About five minutes passed as they fought, the King getting forced back more and more. A vague sense of doubt began to enter the King’s mind as he feared the little hunter was not ready. The King would have to pick up the pace himself and use his boosting skill prematurely if he was not soon ready. That could potentially throw off the plan.

Just when that doubt set in, he felt a weak attack on his soul from far above. It was the hunter’s gaze that had briefly landed upon him and attacked.

to damage him or even affect him, but

was the agreed-upon signal, and the King did

attacked with massive waves of force, making the Ashen Phantom Devourer defend. While it was still defending, the King spread

whatever the hunter had prepared would be

felt a shockwave. Both he and the other Unique Lifeform momentarily

that looked to have been shattered and fell as crystals in shades of

the

last, the observer noted with hope. He had been stuck in the mountains for months now at the orders of the Celestial Child, and while he did have some complaints about

this battle play out so many times already, and he had noticed the shift. The first time the Ashen Phantom Devourer had lost pretty handily, enough for him to assume that perhaps this Fallen King was superior. However, as time went on, the momentum shifted, and the Devourer slowly began winning out. Once more, he, as

as both seemed to go all out. Then, suddenly, the Fallen King seemed to stop. He pulled out immense amounts of power as he seemed to hold the Ashen Phantom Devourer still. Is

but one thing he did excel in was Perception, and yet he had not noticed something

The Malefic’s Chosen.

his duty as he infused his message that the Chosen was there before crushing it. He took out another token in preparation to relay what was about to happen

a figure had appeared only a kilometer or so behind him, having

Who!? Wait…

made its way

you doing

hiss came out. He stared with wide eyes as strings wrapped around and neck, but surprisingly they didn’t harm him. Why would they harm him, now that he thought about

as his mind slowly gave out, and he

jellyfish spoke as William

asked with a mix of anticipation and

further. William knewthat he couldn’t delay and had already spent many

circle appeared on the platform in the cave. The metal mage promptly flew over and landed on it as the space magic around him warped everything. The teleportation was truly marvelous, and only a few seconds later, William found himself standing

felt the wave of pure power descending. He did not know who it was

a token and also observing. William did not know why, but his first reaction was to charge the alien. The

but still alive. Seeing the token that had fallen on the ground, William just shook his head. He knew he had just helped the monster… but it was necessary. William needed to confront him, and

the hell that monster had done was exactly the kind of thing one could expect, as the entire mountain range was bathed in a hue of

Approximately nine hours earlier.

hours to prepare wasn’t a lot, but to Jake, that was eleven mana potions right there and a whole

using stable arcane mana, covered the tip as he

kept making arrows and putting them in his quiver where they would remain effectively frozen in time. He did use his quiver to store poisoned arrows usually, but this was the most