Eldrich was very fast, his silver blade was a blur of white light, as he plunged towards the demon. But the demon was not a creature of mindless destruction. As Eldrich's attack came, the demon's hand, a skeletal form of fire, shot out and in an instant, a sword of pure black flame materialized in its grasp.
CLANG!
The swords clashed, a sharp, metallic clang inside the burning house, a sound that was loud enough for Damian to hear it outside the translucent cube.
The demon was surprisingly fast, its movements a grotesque parody of a skilled swordsman. It met Eldrich's every strike, the two blades clashing again and again, sending showers of black and white sparks into the air. But while the demon was fast, Eldrich was agile.
The exorcist moved like water, fluid and unpredictable. The demon, for all its power, was clumsy in comparison. Its movements were jerky, uncoordinated, and soon it was on the defensive, parrying Eldrich's relentless attacks.
'I have it cornered,' Eldrich taught as he pushed the demon further back.
Eldrich, as he fought, he would occasionally raise his free hand, and a thread of mana attacks would wash over the demon. The demon would shriek in pain each time this happened, its body flickering, the black flames dimming for a moment before flaring back again.
The demon lunged forward, its sword angled for a finishing strike against Eldrich. Eldrich quickly responded with a jump, leaping high above the ground. He swiftly performed a series of hand signs, and a translucent, light-yellow wall immediately materialized, pressing the demon to the ground and crushing whatever "bones" it had left.
"ERREEEEEEEEE!!"
The demon's shrieking grew louder as Eldrich pushed his hands forward, increasing the intensity of the wall's attack.
These types of magic attacks work by attacking the very essence of a creature, not just its physical form. Each spell weakened the demon, draining its energy and making its movements slower and its attacks less powerful.
Then Eldrich lunged forward again. The demon, now growing desperate, quickly broke free from the magic wall attack, the wall shattering like glass as the demon's flames intensified with a loud scream.
The demon lunged forward, as it parried Eldrich's attack, the force of the blow making it stumble back a step. With a guttural shriek, it lunged forward again, its fiery sword aiming for Eldrich's chest. The attack was swift, but Eldrich was ready. Just before the sword could strike, a shimmering, translucent shield of pure mana materialized around Eldrich.
The demon's sword hit the shield with a loud clang, and the force of the blow sent a shockwave through the air, but the shield held firm. Eldrich didn't even flinch. His invincible innate mana domain shield had blocked the attack with ease.
The two continued their sword exchange, as Eldrich's movements were precise and agile. He didn't waste a single motion. He was a master of this craft, and it was clear he had done this many times before. The demon, on the other hand, was growing more and more frantic, its attacks becoming more desperate, more wild. It was losing, and it knew it.
Outside the translucent cube, Damian stood rooted to his spot, his fists clenched. The clanging of the blades was a constant sound that played in his mind. Sweat began to form on his forehead. He wiped it away with the back of his hand, his gaze never leaving the cube.
He had heard Omni talk about demons, that his purpose in this world was to defeat all the demons of the netherworld. He had even heard the old woman scream about them, the demons. And he had seen the man, Cassie's father, turn into one. His mind, which had been in a state of confused detachment, was now in a state of pure, unadulterated fear.
'Am I really supposed to fight this thing?' Damian thought as the sounds of the blades kept ringing in his ear. 'Fuck, Omni has a lot of explaining to do.'
The clanging sounds continued, each one a stark reminder of what's at stake. Eldrich was on the offensive, his attacks coming faster, more precise, a relentless storm of strikes that forced the demon back again and again.
Each strike was met with a desperate parry from the demon, its fiery blade growing weaker with every clang. The black flames that surrounded the demon began to flicker and shrink, as if the very essence of the creature was being extinguished with every strike.
The demon shrieked again and again, its cries of rage and pain echoing inside the cube, a sound that was slowly losing its meaning.
Then, with a final, mighty clang, Eldrich struck the demon's fiery sword, sending a shockwave through the air that shattered the blade into a thousand pieces of black light.
The demon stumbled back, its body now a thin, flickering outline of its former self. It was spent. It had nothing left to give.
Eldrich stood before it, his chest heaving, his silver blade held low. He looked at the demon, his expression a mix of sorrow and grim determination. He knew this was the end. He raised his blade high, a salute to the death of a monster and the end of a long struggle for the once human.
"This attack," Eldrich's said, "drains a lot of mana from me."
As if on cue, a giant sword of light yellow mana began to materialize in-between Eldrich and the demon. The sword was immense, its hilt touching the ground, its tip reaching high into the sky, way above the house.
The sword was so large, so powerful, that it shattered the already burnt roof of the house, pieces of charred wood and burnt tiles raining down onto the floor, it even broke through the translucent cube.
The cube, a prison that had held a demon and a raging inferno, shattered into a million pieces of blue light, a thousand shards of magic that faded into nothingness.
The giant mana blade stood above everything. Eldrich, his silver blade now glowing with a white light, slashed forward. The giant mana blade followed his motion, a silent, powerful descent. It didn't make a sound as it sliced through the air, a clean, precise strike that cut right through the burning house, right through the demon.
The demon didn't even have time to shriek. It simply disintegrated into a cloud of black ash, a puff of nothingness that was instantly consumed by the blade.
But the attack didn't stop there. The giant mana blade was so powerful that it continued on its path, slicing through the trees outside the house, a clean line of destruction that left a path of devastation in its wake.
The house, now just a pile of burnt wood, the black flames finally dying out, the only light coming from the fading glow of the giant mana blade as it dissolved into the air.