Chương 99: Intimate Wrath

June and the IMP crashed into the nearby forest, but despite the artillery-like force of their landing, the Lord of Light latched onto the towering monster and kept biting into it. Instead of simply tearing out flesh and rendering it incapacitated like he normally would, he kept riddling it with bites like a crazed lover obsessed with hickeys. Every time his teeth sank in, and the IMP shrieked, it stirred a primal excitement within his heart.

He almost couldn't feel the monsters' long, unkempt fingernails tearing into his back. The two tumbled violently through the forest, crashing into trees and cracking through solidified igneous rock formations left over from the doomsday event. June's teeth tore out of his gums with every submerged bite, and without respite, he jovially lunged in for another bite as the IMP attempted in vain to escape the tick-like Dreamer stuck to it.

The IMP finally managed to wrap its long fingers around June's body, tearing him off in exchange for a pound of its flesh, and with a free hand, it slapped a tree, splintering it, and rammed a feral June into the jagged stalagmites of wood remaining on the obliterated tree's stump.

June coughed up blood, both his and from his foes, as several large pieces of wood pierced through his body and out of his stomach, and immediately, without consideration of pain, manifested an arm to push against the spike-ridden stump and pull himself up. Blood drooled from his grin, and several perforating wounds unleashed the floodgates of blood from his body. He let out an exaggerated inhale, and his grin widened to the point where his cheeks tore.

"What's that I smell!?" Leonard told him that the IMP would be stupid, but to his delight, it could still feel fear. June licked the blood off his lips and slammed his fists together as they exploded into jagged-fingered bone gauntlets and extended a palm out with a fist facing up. His bloodshot eyes were violently golden, with wisps of gold and tinges of red flowing off his body in high concentrations.

June's flesh writhed as water violently burst from his back with tinges of red and flowed around him like a raging serpent of blood and water. There were bodies of water nearby, but he would have to abandon his opponent in order to collect some for his spirit manoeuvring. He pointed a finger at the vile creature that was sizing him up, and licked his lips with a wicked grin." COME HERE."

Eren readied a unit and several capable Dreamers to combat the threat. Even the Dreamers seemed to perspire at the thought of fighting an IMP, since most people go their lives without seeing one, and even the lowest caste of Nightmares were akin to natural disasters.

'Our morale was higher during Doomsday week.' Plumes of dirt and trees were thrown so high into the air that even from Brighthaven, the now distant fight's intensity was evident. Eren sometimes felt like he mistakenly heard June laughing maniacally. He calmed himself and looked to the crowd before speaking with a loud but even tone to disregard his fear.

"Ann's and Silvester's units are going to inspect the damages and recover the injured. Our unit's job is to help the Lord of Light dispatch or chase off the IMP-class Nightmare. DO YOU UNDERSTAND?" A loud cacophony of acceptance rang out and overpowered the distant battle for just a moment.

June had begun singing, his eyes wide enough to seemingly pop out; red enough to seem glazed in blood; and bright enough to be mistaken for a star in a dark night. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. He weaved underneath an incoming arm and lunged, waving his hand towards the IMP, sending a violent torrent of his blood and its own in a serpentine shot, ripping apart its side.

The imp's wound, within seconds, recovered and attempted to suddenly lunge at June with the aim of eating him. June backed up swiftly and, with a moment of idiocy and wrath, shoved his arm into the creature's maw." IGNITE" His arm burst into flame a second before being snipped by the IMP's humanoid jaws, and without a moment's hesitation, he delivered an uppercut, ramming the creature's jaw into the roof of its mouth.

June backed up with a leap, and within seconds, a new pink ungloved arm formed and immediately regained its olive colour with a sudden change. Controlling the torrent of water around him with his gauntleted arm, he punched out the new limb, and a messy array of short strings shot out it." STAGE 2 - WATER" His hand slowly turned translucent, seemingly refracting light as the strings retracted.

The IMP tried for moments in vain to painlessly detach its jaw from the roof of its mouth, but with the glimpse of June's new hand, the large hominid-like man-thing thrust its gnarly fingers through the side of its cheek and strained its thin biceps, popping its jaw out of the roof of its mouth, tearing it down, and with a final twist to collect the remaining strands of flesh keeping its now unhinged jaw attached, it tore off its entire jaw and threw the large discarded chunk of bone and flesh at June with a pitcher's throw.

June clenched his now blue, translucent hand and slashed through it with a swipe. Stage 2 of his connection with spirits allowed them to enter his body and affect it in accordance with their elemental traits; in the case of water, it made the affected portion of his body fully amorphous, with a few other perks. June moved the flowing blob of serpentine and placed his hand in it, slowly making the liquid disappear. The fight with the IMP was an odd exchange.

June would violently assault it, then retreat, banking on its fear to create prep time for his next attack, and as beneficial and advantageous as it was, it was doing the opposite of quelling anything within him. He clenched a watery fist before expanding it into a floating whip originating from his forearm. His next attacks would be more violent.

Eren and his unit arrived near the fighting to witness June clawing its eyes out while having its legs chomped down on. Without hesitation, Eren let loose an arrow piercing into a cavity where a human ear would be, but to no avail; it simply ignored the pain as the arrow was slowly pushed out, and the superficial wound disappeared.

June whipped his watery hand and severed the cheek of the IMP, letting him slide out, but instead of simply falling down, he turned his revenant into a climbing pick and latched himself onto the monster once again. If his legs didn't work, he would find another way. This was no moment to be appreciating the Lord of Light's obsessive tenacity. Eren took note of the unit and quickly formulated a plan to chase away the monster, considering that it already showed troll-like regeneration.

After a moment of being entranced by June tearing into the IMP's neck with his free hand, Eren came up with a battle plan. He brought 7 Dreamers, including Leonard's assistants, who were with him before the IMP attacked. He also brought 32 Aspirants, which wouldn't be enough to kill an IMP, but covering fire was still useful. A loud sound like a thunderclap originated from June's battle; Eren did his best to ignore the loud sounds.

Things were happening too swiftly to prepare thoroughly beforehand, so he made a quick judgment call." DREAMERS, FIRE USERS BURN IT! ICE USERS FREEZE IT!"

June used Will to create deafening noises in order to stun it. He had cut it, beat it, and even severed a few limbs, but its healing outclassed his own. He even tried climbing into its mouth before it started chewing. For now, he just needed to keep pummelling it. He looked off to the side and swiftly climbed around the tall creature, using it as a shield against incoming magics. The first volley was fire, which only stunned it when he tried burning the monster himself.

'Tsk! Fire's still useless.' June peered around the side, narrowly parrying an incoming hand with his once-again functioning legs. He braced once again as a cool mist slammed into the creature's side, making it stagger to the side.

'Ice works!' June manifested his revenant earing into a simple horned helmet and manifested his second revenant into another ice pick before beating and tearing the frozen hide of the creature.

'Shit! It keeps healing.' Every time he clawed a way to expose its organs, the wound closed immediately before any real damage could be done. In a desperate attempt, he dismissed the ice pick and covered his fingertips in bone before plunging into the creature's side and denying the wound from closing.

He hastily transferred the spirit to his inserted hand without care for brevity's sake, and with a final grand move, he turned his amorphous hand into a vortex before reaching further in and tearing its heart out of its side. Finally, causing the IMP to collapse. June staggered up, looking at the dead IMP and, through his fist, clutching the still beating heart into the air before crushing it into a bloody pulp. The battle was over. Brighthaven had won.