Although Soren's voice was calm, the quiet assuredness in it was more insulting than rage.
The two demons felt the subtle human arrogance.
The Earth Demon moved first.
He slammed his arms into the ground. The earth trembled, and jagged slabs of stone tore upward like waves. He hurled them down at Soren with crushing force.
He didn't fear death. As long as there was soil beneath him, he could reform endlessly.
"You really think I can't kill you?"
He raised his hand, and a dark pulse rippled through the air.
The temperature dropped. The night itself seemed to shiver.
A surge of black magic spiraled from Soren's body. The Earth Demon froze for a split second, sensing something that even his abyss-born instincts couldn't comprehend.
"To deal with the likes of you," Soren murmured, "I don't need to hold back."
In a blur of movement, Soren vanished from the demon's path. The air split where he had stood, the ground erupting from the Earth Demon's impact.
Black light flared.
A sigil of pure darkness bloomed beneath his feet, spinning like a living shadow.
Its intricate runes pulsed with ominous life.
"Darkness erode."
The words struck like a divine verdict.
From the circle, waves of black energy surged upward, engulfing the Earth Demon completely. Every fragment of soil and rock that formed his body was swallowed by the abyssal radiance.
The Earth Demon's roar shattered the silence, the erosion wasn't physical. It bypassed his armor, his strength, his regenerative core and attacked his spirit directly.
The Water Demon staggered back, eyes wide. "That… that's impossible! A human… wielding such pure darkness?"
What he felt emanating from Soren wasn't ordinary corruption… it was purer than even the Lord of the Abyss himself.
And the spell was a magic long lost even to the infernal planes. The demons of today fought with blood-given instincts, not with knowledge this deep.
The Earth Demon's body twisted violently as the erosion consumed him.
He tried to reform, to draw new earth into his body, to layer his armor thicker and thicker, but the black light devoured everything.
Even his attempts at regeneration only hastened his end.
Moments later, the Earth Demon's roar faded.
His massive frame collapsed inward, turning to dust, and from within rose a faint shadow, his spirit, torn apart and absorbed into Soren's black aura.
The circle dimmed. The night fell quiet again.
The Water Demon didn't wait.
With a hiss, his body melted into a surge of water, darting through the cracks of the earth. He fled with everything he had, vanishing beneath the soil at terrifying speed.
"Fast." Even Soren blinked in mild surprise.
He lifted his gaze to the darkness above. The black aura still coiled faintly around him like smoke, feeding off the remnants of the slain demon.
"Remember what I've said. Then go back to Hell… and take Blackheart with you."
The Water Demon, who had fled deep beneath the earth, suddenly heard Soren's calm voice echo in his ears, as if whispered by the soil itself.
Terror jolted through his liquid form.
He let out a strangled hiss and accelerated desperately, dissolving into the subterranean darkness until not even his aura could be sensed.
Above ground, Soren exhaled softly.
The black mist that had coiled around him began to fade, dissolving into the cool night air. Only fragments of shattered stone and scattered dust remained where the Earth Demon had once stood.
"Sergeant George," He said, turning to the stunned officers nearby, "That's enough for tonight. I've given them a lesson they won't forget. I doubt they'll dare come back soon."
Moments ago, this man had seemed like a god of death, his power shaking the ground, his voice commanding darkness itself.
George and his officer could barely meet his eyes.
To them, Soren was more terrifying than the demons. The Earth Demon had exploded under his fist, the Water Demon had fled screaming into the void. What kind of man could do that?
George cleared his throat, forcing composure.
"Understood, Soren. I'll… I'll take the girl now. We'll handle the clean-up quietly."
He gestured for his men to move. None of them dared to linger. They carried the unconscious girl and vanished into the night with all the haste of men escaping judgment.
Silence returned to Everlife.
But not all was gone.
In one corner, the Wind Demon remained or rather, the remnants of him. A faint aura hung over the ground like smoke, trembling with residual energy.
He hadn't seen the battle outside, but he had felt the shockwaves, the screaming collapse of the Earth Demon, and the suffocating darkness that had nearly crushed his spirit.
Now he understood.
Soren was something worse, a being whose magic devoured souls rather than corrupted them.
When Soren's footsteps approached, the Wind Demon dared not breathe. He condensed his fading essence, shrinking his aura as much as possible, praying Soren wouldn't notice him.
But Soren's gaze flicked toward him anyway.
A casual glance and it felt like the universe stopped. The Wind Demon's entire existence trembled under that simple look. If he'd had a body, it would have been drenched in cold sweat.
"Stay here quietly," Soren said, his tone soft but absolute. "I've no reason to kill you… yet."
Then he turned, stepped over the scattered debris, and walked back. Within moments, the door closed behind him. The man who had just obliterated two demons went back to his bed and slept.
The Wind Demon didn't move for a long time.
Only when the invisible weight lifted did he dare to release a shaky breath. His thoughts began to race. Perhaps… perhaps there was still a way to survive.
If he could prove useful, maybe that terrifying man would spare him.
Far beneath the city, the Water Demon finally slowed his flight.
He rose from a crack in the earth, gasping, his body reforming into a trembling humanoid shape. He had fled halfway across the state before he dared to stop.
Only then did he take a deep breath and reach into the void, summoning a faint ripple of abyssal energy.