"Finally here, after so many years!" Skyfire fearlessly stared at Mooddemon, shaking her head with a cute smile. The size difference between the two was too much—Skyfire could barely see Mooddemon's head even after looking up.
"Happy to see you, Skyfire.; I'm really happy!" Mooddemon said with her hoarse voice.
Without any further hesitation, Skyfire shouted and cast her spell, "Land of Lava!"
Everything within a radius of 5 kilometers began to burn and melt into a sea of lava. The extent of destruction in a fight between two demon kings is huge; no one below at least 60% demonic bloodline purity could even watch it. If they tried, they would only be caught in the middle and killed.
Demons have powerful fire resistance, which means Skyfire's attack didn't much harm Mooddemon. However, it did change the environment from rocky terrain to one of lava, which would aid her in battle.
"One step ahead!" Mooddemon cast one of her trump cards right off the bat. It was another bloodline spell that created a channel with the moon, allowing her to predict her opponent's next move with a very high degree of reliability.
"Piece of the Sun!" Skyfire cast. This bloodline spell was one of her most powerful offensive spells; it literally shot a piece of sun like a bullet toward the target. Its energy was so intense that even a demon king's fire resistance would not be able to negate it.
"Moonshield!" Mooddemon, who knew in advance thanks to one step ahead, cast her most convenient defensive spell. A shining sphere resembling the moon appeared and blocked the path of Piece of the Sun.
Demon kings usually can cast at least 10 bloodline spells, with some able to cast more and others less. Mooddemon was among those with a vast number of bloodline spells.
The Piece of the Sun hit the moon and burned through it as if it was butter. It went deeper and deeper, finally emerging on the other side and continuing toward Mooddemon. But its speed had greatly reduced, allowing Mooddemon to dodge it easily.
The moon was pierced but didn't disappear; it had a hole through it, but most of it remained intact.
"Moon March!" Mooddemon cast, and the moon, with a hole in the middle, shot toward Skyfire at high speed.
"Boosted Accurate accelerated Teleportation!" Skyfire cast, feeling the space around her with discomfort. It was so difficult to break through that even with the boosted and accelerated version of the high-level spell Accurate Teleportation, she still barely managed to teleport away.
The moon struck the spot where she had been a moment before, causing a massive splash in the sea of lava and creating towering waves. The lava lake was vast and deep, by no means shallow.
"Summon: Lava Sharks," Skyfire cast from her new position.
Mooddemon was standing on the lava with no protection against the sharks, making her vulnerable, but there was an easy way out.
"Fly!" Mooddemon took to the air, ignoring the sharks below.
"Summon: Sky Lava Sharks!" Skyfire cast another summoning spell.
"Hmm… that's all you've got? A few summoned fishes?" Mooddemon mockingly shook her head.
The Sky Lava Sharks were like ordinary sharks, except they were each 20 meters long, shining orange, and occasionally spewing lava.
"Mooncover," Mooddemon, who was ready thanks to one step ahead, cast another spell. A semi-transparent moon projection appeared around her, defending against the lava sharks spewed.
The sharks wildly attacked the moon projection but failed to penetrate it in the slightest.
"Brain Explosion," Mooddemon cast. Trying to explode the brain of a fellow demon king with one spell was a fantasy that had nothing to do with reality, but it still managed to delay Skyfire by one second.
Just as Skyfire was stunned for that single second, Mooddemon activated the formation she had set up long before the battle.
The ground, which was a lava ocean, immediately solidified. The lava sharks, both in the ocean and sky, turned to stones. The space around them hardened further, making teleportation nearly impossible. The stars in the sky disappeared, leaving only one moon shining brighter than ever.
"Moon Miracle!" Mooddemon cast.
The Moon Miracle spell is one of the most weird ones. It's an unstable spell that can have any result—it could be very good for the caster or very bad.
The moon in the sky shone brighter and brighter.
"As I thought, the world itself wants me to win!" Mooddemon smiled. She discovered the miracle's function: as long as the moon remains in the sky, it would provide at least a 50% increase in strength for all moon-related spells.
"Clear Element!" Skyfire cast. She had also deduced some clues about the effects of the Moon Miracle, so she tried to clear the surrounding area of many moon elements to reduce the boost it provided to moon-related spells.
"Moonshield," followed by "Moon March," Mooddemon cast. A large moon appeared and immediately began advancing toward Skyfire at extreme speed. It was much faster and bigger than the one before.
"Bosted Accelerated Melt!" Skyfire cast one of her trump cards.
Even the boosted version of Moonshield and Moon March was far from enough to defend against the boosted and accelerated Melt spell cast by Skyfire. The big moon began melting at extreme speed. By the time it reached Skyfire, it had already softened and completely melted.
"Infinite Sun!" Skyfire cast, attempting to take away Mooddemon's advantage on the battlefield. A sun appeared, illuminating the dark, starless sky with its bright light.
"Sun and Moon!" Mooddemon cast another of her bloodline spells. Though specialized in the moon, she also had considerable expertise in the sun. In general, she was an expert in astrology, not just the moon.
The brightly shining moon began to invade the sun, trying to swallow it. Skyfire attempted to save the sun but was obstructed by Mooddemon.
Moments later, the sun was swallowed whole by the moon. Mooddemon specialized in the way of the moon, while Skyfire wasn't specialized in the way of the sun; naturally, she managed to overpower Skyfire.
Seeing it was useless to fight Mooddemon over dominance in the sky, Skyfire did what she did best.
"Sun's Surface!" she cast her strongest spell. An area with a radius of 10 kilometers began melting, causing huge disturbances and tornadoes in the atmosphere. The aftermath of this battle would likely be felt thousands of kilometers away.
Mooddemon had set up formations beforehand that allowed her to disable Skyfire's Land of Lava spell, but Sun's Surface was too hot and powerful. The formation could only resist for a few seconds before being overwhelmed and giving way.
Mooddemon had no choice but to fly even higher to avoid direct contact with Sun's Surface; her fire resistance couldn't withstand such heat.
"Magnifier!" Skyfire cast, summoning hundreds of massive glass dishes that concentrated the extremely bright and powerful light of the sun on Mooddemon in the sky.
"Moonshield!" Mooddemon cast her strongest defense again. The intense, magnified sunlight hit the moon and started melting it like a candle. However, even such intense heat failed to make rapid progress and began slowly winding its way through the thick moon.
"Piece of the Sun!" Skyfire cast her spell again.
Mooddemon knew the moon couldn't protect her forever, so she activated the formation again. Despite being overwhelmed, it wasn't broken.
"Solar Panel!" Mooddemon, who was one step ahead, activated another of her trump cards using the formation. She had anticipated Skyfire's reliance on sun-related spells, so when designing the formation, she added a massive solar panel to it.
The solar panel, which was hidden, began absorbing the intense sunlight, using the energy to fill the formation's reserves and batteries.
Formations usually work with energy crystals, but there are other mediums to store energy, such as magic batteries. Magic batteries have advantages, like being rechargeable, but also disadvantages, such as only being able to store energy for less than a day. Energy is very hard to keep in one place; the only known objects that can store it long-term are magic crystals.
Using the massive energy reserves, Mooddemon activated the formation's defensive capabilities.
She hadn't used them until now to conserve energy, but as long as the solar panels and the sun's surface were there, she would have no energy shortage.
The peculiarity of Skyfire's spells is the immense energy they produce. She is undoubtedly among the top three when it comes to total spell damage, possibly even the strongest in this aspect. However, her spells have very wide areas of damage and are not concentrated, making them less effective in one-on-one battles.
Mooddemon herself was also not particularly strong in one-on-one battles. Her spells were more about prophecy and soft power than direct combat, but she had advantages, such as the ability to predict the future and prepare for battles.
The Piece of the Sun finally broke through and was about to hit Mooddemon, but before it could get too close, a green shield appeared and completely covered her.
The Piece of the Sun didn't hesitate—it struck the shield.
The entire formation trembled. It was very powerful; being hit by a piece of the sun, which, judging by its weight, was probably a chunk from near the core area, was something only demon kings have a chance to defend against.
The green shield intensified, drawing from its massive energy reserves to strengthen itself; it perfectly resisted the Piece of the Sun, which, after losing momentum, fell down.
Despite perfectly defending against the attack, the formation itself showed signs of weakness, with small cracks appearing on its outer shield. After all, the Piece of the Sun is a bloodline spell cast by a demon king; it's impossible not to take some damage, even with such vast energy reserves.
Seeing this, one thing became clear to Skyfire: the solar panel must be found and destroyed. Otherwise, no matter what spell she used, it would be easily defended against using the energy stolen from her own Sun's Surface spell.