***
A figure in a tattered white cloak stared Lykos and rlin down, a cold, unnatural smile playing on its grey lips.
It stood still, but the air around it warped, no doubt thanks to its Corruption, the sll of burning rot radiating from it in waves.
This Lesser Demon was strong, perhaps close to that spade-eyed Demon.
Lykos and rlin had instinctively taken their stances.
They understood their assignnt imdiately.
This was a Demon.
A smart one, and it wanted them dead.
"Oh~. Have you figured out Wit?"
Letting out a low, distorted chuckle, the creature called itself "Wit" raised a hand.
Its skin was charred black, cracking to reveal magma-like light beneath.
"Since you already picked up on what I am, let’s not waste any ti, shall we?"
A dark, blood-red fla materialized above its palm.
"Rember, you burn in Wit’s Hell."
Wit blew on the fla.
WHOOOOSH!
The fire exploded forward, only to be t with another, extinguishing it.
rlin wasn’t a Runebearer to be scoffed at.
Yet Wit wasn’t done, as with a casual wave of its hand, a massive wall of cursed fire erupted from the ground behind Lykos and rlin, sealing the tunnel and cutting off their retreat.
The heat was intense, roaring like a beast.
’...dammit.’
r’s pink eyes narrowed.
As a cat-folk and a Fire Runebearer, she was used to heat, but this?
This was beyond suffocating, setting their survival on a ti limit.
"There’s no turning back."
Her hands ignited with orange flas.
"You have to focus."
Lykos commanded, his voice as cold as the ice forming around his staff.
"Keep distance. I’ll peel for you."
He didn’t wait for a signal, his [Twin Frostblades] materializing.
With a ntal command, he sent the two translucent crystalline swords floating at his sides spinning forward.
At the sa ti, he raised his staff, shooting out a barrage of ice arrows, each trailing cold mist.
They flew in a tight formation, aiming for the Demon’s eyes and joints.
Wit grinned wider, not even bothering to dodge.
It flicked its wrist once more, manifesting a whip of lava in its grip that it cracked through the air.
CRACK.
The lava whip obliterated the ice arrows instantly, turning them into harmless steam.
The heat of the strike was so intense that it forced Lykos to ntally pull his Frostblades back to avoid them lting.
"My turn!"
rlin stepped out from behind Lykos, her Divinity flaring.
She thrust both palms forward. A massive cone of erupting fire blasted toward Wit, screaming with the sound of a thousand roars, enough heat to lt the ground.
"Hehehehe~!"
Wit opened his mouth and inhaled.
The Demon sucked in a portion of rlin’s fire, seemingly energized by it, before swiping its hand to disperse the rest.
"That was cute. But you see..."
It stomped its foot.
"Wit’s fire burns the Soul."
The ground beneath rlin cracked, glowing red.
"Move!"
Lykos barked, slamming his staff down.
A thick barrier of glacial ice erupted from the floor, shoving rlin sideways just as a pillar of hellfire geysered up from where she had been standing.
rlin rolled, regaining her footing instantly.
"It’s feeding on the ambient heat! We need to overwhelm it!"
"I know..."
Lykos gritted his teeth.
"I’ll suppress it."
The wolf spun his staff, calling upon his [Glacial Fall].
Above them, the ceiling quickly froze over as massive stalactites of heavy ice ford in a blink.
They dropped like guillotines, raining down on the Demon.
Simultaneously, rlin began to channel a spell, her hair floating as streaks of purple and red Divinity danced around her.
A spinning vortex of fla roared to life, flanking Wit from the right while Lykos’s ice fell from above.
Wit looked up at the falling ice and the approaching tornado.
Its smile widened further, revealing shark-like teeth.
"That’s better, but it’s still not enough."
It clapped its hands together.
BOOM.
A shockwave of Corruption and fire exploded from its body, shattering the falling ice into snow and blowing the fire tornado apart, scattering sparks everywhere.
The force of the blast hit Lykos and rlin hard, pushing them back.
Lykos’s Twin Frostblades had crossed in front of him to block the impact, but he still skid backward ten feet, his boots carving grooves into the stone. rlin was knocked entirely off her feet, tumbling until she jamd her nails into the ground to stop herself.
They both looked up, panting.
Wit stood there, unhard, dusted off its shoulder, looking bored.
"Is that it?"
The Demon asked, tilting its head.
"I expected more from the ’Golden Generation’."
Lykos wiped a smudge of soot from his cheek and looked at rlin.
She looked back at him, agreeing with what his eyes said.
They were outmatched.
Standard spells weren’t scratching it. Its output was higher, its defense was near-impenetrable for them, and the environnt favored it.
If they kept this up, they would die. Simple as that.
Lykos’s grip tightened on his staff.
He could feel the dormant power inside him.
The deep, cold reservoir that revealed his Soul to the world.
Synaxis.
He glanced at rlin for one more ti.
She was thinking the exact sa thing.
Her pupils had dilated; her body was tense, ready to trigger it and push her Divinity to the breaking point.
If they transford now—if Lykos donned his Ice Crown and rlin mimicked the avatar of the sun—they could kill this thing. They could bury Wit under a mountain of power it couldn’t laugh off.
But...
They hesitated.
This was only the beginning of their battle. They weren’t even at the Greater Demon yet.
Using Synaxis took a heavy toll. It drained Divinity rapidly and left them exhausted afterward. If they burned their trump card here, against a re lackey... what would they do when they reached the bottom? What would they do when Ignotus needed them most?
’Do we burn it now to survive?’
Lykos’s mind raced, repeating the sa question over and over.
’Or do we save it and risk dying right here?’
rlin bit her lip, sweat dripping down her chin.
They had to decide, and they had to decide now.
To Synaxis or not?
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