Fangs of The Abyss

“MOVE! Kael roared.
Time seemed to slow. Shin felt every tremor shaking the ground beneath his feet, every ragged breath scraping his lungs. His legs refused to obey. The beast’s crimson eyes locked onto his, glowing with feral hunger – or was it something else… something knowing?
Kael blurred forward, sword flashing in a wide upward arc. Steel met claw with a shriek of metal against abyss-hardened bone. The force of the impact sent Kael sliding back, boots carving twin furrows in the forest floor.

“Formation!” he ordered, eyes narrowing to cold steel focus.
Rurik roared, beard bristling with savage glee as he charged from the flank. Twin hatchets whirled in a brutal arc, striking the demon beast’s front leg. Sparks exploded under the impact, but its scales didn’t yield. The creature snarled and kicked sideways, catching Rurik square in the chest. The dwarf flew back like a ragdoll, slamming into a cedar trunk with a sickening crunch. He coughed blood but pushed himself upright, teeth bared in a feral grin.

“Fight’s just started, bastard!” he spat, wiping crimson from his lips.

Kaen dashed in from the other side, spear spinning in a silver blur. He feinted left, then thrust forward, aiming for its exposed eye. The demon beast jerked its head back, Kaen’s spear scraping across its snout and tearing away a strip of blackened scale. Purple ichor dripped onto moss below, sizzling faintly with acidic smoke.
“Gross…” Kaen muttered before dodging a snapping maw lined with serrated fangs. The beast roared, shaking the forest with its fury, shaking loose pine needles and tiny twigs that rained down upon them like green snow.
Reina stood behind them, staff raised high as emerald light pulsed around her fingertips. Her chant was a low, melodic murmur – calm amidst the chaos.

> “Threads of dawn, weave your radiant shelter – Aegis Vitae!”
A translucent barrier shimmered around Kael just as the beast’s tail whipped sideways. The impact struck with the force of a battering ram. The shield cracked into glowing shards but sparked Kael from being hurled away entirely.
“Thanks,” he grunted, tightening his grip on the sword hilt, sweat streaming down his jaw.

Shin watched, frozen in place. His heart pounded so violently it drowned out everything – the clash of weapons, Kael’s commands, Rurik’s roars. All he saw were those burning crimson eyes fixed upon him with chilling focus.
Why… why is it only looking at me…?
Kael spun his blade low, deflecting a claw swipe, and shouted, “Kaen! Rurik! Blind it again! Reina, keep shields up!”
Kaen lunged, driving his spear butt into the creature’s jaw. Rurik, blood dripping from his beard, hurled one hatchet with a savage curse. The blade embedded deep into its left eye socket. A shriek split the forest, rattling branches and sending birds scattering in panicked flocks.

“NOW SHIN! Kael roared.
Shin’s legs trembled under him. But beneath the terror, he felt it again – that cold pulse. Deep, ancient, coiling like a serpent in his chest.
Move.
He clenched his sword hilt, lunging forward with a ragged scream, slashing down at its exposed throat. The blade struck scale and sparked, biting a shallow wound into its flesh. The creature recoiled, its massive body shivering – just for a split second – and Shin saw it. Black mist rippled faintly along his blade, flickering like dark flame.
What… what was that…?

The demon beast snarled and slammed its foreleg down on Shin’s chest. Pain exploded in his ribs as he was hurled backwards. He crashed onto damp moss, vision swimming, blood filling his mouth with hot copper.

“Shin!” Reina’s voice cracked into a sob.
But the beast didn’t pause. It reared up, shadows coiling between its fangs as it sucked in air. The darkness swirled into a blazing vortex within its throat, glowing with sickly purple light.
“BREATH ATTACK!” Kael roared.
Kaen dove behind a fallen cedar. Rurik dragged himself behind a mossy boulder, spitting blood onto his beard. Reina raised her staff, tears streaking her dirt-smudged cheeks as she screamed an incantation so fast her words blurred.
Shin lay sprawled on his back, staring up at the blazing maw of darkness. The breath attack charged, flickering violet shadows splitting the forest canopy. Leaves burned away in its mere preparation, raining ember shards onto his trembling body.

I… I can’t die here… I promised… I’d survived…!
Images flashed across his mind. His mother’s thin hands laying out breakfast despite the blood in her coughs. Airi clutching his sleeve with sleepy smiles. Their warmth burned brighter than the abyss gathering before him.
The demon beast roared, exhaling hell.
A colossal torrent of darkness exploded from its jaws. Trees splintered under the impact, moss shredded away, earth cratered as black flames tore apart everything in their path. The roar was so deafening it felt like the sky itself split open with thunder.
Kael leapt forward, blade glowing silver as he swung in a wide arc, slicing through the outer edge of the breath attack to reduce its force. Sparks showered around him as darkness and steel clashed in a dazzling spray. Rurik roared, charging back into the blast, hatchet raised high despite burns searing his arms.
Kaen’s spear flared with pale light as he shouted, “Piercing Heaven – Sky strike!” The spear shot forward in a linear thrust, channelling compressed air that split the breath attack’s fringe apart in a shockwave blast, ripping open a clear path through the deadly torrent.

Reina screamed her final words of incantation.
> “Sanctum Aeternum!”
A dome of brilliant emerald light enveloped Shin as the abyssal breath washed over him. The shield cracked under the titanic force, glowing veins spider webbing across its surface. Chunks of shattered mana crystal rained down around her feet as she poured her final reserves into keeping the shield intact.

Shin clenched his sword, darkness coiling up the blade from his trembling hands. The shadows flickered, matching the abyss outside, but denser, deeper, as if the darkness within him rejected the darkness before him.

Kael glimpsed it through the wavering flames. His eyes widened faintly. “…What… are you… really…?”
The breath attack faded with a final earth- rattling shockwave. Smoke curled upward in black twisting pillars. The clearing was silent except for embers falling like dying stars.
The demon beast lowered its massive head, single crimson eye glaring Shin with cold, triumphant hunger.
But Shin only glared back, chest heaving, sword trembling in his grip.
“I’m… not done yet.”

The pulse in his chest roared alive once more, shadows wrapping tighter around his blade like black lightening dancing across steel.
Kael readied his sword; teeth grit with pain but voice steady. “All formations. Prepare for final counter strike.”
Rurik growled low in his throat, blood dripping onto his beard as he hefted his last remaining hatchet. Kaen spun his spear, eyes narrowing with fierce resolve. Reina wiped tears from her cheeks, staff glowing with fresh emerald light.

Shin rose shakily to his feet. His knees nearly buckled, but he held his blade firm, feeling the abyss within him pulse in silent command.

No more running…. No more.
He raised his trembling sword; eyes locked on the demon beast as it snarled with gathering shadows around its jaws.
> “I will survive… no matter what I have to become.”
The demon beast roared again, black mist curling from its jaws, swirling around cracked fangs like living shadows. Its massive claws tore deep gouges into the earth as it shifted weight, tail thrashing behind with thunderous crashes against fallen trunks.
Kael tightened his grip on his sword hilt. Sweat dripped down from his jaw, mixing with flecks of black ichor from the beast’s wounded snout. His eyes flicked toward Shin, standing pale but unwavering with darkness flickering around his blade.
What are you, boy…?
In all his years of monster hunts, Kael had felt countless killing intents – from beasts, from humans, from abyss-touched horrors. But the pressure radiating faintly from Shin felt different. Not violent, not malevolent… but old. Heavy, like silent winter skies before a blizzard.
The demon beast lunged again, aiming straight for Shin with savage intent. Its jaws snapped open, rank breath washing over him like rotting meat and sulphur.

Kael dashed forward, intercepting its strike with a cross-slash, deflecting its bite just enough to keep Shin alive. The impact rattled his entire body, nearly numbing his arms.

“Focus!” he shouted over his shoulder. “Stay aware or you’re dead!”

Shin flinched, tightening his trembling grip. His chest burned with ragged breaths, heart hammering like a war drum. But he forced his legs to bend into a stable stance, raising his sword again.
I’m… terrified… but if I fall now… it’s over.
A sudden memory flashed in his mind – Airi’s small hands gripping his blazer sleeve as she whispered, “Nii-chan, don’t leave me behind…”
His eyes sharpened with resolve. No. I won’t.
Rurik charged back into the fray with a guttural roar, leaping onto the demon beast’s foreleg and hacking furiously at its joint. Sparks and purple blood flew with each strike. Kaen thrust his spear into its exposed underbelly scales, gritting his teeth as acidic ichor burned along the shaft.

Reina’s chants grew louder behind them, staff glowing brilliant emerald as she poured protective barriers across each finger in quick succession. Her voice trembled with desperation but never faltered.

Shin stepped forward, darkness pulsing up his blade, mingling with the emerald shield flickers around him. The demon beast’s crimson eyes locked onto his once more, pupils narrowing into slits as it snarled.
The forest fell silent for a heartbeat as man and monster faced each other under fractured dawn light. Then Kael’s low growl cut through the charged quiet.

“All formations. End this.”