“Any fancy ideas for this one?” asked Amyra as she brandished her flaming giant blade cleaver of a sword at the demon in front of her. She had cut the demon vertically in half just a few seconds ago, but it had already beco whole once more. The demon showed no pain or anguish on its face, as if its supposed grave wound was a re illusion.
“Their tenacity is their greatest strength, but it’s finite. Demons are not indestructible, just tedious. We can only keep cutting it up until it can’t regenerate anymore.”
“Sounds like a wonderful plan. Straightforward. I like it,” Amyra said and lunged at the demon. Her cleaver clashed with the demon’s sabre with a jagged edge. The two tal edges scratched and screeched against one another, drawing sparks that flew between them. “Strong. Looks like your physique isn’t just for the enjoynt of the eyes.”
The demon pulled back and returned with a thrust.
Amyra skillfully parried the sabre and countered a high cut.
Instead of dodging, the demon caught the blade with its bare hand.
“Wrong move,” Amyra grinned. The flas on her blade grew with a roar. Plenty of swords had lted from this intense fla. A hand of flesh would surely be incinerated… surely, but that was not the reality before her. “What the…”
The demon’s grip remained wrapped around her sword as the flas continued to rage. With seemingly great ease, the demon moved the blade away from itself, pushing back to the wielder.
“This son of a—”
The demon’s other arm was not idle. It brought its sabre up before swinging down on Amyra.
Erin flew right into the sabre’s trajectory and caught the blade with her own. With a cry of strength, she pushed the demon back and drove her heel into its face.
There was no groan or shout, but the demon stumbled backwards regardless.
“My flas are useless,” Amyra said with a despondent look.
“Then, you should make yourself scarce.” Aedan ca in between Erin and Amyra.
“Your Grace? What do you an?” Amyra questioned.
“Leave this to and Erin. You will take Lyra and get her to Iris. She’ll know what to do. Lyra is stable for now, but the redy will not save her life. Therefore, you must be quick.”
“Your Grace, I can’t just—”
“Do as he says, Amyra,” Erin ordered. “And also, take this with you.” Erin took out a small book from her bosom and tossed it to Amyra.
“What’s this?”
“Marsh’s ledger.”
“This is—”
“Now, Amyra! There’s no ti to hesitate!” Erin shouted. “Lyra doesn’t have much ti. So, please. Don’t argue and just go.”
“It’s coming!”
Erin turned around just in ti to see the demon rushing up to them with its sabre, wound and ready to swing. Though she was ready to receive the blow, the demon’s sword was stopped by a blade that wasn’t hers.
“You’re surprisingly naive, Erin,” said Aedan, who was locking swords with the demon. “Do you think it’s wise to guard against a demon’s blow with so little distance away from your face? What if it had so nasty tricks up its proverbial sleeves, and it’s waiting for you to let your guard down?”
“I won’t worry about that. You’re here, aren’t you?”
Together, they pushed the demon back with another clash of swords.
Erin took this fleeting mont of rest to glance behind. Amyra was gone, and so was Lyra. She could only hope that they would make it out of this place alive.
“She’ll be fine.”
“...I know,” Erin said after a short silence. “By the way, that sword of yours… It’s mithril, isn’t it?”
“It is.”
“Mithril and more.”
“More? Like what?”
“That’s a question for later. Right now, we need to deal with this demon.”
The demon growled. It had many opportunities to launch another attack, but it stayed its hands.
“It’s not very aggressive, is it?” Erin mused.
“It’s gauging us. This one possesses so degree of intelligence… This is going to be difficult.”
“Can you keep up?”
“I may be a pale imitation of the person I was, but I still have my experience, wit, and wisdom.”
“You sure do. So, you want to take the vanguard?”
Aedan chuckled wryly. “You can have the honours.”
“Then, I shall entrust my back to you, Aedan,” Erin said and charged towards the demon with her sword raised and her tails flourishing.
The demon raised its arm with its hand splayed open. Black flas ignited in its open palm.
“What trick is this now?”
From the burning palm of the demon, black flas ca belching out in a stream.
“Demonic flas, huh…” Erin was unfazed by the torrent of black flas heading her way. She imbued her sword with Mystic Blade and Essence Flare. She also unleashed her Aura Domain in all its glory. The black flas dwindled and shrivelled before her blade even ca close. And when her blade ca into contact with the flas, she easily cut the flas into nothing.
“Erin, watch out!” Aedan suddenly shouted.
Erin was devoting the entirety of her attention and focus on her opponent and the battlefield. Yet, she didn’t perceive the reason for Aedan’s sudden cry for caution— until she did. The feeling of imminent death struck every fibre of her body. She didn’t know where it ca from. She gripped her sword tightly and let loose around her, unleashing a flurry of slashes around her. In the midst of her frenzy attack, she felt sothing was caught by her frantic blade. As she looked up, she saw a vague and epheral figure of the demon, disappearing into ashes and pieces. However, the demon was still in front of her.
“What the hell was that?”
“A doppleganger, and an invisible one at that.”
“You saw that?”
“I did.”
“How?”
Aedan shrugged. “Since most of my powers are sealed, I can only attribute this to my unique constitution as a True Dragon. We do have very sharp eyes.”
“Well, keep looking out for , will you?” Erin did not wait for a response and rushed at the demon.
Black flas gathered in the demon’s palm once more.
“I won’t let you!” Erin shouted and threw her weapon, which she had morphed into a spear. The spear flew straight and true, imbued with the fire of the Spirits and the might of Mystic Blade.
The demon scoffed. It was quiet but Erin caught it. The demon threw flas in its hand at the spear— no, it was slightly off. The flas flew past the spear, barely scratching it. However, the flas exploded as it was right beside the spear.
“Bollocks,” Erin cursed. She dispelled her weapon and re-conjured it in her hand.
The smoke and flas subsided quickly. The demon was striding towards Erin while dragging its sword across the ground.
“What’s with this confident strut? Such an egoistic performance. Do you even have an ego?”
The demon answered with its sword raised. The black flas were still burning in its other hand.
Erin charged at the demon again.
The demon swung its sword down.
Erin side-stepped the blade and retaliated with a thrust.
The demon repelled the thrust with a faint explosion from the flas in its palm.
Erin was quick to recover her stance and lunged back in with a cut.
The demon parried the cut and struck back with its burning palm.
Erin retreated a few steps and twirled, bringing around her tails, which were enflad with Essence Flare. The cyan flas swallowed the black flas and encroached onto the demon’s hand.
The demon flinched away and yanked its hand out from the flas. The gentle and warm flas were burning away the twisted flesh of the demon. With a look of indifference, the demon shook the flas off its hand. Its hand was clearly wounded to a great degree, but it was not groaning or whining.
“Does it not feel pain?” Erin questioned.
“Doesn’t matter. Just don’t let your guard down. There’s more to co from this cunning demon.”
“In that case…” Erin hopped into the air as she morphed her weapon into a giant axe, which she then threw with the strength she could muster.
The demon leapt away from the spot where the axe would land, but the axe was thrown with such force that it ford a massive crack and a shallow crater. Since this was underground, much dust had accumulated in the ground. Clouds of dust and smoke were thrown and raised into the air.
Streaking through the smokescreen, Erin picked up her weapon along the way and swung the axe into the demon, who barely noticed her rapidly approaching presence in ti.
The demon could not block her axe as Mystic Blade cuts through all. Therefore, the demon could only parry and parried Erin’s axe it did. Then, the winds behind the demon shifted and a sword was thrust through its chest from behind.
“Through the heart and all,” cheered Aedan, the wielder of the sword which was thrust through the demon.
Taking advantage of the brief instance of the demon’s surprise, Erin sliced the demon’s head off. The head slid off from the neck and went rolling to the ground. However, its body remained standing and its hand remained gripping the sword.
“Figures,” Aedan tutted.
The headless demon swung its sword upwards, nearly cutting Erin in half.
“An inch closer and my innards would be exposed for all to see,” Erin muttered. She already knew sothing was wrong when the sword remained in the demon’s grip.
The headless demon spun around with its sword thrust out. Aedan had to let go of his sword to avoid being sliced and diced, and also avoid being burned by the black flas that were already engulfing the sword. The demon pulled the sword out of its chest and tossed it at Aedan.
“Holy fuck!” There was just barely enough ti for Aedan to take out another sword and batter away the mithril sword thrown at him. This ti, the sword he took out was a sabre with a black, thin, and long blade.
Erin ca silently from behind, but the demon already knew her presence. The demon spun around with its sword swinging. Erin flipped over and sliced at its neck, only to rember that its head was already sliced off.
“Fucking idiot!” Erin cursed at herself.
The demon pressed on and landed a heavy blow on Erin. She barely managed to deflect the blow but much of the force and weight were still passed onto her body and nerves. Her hands felt numb but she could still move them. There was no ti to be worrying about her hands when the demon was already swinging its sword again.
“Careful now!” Aedan swooped in and caught the demon’s blade with his sword. He tried pushing the blade away but the demon quickly overwheld him in a contest of strength.
“Leave it to , you idiot!” Erin pushed Aedan away and took the demon’s blade with her own. She then forced the demon back with her strength.
The demon stood its ground and pushed back. Flas began burning in its other hand.
“Oh, no, you don’t!” Aedan was quick to act. He kept the burning hand in place with the point of his sword. He had intended to pierce its palm, but this sword of his was lacking the ans.
The demon finally opened its mouth, which had never once opened, even just to groan or moan. Smoke oozed out from its mouth and a black, reddish glow began to brim from within.
“Damn,” Erin muttered and tackled Aedan to the ground. She then quickly covered themselves with her tails, that was wrapped in the flas of the Spirits.
The demon let out a roar, spewing dark reddish flas at Erin and Aedan.
The black flas quickly overwheld the cyan flas. Sensing her loss, Erin invoked the Exalted Spirits. Imdiately, the cyan flas engulfing her tails flared up two storeys, but the dark flas reduced it to only half a storey.
“Erin! What are you doing!?” Aedan scread.
“What does it look like!? Saving both of our arses!”
“You’ll die like this!”
Erin smirked. “You and I both know I can’t die. So, be prepared. We are going to launch our counter the mont the flas stop.”
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