Infernal Entity: Evolving With My Demonic System-Chapter 54: Return Of The Godrend

"What in fuckify did we just witness?!"

—

Luke Fern stood up slowly, wiping ash and dust off his body. His skin was marked with burns from the Hellrand Slash, and now it became obvious to him that his opponent wasn’t a weak Lumina 3 first-year. He was far stronger than that.

It was normal for mutants to grow stronger over time in the Oval Academy through intense training, focus, and discipline. But the first-years hadn’t even been here for more than a week, and one of them was already taking on a Spectra. That was concerning.

Drax stood on the sidelines, his expression dark as he replayed what he had just seen. Axel had delivered a powerful energy attack against his star fighter. He refused to believe a first-year could be that strong, so his mind searched for other explanations.

"There’s no way he managed to penetrate the skin of an Apex with just two blasts... unless he’s on an Overdrive Serum."

Axel wasn’t on any serum. That much was obvious. He wasn’t showing any of the usual side effects. No trembling, no dilated pupils, no loss of control. But Drax needed something to cling to. Accepting that Axel was naturally this strong felt like a stain on his pride.

Nearby, Nile walked over to Rick, who stood frozen, still trying to process how two of his friends had gotten dragged into trouble because of him.

"Hey! Get it together," Nile snapped. "What did your friend do to get stronger? We haven’t even started Advancement Training."

"I... I don’t know," Rick answered nervously. "Axel never tells me anything. He’s always going off to places."

Even Nile knew how impossible it sounded. She had fought Axel less than forty-eight hours ago during combat training, and she had dominated him.

"If we fought again... I don’t think winning would be that easy," she admitted to herself. "Just how strong did he get?"

Somewhere in the crowd, Kinsey watched the scene unfold, her eyes fixed on the cracked glass dome. She wasn’t worried because Axel had nearly injured an Apex. That part didn’t scare her.

What scared her was something else entirely.

She had picked Axel as her sparring partner.

And that same attack, the one that burned an Apex, was the one he had been about to use on her.

"If those second-years hadn’t walked in when they did," she muttered under her breath, "I’d be French toast..."

—

"You’re dead!" Luke shouted, his voice sharp and full of rage, finally accepting that the person standing in front of him was not a weak Lumina.

Not wasting any more seconds, Luke dashed forward, his body moving in a blur as heat gathered around him. When he was just a few feet away from Axel, he swung his leg through the air with force, and a large ball of fire tore free from the motion. It rushed toward Axel with loud, burning crackling.

Axel didn’t need to do much—the attack was far away. He twisted his body to the side just in time, and the fireball rushed past him and slammed into the glass dome behind him.

Luke, however, wasn’t done. He appeared in front of Axel with flames wrapped around his fists. His expression was wild now, no longer calm or mocking. He threw a punch aimed straight at Axel’s head. Axel ducked, felt the heat skim his hair again, then rolled to the side as another punch crashed into the floor where he had been standing a second ago.

Luke followed with a knee strike. Axel barely managed to block it with his arm, but the force still slammed into his chest and sent pain shooting through him.

Luke pressed in again, his movements sharp and clean, his attacks coming one after the other with no pause. A flaming elbow, a flaming kick, a punch that exploded with heat when it missed and struck the ground.

Axel dodged what he could, twisted away when he had space, but Luke was faster now, more focused, and his attacks tighter than before.

Axel tried to step back to create distance. His mind was screaming at him to use Hellrand Slash.

Every time Axel set himself to deliver a Hellrand Slash, Luke was already in his face again.

"You’re not using that move," Luke said through clenched teeth as he drove another punch forward. "Not anytime soon."

Axel noticed that the Infernal Core had 90 percent of its power left. That showed that one Hellrand Slash only took five percent, unlike the Infernal Slash that took ten percent.

He had more than enough energy. What he didn’t have was the time.

Luke slammed his fist into the ground, fire erupting outward in a wide wave. Axel jumped back, but the burn still clipped him.

[—1 HP.]

A fireball followed immediately after. Axel rolled, but the edge of it grazed his side.

[—2 HP.]

Pain tore through him as he struggled to stay upright. His movements were slower now; his muscles burned with every step.

’I need space!’ Axel thought desperately. ’Just one opening.’

Luke was giving him none. Fireballs came one after the other, smaller but faster now, forcing Axel to keep moving. Axel dodged, jumped, slid across the floor, anything to get away from the Firestarter’s attacks.

Axel’s vision blurred for a second as he landed hard on one knee. Luke was already moving in for a finishing blow when Axel clenched his fists.

’Hellrand takes time to release!’ he realized. ’I need something faster.’

"Use the damn Infernal Bullet, you idiot!" Aurora screamed at him.

Axel didn’t know how to use it, and there was no time to open the system, not when Luke was already closing in.

"Aurora," Axel thought urgently. "Direct me!"

"Stretch your hand forward, point two fingers at your target like a gun. The system will handle the rest."

Axel didn’t hesitate. Luke rushed him as he prepared another strike.

Axel raised his hand. Two fingers pointed forward.

Then infernal energy surged up his arm, dark and hot, crawling over his skin and gathering at his fingertips. There was no long charge, no delay like the Hellrand.

He fired the shot instantly. A sharp, violent sound tore through the air as the Infernal Bullet ripped forward, cutting straight through the space between them.

It struck Luke in the shoulder, and he let out a sharp groan as his body twisted from the force.

"Shit!" The crowd gasped.

Luke staggered back a step, his hand flying to his shoulder as smoke rose from the wound. For a brief moment, there was silence.

Then Luke looked up... and he smiled.

"That hurt," he said slowly. "Good."

Then, the flames around Luke’s arms started building. He controlled it in a skillful way, and the fire grew in size, burning hotter and hotter with every passing second. Axel was too stunned to make a move, and then the large fireball exploded outward. Axel tried to move, but exhaustion weighed him down, and a fireball, larger than any other, struck him square in the chest.

[—5 HP]

Axel flew backward. Then, his body slammed into the glass dome with a loud crack; the impact knocked the air out of his lungs. He dropped to the floor hard, burning pain exploding through his spine.

[HP: 5]

Axel lay there, struggling to breathe, his body refusing to respond for a moment.

Luke walked toward him slowly with fire still moving around his fists.

Axel forced his eyes open and focused on Luke. With shaking breath, he activated the ID skill.

[Luke Fern]

[...]

[HP: 20/ 30] 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Axel’s heart sank. He was on the floor, barely holding on with five HP left and Luke Fern was still standing with 25 HP to play with...

"Hey!" a distorted voice called out behind Axel. He turned his head slowly to see who it was. It was Kinsey.

"Take this... I have a feeling you need it," she said as she pulled something out from her side... a sword. A sword that had a certain kind of intricate design.

It was the Godrend Sword...