Chapter 50
"Yeah, I need an ice dew from that mountain range conclave," he said, looking at a particular recipe that used the blood of the White Winter Witch of Narnia as the main ingredient. "If things go smoothly, I should have the ability to control ice soon," he added with a smile.
-scene change-
Deep within the coldest mountain in Russia, Gray could be seen wearing normal clothes as he navigated a dark and freezing crevice. The air was icy and sharp, every breath visible in the frost-laden atmosphere. Towering walls of jagged ice reflected faint light, forming crystalline patterns that sparkled in eerie stillness. Snow coated the ground in uneven layers, crunching beneath his boots. Despite the biting cold, Gray was giggling. "Stop giggling like a girl," Rachel's voice echoed. "Please, it's fun! I invented a potion for every occasion. For example, coming to the coldest place in Russia with normal clothes—all thanks to a potion," he replied with a grin. "Simpleton," Rachel thought to herself as Gray continued.
Gray and Rachel, in her cane form, ventured deeper into the icy cave, navigating through narrow passages and widening caverns. The air grew colder, the frost biting even Gray's enhanced resistance. Ice formations hung like daggers from the ceiling, their tips glistening with frozen droplets. Snow flurries occasionally swept in through unseen cracks, dancing in the dim light. Finally, they arrived at a cavern where the cold was so intense that even Gray shivered. "Gray, it's getting dangerously low," Rachel warned. He only grunted in reply, his eyes fixed upward. Suddenly, he smiled. "Ah, finally," he said as he spotted a cluster of icicles dripping pure, sparkling dew.
Taking out a flask, Gray carefully collected several flasks full of the precious liquid. As he worked, he suddenly stopped. Both he and Rachel felt it—a shift in the air. "How the hell did they find me this quickly?" he muttered as the familiar growls of hounds echoed through the cavern. "I checked your body; there isn't any tracker. So how?" Rachel asked. "Probably by smell," Gray replied grimly. Without wasting time, he began to leave. "This is no place to fight. I need to reach the surface," he thought as more hounds emerged, their snarls growing louder. Together, Gray and Rachel bolted back through the icy tunnels, the hounds hot on their trail.
While running, a hound suddenly lunged at Gray from the side, but he dodged swiftly. Rachel summoned several sharp, dark swords, slicing through the hound, which quickly reassembled itself. "Stop using your magic, you're draining yourself," Gray said seriously as he ducked under another pounce. The hound slammed into an ice wall, shattering it. The impact reverberated through the roof, causing ice shards to fall. Gray dodged a large shard, but as it hit the ground, it fractured the surface. Like an infectious disease, the cracks spread rapidly until the entire floor gave way, and Gray fell with it.
"Careful," Rachel warned as Gray plummeted into what seemed to be an underground city. He landed hard on a stone brick floor and immediately looked up, just in time to see a massive chunk of ice hurtling toward him along with a hound. He dodged both and withdrew his sword, activating its bewitched spell. A cursed fire ignited, consuming the hound. Despite the flames, the creature began to regenerate. "Are you waiting to bunch them up before stripping them of their magic?" Rachel asked. "Yeah, but where the hell are we?" Gray replied, his gaze sweeping the surroundings.
To his surprise, the underground city was well-lit despite being buried deep below the surface and appearing ancient. "It's probably a city that was buried in an ice storm," Rachel guessed as they continued to observe their surroundings. The architecture, though old, seemed sturdy, with intricate carvings and faint glowing crystals embedded in the walls, giving the place an almost mystical ambiance.
Gray didn't have long to marvel at the city. The hound, now fully regenerated, snarled and circled him, joined by several more. The sound of claws clicking against the stone echoed ominously as the pack grew larger. He tightened his grip on his sword, his mind calculating the best way to eliminate them all without wasting time or energy.
"This place isn't a safe battleground," Rachel muttered. Gray nodded, his eyes scanning for potential traps or advantages in the environment. As the hounds edged closer, he prepared himself, knowing that the fight ahead would test every skill and trick he had learned so far.
Gray quickly released a pulse of energy, stripping the hounds of their ability to regenerate. "Alright, let's see what I've learned," he thought with a smile. He moved with precision, his feet controlled as he watched each step carefully to maintain his balance on the uneven ground. With a fluid motion, he swung his sword, each strike calculated and deliberate. He dodged effortlessly, reading the hounds' movements, countering with precise slashes that cut through their now mortal forms. One by one, he dispatched all seven hounds, his breathing steady and calm, without breaking a sweat. "Nice," Rachel said, her voice approving as Gray chuckled, wiping his blade clean before moving forward.
After five minutes of exploring the city, both Gray and Rachel sensed something off. "Looky here," a low, rugged voice called out, drawing Gray's attention. He turned toward the source, spotting a red-skinned, rugged demon with a small hand and a larger one. The demon's shaved horn and tactical clothes, combined with a brown jacket, gave him an imposing appearance. Pointing an oversized revolver at Gray, the demon sneered.
"We meet again, human," the demon said. Gray recognized him immediately. "Ah, you're that demon from the museum," he said, prompting the demon to scoff. "That's right. What are you?" Gray replied calmly, "First of all, don't point that thing at me. It ain't going to do much." The demon shot back, "Really? I'm sure it'd take your head off if I aim just right. And trust me, I've got good aim." Gray smirked. "And I've got the most overpowered wand in existence." As Rachel materialized into her human form with dark energy swirling in her hands, the moment she appeared, the demon paused.
The demon paused for a minute, shocked, and then said, "You… you are like me?" Gray responded, "Oh right, half-demon," making Rachel sigh. The demon asked, "How come you ain't like me?" to which Gray answered, "Half a demon. My father is a demon, and my mother is a human." This immediately interested the demon, who mumbled to himself, "Hmm, if Liz and I have a child, will it turn out to be like her?" This reminded Gray of something. "Wait, how come you at least don't have some demonic features?" Rachel, in her usual low voice, said, "That is because my demonic form and human form are separate," making Gray excited. "Wait, you have a demonic form? What does it look like?" he asked, making Rachel groan as her form changed.
The form she changed into left Gray shocked. Her hair turned completely white, her skin turned red, and she gained another pair of eyes and horns. "There, happy?" she asked, as Gray took a minute before saying, "Ye-yeah." For some reason, this made Rachel happy for a second, as the demon remarked, "Yep, you are my kin, alright." Suddenly, more hounds appeared, surrounding them.
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A/N scene like this are what makes me wish i had the ability to write lemon scenes.
Chapter 51
"Fucking hounds of Desolate," the demon growled, pointing his revolver at one of the creatures. He fired, blowing a large chunk out of a hound's head, sending it flying. Turning to Gray and Rachel with a smirk, he muttered, "You know what?" Gray responded by pulling out a colorful test tube and throwing it at three oncoming hounds. The test tube exploded on impact, obliterating the hounds and part of the city walls. The demon glanced at Gray before saying, "next time, start with that", who shrugged nonchalantly, as Rachel sighed. The three of them prepared for the horde of 23 regenerating hell hounds.
The demon fought ferociously, using his large hand to pummel hounds into the ground with bone-crushing force. Rachel unleashed her shadow powers, dark tendrils lashing out to ensnare and tear at the hounds, slowing them down. Gray wielded his bewitched sword, conjuring cursed flames that consumed the hounds temporarily, though they continued to regenerate. The battle was intense, the trio moving in sync as they fought to keep the hounds at bay. The air filled with snarls, gunfire, and the crackle of cursed fire, each second feeling longer than the last.
After five grueling minutes, Gray finally decided to end it. "You might want to brace yourself, demon," he warned. The demon looked at him, confused, as Gray unleashed another pulse of anti-magic. The wave swept across the battlefield, nullifying the hounds' regenerative powers but also disrupting Rachel and the demon's abilities. "What the hell is that?" the demon barked, staggering slightly. Gray chuckled. "Anti-magic. Now they're killable." With a swift swing of his sword, he beheaded a hound, permanently ending it. The demon, now impressed, smirked as he crushed another hound's skull. "Where the hell was that five minutes ago?" he asked. "Just kill," Gray replied tersely.
The battle unfolded like a violent symphony, each fighter contributing a distinct note of chaos and precision. The moment Gray's anti-magic pulse rippled through the air, the hounds' regenerative abilities faltered, leaving them vulnerable for the first time. Gray stepped forward with calm determination, his bewitched sword blazing to life, the cursed flames licking hungrily at the edges of its blade. With each swing, fire arced through the air, igniting the icy battlefield in a spectral glow. His strikes were swift, calculated, and devastating, the sword cleaving through hound after hound. One lunged at him, its teeth bared, but Gray sidestepped effortlessly, pivoting on his heel to bring the blade down in a scorching diagonal slash that left the beast lifeless.
The demon joined the fray with feral glee, his massive hand slamming into the ground with enough force to shatter stone and send two hounds sprawling. He grabbed one mid-air, its jaws snapping wildly, and crushed its skull with a sickening crunch before using the corpse as a bludgeon to knock another aside. "Not so tough now, are ya?" he sneered, his revolver roaring as he fired into the chest of an advancing hound, blowing a hole clean through it. A second hound leapt at him, but he caught it mid-pounce with his smaller hand and hurled it into a nearby wall, the impact leaving cracks in the ancient masonry.
Rachel moved like a shadow among the chaos, her body a blur as she wielded her dampened powers with deadly precision. Dark tendrils erupted from her hands, snaring one hound by the throat and slamming it into another, the force of the collision leaving both stunned long enough for her to deliver swift, merciless strikes. Despite the anti-magic field weakening her abilities, she adapted, relying on agility and cunning. She ducked under a hound's snapping jaws and countered with a spinning kick, her blade slicing cleanly across its flank. "Stay sharp," she called out, her voice steady despite the intensity of the fight.
The hounds, though stripped of their regeneration, were still ferocious. They attacked in coordinated waves, attempting to overwhelm the trio with sheer numbers. One group flanked Gray, snarling as they closed in. He crouched low, his sword glowing brighter as he channeled cursed flames into a wide arc. The fire erupted outward, consuming three of the beasts instantly. A fourth lunged at him, but Gray ducked and drove his blade upward into its chest, the fire searing through muscle and bone. He withdrew the sword in one fluid motion, spinning to deflect the claws of another hound before kicking it back toward the demon, who caught it with his massive hand and slammed it into the ground.
The demon's laughter echoed across the battlefield as he relished the carnage. "This is more like it!" he roared, grabbing two hounds by their necks and slamming their heads together with a thunderous crack. A third hound lunged at him, but he swung his revolver like a club, breaking its jaw before finishing it off with a point-blank shot. "Keep up, human!" he taunted Gray, though there was no malice in his tone—only the thrill of battle.
As the fight raged on, the trio adapted to each other's rhythms, their attacks becoming increasingly synchronized. Gray would weaken a hound with a flaming slash, only for Rachel to dart in and finish it off with a precise strike. The demon provided cover, using his immense strength to hold back multiple hounds at once, giving the others openings to strike.
One particularly large hound charged at Gray, its bulk and speed far exceeding the others. Gray stood his ground, his eyes narrowing as he waited for the perfect moment. When the beast was mere feet away, he stepped aside and swept his sword in a tight arc, severing its legs in a spray of blood and fire. The hound crashed to the ground, writhing in pain, and Rachel quickly finished it with a dark blade to the neck. "Not bad," she remarked, flashing Gray a rare grin.
After minutes of relentless combat, the battlefield was littered with the smoldering, lifeless bodies of the hounds. The air was thick with the stench of burning fur and ash, the ground scarred from the intensity of their attacks. Gray wiped sweat from his brow, his breathing steady despite the exertion. The demon surveyed the carnage with a satisfied smirk, holstering his revolver. Suddenly, a woman's voice called out, "Marco," prompting the demon to look in the direction of the voice. "Liz," he said before running towards the sound. "That's his name? Marco? Okay," Gray said as he collected some of the blood that fell from the demon as rachel said, "you and your obsession with collecting blood" to which gray replied, "blood is good, blood means ingredient" making rachel roll her eyes as he then had an idea, "oh talking about blood" he turned towards her as he tried to give her beady eyes.
After minutes of relentless combat, the battlefield was littered with the smoldering, lifeless bodies of the hounds. The air was thick with the stench of burning fur and ash, the ground scarred from the intensity of their attacks. Gray wiped sweat from his brow, his breathing steady despite the exertion. The demon surveyed the carnage with a satisfied smirk, holstering his revolver. "Wha-what are you doing?" Rachel asked as Gray insisted on staring at her with his beady eyes. "St-stop it, you look creepy," she added, but he persisted until Rachel finally gave in. "Fine, but only a drop," she said, making Gray happy as they continued exploring the city.
Twelve minutes later, Rachel and Gray found themselves smiling as they spotted a rift forming in the distance. "Huh, pretty convenient, don't you think?" Gray said, to which Rachel replied, "Don't jinx it." Suddenly, a bold, rushing man in golden robes appeared, accompanied by a blonde man with a Russian accent. "Hello, travelers from beyond the rift," the man greeted them. Rachel whispered to Gray, "Careful, he's a dark wizard." Gray nodded before asking aloud, "Alright, just to make things clear, I'm going through that rift. Do you have any intention of stopping me?"
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GOT IT