When I arrived, he was nowhere to be seen, but, after a few minutes, a maniacal laughter started to sound, resonating all around me, making it impossible to find his location

-Well I’ll be dammed, you got me right in the head kid- When he said this, a sandstorm slowly started to stir up around me -You got lucky. But, that same luck won’t strike twice in a row- As he said this a great black glow appeared in front of my current position, almost blinding me, as I heard him scream, in great volume -Armis Iocus! -

After the glow went away, I slowly opened my eyes, looking towards the origin of the glow, as a being in armor appeared. The armor had a dark grey tone to its color, making it noticeable even with the sandstorm kicking in. It possessed spikes, covering its different joints, while still looking like a Dragoon armor. The main material was unknown to me, but it seemed to move freely with the sandstorm, like a type of cloth. All the armor seemed to have the same color scheme, except for one part. On top of his helmet, there was the same sign I had seen throughout our missions. I immediately got into my normal fighting stance, while taking out the double buster. He then proceeded to laugh in a high volume as he looked over at me -You really think that puny trick is going to work twice on me?! Don’t even think about it! – As he said this he rushed towards me, kicking me over the head strongly, launching me over to my left. As I landed, I slowly started to lift myself up, cracking my neck to put it back into position

-That’ll hurt a lot more tomorrow- Of course, that still hurt like all hell, but I tried to contain my pain as I kept looking over in his general direction. -Ghastly illusion- I activated it again, since I already knew he had hunter abilities, it was as simple as being careful and acting around them. I then quickly started to run towards him, carrying my buster in my right hand, as I slowly started to create a shield in my left, holding it up against him

-You really think a shield like that will protect you from my attacks?! Think once more! – As he said this, he then started to run towards me, extending his right arm to his side, as a dark aura slowly started to cover it.

We got close to each other, as he continued lifting his arm up, his hand went through the shield due to the ghastly illusion. Once I saw that it did, I quickly jumped over him, making the shield solid once again, as I twisted his arm right over his head, making him fall back. I then reactivated the Ghastly Illusion once more to get his arm out of my shield, making him lay down once again.

He lifted himself up once more, straightening his arm as he did, looking back at me -So you do have a bit of intelligence in you. Well then, at least I know that I have a knowledgeable opponent in front of me. But, well, not like it’ll matter once I’m done with you- As he said this, the place where his eyes were supposed to be took a light purple glow for a second, as 5 copies of him slowly started to appear by his sides -Shadows of the Storm! – He said this as they started to appear, all of them carrying different types of weapons. One a hammer, another a rapier, another a broadsword, another a longsword, another a scythe, and the original was carrying… a double buster, charged with fire and ice.

Ability Description: Shadows of the storm

This is a simple ability. The hunter uses the materials from any type of storm in which he is in and condenses it into his own copies. The strength of each copy depends on how much of the material is used in each copy, along with which weapons are given to them

I trembled a bit in sight of the last one, gasping under my breath, as I decided to speak up -Where… where did you get that sword…- I said this with a stutter on my voice as I walked back a bit, keeping my eyes on the last one

-Oh, you mean this piece of junk? - He said this while laughing, lifting the double buster -I do not know where it came from… but, with the stories my boss told me, it seems like I killed someone to get it- He said this last part, lifting his head up slowly, as if he was smiling

Life slowly went out of my eyes, as tears started to form on my eyes, as I gritted my teeth, to then look at him with an angry expression on my face -You… you… you bastard! – After saying this. I launched myself at the copy with the double buster, clashing both of our blades -Ghastly Illusion! - I said this, only affecting my body and not the sword, protecting myself from the strikes of the copies, as I continued to hit the one with the blade, time and time again, with anger in each of my strikes, as I tried to hit his head with as much strength as I could.

-Ha! Lost sight of the truth, huh? Do you really think that an attack like that is going to work on me, after everything that I have managed to do to you!? – As he said this, he let go of his sword to grab me once again with the shadow hand, lifting me off the ground - You really are a pest, you know?! You hear one thing and immediately lose all control of yourself. I can’t believe I saw you as a worthy adversary.

I continued to strike, even as he was holding me, losing more oxygen that what I could afford. I slowly began to lose consciousness, my eyes clouding up as I continued to strike him. Having the Illusion did not make the situation better as it began to falter.

As I was about to lose it, I begun to hear a voice inside of my head, calling to me… I paid no attention to it the first times I heard it, but as I was about to go, I stopped everything, using my last strength to listen to it

-So, you really want it to end that way, do you? Are you really going to give everything up just because someone told you that? –

-What do you know… you’re just a delusion-

-I might be… but, I know what you think and know, and you know in your soul that he is still alive… do you really want to give that minuscule chance of it being true, after what you promised your parents? -

-…-

-You are not going to manage anything if you stay silent… plus, you still have one more ability, remember? The one you took from me? -

-I said I was never going to use it-

-Yeah, well, desperate situations call for desperate measures-

-You really want me to go on, do you… James? -

-Well, yeah, I do… plus, you know you still have hope when you’re listening to me-

-He… I guess you’re right-

-Now, go on him, and kick some ass bro-

After the last words, I quickly opened my eyes, as a blue aura slowly began to cover me, making me slip right through his grip, as I got a determined expression on my face

-What the hell? - He said this with a confused tone as he took his hand back to his blade, walking back slowly.

-You said it yourself, I lost control of my thoughts…. It’s time to go back once more. - I said this with a cocky tone in my voice, as looked over to him, my eyes slowly started to change color with the aura -Meet the true strength of a Sylph- The blue aura fully covered me, as it began to glow, my eyes fully changing, one taking a dark blue color, and the other taking a deep black color – Power Overdrive! –

Ability Description: Power Overdrive

When a Sylph possesses the energy of himself and a different Sylph inside of him, this brings out the true strength of one, appearing as a blue aura around the user. When this is done, all of the clothes, and even the hair of the user flow as if they were in water in a natural manner, with the eyes of the user taking different colors, one with a dark blue tone, representing the original soul, and either red, green, or black, depending on how the other person’s soul was before the absorption. The strength of the user is also increased, with a 4x multiplier to the user’s the original strength, along with increasing his natural speed, and his perception. It can also boost some of the user’s main abilities. The one bad part about this is that the user loses some of his control, along with not feeling any pain. This could help in some situations, but it can also bring a lot more pain later, once those go away and all of his wounds and broken bones start to send all of the pain.

He griped on tightly onto his sword as he continued to look over at me, trembling a bit while keeping his composure -So, this is almost your full power, huh? Now this is getting interesting. Well, what are you waiting for. Stri-

As he was about to mutter his last word, I threw my sword quickly to my side, to then launch over to him, punching him quickly in the stomach. The strike was enough to dent his armor without breaking, as I lifted my head up, still smiling -So, you said once before that you considered me a worthy opponent, correct? Well, it’s time to fulfil that expectation- After saying it, I jumped up quickly and kicked him launching him over to my right side. As his concentration was lost, all his clones disappeared, as I quickly ran over to him to catch his trajectory with a downwards strike on his head, making him land almost instantly, while making a small crater in his landing spot.

He tried to lift himself up from the floor, coughing a bit, with some blood coming out of his helmet. He slowly stood up, balancing a bit as he turned his head over to me -N… not bad kiddo… but you’re going to have to try harder! – As he said this, he launched himself over to me, preparing to strike my head with the sharpened part of his blade.

-You know, my brother’s sword originally confused me. Ice and fire are not elements that synergize well with each other. But, after some time of analyzing it, I finally saw what could be done with it- I said this with an upbeat tone as I hit his wrist to then take the sword away from him -Tornadoes form from the clash between hot and cold air. And these are the perfect elements for that! – I jumped into the air, separating both blades from each other as I got over him, spinning each of the swords in a clock wise and counter clockwise motions between them, hitting him from above with a surging tornado - Slice and dice! – The tornado fully enclosed him, as I heard the winds clashing against his armor… but, after a few seconds of my attack, his arm surged from under the tornado, grabbing both blades and throwing me off them.

He started to laugh maniacally as he took back control of the swords, joining them back together as I landed on the ground, rolling a bit in the dead sand. I lifted myself up quickly as I looked over to him, my hands slowly starting to bleed from all the hits I did onto his armor. As he finished laughing, he looked back over to me, taking his helmet off, while still carrying his mask, which had chipped a bit during the battle, showing his forehead, while still hiding his eyes and mouth. He then started to talk once more, as he left the sword on the ground, lifting his hand up a bit as a dark red aura started to cover his hand

-I got to admit, you put up a pretty good fight. I did not expect you to hit me in the manner you did. But clearly, you’re not yet at full strength. But, honestly, as much as I’d like to kill you right now and just go for your friends, your potential interests me- He then got out of sight, disappearing completely. Not even his voice sounded. He had completely banished…

I slowly began deactivating the Power Overdrive, falling on my knees from the pain that was now kicking in. I clearly broke all the bones in my hands from all those punches, bleeding from the inside from the strength as I started to walk back towards the place where the rest of the team was, as I lost sight from time to time from the pain, calming down as I got back there. Losing consciousness when I got to their side. The last thing I saw before fainting was Martha carrying Ness’s arm over his shoulder, with Mark standing up by their side, all of them being almost back to full strength, with their eyes darkening as I fainted in front of them.

END OF CHAPTER 8