Theo and Aralia managed to reach a training area where multiple bodies of knights were scattered across the floor. A bloody sight it was to see from the different limbs or weapons impaled through the many knights.
"You're finally here, good I can't wait to finish our fight." Erick who was sitting on a small pile corpses he made held the head of one of the many knights he had killed.
"Why did you kill your own comrades!?" Aralia worrying shouted as Theo aimed the blunderbuss at him.
Erick slowly turned his gaze to Aralia and spoke with a blank expression, "I needed a warm-up."
Whoosh! Erick dashed forward to Aralia aiming his halberd down to her face only go Theo to deflect the attack with bullet from the blunderbuss.
Aralia quickly retaliated striking both her war axes at his hip creating a large slash at his hip which dripped blood. Wiping the sweat off his face he dashed forward with the halberd scaring the ground.
Right as Theo pulled the trigger of the blunderbuss, Erick dodged the bullet mid dash by sliding down all while he slashed at Theo's left cheek leaving another scar.
Pain flowed throughout the body of Erick's body with each movement straining the curse within him.
"So the Umbral mark is still killing you, thought you got rid of it?" said Theo.
Erick made a groan of annoyance before kicking a corpse at him which blocked the elf's vision. As soon as he took a sidestep, Erick grabbed his face throwing him to the wall.
The room they were in shook which was followed up with cracks everywhere from the floor to the ceiling.
"It's woken up... Good that ties up loose ends." muttered Erick while spinning his halberd towards Aralia.
Aralia braced herself and when the halberd was swung toward her sideways she blocked it with her war axe. Using this chance to grab Erick's collar and slamming her forehead against his.
She dizzily backed away with a sharp grin as blood dripped down her forehead while looking at Erick.
"Damn rat!" he screamed out managing to slash her left arm leaving a deep cut.
Bang! Erick seeing the bullet come right at him deflected it with his left hand which was covered by a black gauntlet.
"Dam-" before he could finish speaking, Erick grabbed him by the throat.
Aralia quickly struck him in the back causing his grip on Theo to weaken which allowed Aralia to plunge her war axe into the left part of his jaw.
She rushed towards Theo helping him up as Erick took the war axe out of his jaw.
Blood dripped down while the man gave them a cold furious glare which made Aralia and Theo stand there motionless. Slowly, he walked towards them while the halberd scraped across the hard floor which sharpened his halberd.
Theo snapped out of the fear before pushing Aralia away and dashing forward. Suddenly, the ceiling fell on them all while Aralia watched them be crushed by the bricks.
"No! No! No!" she shouted in panic while running to the debris.
Crash!
Erick jumped out of the debris bloodied with a bloodied Theo in his left hand. Theo punched, and tried shoving Erick away to no aveil.
"Fucking balrog," cursed Erick.
Theo's eyes widened at what Erick had just said right before the floor beneath collapsed bringing all of them into a free fall.
Erick continued trying to strike Theo, and to lessen her fall Aralia bounced off the debris that fell with them. Yuni rolled out of the way right as she hit the balrog with her arrow, and Jae struck the demon with her claws which were buffed by Volhcard.
Hearing the sounds of steel clashing, Yumi looked up to see Theo and Erick striking each other with their weapons as they fell. Aralia bounced off the debris landing on the floor with no injuries and when Theo saw the balrog he shoved Erick away and shot at it.
Erick fell on his back feeling some of his bones break from the impact of the fall. He groaned in pain while weakly trying to stand up only for the balrog to slam into him and punched the side of his neck causing him to cough up blood.
"You guys okay?" Theo went over to the other three while Aralia was now in combat with the balrog.
"Yeah, well that thing barely took any damage." Yumi said through gritted teeth.
The stronghold shook with each roar the balrog made as it fought Aralia, and Erick. As they cough Erick would also attack Aralia when he had the chance only he would stop as the balrog interrupted him.
It opened it's jaw a faint white light glowing from its mouth which only seemed to get bigger and bigger by the second.
"Oh fuck! Everyone get behind me!" shouted Volhcard who raised up the staff creating a massibe barrier.
Erick ran towards a pillar hiding behind, and the light coming from the balrog vanished then returned back into a massive wave of flames spreading throughout the area. The heat melting the material away causing brick to fall and burn away.
Far away in his office, Aldir could feel the heat yet the sorcerer kept a calm expression before placing a cup of wine beside the cage of Sticky who was currently unconscious from all the attempts they made in trying to break out.
"To think a juvenile has this much power." he chuckled before sitting back in his chair closing his eyes for a nap.
Blow after blow the balrog struck down on Aralia as she blocked all the demon's attacks while from afar Yuni battled Erick with Theo.
Volhcard waved his staff around creating bolts of lighting which struck down at the balrog only making the demon angrier, and the lightning bolts were followed up by strikes from Jae which the wounds would immediately heal.
Aralia would bombard the balrog with many slashes only for it to grab her by her waist and slamming her down as Theo dodged the halberd from striking him he shot at Erick who dodged the attack by taking a sidestep. Yuni dashed forwards and swiftly made many strikes at him only for Erick to deflect most of them, but had a big cut on his left knee.
The balrog let out a guttural roar before going on all fours and rushing Volhcard only for Jae to grab it's tail and Aralia to slice it off with her war axe.
"Fuck!" cursed Erick as he struck the halberd into Yuni's hip, but Volhcard quickly healed it back.
A bullet struck him in jaw exploding it away as he stumbled back blood poured down where his jaw once was. Yet even after losing his jaw he dashed towards Theo aiming for his neck, but his halberd was being blocked by Yuni with her two daggers.
The balrog slammed both it's fists down on the ground slowly it's horns got longer and it's bones hardened and from the balrog's back sprouted were wings that were 30 feet.
"Did it just age?!" exclaimed Jae, and Volhcard immediately replied with a sarcastic tone, "No, of course it did you quiet shapeshifter!"
"Now's not the time to be a smartass, Volhcard." Aralia threw her war axe at the balrog only for it to deflect of the demon's skin.
Looking at the new form of the balrog, Erick started to laugh as he raised his halberd to his own throat.
"Long live the Strongest Sorcerer!" without a jaw or tongue somehow Erick was able to say those final words before he sliced his own throat.
His body fell down limp soon his blood all rushed towards the balrog, and seeing this the demon gladly drank it all fueling it's hunger, rage, and power. It's eyes turned from demonic black to blood red with a hint of humanity within.
"Did he just?" Yuni was shook when seeing the demon, and her question was immediately answered by Theo, "Yes he did, he's possessing it."
Hearing this everyone could see the balrog mouth move up into a sadistic grin, and from his office Aldir felt the presence of the combined power of the balrog and Erick.
"Now I wonder how you're friends handle this problem." he looked over to the now awake Sticky who had a furious glare