The exchange of blows went on and Derrick could feel the force in his blows reducing greatly. Any moment now, he was going to get broken.
He saw the demon's punch coming but his body was too sluggish to respond. The punch hit him square in the face pushing him back but he balanced himself refusing to fall to the ground.
His nose started bleeding from the impact of the punch.He was clearly outmatched but the spirit of giving up wasn't in him. He planted his foot into the ground, tightened his fist and mustered all the strength he could produce and punched the demon.
The impact of the single punch was well felt. The shockwave from the impact of the punch caused cracks to appear on the ground.
The demon flew back and landed a couple of feet ahead of him. Derrick didn't want to but he saw himself falling on his knees. He was bent over on his knees gasping for air. He had used up all his stamina.
The demon got up and seeing Derrick on the floor, it saw an opportunity. It ran towards him. It jumped at him, intending to smash him on its landing.
"Move! Move!" He basically yelled in his mind but his body didn't respond to him.
Just as the demon was about to hit him, a well crafted spear flew through the air and went through the demon's shoulder and even took out a portion of its neck.
"Not bad." The voice of Rosalind came from the top of the stairway.
"Damn where the hell have you been." He groaned weakly as he got back to his feet with intense difficulty."
The demon regenerated and got ready for its next attack. It pulled out its chain and sickle then roared loudly.
His legs felt like lead. At this point, even one step was an achievement for him.
A set of small round black balls rolled towards his feet from Rosalind's direction.
It took him a moment to realize that they were small scale bombs; however, by the time he did, they had gone off.
The blast was minor, not enough to injure Derrick but strong enough to cause the section of the floor where he stood which had been weakened already to give way, thereby creating a hole that he fell through.
He didn't like what she did but he understood the logic behind it. At this point, he was barely breathing so he would only hold her back.
Even if he was fine, there was no guarantee that they would be able to fight well together.
"He's gone now. It's just you and I." Rosalind and the demon roared in response.
It had returned to its weapon which it had dropped to fight Derrick. He swung the sickle towards her, aiming for her head.
Just before the sickle would hit her, a sword appeared out of nowhere and deflected the chain. The demon's expression revealed that he was caught by surprise. Just as it attempted to pull back its chain, a short spear went through its arm.
The demon groaned in pain.
"My ability is absolute." Rosalind said amidst the creature's groans with her foot still on the stairs.
It pulled the spear out of its arm and thrust it at her. A similar spear appeared and deflected it. The demon swung its sickle again and the same thing happened.
"I told you, didn't I? My ability is absolute." She said with a smirk though her eyes focused hungrily on the demon as though she was expecting it to do something.
Frustrated by the constant interruption, the demon charged towards Rosalind. Seeing it run towards her, she muttered something that sounded a lot like the word 'Finally.'
Rosalind ran up the stairs with the demon in hot pursuit. A weapon would appear out of nowhere to hinder the demon's movement once in a while, allowing Rosalind to stay ahead of it. She got to the third floor then ran into the first class on her left.
She moved a few steps away from the door and turned to face it while breathing heavily. All the desks and chairs had been moved out, leaving the classroom empty except for an odd fuel keg somewhat close to the door.
For a moment, Rosalind wanted to step out and check if it was still chasing after her; then suddenly, it burst through part of the wall just beside the door to the surprise of Rosalind.
The moment it burst through, it leapt at Roslind with its hand open to grab her. Just before it would grab her, the look of surprise on Rosalind's face turned into a smirk.
A spear shot out of the left side of the room aimed at the demon's head. The rod part of the spear had a set of small black balls tied to by a thin yet very strong piece of wire.
The demon was already used to the pattern of attacks so just before it would reach it, it twisted and grabbed the spear but that only made Rosalind's grin widen. The demon attempted to thrust it at Rosalind, who just moved backwards.
Just before the Demon released the spear, the small black balls attached to the spear, which were actually small grade bombs, exploded. The explosion took off the demon's arm and mangled its face.
Rosalind's heavenly pact is construction. The ability to bring imagined weapons forward in reality. It is different from projection. Unlike projection, the weapons imagined take true substance. This means that they continue to exist even after being used.
The demon's body took its time to heal but it was still desperate to get Rosalind. Going after her with its other hand stretched out before it, it tripped on a wire, sending a large ax swinging past and cutting the demon's other hand off.
While Derrick was fighting the demon, she had left to prepare traps in the upper floors. Having the demon chase after her had been her plan from the beginning.
Unable to grab her, the demon had to wait to heal. She constructed two long swords and had them strike the demon from both sides as she ran out of the classroom. Just before she left, she pulled out a match set from beneath her skirt and lit a matchstick. She then tossed it at the fuel keg then ran out as fast as her legs could take her.
Her legs had barely taken her out when a loud Boom reported to her that the keg had exploded. She turned around to see flames scattered around the entrance to the class. Even still, she went up one more floor, to the class just above the one she had just blown up.
Her speed had greatly reduced, and her breathing became labored. The more she used her ability, the more she used up her stamina.
She had set up her last trap there just in case the first one didn't kill the demon. She waited there for a while, half expecting to hear a loud roar or the sound of the demon's heavy footsteps but what she heard was silence.
She was just about to count her victory when, without warning, the demon burst through the ground from the lower floor. It charged at Rosalind, its body intact as its arms and face had healed completely.
Before it could reach her, numerous sets of blades pierced the demon from all sides. Each one of those blades possessed a similar thread and bomb. Before the demon noticed it, it was too late. They all exploded at once.
She had done it. She slayed the demon. However, just before she could commend herself, her heart gave a heavy thump, causing her to clutch her chest and fall on her knees. With her heavenly pace, construction, she can create weapons from nothing and these weapons would still remain even after she was done with them.
Because of this, she uses up more of her energy with each construction than others would. At this point, she was nearing her limit. She was still conscious and breathing but with much difficulty.
To make it worse, she heard the familiar and unwelcoming sound of the demon roaring. The bomb attack which she thought would have killed it didn't finish it off. The smoke cleared revealing the demon which had now healed itself.
"Impossible!" The word escaped from her mouth.