Zephyros's body was at its breaking point. Using Wind Overdrive repeatedly had turned the mana in his veins into liquid fire. Trying to fight with this immense power while simultaneously maintaining a barrier for Kael had pushed him to the brink of collapse. Yet, he had no intention of stopping.
"Wind Overdrive: Third Level!"
Zephyros roared, his lungs feeling as though they would burst. With one final explosion of mana, he poured his entire existence into the mana blade in his hand. He knew his body could no longer withstand this burden. This would be his final strike. As he took his stance, an ancient mantra escaped his lips:
"Wrath of the heavens, unite in the heart of the storm! Gather the fury of the winds into a single point and rend the world! Divine Art: Heaven-Shattering Gale!"
He lunged forward with a shockwave that shattered the sound barrier. His speed was so immense that the demon couldn't block the move. Zephyros's mana blade carved a massive gash from the demon's shoulder down to his waist. As the demon stumbled back in shock, he suddenly burst into laughter.
"Ha ha ha! Now this is it! What magnificent magic for a human... Though, your current appearance hardly looks human anymore. Do you intend to tear yourself apart with mana?"
The demon began to heal the deep wound within seconds; the regeneration speed of noble demons was beyond comprehension. Zephyros gritted his teeth as the demon laughed, ignoring the gashes on his own shoulder and abdomen. Every cell in his body was screaming for him to stop, but he fueled his mana even further. "It's not over yet, you lowly creature!" he bellowed.
Zephyros vanished from his spot instantly. He had reached bunds of speed that he left illusions of wind behind him. The demon lashed out with dark energy, but Zephyros remained suspended in the air, gracefully dodging the claws with the help of the wind.
Flipping in mid-air, he swung his blade toward the ground: "Wind Art: Storm of a Thousand Cuts!" Hundreds of wind blades began to rain down upon the demon. The demon quickly folded his wings in front of him, creating a shield. Sparks flew as the wind blades struck the demonic wings. Snapping his wings open to disperse the attack, the demon lunged forward to seize Zephyros by the throat.
But Zephyros wasn't there. He had slipped directly beneath the demon. He swung his mana blade upward, aiming for the chin. The demon jerked his head back at the last second, but the blade shattered a portion of his mask-like face. For the first time, the demon was growing irritated. "You little fly! Are you actually trying to hurt me?"
With a sudden mid-air spin, the demon struck Zephyros with one of his wings, using it like a whip. Though Zephyros blocked with his sword, the sheer weight of the blow slammed him into the ground. The earth cracked beneath him. Zephyros wiped the blood from his mouth; his eyes were still like cold steel.
As the demon descended like a meteor, Zephyros gripped his sword with both hands and summoned a massive cyclone from the ground. They clashed in the heart of the vortex. Sword strikes and dark claws collided, shattering the manor's windows and shaking the very earth. Zephyros managed to land three swift cuts on the demon's chest, but the demon's claws tore a deep wound into Zephyros's own chest in return.
Noticing Zephyros's weakening arms, the demon smirked. "Your speed is dropping, human. How much longer will your heart endure this tempo?"
Zephyros attempted one last maneuver to get behind the demon and stab his back, but the demon stopped abruptly in mid-air and delivered a brutal kick to Zephyros's face. As Zephyros was sent reeling, the demon hovered in the air.
"It's been a long time since I've taken this many hits, Zephyros. You truly entertained me. Let me give you a small gift in return." The demon extended his hand, forming a sphere of obsidian energy at his fingertips.
"Silence from the depths of eternal darkness... Dark Art: Obsidian Spear!"
The dark magic shot forward at the speed of sound. In a final act of defiance, Zephyros erected a magical shield. But the moment the spell hit, it shredded the shield like paper and sent Zephyros flying to the far edge of the field.
Inside the barrier, Kael, whose consciousness was barely hanging on, saw his uncle lying motionless in a pool of blood. The last thread of his sanity snapped. A wave of pure rage flooded his being. The barrier Zephyros had built shattered like glass. Kael began to rise into the air, surrounded by a dense, suffocating dark mana. With İblis wings unfurled from his back, his eyes glowed a vengeful crimson.
The demon looked on mockingly. "Think you're a high demon just because your seal broke, brat? How much longer will you dare to look down on me?"
Kael didn't answer. He formed a small bullet of dark magic in his palm, compressing the mana with impossible pressure. The demon laughed. "You plan to attack me with that tiny thing? My opinion of you is starting to shift... how pathetic."
Kael fired the compressed bullet with a shockwave. The demon raised his arm, thinking he could catch it, but the bullet tore straight through his palm. He jerked his head away just in time as the bullet caused a massive explosion in the rock formation behind him.
The demon looked at the crater in shock. "I underestimated this boy," he thought. When he turned back to Kael, he was horrified; Kael had formed dozens of the same bullets around him, aiming them like cannons. The demon's confidence turned to dread.
Kael unleashed the barrage. The demon tried to flee at full speed, but the explosions from every direction cornered him, eventually slamming him to the ground. "I am a Baron-level demon! How can a mere brat corner me like this?"
Kael began to merge all the floating bullets into a single, massive point. The voice that left his lips was no longer that of a child; it was a whisper from the depths of hell:
"O absolute destruction at the heart of darkness, drag all that exists into nothingness! Forbidden Art: Abyss Blast!"
The demon felt the impending annihilation in his very marrow. "Enough! Enough games!" he screamed.
"Demon Art: True Form!"
The demon empowered himself with magic, revealing his true horror. Curved horns sprouted from his head, his hands turned into razor-sharp talons, and his wings grew to cover half the field. "Brat, I didn't expect you to force me into this form. Let me show you the power of a pure-blooded demon!"
Kael launched the massive spell. The demon wrapped his wings around himself like a shield. Kael's magic carved a giant chasm through the training ground, leaving everything in dust and smoke. The demon stood in the center of the crater; his barrier was destroyed, but he was still standing. He no longer cared that Kael was Lord Abaddon's son; his only goal was to slaughter the boy.
"Come to me, Nightfall!"
A jagged, pitch-black sword appeared in the demon's hand. As he flew toward Kael at terminal velocity, Kael reached his hand toward the manor. In that instant, the ancient sword belonging to his father flew from the chest in his room and landed in Kael's grip. Kael tried to block the blow with the sword still in its scabbard, but the sheer force of the impact slammed him into the earth.
Seeing the sword in Kael's hand, the demon's eyes nearly bulged out of his head. "That... That sword! How could you have the Lord's blade? You aren't worthy of it, brat! Give it to me!"
Propping himself up with the sword in the dust, Kael slowly drew the blade from its scabbard, inch by inch. The moment the sword was unsheathed, the aura it radiated was so heavy that Kael began to sink to his knees. The demon laughed hysterically. "You show-off! Did you really think you could wield Lord Abaddon's sword? Even we cannot withstand its aura... what makes you think a brat like you could?"
Kael began to cough up blood, having maintained his demonic form for too long. He could no longer sustain the dark mana. The sword fell from his hand as he collapsed to the ground. Zephyros watched from where he lay, unable to even move a finger. He cried out in internal agony: "Kael! No! God... I couldn't protect him! Please, someone help him!"
The demon raised his blade high. "Attempting to stand against me with your half-demon blood will be your end, brat. Farewell, little prince."
As the demon was about to bring his sword down upon Kael's neck, the atmosphere suddenly fell silent. An aura, far heavier than both the demon's and Kael's combined, an aura that shook the very foundations of the universe, descended upon the field. It was as if time itself had come to a standstill.