Troy: The Demon Knight S2: - Nick Venom (best summer reads of all time .TXT) 📗

child.” She sat down on the floor, looking up at Troy. She motioned for him to sit down, which he hesitantly did.

“You, however, are different. You have people by your side, right? And I know you do care about them or else you wouldn’t be scared to reveal yourselves to them. Who are they?”

Troy bit his lip. “I… I… I don’t know.”

Kim shook her head. “You know.” She insisted.

Troy looked away from her. Who is by my side? Are they by my side or… not? He thought to himself before looking at Kim, shaking slightly. “They are… Victoria, Amanda, Kelly… C-Casper… Frost… and my childhood friends.” 

Kim smiled, rising from her seat on the spot. “See! You know the people by your side. Want to know the list of people on my side? Nobody. That’s why I can’t get rid of my regret.” She said before turning around. “Now that you know the people by your side and your regret, try your best to follow a different path than me. Goodbye!” She said before walking away.

Troy watched as she left him in the Darkness, quickly disappearing amidst it. He was alone again. He was by himself, stuck in the darkness alone. However, Kim had given him something invaluable. He now knew how to escape.

***

Jessica charged forward, throwing her silver shuriken towards the demon, but he easily deflected it with a swing of the battle-ax in his hand. The shuriken flew off in the opposite direction, but was quickly called by Jessica whispering “Retrieve”. Her weapon was a magic weapon, not a bonded weapon like Frost and the others.

“You damn demon!” She shouted as she went in for a second attack, holding the shuriken and slicing at the demon’s neck.

Meanwhile, Frost was flanking the demon while Victoria jumped forward to assist Jessica. Victoria hadn’t learned how to activate her bonded weapon’s Five Skills---the Offensive Skill, Defensive Skill, Buff Skill, Healing Skill, and Ace Skill. However, she could still swing her weapon and use it as a normal sword, which was nowhere close to being as strong as a bonded weapon. 

Frost, on the other hand, had access to every skill except the last of the five, the one that needed the user to be in a real near-death situation to unlock. He pushed forward, activating his offensive skill; “Spartan Shield, activate Mirage Attack - Second Article!” He roared as clones of his shields popped up above him and formed a large wall. Now in Second Article mode, instead of charging towards the demon, the cores of the shields opened up and a red laser peeked out. It pointed at the demon, charging up as the red laser grew thicker. After several seconds, Frost shouted at Jessica and Victoria, “Back away now!” They listened to him, watching as the blasts of lasers fired, hitting the demon. The full force of the lasers would kill any normal human but did nothing against the demon. 

“I am Demon Knight Draggak. Your pity mortal weapons are nothing more than tickling me.” He roared.

Frost froze, his eyes widened. A Demon Knight… I can’t beat him. Damn, we need Merlin’s help.

By this time, Jessica and Victoria had backed away. Jessica recognized the forbidden sixth class and was frightened by it. She had assumed it was a normal demon, not a Demon Knight. “We’re not going to win.”

“Why not?” Victoria asked. 

“Demon Knights are emotionless monsters. Only the strongest people in the kingdom can deal with them. Go and tend to your brother and try to get him out. Make it snappy.”

“No, I can help you here. We should-”

“Do what against this monster? We’ll delay him while you save your brother and the other girls. Take Zac with you and tell him-” They were interrupted by Frost.

“Get out of the way! Run!” He shouted, but it was too late. Before Jessica or Victoria could act, Draggak threw his battle-ax at them. It smashed into Victoria---who wasn’t paying attention to him---and threw her against the door. She broke almost all of the bones in her body on impact, nearly dying in the process.

“Victoria!” Jessica and Frost simultaneously shouted.

I’m sorry, my brothers. It looks like I’ll be reuniting with you all in Heaven, Victoria thought before going unconscious, now tiptoeing on Death’s porch. 

TBC…

Episode Thirteen "Broken Family"

Zac grabbed his weapon from the room, a wooden bo-staff, and headed outside. However, he was late as he stepped outside just in time to see Victoria’s body slam into the wall, her gut carrying the weapon of the enemy. His eyes widened at the sight of her body.

“Victoria!” Jessica and Frost shouted simultaneously. Frost then turned towards Draggack, launching another attack at him. Even without a weapon, the Demon Knight was able to fend off the attacks. He charged forward, nearly slamming into Frost.

“Zac, heal her! She’s dying!” Jessica shouted before turning to focus on Draggak. Zac nodded his head, taking out a potion from his belt. He raised Victoria’s head, holding it so she could drink the contents easily. Once the last dribble of the potion was down her throat, her wounds slowly healed but the progress was being impeded in the gut area by the battle-ax. 

Zac grabbed the handle and ripped it out of her after several moments of struggling. He discarded it to the side before watching Victoria’s wounds heal perfectly. She would only need time to wake up and for her blood count to stabilize.

With her now away from Death’s porch, Zac turned to face Draggak, who was busy throwing Frost and Jessica around. He rushed towards Draggak who was mopping the house with them without breaking a sweat. He kept the bo-staff close to his chest, waiting for his opportunity. He flanked Draggak, whose attention was on Frost in front of him and Jessica on his side.

Zac was now behind him, glaring at Draggak’s back. “Activate Lightning Staff’s Lightning Spark, First Article.” He muttered under his breath. His eyes changed from their natural violet color to a vibrant blue. His bo-staff changed colors as well, going from brown to electric blue. Lightning circled the bo-staff with great ferocity. 

With the bo-staff gathering all of the lightning, Zac waited until it was full before charging forward. He struck at Draggak’s wide open back, moving the lightning bottling from within his bo-staff and channeling it through the tip to his back. The lightning shot through Draggak’s body, propelling him forward and nearly smacking into Frost, who managed to dodge the flying Demon Knight. However, now Draggak was closer to his weapon, picking it up after quickly recovering from Zac’s attack, turning around to face them. He grinned at them, glancing at Victoria who was a few feet from them.

He turned towards her but was stopped by Jessica throwing her shuriken at him, nicking his fingers as it stretched out towards Victoria. He took back his barely bleeding fingers and turned towards Jessica. His battle-ax was planted firmly in his grasp, now being raised high into the air. “Worldbreaker, activate Destruction, Third Article!” He roared. The blade of the battle-ax bubbled a reddish color that gathered in his blade---similar to Zac’s attack---before he pointed it at Jessica. 

“Get out of the way!” Frost shouted. He charged forward. “Spartan Shield, activate 300, and Mirage Attack’s Second Article.” He declared. Clones of his shields built a wall behind him, being buffed by his Buff Skill - 300. The cores of the shields disappeared as lasers extended from them, all pointing at Draggak, who responded by grinning. The battle-ax had grown dangerously red, almost at the point that it was ready to be released. However, Frost moved to stop him. He pointed his finger at Draggak, watching as the lasers whizzed past him and towards the Demon Knight who stood in front of him. 

“This is the power I’ve always wanted. Now even Knights are nothing more than mere slimes. I will make you, father, proud of me.” Draggak muttered as he brought the battle-ax close to his chest, waiting for the lasers to hit him to then strike them away with a single swing of his weapon. The lasers didn’t even scratch the battle-ax. All it did was waste more of Frost’s mana. 

“See how powerful I am? I am invincible! Nobody can defeat me, not even the Gods!” He pointed the battle-ax at Frost. “Destroy!” He remarked, watching as a large laser fired from the tip of the blade, moving faster than light, and struck Frost. Fortunately, however, he had brought his Spartan Shield up, defending from some of the lasers, but his shield wasn’t able to absorb all of the blow. It leaked through, destroying his defense with ease.

“Spartan Shield… activate Phalanx!” He shouted through his gritted teeth. His Defensive Skill---Phalanx---made him like an immovable boulder. However, boulders can’t fight back against erosion. 

The laser penetrated his shield, striking him in a non-fatal location. He was thrown back, his shield being thrown out of his hands. The laser kept moving, consuming several blocks behind him.

Although beaten, he was still alive, surviving because he fell to the ground, just out of the laser’s range. 

Meanwhile, Jessica and Zac didn’t attack Draggak, both mindful of their attacks and keeping their distance. Victoria was too close to Draggak for comfort and now that he had access to his Offensive Skill, they were being dug in a deeper grave.

“What do we do?” Zac whispered, glancing at Frost. 

“I need you to leave.”

“What?” He whisper-shouted.

“We’re not going to win this. Frost was knocked out in one attack and the others don’t have access to their skills and I doubt any of them are experienced in the sword arts.” She said, gritting her teeth. “I’ll delay him, you run and get the government involved. See if you could find Hiro Inuzuka, he’s a monster in his own degree.”

Zac nodded. “Fine… I’ll get them. Survive.” He turned around and sprinted towards downtown Blueway in hopes of contacting the Royal Guards or Hiro. 

Jessica watched as he left, smirking. “I’m sorry, kid - I leave you in Hiro’s care.” She turned away, her smirk leaving her. She charged forward, chucking her shuriken at Draggak. He deflected the attack with ease, but Jessica continued forward. She had the shuriken return to her, diving between his legs and cutting at his legs, which were too fortified by his new set of skin to be penetrated. 

She came out on the other side, throwing the shuriken at his head. It made contact, getting stuck in his head. Draggak easily grabbed the shuriken, glancing at Jessica. “Weak.” He remarked.

“Ugly.” She retorted, raising an eyebrow. “Anything else you want to say?”

Draggak turned around to face her. “Dead.”

“Damn, he did have something to say.” Jessica smiled, retrieving the shuriken from Draggak’s hands through her retrieval ability. “Even if I can’t kill you, I’ll shut up for sure.” She told him before charging forward, closing the already close distance in seconds.

***

“Do I want to leave?” He asked himself, sitting on the floor of the First Layer of the Twilight Zone. He looked up at what he believed was the ceiling. “What is waiting for me outside? A life as a cat? A broken family… caused by my hands?” 

He glanced behind him, hoping to see Kim. Unfortunately, there was nobody behind him, only