A tall figure stood infront of Aethon. It had no head, instead it had a dark purple flame. It's body had a humanoid shape, and it was as black as obsidian. It looked like it's body was made of metal.
Instinctively, Aethon jumped back and used wind magic to safely land has his left leg was injured. As he picked his arms up to get ready for the ENTITY, he saw that it had disappeared once again, but this time it was in the air. As he stared at it, it dived towards him. It had almost dissappeared in the night sky as if it never existed. The only thing Aethon saw was a dark purple spot that was headed for him. As he readied himself, he misjudged how far away it was.
The ENTITY landed right infront of Aethon, breaking the ground he stood on. Aethon who had his arms lifted to his abdomen truned to lift it up to his chest to stop the ENTITY from directly hitting his ribcage or dig its claws through his ribcage and into his heart.
His instincts screamed, but his blood screamed louder.
The blood within him stirred, like a fire coursing through his veins. Without thinking, he willed it into his arms. The blood coursing through his arms began to thicken and harden, turning into something much more thicker then steel, the skin around it began to glow with crimson veins. He raised his hands just in time to protect his chest has this was happening.
The ENTITY'S blow smashed against his guard, but instead of shattering his bones, the force was scattered across his reinforced limbs like striking iron.
Pain began to ripple through him.
The hit sent him flying backwards into the air, but even as his body was arced towards a massive oak tree behind him, he made blood flood his back, swelling under his skin and pooling along the spine which created a cushion affect beneath the flesh has he hit the tree.
The impact was brutal.
The tree trunk exploded into a shower of bark and splinters, the sound rang through the frozen air.
Aethon dropped to the ground, breathing heavily.
Has he slowly began to pick himself up he knew he had to get up and fight. He knew that even though he felt dispair and that fate wanted him dead, he had to fight, even if he was going to lose. He had to prove to himself that he wasn't a coward.
But before he could even gather himself, three figures appeared infront of him. It was 3 soldiers who were in battered armor, spears and blades drawn.
They began to fan themselves out around Aethon. Has they did, this the ENTITY began to walk slowly towards them. The first soldier lunged forward with his spear aimed for the creatures center. The ENTITY didn't dodge. Instead it let the strike sink into its charred torso, then gripped the shaft with a clawed hand. In one single move, it pulled the soldier forward and drove it's claw straight through his chest.
The soldiers scream was cut short. His body snagged like a ragdoll, then slid free, crumpling to the frozen dirt.
The other two soldiers roared in anger, and began striking from opposite sides. There steel flashed and rang out as thier blades scraped the ENTITY'S obsidian like skin. One of the soldiers managed to score a shallow cut across its side. The blackened shards flaked off, which revealed the same burning purple light beneath.
The ENTITY began to hiss, the sound was as if a thousand nails were been dragged across metal. Then it lashed out with its Long arms, catching both the soldiers with bone snapping force.
They were thrown like dolls and smashed into the ground several meters away from Aethon, skidding through leaves and blackened grass. Both groaned but tried to push themselves up.
The ENTITY'S flame began to flare brighter. It then turned it's gaze onto the 2 soldiers, and in one fluid motion, it bent, wrapped both hands around the trunk of a nearby tree, and tore it from the ground as through it were no heavier then a lance. Roots dangled and twisted, and began snapping like brittle bones.
With a smooth, almost lazy motion, it hurled the tree like a spear towards the two struggling soldiers who were disorientated.
Aethon saw this and got up to try and stop the tree from smashing into the 2 soldiers.
His left leg screamed with pain has he forced himself upright, he used wind magic and thrusted himself upwards. Has he fell to the ground to where the 2 soldiers were, he instantly turned around and used earth magic to create 2 strong pillars to stop the tree from smashing into them. As the tree was about to hit them, it smashed into the two stone pillars that were protruding out from the ground infront of Aethon.
The impact shook the ground. The trunk spilt in half with a deafening crack, splinters flying in every direction. The halves slammed to the ground, one tumbling towards Aethon which pinned him beneath its splintered bulk.
He gasped as the air was knocked out from his lungs. His nose began to bleed, and crimson drops began to slide down to his lips. His vision swam from the exertion, his mana reserves were draining too quickly which was bad as he was suppose to have used it to look for the dampening chains.
And then from his point of view, he saw it happen.
One of the soldiers who had been dazed from the earlier strike, was yanked from the ground into the air by the ENTITY. The man's boots kicked at the empty space, his hands were clawing desperately at the blackened grip around his neck.
The ENTITY'S right arm began to twist, the charred skin began splitting with sickening cracks as the limbs were been reshaped. The fingers elongated into a curve that was shaped like a single edged blade. It's color was of obsidian like material, it's edge gleaming with the purple fires inner light that looked like it was seeping out like lava from the blade.
"No... No, no, no, no, no... NOO!!" screamed Aethon, whose voice was a hoarse whisper, useless against the roar of his heartbeat.
The soldiers eyes found Aethons for a brief moment. There was fear in them, but also a strange resignation. A final, silent apology.
The blade fell.
It was a quick and swift cut. The man's head was separated from his body in a smooth, horrifying arc, spinning once before landing on the ground. The purple flame reflected in his still open eyes for a single instant before the light died out.
THE ENTITY LET THE BODY DROP TO THE GROUND.
Aethons jaw clenched until it hurt. His chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself, rage and helplessness started to churn within him, and with each thud of his heart. His fingers dug into the dirt beneath the broken trunk as he fought to free himself.
The remaining soldier began to scream. It was a sound that was filled with fury and grief. He picked himself up and charged towards the ENTITY recklessly with his blade high. The ENTITY simply just sidestepped and swatted him away with the back of its arm, sending him tumbling into the underbush breaking his neck.
Aethons pulse hammered to his ears. The smell of blood and smoke hung heavy, mixing into something nauseating. The SANGUINAETHER within him slowly began to stir again, clawing it's way at the edges of his control, whispering to be unleashed fully.
Aethon didn't care if it burned him out anymore. All he wanted to do was make the ENTITY suffer and if it doesn't suffer, he told himself he'll make sure he found a way.
His hands began to tighten against the ground, drawing not just on mana, but on the raw will to move. The broken tree trunk above him creaked as veins of blood pulsed into his arms and shoulders. The wood shifted slightly, but only enough to free one leg. Pain began to sear through his left leg, it was shalt and deep, but he didn't stop.
The ENTITY turned around and stared at Aethon without moving.
It began walking towards him, slowly and deliberately, each step cracking frost beneath its clawed feet. The cold radiating from it seeped into Aethons skin, stinging like icy needles.
Aethon without thinking, lunged forward. He didn't care what the outcome of this battle was, all he cared about was making this thing suffer.
Blood pounded in his ears, drowning out everything else. The grief, rage, and sheer helplessness of watching someone die infront of him, it all fed into the heat building up in his veins. His arms trembled, not from fear, but from pressure of holding himself back from simply letting the blood technique consume him entirely.
As Aethon was a breath away from the ENTITY, he shot out blood threads into the creatures skin, as he did this, he gritted his teeth hard and infused fire into it.
The ENTITY began to scream and it's whole body stoped moving.
As this was happening, a sillouhette of a tall women who had silver hair was standing by the alleyway were Aethon had trapped the ENTITY earlier and was observing the fight.