Ancient Temple (3)

"Ahhh... what have we here?"

"Hmm?" Leon looked at the shadowy mass with some interest. It looked like there was some kind of necromancy involved, so that made Leon very interested.

As for what the demon had just said, he completely ignored it.

The demon, realizing that he had just been grandly ignored, burst out.

"Stupid mortal, do you know who stands before you? Kneel down at once."

"Oh? Who are you? You seem like a mass with heads." Leon shrugged.

"I am Zarthus," the creature announced. "The Third Son of Al-Melios, Prince of the Hungering Shadows! And you, mortal and the soul inside of you, are the first meal I shall have in a thousand years."

"Leon, it's looking at me! It wants to eat me! It wants to eat my soul! Make it stop! Please, Leon, make it stop!" In Leon's mind, a desperate voice rang, afraid of dying once again after being revived after so long.

Lyra and Brom had already passed out at this point, their mana still suppressed to such an extent that even breathing became difficult for them.

"Haiz, why do you worry? I am right here," Leon said smugly, trying to console the trembling Kira.

"Mortal, you dare flirt in front of this prince? Are you really not afraid of death?"

"If you give me that soul, I might consider sparing you. Otherwise, I will eat each and every one of you, hahaha."

"A prince?" Leon said, his voice laced with mocking disappointment. "I was expecting the king himself. Instead, they send a dead lizard."

Zarthus's purple eyes flared. "What did you call me, mortal insect?"

"Did I stutter?" Leon replied, a lazy smirk on his face. "Honestly, how dare a scaly-faced lizard like you try to scare my wife?"

"W-wife?" Kira stammered in his mind, her fear momentarily replaced by a spiritual blush.

"INSOLENCE!" Zarthus shrieked, its reptilian jaw snapping with rage. "You will die screaming for that!"

He gestured, and a bolt of pure necrotic energy shot towards Leon. Leon casually sidestepped it.

"Too slow," he yawned. He raised a hand. "Dark Fire Bolt."

A sputtering, weak ball of black-purple fire drifted towards Zarthus. The demon prince let out a rattling laugh. "Is that your power? A child's parlor trick? Pathetic!" He didn't even bother to move, preparing to let the weak spell dissipate against his demonic aura.

"Maybe it needs a little push," Leon said.

With a speed that defied logic, Leon's fist shot out, punching the air directly behind his slow-moving dark bolt. A silent shockwave of pure physical force erupted from his knuckles, slamming into the magical projectile.

BOOM!

The dark bolt, compressed and accelerated by the physical force, transformed. It was no longer a floating ball of fire but a screaming, spinning magical slug that crossed the distance in an instant.

"What?!" Zarthus cried out in shock.

The amplified bolt slammed into the demon prince's shadowy chest, tearing a hole through its form. The demon shrieked in pain and utter shock, staggering backward.

He had been careless, and this mortal's strange attack had almost destabilized his newly formed body. Slowly, he began to reform his body, but it was very slow as there was no sacrifice, unlike the last time.

Leon, however, did not follow up. He just stood there, waiting with a slight grin on his face.

"Now you have my attention," Zarthus hissed, his burning eyes filled with hatred. "Now observe the difference between a Demon Prince and a human mortal.

He began launching a volley of dark magic attacks—necrotic spears, soul-draining curses, shadowy tendrils—

—all of which Leon sidestepped with an effortless, almost bored look.

"HOW!!" After failing to hit Leon for the 10th time, fumes of embarrassment started to come out of the demon's ears. And just then he heard something.

"Is that...it?"

BLEGH!

That was the last straw. The demon prince, unable to take it anymore, vomited blood. It was not out of injuries; Leon had not hit him once yet.

It was purely out of shame.

"Fu*king mortal!! I will make mincemeat out of you!!" Zarthus roared out as he turned to face leon again.

"How, exactly? You have not landed a single hit on me yet." Leon countered, his face displaying a mock puzzled expression.

"If I cannot hit your body, I will shatter your minds! Cower before the might of the Devouring Prince! Fall into the Forest of Despair!"

He slammed a shadowy claw onto the ground, and a wave of illusionary magic washed over the chamber. It slowly washed over Leon, Lyra, and Brom, the latter two powerless to defend against it.

Groan!

Lyra's rubbed her eyes, slowly waking up. 

"Brom? Leon? Where are you?"

It was then that she noticed that she was no longer in the temple.

"Where... where am I?" Lyra gasped.

The dark chamber was gone. She was standing in a terrifying, endless forest where the trees had grotesque, screaming faces and the very ground seemed to writhe beneath her feet. A ghoulish, emaciated demon with long claws lunged at her from the shadows.

"AHHHHH! Save me!"

Fully consumed by terror, all she could do was run, her screams echoing in the nightmarish woods.

Brom, meanwhile, was roaring in frustration, wildly swinging his heavy axe at phantoms only he could see. "Come on, you bastards! Fight me!" he bellowed, his swings cleaving through empty air as the illusionary monsters tormented him. 

They were both trapped, helpless in their own personal nightmares.

"Hahaha, insects. Let me see how you deal with this lord's illusion magic."

Zarthus laughed, a triumphant, rattling sound. He turned to Leon, expecting to see him writhing on the floor.

However, Leon just stood in front of him, watching him like an innocent kid.

"That's it?" Leon asked, shaking his head. "That's your ultimate spell? Is that really the best your illusion can do?"

The demon prince stumbled back in horror. "How... how are you unaffected by this Lord's Forest of Despair?"