The purple demon was a problem. Mash understood that demons were naturally stronger and faster, but he still didn’t expect one to be able to keep up with him now. Honestly, his stats felt like they were over triple what he had before, and he only seemed to be a match for the demon. Not to mention that its anti-magic aura, was nullifying his lightning in its entirety. Mash watched as the creature raised its left hand, within his domain, he felt what was happening and dodged to the side. A large invisible hand slammed into the ground where he had been standing. Stone was sent flying about, and an odd-shaped crater appeared. The demon’s distinct long fingers and nails imprinted themselves into the ground.

That wasn’t all it did, as it jumped towards him when he moved to dodge. The creature intercepted Mash, striking with a clawed hand. Rather than trying for defense, Mash retaliated with his own fist. One thing he had noticed was that his scales were still enough to protect him. They hadn’t broken from the creature’s previous attacks, and he was confident that his bones were more likely to break before his scales.

Mash’s fist dug into the creature’s ribs, and he could see three ribs break as the demon’s skin had clung to its bones. Although the creature wasn’t trying to hit Mash, instead it let out an angry growl as its hand wrapped around Mash’s head. Shutting his eyes, Mash could still see through his draconic domain. He was able to see as black lightning flowed through the demon’s arm and slammed directly into Mash’s head. The lightning lanced through his body and sparked about striking everything that was nearby. Even other demons died from the enormous amount of lightning. This time his resistances did little to obfuscate the damage to his soul, and pain surged through his body.

Managing to stay conscious, he saw an outline made by Priscilla. Immediately he followed, vaguely hearing her voice through the pain. With the anti-magic of the demon, his wood grew slowly, but it managed to disturb the creature’s footing. The rocks beneath the creature's left foot broke easily, and the creature slipped. It was not enough to get it to let go, but it did stop the lightning long enough for Mash to retaliate. Mash kicked off the creature, using his own claws to dig into the creature’s arm while he did so. At first, the demon’s arm didn’t give, but his claws managed to dig enough bone that he was able to tear the demon’s hand off.

As Mash leapt away, he didn’t hesitate to throw the arm into a wooden mouth he formed on his back. There was a noticeable increase in his stats from the piece of the demon, and it brought him a little joy to see the demon look at where its hand used to be. It seemed more surprised than damaged, though Mash took advantage of the opportunity to begin forming another imitation. He wouldn’t have the time to make a very large one but could make something small. There was no reason to hold back, and he went with the dragon imitation. The wooden body growing over his real one seemed to shake the demon out of its stupor.

It charged at Mash, but by the time it reached him he matched it in size. Mash raised his arm to block the clawed strike of the demon, but the wood wasn’t as durable as the scales and the demon’s hand easily dug into the wooden limb. Mash felt as it mimicked his earlier attack, and it tore off the wooden hand of his dragon form. Thankfully, his real hand was further in, and Mash struck back with his wooden tail. He tried to stab the creature, using his tail like a spear. The tail managed to get through the demon’s skin but couldn’t pierce through its whole body. It got stuck and even with one hand, the demon had no trouble tearing off the limb.

Mash was losing, and he knew that. Despite the damage he had managed, it was clear that the demon was treating the fight lightly. A missing limb was not such a big deal for high-level fighters, as a single healer could usually fix that. Even as a demon, they could probably manage the same thing. He needed more power, and while eating this demon would be for the best, there was a ton of other stats around him.

As the demon struck again, Mash intentionally jumped with the blow. He kept growing the wooden imitation, repairing the damage as he opened his wings and glided towards the demon army. Crashing into the army, he opened his wooden maw and bit a chunk out of a demon. He forgot that his imitations gave him vague sensations, and he got a muted version of the flavor. The demon meat was still nasty, but it was something he could manage now. The stats were worth it and he kept attacking the demons while growing. Obviously, the purple demon wouldn’t just let him continue. An invisible force appeared within his domain, and he couldn’t avoid it. Mash felt like one of his wings was ripped apart, and he crashed into the ground.

It was rough, and his wooden body strained under the force of the demon. Mash managed to struggle to his feet and saw the purple demon tear of the hand of one of the weaker demons. Forming lightning in his hand, Mash aimed for the demon. It dissolved from the anti-magic, and Mash couldn’t do anything to stop the demon as it attached the hand to his body. The limbs joined together healing instantly.

Nonchalantly, the demon raised one of its hands upwards, black flames gathering above it. It kept growing, till it eclipsed even the castle. Mash had been growing his imitation the whole time, but he knew that the flames would encompass him completely. It would kill countless demons as well.

Mash started using his creation skill as well, forming a wall in front of him, while he braced himself for the impact. His wings had regrown by this point, and he moved them to act as a shield. He wanted to put as many barriers as possible between him and the black flame. He only had a few seconds but managed what he could.

The black flames flew toward him. It was fast, too fast to dodge. Trying to block seemed to be the right call, but the flames quickly covered his body, and even most of the battlefield. His wood held out for a moment, but eventually, he was left with only his dragon form. Mash tried resisting, and Priscilla tried to get him to start some magic.

“Do what I’m telling you!”

Priscilla’s pained yell got Mash to try what she suggested, and in an instant, the pain vanished. The black flames were going around him, the spell manipulating the flames directly. He was confused for a second but realized that Priscilla had figured out its magic. He had gained the demon’s affinities, and with all he had eaten, he probably gained more. This was a mix of the demon’s anti-magic and its black fire affinity. Priscilla was using a combination of the two to make a barrier for him. Despite the searing pain, he felt from the demon’s attacks on his soul, he found himself laughing a little. To have gained an anti-magic affinity and probably many more, made fighting all these high-level demons worthwhile.

______________________________________________________________________________

Red P.O.V

Red looked at Luke, who had become a mess. Her death had clearly bothered him a lot, and he must have used most of his mana in bringing her back from the dead. Although, it didn’t seem like he knew what he had done, and truthfully, she didn’t fully understand either. Her class might give her more information, and she thought about her status.

Name: Ellinia Venfir Class: Undead Blood Wraith

Level: 60

Health: 1510 / 1510

Stamina: 1230 / 1230

Mana: 1150 / 1150

Fortitude: 111 → 151

Endurance: 103 → 123

Strength: 85 → 105

Agility: 110 → 120

Intelligence: 115

Wisdom: 115 → 130

Charisma: 63 → 65

Free Stats: 5

Skills: Healing Blood → Blood Siphoning, Blood Manipulation → Blood Dominance, Blood Smite → Blood Execution, Bloody Dress → Perfect Bloody Clothing, Bloody Wail, Vampiric Constitution → Blood Wraith Body, Blood Purity → Poisonous Blood, Strengthened Blood, Undead Constitution, Inhumanity, Taboo Existence

Blood Siphoning: Control the blood within your body. Give and take blood, damage enemies, restore yourself, or strengthen allies. Your blood improves the potency of others, granting them the gift of your unholy blood.

Maximum Bonus: 30%

Blood Dominance: Blood is yours to command, that which you spill and that which others try and hold. Yours is a right of control, the more blood in your possession the more powerful you become.

Blood Execution: Command the blood that has lost the will to fight, destroy them from the inside out, using their blood as a tool for your execution.

Perfect Bloody Clothing: Blood is naturally a part of your life and has adapted to become whatever you need. Whether it be a regal dress, a dense armor, or even a casual shirt. Blood will always be close to you, bending to your will and becoming exactly what you need.

Bloody Wail: Having learned of the pain of death, you can impart that same pain to others. Let your blood scream out, resonating with the blood of others. Give them a taste of the death you have survived.

Blood Wraith Body (Passive): Blood given life; you have abandoned the need of a human body. Your body is blood, so long as you have mana you can change it as you wish. So long as your blood remains, you can restore your body with mana.

Poisonous Blood (Passive): Your undead blood is unnatural. As such it is toxic to any that taste it. Even undead could not taste your blood without consequence.

Strengthened Blood (Passive): Your blood is dense and firm. Resistant to change and impervious to the influence of others. Your blood can be sharper than a sword and harder than a shield.

Undead Constitution (Passive): You have the body of an undead, gaining their unnatural strengths. The unique body of an undead provides you with countless benefits, but also their weaknesses.

Inhumanity (Passive): Giving up your humanity has improved your body, improving your natural defenses, and regeneration

Taboo Existence (Passive): Stolen from death, your life goes beyond the plans of fate. To be free from fate is to have the power to resist its influence.

It seemed like her class gave her plenty of skills that she didn’t understand. However, the ones she did understand were still somewhat confusing. The main reason for her confusion was her new body. In the past, she could feel the blood within her body, but now her whole body felt like blood. Curiously she tried manipulating her body, trying something like turning her hand into a blade. It felt strange as her hand dissolved into blood and became malleable to her mana. it was especially weird because her body still felt normal when she wasn’t trying to become blood.

Taking it a step further, she tried making her whole body dissolve into blood, and move along the ground. She was surprised when her clothes also dissolved with her, and she realized that it was probably made of blood now. Her blood seemed to be able to change colors, though there was always a hint of red to it. Her own skin was a pale white, though it was tainted by a bit of red, giving her a pinkish hue. Luke shot up in alarm, though she was still too focused on her class to respond.

She also saw that she got the inhumanity skill that Mash had, though hers sounded a bit different. That hit it home that she was no longer human. She idly wondered how many of her stats had been for her class, and how many she had gained from changing her race. She wanted to test a lot more things, echoes of her family’s teaching telling her how important that was. However, she had abandoned that family, and Luke definitely needed an explanation.

Then she saw something in the distance and remembered that was where Mash was fighting. An enormous amount of black fire was there, and streaks of black lightning were lancing out wildly. The fires had already poured over into the city, and she knew that hundreds would be dead. She turned Luke around to see it, and they both knew that they would need to try and help. Even with all of Mash’s resistances, his soul would still take damage from something like that.