The ground behind Mike sank, and then immediately rose like a turbulent sea wave. He did not need to turn back to tell what was behind him, the shadow casted on his frame, and the quake of the ground had told well enough.
"Ahhhhh!" He screamed as he ran frantically, flailing his hands like a malfunctioning robot. Then the sea of sand and rocks fell, and Mike was buried.
A protrusion formed of the settled earth wave, and then it popped revealing Mike in a sphere of wind unscathed, and grinning.
The hellhound furrowed his flamy brows and opened its maw sending a torrent of flames at Mike. Mike did his most cliche move yet, he lunged both his arms within the wind sphere and from it blasted powerful jets of wind that struck and blew out the wind.
Hesk had to strengthen his footing to not be blown away by the attack. He turned back to his prey, and he saw that it was drifting far ahead, covering quite the distance within its spinning sphere.
He roared, alerting the others, and behind him zoomed a few radiant beasts.
"Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck!" Mike screamed. First it had been dwarves, and now, it was magical beasts. Just how terrible his luck was. He had just been in the forest for a few days now, and he had made an enemy of practically every group.
"Fuck!" It seemed like he would crash into a tree trunk when his sphere climbed atop the tree, turning him vertically with his back facing the ground.
He blinked frantically, as he swept through leaves and branches but he did not much get pierced by a splinter. Every obstacle that got near him got shredded to pieces by the spinning force of the sphere.
"Caaw!" He heard a bird cry, and he rolled his eyes to gaze at what flew alongside him.
A massive radiant beast the size of bear, with deep black wings that contrasted its white feathery body. It sounded again, and immediately, Mike heard whipping sounds, swift and snapping. He turned about, and there, he saw vines sprouting from the tree's surface and snaking hurriedly to him from both ends.
He was fairly confident that his sphere could shred the vines once they struck but the rush of adrenaline from the sight of the vines and the beasts, coupled with his human reflexes had him spring from the tree, propelling backwards with two simultaneous blasts of wind from his palms.
He turned to see that he was flying to the macho bird creature. Its beak was opened, its red tongue hanging off it, and then Mike crashed on it. First came its feathers, as they were torn away by the pull and the rending force of the sphere, then its flesh.
It screamed, and the sound swept through the forest. Mundane birds scuttled and flew off unsettled by the scream, the other radiant beasts busy with their searches all had their attention drawn to the scream and of pain.
Even XelanaTon sensed it from where he was buried.
Dust and debris clouded Mike's immediate area, he was slightly disoriented. The sphere had disappeared, and he could feel the bloodied flesh of the beast he struck with his feet.
Though his usual vision was clouded, he saw Hesk's eyes bright and clear, those red rageful eyes that shone with so much contempt.
It was not just the hellhound, there were others, and more were coming. He could feel the rush of radiance infused beings coming his way. He chuckled with a sly smile, having given up, there was just no way he could outrun them all.
Hesk slowly approached, and Mike remained kneeling, having lost his drive to survive. Staying alive had proved to be much more of a hassle than he could have possibly thought.
He closed his eyes, setting the mood for his demise, when red smoke oozed from him, and his pointed chains jutted from his skin.
Hesk evaded the attempt at him, but a few others about him were not as swift nor as sturdy. Mike's crimson chains sank into them, boring holes in their flesh and immediately draining them of their radiance.
The trapped radiant beasts got raised by the chains, their emaciated soulless bodies in display.
Mike's chains flared with a flood of red aura about it giving both the chains and Mike a sinister look.
To Hesk, this was unbelievable, and it explained why he could sniff Araes' aura in the creature. Araes too had been damned upon meeting this being just as his fellow peers were. His jaw fell open at the sight of his dead mates, and rage surged within him.
"Burn!" He roared and spat out a river of flame. He placed all of his might behind the attack, causing an intensity that was second to none of the attacks he had ever wrought.
The blast covered his entire mouth, seemingly encompassing it. It enlarged even more, taking a width about Mike's size.
Mike's eyes widened at this. The attack had come quite fast, and though Mike had a semblance of Araes' powers and superhuman strength, he was not going to evade the attack set before him.
His free crimson chains however sprang forward and spun in front of Mike, eating up the attack. Yet, Mike could feel the power behind the flame, the great heat. It was like he would melt at where he stood despite being tens of centimeters away.
The flame attack eventually died out. Hesk could be an immensely powerful radiant beast, but even him was going to need a breather after such a powerful move.
Smoke clouded the scene. The ground about Mike had burnt, some parts melted into glass. He looked at his body to see himself blackened by the soot and smoke, his clothes burnt out entirely. He stood stark naked and stupefied.