Quill lunged at the recovering demon, but it sensed him at the last moment, rolling aside.
It scrambled to its feet quickly.
With a growl, the demon then swung a punch. Quill sidestepped swiftly, and seized it by the arm, twisting it behind its back. The demon groaned in pain and elbowed Quill in the ribs, making him fall back.
They began to circle each other, waiting for the other to make a move.
"Quite the fighter you are, human," said the demon.
Quill refused to respond and instead retreated further back. Conjuring his arrows, he released two in quick successions. The first struck true, but the second one whistled past as the demon leaped at him.
It charged wildly, and Quill ducked under the swing and delivered a fist into the demon's gut. It gasped, clutching its midsection.
Another sharp uppercut to the chin and followed by a kick to the side sent the demon crashing flat on the floor.
Quill gave a quick, worried glance in Arc's direction. "Pierrot might kill him," he said under his breath, as he prepared to seal.
The demon on the floor began to rise. It sneered at Quill. "You're..." it was now up on its feet, "...distracted?"
The demon was now furious, rage twitching its face. Black smoke began to swirl around it as its figure began to change.
Quill stepped back, eyes wide as he stared at it. Smoke sizzled out of the demon's skin, coiling around its form like living shadows.
The old man's frail body expanded, muscles bulged and ballooned, as the smoke continued to thicken and darken.
The demon's skin turned sickly gray, yet its form grew into bigger, more muscular limbs.
Quill's heart raced. "This is not good..." He attempted to focus, but worry gnawed on him. Attention dividing to see what was happening on Pierrot's side.
"YOU'RE STILL NOT FOCUSED!" The demon charged, swinging its massive fist. Quill barely managed to dodge, rolling to the side as the blow landed on the floor, nearly punching through.
Quill swiftly got to his feet. He pulled and released more arrows from a distance, as the demon only took one hit to the shoulder.
He moved away as it jumped at him, and the rumble caused him to lose his footing. Quill gritted his teeth, forcing himself upright. He stepped back more and fired another volley of arrows, now aiming for the demon's face.
It shook it off and dodged most of them, and none of the arrows landed.
The demon charged again, its movements heavy but relentless. Quill ducked under another swing and delivered a precise kick to the demon's knee. It held no significant damage, and he stepped back again after dodging another attack.
Quill kept his distance, firing arrows of light as he moved. Each one missed its mark, and the seal wasn't ready.
Then it jumped and swung its fist, releasing a guttural growl.
He ducked and moved in close, landing a series of quick jabs onto its abdomen, yet gave nearly zero damage to its dense muscles.
The demon trapped Quill in its arms, in a deadly hug.
He tried to flip his hand which was nearly ready to seal into its chest, but it only squeezed him tighter.
Quill's hands trembled as he struggled against the demon's crushing grip, slowly flipping his hand.
The seal was ready. With a final twist of his palm, light burst from the cracks of the deadly embrace.
The demon's roar grew louder, a mixture of anger and confusion. The black smoke that surrounded it thickened, swirling more aggressively as the seal glowed with more intensity.
Its grip loosened slightly, and Quill, adamant about sealing the demon, followed it, pushing it further back to a wall, where it cried out some more. Quill pushed through its thrashing until the sealing was over.
He fell to the ground, his white form disappearing instantly. Gasping for air, he only listened as the demon's cries faded... until it was no more.
Quill looked back from the floor and onto the next room where Arc and Pierrot were...
────────
Pierrot delivered a kick to his side and Arc slammed into the wall.
A crack was left where he landed, and he slipped down to the floor.
Arc coughed up black blood, supporting his stomach. His breathing was ragged and in gasps, shielding himself as Pierrot approached again.
"Pierrot..." Arc scooted back further to the wall. "Please... why are you doing this..." Arc had tears in his eyes, pausing to breathe in between words.
Pierrot crouched down to his level.
"Arc..." Pierrot grabbed him by the chin and pulled it up to force eye contact. "Do you know the color of your eyes right now?"
Pierrot flicked his chin off and stood up, swinging a right foot kick directly at Arc's face.
Arc stumbled over, now flat on the floor. His body coiled from the impact, turning back and trying to crawl away from Pierrot.
"Don't even try to get away," said Pierrot as he jumped and stepped on his head with brutal force, pinning him to the floor.
"Why... why are you doing this?" Arc managed to utter.
"You don't understand," Pierrot told Arc.
With a swift movement, Pierrot kicked Arc to his side, and he turned over. The kicking was then directed to his stomach, over and over, and over again, until Arc could barely breathe.
He lifted his foot once more, slamming it one last time into Arc. Pierrot's face darkened.
"Just a bit more..." he mumbled to himself.
He closed his eyes momentarily. Then he began to throw multiple blades and knives at Arc as he stood before him. The other could only twitch with every attack, his body battered down, cut, and bruised.
More blades were thrown... Pierrot was now getting more impatient. He conjured a large one this time, throwing a swift and heavy one directly at his chest. It pierced deeply.
As he threw the last knife, Quill approached from behind him... finding Arc unconscious on the floor.
"Arc!" Quill ran toward them, and Pierrot immediately blocked his path to Arc.
The surroundings changed.
Eerie silence.
Then a crack. Another.
A figure forming from beyond the haze of dust and black smoke.
The smoke swirled more violently. It filled the room, swirling and churning in irregular patterns, as though it was alive. It wrapped around Arc, obscuring their vision.
The air grew heavy, dense with suffocating heat. Pierrot and Quill's breathing became labored, prompting Quill to assume his white form back.
They stood waiting for the smoke to clear.
When it all dissipated, from the center of it was Arc, standing straight as a low growl escaped him with smoke. A chill ran down their spines.
He turned to face them.
His black eyes had a glint of red in the center, staring straight at Pierrot.
"That fucking hurt..." it stretched its neck from side to side, slowly approaching them, "...you bastard."