Rose slowly stood up. The King of Darkness rushed toward her. His arms stretched out like massive limbs of shadow. Sharp, menacing horns adorned the edges of his wings. He aimed a fierce strike at Rose.
But in an instant, she used Teleportation to evade.
(Teleportation:
The ability to instantly move objects or people from one place to another in a moment.
It can happen through conceptual power or the production of some form of energy.)
Crack…
However, one of his sharp horns tore through a part of Rose's hand.
Due to the pain, her astral body trembled. She knelt down.
"Is this the power of your light…" The King of Darkness twisted into a grotesque smile.
"Your light is nothing but dust before the darkness. Soon, you too will become part of this darkness."
Rose gritted her teeth. Her eyes blazed fiercely, burning with sharp intensity.
"I will never be defeated," she screamed.
The dimmed astral light in her hands exploded again in waves of radiant energy. Rose vanished once more at lightning speed.
She teleported close to the right wing of the Fear Demon. The astral light she held ablaze transformed into the shape of a sword.
Without delay, she raised the sword and struck the edge of its wing. The wing cracked and broke apart. Black blood gushed out from the wound, falling into the darkness.
The King of Darkness roared in pain.
"You have torn the edge of my wing."
"My soul is my weapon. I will destroy your darkness."
Her voice echoed throughout the spiritual world.
Upon hearing Rose's words, the Fear Demon roared again in fury.
Its voice was unbearable to her ears, as if it would shatter them at any moment.
The Demon stretched its arms back into the darkness.
From the edges of its wings, hundreds of sharp dark blades shot toward Rose.
But she did not flinch. Instead, she closed her eyes.
Speed, focus, breath.
Shushushh...
Her body vanished like lightning and reappeared once again.
The sharp blades the Fear Demon had hurled at her pierced into the darkness without touching her.
As soon as she teleported away, the Fear Demon launched more of its sharp dark blades toward her.
This time, there was only a single blade.
Because it came too fast to notice, it sank straight into Rose's hand.
From it, a dark poisonous substance began spreading across her hand, trying to take hold of her.
It forced her to kneel down.
"Have you tasted the flavor of death, soul? This is only the beginning."
This time, it didn't laugh.
Its burning eyes remained locked on her.
Rose immediately tore that poisonous blade from her hand.
The spreading poison slowly began to disappear.
"This much is not enough to bring me down."
She thrust the blade of light into the darkness and stood up.
Her hands clasped together.
She formed Astral Energy.
It transformed into a circular, cutting, and blazing ball of fire.
Aiming for the chest area, she threw the fireball through the path of darkness.
The Fear Demon stood there watching carefully, prepared to deflect it.
Suddenly, the fireball disappeared into the darkness.
The Fear Demon, unaware of what had happened, began looking around.
But then, the fireball suddenly appeared in five different places around it.
Because of this, the Fear Demon was unable to block the fireball.
It suddenly struck its chest.
When she created that fireball, she had already infused it with Teleportation power.
That's why it vanished into the darkness and reappeared at the exact location of the chest.
Rose suddenly teleported next to it.
This time, she appeared above its head.
Because the fireball had struck its chest, the Fear Demon couldn't see that she had teleported.
Again, she created Astral Energy and placed it onto its head.
Krish… Shsh…
The Fear Demon's head and chest exploded with fire.
It spread light across the darkness.
Rose's attack forced it to recoil backward.
But her fireball alone wasn't enough to defeat it.
As she watched, it exploded violently.
The loud explosion sent another tremor through the darkness.
A small form appeared in the darkness, some distance away from her.
That form slowly began to change.
It transformed into the King of Darkness.
Its wings turned into darkness itself, and the edges of its wings morphed into sharp blades.
Its entire face was covered in darkness.
Now, only two red eyes were visible on its face. The rest was pure darkness.
"You can try to eliminate darkness with light, but once that light disappears, darkness will return. You can never completely erase darkness."
Not a single attack from her landed effectively on the Fear Demon.
Because of this, her body trembled.
"This is not the fear inside me. This is the true power of darkness," she thought, lamenting.
With a loud roar, the King of Darkness charged toward Rose.
One edge of its wing raised toward her.
As it neared, she teleported away.
But this time, the Fear Demon knew she would teleport.
Every movement of hers was anticipated by it.
It followed her teleportation, moving precisely to the spot where she reappeared.
Upon arrival, it wrapped its wing tightly around her.
It began to crush her astral body between its wings.
Rose cried out in pain.
Because of this, the light within her body slowly started to fade.
Once again, she clasped her hands together and used astral energy to shatter its wings.
Rose freed herself from its grip.
She slowly took a deep breath and exhaled.
"This power alone won't be enough to defeat it," she thought.
As Rose continued to stare, that smoky square appeared again.
She read what was written on it:
"The light is within you. You are the one who must unlock it."
The moment she read it, the square merged into the darkness.
It felt as though a new inner spiritual power was awakened within her.
Light burst out from her body.
The light gradually spread around in circular patterns,
forming a radiant halo that surrounded her body.
That halo of light rejoined around her.
Now, she was able to stand strong within the darkness.
The Demon roared again and charged toward her to attack.
Before the demon could reach Rose, she teleported to the chest of the demon.
She once again gathered the blade of light into her hands.
The sharp edge of light pierced through the chest of the King of Darkness and went deep inside.
Suddenly, it was pulled back, and Rose was thrown backward.
From the wound where the blade had pierced, black liquid oozed out.
Even its blood was the color of darkness.
Strength shone in her eyes.
She roared defiantly at it and said,
"I am a warrior of light.
You are the King of Darkness. Today, only one of us will leave this place alive."
Hearing this, instead of getting angry, the creature gave a terrifying smile.
That smile made the void world, which lacked even a sky, tremble once again.
"You can never defeat me."
The demon's voice rose together with the darkness.
Its form began to change once again.
It was no longer a creature confined to Rose's sight.
The bones in its wings broke apart and grew larger.
The strength of its wings increased as well.
Horns sprouted violently from its head.
The King of Darkness expanded endlessly within the darkness.
It transformed into a gigantic beast.
Its size now made Rose appear small in comparison.
Rose, terrified, tried to move backward.
"This is the trial the spiritual world has given me.
If I succeed in this, I will see the light.
If I fail..."
She didn't finish the sentence.
Astral energy once again exploded from her hands.
That light tried to fight against the darkness.
Seeing this, the demon began to laugh.
Because its size was greater than before, its laughter was equally louder.
"Your light is but a mere lamp to my darkness."
That became a mighty sound that echoed into Rose's ears.
A dark sphere moved toward her.
Suddenly, she vanished.
Escaping from that black sphere, she reappeared right next to it.
Unlike the last time, it wasn't small.
Therefore, using a large amount of astral energy, she struck its chest.
The chest was pierced deeply.
But this time, the King of Darkness showed no sign of pain.
Not even a single drop of blood came out of the wound.
Only the screams of darkness came out of it.
That roar was more than Rose could endure.
To be continued....