Silence descended upon the room as the headless body of the Demoness collapsed to the ground. The eyes of her head were still open as it rolled across the floor, only to halt when the wind Demon stomped down with a look of disgust. The head was split open like a watermelon as it was crushed under his foot.

With the Demoness no more, the wind Demon turned his attention to me. “Now, Aurielle, I am running low on both time and patience. Tell me how to disable this building or I will enact her idea of crippling your family. You have to the count of ten before I start removing arms.”

I looked over at my family as the Demon began counting. They were in no state to keep fighting after their clash with the injured Demoness. Everyone but Charly was unconscious, and he was too weak to even stand. If this Demon followed through with his threat, there was nothing they would be able to do that could stop him.

“Five,” the Demon spoke coldly, “Six.”

With only a couple seconds left, my eyes moved to Sigmund. The swordsman stood perfectly still as the hail of invisible blades rained down on his body. The blue energy from the core was unable to completely stop the incoming attacks and his wounds from the previous fight had reopened alongside the new injuries. The man stood completely motionless as the Demon counted.

“Eight.”

Suddenly a ring of steel echoed through the room as Sigmund’s sword blurred. His blade had actually blocked one of the traceless strikes.

“Nine,” the Demon said as he turned to look at Sigmund.

Sigmund still had his eyes close but his sword moved again. This time, two clashes of steel rang through the room. Under the endless whirlwind, Sigmund was finally able to take a single step forward. Four more clashes echoed through the room. I was no longer able to see his blade move as fewer and fewer of the wind strikes landed on Sigmund’s body.

“Ten,” the Demon spoke. His attention was now fully focused on Sigmund. “You are not part of Berith’s list. That means I do not need to keep you alive.”

Sigmund had been slowly moving forward, step by step, under the hail of attacks but now that he had the Demon’s full focus, he could no longer move. Even as his sword blurred as it blocked countless blows new wounds opened up across Sigmund’s body. I recognized that he was not moving using the strength of his muscles anymore. Instead, Sigmund’s domain moved his body like a puppet. It was likely he did not even have the strength left to hold his own blade without it. Still, the swordsman never backed down. Sigmund’s perseverance kept the Demon’s attention focused on him so much that he did not notice a new figure blur into the room.

With a whistle of delight, a blur of golden flames flew directly to my side. A bright yellow crystal was clutched in each of Sylvie’s little talons.

I smiled as the two crystals dropped into my hands. With a tinge of remorse at wasting something so valuable, I crushed both crystals. A wave of bright yellow fire filled the room.

“I hope you have had fun bullying us up until now, Demon, because I am going to return the favor tenfold.”

A barrier of wind stopped the wave of fire from crashing into the Demon as he was forced to retreat from the heat. The attack on Sigmund came to a halt. The swordsman swayed unsteadily but did not fall.

I motioned to Sylvie and she immediately flew off to get more of the crystals. I could control the flames the crystals produced, but what it could provide was limited. The stored energy of Cyra flame could not compare to the real innate talent and the Demon knew it.

“Even if the owner of this flame were here, Aurielle, it would not be enough to defeat me. What do you hope to accomplish with this?”

“Raw power is not all that decides a fight,” I replied as I gathered about a tenth of the flames created by the crystal. The fire raged as it formed a massive sphere before quickly condensing down to the size of an apple. I grinned at the Demon as the small sphere of fire flew at the Demon as if launched by a cannon.

The ball of fire struck the wall of wind but rather than exploding as the Demon expected, the ball became thin like an arrow. The new arrow of flame pierced through the wall of flame with more than half its power remaining. Caught off guard, the flaming arrow struck the Demon directly in the chest before he could dodge.

The Demon’s domain dissipated most of the force behind the arrow but the Demon himself was still sent crashing into the far wall of the room. A cyclone of wind exploded from the Demon as he glared at me. His chest where the fire had struck was unharmed but a large hole had appeared on the front of his finely tailored suit.

With a grin, I snapped my fingers and the remaining flames born from the two crystals began to condense until nine more balls that looked identical to the first floated around me. Not wanting to give the Demon any time to recover, or worse, target my family, I immediately shot three more balls of fire at the Demon the moment they formed. The three balls each curved from a different angle as they closed in on the Demon.

Learning his lesson, the Demon did not try to block this time and moved to dodge my attack instead. However, the Demon was once again caught off guard when the ball of fire did not act as he expected. As soon as the first ball got close, it split apart into hundreds of pieces that hailed down on the Demon. The second ball was dodged but it directly exploded into a wave of fire that blinded the Demon. This created an opening for the third ball that once again formed an arrow. It struck the Demon directly in the center of his head and sent him tumbling back into the wall in an embarrassing tangle of limbs.

“You should surrender,” I said as the remaining six balls of fire moved in front of me, “I have quite a few questions I would like you to answer.”

The Demon chuckled as he stood up and cracked his neck. A bright red burn mark dotted the center of his forehead, but it was not enough to threaten the Demon’s life. “I admit, your control of fire is impressive but this flame is still too weak to damage me in any meaningful way. You have wasted enough of my time. Now, you will pay the price.”

The Demon ignored me as he turned his gaze towards the unconscious forms of my family. A powerful wind began to fill the room. I threw five more fireballs at the Demon and used the remaining four to create a wall of fire between the Demon and my family. The Demon completely disregarded the incoming attacks without bothering to block or dodge as a storm of blades descended on the wall of fire. An explosion filled the room and knocked me to the ground.

I shook away the stars in my vision as I forced myself back to my feet. The Demon across from me was doing the same. Even after taking five of the strongest blows I could manage with the flame, he only had a few burn marks on his skin. I had barely injured him at all.

The Demon gave me a wicked grin before once again turning back to my family. “You could have prevented this had you just done as I said.”

“I will not let you touch my family!” I shouted as I bolted with all the speed I could manage.

I wanted nothing more right now than to burn that Demon to a crisp but before I could even get close, a cyclone of wind threw me back. The unconscious bodies of my family were also sent tumbling back as invisible blades began to fill the room. It felt as if my heart was tearing as new wounds opened up across their body despite the blue energy trying to protect them.

My mind raced as I tried to think of some way to combat this Demon but I was still too weak. Even if Sylvie arrived now with more crystals for me to use, it would not be enough to stop this Demon from hurting my family.

Blood pooled on the ground as more and more injuries appeared but just as it looked like the Demon was about to slice open my mom, he paused. His eyes went wide and he started laughing maniacally.

I followed his gaze to where my mom lay. During the previous fight, she had taken a hit directly to the chest. That strike had ripped open her shirt to reveal a necklace. It looked like a simple stone on a string but to the Demon, it might as well have shone like a beacon.

“A rift stone!” The Demon said with a laugh, “No wonder Berith said you would open the path for Envy. If I take this, I no longer need to leave any of you alive.” His eyes locked onto the stone. The Demon moved towards my mom as a disembodied sigh filled the room.

Next to my mom, the unconscious body of Donte began to stir. Despite being covered in injuries he picked up the fallen sword and stood up. He moved to stand in front of my mom and looked at the Demon with piercing purple eyes.

He spoke, but the words that came out of his mouth did not sound like Donte. It was Mare. “I am really not supposed to do this but I cannot let you continue.”

The Demon stopped as he looked at Donte with confusion. “I do not know what has come over you, boy, but you were not strong enough to stop me before and you will not be strong enough to stop me now.”

Donte’s body moved as Mare cocked his head to the side. A smile spread across Donte’s face and a chill traveled down my spine. Every instinct in my body was screaming at me to run away.

The Demon obviously did not share my fear. He whipped up a whirlwind around himself as he launched an attack at Mare.

“Why are you using a sledgehammer to thread a needle?” Mare asked with a shake of her head. Without any sign of concern, she stepped into the whirlwind. Donte’s body swayed slightly as a storm of invisible blades sliced past him. Mare did not move fast through the whirlwind. She almost looked like she was drunk as she weaved back and forth but to my amazement, not a single one of the thousands of wind blades touched Donte’s skin.

I had suffered from that same wind storm earlier. I knew for a fact that trying to dodge each of the blades was like trying to dodge the rain. It should have been impossible and yet, with each and every step, Mare got closer to the wind Demon. He looked even more surprised than me as he threw more and more attacks in Mare’s direction.

Mare was still smiling as she approached the Demon. “You have intruded into the Dragon’s Nest... my nest and attacked my children. I cannot allow that.”

Mare was now directly in front of the Demon. Donte’s sword was pointed at his chest. The Demon tried to back up and regain some distance but now that she was close, Mare attacked.

The blue energy that protected Donte’s body wrapped around the sword as she struck. Blood cascaded to the ground as the Demon’s stomach was sliced open. His domain crumbled after a single blow and he felt fear for the first time.

The Demon roared in pain and panic, creating an explosion of wind that erupted in every direction. Mare was unable to dodge this and was forced back. She prepared to close in on the Demon again but he immediately flew back in fear.

“I will remember this, boy. I do not know what has possessed you, but I know it can not last forever. I will be back, and next time, we will take that stone.”

Not willing to risk letting Mare get close again, the Demon flew towards the exit of the room. He paused for only a second to pick up the body of the fallen Demoness. Shooting one last glare at Donte, the Demon fled with all the speed he could manage.

“Next time, the dimwit will kill you himself,” Mare said with a sigh. The purple glow faded from Donte’s eyes and his body collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.