William and Richard engaged into battle once more. The brute demon swung the halberd he picked up from the ground, clashing it into one of Richard's weapons that he made from his skill, Filtering luminosity.
Their clashes caused the terrain around them to shatter like fragile glass.
Hills crumbled in the distance, dead bodies danced through the air from the large gusts of wind, and Mammon stood up once more, holding her face with her palm, barely able to muster any magic.
["I used up all of my mana in that previous attack... I need William to stall for me until I can recover."]
Mammon kept her hoody over her head, crouching down to her knee until a shockwave engulfed her from distances away.
["Gaaah!"] She flew backwards, landing on her back. ["Such brute strength! William rarely uses magic, he relies on physical strength in a battle. Hand to hand combat with him is a threat to even the strongest of fighters... and yet Richard is still going toe to toe with him."] She slowly risen back to her feet in a shaking manner. ["A surprise attack is my last resort... I must make it pay off when the time is right!"]
Richard slashed his blade of light at William's chest, carving a scar into his body.
The brute demon slid backwards, spinning his halberd around in one hand, and swinging it with enough strength to shatter Richard's weapon of light, plowing the halberd right into his side.
Richard clenched his teeth in pain while wincing an eye.
His body rag-dolled to the side, causing him to slide on his hip, holding it in pain.
("Hm? Richard is getting slower through the course of this battle, could he be holding back against me? No... that can't be it. What's going on? I'm able to react to his movements, that shouldn't be possible.") William calmly took deep breaths, trying to decipher what was going on, until he could feel a finger poking at his back.
["Ya-hoo~! William, it's meee!"] A short girl with long red hair appeared behind William, throwing up a peace sign as she winked.
She shown little to no care at all on the battlefield, and acted nonchalant.
["P-Patricia? What are you doing here? I thought you were the one supporting our campsite to aid injured soldiers? This place is too dangerous for you, retreat immediately!"] William turned around with a large wound on his chest, pushing her back.
["Awww, but it was just getting fun. Without me, you wouldn't have been able to react to his attacks you know?"] Patricia pouted as she placed her hands on her hips.
["You're the one empowering me? What magic allows you to do that?"] William asked curiously.
["Silly William, don't you know about magic eyes? Only 0.5% of the worlds population has them, and I have one in my disposal. It's more common for demons to have them rather humans."]
William scratched his chin, looking up in thought.
["Huh... to think you had something that useful. Well damn, that's helpful as hell!"] William wrapped his large arm around Patricia's neck, pulling her in for a side-hug.
["Hey, I'm fragile! Lemme go you big brute!"]
["Bahaha! What's the matter Patricia? Scared of a little affection?"] Shouted William.
("So that's it...") Richard slowly risen to his feet, holding his hip in pain. ("This was the demons trump card... hiding their magic eyes from us...") Richard closed one eye, barely able to stand until his wound slowly started to heal. ("I have to end this quickly, damnit. A little bit longer and my own skill will eventually kill me from erasing me outta existence.") Richard scoffed. ("Yeah... it erases anyone who's done wrong in their life. The more wrongdoings they done in their life, the stronger my skill is against them... but it also effects me. I'm not perfect, I also done wrong in my life... so it slowly eats away at my very existence.") Richard finally healed his broken rib with his skill, standing up straight again. ("I have to make this quick... and take care of that red-haired demon.")
["Looks like he's ready to fight again!"] Patricia proclaimed.
["Back up, Patricia, just aid me on the sidelines. I'll handle him from here!"] William shoved Patricia behind him, holding his halberd in one hand.
["Lets settle this."] Richard stomped forward and clasped together his palms.
Light illuminated around his body until multiple portals opened above his head.
The portals were at least a dozen.
["Heavenly Rain of Purification!"]
Richard had launched multiple beams of light from all twelve portals above his head. They approached William and Patricia, zig-zagging around their bodies to take them by surprise, until they accelerated into the air, and shot back down like thunder hitting the ground!
William managed to evade the small beams of light, as the aftereffect left a small explosion of golden radiance.
["Gyaaaa!!!"] However Patricia didn't evade.
She was struck by the attack, being engulfed in a golden explosion.
She flew backwards with third degree burn marks all over her arms, and neck.
["Patricia!!!"] William yelled for his injured friend, realizing she was knocked unconscious. ["Damn you, Richard!"]
["It ain't over!"] Richard responded, as a beam of light came from the sky, approaching William.
["You have to be kidding me!"] William dashed forward and evaded the light beam, however another one intercepted his path, piercing through his chest. ["Huaaa!"] William coughed up blood as he stumbled forward, falling flat on his stomach. ["Nghhh..."] He clenched his teeth, enduring the harsh pain. ["My body... I feel my spirit slowly fading away... as if it's being erased from existence along with my mana. If I take another one of those attacks, I'm done for..."]
William slowly looked up to face Richard who seemed to be panting.
["Patricias magic eyes, they empowered my reaction speed, and strength. I was fighting toe to toe with Richard, that's how powerful I was... but now she's knocked unconscious, and I'll never get the chance to defeat him."] William closed his eyes in shame. ["Damnit... we were so close!"]
["Heavenly Rain of Purification homes in on its enemy. It cannot be stopped by any obstacle until it hits its target. Even if you attempted to block it with something else, it would be converted into photons to phase through the object until it gains mass once again to pierce you through the soul, wiping you away from existence. The only reason you're alive right now, is because you didn't take the full brunt of the attack."] Richard smiled as sweat poured down his forehead. ["This battle was over before it even began."] He was slowly killing himself using this skill, but now he didn't have to worry about that any longer once he finished them off.
["You're forgetting one person..."] A voice appeared behind Richard—
["What?"] Before Richard could turn around, he felt a blade stab through his chest, drawing blood from his lips. ["Grghhh!"] Richard eyes widened, stumbling forward once the blade was removed, and falling to his hands and knees. ("I didn't detect them... what's going on? Heavenly Rain of Purification should've targeted them passively!") The Ironheart spat out more blood as he gotten weary.
["Say, you must be wondering why your attack didn't come at me? Well it's pretty simple..."] The one who stabbed Richard was wearing all black, with a mask wrapped around their face, similar to a ninja. ["Its because you can't attack what you can't see."] The individual stabbed Richard once more, this time through his shoulder.
["Aaaghhh!!!"] Richard yelled in pain, feeling the blade drawing deeper wounds on his body.
["My name is Alex, I am a demon that lurks in the shadows. My special ability is concealing all of my mana, even in my soul, causing me to go undetected, even if I were to stand right in front of your very eyes."]
Richard held his shoulder while his hand clenched on the ground, scraping his nails on the sullied battlefield.
["So you came, Alex?"] Appearing behind Alex was another demon, Mammon.
She walked up to him, standing by his side with a satisfied grin.
["Your incredible stealth ability managed to take him down, very impressive."]
Alex stood up straight once Mammon stood next to him, causing the masked-demon to blush.
["O-Oh... Lady Mammon..."] His voice was usually deep and emotionless until Mammon came around, forcing him to change his posture, and tone of voice. Alex cleared his throat and turned the other away, disembarking eye contact from Mammon. ["Hard work pays off in the end..."] Muttered Alex.
["Indeed, it does. Now then, Richard is on his hands and knees for once, how does it feel, human? To feel so weak, and belittled?"] Mammon walked up to Richard, stomping on his shoulder, and digging her heel into his wound.
["Guaaaaaa!!!"] Richard screamed in pain, feeling blood splurging from his shoulder.
Mammon was ruthless in her actions, wanting revenge on Richard from what he's done.
The demons were ruthless, showing no mercy to their foes.