BOOOOM!
The ground was torn open and the underground stronghold that the demons had quickly built was completely exposed.
Rays of light so radiant that it burnt the skin shown through like a ray of sunlight, and In an instant, the iconic hiss of the dark element meeting the light element spread out.
The angel, followed by hundreds of paladins, loomed over the darkness.
The middle-aged demon stood alone. She raised her hand and gripped her horn tightly.
Her eyes locked with the angels, and her gaze was cold.
With a violent twist, the horn broke off with a crisp crack. Pain so great that the mind went white shot through her brain as she gritted her teeth, enduring. The darkness element flooded out like an explosive wave, crashing against the curtain of light and exploding into a monumental pressure that mixed in a variety of forms, spreading out into a sea of chaos.
Surrounding her emerged over two hundred 'lesser-demons', all formed from her own spiritual energy. They rose up like an army, grabbed a nearby weapon, and dove forward, attacking the light bound army opposite them.
From the sky, the angel grinned viciously.
"Not running? You want to stay back and fight? Who are you trying to protect! I guess you're not just a small group of nobodies, what luck! Hahaha!"
The Angels' laugh spread out. The Halo above his head began to spin even more violently, almost like an engine that had been building up momentum, sparks starting to fly as it scraped against the very void.
The paladins and demons clashed, quickly displaying the church of lights supremacy against the dark element in what quickly became a one-sided slaughter.
The angel shot down, breaking through the wind with a boom and manifesting a spear of light to swing at the woman. The woman pulled out a mace that condensed from pure darkness and clashed with the angel, producing a massive shockwave!
Booooom!
Booooom!
Booooom!
They clashed dozens of times.
In the short moment of the first exchange, almost a tenth of the conjured army had already fallen. Raina gritted her teeth. She knew that she wouldn't be able to stall for long enough like this.
In the moment between another clash, she unhesitantly raised her hand and broke off her second horn with a ruthlessness that could even impress Petra.
A demon's horn usually came in pairs. They contained a large amount of elemental energy and usually grew back at an extremely slow speed. The usual practice was to keep one horn as a 'never use' kind of thing, well only breaking the other when needed in a close fight. This horn contained the entirety of Raina's long life's accumulation of the darkness element.
Unlike the first horn that she had broken off, this one exploded in a violent wave of black energy that completely engulfed the surroundings.
The Angel shot back, quickly building distance and frowned.
His eyes flickered with an unknown emotion.
"You're that desperate? Your life for them? Just why have you people come here? What's so worth risking your already dwindling species?"
He sneered. "Ha! It's not like it matters"
His wings flapped with a powerful wind.
He shot back, diving through the darkness and past the lesser demons that had begun to manifest in the new sea of darkness. He was like a light in the night, splitting through the darkness and piercing directly at the woman with a terrifying speed.
The spear of light cut, and a large part of the darkness was dispersed with a radiant sweep.
Whoosh! From the side smashed the female demon's mace!
The angel twisted back his arm and met the mace with another stab.
The woman could feel her body breaking apart with each exchange. Whoever this angel was, his light element was more condensed than the angels she had previously met.
As the demon and the angel continued to exchange in the dark, the surrounding elemental energy all condensed and formed large figures that continued to confront the light mages, paladins, and priests
The priests chanted holy words to dispel the darkness, the light mages summoned waves of sunlight and rays of light to purify the darkness, and the paladins continuously sliced through the lesser demons like butter. It was a one-sided massacre, one that the demons had a very low chance of winning.
The lesser demons that had been conjured weren't simple summoned creatures either, they were real demons that had been transformed into an elemental. It was a form of perseverance in a world where demons had no home. They had all given themselves to the middle-aged woman as soldiers that could be called upon. This was the same for the other 14 demon commanders. It was a desperate move, but it was their only option while locked in this eternal stalemate between humans and demons.
Watching her army dwindle one at a time, the woman knew that she was in trouble.
'Petik, you need to survive, even if we all die! Even if your goal for calling us here is fake!"
The woman cried in her mind, slamming her mace down.
Boom!
The collision formed a crater and exploded with the condensed dark element, throwing the angel and the middle-aged demon away from each other.
There was the sudden sound of a loud groan.
Something flashed in the woman's hand, dripping black and pulsating with a horrifying pressure. Using this as the last opportunity to attack, she thrust her hand forward and a ray of black light erupted from her body and shot towards the angel with lightning-like speed.
The angel's eyes widened as he was shot back, and a large hole was torn in his chest.
He crashed into the ground, only to jump up at a horrifying speed, almost as if he wasn't injured at all.
The woman looked at him in despair as the Angel Rose into the sky, its wings extending out straight. The large hole in his chest healed within mere seconds, and his hollow body was like a small sun. A blinding light pulsed from his body, and 6 more wings stretched out from behind his back. His pale flesh became more radiant, slowly turning into the pure light element. The halo on his head spun even faster, slowly turning from a ring to a full sphere above the angel's head. All the while, his realm continued to grow, exceeding the fifth realm and surpassing what Raina could feel.
He was a 'self summoned light elemental'!'
She finally understood what she was fighting against.
They weren't just a small group of which hunters from the church of Light, no, they were one of the main extermination teams that had been sent to the Cross continent for a secret mission! She had accidentally bumped head first into these monsters!
The angel laughed so loud that the air broke like glass.
The mere shockwave from his voice launched the woman, as if hit by a truck, she was blasted backwards.
The angel slammed down his foot and shot even higher up, grinning like a mad man. "Hahah! How incredible! A fifth order demon! I didn't think there were many left! All of your kind has fallen back to the fifth realm! What was your real realm!? I can't wait to rip you open and find out!"
His eyes shot open, and he prepared to continue.
Suddenly…
"Huh? Where did she go…!?"
The angel was dumbstruck. Raina had completely disappeared. He couldn't feel her presence at all.
Scanning the area, he failed to find even the smallest semblance of the female demon.
All that surrounded him was the devastation he had caused and the hundreds of dead demons… and the crowd that had been attracted along with the city guard.
"Ah…?"
* * *
Elsewhere, the demon Petra had met before, Petik, was sprinting through the alleys.
He moved silently, every step calculated and perfect.
He understood Raina's sacrifice. She might have been stubborn, but no one cared more about the Demon King's bloodline than her. He wanted to save the queens guard, but she wanted something more. She had given him all her hope. She had already decided to die the moment it involved the royal family.
He turned a corner —
Shkk!
A spear of light tore through the sky and pierced his leg.
Petik crashed into a wall, pain flooding his nerves.
He looked up to see a lone female angel descending, her wings folding gracefully around her hips as her feet touched the ground in a ripple.
"Let's make a deal," she said, her voice calm and melodic. "Tell me why you came here, and I'll let you go."
Petik's hands trembled. He grabbed his head, shaking as if in terror.
"I—I… We… came for a person! The boss said… he was locked in the Sky Tower! Please! Don't kill me!"
The angel's eyes narrowed in disgust.
"Pathetic. Do you really believe that nonsense? Breaking out a prisoner from the Sky Tower? Impossible."
"W-What do you mean? I-I was told we just had to dig—"
Two rays of light flashed.
"Ahhh!"
Petik screamed.
His hands had been cut off.
The angel looked down coldly. "Garbage. Do you think your kind deserves a future? Your so-called king will never return. After the Calamities, the world will be rebuilt and there will be no place for demons like you."
She kicked him hard, sending him flying into a wall.
"Cowards! Running from death. Your progenitor would weep at what you've become."
She turned and took off again, chasing the darker aura in the distance. She didn't realize that, in her arrogance, this man was the leader of the Demons, and that mistake would eventually cost her dearly.
* * *
Meanwhile, Raina's body was flung across the city from the angel's mere laugh alone.
Her vision blurred, and her limbs went numb. The last attack, that black beam, had consumed her demon core entirely. Without it, her cultivation was already fading.
For certain reasons, Demons above the fifth realm had all fallen to the fifth realm, even those at the ninth realm. The demon core prevents one from falling further, but now Raina was hollow.
She forced herself up, trembling.
Strangely, the angel didn't seem to pursue her.
She looked over and caught his gaze sweeping over her direction, yet passed right by.
She couldn't understand.
Her body collapsed again, blood pooling beneath her feet.
Then…
Crunch!
She turned her head weakly.
Her eyes widened.
There, sitting in a simple chair about an arms length away, was a little green-haired girl eating popcorn and wearing little lensless glasses. Behind her stood two young maids, neither older than eleven. From this spot, the child had a perfect view of the entire battle.
For the first time in many years, Raina froze, completely unable to comprehend what she was looking at.
-
Petra looked toward the overweight auntie who had just been thrown into the barrier. Was this also fate?
"Auntie, this is a medical store. What are you here to buy?"
The woman blinked, her brain freezing even further.
This little girl definitely knew what she was. Why was she talking so casually?
"Little girl… Do you know what I am?"
Petra tilted her head cutely. "Nyaa, who doesn't?"
"Then… Do you know who that is?" She pointed toward the massive ball of light with eight blazing wings.
Petra gave her a look that said, Are you stupid?
The woman hesitated. "Then why…"
Petra hopped down and walked inside. "Auntie, only the fated can enter this place."
Raina stared blankly, unsure what to do. Her legs were weak, her blood still pooling.
She turned toward the shop. The moment she did, her instincts screamed in terror. The pressure inside that simple wooden tower was terrifying. Whatever was inside… was not normal.
She hesitated. Then she smiled weakly. "Fate, huh…"
She thought back to the first time she met the Demon King. His words still echoed in her heart.
She forced her body to move and pushed the heavy wooden door open.
Inside, the shop looked plain, almost ordinary, but Raina could feel terrifying beings both above and below. Still, her eyes were drawn to the small green-haired girl behind the counter.
Petra smiled brightly. "What can we do for you?"
Raina hesitated. "I don't have long to live, but… there's something I still need to do... Can you help me?"
Petra tilted her head, smiling. "Sure, but remember… everything has a price. You don't seem to have money, what can you offer?"
Raina didn't speak. Her trembling hand reached into her pocket and pulled out an old compass. It was a gift from the Demon King himself, broken during the earlier battle. It was all she had left.
"This is all I have."
Petra took it, eyes flashing.
"A love token between a King and his beloved? Quite the treasure."
Raina froze. "A… what?"
Petra tilted her head again. "You don't know?"
"I… don't understand."
Petra puffed out her cheeks. "These markings… see? 'AP.PP.DP.' Family initials. This kind of compass was made to reunite broken families."
She opened the compass. The needle spun… and pointed directly at Petra.
"You see? It's pointing at me. That means you have to go through me to reunite the family. It's fate!"
Petra frowned. "Tsk. That also means you can't use this as payment…. Troublesome."
She pushed it back with two hands. "Do you have anything else?"
Raina was speechless. She had opened that compass thousands of times, but it had never moved.
She looked at the girl in disbelief, but there was no time to question it.
"Is there… anything you want?" she asked softly.
Petra grinned. "Your blood. How about becoming my experiment for a few days?"
With fading vision, Raina nodded weakly.
As Petra pulled her upstairs the same way a daughter would, Raina secretly opened the compass again.
The needle still pointed at Petra.
-
With the competition almost ready to start, the city was in chaos. The Church of Light had used the recent attacks as an excuse to comb through the entire area. For three days, they searched every street, claiming to have purged all demons.
By the time the city settled again, peace had returned on the surface.
But beneath it…
The storm was only beginning to rise.