Rivena plunged her sword into the ground and leaned onto it as support. The battle had been going on for 3 days now, and the demons seemingly had infinite stamina. While elves could go without sleeping if they needed to, the humans couldn't so their forces were devasted with only the strongest fighters remaining.
The heroes had been locked in a constant fight with 2 Prince-ranked demons, for 2 of the 3 days they had been fighting a massive polar bear and another one.
The demons ravaged the humans in the blood-soaked snow, all the carnage even made the snow created by the eternal gale melt. Every second the casualty went up, and both sides were fighting on mounds of corpses.
While the demons had an extreme quantity of fighters, the humans brought the heroes, Archon Malkeith, and even Rivena was an extreme powerhouse. Some of the mercenaries were unexpectedly doing well, the humans hardly hung on they weren't even in an organized force anymore.
But every action they performed was essential considering nobody expected this kind of fight, what was expected was to fight one or two insanely strong demons, not an army plus the insanely strong demons.
Rivena bit her lip watching another line of demons approaching, both land and ground. She was currently alone, everyone was scattered and fighting off the demons. Rivena couldn't help but miss her mysterious companion, in times like this she really wish she had support, after all, she hadn't had a wink of sleep.
"Divine Spirits Blessing." Rivena chanted watching the demons approach her at high speeds.
Yellow lights surrounded Rivena and her body began glowing a yellow hue, her minor wounds were mended and her fatigue was chased away. Rivena raised her sword high into the air and got into a fighting stance, she let out a deep breath preparing herself mentally.
Right as the demons crossed a mental line Rivena made, she took a step and in the blink of an eye, she appeared before the group of demons delivering a sword strike from her waist. Blood rained and bisected corpses lay on the ground.
Rivena pushed forward watching the demons cower, she sliced through their shaky formation like butter appearing and vanishing between the demons at high speeds. The demons in the sky flew down at Rivena like predators hoping to deliver a counterattack to the true 'demon' before them.
Rivena delivered a 360-degree slash, cutting apart all the demons on the ground then raised her sword toward the air, spirits began channeling to her blade and she yelled: "Spirit Hellfire!" Flame shot forth from her blade, turning the demons arriving to ash.
Ashes fell from the sky, and a lone girl stood covered in blood, she leaned on her sword staring at the sky. The light that had illuminated her grew dim and she took deep breaths. Rivena had been abusing her spirit magic over the course of a few days, and her debt was racking up. Soon Rivena would go through a sort of penalty, and she would be vulnerable.
A crunching sound echoed through the mounds of corpses Rivena was standing in the middle of she looked over and saw a man approaching her slowly.
"Hello there! Elven friend." He said with an ominous smile.
The man had black hair he wore a pair of round polarized glasses covering his eyes with a plain black robe that covered his body, he was of average height and had a cute face making him look like a youthful boy or teenager. He slowly approached Rivena.
Rivena pointed at a mutilated body and gave the man a cold stare:
"If you pass that body I'll kill you."
The man walked over to the body and comically raised his hands, "Really! Then it's fine if I stand here then.
"Yes. Just do not cross it." Rivena said breathing heavily.
"You must be quite tired."
"I'm fine... But who are you?" Rivena asked the mysterious man.
The man tilted his head and pulled out a book ignoring her.
"Will you answer me?" Rivena pressed feeling anxious.
The man flipped the pages of the book in silence and soon stopped, he put his hand and pulled a cane made of dark wood out of the page.
"You know, I'm not much a combatant... But my king really respects my work, and has for years so I continue working for her using the tricks I have in my book." The man's eyes widened and he coughed, "Ahem-ahem! Actually, my king doesn't like for people to refer to them as a woman, so pretend I didn't say that."
Rivena didn't understand the man's words, she simply gripped her sword harder becoming more alert.
"This right here is one of those 'tricks' I mentioned. I made it myself! It's quite amazing, a blade that ignores physical form and cuts at someone's soul, most of us have weak souls allowing me to easily reap them! But that's not the true function of my blade."
Rivena looked at the man who had a crazed smile, she was finally realizing that this man probably was a demon.
"The true function of my blade is its ability to absorb the soul it cuts, with a full soul I can use it to reanimate the person in another body of my choosing! Is that amazing? But that's the thinking of an uneducated fool."
The man unsheathed the cane revealing a simple-looking silver blade, that had a somewhat ominous red aura surrounding it.
"If I absorb the soul and temper it, I can put it back into the body, with my own curse embedded into the soul enslaving the person! Yes! Incredible? Of course, I'm not a bad person who would treat my servants harshly. I simply need a housekeeper, my last one died of old age..." The man said with a somewhat sorrowful face.
"A beautiful elven lady like you would be a perfect fit, though having such a powerful person who could wreak havoc in my manor isn't an idea I have to take precautions right?"
"Are you sane?" Rivena looked at the man somewhat agitated understanding his intentions. She raised her blade from the ground and faced him.
"Hahaha!" The man laughed looking at Rivena. "My last housekeeper said that when I first met her. Trust me she said it again when she saw the condition of my manor... It really needs fixing, but nobody is dedicated like a loyal housekeeper."
Seeing Rivenas angered expression the man sighed.
"Listen, if you come without resistance I won't brand your soul... But if you do resist I will, of course, brand you, I won't make you work like a slave of course but my house requires high-quality servants."
"There's no chance." Rivena looked at him with bloodlust.
"Why must all beautiful vines be sharp."
The man drew his sword and walked towards Rivena, who was still fatigued and had no chance against him. Rivena swung her sword and dodged it with minimal effort and knocked it out of her hand, he then raised his blade and thrust it at her with a disappointed face.
But right before the blade would make contact he stopped.
Rivena swallowed and looked down at him, she saw an expression of true fear. Soon Rivena felt a pat on her shoulder, and the man jumped back at a speed couldn't completely make out.
"What are you doing here Beelzebub?" The other man walked past Rivena and approached Beelzebub who simply stood there.
The man who stood in front of Rivena was a well-toned handsome man who looked to be in his 20s, he had black long hair that was tied into a ponytail that fell down his back. He had a black kimono on with a red haori. A pure black katana sat on his waist, and he had a cold expression.
"P-Pale Morning!?" Beelzebub looked at the figure in front of him in disbelief.
"Yes, I'm only here as an avatar to sort this mess out." Pale Morning sighed looking down at all the bodies, "I don't want to incur your mother's wrath by harming you, so go home."
"Y-yes sir!" Beelzebub said and black wings spread out from his back he immediately soared into the atmosphere vanishing.
Pale Morning is perhaps the strongest being to roam the earth, he was the only known human or being, in general, to reach the height of everything possible and shatter it. Not only is he a tenth-class Archwizard, but he's also a tenth-star swordmaster... Well at least that's how you can measure him, he's a man who's surpassed all criteria.
"You are Pale morning! The legend?" Rivena gazed at the tall man with a smile showing that she was a fangirl.
"Yes, I am."
Rivena kneeled in front of him, a kneel to represent her respect.
Pale Morning looked a Rivena with a cold expression and then twitched a little, before saying:
"Leave this battle young lady, there is a much bigger threat coming here and in my avatar, I probably can't handle him."
Pale Morning waved his hands and all of Rivena's fatigue and wounds were healed.
"Go."
Rivena stood up and shot off in the opposite direction with a conflicted expression.
Pale Morning stood staring in the direction that the heroes were fighting and instantly vanished from his spot.