Chapter 92
Mincs coughed, waving away bits of smoke with her hand before retrieving her weapons from the pool. "Aw, wet leather's no fun to dry," she complained, holding up her whip. Then, she turned to where the demon stood. "Don't you agree, Mr. Demon?" she asked, tilting her head curiously.
As the smoke cleared, Arnan emerged from the haze, his arms slightly burnt from covering his face. The black, scratchy mist surrounding him seemed malformed, with some parts smaller and others larger than before. Rather than one solid mass, it now had holes in it—some massive, others small.
"You... you don't care at all, do you?" Arnan asked, his glare steady as he dropped his arms.
"Of course I care!" Mincs exclaimed, flailing her arms. "I don't want to die, after all. I just don't stay afraid for too long, is all."
Arnan formed more black, scratchy mist, keeping his gaze fixed on her. *That blast could have killed me if I hadn't used my ability. This monkey is far more dangerous than she acts,* he thought to himself. He watched as Mincs got out of the pool and shook off water from her hair, as if this were a day at the beach rather than a fight to the death.
"After seeing what I can do, will you let me go, please~?" Mincs asked, trying to act cutesy. A vein popped on Arnan's head as he thought to himself, *I don't care anymore. I'm using everything I have to kill this monkey!* Without hesitation, he seemingly charged up the black, scratchy mist before unleashing it toward Mincs.
**Elsewhere**
The chimera charged, his right tiger-like claws slashing wildly toward the demon's face in an animalistic rage. The demon maintained its usual calm demeanor, smoothly weaving to the left. With calculated precision, it countered with its morphed right hand, slashing deeply into the chimera's right ribs, drawing fresh, near-black red blood. Without pause, the demon morphed its left hand into a set of knuckledusters.
The chimera roared loudly, a terrifying combination of a lion's and a tiger's roar, shaking the very ground beneath them. The angel instinctively covered his ears, while Larkin froze in fear momentarily. However, the demon remained unaffected.
As the chimera attempted to bite off the demon's head, the demon leaned backward, narrowly avoiding the attack. His jaws snapped shut just centimeters away from the demon's face. Seizing the opportunity, the demon countered with a straight left punch directly to the chimera's nose. Despite the powerful blow, the chimera barely flinched. "Weak!" he exclaimed before retaliating, bashing the demon away with his left claws and launching him into a moss-covered boulder.
"Oi!" Larkin exclaimed as he witnessed the demon being hurled through the air. "Can the priest win this?" he asked, his eyes fixed on the ongoing battle.
The demon bore a deep, gaping gash on its side, which extended up to his chest. Despite the severity of the wound, it began to heal rapidly as he stood up, dusting off his clothes—or rather, his skin. Meanwhile, the chimera held his bleeding nose, the skin torn from the powerful punch. "What did you do!?" he roared, his voice filled with fury and pain.
"I simply used something that would harm you," the demon replied calmly, plucking bits of skin from its morphed left hand, which upon closer inspection revealed a large number of tiny spikes, resembling a grater.
The demon then morphed its right hand back to its natural demon form, rather than a human one. As the chimera began to charge again at rapid speeds, the demon swung its left hand in an uppercutting motion. The chimera, relying on pure instincts, evaded the blow just in time, only to drive his right claws into the demon's stomach, pinning him against the moss-covered boulder.
"Don't you dare die!" exclaimed the angel, his voice filled with urgency as he watched the fight unfold.
"It's over, runt!" the chimera yelled triumphantly, raising his left claws to deliver the finishing blow. But his victory was short-lived as the demon swiftly extended his right hand in the shape of a finger gun. "Bang," the demon said calmly as a sharp black claw extended from his index finger, piercing through the chimera's right eye with deadly accuracy.
The chimera roared in agony as he withdrew his hand from the demon's stomach, clutching his injured eye. But the demon wasted no time and leaned back against the moss-covered boulder and chambered its right leg, morphing its lower limb into a spike. With precision, the demon drove the spike directly into the chimera's chest, feeling it pierce through flesh, organs, and bone.
A torrent of blood spewed from the chimera's mouth, splattering across the demon's face. In a desperate rage, the chimera raked his left claws across the demon's shoulder, chest, and stomach, leaving deep wounds in his wake. Ignoring the desperate attacks, the demon pushed its morphed leg deeper, driving the spike through the chimera's body until it emerged from his back.
"Y-you... you..." the chimera spluttered, his words slurred by the blood filling his mouth.
"Shh," the demon said softly, bringing its left arm, now returned to its human form, to its lips. "There is no longer a point in fighting back. Accept the darkness and move on peacefully, without any more suffering, pain, or struggle."
With painstaking slowness, the demon withdrew the spike from the chimera's chest, watching as he staggered back, his hands futilely attempting to stem the flow of blood from the gaping wound. Despite the chimera's resistance, the inevitable end drew near, and the demon healed rapidly from its wounds, a barely noticeable glare in its eyes as it observed the chimera's futile struggle.
The angel and Larkin watched the chimera's demise with a mixture of emotions. "Did... did we win?" Larkin asked, his voice tinged with uncertainty. He was taken aback by how brief the fight between the demons had been, while the angel gazed at the demon with a sense of uncertainty and a hint of disappointment... at himself. *Is that all?* he wondered, his mind grappling with the abrupt end of the battle.
As the chimera fell to his knees, blood pooling beneath him and staining the soil, he struggled to speak. "You're not from... a city," he wheezed out, his voice fading as life slipped away. "You're from the outside, you're a true de-" Before he could finish his words, his body went limp, and he collapsed to the ground, lifeless.
Turning to the angel and Larkin, the demon approached them, cleaning itself of the blood from the encounter. "Keep it safe, Larkin," he instructed, casting a brief glance at the angel. "I have to close the portal," it added, patting Larkin on the shoulder before heading towards the mansion.
But the angel couldn't stay silent. "Wait a minute, I can't just sit and do nothing. I came here to stop this, so I'm coming too!" he exclaimed, his determination clear despite his injuries.
The demon glanced back at him. "You are far too injured. Do not worry, I will be fine," it reassured, before resuming its path toward the mansion.
Gritting his teeth in frustration, the angel muttered to himself, "I'm not worried about you," as Larkin helped him to the steamstrider. "Let's get you patched up," Larkin said, guiding the angel towards the medical supplies. Meanwhile, lost in his thoughts, the angel couldn't shake the lingering question: *Was that guy even trying when he fought me?*