Spirit Taming

"What in all the hells is that!?" Reese shouted while trying to stand in front of Isa. she and the others had met up as soon as they had retreated.

The rumbling and crashing sounds from the lower floors had prompted them to do the one thing that made sense, take the freed prisoners, and retreat. The soldiers had followed the same plan with the dwarf commander and the elf captain pulling their troops back as well.

The humans had gathered with intentions to mount another attack when the rumbling stopped. But now that some monster had torn through the entrance of the dungeon to make its way in to the open world, they had begun to retreat in formation.

The massive monster was dripping steaming blood on to the ground. It was like an acidic creature meeting an easily broken down surface, however, the ominous aura around it spoke volumes. They all understood that getting too close to it could affect them for the rest of their lives, if they were even able to have that life throughout this battle.

The danger alone was enough to make them all believe that an army three times the size might not have a chance. "There’s Clark and Maria!" Grace easily spotted the oddity within all of this. Clark was flying in the air with maria in his arms. His face was glaring at the monster which was laughing as it sized up the army before it.

The laughter did not say anything good would happen. Instead, it spoke volumes about how this monster was seeing exactly what it wanted. That it was seeing them all as its materials. This monster was looking at them like disposable parts.

"Retreat! This thing wants to make you a monster using its blood. Avoid the blood!" Clark channeled dragon energy and made his voice in to a roared order. It made his throat strain and his voice break, but it got the message out. He knew it was foolish to act haphazardly like this, but as he already shouted, he could worry about repercussions later.

When he made his move to get Maria somewhere safe, he saw various beast and monster bodies begin to move. Shy was using all of her energy to her highest ability. She knew that Clark needed the time to allow others to escape. She would do what she could to make this happen.

The bodies she controlled using thousands of show threads made their movements toward the bloody behemoth. Their movements were disjointed because of how they had been crushed, but Shy didn’t care about this at all. She was forcing them to move even though most of them lacked the energy to even use skills or energy based attacks at all. They had been dead too long or bled out their energy before they had perished.

Even a few bodies of dead soldiers had stood up making the living soldiers worry even more. But they had been warned of Clark’s beasts. How they were still beasts but toed the line of what might be considered evil at times. Yet, as they watched their dead comrades become wrapped with shadow threads, as they watched them stand, it felt inspiring.

Even with their souls sent beyond their world, their allies were standing. They were not truly dead at this moment. It felt as if they were standing again to protect those still living from dangers that could end their lives, or worse, bring them in to a life of pain and suffering.

"Be joyful. You will all soon become as you should be. Some will be ideal beings. Others will be the stepping stones for your ascension!" The twisted laughter grew with the blood increasing to fall. However, this time, Clark noticed things getting worse.

The madness that was overtaking the leader of the cultists clearly had something wrong with him. This bloody behemoth was bleeding worse and worse. It was going beyond what a characteristic of a monster should be. The red eyes had not been red a moment ago. They had been brown to show off the innate earth affinity of the behemoth. 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

He mentally had Crim flap the wings in his armor form to get him further away. Just as he managed to get to the rest of the group, he felt Shy and Devi also get there. She had forced all the bodies to latch on to the bloody behemoth. Just like Clark, she and Devi had sensed the growing demonic energy and caught sight of the worsening scene before them.

"I can still protect you." Brad stepped in front of them, however, his partner had been forced to the taming space due to low energy. He didn’t call for it though. Isnetad, a rusty shield he had not used for too long came from the spatial ring on his finger. He didn’t want to force his partner to become a monster with him. Eh feared that torture coming to it and himself. But he knew that his friends could end up that way if he didn’t defend them.

"No time. I am making an earth wall." Ella had burned a lot of energy as well, however, her earth prince had access to all the earth energy crystals that she had stored up for it. Using those as its source of energy, however inefficient that was, a massive dome of earth began to form to trap the bloody behemoth.

Unfortunately, the size of this monster was too great. No matter how many earth type beasts worked together right now, this thing was too big. Even as it collapsed down to its knees, the partial dome just went to trap the built up blood that had spilled from the bloody behemoth as it choked out more madness. More monologues of creating a perfect world with perfect beings.

When the head began to break apart and the maddened words ceased, everyone could only witness a horrific sight.

"Ah, how beautiful your world is. How full of energy and life. It is a perfect new world for me to rule as a king. You will all make delightful jesters for my courts."

The dark black and red skin that the monster had was somewhat blended with the blood it was covered in. A long sharp spear like tail came from its back along with large pointed wings. Its two horns were curved forward. They were intended for piercing and harming others.

’High demon- demon race

This is a high demon, one capable of forming contacts with others and achieving intelligence within their race. Lower demons are more guided by their instincts and have incredible violence. The high demon can absorb other energies and demonize them. This allows it to grow stronger.

Using that demonic energy they are able to form binding contracts that bind the souls of those signing the contracts. Because of this, they are very powerful beings that can take over entire worlds once they have the way in to them. They are considered a grave enemy to many races.

They often use underhanded tactics to be able to win a contract or to win a battle. They will not shy away from evil acts that will make those they fight grimace...’

Clark didn’t want to read a single bit more of this analysis from the system. He had escaped the collapsing dungeon, but the monster had followed. And from that monster, he had found a worse opponent.

"Using that foolish insect as a portal was ideal. They just kept taking the low demon blood. Even believed that the small piece of my body that I sent them when they sacrificed so many for it was my entire being. It’s always entertaining to deal with lower races like yourselves." The demon was looking at all of them as if it was walking through a market with endless gold in his pockets.

It flapped its wings and more blood fell off of it. The carved patterns on its body were some form of scars. Made to show flames and the deaths of others. From what Clark understood, it was using this as a way to intimidate them even more. A brutal way to do it, but it affects some of the soldiers.

"If you begin to kneel here and swear your loyalty, I will allow you to live for a small bit longer. If you fail, well, I will make you in to pets." it waves its hand and a blade of demonic energy cut in to the ground. The ground itself began to show signs of cracking where the earth energy was pulled from it. Nothing good would happen with the power that this high demon held.

"We need to eliminate that thing right now. No question about it. We kill it or we lose everything." Maria understood where they sat now. That they were facing a world ending threat. Something well above just cultists and monsters.

"I want all of you to run and leave. I will see what I can do. Crim and Shy will go with you. They can live if I die. Devi and I are tamer and spirit beast. We die together if we fail." Clark was ready to face this threat alone. He refused to watch anyone else die here.