The group huddled away trying to recoup and gather some second wind before they tried another assault against the demon. Eveo smiled arrogantly and attempted to push forward with his onslaught.

The powerful demon began to breathe deeply as a dark stream of energy as dark as shadows began to surround him.

“Today this ends,” The demon snarled, “The beginning of the Exorcists’ demise!”

The halls began to shake violently, worse than before. The Exorcists and Elders were caught between falling pillars and the deadly attacks of the demon. They uttered prayers to themselves hoping it will keep them safe enough to fight back. At least with some kind of last, desperate attempt.

Desperation.

Something the Elders never taught, but knew all too well. The last strike that is their final will and testament. A way to leave the world still fighting and refusing to give up. Amy and Kearney had their desperation before when they were in the farm. They were ready to blow themselves up with grenades in order to bring down the demons and prevent them from getting the last blow.

Until the Hell-Walker appeared. He rescued them with pistols, a sword, and a yeti. He would be laughing at the face of Eveo, but they weren’t sure if he survived the battle against Valac. He seemed far too powerful and out of the levels of the Elders themselves.

“So who’ll it be?!” Eveo shouted arrogantly, “Who will taste my wrath first?!”

As soon as he finished his sentence, a soft plush toy smacked the demon across his face. He stared at the doll with confusion. He picked it up with his sharp fingernails puncturing the inside of the plush.

“What the hell?” Amy whispered to Kearney.

Kearney couldn’t find words to describe what they were looking at. He just shrugged.

The plush began to glow in a blue fiery energy and exploded with a powerful blast that sent Eveo skidding across the hall.

Out of the blue flames and smoke emerged Kayden, sword in hand, and a whole lot of tricks left in his sleeve. Desperation wasn’t in his vocabulary.

“Neither is losing!” Kayden shouted.

The Exile lunged across the hall and toward his newest opponent, Eveo.

“How did you survive against Valac?!” Eveo blocked Kayden’s strike.

“I don’t know!”

Amy and Kearney quickly used the distraction to escort the Elders out of the way before any more harm was caused to them.

“We need to get out of here! Now!” Amy directed at her mentors. Kearney was well-prepared with his first-aid skills.

“No way,” The Fourth Elder winced, “We need to help him!”

“You can’t help him if you’re dead!” Kearney found his voice within the frustration, “Get your asses out of here! Now!”

They rushed out to the nearest exit they could find within the raining rubble of their academy. Amy looked back at Kayden and her eyes slowly teared, she hoped she wasn’t going to regret her decision of escorting the Elders.

~ ~ ~

The two combatants slammed each other into the walls and laid strikes against each other, one attack after another. They were at a stalemate. Eveo almost limitless supply of stamina while Kayden struggled to find his second wind. It was obvious who had the upper hand, but Kayden managed to convince him that he didn’t. Eveo hesitated to make his move which allowed the Exile to quickly lay him with a roundhouse kick to the skull. The blow landed heavily and sounded like a buckshot leaving the barrel of a shotgun.

Eveo absorbed the attack, all thanks to his supernatural endurance. His neck snapped back into position like if nothing happened. He responded with a powerful cross punch that landed right on Kayden’s chest. The young warrior wasn’t quick enough to block it and took the whole strike. The halls shook with the powerful force and Kayden laid on the ground clutching onto his chest.

His breathing was hard and long. Oxygen was coming in scarce. The attack was powerful, almost God-like. Yet, he was breathing. Still breathing.

“That was nothing.” Eveo knelt next to him.

“Wasn’t asking for anything less.” Kayden smiled.

Bang!

Blood splattered over the floor. Eveo clutched his neck as if he was trying to kill an annoying mosquito. The demon slowly stood up and turned to the direction of the bullet.

Amy quickly jumped in with a knee to his skull. The blow landed hard, but wasn’t enough to stagger him.

“Missed us?” Kearney quickly grabbed ahold of Kayden and aided him back up.

“Barely.” Kayden sucked in as much air as he could, but the pain kept squeezing tight. Kearney escorted him to a wall to regain some energy and as quickly as he showed up, he left to join Amy in the fight.

“You’re really starting to slow down.” Amy taunted the angry demon. The Exorcist raised up her guard and welcomed a predicted attack. She countered it with a quick two gunshots to his abdomen and a kick to the chest.

Kearney complimented the barrage with a tanto knife combo which quickly laid enough strikes to get him weakened for another knee to the skull. Blood drew from his mouth, he answered back with a spit to the ground. More of his blood stained on the halls of the ruined academy.

Eveo snarled and ferociously charged at Kearney with an animalistic rage. Kearney was ill-prepared for the onslaught, but Kayden interfered with a fiery fist making contact with the demon’s face.

The Exile drew his blade and charged against Eveo ready for a final all-out strike.

“Go high”, He looked at his partners, “Go low!”

The duo nodded in shared agreement and ran to Eveo. Kearney slid below and managed to knock a foot away from the ground to make him lose balance, which allowed Amy to dive across her opponent’s upper torso to deliver a single gunshot to his skull. The flash of the muzzle followed by the sharp pain of the bullet caused instant confusion. He tried to turn away to avoid another attempt, but another pain appeared.

A cold feeling quickly engulfed Eveo. He was looking at Kayden in the eye as he drew the blade closer into him. He saw his blood leak out of his wound and with every bit of his energy his clawed hands squeezed onto the blade to pull it out. Inch by grueling inch, the sword struggled back and forth. Eveo was pinned and he knew it.

Kayden summoned every molecule of energy that he could pull to keep the demon at bay. Nothing was going to stop him from finishing the job. He forced Eveo into a wall and used the sword as an anchor to trap him.

“You sonofa--” Eveo winced.

“Shut up!” Kayden screamed back in frustration. He was tired of his arrogance, tired of his plague of darkness, and tired of fighting. Blue energy sparked around him and that itself looked exhausted. It sputtered and crackled around Kayden trying to find sweet spot to fire up again.

“Take the lead, Amy!” Kayden yelled out.

Amy and Kearney prepared a seal to finally defeat Eveo and prevent the world from falling into darkness. The pair knelt down in front of the demon and whispered a prayer, a powerful use of the Lord’s word. They made the sign of the cross in a synchronized fashion to finalize the incantation. This was a basic technique taught to all Exorcists as it was something that made sure their job was done. Kayden even knew it, but he upgraded the technique that allowed him to bypass prayers that he didn’t believe in.

He stood firmly on the ground with the sword pierced through the chest of Eveo and the wall. Kayden’s arm were scratched from Eveo’s desperation for an escape, but it failed. The Hell-Walker’s blue energy began to manifest in its full glory along with the gravitational push from Amy and Kearney’s seal.

The demon slowly began to burn away. Pieces of his skin disintegrated from the combined forces of the young warriors. The seal was working and thanks to Kayden’s hell-gained abilities Eveo didn’t stand a chance. His scream of pain began to echo through the damaged halls of the academy.

As the noise faded into the seal, so did the darkness that was surrounding the Earth. The sunlight began to shine through the shadows, signaling the failure of Eveo and Valac’s plan. Kayden kept his stance even when Eveo’s bones were reduced to ashes. His anger wasn’t subsiding.

“We did it, Kayden,” Amy put her hand on his shoulder, “YOU did it.”

“We did,” Kayden exhaled heavily, “didn’t we?”