When Lane left the area where Laid and Lila stood, confusion rippled through them. How had he departed? The heat radiating from the forest was unbearable, dragging both of them to the ground. Yet Lane stood and moved around, even though the extreme heat had previously burdened him. It made no sense.
Laid found the will to rise despite the unbearable heat trying to drag him down. His cold expression fixed on the forest. "How was he able to get up from that? I can barely stand," he muttered.
Lila looked around—at least she tried to. Unlike Laid, she remained on the ground, nearly passed out from the heat. She used nearly all her energy to survey the area. Nothing had changed. The demon city looked as usual. The only difference was that Lane had vanished.
Suddenly, a man dropped from the sky and slammed into the red-stained ground, flinging dust and debris everywhere. When the smoke cleared, they saw him—a bulky man with a pulsing red orb on his chest. This was Griffin, the Demon King.
Griffin stared at both of them. "Where is that killer?" he said simply.
Lila moved first. She pointed toward the forest. Without another word, the Demon King leaped toward it.
Mid-jump, he remembered something. Wasn't the demon Oman was about to handle in the same forest? Would there be two dangerous beings in the same area? It didn't matter. He needed to destroy that killer. The killer had drained too many people's energy with the siphoning blade. He had to bring him down.
When the Demon King landed, he surveyed the forest—or what remained of it. Half the ground was scorched, the heat felt deadly, and most trees were either burnt or reduced to dust. Then he saw them: Sabrina standing with a white circle before him, symbols engraved within it; Omen with his red and black sword, still as ever; Warren in his shadowy armor, gleaming; Floyd with wings outstretched, his black eyes boring holes at Deal, his entire body radiating bloodlust; and the killer, Lane, holding the siphoning blade and stabbing it into the demon.
The demon turned his head 360 degrees, his blue flames dimming for a moment. "You think you could just take energy from me? I have so much that it won't even make a difference."
The Demon King smiled as he shot a ball of condensed blue fire toward Lane. Lane jumped back, knowing that if it hit him, he would die. Even his clothing, which had the property to disobey temperature entirely, could not save him. The fireball hit the ground, turning most of it to pure dust. The shockwave knocked everyone back except the Demon King and the demon.
The demon laughed. "Now I am strongest! I'll make sure everything and everyone burns to death!"
He continued laughing as he shot fireballs in random directions. When they finally stopped, the entire forest was gone. No trees, no life, nothing—just open, black, scorched land.
"I've done what I needed to do here," Warren said. His blade began to disappear—the blade he used to take people's powers. Eventually, his entire body became translucent as Warren faded away.
"We have to get him in that circle!" Deal leaped forward, his white sword flying toward the demon. The demon didn't bat an eye as he shot a shockwave of fire toward Deal. Deal leaped into the air and dodged, although some flames hit his skin and burned it completely away. These weren't his usual red flames. This demon had truly leaped to a different level. They most likely wouldn't be able to fight this thing, but they had to try. Even as an undead, Deal still had to fight to the very end.
Before he could do anything—before he could lure the demon toward the magic circle—something grabbed his hand and slammed him down into the ground, dragging his face across the scorched earth.
Floyd floated above Deal. "That demon got in my way. Killing you a second time, just like before."
Floyd's entire body began to glow red. His red wings radiated crimson energy. His eyes, once dark, turned red as well. His skin and the two blades in his hands turned red. He laughed at Deal.
Deal stared up at him. "Floyd, why didn't you ever listen to me? Why didn't you follow my advice? Why didn't you do what I told you? Killing people isn't good. It won't help anyone."
Floyd glared back. "Deal, like I told you so many times before, I'm no slave to anyone, and you don't tell me what to do."
Floyd grabbed Deal by the neck and held him in the air. He dropped both blades and continued holding Deal aloft. "I could kill you right now, at this very moment," Floyd said.
"Do it," Deal said. "Kill me."
"You want me to kill you?" Floyd said.
Deal smirked. "Yes. Kill me right now. You won't do it."
"I did it before. I've killed you. I've ended your life. You're a fool to think I won't do it again."
Floyd conjured a blade made of blood. The blade rushed forward, about to cut off Deal's head, until Floyd felt a punch in his back. He flew back and hit the ground, dropping Deal as he rolled and finally stopped.
Sabrina stood, her black clothing and purple flames framing her cold expression. Floyd instantly shot up and flew into the air.
"I won't let you hurt my undead creatures," Sabrina said.
Meanwhile, back in the demon city, Laid and Lila both lay on the ground, unable to withstand the searing heat anymore. The temperature had gone from dangerous to absolutely beyond deadly.
Suddenly, they felt a shadow over them. Both looked up. Lila's eyes widened. Laid remained calm and expressionless as usual.
A man stood over them. He wore shadowy clothing that moved as if alive, and a smile spread across his face. He held two blades in his hands.
The being spoke, his voice somewhere near high-pitched with a mocking sickness to it. "How about I carve you both up and hang your limbs for decoration?"
Both stared at him.
"You think I would let you do that?" Laid said, standing up.
"You have no choice," the demon said. His eyes were black, unlike usual demons, which were red.
The demon laughed and rushed forward, not giving the other two time to react as he swung his two shadowy swords down, each targeted at their heads. Laid dodged and grabbed the demon by his arm, staring at him with a cold, indifferent expression.
The demon laughed even harder. He leaped up and swung knee-high swords he had conjured from shadow. He began conjuring sword after sword, thrusting multiple knives toward the two. They tried to dodge as much as possible, but one could only dodge so much. One blade hit Laid in the stomach, making him stagger and fall to the ground.
Lila had expertly used her rewind ability to rewind time. She had given Laid the memories of past loops so they could both learn. Using Lila's rewind ability, Laid caught a few swords and threw them right back toward the demon. The demon expertly dodged, weaved, and danced between the blades, even catching a few and throwing them right back. It was a deadly dance of knife play.
The demon laughed as he conjured multiple dark swords that orbited around him. They began to spin like saw blades as the demon rushed forward, swords coming with him in sync. He knew how to wield a barrage of swords spinning at an extremely fast pace around him. He rushed forward, planning to cut down the two, but they both jumped back. Multiple blades shot out toward them at extremely fast speeds—like bullets—leaving them with no time to dodge. Even with Lila using her rewind ability, nothing would probably change.
The blades hit them, and they both fell to the ground with multiple blades stuck inside their bodies.
Lila lay on her back, multiple blades in her stomach, legs, and arms. Laid stood somewhat upright with blades in the same areas as those inside Lila. He gritted his teeth.
"Kill me," Laid said. "Do it. I don't fear death. I don't care if I die or not. So go on and end my life."
Laid was fully prepared to die. He had no harsh feelings about death. He was ready to die at this very moment.
The demon laughed. "Very well."
He looked forward, but before he could use his swords and multiple weapons on Laid, he stopped. Just like that. He froze.
A blinding radiance of light shot out from both Lila's head and legs. The beams of light connected and began to merge into a person. When the light cleared, they saw her—a woman created from the beams of light. She wore fully white armor with dark hair and carried no weapons.
"How dare you hurt my hosts," she said.
She leaped forward and shot a beam of light toward the demon. The demon dodged with ease. The girl continued shooting beams of light, but the demon dodged as if they were nothing.
The demon laughed. "You think you can do something? You're mistaken."
He smiled as he leaped forward, planning to cut the woman down with ease.
The demon laughed with pleasure as he smiled sadistically. "I'll carve you open like a fish!"
He leaped forward as multiple large spikes began to arise from the ground. While running in the air, the demon grabbed the spikes and threw them toward the woman. The woman dodged, her eyes glowing white as she floated in the air. Her body became pure radiance as a white glow radiated from her entire being. Her body shook with rage and anger.
"You'll pay! You'll pay for this!" she shouted.
A white beam shot out from her entire body toward the demon. The demon dodged, trying to leap forward over the beam, but the beam changed its trajectory and hit him. The explosion was powerful. A shockwave shot out, destroying parts of the land they stood on. None of them were unaffected.
As Laid and Lila looked around, they saw a white orb surrounding them. The woman smirked. "Probably it's gone," she said as she became light again and shot into both of their heads.
Was that Solely? Laid thought. He had known that the voice inside both of their heads would actually have a physical form. Solely had said multiple times that she didn't have a physical form. So there were two options: either Solely had lied to both of them, or the desperation and anger she felt when both of them fell might have triggered her physical form. Either way, they were alive.
When the dust finally settled and the explosion ended, the demon stood—smiling.
His eyes gleamed with something darker than before. Blood dripped from a wound on his shoulder, yet he didn't flinch. Instead, his grin widened, revealing rows of sharpened teeth.
"You think that hurt me?" he whispered, his voice carrying across the scorched earth like a death knell.
Behind him, the ground began to crack. Something massive stirred beneath the surface, and the air grew thick with a suffocating presence.
Laid's eyes widened. Lila gasped.
The demon's smile twisted into something inhuman. "Now," he said softly, "let me show you what true despair looks like."
The ground exploded.