Chapter 74: W-What are you, you monster!!?

Every single thing that could bring him closer to that bastard who killed his parents.

This was also why he knew what a Fifth Veil Host was.

An enemy he shouldn’t have been able to defeat.

A Fifth Veil Host was a terrifying entity, one that would require the Enclave to send about 30 to 40 well-trained Hunters to take care of him and this large party too, would need proper preparation, they would need anti-demon restraints, warded weapons, binding circles, holy charms and much more.

And this was all for a normal Fifth Veil Host.

As for a Fifth Veil like Silas, who hosted a Greater Incubus and was inside its most ideal environment like the Velvet House—

The Enclave would need more than 50 Hunters.

That was the level of threat Lucian and others were facing, that was the reason Darius and others were frozen stiff.

They were standing against a being who could take tens of them without any effort, that too, without any preparations.

It was an impossible battle.

Well—

At least for them.

Lucian however, was different.

And no, it wasn’t because he was stronger than a Fifth Veil Host, he was far weaker. At his level, he was stronger than a Third Veil Host and slightly weaker or maybe equal to a Fourth Veil Host, not nearly strong enough to defeat a Fifth Veil.

But...

Lucian also knew Hosts had one glaringly obvious weakness.

In fact, it was the reason Vivienne looked down on them so much.

Hosts were humans.

And they were highly untrained humans who only relied on the new power they had received and used it to enjoy besting other humans.

Sure, with the nearly endless amount of demonic energy they carried because of their connection with the demon, they were dangerous.

But their bodies were still those of humans, they still bled.

So as long as one got close to them through any means possible, as long as one got into range and was able to attack their physical body—

That was all that was needed.

And that was exactly what Lucian did.

He observed Silas, he observed how much attention he craved, he observed how he enjoyed tormenting Darius and the others and—

He made a plan.

He insulted him, he bruised his ego, hurt his vain, demonic, undeserving pride, essentially forcing him to ’show him his place’ and once he succeeded—

Once Silas managed to make him lose control over himself, he let his guard down, Lucian entered his range and—

Just like that, it was over.

Cowardly?

As if Lucian cared.

He was taught how to win.

That was the only thing he cared for, means did not matter, how he did it did not matter.

"Well? Let’s take care of the remaining flies, shall we?"

Lucian grinned as he glanced at the six guards who had come together with Silas.

For a moment, the guards didn’t move.

They stared at Silas’s body, then they stared at Lucian.

This monster...

He took down a Fifth Veil in a single punch...

What...

What sort of monster was that...?

But they weren’t given too much time to consider their options, Lucian looked at them with a light, playful smile and—

"Why don’t you lot just surrender and make it easy for both our sides?"

"DIE!!"

One of the guards shouted as his eyes turned purple, demonic energy came from their bodies, thin purple-black lines crawled over their skin.

Yes, they were Hosts as well.

Their nails darkened into short claws and the air around them changed.

"Third Veil Hosts!"

Mara spoke loudly as her scanner flashed, giving her proper readings.

"Stand in formation!"

Darius commanded.

The guards moved, unlike the guards before, these weren’t using guns, they fought in a more... traditional way.

One of them jumped straight at Darius, purple energy gathering around his fists, another targeted Tomas with hands that now looked like claws.

Two moved for Mara, it seemed like they intended to deal with the weakest one first and then use numbers on the rest.

One rushed towards Ilyra.

And Lucian—

He stared at the one rushing towards him.

"To think one of you actually did rush towards me after seeing me beat your master down. I am curious, does becoming a Host to a demon come with the downside of losing your mind?"

He couldn’t help but ask with an easy look on his face.

"Don’t think you can fool me! I don’t know how you defeated him but I am sure you can’t use that move a second time!"

The guard screamed as he dashed towards Lucian, his speed was much faster than a normal human. As he closed the distance, purple energy wrapped around his arms, forming energy blades in each arm.

Lucian watched him come.

His breathing, the way his body moved, the way his weight was distributed—

He noticed how his right shoulder dipped first, but not as much as it should.

It was a feint.

Lucian recognised it in an instant and the slight twitch on his left shoulder told him that the actual attack was coming from the left.

Lucian smiled, the guard closed the distance and attacked, Lucian completely ignored the feint and moved sideways, avoiding the real attack entirely.

The guard momentarily lost his balance, it was for less than a second and that was all Lucian needed—

"You see, this is where you are wrong."

Lucian grinned, then, he attacked the guard’s ribs with his knee.

"I don’t need to use it a second time, not to deal with insects like you."

"Khhhawwrrrkkkk!!"

The guard coughed out blood as his body lifted in the air ever so slightly.

"Uhhh—DIE!!!"

Then suddenly, the guard collected himself and slashed his blade-like arm.

Lucian ducked it with ease. It wasn’t that the guard was too slow, in fact, he was actually quite fast, at least compared to the hunters he was with.

When compared purely in terms of physical abilities, these guards were actually a level higher than all his party members except Darius and Lucian himself.

But—

Their thoughts were too simple, too... predictable.

And this was when he wasn’t using his extreme senses to read their movements, because the moment he began doing that—

Nothing the ’enemy’ in front of him did ever surprised him.

Lucian dodged every single incoming attack as if he already knew it was coming.

And the guard...

He only stared at him with a horrified look on his face.

"W-What are you, you monster!!?"