Fighting the Lesser Demon

The slightly darker than crimson creature standing before them sneered with delight as it drew its sword from its hip. Its skinny arms were holding the sword with ease as its legs were braced in a wide fighting stance. Its tail whipped back and forth in anticipation of the first move to be made by someone in the group.

Zain, accustomed to noticing mannerisms saw this and took a gamble as he spoke to the group. "I'm going to test something to see if it moves. Don't freak out if it does."

As he finished speaking, the creature tilted its head to the side so its horns were almost parallel to the ground.

Zain took this opportunity and quietly drew his rapier and jumped out of formation on the left side, which he was previously on and did a slight dash to the front of the group.

The creature pulled out a set of daggers from its back, holding them both pointed back towards its elbows and charged towards Zain as well.

Sophia, who was on the left and still holding Damascus's broad sword went and placed the tip on the ground right behind her left foot. Zain took a ready almost fencing like stance but a little more on the balls of his feet for movement.

The creature got about five feet away and was still charging strong as Zain vaulted out of the way.

It got to about two feet from where Zain was once standing when Sophia let the broad sword loose flinging the blade in a crescent shaped arch hitting the creature up the torso and across the chest diagonally.

The creature went up off the ground about six inches then backwards about two feet before landing on its feet and sliding another three feet backwards. This got the adrenaline pumping through Zain's veins. He knew he shouldn't, but he was itching to fight on the front lines, instead he held his position going back into formation.

The creature had a purplish-black liquid running from the wound Sophia had left it with. It looked at its state and then lurched back towards Sophia.

As it got to about five foot away, Damascus caught it on the back of the head with the Glaive he had been holding for Sophia as she went down with the broad sword. The creature hit the ground and rolled out of the way of the sword and zipped around to where Zain was at.

The broadsword Sophia was holding hit the ground with immense force as the creature made a dash towards Zain. Zain parried the attack and moved to the side as he gave it a knee to the rib cage.

The creature let out a grimace of pain as Zain's father quickly took an arrow out of his quiver and muttered a shortened incantation "Fulgor Sagitta." As the incantation was finished, the arrow in his had had a purple light start to shimmer around it and Zain heard an electric hum from it.

His father took the arrow in his hand and started using it as a makeshift dagger and would use it to stun the beast then reposition for another blow. The first blow was to its shoulder, the second he spun around and hit it in between the ribs, the third was to the back.

After the third strike Zain joined in with his rapier, he sliced and stabbed in the front while his dad was rolling over and around the creature continuously hitting it with the electrified arrow in his hand.

Before long, it appeared that Zain and his father had the creature on the back foot. The creature mustered up its strength and then knocked Zain's rapier from his hands.

The creature smirked as it chattered its teeth in anticipation of a death at its hands. Zain's father quickly hit the creature one last time leaving the arrow in.

As the creature spun around to start attacking his father Zain drew the sword he had found in the previous room. Immediately the blue-green blade started illuminating the area and for a second, all was quiet. The creature turned slowly as Zain put both hands onto the hilt and placed the blade directly in front of his face with his expression growing more determined.

As the creature was face to face with Zain's stern expression only separated by the blade between them, Zain brought the blade down on its head. After it started to shriek from being cut, Zain threw the blade sideways and cut across its chest. The wounds were almost cauterizing as Zain slashed but he didn't seem to notice.

Just as the third strike to hit the creature from the blade started, the smell of the burning flesh started to fumigate through the room. The creature quickly recoiled from the blows Zain had been landing on it and readied its stance once more, this time lower to the ground almost reptilian like.

Zain returned to his neutral full ready stance squared up with the creature, blade vertical in front of his face.

The creature glanced around the room observing everyone's positions, which was approximately the same as before.

Sophia had just freed the broad sword from the ground where it had struck. Damascus was still beside her to help guard her if the creature came to attack again while she couldn't defend herself. Zain's mother was between the creature and Damascus and Sophia sporting twin daggers that seemed to be coated in some sort of liquid. Lastly, Zain's father was flanking the creature on the opposite side to that of Zain.

They had lured it into a pincer formation and now it was noticing its positioning. It was back to the wall, completely surrounded by the group, the creature tried to make a brake for it and bolted towards the opening that was where Damascus would have been, if Sophia hadn't gotten his broad sword stuck in the stone for a bit.

As its nimble body scurried across the floor towards the opening, Zain in one fell movement brought the sword in his hands to the right and up then straight down severing the creature's neck from the rest of its body.