Chapter 33: Fighting the demon

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Thor had an ashen face, and the nearby Merlin turned to look at the young god, his own face quite pale as he said "This demon has had unknown changes since we last fought, and has become seemingly immune to magic attacks… That includes your thunder too, young god."

Nearby, Morgana, whom everyone thought was either dead or unconscious, coughed and said with a weak voice "Knull…"

Her weakened state only allowed her to pronounce a single word, a single name, before passing out for real, but it was enough for Merlin's face to change drastically as he exclaimed "YOU FUCKING MAD WITCH!!"

The usually reserved and composed Merlin burst out with a cry as he insulted the unconscious witch, panic clear on his face.

But he didn't have time to explain as the demon once again jumped at them. Merlin tried to use the same tactic to push it away, but his attack this time was clearly weaker.

Edward could feel the power released by Merlin seemed to be the same, so the attack should still be as powerful, meaning something else was interfering. And as he looked more closely, he saw a dark gas seemed to have spread in the area, and it had latched onto Merlin's magic, weakening it.

Merlin coughed and said "This… Arthur, have the men retreat! NOW!" Arthur did not even mind the order given as he commanded his troops to retreat, but they weren't fast enough as the demon released another ray of darkness.

Merlin tried to stop it, but this time his shields too were weakened, and couldn't stop the attack. Edward jumped in front of the army and used his sword to block a part of the attack, but he quickly felt the power behind the attack was too much.

He used a large amount of Chi to coat his blade, giving it a purplish glint to it's originally dark blade, allowing him to keep the sword firmly in his hand and block a part of the attack.

However, the attack was too big to be blocked by a single sword, and although Edward himself was fine, a part of the attack went past him.

As the attacked exploded among the soldiers, many of them were vaporized by the attack, and many others were now missing limbs. Moreover, a thick dark mist spread in the area, corroding the bodies of those standing in it.

Arthur raised his sword, casting the healing aura from Excalibur, but much to his shock, it was countered by the dark mist, and he found himself unable to heal his men, and could only watch as they started coughing strongly, some even starting to cough out blood.

As for Edward, although the dark energy was also entering his body and trying to corrode it, his Chi revealed itself to once again be very useful as it cleansed the energy before it could corrode his body.

Moreover, the energy was being refined by his Chi, allowing him to recover his Chi even faster than usual.

However, he couldn't bring himself to feel joy at the grim situation. Aside from him, only Thor seemed to be fine, probably thanks to his godly physique. With another cough, Merlin said "We need to leave! Can you handle the beast?!"

Edward looked at the thirty meters tall monster, then at Thor, who nodded to him, so he looked at Merlin and said "We will kill it."

Merlin nodded, obviously worried, but he knew that staying here would only kill them.

Using a large amount of energy, he created a bunch of portals, quickly bringing everyone else than Thor and Edward to Camelot.

Now left alone, Edward finally let out a small smile as he asked his friend "You can let it out now."

At his words, Thor laughed crazily as he cried with power "YOUR END HAS COME, DEMON! FOR THE MIGHTY GOD OF LIGHTNING SHALL SLAY YOU!"

Edward rolled his eyes, he had learned from the Asgardians Thor was not only very strong, but he sought even stronger opponents to fight all the time.

The demon let out a loud roar that shook the air as it ran toward the two small beings that dared to face it, while Thor took out his axe, Jarnbjorn.

Meanwhile, Edward sprinted toward the demon, and swung his sword forward with all his power. The power that had been absorbed from the earlier attack was partially released alongside some of Edward's Chi as it flew toward the demon.

Maybe because it remembered what happened last time, it tried to dodge, but the flying slash was too fast for it to dodge, and it was hit. A gash opened on it's chest, but it wasn't very deep, and it was healing at a visible speed. Moreover, although the gash was three meters in length, it was nothing compared to the size of the beast.

That's when Thor came in though, as he somehow jumped in the air and found himself above the monster, swinging Jarnbjorn down.

The blade fell on the monster's shoulder as it slashed all the way down it's arm, leaving a rather large gash this time. However, as Thor reached the ground, the demon jumped back and spun around, revealing a long spiked tail.

It moved faster than sound itself as it slammed into the body of the God of Lightning, sending him flying away.

Edward felt Thor was only injured through his Chi Sense, so he rushed toward the beast, and released a few more flying slashes, all mixed with the monster's absorbed energy. He couldn't actually send flying slashes with only his Chi, there needed to be another energy, so he used it sparingly.

To make up for the power, he used large amounts of Chi, which he could recover much faster than usual in this environment.

Multiple tears were opened on the demon's body as it roared in pain, and swung down it's claw at Edward. It moved faster than sound, but Edward knew where the attack would hit before it was even thrown thanks to his Chi Sense, allowing him to dodge in time.

He reached the arm that was cut open by Thor's axe, and sent a flying slash toward the demon's face while he covered his foot in Chi and kicked the exposed bone.

With it's available claw, the demon blocked the flying slash, but the kick, which it expected to be very weak, made a crack into it's bone as Chi amplified the power by several times.

Enraged, it turned into a bawl as spikes on it's back erected themselves, almost like a porcupine. Edward felt the attack, but it came from a thirty meters tall demon that turned into a huge ball, so even with his foreknowledge of the attack, he could evade in time so he covered his entire body with a thick layer of Chi as the demon slammed into him.

The spikes first pierced through the layer of Chi, and slightly penetrated his skin, but because of their size only three of them could hit him at the same time.

Before it could go any further, Edward was sent flying by the force, slamming into the ground like a pebble thrown on a lake, ricocheting and shattering the ground on which he landed on.

He finally stopped as he slammed into an already cracked hill, which broke down into huge rocks as a second person slammed into it with great force.

The force with which he was slammed into would have turned any human into meat pulp, but thanks to his stronger body and the barrier he created with his Chi, he managed to survive the landing with only a few broken bones.

As he shook himself out of his stupor, Edward looked at the nearby god, who was embedded in a piece of rock in a human star position.

With a grunt that was supposed to be a chuckle, he said "Already down, Godling?"

Thor let out a laugh as he got himself out of the rock, and said "This demon is stronger than I thought! I like it!"

Edward coughed as he got out of his own pile of rocks, and as he absorbed tons of Chi and felt it heal his cracked bones and bruised flesh, he said "Surprised me too. It has a good regeneration too."

Indeed, while they were recovering from their injuries, the demon was doing the same as it ate the corpses of some of the orcs and humans who died with a body left.

Edward stretched his healing limbs, and said "Those corpses might become a problem. I know desecrating the bodies of the dead is taboo with your people, but I believe letting them get absorbed by this demon is worse, so I suggest you turn all those corpses into ashes with some lightning."

Thor grunted back "Do you think manipulating lightning is that easy?" Edward raised an eyebrow and asked "Aren't you the God of Lightning?"

Thor replied with a small voice "I'm only twenty…" Edward snorted at that and said "Well, I guess we will have to do without it. Ready for round two?"

Thor's response was a beastly roar as he ran toward the demon, who stopped feasting on the corpses and roared back, rushing toward them.

While Thor could look like a brutish warrior with no brains and only brawls… well, it was partially true, he wasn't usually the smartest in the room, but if there was something he excelled in, then it was battles.

The demon's injuries had mostly recovered already, except for the one on it's arm. The flesh was regrowing, but the bone was still damaged, so Thor decided to attack there.

The demon used it's other claw to smash Thor, but the young god swung his axe back, stopping the claw and himself.

But Edward quickly bypassed him, and the demon could only try to retreat as it couldn't attack once again so fast.

It's size however showed it's weaknesses at this moment as it wasn't fast enough to get far enough quick enough, and Edward reached the section of it's arm he had injured earlier.

Coating his right foot with Chi, he jumped at the arm, and kicked it with force. A huge cracking sound sounded, and the arm became deformed, it was obviously become broken.

Moreover, Edward wasn't over as he used his stomp to jump toward the demon's face, stabbing his sword toward it's forehead.

The demon couldn't use either of it's arms to attack Edward, but there was still it's mouth filled with jagged teeth.

However, as it tried to bite Edward into minced meat, Thor appeared below it's head, and sent a powerful uppercut into it's chin, forcefully closing it's mouth down and breaking a few teeth.

This also allowed Edward to reach it's forehead, and with a sword now coated with Chi, he stabbed it into it's forehead.

The sword's sharpness showed it's prowess as it easily went through the hard forehead, reaching for the brain behind.

The monster was too big in size though, and even though it's brain was hit, it was only a small frontal part, which while important, didn't kill it.

But as the demon struggled to get Edward off, the sword, of which only the hilt could be seen now, erupted with all the remaining energy inside it and Edward's remaining Chi.

Edward and Thor heard a small explosion as the demon abruptly stopped moving and fell, like a puppet that had lost it's strings.

Edward gracefully took his sword out of the demon's forehead, and jumped down before the monster crushed him with it's fall, and landed near Thor.

He grinned at the young god, forgetting he had his mask on, and said "That's…"

He was forced to stop though, as his Chi Sense sent him an alarm, a danger was incoming. He tried to move, but he was too slow and could only feel a feeling of weightlessness as he was sent flying by a giant black arm.