Erin let out a piercing cry that marked her zeal. She brought her sword down onto the demon that was nothing but embers, smoke, and bones, though the bones were thicker and girthier than what one would normally expect. The bones were literally the demon’s body, muscles, and armour. Erin swung her sword with such force that the air around her was rippling and whirling from her might and spirit. The air also split apart as if to make way for her bde.

  The demon showed no sign of panic or distress in the face of such strength and force. It calmly raised its sword in response and received Erin’s bde. A pulse of energy burst from the point of contact between the two steel. Erin’s hair and tails fluttered in the face of the rushing breeze, brought about by the pulse. As of the demon, the ground beneath his feet cracked and depressed in the face of the might poured onto it. However, the demon itself experienced no real harm.

  “Damn,” Erin muttered.

  The demon pushed back, shoving Erin off as its other hand burned with dark reddish fmes.

  Erin’s eyes widened at the dark bze. A fme so foul that even the Spirits couldn’t douse or repel. Erin had no intention of even letting such a fme graze her.

  “Careful now.”

  The demon turned towards the gentle voice that was simply out of pce in an intense battle.

  Aedan swooped in. He thrust at the demon’s head.

  The demon snorted and moved its head out of the bde’s path. It then threw the dark fmes at Aedan instead.

  “Oh, dear.” Aedan quickly tossed himself aside as the fmes grazed across the ground, leaving a trail of dark, eerie fmes that would have been a trail of Aedan’s seared entrails.

  The demon returned his focus to Erin, who was already preparing her next onsught. The demon wasn’t so gracious as to let its opponent prepare. It lunged with a fiery gaze and a voracious appetite for blood and death.

  Erin clicked her tongue. She changed her tactics and assumed a defensive stance. Her opponent was already on the offensive. She couldn’t match its strength. A contest of two offensive would surely result in her defeat. She could only take a defensive stance for now. She knew how strong a single blow from the demon would be. She braced herself for the imminent bst of strength. Even without the advantages of the higher level, she could not take the blow head-on.

  When the demon’s smoking, crooked sword came, Erin received it with her sword, but she didn’t let the strength pour completely into her bde and her arms. The bde would shatter and her arms would break. Instead, she let it trail and glide against the edge of her bde as she guided the demonic edge away from her. She then retaliated with a swipe.

  The demon moved fast. It took a step back, but it looked more like it had teleported a single pace backwards.

  Erin plunged forward. Her opponent’s guard was broken. It would be mended in a few seconds, or less. She swung her sword. The demon dodged her ssh with ease. Her swings were by no means slow. The demon was simply far too agile and observant. Erin let her bde flourish, but the demons evaded the flurry of attacks.

  The demon then reached out and caught Erin’s moving bde without any shred of difficulty. Before Erin could dispel her sword, the demon pulled and tugged the wielder along. The demon threw a punch.

  Erin raised her arm and let her elbow absorb the punch. She didn’t hear any cracks, but she felt the pain and force transmitted to her arm and elbow. She grunted as she was thrown back by the sheer strength of the demon.

  The demon wasn’t done with that mockery. It even tossed Erin’s own sword at her, but Erin dispelled the sword before it could reach her. The demon rushed at her, dark fmes in both hands. Erin flipped and nded on her feet. Cyan fmes enveloped her tails. She twirled and flicked the cyan fmes at the demon. The demon enveloped itself with dark fmes as the cyan fmes struck it. The dark was quick to triumph and the cyan fmes perish in an instant. The demon smirked and continued with its daunting approach, but something struck it from behind.

  “I’m truly offended that you kept forgetting that I exist,” said Aedan.

  The demon gnced behind. There was no change in its expression. If there was, only the demon itself would know.

  While the demon had its attention briefly robbed by Aedan, Erin took the chance to sneak an attack. Honour be damned. She lunged with a new sword conjured in her hand. However, the demon wasn’t naive. It spun around with its sword swinging. Erin dodged low, narrowly avoiding the sword that would have split her in two. From below, she countered with an upward ssh.

  The demon raised its foot and pressed down on Erin’s bde before she could even take a swing.

  Erin tutted and summoned another sword in her other hand.

  The demon responded with a kick with its other foot.

  Erin blocked the kick with her sword, but the strengthe behind the kick sent her sprawling across the ground.

  Suddenly, the demon spun around with a wide ssh that cut down a dagger streaking towards it.

  “You’re terribly vigint, aren’t you?” Aedan mused.

  The demon blurred from Aedan’s view and reappeared right in front of him.

  “Huh, looks like I have gotten your interest,” Aedan japed with a smile despite his impending death and doom.

  The demon reached out with its cws but paused for a moment. It looked to the ground beneath its feet. It saw a runic symbol carved into the floor. It was glowing. It was about to hop away but it raised its gaze and its hand suddenly, just in time to block a thrust to its head.

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Aedan said and distanced himself from the demon as the runic symbol took effect.

  Beams of light shot up from the floor. The light beams then solidified into tangible pilrs of light with the demon trapped in between. The demon tried breaking free, but the pilrs only shook a little.

  From behind, Erin lunged at the demon with a pair of swords in her hands.

  The demon’s eyes moved to Erin, but its body could barely move an inch. Its eyes widened as the twin bdes drew near. It could do nothing to avoid the bdes, unless…

  “Don’t be careless!” Aedan shouted.

  “I’m aware,” Erin said as she leapt into the air just as the demon unleashed a torrent of dark fmes at her. The fmes raged and rushed through below her. She could feel the heat. The heat alone was enough to make her shiver, but she braved through the feelings and positioned her fall towards the demon.

  The demon drew in its breath, preparing for another bzing breath.

  Aedan moved in from behind and kicked the demon’s head sideways just as the dark fmes spewed from the demon’s mouth. The fmes travelled towards Erin, but the bzing torrent missed her by a few inches.

  “Hah!” Erin shouted and let loose her bdes in a cross as she lunged past the demon. She turned around and brought her swords to the demon once more. She sliced and diced, sshing in all manners of direction.

  The demon erupted into a roar and spread its wings, which Erin and Aedan didn’t know it had. The demon broke out of its hold and it flew into the air. Cuts covered the demon, but none were deep enough to cause any significant damage.

  “My edge is dull,” Erin muttered.

  “When’s the st time you pleasured yourself? Or with anyone for that matter?” Aedan inquired.

  “Is this the time for that?”

  “Your debt is due. Your lust has over-accumuted. Your edge dulled as a result. That’s the condition of your almighty Mystic Bde.”

  “You can’t possibly be suggesting that we do it in the middle of a battle.”

  “That does sound very exciting. Extremely tempting, but no. That’s not possible.”

  “Of course, it’s not!”

  The wounds on the demon evaporated into mists, and all the damage it suffered was gone.

  Aedan raised an eyebrow. “It healed itself… huh.”

  “Any more fancy ideas?”

  “Plenty. But—”

  The demon roared and summoned fmes to its wings. The fmes took the form and shape of the demon wings and more.

  “Oh, dear. This is bad.”

  Erin kicked off the ground and shot towards the demon.

  “Don’t do that, you idiot!”

  Before Erin could get close, the demon beat its wings. Fming dark bolts flew from the burning wings. Erin cut down the bolts coming towards her, but no more than a few. She used her tails as a shield, enveloped in cyan fmes, as the dark bolts struck her to the ground.

  “Do you never learn!?” Aedan hurriedly dragged Erin to safety as he reprimanded her.

  “I have to try.”

  “Oh, shush! Just get behind me!” Aedan shouted and pulled out a bundle of scrolls.

  Erin climbed to her feet and got behind Aedan. “Scrolls? Spells from Ruri?”

  “Yes! Now, get behind me,” Aedan said and unfolded the scrolls just as the demon fpped its wings once more, unching bolts of dark fmes at them. The scrolls glowed radiantly as barriers formed around them.

  “Didn’t you say Ruri’s barrier isn’t that strong?”

  “It’s better than nothing and that’s why I use multiple of them at once. Fingers crossed!”

  “What does that mean!?”

  The bolts of dark fmes rained down on them. A single bolt shattered a single barrier. With a single barrage, the shields broke and shattered subsequently until there were none.

  “Now, you get behind me!” Erin shouted and tugged Aedan back, throwing him behind. She unleashed her Aura Domain at full capacity and proceeded to cut down all the bolts that were near while their surroundings were razed and levelled by the barrage.

  Fortunately, the barrage was not endless, nor did it st long. It ended after only a few seconds. Still, it felt longer than it was and the damage done was not something one could just brush off as negligible.

  “Now!” Erin cried and streaked towards the demon. She thrust her sword forward and her aura stormed towards the demon.

  Dark fmes spewed from the demon’s mouth.

  Fmes and aura cshed together. A shockwave exploded from the csh and fractured the surrounding area even more. Both of the attacks were continuous, and both strived to overwhelm the other. The results were obvious. It had been from the start. The fmes overwhelmed the aura and swallowed all that was in their path.

  Erin gave up competing with her aura and went straight for the demon, flying over the fmes.

  The demon closed its mouth, ending the torrent of fmes. The burning wings became talons and they shot towards Erin.

  Erin caught the talons’s blow with her sword. She couldn’t dodge them. They were as fast as her. Each of them was as heavy as a blow from the demon’s sword. She exchanged a few blows before one eventually struck against her strong enough to send her back to the ground.

  The demon brandished its wings again and prepared for another barrage.

  “I’m still waiting for you fancy ideas,” Erin said as she struggled to stand and speak.

  “I have one that could be very good or incredibly stupid.”

  The demon beat its wings, unleashing another wave of dark bolts upon them.

  “Then, just do it. What do we have to lose? We’ll die either way. I can’t fend them all off forever.”

  “Alright, then.” Aedan took out another scroll and unfolded it. The scroll glowed and a ray of light shout out from the parchment.

  As the bolts of dark fmes neared, they evaporated into harmless smoke.

  The light shone brightly and briefly smothered the entire room in its radiance.

  The burning dark fmes on the demon went out as the light struck the demon too.

  And faint darkness took hold of the room once more, but the demon dropped to the ground once the fmes were extinguished by the light.

  “Aedan, what the hell did you do?” Erin had to ask.

  “Ruri’s dispel. Looks like it works wonderfully on demons.”