"Where am I?"Looking around, Ren found himself face to face with a giant bear, standing on its hind legs, it"s menacing mouth full of sharp teeth wide open, about to eat him.
He remembered where he was, the Sunflower Village, the place he grew up in.
And this was his seven year old self, trying to not become a meal for a hungry bear. He made a foolish mistake of hunting for deer alone, only to encounter a hungry bear on the way.
Before the bear could maul him, a single arrow pierced through its back.
The bear roared and turned around to face the one who shot it.
But the shooter did not panic and shot another two arrows, one landed on the bear"s chest, the other ended up piercing it in the eye.
Infuriated by pain, the bear proceeded to attack.
What followed was a splash of blood as a dagger was thrust into the bear"s heart.
Ren could see the light fade away from the bear"s eyes. He could do nothing but stare at it with mix of shock and disbelief.
The bear"s corpse fell on the ground like a carca.s.s it now was.
Now Ren could see the face of his rescuer.
The face staring back at him was identical to his own, but the expression on it was that of courage rather than cowardice.
He knew exactly who this person was.
His older twin brother, Shengyn.
"You have always compared yourself to me, didn"t you, Sagyn?"
"What?"
"You have put me up on such a high pedestal that you have always thought of yourself as inferior, but is that really what you want? Denying yourself your true potential?"
The landscape changed once again, but now it was a familiar scene of the burning village.
"When you were a kid, I was there to protect you, but now you are on your own. You cannot survive if you keep underestimating yourself. It is time to let go f the past. It is time to surpa.s.s your limits"
Now the shape of his brother changed into that of his grandfather, Korgan Karatengu.
"We are not really here, are we?" Ren skeptically asked. Real world was not so flexible as to allow one to freely manipulate s.p.a.ce and time. Also, he was not too sure this was the real Master Korgan and not figment of his imagination.
"Not by a long shot" Fake Master Korgan answered.
"What is happening outside, in the real world?"
"Not something you can handle, at least not with your current ability"
"Then why the heck am I here?"
"Just because you, as a personality, are unable to handle the situation, it does not mean there is no other personality who can"
"Are you saying…he is…I mean, I am…?"
"The alternate personality embodying this body"s survival instincts is currently in control of the body, but he seems to be temporarily incapacitated. The danger is approaching, but luckily an ally has intercepted the enemy…"
"What danger? What ally?!"
"It does not matter. But as long as you are here, the other one can stay in control"
"Like h.e.l.l I will let him!"
"And do you think you can survive against this mighty demon?"
The image of Robos Bukka appeared within the mental landscape with all the menace he radiated.
Ren freaked out and ended up shouting out loud like a little girl. Robos Bukka sure was one of the scariest demons he had ever seen.
"It is not like it is permanent. The other personality can only take over when the body is asleep. Once it"s awake, you will be back in control. Though, for the sake of survival, do not wake up just yet…"
"I understand" Ren reluctantly replied. There was no way he wanted to face that Bukka demon alone; he would rather hide like a coward within his mind.
Still, having his body hijacked by a split personality embodying his survival instincts…it was a very weird situation.
"Though, when you wake up you will not remember any of this…."
* * *
"When you want something done right, you gotta do it yourself"
Robos Bukka remarked.
"Still, to find the weakness of my Land Kraken and exploit it by summoning his own monster from the inside...if anything, his observation skills are impressive"
"Having a summoned monster on the same level if not higher than Land Kraken, there is no way he is a simple weakling"
"I cannot underestimate him. To defeat a shrewd strategist like him who seems to have so many tricks up his sleeve …it will take no less than my full power"
Robos couldn"t have known that he vastly overestimated the power of Ren Karatengu.
True, while using Demon Lord Mode, he was far tougher than normal and could indirectly access mana, something he usually could not do, allowing him to use magic, but that was all. To make the matters worse, it was only a temporary empowerment, which required a lot of willpower to achieve.
Even Inner Ren, after using Demon Lord Mode for about half an hour, was now in an immobile state. After using up so much willpower, he needed some time to recover.
Unlike what is commonly a.s.sumed, willpower is not infinite, when used up, it required some time to recover. Relaxing and ceasing all movement or meditating allowed the willpower to recover faster. In some senses, it was like recovering from fatigue, it takes time.
Summoning the hydra took a lot of mana, which required equally large amount of willpower to be used up, causing the Inner Ren to be in immobile state until his willpower recovered.
But Robos could never have suspected that the enemy he thought of as a powerful human was actually a very weak demon, just with advanced skills. Skills that he had yet to completely master.
To make the matters even more humiliating, Ren (main personality) did not even realize he was here fighting for his life.
Had Robos known that Ren was essentially fooling around in his drunken sleep, he would have cringed at his foe"s idiocy.
"You were brave to hide your true power and only unleash that monster when Land Kraken was at its most vulnerable. But now, the show is over. You will not leave here alive, human"
Seeing that Ren was peacefully napping, Robos"s face made a very strange expression. His right eye was twitching and his teeth were clenched tight.
"Is he saying that I am not even worth his attention?! How dare he ignore me and pretend to sleep?! Such insult! I will destroy you!"
Two of his lower arms were coated in fire type mana while his upper two arms were hardened with earth type mana. Combining two mana types also allowed him to access lava type magic.
Before Robos could cook Ren on the spot, a strange man stepped in between them.
His entire body and the hair on his head were covered in stripes. The best way to describe him would be a human with zebrlike pattern over the parts of his body that were not covered with clothing.
Only his right arm did not have such striped pattern.
"Step aside, weird human. My business is with that human and him alone"
"I am afraid I cannot oblige"
"You would dare stand in my way?"
"That is correct"
"You do realize the difference between our power. Do you not?"
"That I do"
"Then why do you persist on opposing me?"
"Because I wish to protect my family"
"Family, you say?"
"Yep, family" Doran took his fighting stance, coating his fists in darkness magic.
"Then this shall be the funeral for both of you!" Robos slammed the earth, causing a gigantic ripple like wave spread from his location.
Using darkness magic, Doran managed to nullify the wave, erecting a circular barrier around him and Ren.
Robos did not stop there.
Lifting up huge rocks, he proceeded to hurl them in Doran"s direction.
The circular barrier ended up shattering, leading Doran to construct a shield made of concentrated darkness magic to defend himself against the oncoming rock barrage.
Unexpectedly, Robos appeared right before Doran and proceeded to deliver an extremely powerful punch with both of his right arms at Doran.
The scope of the attack"s power was too much. Not only did it shatter Doran"s shield, but it also caused him to be thrown far away.
Only by momentarily turning himself into a shadow did Doran manage to emerge mostly unharmed.
Darklings had a racial ability to temporarily turn themselves into beings of darkness, also known as shadows; it allowed them to become intangible for a short amount of time, while consuming a huge amount of mana with each usage.
Even for an experienced Darkling, staying in Shadow form continuously for an entire minute is no easy feat.
In Doran"s case, he tried to limit the time he spent in his Shadow form so that he wouldn"t overuse his mana.
Thinking that he managed to beat Doran, Robos was in for a rude surprise when a tentacle made of darkness magic proceeded to grab and throw him away from Ren"s location.
Darkness magic had many applications, and as a Darkling, Doran"s prowess with Darkness magic was far superior that of Akjan, a demon with only an affinity to darkness magic. The difference between their skills was like the difference between a candle and a torch, same phenomenon, but completely different levels.
"Annoying pest!" Robos slammed the ground, levitating two circular ma.s.ses of earth, melting them, turning them into b.a.l.l.s of hot magma, and proceeded to shoot them in Doran"s direction.
Using the tentacles of Darkness, Doran managed to avoid the magma b.a.l.l.s, shooting crystal shards made of darkness in retaliation.
Darkness magic was by far one of the most unique types of magic.
Like water magic, it had different forms, gas like form to become intangible, liquid form to make structures like tentacles, and solid form to create tangible objects like projectiles.
There was also the fourth form which allowed one to teleport from one location to the next.
Overall, Darkness magic was one of the most convenient forms of magic in existence, but also one of the rarest.
That was one of the reasons why Darklings, the species that specialized in such magic, were hunted down for their body parts, to be harvested and made into magic items that could allow the user to access darkness magic.
The sharp crystal shards collided with Robos"s tough body, shattering upon impact. Robos"s body, enhanced by his True Demon Form was too tough.
Without giving Robos a chance to counter-attack, Doran unleashed his darkness magic upon him.
The darkness energy now took on a form of the upper body of a three horned, and slammed into Robos at full speed.
"Do you really think this is enough to stop me?"
Using four of his arms, Robos stopped the darkness rhino dead on its tracks, after being pushed by it for at least ten meters, and now proceeded to tear it into pieces, causing the darkness mana to dissipate into nothingness.
Jumping up into the air, Robos Bukka landed in the spot where Doran was just a second ago, punching the ground hard enough to send another shockwave through it.
Due to the power of Robos"s demon eyes, all four of his arms stretched for about five meters to deliver devastating hits to Doran"s body.
But Doran managed to predict Robos"s pattern of attack and manifested a portal of darkness.
As soon as Robos"s arms entered the portal, Doran snapped his fingers, and the portal ended up closing, slicing all of Robos"s hands.
For a second Doran thought that would be enough to incapacitate him.
Much to his horror, Robos used the power of his Demon eyes, the Body Manipulation, to manifest new hands on top of the severed stumps. Within seconds, Robos grew himself new hands, using up large amount of his body tissue, fats, and mana to do so.
Unlike Phoenix regeneration, Robos"s ability was not as powerful, only allowing him to replace damaged parts by using up his body"s resources.
Seeing Robos with new hands, Doran couldn"t help but exclaim.
"Are you kidding me?!"
This ox demon"s power was too ridiculous for words.
Not only strong, able to use destructive magic, and faster than what one would expect of a demon of his size, he could also regenerate from extreme damage.
Immediately, Robos charged at Doran again.
Doran weighed his options.
He could teleport away, but that would jeopardize Ren"s safety. Rejected.
He could teleport Robos away, but he doubted that Robos would allow him to pull off that trick after witnessing what Doran could to with his portals. Rejected.
He could also teleport himself to Ren"s location and teleport with him, but manifesting portals took about three to five seconds to cast, a time he currently could not buy due to Robos"s constant attacks. Impossible.
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Fighting against such a ferocious demon, Doran could barely breathe, much less cast portals.
Using magic requires concentration, but it seems Robos was trying to make sure that Doran"s attention was focused on physical combat, not allowing him enough time to cast complex magic and forcing Doran to focus on using magic for offense and defense.
After a while, Doran was breathing heavily.
"This guy is a monster. He is literally tearing though my magic with his extreme physical strength…but…"
Looking behind him, he could see that Ren was still sleeping.
"Thank goodness he is still ok"
Ren was the son of Doran"s beloved master and adoptive father, Ymit Karatengu.
And now, Ren even considered Doran to be his brother.
The feeling was mutual.
"But that makes me the older brother, does it not? Which means I shall do what all older brothers do, protect my little brother"
Even when facing the hopeless odds, Doran was not deterred in the slightest.
"Here I go!"