Stoma was an actual individual who was adept and experienced in killing, unlike Grin who only attained his strength through luck and cowardice.
Theo knew from playing the game, petty tricks won't work with Stoma.
"I'll let you have the first move, I'll enjoy this fight while it lasts." Stoma chuckled as he taunted Theo to attack by beckoning him with his finger.
Theo gripped his hand, frightened to even make a single move in front of overwhelming strength like Stoma.
Demon Count's are far stronger than a normal Expert, almost twice the strength of a normal Expert.
The only way you could fight a demon in the same tier or level was to have means to defeat them with something special.
And what was the most effective weapon against demons?
"Holy flame." Theo casted touching the base of his blade with left hand.
Fwoosh*
Theo infused his remaining measly mana on his sword, cladding it with a beautiful golden flame. One would easily get captivated by the mesmerizing fleeting flames that crackled upon Dawn.
"Hoh, you're using the power of those winged hypocrites! This makes me even more excited than before! Lord Gremory will be more delighted when I offer your head on a silver platter"
WHOOOSH!
Theo charged forward with unyielding conviction and swung his flaming sword at Stoma.
TING!*
Stoma blocked the attack with his long claws with ease.
Sizzle*
"Kuh" Stoma flinched in pain
But the flames were slowly burning off his claws, forcing him to attempt to bite off Theo's head in their locked position.
Every person's Holy attribute has different shades of color from white to black, even people that have the dark attribute can have a holy attribute. After all, the holy attribute is only non-exclusive to the demonic attribute, though some cases are exceptions.
Theo dodged it, saving his head from being decapitated and attempted to slice the left arm of Stoma in a swift motion.
BANG!
Sadly for Theo, a blinding punch came from his right forcing him to block it, sending him flying across the space.
"Sh*t, that hurts..." Theo muttered in frustration.
Theo skidded himself to stop while planting his sword onto the ground. Theo dissipated most of the shock by purposefully jumping at the direction of where the punch headed but his hands became bloodied and bruised because of how much force Stoma placed on his sword.
"Heal..."
Theo healed his bloodied hand, preventing it from slipping from his grasp because of how wet it became because of blood.
BANG!
Stoma cracked the ground, bolting towards Theo like a steel truck.
Here he comes!
Theo braced himself
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"FUTILE!"
Stoma passed through the mines almost unharmed and continued charging at Theo.
"Sh*t!"
Theo dove and rolled to the right, dodging the behemoth of a charge that Stoma performed.
It barely scratched him.
Stoma came out of the explosions unfazed and basically scot free. Theo thought that the further use of mines would only result in wasted mana, so he decided to focus on dodging and potentially sometimes getting a hit in, because there wasn't anything else he could really do.
"Wind scythe!" Grin shouted in a guttural voice.
Fwooosh!
A sharp blade of wind darted towards Theo at an alarming rate.
Stoma's main attribute was Wind, specifically demonic wind, a more amplified version of normal wind magic with a sprinkle of demonic mana akin to Holy mana. Unlike Holy mana which solely intends to deal with demons.
Demonic mana is the epitome of destruction, it amplifies the destructive force of any being that commands it. A power solely for destroying, which is why Demons are generally stronger than most races that exist in Alethea.
Theo dodged it, but a bit of his hair flew off, because of how close the spell was on hitting him.
"How about we add more to the table twerp! WIND SCYTHE BARRAGE! HAHAHA"
F*cking maniac!
Dozens or maybe even a hundred wind scythes were summoned behind Stoma and all fired at Theo
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Theo started deflecting, attacking and dodging all the incoming wind scythes that homed on him, but some wind scythes inevitably sliced him on different parts of his body, riddling him full of small cuts all over his body, though not lethal, the pain was nonetheless almost unbearable.
"Hah.... hah.... hah...."
Theo knelt on the ground, exhausted, his stamina was at its tipping point. It wasn't even an hour since their fight transpired and he was already on the verge of death.
Stoma grinned at Theo's wounded display.
WHOOOSH!
Stoma once more charged at Theo once more, not giving him much time to recover
BANG!
F*ck!!!
Theo rolled to the side dodging the claws of Stoma. He got up and dove once more-
BANG!
-saving his life once again from the clutches of Stoma.
"Hahaha Crawl! Crawl more! I'm elated that you haven't given up!"
Theo propped himself up with the help of his sword, acting as a cane for him to stabilize his posture. His knees were trembling, his sight was getting blurry and his breath was ragged and hoarse. His body was at its limit, despite not having any critical injury, thankfully, he nonetheless had multiple small gaping wounds all over his body.
Theo expected the Wind scythe barrage to happen. He saw how it reaped dozens of examinees' lives in a single moment.
Theo felt that death was waiting for the moment he'd snuff out his soul.
Theo could use Sacrifice Lifeblood, which would increase his strength into the upper half of Expert tier, overpowering the strength of the current Stoma in front of him, but there Theo knew activating wouldn't necessarily warrant him the win.
One, Theo wasn't skilled enough or observed Stoma enough for him to read his every move and guarantee the kill.
Two, He knew that after using the skill, he'll be completely at the mercy of Stoma if he fails to kill him
And Three, Stoma was a Demon experienced and skilled, attaining a slightly stronger power level might give Theo an edge, but if it was only a few seconds? chances are that he might be able to almost kill him by decapitating a limb or two but with the time limit he had? He would most likely run out of time and die.
So he had to somehow get an attack in, that's when he'll go for the kill with Sacrifice Lifeblood.
There was no other option but to go all out and somehow get an opening for the kill!
Theo took one deep breath, his eyes cold, his body relaxed, and his mind calculative and observing.
Its do or die.
Theo unsummoned Dawn and summoned the steel sword he used to fight the Red Beast.
He then tapped on the base of his sword as he chanted.
"Holy flame"
Stoma found the actions and demeanor of Theo amusing, smiling at the futility the child in front of him was enacting
"How naive, I absolutely love it. I'm looking forward to seeing you groveling on the ground in despair"
Theo stepped forward and charged, sprinting at the three meter hulking demon in front of him, casting all of his fears and doubts in his mind, having faith in his belief to have a better future and ending that everyone deserves.
Theo, a step away from Stoma, placed all his strength on his burning sword.
"HAAAAH!"
TING!*
SHIIING!*
The fingers Stoma had were cut off
"!?"
Stoma tried to retreat, because of the shock, but the bug in front of him was persistent and stuck close to him.
Shing!* Shing!*Shing!* Shing!* Shing!*
"YOU!?"
Stoma tried to swat Theo away like a bug, but Theo just ducked and chraged in between his legs, almost diving, with his smaller figure and cut one of his tendons on his left ankle, making Stoma kneel on the spot.
Make as much damage now THEO!
"HAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
The swung his sword with great effort one last time
SHICK!
Theo dug his sword halfway down Stoma's right arm, disabling that limb for the rest of the fight
"GRAHHHHH!!!!!!"
Stoma grasped his right arm in pain, roaring.
Now!
Theo took a few steps back, summoned Dawn once more and shouted with a dynamic stance
"SACRIFICE LIFEBLOOD!"
Not even waiting a single second, when the world started to slow down significantly, Theo went in and slashed the injured arm Stoma had, completely severing it.
Thud!*
Stoma's arm plopped onto the ground lifelessly.
Theo once again went in for a strike but was stopped by a gigantic claws that protruded out of Stoma's fingers.
TING! CRIIIIING!
"BASTARD! You best believe your death won't be an easy one anymore!"
Three seconds!-!
BANG!*
Theo dodged the incoming kick of Stoma and again aimed for his neck.
TING!*
Sh*t!!!
Theo saw Stoma's eyes, it was far different from the aloof one he had earlier. He fully recognizes Theo as a genuine threat now.
Come on! one last second!
Theo placed everything on the line, one last strike, one last time to end the demon in front of him!
"HEAVENLY SLASH!"
His sword illuminated in golden light as it traversed towards the neck of the Demon, shining light to the whole isolated space.
*****
Plop* Plop* Plop*
The sound of blood dripping echoed throughout the isolated space.
"Hahaha..." Theo laughed as he laid on the ground unmoving, because of the after effects
Thud* Thud* Thud*
A giant shadow was casted on the laying Theo
F*ck...
"Hahaha! finally! I can't believe an insignificant human like you gave me trouble! "
Theo lost, he failed to cut off Stoma's head.
Stoma managed to dodge it and block it with his other arm which also got cut because of the sheer power behind Theo's slash.
Stoma's survival instincts kicked in and saved his life from Theo's hands.
The disparity in experience and skill was just too wide of a gap. Tricks like that only work on idiots like Grin. Stoma is a hardened Veteran, it was only natural Theo would lose even if he used Sacrifice Lifeblood.
Theo gripped his hands with what was left of his strength weakly, the frustration running down from his brain down to his throat felt unbearable, overpowering the feeling of physical pain he was going through.
Stoma once more creepily giggle in delight
"I was here for the saint, but thank the demon god that the descendant of a cursed family showed up! Lord Gremory shall rejoice when he get's this news."
Saint? Aurora? My mother. There was a Saint in Apple town????
Theo was too weak to ask what Stoma meant by saint and he doubted that the demon would even give him the grace of giving him more information.
"You struggled like a rat. It's time for you to rest and die"
Stoma lifted his foot above, ready to crush Theo under his foot.
Crack*
Theo hated it, he hated the fact that it had to end this way.
Crack*
BOOOOOOM!!!!!
I hate the fact that I became the damsel in distress in the end.
"Wh-!?"
Before Stoma could even speak further in surprise, he disappeared with a blink of an eye, flying across the isolated space in lightning speed
Blue sparks trailed where Stoma was launched and that was the last thing Theo remembered before fainting because of exhaustion.