Seed Of Speed

"Freak," Tirano growled, his lip instinctually curling at the lightning as its nature was the opposite of his own.

He turned his eyes to the valley below and could already see the demonspawn stirring. A dark grin spread across his lips as he began stretching his body. Although Khan was the hot-head of the group, always looking for a fight, Tirano had a bloodl.u.s.t unlike the others.

When he had first awoken in Black Fire Ravine, Tirano had been in the domain of Mind Reaper. This particular demon had a taste for dark emotions which was why it had been drawn to place. The demon had enjoyed toying for the first eight months of his life, attacking his mind as much as his body, until Horsin had found him, but he was more beast than man by then. It had taken years for him to learn to control his bloodl.u.s.t as to not lash out as his allies, but slowly, he had even learned to harness it.

The first wave to come inspect was a team of twenty imps, flying in fast. Tirano reached back with his right hand as his fingers lit up with black flames. He threw out a claw and four streaks of fire shot out, consuming ten while the others scattered. He snickered as he watched them fly away, but he could not leave Diego's side as the nineth bolt of lightning struck.

The moment the black flames covered Diego's body, Tirano's attention was drawn to him. The flames were just like his own, but after a moment they became purer. The sensation doubled then tripled while his eyes remained locked on the human. He could almost see how the power collapsed in on itself then burn with more fury and he couldn't help but want to imitate it.

After trying and failing a few times, Tirano gave a frustrated growl and shifted into his beast form where he could control his fire better. Even as an adolescent, the Hellfire Wolf stood ten meters tall and twenty meters long. His fur coat burned with black flames and his red eyes glowed like embers.

In truth, high–class beastmen like Celita, Horsin, and Tirano were actually Elemental Beasts with enough sentience and power to emulate humanoid form. Real beastmen were races like merlocks, harpies, and such, but none of those races could raise powerful members, so they would often join Elemental Beasts for protection. It was often the only way both could protect themselves from the humanoid races, one handling numbers and the other side matching raw power.

The giant wolf turned its head, sensing the approaching legion. Over a hundred horned demonspawn were charging up the mountainside with double the number of imps in the air, but they were little more than ants to Tirano. Instead, he watched with amus.e.m.e.nt as a yellow-winged, red serpent lead the charge.

"Better wake up soon, or you'll miss the fun," Tirano said before he leapt off the ledge.

As he fell through the air, Tirano pulled back his flame, much like he had watched, and when he hit the ground, a pillar of black flames erupted around him. It was not double his normal power, but he could sense some improvement. That improvement also made it harder to control the flames, making it clear that he would need practice before he could master this new technique.

He bent the pillar of flames through his racial ability, <Hellfire's Will>, and whipped it through the air after the imps and Lesser Demon. The Lesser Demon countered with a column of blue flames, protecting himself and the imps behind him, but the others were not so lucky. Over a third of the imps were incinerated instantly, and the second third were heavily burned.

Tirano gave an annoyed snarl as he watched the injured imps fall to the ground. The Lesser Demon gave a shriek as it suddenly pulled back and flew over the injured bodies. A burnt red energy oozed out of their bodies and floated up to the Lesser Demon, causing its body to inflate. Demons could draw power from a variety of negative emotions, Pain being one of the most common. This was just one of the hassles of fighting demons.

He charged down the mountainside, hurling <Blackfire Bombs> into the ranks of demonspawn. Each explosion would take out five to eight of the horned demonspawn, and cover up to ten in the flames. Of course, the Lesser Demon remained in the back, letting Tirano tire himself out while feasting on the Pain of its subordinates.

The remaining imps made move for the mountaintop, so Tirano was forced to call another pillar of fire. He managed to kill, or at least, bring down every imp, but the horned demonspawn had now closed the distance. He knew the Lesser Demon's plan, it was not original, but he was stuck to play along. Even now that they were close, only half would attempt to attack him while the others kept charging up the mountain. He was forced to keep jumping between groups to ensure Diego had as long as possible.

Eventually, Tirano whittled down their numbers to just a handful of dying demonspawn, but he was breathing hard. The Lesser Demon had swollen to thirty meters long and six meters thick. It had forced to the ground as its wings had not grown it the process, so it slithered up slowly.

"Every sssecond you are here isss one clossser to your death," the winged-snake hissed.

"Even tired, you are no match for me," Tirano growled.

"Perhapsss, but what of my sssiblingsss?"

Tirano's eyes narrowed, knowing he was right. Without a doubt, more legions were on their way and he was just too young to be able to handle more than one or two before he would be useless. He could even sense the next force starting its way up the mountain with another Lesser Demon leading it.

"We'll just have to find out," he snarled before kicking off the ground.

Diego opened his eyes and his senses were overwhelmed by the stench of charred flesh. He knew Tirano had been keeping safe, so he pulled himself to his feet and stumbled over to the ledge. The empty mountainside was now littered with the burnt corpses of imps and horned demonspawn. There were also ripped chunks of some type of Lesser Demon, but the remains were so mutilated Diego could only make the simplest of assumptions.

Tirano was about a hundred meters down the mountain in his giant wolf form, fighting a black snake that was larger than him. His body was covered in wounds and his flaming fur was nearly extinguished. That being said, the Lesser Demon snake was not in good condition either with several chucks of flesh ripped out of his body.

"Took you… long enough!" Tirano huffed loudly.

"Apologies," Diego yelled back as he jumped off the ledge while pulling out his bow.

He infused his Heavenly Thunder into his arrow and released it with his [Shooting Star] technique. The golden arrow screamed through the air as it left a crackling trail through the air and flew past Tirano before he could react. It slammed heavily into the snake's neck then erupted in a violent explosion of sparks that nearly threatened to take Tirano down with the demon.

Diego dashed over to Tirano's side and grimaced as he could see a few shattered ribs poking through Tirano's side. (Can you heal him? I only know powerful Light-based healing spells, and I don't think that would work well with his affinities,) Diego asked silently.

::Of course, but you need to move quickly, more are on their way::

Diego nodded and placed a hand on Tirano's side. The wolf nearly snapped at him, but he still had enough reason to not attack Diego. Katalina did not take over his mind, and instead, she worked the spell through his mind so that Diego could learn it as well. The pieces of bone slowly retracted, and the skin knitted itself back together. His fur was still damaged, but it was a small price to pay for the ease of breathing.

::{Temporal Reversal} is not something you should use lightly back in your world. Time magic is very rare and very coveted, so use it wisely::

(I understand,) Diego replied as he looked down the mountainside.

Five more legions, all led by a Lesser Demon, were starting their way up, but Diego just chuckled and activated his [Six Silver Wings] and casted {Wings of Wind} on himself.

"I need you in your smaller form if we are going to fly out of here," Diego said.

Tirano gave a growl, but he was facing the demonspawn so it was not directed at Diego. His body gave off a black light, and once it had faded, Tirano was back to his teenager form. He gave Diego a nod then took his arm, and they both flew off, into the clouds with bands of golden lightning around them.