"How tired I am of them," the Earth Spirit continued to grind the golems with a hail of stones.
"Seems like he made them from the remains of those golems," Sylphida repelled the enemies trying to approach the spirits, but her magic barely inflicted any damage. "It seems like there's some kind of magic protection on their armor.
"We can crush them like this for a very long time, and they'll keep regenerating," the Water Spirit maintained a watery shield around her comrades, protecting them from the golems' magical arrows.
"And my magic has little effect on them... I would love to melt them down into something more decent," Ifrit stood aside, occasionally throwing fireballs into the crowd. "Hey, old man, don't you want to help, or is your magic utterly useless here?"
"Tch, you need to be taught everything," the Lightning Spirit hadn't entered the battle yet and was accumulating magic. "Gather them all in one place, make sure no one is missed, and I'll show you how to fight properly.
"Alright, if you insist," Leviathan created a massive wave that rushed along the edge of the field and crashed into the center of all the golems.
"And I'll help," Titan created stone walls that gathered all the golems into one massive, wriggling pile of iron. They tried to break free, but the spirit strengthened the walls with each push, until all the living armors were amassed into one colossal heap.
"That's enough," Ramuh released all the gathered magic into the sky, and a storm cloud began to form over the opponents. After a moment, a massive lightning bolt descended from the sky, and electric discharges ran through the piled armors. At first, it seemed like their protection dispersed the magic, but it merely redirected it to the neighboring armors. In such a mess of armor, this did not diminish the pressure of the powerful spell. The spirit maintained the spell for several minutes, and only when the last armor turned to dust, he stopped the lightning.
"Well, it worked."
"You just needed to strike with a more potent spell," the wind blew away the dust left by the golems. "I disintegrated the bonds between the particles of metal, and even the Archdemon won't be able to restore them from such a state.
"So, you two are going to fight me together? You don't stand a chance," the demon swung his blade, and demonic flames rose around the square. "No one will interfere here."
The flames completely surrounded the arena, making it difficult even for the mighty spirits to penetrate here.
"Your tricks won't help you as long as I'm here," Nigrael conjured a whip woven from flames in his hand, and from its crack on the ground spread a dark crimson fire. "If you're going to take powers from the owner, I'll return them to him."
"It's only necessary so that no one interferes with us. Once I'm done with you, the demons will have to acknowledge my authority again, and the other great spirits will become a source of my power. I'm even thankful that I won't have to fight them in their realms."
The demon swung his blade and unleashed the full force of his demonic flames on me. Before the fire could reach me, I called upon earth magic and created a stone barrier that protected me from the heat.
"Shielded yourself with simple earth magic?"
"Not simple," I smiled and erected a wall around myself. "You seem to have forgotten where we are fighting."
For defense, I used the stones that formed the walls of the arena. Even if the barrier was destroyed, the powerful magic still lingered in them. It could protect me even from the flames of an Archdemon.
"Now it's my turn," I gathered flames in one hand and wind in the other, releasing a fiery vortex towards the demon.
The demon covered his face with his wings, and the flames shattered against his thick skin.
"You can't defeat a demon with fire," the demon continued bombarding me with fireballs, each time breaking through my defenses of enchanted stones.
I gathered all the moisture from the air and called forth more water from the spirit world. Releasing a watery stream towards the demon, I distracted him for a moment, but he quickly shook off the spell.
Sending a gust of wind along the ground, I cooled the water and froze the demon's legs in ice.
"Pathetic tricks," the demon had to use the flames on the ground to melt the restraints, but he was immediately caught by Nigrael's magic.
She created two stone walls and squeezed the demon between them.
The Archdemon resisted the pressure and quickly shattered the restraints; he was significantly stronger than the demoness in her current form.
But that gave me time to prepare for the next spell. I gathered lightning in my hands and hurled it at the demon before he could break free again.
"It still won't work," the demon again shielded himself with his wing, but the lightning pierced through him along with the monster's shoulder. "Ah, damn it."
"You may defend against the elements, but the magic of angels affects you."
I gathered light and lightning magic in my hand, shaping them into the form of a sword.
"Ha, feeble attempts to adapt to new power."
The demon shed his restraints and spread his wings. He no longer hoped to stay on the ground, where he could be trapped. He soared above the arena, dodging my attacks, while continuing to rain down a fiery torrent upon it.
I remained on the ground, continuing to shower the demon with spells, while Nigrael followed him into the air. The demoness attacked him with her whip, distracting him while I gathered my magic, but now he was more agile in evading my attacks, and I hit the target less frequently.
"You've become quite tiresome," Agrael began gathering a vast amount of magic, and the sky was lit up with crimson radiance.
"Oh, this is going to be dangerous," the demoness nervously shivered.
"What is he doing?"
"Summoning a meteor, the most potent demon magic. It's not just fire but a piece of the demon world itself. I remember the fourth one perished trying to stop him from annihilating the armies of the three kingdoms."
The clouds parted before the heat of the enormous rock falling from the heavens.
"While he's focused on the meteor, attack him. I'll come up with something," Nigrael instructed.
"Fine, but don't you dare die here, or the other spirits won't forgive me," Nigrael circled the meteor and unleashed a hail of blows on the demon. Despite being significantly smaller, she kept him at bay with her whip, while he directed his final attack towards me.
The earth shield wouldn't save me this time, and the elemental summoner had sacrificed his life last time to stop this. I had to rely on a different kind of magic. I gathered violet flames in my hands and released them into the sky. Simultaneously, I created a barrier around the rock to prevent the disintegration flames from reflecting back. Thanatos' power could dissolve even stone, quickly reducing it to dust, but it only intensified the heat emanating from the magic.
Once necromancy had done its work, only an enormous ball of fire remained above me, capable of scorching the entire arena down to its foundations.
"Ah, damn it," I shielded myself with an earth barrier made from the remnants of the Coliseum's walls and covered it with a watery shield from all the moisture I could gather.
The flames quickly vaporized the water shield and struck the arena. The fire disintegrated even the magic-infused stones, unable to contain the full force of the attack.
The remaining fragments of the earth shield turned to dust, and I fell to one knee. I had to take on some of the demonic magic with my body, and only the mantle saved me from death.
I had expended a significant amount of strength in this attack, and the mantle of the elements was severely tattered, rendering me unable to freely use magic.
"Well, here comes your end," the demon landed calmly before me. "Even all this magic doesn't make you invulnerable, and you can't change that."
"You're not immortal either; this attack almost depleted all your strength," I noticed that the demon, though still confident, was surprisingly struggling to catch his breath.
"But I won't need any strength to crush you."
"Nigrael!" I gave a command to the demoness, who had been flying in the sky, gathering strength for an attack.
"What is she going to do?! This wretch has always been just my pathetic shadow," the demon raised his gaze towards her, and immediately, he received a blow far more powerful than before. "What?"
"Finally, I can match your strength," the demoness was no longer the small spirit she used to be. Now she was just like Agrael. "You've always been blinded by your own power; you got it from your brother. While you recklessly unleashed that power with this spell, I gathered all the strength you wasted."
"Cursed devil spawn," the demon summoned a blade of flames in his hand and lunged at his opponent. The demoness easily evaded the attack and entwined her whip around his neck.
"How many times do you think I've fought my brother? And you're not a match for him either!" Nigrael jumped and delivered a powerful kick to the demon's neck. "This is not your sword."
The demoness crushed the demonic flames, and the blade dissolved into thin air.
"Nicely done," I praised the demoness, approaching the subdued demon.
"You yourself said not to return the power I take from him to you. I thought you would want to defeat him personally," she replied.
"And that will happen, but it would be difficult for me to fight him on equal terms. I can't grow in size just by absorbing a lot of magic," I summoned a blade of light in my hand again and pierced the demon's chest with it. Nigrael stepped aside, and I summoned lightning from the sky, which struck through the demon's entire body. The lightning didn't dissipate; instead, it pierced the monster's body and anchored him to the ground.
"Heh," Agrael couldn't move, but he still smirked maliciously. "Well then, finish me off. You don't have much time left anyway."
"You're right," I felt tremors in my hands that spread throughout my body. It seemed that even with an unlimited reserve of strength, using magic took its toll on my body. "But you won't get what you ask for from me."
"And what will you do? You won't have enough strength to seal me again."
"True, but if I kill you, you'll simply be reborn in the demon world."
"Ha! And I'll become stronger and return to take back what's rightfully mine."
"Sure, but you know, it might be easier to destroy you once and for all."
"You... you won't be able to! As long as I possess the strength of the summoner and the ruler of demons, you can't do anything to me!"
"You gained the power of the ruler of demons by subjugating his soul, so now you have two souls within you. Thus, when you die, you go to the demon world, but thanks to the demon's soul, you resurrect there just as you were before. However, doing so consumes a tremendous amount of magic, depleting the demon world, so many have refused to serve you."
"But they'll have to obey me because I'll always be stronger than this little runt," Agrael snorted in the direction of the demoness.
"Well, I thought it might be time to sever that connection," I said.
"Even the power of the summoner doesn't give you such authority!"
"Is that so?" The final sign of the ruler of spirits began forming in my hand. It was a long blade with a silvery edge. "Do you know who created the first souls that became the prototypes for all human, animal, and dragon souls?"
"Of course, it was the ancient gods."
"Wrong answer," I thrust the silver blade into the demon's chest, and the metal slowly spread across the monster's body. "They granted the power and forms to the great spirits, but the souls themselves were created by someone much better at handling pure energy magic. Thanatos created all the souls born after the world of spirits was created. And her power can destroy them all, except for the souls of ancient dragons."
I began removing the blade from Agrael's body, and magical energy took on the shape of a human. As the demon's strength left him, his body shrank significantly.
"With her power, I can even separate your souls," I pulled the blade out of the demon's body, and a human soul belonging to Mage Creighton remained attached to the blade. Before me stood a severely weakened demon who could barely maintain his form.
"Thank you," the demon couldn't even lift his head, but he was no longer the monster trying to conquer the world. "Even though you divided us, I won't last long, but I'm grateful to you for freeing me from his slavery."
The demon smiled at his sister one last time before his body turned to dust. I didn't feel his return to the world of spirits, meaning his soul was lost forever.
"And it's time for you to vanish too," I cleaved the spirit with the silver blade, completely erasing this soul from the cycle of life.