My (Monster?) Hero Life

Chapter 49: Dark Storms Approach

Sarah's eyes were pretty much sparkling as she stared him down. Kace on the other hand was silently panicking.

Without others being around even [Empower] would not allow him to bridge such a gap in power! He had to be silent and observe the situation.

The tension in the air was palpable. He felt stifled by the ominous aura she was giving off. 'She never gave this feeling at all the last time I saw her...'

He swallowed nervously as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. Preparing to back away.

Sarah did not miss this slight movement however and immediately struck out. The blade was so fast that Kace was left with no choice.

[Kinetic Vision]!

Even with its effects it was still moving at a fast pace. Though he could see it if this became a prolonged battle he would eventually be caught.

He shifted the angle of his halberd and intercepted it. A dull pain ran through his arms. 'Shit! This chick!'

"Hoh? So you could block that huh?" her mouth curled up in an ecstatic grin as her eyes sparkled even more. "Let's see how long you can keep it up!"

Sparks flew as their weapons collided time and time again. As they performed a beautiful yet deadly dance on the dilapidated street. Seconds ticked by and Kace was already feeling the pressure.

Sarah let out a creepy yet harmonious laugh. Truly enjoying herself. Eventually he took a blow, then another. His health was slowly being chipped away.

Her blade sliced apart his cloth mask as he tilted his head back to avoid the tip of her sword. Exposing his face to them for the first time.

Both Phillip and herself gasped in shock. They had expected it to be covering some sort of monstrous features although his the top half of his face looked human. They had never expected him to just look like an ordinary person!

"Am I that ugly?" he quipped hoping to throw them off even more.

"Hmm, no." Sarah replied, sarcasm oozing in her voice.

She did not have to confirm if he was Human because her own interface clearly displayed he was a monster. Just not his race.

Like a lightbulb going off in his mind Phillip understood. His own clearly displayed that Kace was in fact a Chimera. Thinking back to legends they mad mixed DNA. So it was not a stretch to believe that how they looked would be dependent on what they were made from.

'This explains the strange mix of his abilities.' Phillip thought.

Sarah went in for another blow but Kace chose to throw caution to the wind. Releasing [Ice Spears] and [Fire Spit] multiple times to try and throw off her judgement.

His halberd once again cleaved empty air as she easily toyed with him. Driving her blade into his ribs.

His face contorted as he screamed like a wounded animal. Swiftly attempting to punish her with a spiked knee to her leg.

This was of course futile as she could easily read his every move. The only reason he was not dead yet was because of the effects of his kinetic vision.

He began to feel stuffy as he lost more blood from the wound she had inflicted. Time was far from being on his side in this confrontation.

'Shit! Am I going to die here?'

Lightning sprang forth from Sarah's hand. Stunning him as it coursed over his body. The pain was unimaginable, making even his brain feel numb.

[Empower]!

He had no choice. He had to weaken her as much as possible and strengthen himself. They slowly gained more distance from Phillip who was still pinned against the wall and ground.

The effects were noticeable. He was able to cleanly dodge the more obvious of her attempts now however it was still not enough. Just he parried another swing of her blade she reached out with her hand to grab his throat.

Intending to eletrocute him while she literally held his life in her hands. Kace was no fool and her thumb merely grazed his neck as he twisted it out of her way. His hands were occupied by holding the halberd so he did the only thing he could think of!

With a crunch he bit into her exposed soft, supple flesh of her forearm. Tearing a chunk from it. Swallowing it whole.

His wound began to heal as the fresh meat hit his stomach. Sarah had a look of disgust mixed with pain written all over her face as she quickly retracted her extended arm.

[Digestion Activated: You have been awarded 530 exp!]

[Assimilation Activated: You have been awarded +5 Speed.]

[New skills have been Assimilated.]

[Lighting Bolt and Storm Step are not compatible with your class.]

[Converting... converting complete.]

[Black Lightning and Hexstorm created.]

[Black Lightning: Cost 10 MP

Description: You have cursed a natural element. This lightning bolt carries a curse mark that lowers targets speed by 3. Stacks up to 5 times.]

[Hexstorm: Create an area of 5ft around yourself lasting for 10 seconds. Black Lightning periodically discharges from your body lowering a random stat of your opponent by 3. Stacks up to 5 times.]

Kace was elated with the notifications! This would give him a fighting chance though only the gods knew if it would actually be enough!

As Sarah swung her blade again in anger Kace let out a bone chilling smile. She was within perfect distance. [Hexstorm]!

The air within five feet around him in a spherical shape visibly darkened slightly. Sarah had found herself caught within it.

Suddenly a bolt of dark lightening leapt out from his chest striking her. It left behind a charred mark on her leather armour and did not hurt much but for some reason she felt a portion of her strength leaving her.

"What th...?" she began before the same thing happened again catching her off guard.

This time she felt as though her muscles felt heavier. Like they would not respond quite the way she wanted them to.

Glancing at her interface she noticed a symbol she had never seen before next to her health. When she focused on it she was informed that both her Strength and Agility had been reduces by three points.

Now understanding what had happened she leapt backwards to escape from the area of effect. 'A skill like that can't last too long.' she thought triumphantly.

However Kace was not going to let her get away so easily. [Stampede]!

This move kept her within his bubble as another bolt struck her. Lowering her speed this time. He swung his halberd to keep her busy. Forcing her to focus on his assault rather than escaping.

As the fourth bolt struck her it was her speed to suffer yet again. Allowing Kace's halberd to slice her thigh as she was a split second late in moving as she had anticipated.

Wincing in pain the fifth and final bolt raced towards her. Striking her square in the chest. Lowering her agility and therefore her reaction speed.

As the bubble around them dissipated she used her Storm Step skill to rapidly move backwards to buy herself time to acclimatise herself to the changes in her body.

However Kace had a sadistic grin plastered on his face. [Black Lightning]!

The black bolt snaked through the air at incredible speeds matching Sarah's own. Her eyes widened in shock as she recognised the skill that was so similar to her own.

As it struck the force sent her tumbling across the dusty street. Another curse mark promptly appeared on her interface indicating that it was seperate effect to the ones from before.

Her speed had suffered another hit! As she raised herself up off the ground her pretty face was now smudged with blood. Having cut as her face had bounced off the ground.

Her hair was dishevelled and she had an infuriated look on her face. There was no telling how many times he could lower her stats! This put her in a compromising position.

If this carried on there was a chance this monster could seriously threaten her life even though at the start she had been dominating the fight. Her mind raced as she tried to decide if she should push on or not.

Phillip on the other hand believed he had reached an understanding of the creature they were facing. He had put two and two together when he noticed the skills being used by Kace only after devouring a piece of Sarah's flesh.

While they had been focused on each other he had been struggling with the ice spears. Releasing what magic he had left to melt them to the point of breaking. In his mind they had no choice. They had to abandon Stonefall Town.

He silently cursed in his mind that they had lost track of where Urien was. If he were here then Sarah might still hold the advantage. However there were too many unknowns involved currently.

Kace was enjoying the feeling of knocking around his opponent who had kept him on the back foot. He grew complacent as he stalked towards her with his gait full of confidence. His eyes flashing at the thought of what he could gain from the other one if he showed down!

Sarah noticed Phillip signalling her from the corner of her eye. She understood what he wanted her to do.

Kace felt an enormous amount mana building within her. Causing him to unconsciously pause for a moment. The next second it was almost like she had turned into a bolt of lightning herself.

His eyebrows raised in surprise as he was shocked to discover he was not the target. Faster than he could follow even with kinetic vision she arrived before Phillip. Grabbing him in her arms before fleeing in another streak of lightning.

"Damn it!" Kace felt his cheeks flush in rage as his prey escaped him.