Chapter 92 92 – Vs Jack-O’-Lantern [2]

With his Phoenix fire, it was easy to burn all the skeletons at once.

Kai just needed to swing his arm to the side once, and the Phoenix fire engulfed all the skeletons, reducing them to ashes at once.

However, Jack-o'-lantern was a different story. That creature moved fast, as fast as him, and could dodge the Phoenix fire rather easily. The only way to defeat it was to burn it from a close range.

Fortunately, the vampire girl followed his command earlier and ran out to the entrance gate as soon as he burned all the skeletons.

"Kiek?!" Jack-o'-lantern noticed her and let out an angry noise.

But Kai didn't allow it to look away from him. He sent a torrent of fire toward the creature, forcing it to focus back at him and dodge his attack.

"Hey, pumpkin head. Our fight isn't over yet."

"Trespasser. Die." Jack-o'-lantern hissed with a low and heavy voice as it launched itself at Kai at a fast speed, faster than before.

Jack-o'-lantern had become serious. It threw the lantern in its hand to the side and held the scythe with both hands.

Even while Kai's eyes could follow Jack-o'-lantern's movement, it would still be hard if he didn't concentrate.

A moment of hesitation and his head would be lopped off his body. Dangerous, was one word that could explain this situation. Dealing with the Jack-o'-lantern without fusing with Amber or Ibaraki was dangerous for him.

Still, there was no time to whine. He was the one who told them to split up and work in a different area.

And the attack then came at him. A sharp sound of the blade slicing out the air split the silence in the cemetery. It aimed at his neck, as he had expected, so he lowered his body to dodge and counterattack with Phoenix fire.

One moment the fire disappeared, and then a wild torrent appeared from Kai's extended hand, intending to burn the Jack-o'-lantern's body.

But the creature jumped away to the side, dodging it. Its clothes were burned a little, but it was of no concern. It ripped the burned part with its clawed fingers and resumed its attack.

Left and right, it attacked Kai vigorously with its scythe.

Kai moved back and forth, deflecting some attack with his fist, covered in black Spirit Power from injecting Ibaraki Douji's destruction properties into it. Cut appeared all over his hands, but it was healed in seconds thanks to his regeneration.

Of course, he also attacked with Phoenix fire; he commanded it to burn Jack-o'-lantern. But every time the fire touched a part of its body, it didn't hesitate to cut it with its scythe.

And after a few exchanges, he noticed Liliana had already gotten out of this barrier. As they thought at the start, the entrance at the end of the cemetery was the way out. That was good news, because…

'I can finally do this!'

Kai jumped away from the Jack-o'-lantern. Both of them had injuries all over their bodies, and his shirt was ripped here and there. But there was no sign of blood at all, and his injuries were already healed.

Jack-o'-lantern, on the other hand, had a missing part of its body. Its head was chopped slightly, spewing out hot flames from its new hole.

"You are dangerous." It stopped its attack as Kai had gotten away. "Need to warn the others." It continued.

'The others?'

Something was strange, as he thought. Jack-o'-lantern didn't move by itself. Maybe it was part of a group.

That was all Jack-o'-lantern said before it continued its attack. Kai barely had time to process what the creature had said before it got close to him again. He immediately lowered his body. A sharp blade passed through where his neck was earlier.

Swoosh!

No time for thought; His preparation for the big attack was completed. A ball of fire appeared on his palm. It was a compressed Phoenix fire that could burst and cover this whole cemetery once he released it.

Still, he needed an opening. And Jack-o'-lantern didn't show any all this time.

Getting back on his feet from his lowered position, he grabbed the shaft of Jack-o'-lantern's scythe that it used to attack him.

"Got you!" Kai grinned. He didn't think that the Jack-o'-lantern's attack pattern was actually so simple, and the creature only made use of its scythe after realizing that Kai had a stronger fire. Or maybe Jack-o'-lantern itself couldn't use the fire inside its body to attack him.

If that was the case, then it made sense. The only time he saw Jack-o'-lantern use fire was from its lantern. Indeed that could harm vampires as the source was the same coal inside its body, but…

"Your fire is too weak. Let me show you what a real fire is."

He struck the ball of fire on hand straight in the middle of Jack-o'-lantern's chest. And it burst, dyeing the whole cemetery in the orange hue of Phoenix fire.

The area around the center of the attack, Kai and Jack-o'-lantern, was covered in a raging fire like a tornado. This technique was similar to the one he used to burn Malice for the first time but stronger due to his increased power.

"Aaaarrghhh!!" Jack-o'-lantern screamed in pain as the Phoenix fire burned its body. Its rag clothes were the first to turn into nothingness, revealing the black skeleton bones and coal underneath.

The black burning coal in the center of its chest, behind its ribs, turned red. It couldn't handle the heat generated by the phoenix fire and slowly turned white, burning with great intensity.

The pumpkin head also melted slowly. It was amazing that it could handle the Phoenix fire for a few seconds.

"Burn into nothingness, pumpkin head!"

"Gaaarrrrr!!! H-Help!"

"Help? You attacked us first, and you screamed for help?!"

"Agghh! I-I only wanted to live forever! Pr-Promise! H-Hel–!"

Its sentence was cut short as its pumpkin head was fully melted. The black bones were the ones who got burned next, leaving only the coal that turned white. It slowly crumbled into dust.

Kai stopped feeding Spirit Power to the Phoenix fire. It was enough. The Jack-o'-lantern had been defeated.

'What was that earlier? Did jack-o'-lantern just ask for help? And live forever? Isn't Jack-o'-lantern an immortal creature?'

The white powder from burning the coal was the only thing left on the ground as the barrier shook and cracked.

Crack! Crack!

Shatter!

It then shattered, destroyed like broken glass as the scenery and the sky turned into normal. He returned to the middle of the mountainous road he was before.

A few questions flashed through his mind, especially about Jack-o'-lantern's last words. But he was brought back from his thoughts by a voice that called out from the side.

"Are you okay?"

He turned around to see Liliana looking  at him worriedly.

She looked at his ripped clothes. After she noticed that, strangely, there was no blood on his body, she sighed in relief. "It seems that you're fine."

"Yes, I am fine." He nodded with a reassuring smile. "It seems you're okay too."

"I am not hurt if that's what you want to ask," Liliana replied. Her expression was a bit strange, and the way she looked at him changed. There was respect in her eyes. "So… Thank you. If you were not there, then I…"

"Don't worry about it. All is well." He cut her off and shrugged his shoulders. "Anyway, if you feel thankful, can I ask you for a small favor?"

"Ugh… Sure." The vampire girl nodded.

"Can you protect me for a few minutes?" He asked. "I need to replenish my Spirit Power."