Without wasting any time to think, Riven threw ten points into strength, ten into agility, and ten into endurance. He needed those three things if he was going to survive this battle.
With that, he got into a stance, ready to fight. The demonized charged at him. The first one at the front leaped toward him. He drew a deep breath and stepped back while slashing down.
’Twilight is said to be able to cut through anything, so cut through them all.’ Riven roared in his mind. His sword exploded with flames that immediately turned dark blue.
The blade cut through the arm of the first demonized. It screeched in pain, but Riven wasn’t done. He pushed and stabbed through its head, killing it, but before he could pull out his sword, another demonized got to him and slashed.
The claws cut through his uniform, and though he moved back quickly, it still managed to graze his skin, tearing it up. He gritted his teeth and slashed through the arm of the second demonized. It immediately countered with a slash to his head.
He moved his head to the side, but the attack grazed his shoulder and drew blood. The pain made Riven feel like just running away, but he was already committed to this.
He immediately used Flame Blast at point-blank range and blasted the head of the demonized completely off. The explosion pushed some of the demonized back, but it was only for a moment.
He retreated back very quickly, giving some space between them. They rushed toward him again. The hallway made it so that no more than three could get to him at a time, and Riven had to say that was a blessing.
He used Inferno Domain again so that he could buff the strength of the attacks that were going to follow. He started firing Flame Arc after Flame Arc.
With the buff of the Inferno Domain, the attacks cut deep into the demonized, but he was only able to take down one before they got to him.
The two at the front were already badly cut up, so he was able to cut them down quickly without issue, but after them, the demonized behind rushed. They were all at peak condition.
Riven was already thinking about it—retreat or keep fighting. He was already at the end of the hallway. The moment he allowed the demonized to leave the hallway, they would flood the school, and what would happen after that was only limited to one’s darkest imagination.
"I don’t have a choice now, do I? Everyone is there playing their part, I just have to do mine. If I run now, I’ll lose Noel and my classmates. As much as I hate to say it, I don’t want to lose the upright bastards. They are the closest things to friends that I’ve ever gotten," Riven said to himself. He took a deep breath and got into a stance.
"Even if it kills me, I’ll protect the life I’m building in this world!" he yelled and attacked. The first demonized tried to attack, but he moved faster. His flames exploded before the demonized and blinded it for a moment, giving him enough of a gap to attack it and cut it down.
The second demonized immediately grabbed Riven with both hands and tried to bite into his head. Riven erupted with a blast of flames that burned its hands and forced it to let go. Then he tried to stab it, but it still managed to attack. Its claws dug into Riven’s abdomen the moment his sword stabbed through its head. It died but left a massive wound in Riven.
Riven staggered backward, struggling to find his footing. He looked up and saw another demonized already reaching for him. He blocked it but was pushed to the ground by the force.
It got on top of him and tried to bite down on him. He set his sword up and stabbed it right through the mouth. Its stinking blood poured on his face; it felt like it was burning his skin.
The demonized collapsed on him. Riven pushed it off immediately. He tried to get up and fight again, but he didn’t see the tail of the demonized that was coming. It hit him right on the chest, digging deep into his body. Blood spilled as his body was thrown back like a sack of potatoes.
He slammed into the ground, rolled, and finally came to a stop, a trail of blood lining the path of his motion.
He coughed up a mouthful of blood before struggling to push himself up. His hands slipped on his own blood, and he fell back to the ground.
The demonized rushed out of the hallway and into the academy, but not all. Some rushed toward Riven to finish him off. They jumped at him, ready to finish what they started.
[Sword Mastery level 2 - 3]
A notification came. When Riven saw the screen, he believed his plot armor moment had come, but much to his dismay, it wasn’t something that could help him now.
’I guess I forgot, I’m not the hero. There is no plot armor for me,’ Riven thought. He tried to chuckle, but only blood came out of his mouth.
The demonized were about to rip into him when suddenly fog rose up around him, blocking the view of all the demonized. From inside the fog, silver flashes could be seen. The sound of heads hitting the ground resounded one after another.
Riven didn’t know what was going on, but he could tell that the demonized were dying. Was an instructor from the academy finally here? he wondered.
"Take him and head to the infirmary. I can’t hold off this amount of demonized for long." A soothing female voice reached Riven’s ear.
Suddenly, he felt an arm wrap around him and lift him off the ground in a princess carry before rushing to the infirmary with Riven. When Riven looked up, he saw Noel.
"You really did hold them off, bro. Sadly, we couldn’t get an instructor. I was too scared for you, so I got a third year," Noel explained while running.