107 Show Me What You're Made Of
“Alright…It might work,” he mumbled to himself.
“Jeong-Hui?” Xiaodan tilted their head, looking up at him as he talked to himself.
He looked at the silver-haired, androgynous newfound companion of his, “I’m going to use a skill of mine–I think it’ll work on you as well as long as we remain in physical contact. Got it?”
“Got it,” they nodded in response.
He breathed in before invoking the spell, “Cast: Conceal.”
[Spirit: -50. Remaining Spirit: 2750/3600]
The existence-hiding spell enveloped the both of them, bringing both of them to a near complete invisibility.
“Woah…” Xiaodan noted in awe, looking at themselves.
“It’ll mask our steps and breathing, but…still do your best to keep hidden,” he told them quietly, “Won’t really help us see any better…It’ll even the playing field, though.”
Xiaodan quietly nodded, putting a finger to their lips as if affirming this idea with a small smile. He looked at them for a moment before beginning to walk slowly again, staying partly crouched as he guided them by his hold on their wrist.
The alleyway was absent of light to every degree, leaving him afraid of the possibility of even bumping into a wall harshly as he wasn’t meticulously familiar with this area.
“This is bad…” He muttered to himself.
“What’s wrong?” Xiaodan whispered to him.
He paused for a moment while slowly moving forward, “…I just remembered a couple of my friends are still out here.”
“Oh…They’re capable though, right?” Xiaodan asked, looking at him with a smile that sought to assure him.
“Yeah…They are,” he replied.
For now, I have to worry about myself and this one…It’s a tall order to get back in this darkness, he thought.
Continuing on, he did his best to venture through only the alleyways as they were narrow and usually uninhabited by fiends, but eventually–he had to walk the streets.
As soon as they stepped onto the asphalt, the two ventured down the street carefully, with him having to constantly stare down to watch where he was stepping. However–something met their ears: a chilling hiss that crescendoed into a full-blown scream.
“What was…?”
Looking back at Xiaodan, he matched their lowered gaze to see that their slipper had stepped not on the asphalt, but on a long, stringy object that resembled flesh.
…Entrails? He thought.
“–“
Xiaodan looked up at him silently, mortified for some reason.
It was just then he matched where Xiaodan was staring past him, slowly turning around to find himself face-to-face with something so unnatural, so horrifying–he froze.
It had a face like a mask with an abnormally stretched grin that presented its meat-eating fangs and large, dilated eyes that stared directly at him as its tongue unraveled from its mouth.
A mane of snow-white hair flowed from its red-skinned, giant head, moving and swaying unnaturally.
[Enemy Recognized: “Leyak” | Level 28]
It was a disembodied head, though the head alone was as large as himself, but flowing beneath it, dangling in the air, were a set of entrails; its heart, liver, lungs, intestines–all flowing in the dark wings.
“Get back…!”
Xiaodan, realizing his frozen state, yanked him back before the Leyak could do anything, creating space–though that proved only to be a bad move.
After moving just a few meters away, the all-encompassing darkness made it now impossible to see the demonic, disembodied head as it laughed with a distorted snicker.
Moving away caused their concealment to vanish, but it seemed pointless anyway with the disembodied head that seemed capable of tracking them despite that.
“…What the hell is that thing?!” He asked, clutching his chest while still holding onto Xiaodan’s wrist with his left hand.
My chest is so tight…It’s hard to breathe. This fear–it’s unnatural…Is it because of that thing? He questioned.
“Mr. Jeong-Hui,” Xiaodan called his name quietly.
They were standing still in the complete darkness; though they were dead center in the street of the large, affluent city–it looked like nothing but a void of black and asphalt.
He let go of their wrist as they stood back-to-back, keeping an eye out for the terrifying, disembodied head.
“…Yeah?”
“Please be careful…I believe I’m familiar with our enemy,” Xiaodan spoke seriously now, keeping ready.
“You are?”
Xiaodan nodded, “The “Leyak” is famous in Balinese folklore…I was a bit of fanatic with different culture’s history before all of this–I remember this one. It primarily seeks the blood of humans, but can cause illnesses…according to the books, at least.”
“Sounds troublesome…Anything else?” He asked.
The silver-haired, adrogynous figure shook their head, “Sorry…that’s all I’ve got.”
It wasn’t much to go off of, but there was no choice but to face it now as they were left helpless in the complete dark.
The bellowing snickers could be heard shifting directions, as well as the sounds of its hanging entrails sliding across the asphalt as it moved around them. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
…It’s toying with us. This really is a demon…He thought.
Suddenly, his instincts fired off as he swerved his head, evading some sort of projectile but not seeing what it was until after evading it.
–It was one of its intestinal tubes–shot out like a chain towards him as it spewed out a sooty, acidic blood that barely missed his pale cheek by a hair.
Blood…?! It’s using its intestines as weapons?! He thought.
But, he didn’t let the opportunity slip as he grabbed onto the fleshy length of the intestine–much to his dismay, but he did it anyway–holding it in place.
“Xiaodan!” He called out.
“I know!” The adrogynous figure responded.
Without hesitation, the silver-haired, lithe figure rushed towards the direction the captured flesh was shot from.
As Xiaodan spun around for a swift, azure-powered kick where the bodiless entity should be–their slipper only unleashed a burst of dark-blue energy against the air.
“Huh?…It’s not here?” Xiaodan let out in shock.
“Get back!” He called out.
Before his warning could properly reach Xiaodan, two tendrils in the form of intestines reached out from both the left and right of the martial artist ‘s sides, stretching out from the abyssal depths of the night.
“Gyah–!”
Xiaodan launched into the air with a smooth, triple-flip, done with inhuman agility that was likely due in fortune to their martial artist class–managing to avoid the entanglement of the acidic blood-dripping entrails.
He rushed over, attempting to slice the fleshy tentacles with his daggers, but found himself a moment too late as the entrails withdrew swiftly back into the void of darkness that surrounded them.
“Crap…!” He let out in frustration.
“Calm yourself,” Xiaodan told him quietly.
“I know,” he breathed in and out, standing back-to-back with his new companion once again.
It was surprising to him just how reliable the jovial youth actually was; when it came to a serious situation like this, Xiaodan seemed like a completely different person.
The distorted snickering of the taunting demon could be hard again as its pale-white, harrowing mane could be briefly seen as it passed by, prompting both him and Xiaodan to try attacking–but they were too slow once again.
“…This darkness is bad,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” Xiaodan nodded, “…Our vision is practically erased now. On the other hand, I don’t think these demons rely on our “feeble” human senses.”
Slithering across the asphalt, it came into both of their senses quickly that something was crawling towards them: it was a plethora of entrails, slithering like a horde of snakes across the street towards them.
“…What the?!” He let out.
He didn’t waste a moment grabbing onto Xiaodan’s arm–to their surprise as they looked at him in shock.
“Mr. Jeong-Hui?!”
No response came from him as he pulled his lithe companion with him into a [Blink Step], launching into the air and onto one of the traffic lights to avoid the reach of the dozen, far-stretching entrails.
“Warn me before you do that…!” Xiaodan said, pulling their arm away as they balanced beside him on the traffic light.
“Sorry…Didn’t have much of an opportunity,” he explained.
“…Thanks,” Xiaodan said quietly.
They watched from above as the harrowing, sentient-seeming entrails wriggled across the asphalt, leaking the acidic blood onto the street.
He gulped, holding his hand out as he focused.
Xiaodan watched him, confused at what he was doing, “What’re you planning?”
“Something I should’ve done right from the get-go,” he answered, “Cast: Recon!”
[Spirit: -50. Remaining Spirit: 2700/3600]
He unleashed the scouting spell, allowing the wave of sensory particles to disperse in the obscuring darkness around them.
Almost immediately–the sensory spell found something: from all directions, hostile intentions rapidly approached.
“–More coming!”
He yelled out, prompting both him and Xiaodan to leap down from the traffic light before looking to them, “Clear our landing!”
Xiaodan replied, “Leave it to me! Flashing Sky Ladder!”
The silver-haired martial artist descended at a rapid speed after raising their left leg above their head, gathering a pale-blue electricity around their slipper before crashing down with a kick that left a trail in the air resembling a ladder.
As the impact crashed down against the asphalt, a blinding flash of lightning emitted alongside the force of the downward kick itself–vaporizing the wriggling entrails that were left below.
“Nice!” He called out, landing beside them a moment after.
Though there wasn’t much time for celebration as he witnessed a pair of tendrils immediately shoot out from the darkness in retaliation, wrapping around Xiaodan’s arms swiftly.
“Gyah–!” Xioadan yelled out in surprise.
Before it could pull them away, he quickly launched forward, slashing his daggers horizontally to tear apart the lively intestines.
The intestines themselves hissed after being diced apart, falling onto the ground and wriggling as Xiaodan was released from their grotesque grip.
“…Gross…Seriously gross,” Xiaodan shuttered before focusing back into a stance, mimicking that of a snake with their hands pointed in a spear-like formation, “…I want to finish this thing off, and fast!”
“Agreed,” he said, flipping his daggers before standing beside them.