The demon did not arrive screaming like in movies and shit rather it arrived ready for battle and focused on its task.
Reality peeled back above an abandoned industrial district, and the combat demon stepped through with the discipline of a veteran general, not the frenzy of hellspawn.
Eight feet tall, ash-gray skin etched with infernal sigils that shifted as it moved.
A massive glaive rested easily in its grip, the blade burning with soul-fire that left afterimages in the air.
It surveyed its surroundings once.
Then it smiled.
"Champions," it rumbled. "Good, lord Mephisto said I might have to warm up."
The Midnight Suns did not waste words like in the comics they just moved....
Blade moved first.
He blurred forward, silver-edged sword flashing, strikes aimed not to kill but to test. The demon turned its glaive just in time, steel screaming against hell-forged metal.
Blade pivoted, reversed grip, went low and was kicked backward hard enough to crater a wall.
Blade rolled, came up instantly, blood on his lip, grin still sharp.
"Yeah," he muttered. "This one's trained."
Ghost Rider answered with fire.
Johnny Blaze revved the Hell Cycle as chains erupted from his arms, wrapped in roaring hellfire. He hurled them with precision, binding the demon's legs, anchoring it to the ground.
The demon planted its feet and pulled.
The chains went taut. The street buckled.
Johnny felt it, this wasn't a beast resisting. This was a warrior matching force with force.
"Okay," Johnny growled. "I Respect the effort but you seem home sick ."
Hellfire surged hotter..
The demon laughed and ignited in counter-flame, demonic fire clashing with hellfire in a violent spiral that lit the sky.
Doctor Strange stepped in before it escalated further.
Sigils bloomed around his hands, reality folding as he cast layered containment spells binding circles, time-delay hexes, spatial locks.
The demon's movements slowed for half a second.
Then the sigils shattered as infernal runes on the demon's skin flared in response.
"Adaptive enchantment resistance," Strange said sharply. "It's been fighting sorcerers for centuries my current spells might only slow it down."
The demon lunged, glaive sweeping toward Strange's head.
A stepping disc snapped open, yanking Strange sideways as the blade carved through where he had been.
The beautiful Magik entered like a blade of night.
She teleported in above the demon, Soulsword blazing, and cut downward .
The strike landed clean holy-demonic energy biting deep into infernal flesh.
The demon roared, staggered, and for the first time bled black fire.
It backhanded her across the street.
Magik skidded, rolled, and rose laughing, eyes glowing.
"Good boy ," she said. "You bleed so nicely ."
Wong anchored the battlefield.
Defensive wards flared golden, immovable absorbing shockwaves, redirecting stray hellfire, keeping civilians out of harm's way.
He chanted continuously, sweat pouring down his face as he held the line.
"This thing is not meant to be rushed!" Wong shouted. "Wear it down!"
The demon adapted again.
It shifted stance, glaive spinning with terrifying precision, chaining attacks together in sequences that forced the Suns back step by step.
Blade blocked once and his arms went numb. Magik's teleport timing tightened to fractions of a second as the demon was adapting to her attack style . Dr Strange bled from the nose, pushing deeper spell layers.
Above it all, Johnny Blaze felt it.
A presence was in the area .
Cold. Vast and it's been Watching.
For half a heartbeat, the Spirit of Vengeance turned its flaming skull not toward the demon, but toward the skyline miles away.
You feel that too, the Spirit whispered.
Johnny clenched his jaw.
"Yeah," he muttered. "we'll get it Later."
The demon nearly took his head off for the distraction.
Blade coordinated the shift.
High-low feints. Magik cut tendons while Strange disrupted timing with temporal stutters. Ghost Rider wrapped chains around the demon's torso and yanked, forcing it to its knees.
The demon roared not in fear, but fury.
Infernal energy exploded outward, hurling the Suns back.
The glaive slammed into the ground, opening a fissure of hellfire beneath them.
It stood tall, scarred but unbroken.
"Impressive mortals ," it said. "Now die well."..
..
DERRICK – OBSERVATION MODE
From a mile away, Derrick watched everything.
Analysis:
Demon combat proficiency: Elite. Millennia of experience. Not berserker-class but more on the Command-level.
Magic type: Infernal contract-based judging by the sigils.
Resistant to single structured sorcery but vulnerable to hybrid energies.
..
Midnight Suns effectiveness:
High, but resource-intensive. Prolonged engagement favors the demon.
Johnny Blaze is sensing me, Derrick noted. Not visually but on a Spirit-level of perception.
Interesting and problematic
Derrick clicks his tongue.
He cataloged Magik's Soulsword frequencies .
Strange's spell layering techniques. The way hellfire interacted with demonic energy consumption potential identified..
If I intervene after exhaustion… Derrick calculated, mass shifting subtly.
I gain resistance. If I consume the demon… I gain leverage against Mephisto.
He remained still.
Watching.
Waiting.
The night burned brighter as hell and hero clashed unaware that something far worse was already planning how to eat the winner and loser..