Even though Lucifer had told everyone else to stay alert, he himself lowered his defenses after seeing that the beast wasn't able to break the barrier.
He didn't realize that the beast was much more clever than it looked. It was just pretending that he wasn't able to break the barrier, waiting for an opportunity like this.
Seeing Lucifer stop close to him, his plan was already a success. Not only that, but Lucifer turned his back on him, which pleased him even more.
The black spike impaled Lucifer, coming out from his chest.
As the spike entered the body of Lucifer, he froze in place as if his mind was being attacked.
Alicia took action, slicing the spike of this creature, separating the two.
Yaliza also acted fast as he caught Lucifer and jumped back. He landed ten meters away from the strange creature that was now free.
Alicia again cast her barrier prison, knowing that it wasn't going to stop this beast. It was all to give a chance to Cassius to make his attack.
Just as Alicia expected, the barrier was broken instantly. The beast jumped towards the two of them while its black spikes extended to impale Cassius and Alicia as well.
....
"Lucifer, are you alright?" Standing before Lucifer, Yaliza asked.
Lucifer didn't react. There was simply a frown on his face as if he was in discomfort. A parasite-like insect started growing in his chest, rapidly becoming bigger.
"Enough!" Lucifer roared as he used his left hand.
He inserted his hand inside his own chest, catching the insect that was growing inside him, near his heart.
As he used his left hand, which didn't have gloves, his decay started acting as soon as he touched that insect.
The insect that was getting bigger while attacking the mindset of Lucifer started being destroyed because of the decay. The attacks on Lucifer's mind also stopped.
Soon, the insect was utterly destroyed, but for some strange reason, it didn't turn to dust. Instead, it simply disappeared.
Lucifer brought his hand out of his chest, letting the wounds heal as he sat on the ground, breathing heavily.
"Are you alright?" Yaliza asked again.
"Yeah. I'm fine," Lucifer replied, but he was feeling something strange as well. Something was different about his body.
He certainly felt stronger now that he had used the decay on this creature, but it was the first time he did that when the creature was inside his own body. And the effect seemed different.
It wasn't just the strength he received from the decay. It was something else as well.
He slowly raised his left hand, observing it. As he focused on his hand, he noticed something strange. He was able to make something come out of his fingers. And it wasn't lightning.
Black spikes similar to the spikes of the ugly creature came from his fingers, as sharp as knives.
"This...?" Yaliza was stunned to see this ability of Lucifer.
It seemed exactly the same as the creature in front of him. The only difference was that spikes weren't coming from Lucifer's entire body
After a little more focus, Lucifer was able to retract the spikes, bringing his hand back to normal.
"Did you... Receive the powers of that creature?' Yaliza asked in disbelief.
"Probably," Lucifer muttered, surprised himself.
He raised his hand again, trying to test this theory more. He had seen this creature form an energy barrier last time. He wanted to see if he was able to do that as well.
He had many skills but none of the defensive abilities. Even though the barrier wasn't the strongest, it was certainly good if he could cast the barrier on himself.
Within seconds, a bright violet energy barrier formed around Lucifer.
"It's a similar barrier, but the color is slightly different," Yaliza commented. "I guess it's true! You actually stole the powers of that creature! How did you do it?"
Lucifer himself was surprised, but he had some idea.
'My decay steals the life energy of the beings that I use it on. But this must be a different ability. If I use decay when those creatures are inside my body, I can not only absorb more life energy but their powers as well.'
'Nothing is wasted since the process happens inside my body,' he thought, observing the rapidly healing wound on his chest.
He realized that this was only possible because of his healing. If he didn't have super healing, he would have died from the wound long ago.
Once again, he realized how perfect his Decay and Healing paired.
Both of those abilities complimented each other so well. If what he thought was true, then he had found a cheat that could help him in the future.
He wanted to test more to find the limits of this skill and to understand how it worked.
"Even I don't know the answer to your question," Lucifer told Yaliza. Even though he knew how his power worked, he preferred not to tell anyone at all.
Bam!
A loud crashing sound brought Yaliza and Lucifer's attention back to more important things. They realized that they were still facing a powerful beast.
Lucifer looked in the direction of that loud noise to find Cassius standing there.
A giant crater was under him, and his clothes were dirty as well, making it evident that he had just crashed on the ground. His sword was still in his hand though.
As for Alicia, she kept moving back while attacking, but her attacks weren't able to harm that creature. His skin was just too hard. Alicia didn't have any powerful attacks like Lucifer.
Uzuki was standing far away from the action. He was a close-range fighter, and he knew that standing close to this creature was no less than a death verdict. He didn't want to become a mindless puppet.
"I'll go help them," Lucifer told Yaliza as he took off the glove from his right hand. He kept his only glove in his pocket.
...
Cassius prepared to attack again, but the beast noticed that. He felt more threatened by Cassius than he felt by Alicia. That was why he wanted to attack Cassius first, even before.
Unfortunately for him, Cassius had used his sword as a shield to protect himself from the spikes that were about to impale his chest last time.
That impact between the spike and his sword was enough to throw him back.
Now that Cassius was up, he prepared himself to attack again, only to find the beast jumping towards him. Tens of spikes extended towards Cassius, ready to impale him.