Din and Lewis was out of breath and in the worst position for their roles.

They were supposed to be the ones to stand before Tal and Cyen while Tal used his throwing daggers.

This situation was unexpected though.

Did this large group of guards manage to defeat Alby, Mun, and Chris? Did the other teams not make it in time to back them up?

“This is very interesting,” the scientist laughed as he opened a chest under the table in the center of the room.

He pulled out a flail from the chest.

“How did your group manage to find out about this place?” He asked Lewis.

Lewis stood tall, “You people are sick. Kidnapping people, performing experiments on them, throwing away their dead bodies! How could you do that to them?!”

At that point, the other scientists moved to the corner of the room, far away from Din and Lewis.

There was something different about the scientist with the shaggy hair. Even though we were surrounded, he was between all of us. We could attack him at any point, but he didn’t seem afraid at all.

“Kidnapping ‘people’, you say? Don’t make me laugh,” he began swinging his flail in a circular motion to get a sense of its weight. “The ones we’ve taken are anything but human. They’re demons.”

“Demons?” Lewis asked.

The scientist nodded, “Recently, demons have been brought down upon his world. They’re living in the same city as you and I. Because of that, it isn’t safe here anymore.” He paused. And then with a slight sneer, he continued, “But I’m not a savage, you see. I make sure to use these demons to the best of my abilities. Rather than let them roam free and cause chaos, I use their bodies and their unnatural functionality to better improve the livelihood of us humans.”

“S-sir, we shouldn’t be revealing our plans,” one of scientists spoke up. Even as he spoke, his voice trembled.

“Yes, yes, I know. I just can’t have them thinking of me as a psychopath, you see? I am a man just like anyone else in this world. I serve my country and rid my country of any vermin that can use it harm.”

After replying to his subordinate, he then turned around towards Lewis, “Now then, how about you and I have a little spar? You see, you killed two of my men right in front of me and I can’t allow that to pass.”

Lewis readied his sword and shield as the scientist approached him.

At this point, the flail was swinging so fast that I could barely make out the shape of the ball. The force of the swing also created strong wind flow that made it hard to focus on the fight.

With no warning, the scientist threw the spiked ball towards Lewis, who barely managed to block it in time with his shield. With a loud clank, Lewis took a step back while the scientist pulled the spiked ball back.

Right as Lewis was ready to move forward, the scientist threw the spiked ball once more. With each hit, Lewis was forced to step back further.

The impact between the spiked ball and the shield was loud and it echoed within the room.

Nobody could move in to help as any erratic movement would mean getting shot by arrows from the guards in the hallway.

“How’s this, knight? Have you never faced a flail user before?!” the scientist mocked.

By the next hit, Lewis managed to swing his shield immediately as the spiked ball approached it. The impact caused the spiked ball to fall to the side while Lewis moved forward. As Lewis ran towards the scientist, he lost his footing, but in no time, he managed to pick himself back up and rush forward.

He readied his sword and was about to swing when he realized. By the time he saw it, it was too late.

The scientist was spinning around in place. He had the flail’s handle tightly gripped in his hand and the spiked ball was flying around him at an intense speed. The spiked ball reached Lewis’ side within seconds and before Lewis could even blink, the spiked ball made contact with the side of his face.

“Lewis—!” Tal screamed as Lewis fell to his side.

After being knocked to the ground, Lewis laid on the floor, motionless. The side of his face was bleeding from multiple areas. His sword and shield was dropped next to him.

“That’s a lot better,” the scientist said as he sighed in relief. “If I’d been a second late, he might’ve beaten me. But as far as warriors go, he wasn’t half bad.”

The scientist turned towards Din. “Now then, how about we have a go as well? My blood is very much pumped in me. I would like to continue fighting.”

There was no way Din could win against him. Not only was a flail a strong weapon against a sword user, but Din had never faced a flail user in the first place.

I looked around for anything that could get Din out of this situation, but I couldn’t find anything that could help.

Then I realized, “The shield, Din! That’s your only way of surviving a hit from the flail. You have to get Lewis’ shield before he hits you with his flail.”

The scientist began spinning his flail once more.

Din stood strong with his sword held in front of him. What was he doing? There’s no way he can parry a flail like that.

With one swift motion, the scientist swung his flail towards Din. Din waited for that moment and right as the spiked ball was flying towards him, he tumbled to the side and rushed towards Lewis. While the scientist was preparing for another attack, Din had managed to retrieve Lewis’ shield and had it equipped.

“I see, I see,” the scientist chuckled. “But even with a shield, the end will just be the same as your friend!”

He swung his flail and just like with Lewis, Din managed to block the spiked ball with the shield. Din almost lost grip of his shield after the impact. The force of the spiked ball must be that strong.

But it only took one for Din to realize the strength of the impact as Din was able to stand his ground for the next few hits.

It seemed like Din was looking for a chance to attack, but the scientist was hitting him at a quicker rate than he was with Lewis. Having realized his mistake, he made sure to not give Din any time for a chance to attack. But the saving grace for this was that his hits lacked impact as he had less time to charge his attacks.

With the next attack, I heard a strange sound from the impact between the spiked ball and the shield. Rather than the sound of two metals clanking, it almost sounded like something had broken.

I checked the shield and my heart sank as I saw the crack on its surface. The spiked ball was slowly damaging the shield and it wouldn’t be long before the shield was completely useless.

“Din! You don’t have much time, the shield is about to break!” I warned.

Din didn’t respond and still aimed his shield high.

“Your resolve is weak. No wonder you couldn’t kill the guard earlier,” the scientist said as he charged his next attack. “You haven’t even realized that you last form of defense is crumbling!” He swung the spiked ball towards Din with a greater force than before.

The spiked ball made impact with the shield and it broke the surface of the shield, but then, to my surprise, the spiked ball was attached to the shield. After the impact, the spiked ball broke through the shield and had gotten stuck on it. Din took that moment to grab the chain of the spiked ball and pull it with all his might.

The scientist lost his grip on the flail.

“Sir is in danger, prepare to fire your arrows!” One of the guards shouted from the hall.

“Tal, we have to move out of the way!” Cyen grabbed Tal and pushed him to the side of the room.

As the flail fell to the floor, Din took the chance to rush towards the scientist with his sword and his broken shield.

It was then that I noticed his eyes. He had the Spirit’s eyes.

The scientist seemed to have noticed too, “I see now! You’re a demon!”

“Fire!”

At the call, multiple arrows shot from the hallway towards Din. Din was able to block some of the arrows with his shield, but a few had hit his legs. That didn’t stop him, it didn’t even slow him down.

The scientist took a step back as Din rushed towards him, but then as Din got closer, he smiled.

“I’ve got you now.” From his pocket, the scientist pulled out a rose and then crushed it within his hands.

Suddenly, his eyes changed. His previously normal eyes turned into that of a Spirit’s.

He lowered his head and then held himself with his arms.

Din raised his sword and then swung down towards him. With the swing of his sword, rather than the scientist being hit with the sword, it was Din, who had been hit.

From every surface of the scientist’s body, there were thorns springing out of them. Some of the thorns had grazed part of Din’s face and had pierced through his armor, but he was able to jump back before suffering any fatal injuries.

Din fell to his knees after he backed away. The adrenaline was starting to ware off and he could start feeling the pain from the cuts and the arrows. He looked at the monstrosity that was in front of him.

The once human scientist was covered in thorns that had been released from his own body.

Just as quickly as the thorns appeared, the scientist was able to pull them all back.

He stood tall as he looked down on Din, “I’m sure you didn’t have those eyes when I first saw you. That is strange, very strange indeed. You carry quite the ability with you. But will that be enough when you’re facing me?”