"Kieran! I'm back. Have you washed the dishes?" A woman asked, pushing the door open and stepping into the house.
Margaret stepped into the house and placed her traveller's bag on the nearest chair before making her way towards her bedroom. She was duly exhausted after a long day of labour.
She hot undressed and headed to the bathroom to take a shower. She then got herself dried up and put on a lighter, more comfortable pair of clothes before heading towards the kitchen. The kitchen was a mess, none of the dishes had been washed and there were cockroaches and other household pests scurrying about.
She turned around and began screaming her son's name once more hoping that he would hear her voice and come out to meet her. "Kieran! Get out here and wash the damn dishes!"
However, no matter how many times she called, she here no response.
"Kieran, are you in here? What are you doing?"
Margaret clasped her hand against their handle leading into his bedroom. Pulling down on the handle, she pushed the door open, and the image of her son came into view, however, just from looking at him, she could tell that he wasn't quite himself.
Kieran's entire body was shrouded in a dark red aura, sending chills down her spine. She knew what this was, this was the same thing that happened six years ago. This was the very same thing that nearly destroyed the village, and now, she was standing face-to-face with it once more.
"Kieran! What did you do?" She yelled, gripped with panic. "You were warned never to use that power again!"
She brought the both of her hands together, and began to concentrate. One of the spells she was very good at casting came to mind as she uttered the incantation and shot her hands out.
The attack had struck him right across his chest, creating a heavy cloud of dust that obstructed her vision. As the dust started to settle down, Kieran's spiky hair could be seen. When the smoke cleared up, Margaret could finally see that her attack had no effect on him. She instantly backed away and made a run for the front door.
The moment she turned around, her body suddenly froze in place.
"It's rude to walk away on someone now, isn't it?"
"It… it talks?!" She stammered, sweat running down her face.
After that, the demon rushed forward and grabbed Margaret by her throat and lifted her body off the ground. To her dismay, the grip around her throat was tight, making it difficult for her to scream for help, much less breathe.
"I guess I should kill you now…"
It's power greatly surpassed hers, meaning that she had no means of winning against the demon. She was a skilled hunter who was well know among the villagers, however, at the end of the day, her mastery over magic was only at the adept level. Having to sacrifice further training in exchange for starting and raising a family, she never had the chance to further grow her magic power, and after abstaining from training for so long, she is unable to grow her powers any further.
Although the demon had the opportunity to kill her, it decided against doing so. Tossing her body aside, her back hit the wall before slumping onto the floor. Her body laid there, unmoving, but alive. The demon sauntered towards the front door and pulled it open, stepping out of the house. Before the demon could step out into the open, a beam of yellow aura had struck it, catching it off guard. Looking up, it saw where the attack had come from. It was the mage.
The mage landed on the ground not too far away from the demon. With his magic powers he was able to detect the presence of an evil entity in the village and quickly made his way to the source of the strange energy as fast as he could. His hands began to form another symbol as he was getting ready to cast another magic spell.
Being a magic user of the mage level, he had access to, and was capable of casting far stronger spells that a magic user who is of the novice or adept level. On top of that, it was his most important responsibility to ensure the safety of the village from threats such as these.
A large ball of yellow aura shot out from his hands moving quickly towards the demon. It was a condensed mass of magic power capable of destroying the entire village if aimed properly. The bright yellow ball of aura glowed ferociously. In front of the mage's hands are two yellow glowing circular discs with inner circles filled with ancient runes and symbols. His eyes glowed with power as he poured all his focus into the magic spell - energy sphere, a magic spell that creates a large, condensed ball of magic power with high destructive capabilities. Meanwhile, the air around him began to form a tornado as even the magic in the air was being gathered into the attack.
"I defeated you before, and I will do it again," the mage said as he delivered the attack.
He also ran forward as well, applying more power into the attack.
"Spherus Giganticus," he changed as he continued to pour his magic into the attack, hoping that it would be enough to defeat the demon and knock the boy unconscious.
Eventually, the dust cloud began to settle. Seeing if there was still a threat, yet the demon could still be seen standing.
"You're still standing. You must have gotten quite stronger if you managed to tank that attack. Why didn't you simply just dodge?"
Fifty percent - that was the amount of his magic power he had imbued into the attack. Not only did it fail to defeat the demon, but it seemed like it barely left a scratch on it either. He had even tried using the magic in the air to supplement the attack, reinforce the blast, further condense the magic power, thus nothing had worked against the demon that seemed utterly durable.
Stretching out his hands, the demon's energy began to gather as it had one sole intention in mind, destroying public property. Demons were naturally uncaring of human lives. A ball of dark red aura was formed, and the demon looked more than happy about it.
"This is for getting rid of me back then, and also from trying to get rid of me again. Let's see if your tolerance towards demonic energy is as strong as your ability to exorcise demons."
The people of Mistwood Village grew to have a profound fear for demons ever since the incident that happened years ago. The villagers had nearly been wiped out by a single demon. The demonic energy burned through wood, concrete, metal, all sorts of building materials with ease.
No one really knows where demons actually come from, some say they come from the underworld known as hell, others claim that they are beings created by the goddess to create balance between good and evil in the world. Of course, one thing was for sure, that demons are considered vile creations capable of only death and destruction. There were entities far too powerful to be left roaming the face of the Earth.
Every individual in the village has at least some knowledge regarding the demons, and that included the 'Demon' himself. Although not much was shared about the history between humanity and the demons.
It was stated that sometime in history, the seal binding the demons in hell threatened to break, ushering in a new era for humanity, one where demons were the superior race. With their immense power, they would have easily overtaken the Earth, making it their own.
Moreover, the last thing that the world needed was another race of powerful entities fighting for dominance. Most of Earth's resources had been put into the war against the Shales which lasted years in the past. Even till today, a lot of those resources have been unable to be recovered.
Although it came at a cost, it needed to be done. Poverty had taken over the world soon after, but the people with abilities still used their powers as they wished to obtain what they wanted in the new order of society.
The demon held back not an ounce of its power as the dark red aura shot out from his hands. The villagers had quickly evacuated the scene upon receiving prior warning from the mage and adept magic users of a current threat that only the mage could handle. With the village now completely empty, the mage could now take the battle more seriously. From what he could see, he could tell that the demon had no intentions of playing games during their fight.
"Solaris Plexus," the mage chanted, a large beam of yellow aura escaping his hands, bigger than the one he had casted before.
Gritting his teeth, he poured out all of his magic power into the attack, and as both beams of energy collided, sparks of power were sent flying in all sorts of directions, hitting houses, shops, stalls, the open roads, and even some of the animals that were wandering about. He knew that if he didn't defeat the demon soon enough, that the entire village may end up completely destroyed.
"I will not loose to you this time around! You shall perish, Demon!" He shouted as he tried to force out more of his magic power into the attack. The frustration that was bottling up upon seeing the demon was on his face as he struggled intensely with the demonic energy.
Unfortunately, as both power beams clashed midway, there was a clear winner as the yellow aura beam was pushed back.
The mage screamed out as his body was overwhelmed by the demonic energy.
"I will not loose!"
After a while, the mage was no longer able to fight back against the malicious energy, feeling his consciousness slowly slipping away as the will to hold on was slowly leaving him. As the mage brought both of his hands together once more, the voice of a woman yelled out and coming out from the house was a woman whose head had blood dripping from it.
Her head was badly injured from the impact, however, she still managed to get back up to her feet, staggering until she made her way towards the front door and out of the house.
The woman darted forward behind the demon. The object in her hand glowed with a white aura as she struck it against his neck.
"What the hell is happening?" The demon asked, shocked.
The strange object began to emit a blinding radiance as the energy coursed through his body. A few seconds later, the object began to pulsate violently, pushing her back. Margaret couldn't take her eyes off of the shining object. It was as if she was hypnotized. The power from the strange object seemed to be unaffected by the demonic energy. Nevertheless, for some reason, the power of the demon was still managing to hold on.
When the object pulsated for the last time, the bright white glow began to disappear, and the object gradually started to disintegrate. At the same time, the dark red aura surrounding his body had vanished. Kieran's vision was starting to fade, and with that, his eyes pulled shut.
But just as he was about to pass out, he heard the voice of the mage.
"Die, Devil!"
Unable to maintain consiousness, Kieran fainted.