Chapter 6: In A Pickle
A day had passed since Galahad's battle with the demon group. After being ambushed and with no way out, he faced the sinister creatures, that one could only face in their nightmares. The battle took a heavy toll on him, scars and bruises covering his body, still in the end he came out on top...
The man of the hour, Galahad, was dragging his feet, heading back to his cave. His injuries were recovering at an astonishing pace, but without nutrients, there was nothing that could be done. He had to fill his belly.
"Shit…my body…my ass, it hurts so much…wait that sounds wrong. Man, why do I feel so happy…am I a masochist? Do I enjoy being beaten?" Despite his aching body, the emotions he had, weren't those of anxiety or fear. Instead, he felt motivated and had a slight longing for a similar encounter in the future. One could say that warrior's blood flowed in his veins…curious.
It wasn't long before the cave showed came into sight, at which point Galahad was no longer struggling as much. He picked a few remains of dried animal meat and gulped down as much as he could handle.
"*Burp*…Aaah, that hit the spot…*Thud*…*Snor*" Like a baby that had his feelings, he fell on his back and visited the realm of dreams…probably lucid, guessing from his facial expression.
"Mommy…milkies…hehe" Scene change…please.
Little did Galahad know that at that time a person had followed him back to his camp. Hiding in a cluster of rocks, a few meters away from him, the hooded figure watched the sleeping man.
"Hmm…"
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"Focus! Let the demonic energy power your spells." Back at Belasco's palace, the teen, named Illyana was being tutored in, what seemed to be arcane arts.
Belasco had taken her under his wing, for reasons known only to him. It's already been two years since Illyana was taken from her planet Earth and dragged to this realm.
Her strong-willed character and spunky attitude, allowed her to hold off the lord's advancements on her, regarding her venture into the demonic arts of magic. After all, no one was allowed to bring harm to her…do I sense feelings here?
Anyway, S'ym was put in charge of changing Illyana's mind…not the best choice, since he was a muscular, towering demon, who spat big amounts of drool every time he spoke sentences longer than three words. So that didn't work out, in the end Belasco had to take the reins and use his cunningness to convince his new apprentice.
"Damn it! Gah!" Frustrated at her failures, the girl let her emotions flow through her and power her spell. Her hands glowed in an ominous red light and a beam flew outwards, landing on a nearby wall, opening a large hall in it. Well someone had to work overtime to fix that.
A smile found its way to Belasco's face, proud of her accomplishment, while Illyana stood there breathing heavily. Strangely enough, her eyes had changed from the normal blue into a dark bloody color, a devilish aura coming off her.
"See. It wasn't so hard, you have much to learn Illyana. Follow me and you will have all the power of the world…no, the universe in the palm of your hand." Knowing what an edgy teen would love to hear, Belasco spoke just the right words with his venomous tongue.
"...yes…Master." Her, blue now, eyes shone as she looked out of the hole she had created and into the endless desert. Fooling her would take more than sweet words.
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"...Nooo!" Galahad's sleep came to an abrupt end, jumping up screaming and touching his body all over, making sure that all his body parts were still intact. He was drenched in sweat and his breathing was erratic.
"What the actual fuck! Is my mind playing games on me?!… This place…as if demons weren't enough, now I am also hallucinating. Haah…" With a heavy sigh, Galahad calmed down and turned around, heading towards his cave. A pair of eyes, watching his every move from the distance.
After sitting in the shadows for a few minutes he had managed to relax and started examining his injuries. Shockingly there were none to be found, except for the more serious ones, all the bruises and small cuts were healed completely in only a day's worth of time.
Now Galahad was left with a three-nailed scar, the size of a human's hand, on his wide back and another one on his left thigh. For warriors wounds were trophies, proof of their battles, he felt the same way.
"Heh!… It doesn't even look that bad…if anything, it makes me look even more manly! Hah!" And so another hour-long flexing session started, feeling the valley with weird grunts and sounds, one might misinterpret.
"What an interesting fellow…" Spoke the hooded figure, who gazed at Galahad in amusement. Having seen enough, the person took off into the distance.
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After our bodybuilder wannabe, finished his weird mating rituals, he once again took off, searching for another opponent. During his fight with the demons, a spark was ignited, a craving for battle!
It didn't take him long to reach a canyon, within which a group of four demons was resting. Galahad observed from the top, this time it was his turn to be the ambusher.
Taking in their physiques, they didn't seem special. If anything they were weaker than the demons he fought. Still, he didn't want to rush things, waiting for a few more minutes and making sure no more unexpected guests had arrived, he took action.
Channeling his aura, Galahad dashed, his hand extending forward. The unsuspected creatures exclaimed in their language at the sight of him and tried to distance themselves.
But their speed didn't match up to his. Covering the distance between them with his enhanced speed, he reached his target. Pouncing on the demon, like a tiger would with its prey.
Galahad's, aura-coated, arm pierce the chest of the creature and came out of the other side, instantly ending its life. Greenish blood trickled down his arm, as a grin formed on his face. With a kick, he sent the dead demon flying towards its fleeing group, hitting one of the remaining three.
A one-sided massacre ensued, leaving behind only dismembered bodies. During the battle, Galahad's personality seemed to change, to a more primitive one. It seems that whatever power was bestowed upon him, brought along with it uncontrollable side effects.
"I didn't even break a sweat…these guys must have low-leveled ones. Gotta find the bigger fish!" And so Galahad took off searching for demons to hunt.
During his expedition, he came upon similar groups that weren't much of a challenge for him. Coming out of the bouts with only a few scratches at most. He kept going until night came.
Speaking of the day-night cycle, here nighttime lasted for only three hours. And even though the sun was gone, the extreme heat remained. Galahad might have his improved physique, but the heat still was a nuisance.
"...*Grumble*…yeah, I agree buddy. Let's head back, it's dinner time."His stomach cried out in hunger and Galahad didn't want to keep it waiting. So he turned around and went on his way back home.
"My strength has further improved…all I asked was for energy absorption. What kind of ability did he give me? Maybe he gave me a better power as a reward… he did send me to hell..or Limbo after all…yeah, Nah." His power was indeed given to him by Nixen, but it was further improved by Elaine without him knowing it.
"Now that I remember, he said something about DBZ…what the hell is a DBZ?" He tried his hardest to remember, searching his past life's knowledge. He was sure that he had heard of the name, but his memory failed him. It seems that his ability didn't improve his smol brain.
"Why do I feel like someone is criticizing me?…Huh?…I could have sworn I heard footsteps…*Bang* Gah!" His train of thoughts was interrupted, by yet another ambush!
This time Galahad didn't get to see his opponent, who blended in the shadows and managed to land a heavy blow on his side, throwing him a few meters away. He touched his ribs, his face morphing in response to the pain.
Looking at his wound he saw two deep holes, blood and white bits mixed and coated its surface. With no time to put his aura up, the surprise attack easily penetrated his skin and inflicted a serious injury on him, reducing his fighting capabilities.
"...Gah!…Shit! Who?!… Show yourself!!" Amid his pain, Galahad screamed, trying to find the one who was hiding from his sight. No answer came, leaving him alone in the dark, breathing heavily and bleeding.
*Swish* *Slash* The shadows seemed to assist this creature, as it used it to its advantage landing blows on the unaware Galahad. This time the attack landed on his shoulder, but with his aura protecting him, it only left a small cut.
The shadow dweller kept on and the injuries kept on accumulating. Soon he was standing in a pool of his blood, cuts all over his body, barely managing to stand.
"This…Ugh!…*Huff*….*Slash*…" At this point he wasn't even reacting to the attacks, his mind slowly losing consciousness. His eyelids were heavy, the loss of blood had taken its toll on him.
His knees gave in and so did his arms, now hanging to his side, leaving him unprotected. Every breath that came out was heavy and drawn out as if the air had turned into a thick syrup.
The figure that was assaulting him finally revealed itself. Walking from the darkness, a humanoid came into Galahad's blurry sight. A stretched-out mouth had formed into a smile, with its set of needle-like teeth poking out.
The demon had white skin and a body of a human, with no hair. Black eyes and a missing nose, long bloodied nails. These were the features he could take in before he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.
The demon lifted his hand and brought it down, aiming to end his life on the spot. And so the new life of Galahad had come to an end.....not!
"AAAAH!" His eyes burst open and only the white could be seen, his aura flaring with ferocity, taking on a new color. Green!