Chapter 144: Heavenly Demon

Thinking till here Emily looked back at the demon before flying at a breakneck speed towards him. *Boom* She was so fast that she broke the sound barrier. Contrary to her the demon was still relaxed, forming his hand seals with no hurry at all. "Demonic body: Stage First!!" He can feel the rush in his blood and his extreme battle intent covered the whole area, exerting pressure on everything alive. *Boom* Next minute Emily was in his face pushing her hands forward. Her actions looked rather gentle but only the demon felt the force behind the thrust. A concentrated jet of water ejected from her palm that struck the demon's chest, propelling him hundreds of meters back. His feet dug into the ground before he could come to a rest. A streak of blood flowed down from the corner of his lips. Many of his internal organs had been displaced. He brought his hand to his lips before wiping the blood off. "Hehehe.. I love this."

The demons were a species born for battle. The more powerful the opponent the more adrenaline rush they felt. But before he could do anything, Emily appeared over his head with another palm strike. The water ejected from her hands buried the demon deep underground. She took the time to check on Navera. Her body next appeared above the two monsters fighting. With another palm strike, she sheared off a large portion of the dragon's abdomen. *Roar* Navera took the opportunity to overpower the beast by winding her long body all around it. "Please hold on for a few more minutes Navera. I will finish this off."

*Roar* The serpent bit down on the dragon's neck before responding "You need to hurry. I might not able to hold this guy off for any more than 7 minutes." The beast has already begun recovering parts of its lost limbs and other body parts.

"Turning you back on your opponent. How disrespectful!" The demon manifested behind Emily, throwing his punch at her. Emily had never pulled her guard down, promptly she turned around before her hands moved swiftly and a strong jet of water had diverted the force behind his punch away from her. The impulse from his devastating attack was such that it shaved off a huge portion of earth for many miles. That attack would have definitely injured Emily had it landed. But she used her powers skillfully, not going against him punch to punch. Rather conserving her limited mana to deliver a decisive blow.

The demon didn't show any reaction as he threw another punch at her. *Boom* There was no way Emily could deflect this one. Fist and palm collided as both of them were thrown back by many miles. But their speed was such that they were back at the same place within a blink of an eye, before colliding against each other again. *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* *Boom* Just their dispersing blast force had pushed the ground beneath them by many feet. After a few more strikes the duo had moved high up in the skies. With each of their collisions now generating thunderous bangs, that could be heard tens of miles across.

Back on the ground, the dragon had lost its ability to recover. The Demon seems to have been using all his mana in the fight against Emily, thus the wooden beast wasn't able to access his mana reserves to continuously heal itself back up. *Roar* It tried desperately to fend off the serpent but Navera had coiled itself all around his massive body. "Time to die fucker!!" *Snap* In a single strike she latched onto its long neck before injecting her poison. She had held off using her ace for the last. Only now when she knew that it can't heal back, did she use her ultimate ability. Her fangs pressed deep inside the dragon's neck and a huge amount of poisonous liquid seeped into its body. *Roar* *Roar* The beast struggled in vain to free itself from her grip but it was of no use. At last, it fell back to the ground with a loud thud. Its massive body disintegrated into million pieces and fell off to the ground.

*Screech* Navera gave a loud victorious cry before falling on herself. Her body had been badly battered. Large pieces of her muscles were missing and even larger parts have been rotting. This could have easily turned into her death but fortunately, she managed to keep her life. Her eyes turned to the skied where thunderous bangs have been reverberating for the last few minutes. "Sorry, Emily. But I don't think I can help you any further." She closed her eyes and the magic circle that brought her to this world appeared once again, engulfing her body.

**In the clouds**

'You did well, Navera!' Emily expressed her gratitude to the serpent. She had been a huge help. The demon had lost a huge chunk of his mana reserves due to the death of the dragon. Without her help, it would have been nigh impossible to take on this monster. 'Use it, Emily. He has been weakened thoroughly now. We can't wait any longer otherwise we run the risk of him recovering.' Nerissa advised her and she responded with a nod.

*Huff* *Huff* *Huff* "It's been so long since I felt this good hahaha... Come on woman, keep dancing for me hehe..hahaha.." Deep gashes had appeared all over his body and his wounds were not healing as fast now. On the other hand, Emily was in better condition. Only her left shoulder has been scratched by his long fingernails but she too was utterly exhausted. "It's my last warning to you, demon. Leave Ryu alone. Don't force me to do it. There is still time, we can go on our way. You can find some other guy to possess, I have no problem with that but I want my grandson back."

"Is that so? Then... Let's do it like this. Allow me to possess your body. Only then I will leave this guy. What do you say?" Emily was not expecting the demon to agree with her proposal. But what should she do now? Should she allow him to take over her? But how will that ensure that Ryu remains safe? He could simply take over her and then kill him off anyway. Just then she recalled how the guy had healed up Sophia and Jake. She was sure that Ryu must have made a deal with him and he kept his words. Suddenly, his proposal didn't seem that bad. She had already lived the prime of her life but Ryu was still young, he had his whole life in front of him. But all her thoughts were scattered by Nerissa's shout.

'Idiot Emily!! Snap out of it. He is playing you for a fool. Do you really think he would give up on your grandson just because he found you? Stupid. Think about it, why would he bring this up when we have the upper hand. He would have suggested that before starting the battle itself.' Nerissa had gotten a pretty clear picture of the situation now, hence she made her judgment without having her mind clouded by any concern for the boy. Emily had not thought about that. Right then the demon began laughing out loud. "Hahaha.. little girly you are really smart. You are right about that. There is no way I am going to leave this body rather I should say I got no existence outside of this body." Both Nerissa and Emily were shocked. This guy was out of this world. He could even hear their thoughts?

"Let me tell you a secret since you entertained me so much. My consciousness had merged completely with the boy. Believe me or not but I myself is your grandson, however strange it might sound." The demon took the time to heal himself up.

"How is that possible?" Emily had no way of telling if this guy was tricking her once again. This time even Nerissa was trumped. She didn't want to admit but the demon seems to be telling the truth. Being a spirit she had a natural ability to sense if she was being lied to. But her senses were calm all this while. That can only mean that this guy was telling them the truth or at the very least what he believed to be the truth. But she didn't want to tell this to Emily. If they admit to it then wouldn't that mean, her grandson can never get rid of this demonic entity attached to it? Was this some kind of heavenly retribution? Or did someone deliberately messed with the child?

"I told you already. It's up to you, to believe me. This personality that you see is just the result of the impressions of my leftover memories in him." Emily shook her head. She didn't want to believe that there was no way ahead. She just has to defeat this guy and try to find out a solution after that.

"I don't believe you. And even if you are speaking the truth and you are Ryu himself, then I just need to get rid of those memories for him and he will have a chance for a normal life." The demon had mostly recovered from his wounds when he heard her words. Suddenly the mana all around began growing agitated. His long hair rose once again while his eyes glowed red. For the first time since the start of the battle, his smile was retracted. It felt like Emily stepped on his reverse scale.

"Sorry Mrs. Emily, but I am a bit mad. Hope you are ready. I will end this in a single strike." Even when mad his arrogance was on display, taking the time to warn the opponent of the incoming attack. His hands began weaving seals once again. "Demonic body: Stage Two!!" His body turned darker as his long spikes grew from his spine and a set of two small horns protruded from his head.

While the demon was changing, Emily and already began chanting her spell. She had put all her remaining mana into this single strike. Everything will be decided with this. "Divine Magic: Majestic Serpent of the Apocalypse!!" Dense water mana accumulated all around her before solidifying in a single mass, taking the shape of a huge translucent serpent. It had brought with it a dominating pressure that the earth itself shook in its terror. *Rumble* *Rumble* The entity that had manifested from the spell was even revamping the terrain itself. Out of nowhere, the serpent had called forth a gigantic amount of water, so much so that the whole earth under them had turned into a huge lake. This was the power of the Divine Magic that had been out of reach from humans for so long. Only the angels had the ability and knowledge to invoke these world-altering ancient spells.

*Screeeeecchh* The pressure began accumulating on the demon as his body suddenly felt heavier by more than a thousand times. "Damn.. woman... Are you planning to kill your own grandson off hahaha.." Emily was still in the process of invocation. The serpent was growing even larger. Previously when it had appeared, it was only some tens of meters long but now it had grown to a length of a hundred meters. "Here I come!!" *BOOM* *BOOM* *BOOM* Multiple blasts rang as the demon zoomed in on her, breaking the sound barrier multiple times in the process.

Emily opened her eyes. Her eyes were dropping as all the mana had left her body. The whole world around her seemed to have been coming to a standstill. She can see the demon moving towards her. She can see each and all of his motions. "Go!!" *Screeeeecchh* The water serpent over her head roared in the demon's direction before slithering its body at a rapid speed towards him. It had accelerated to the same speed as the demon within a few milliseconds. *Boom* *Boom* The divine serpent was riding on a huge wave of water as it opened its jaws wide before colliding with its nemesis.

"Ahahahahaha... Disappear ant!! Heavenly Demon Arts: Strike of the Thunder God!!" A huge apparition manifested behind him. It was a humanoid image, hundreds of meters in height. *Rumble* *Rumble* *Rumble* Thunder strike down from the skies as time seemed to have been stopped momentarily. The demon locked his hands and brought them together over his head. Behind him, the image did the same. Till now the serpent's open maw was staring right back at him, that is when he brought his hands down. *RUMBLE* *RUMBLE* Thunder cracked all over as a massive bolt of dark lightning fell from the sky directly at the head of the serpent. *SCREECH* The bolt seems to have fallen from the heavens itself. It completely crashed the built-up momentum of the serpent, bringing it to a halt. But how can it be destroyed so easily? It pressed ahead despite the bolt still falling on its head. "Begone!! Haaaaaaaahh!!" The demon roared out loud as the thunder strike grew in magnitude by multiple times and the whole area was engulfed in bright light.

Emily lost all her strength as she fell to the ground. But Nerissa separated from her and pulled her into her embrace, descending to the ground. Emily had lost all color from her face as she looked towards the struggle between the serpent and the lightning bolt. "How can this be?" Nerissa too looked as all her hopes had been dashed. "Dammit!! We underestimated the guy big time. He is no ordinary demon. He is someone from the royal family."