Agnox jumped into the air and sailed over Chris and Karin, dodging two attacks before landing right behind Bruno. Agnox thrust his blade into his back, flames lingering as he pulled his blade out.

Agnox spun and rotated around Bruno as the man tried to kick out at the imp. He was standing next to Jeffery, both sides looking at each other.

Bruno tried to pat out the flames, but they didn’t go out easily. Agnox was focusing on his Axiom of Embers. Ensuring they didn’t die out. His grip on his sword tightened as he started to speak in Infernal to plan things out for Jeffery without the humans knowing his plans.

“Go for the woman. Tear out her throat. I’m going for the sword guy and we leave the one with the axe for last. We go on my signal. I’ll keep them off of you long enough to kill her.”

Jeffery just let out a low growl and barred his teeth. The humans looked at each other confused. “I knew it! They were lying! They aren't even talking in English anymore.” Bruno called out. “Karin, go hard on the spells, we can drain some mana cores to rest after this fight. I don’t like how serious they look now.”

Agnox didn’t give any of them a chance to attack as a giant wave of fire exploded out from him as he cast his [Flare] spell. The entire area was swallowed by dark red flames. Leaves wilted away as fire clung to the dry tree bark.

All three humans threw their hands up to block the wave of fire as best they could. Which was the wrong move. Jeffery lept forward, the fire not bothering him at all. He jumped over both the male fighters and slammed the woman to the ground.

With a single flap of his wings, Agnox tackled Chris. He left a burning gash across his armor and sliced into a shallow layer of flesh. Chris’s face was filled with rage as he pulled out a pistol and fired as he charged the imp.

Agnox heard another pair of footsteps pound behind him and he jumped up. Bruno’s axe clipped his left wing, causing him to tumble to the ground, but he was able to stick the landing and remain on his feet.

Bruno’s axe had a silver glow around the blade. Agnox could tell the man was using an Axiom granting the blade to be sharper. Agnox rotated his blade in his hand to adjust the angle of his edge.

He looked between his two opponents, fire continued to grow around them. He heard the fight between Jeffery and Karin but didn’t take his eyes off the enemies in front of him. As soon as he took care of them both, he would help the wolf.

The two men charged at Agnox one only half a step behind the other. Agnox parried Chris’s sword as he ducked under the slower-moving axe. He spun around and fired a [Fire Bolt] and thrust his sword forward, not connecting with anybody. Chris aimed his pistol and fired four shots, two of which connected with Agnox’s flesh, the other two missed or bounced off his armor.

Bruno swung his axe downward, aiming for Agnox’s arm. The imp pulled back and used the momentum to slash at Bruno’s overextended reach and left a deep burning gash across his forearm.

Chris continued to fire and move in with his sword. It had more reach than Agnox thanks to its size and continued to connect the blade with a blade, forcing Agnox to backstep.

Agnox felt his foot brush up against a tree and dove to the side to dodge. He was lucky and chose the right direction, not hitting anything else.

Embers fell all around them. The smell of burning flesh was subtle with all the smoke, but it was there.

Bruno was forced to swing his axe with one arm. Slower but more fierce attacks. The three of them continued to exchange blows, it seems that Agnox was able to keep up even with a numbers disadvantage.

Jeffery was having trouble staying on top of Karin. Every one of her attacks stiffened his body as electric shocks coursed through his body. Karin had several marks of teeth and claws over her body. She would bleed out and die before too long. The wolf didn’t care, he was going to kill her and then help out Agnox.

“You idiots just have to come and ruin our plans didn’t you!” Chris yelled out. “Fucking aliens and monsters. Die already!” Chris shouted as he swung his sword. Bruno didn't say as much and swung his axe as well.

Agnox dodged both attacks. “Sorry, I’m not here for me. I’m doing this for my Boss. I’m not going to give up just yet. I’ve suffered worse from stronger enemies. I’m his sword. His fire. The ever-burning blaze of victory! I might be an Infernal, but I am here to help humanity just like you are.”

Bruno yelled out in pain as he swung his axe again in a horizontal arc. Chris reloaded his pistol and fired more rounds at the imp.

Agnox was partially lying. He was too used to Mathew taking care of an enemy at this point or joining him in combat to ease up the focus on him. He was also used to monsters with fewer attacks and powers. Humans had fifteen techniques at Novice rank. At Beginner Rank, they can gain many more.

He was outclassed here. “If I was Apprentice rank, I could wipe these guys easily by myself! But I’m not giving up here. I’m going to win this for Mathew.”

A black glow came off Agnox’s body. He felt the pain from his wounds dull. Agnox pressed his attacks forward. His flames grew as time continued. “I will outlast them. A fire may start small and weak, an ember. But soon it will grow into an inferno over time. It consumes everything.”

Agnox stopped carrying if he was hit. He was going in a full frontal assault. A sword gash from Chris was met with another explosion of [Flare]. Burning the entire front half of his body.

Bruno ducked behind a tree to avoid the fire and came around swinging. Agnox dove under the attack and swung his sword upward, cleaving through this arm. The axe fell to the ground, the stub wasn’t bleeding since it was instantly cauterized.

Agnox spun his blade and beheaded Bruno. He looked at Chris whose screams had stopped, but so has his movements.

Jeffery was slowly approaching a limping woman. “I’m sorry…Don’t kill me!”

Karin watched as a devil walked toward her. He was completely engulfed in flames. A black hue outlined his body. The fire continued to grow around her, her skin was raw with burns. She was slowly losing focus as blood continued to pour out of her wounds.

The wolf snarled, its wet maw glistened as the flames danced around him. The imp pointed at her, “Kill.”

She closed her eyes as the wolf lept forward, maw wide open.

Mathew was riding back to Blue Oaks in a truck with a few others. Mostly the people were heading to Blue Oaks to deliver supplies or buy things.

He was absent-mindedly looking out the window in thought over his new ritual and new array schematics. He was going to head back to The Workshop and start using his Identification Ritual on all the things he found inside the World Dungeon now that he had free time. At least until Agnox returned.

After that, he would start experimenting. He had missed the window of opportunity from the buff The Workshop gave, but he knew it would be fine. Rituals were slow and methodical. Plus anything he created wouldn’t last. Rituals were single-use, and he doubt any bags he enchanted would be so drastically increased in volume it would be worth the time loss of taking care of various other needs Blue Oaks had of him.

As he was looking out the window he felt a twinge of something within his soul. The spot where Agnox was connected to him. A feeling he felt when Agnox acquired his first Axiom of Embers.

His eyes went wide in panic and soon a wave of pain overcame him. He doubled over and through gritted teeth, he yelled. The truck stopped and everyone was wondering what was wrong with the leader and owner of Blue Oaks.

Mathew focused inward, on his soul. His fractured soul was weak. He couldn’t tackle this pain defensively, so he did what he could to mediate it. He cycled through various Axioms, but nothing worked to dull the pain. He tried to cycle his mana, meditate, anything, but nothing worked.

He was forced to endure the pain. He lost focus on the world around him. Mathew wasn’t in the vision of his soul space, but he could feel it. The section connected with Agnox took on a seemingly never-ending pain.

Suddenly the pain did start to dull, but not by something he did. A feeling came from where Cherry was chained to him. She was sharing the pain with him. Mathew couldn’t believe what was happening. It was still awfully painful, but it was less.

Mathew focused on that connection, trying to share the pain with her somehow, but felt he could offer her no more of the load. So he endured the pain. He focused on powering through it. Taking it, but doing everything he could to fight off the painful feeling. The pain lasted for what seemed like hours.

Eventually, it stopped just as suddenly as it appeared. Mathew knew Agnox had developed a new Axiom, but he was worried about what caused him to do so. Was he close to a new Axiom and the small fight was enough to push him to that next level?

He didn’t believe it. Worry of the worst came to his mind. Mathew opened his eyes and slowly sat up, “We need to get to the Volkar Dungeon now.” Mathew groaned as he was lifted into the truck.

Nobody didn’t make any move to attack him. Mathew didn’t realize that he could have been killed while he was suffering the pain of his soul being strained.

As the truck drove much faster now, Mathew reached out to his soul. He mentally looked it over and noticed something he didn't pay attention to before. While it had been strained, there was no extra damage to it. He notice the section that connect him and Agnox had no damage around it at all.

A small part of his soul was officially repaired. A faint whisper from his mind echoed out. A world-changing answer to a question he had been asking himself about his path and cultivation style. He grabbed it and memorized each part of the idea as the truck barreled north around Blue Oaks.

As soon as he knew Agnox was safe, he would return home to apply this idea.