The demon released another awful gurgle as it slid forward, extending its arms out as if it wanted to embrace Lokus in a hug and revealing a grinning mouth on each of its palms.
His expression hardening, Lokus swung out with his makeshift axe.
The crude weapon sailed through the demon like it was nothing but air, and Lokus, not expecting to meet zero resistance, was wide open for the demon's counterattack.
It flashed forward, throwing its hands around him and drawing him in close like a mother comforting a crying child. But the gentleness one would expect from such an action was something the demon wholly lacked.
A scream pierced through the underground space as the demon's many mouths began to tear into Lokus, ripping off chunk after chunk and scarfing the meat down gluttonously.
Lokus struggled and fought, but the demon had pinned his arms to his sides, leaving him little room to maneuver. He used the only option he had available to him, releasing a surge of cold with Freezing Aura and hoping that it would get him out of this situation.
The demon didn't even seem to notice as waves of cold assaulted it, its mouths unceasing and its hold on him as strong as it always had been.
'Completely useless,' Lokus cursed. What kind of terrible reward was this Edict? It had helped him get out of the momentum-arresting lake, but other than that, it was worthless.
'If that won't work, then…'
Lokus dropped his axe. His wrists twisted and flexed as he squirmed under the demon's hold, positioning his hands so the tips of his fingers were pressed against the demon. He poured his Majesty into his still-unnamed Mandate, and ten icy claws sprouted from his fingers.
With a snarl, he pushed as hard as he could, burying them into the demon before they melted.
That got its attention, and it tossed him away with a gurgling growl. Its hands reached for the spots Lokus had attacked, its many mouths contorting in anger as it felt its life essence dripping out between its fingers.
But Lokus had taken more than he had managed to dish out.
Like a jigsaw puzzle haphazardly assembled with only 95% of the pieces, Lokus was missing several small chunks of flesh on his arms, legs, and chest from where the demon had bitten him.
Blood poured out in thick, sluggish rivers, spilling onto the rocky ground below, and as Lokus struggled to stand, he did his best to freeze those holes shut. Only then did he turn his attention back to the demon.
He chuckled ruefully as he watched the demon approach, remembering how he had wished earlier to encounter a demon so he had a chance at eating. It seemed he had forgotten how utterly outclassed he was in the face of these monsters, and how his previous victories had been little more than a stroke of luck.
'This isn't good,' he thought to himself. Even with his current Strength, this demon still outclassed him, and with his axe gone, he didn't have many offensive options.
Creating more ice claws on the tips of his fingers, he strode forward resolutely to meet the demon. He wouldn't go down without a fight.
He ducked under a flickering arm as it swiped at him, his clawed hands piercing toward the demon's stomach.
He stumbled forward, passing through the demon as if it wasn't even there and only just managing to stay on his feet. Spawning claws on his toes, he whirled around and scored a strike on the demon's back, tearing five bloody furrows into its skin.
A many-mouthed growl echoed out in the darkness as the demon pivoted on its tail. Lokus' next punch phased through it, but its own claws hit their mark.
Blood sprayed into the air as its claws raked against Lokus' chest, followed soon after by another arc of that black liquid as the demon's other claw shredded his cheek.
Lokus yelled angrily, the cold of Freezing Aura radiating out almost as an afterthought as he rushed forward, slipping past another clawed swipe and tackling the demon around the waist.
It hardly even budged under the impact, and in the next instant the demon was gone and Lokus' previously solid hold vanished as he fell to the ground.
'So that's what it is,' he thought. The demon was able to turn intangible at will. So, then, how did he kill something he couldn't even touch?
As the demon appeared within his Domain, the wounds on its back caught his attention.
'That's how.' He just had to take it by surprise.
But that was easier said than done, considering he had no idea how it could even tell where he was. It had no ears, and its mask had no eyeholes, so it obviously didn't have sight.
Did it have something similar to his Domain?
That was possible. In Lokus' very, very short time with this sort of power, he had never found any indication that humans were the only ones with Domain. But if the demon did have a Domain, then that meant it could see in a 360-degree area around it, just like Lokus could.
This was further confirmed when it rounded on him, lashing out at him with its claws. As Lokus rolled away, escaping the deadly scythes by the skin of his teeth, he noticed that the demon's head didn't even follow him.
Lokus clicked his tongue after he transitioned from his roll into a half-kneeling position. "You're going to be difficult."
The demon hissed in response, baring its many, many teeth at him and charging.
Lokus brandished his icy claws as he darted forward, meeting the demon's momentum with his own.
Their clash was anything but epic or momentous. There was no poise, no grace or skill involved in their arduous battle. It was nasty, brutish, and long, a bloody battle of primal instinct.
The two, one demon and one human, were animals competing for dominance, determined to prove their superiority over the other by any means necessary.
Nothing more, nothing less.