3-31 Half-breed

Mist of lust-filled the entire room as Erin and Lyra slowly submitted to the desires their journey had prevented them from indulging in. Now, such concerns were behind them for a temporary moment. They looked each other in the eyes. They cupped their cheeks in their hands and pulled themselves into a deep passionate kiss. Their hands went to undress the cloth of one another.

As Lyra was about to undo the sash of Erin’s robe, she was pushed away gently. At the same moment, Siv rose from her sleep and stood up from the bed. Lyra knew something was wrong.

“What is it?” Lyra asked.

The queer dread painted the faces of Siv and Erin pale.

“Something terrible,” Siv answered.

“I know this feeling,” Erin said after swallowing a lump in her throat. “I can never forget this. It’s a Demon. There’s a Demon approaching us.”

Just then, screams erupted from the streets.

“This is bad...” Siv muttered as she donned back her gears.

Lyra also tidied up her apparel and readied her weapons. “Alright, a Demon’s coming. What do we do? Can we fight and triumph over this Demon?

Erin tightened the sash that Lyra was just untying. “I don’t know. Demons are unpredictable. I can’t be sure until I fight it.”

“You want to face it alone?” Lyra questioned. “What about us? We can help.”

“No, you two stay here. I’m not asking. I will call for you two if I deemed it appropriate for your levels.”

Siv nodded. “Very well, mistress. We will wait for your signal.”

“Lyra?”

“...Fine. I’ll wait. I trust you and don’t make me regret it.”

Erin smiled. “I won’t,” she said and dove out of the window as soon as she was done with her preparations. She did a few spins in the air before landing on her feet. She quickly tied her hair into a ponytail.

“Fae...” a crude hollow voice called out.

Erin raised her head to meet the owner of the voice, the Demon. “Evening,” she greeted.

The townsfolk were running away from the Demon. In a short amount of time, Erin could tell there was barely anyone else on the street save for the few guards running towards them from a distance away.

“Evening,” the Demon returned her greeting. “Well, aren’t you a rare one? A five-tailed Fox-kin.”

Erin blinked curiously at the Demon’s response. She was even more baffled when she noticed the Demon had a name, Rayor. His race was Human but the word “Demon” was beside it in brackets. His status was Demonification: Half. His level was forty-five. He had the usual set of abilities such as; Sword Art, Fleet Foot, Body Strengthening, Brawler, and the likes. The ones that stood out were Soul Weapon and Abyss Magic which both were level five, Mana Drain at level four, and Physical Resistance at level six.

“I am looking for my daughter,” the Demon, Rayor, said. “I heard she was travelling with a Fae. Are you the Fae in question? My daughter was wearing clerical robes but she’s not a woman of faith. She’s a little younger than you. Slightly shorter than you. Long dark brown hair. Thin with the right amount of fat. Beautiful, very beautiful.”

Erin held back her disgust when the Demon licked his lips after uttering the last words.

“So, have you seen my daughter?”

“No,” Erin answered. “I have not seen her and I am not the Fae in question.”

“You are not lying...” the Demon proclaimed. “It appears I have followed the wrong trail… Damn it!”

Seeing the Demon’s slight burst of outrage, Erin used Mystic Blade on her sword.

“Do not fear,” the Demon said. “I will be leaving now.”

Doubts crossed Erin’s face. She found it hard to believe but the Demon wasn’t lying going by his expression. He was merely frustrated that he had made a mistake. That said, Erin didn’t feel compelled to let the Demon walk, not after she saw the trail of bodies the Demon had left behind him.

Erin brandished her sword in spite knowing full well of her winning chances.

“Oh? You intend to fight me despite my intention of letting you go?”

“You’re a Demon and I have seen your work. I can’t let you go in good conscience.”

Rayor chuckled. “You fancy yourself a hero, eh?”

“I’m not a hero. Just someone who’s foolish and looking to do the right thing despite knowing full well of her meek chances.”

Rayor’s chuckle turned into laughter. “Oh, lady… I like the fire in you. You’re making me hard… but unfortunately, I’m a Demon now and I am repulsed by your kind.”

“I consider it fortunate then,” Erin retorted and lunged.

Rayor chuckled and sent tendrils of darkness at Erin.

She swiftly cut down the seven tendrils and shot a Lightning Bolt at Rayor in return. He lazily lifted his hand to his face and caught the bolt of lightning with a smirk. He crushed the lightning spell in his hand. As he lowered his hand, Erin had disappeared from his sight. He felt the air shift behind him and spun around with a sword made of Abyss energy in his hand. The Abyssal sword collided with Erin’s blade but only for a second before Erin’s blade cut right through it. Rayor was surprised but he didn’t freeze. He reeled his neck away from Erin’s that was half a foot away from cutting his neck.

“How did you do that?” Rayor asked in disbelief. “You can’t be at a higher level than me.”

“Levels aren’t everything,” Erin answered and lunged again.

Rayor conjured more blades of the Abyss and met Erin’s slashes. He knew his victory would be certain if he could touch the Fae but after seeing her speed and form, he knew it would be difficult to put that plan into practice. The Fae wasn’t faster than him, neither was she stronger than him. Yet, she was overpowering him. Her sabre cut down each of his swords created by the Abyss Magic spell, Abyssal Arms, repeatedly without fail. Abyss Magic was an advanced tier of Arcane Arts. However, Rayor had limited knowledge of Arcane Arts in general. He gained Abyss Magic after he was turned into a Demon but he knew little of what he could with Abyss Magic. Abyss Arms was the only spell under Abyss Magic that he could wield properly as it was the closest thing to his original way of fighting.

Erin wasn’t faring too well either, contrary to Rayor’s perception. Mystic Blade had a hefty cost and also, she could tell her sabre would not be able to bear the strain from Mystic Blade for long. In fact, she could see a small crack in her blade already. She was only winning at the moment due to Rayor being unaccustomed to his newfound powers and also because of her affinity with Spirits. Rayor didn’t realize that his abilities were heavily suppressed by the Spirits in their surroundings that were gathering around Erin. In spite of all these advantages, it was only a matter of time before the tide made a drastic shift.

Rayor accepted the fact he would truly lose in close combat. As a result, he distanced himself from Erin by taking off into the air after sprouting wings from his back. It was the first thing he learned to do after becoming a Demon as Demons, in his point of view, were widely known for their ability to fly.

“Bollocks,” Erin cursed and dispelled Mystic Blade. It was useless to have it on right now.

Rayor let out a bellow of laughter. “Levels aren’t everything, you say? I will prove you wrong.” A scythe of darkness manifested in his hands. He raised it overhead and threw the oversized scythe at Erin.

Erin dove out of the scythe’s way instead of cutting it down. She didn’t doubt she could do so but she wished to conserve fuel and the integrity of her sabre. As she prepared to launch a counter-strike, the scythe did not stop right after it hit the ground. It continued to roll towards Erin. She widened her eyes and dodged the scythe by a hair’s breadth. She then noticed a long chain of darkness was attached to the scythe and Rayor’s hand.

“Oh? Dodging now, are we? What happened to that glowing blade of yours?” He taunted and willed the scythe to continue chasing down Erin.

Shutting the pompous voice from her mind, she directed focus on the scythe that followed her incessantly. The scythe was slow but she couldn’t dodge it forever and the scythe was causing more and more damage the more it ran amok. As she began to formulate a plan, she noticed the scythe’s jittery movement. A grin appeared on her face. Immediately after dodging the scythe, she threw an Aura Shot at Rayor who was in the air. The scythe disappeared and Rayor easily dodged the Aura Shot.

“Oh? Dodging now, are we?” Erin mocked. “There’s a discrepancy between you and your attacks. You are unfamiliar with your powers, it seems.”

“Am I?” Rayor challenged. He conjured a scythe and a sword of darkness this time, both with chains attached to the weapons and his hands. He threw the scythe but kept the sword with him.

“Fuck!” Erin muttered and flipped away from the scythe. She couldn’t reuse the same trick again. Rayor could easily deflect her attacks now with the sword in his hand. “I’m going to wipe that smirk off your face and make you eat it!” she made such a vow in her heart.

Just then, the town guards had arrived. It was a small group of around twenty individuals with five of them being archers and the rest being swordsmen. There were no Mages in the group. The archers immediately fired their arrows at the command of their captain.

Rayor scoffed and let the arrows hit him. The arrows merely bounced off of him due to his Physical Resistance skill. “That hurts— a little.” Rayor patted himself like he was brushing off the dust as a display of his impervious state.

Erin narrowed her gaze.

The guards gasped and despair began to seep into their hearts. Fear was already gripping their hearts when they realized they would be confronting an enemy that was obviously levels higher than them. They knew not their enemy was a Demon. Had they known, they wouldn’t have approached Rayor so carelessly.

“Come to join the fun?” Rayor threw a sarcastic question at the guards before willing the scythe to change its targets from Erin to the guards.

“No!” Erin shouted. “Fuck! All of you run!”

But no one ran. They were all too stunned and astounded at the scythe rushing towards them. It was a never before seen spectacle to them. The gravity of the threat had yet to reach their reality.

Erin threw herself into the scythe’s path and destroyed the scythe with Mystic Blade. Before she could retaliate, Rayor tossed the sword in his hand like a javelin, not at her but the guards. She quickly moved herself between the guards and the sword.

“A F-Fox-kin?” a guard gasped. Half of the guards only noticed Erin’s presence now since they were so focused on Rayor.

Erin cut down the sword but Rayor already had another scythe and sword of darkness in his hands. “This is a Demon. None of you are his match. So run!” Erin screamed at the stupefied guards.

“That thing’s a D-Demon?”

“What the fuck!? No one told me about this!”

Hearing that Rayor was a Demon, half of the guards immediately dropped their weapons and ran. The other half were either conflicted over their sense of duty or were simply too afraid to move.

Rayor guffawed. “What am I even looking at? You call yourself guards? What a joke!”

“Oh shut it, you,” Erin said and threw her hand up with two fingers extended.

“What are you playing at—” Rayor’s question was cut off when an arrow pierced into his shoulder. “I-it hurts…?”

Rayor was only a halfbreed Demon, not a full-fledged Demon. Erin had thought it weird that Rayor had Physical Resistance when Demons were impervious to all manners of attack except for Spirit Magic and Holy Magic. She surmised Rayor had it because he still wasn’t completely invulnerable to the usual means of attack.

Erin leapt into the sky and closed their distance by channelling a huge amount of Mana into Fleet Foot and Lightning Rush.

Rayor tried to fly away but another arrow came. He had to block the arrow as it was aimed at his head and it was shot with high precision. The split second he spent to block the arrow was enough for Erin’s blade to reach him— but his speed was higher than Erin’s. Erin’s blade sliced right through his weapons, found his flesh, but only a shallow cut was drawn.

Rayor had a triumphant grin plastered on his disfigured face as he was about to fly out of Erin’s range. His grin disappeared when he saw Erin’s grin. He noticed a ball of cyan flames in her free hand. She splayed her palm that was carrying the flaming ball at Rayor. The ball of flames burst into a stream of fire at him. He was fast but not fast enough to escape the speed of flames. His wings caught the cyan flames and it quickly spread to his whole body.

Rayor screamed in agony as he flailed around in the air. The flames consumed his wings and he fell back to the ground. He rolled around frantically, trying to douse the flames but nothing worked. Erin closed the gap and prepared to finish him but he dove out of Erin’s slash and ran for the water. Valenolk was a narrow town as it functioned as a pseudo bridge between two lands. Rayor didn’t need to run far before reaching the water. Erin threw an Aura Shot but Rayor had already jumped into the lake with the Aura Shot grazing by his back, splattering dark red blood on the edge of the paths.

“Damn it,” she cursed. She could sense Rayor was still alive and could tell where he was underwater. However, she didn’t dare to give chase as she didn’t know how well she could perform underwater. Initially, she was surprised Rayor was still able to move despite being consumed in the flames of Spirits but considering he was only half Demon, the effectiveness of Spirits on him was also halved.

All in all, Erin was simply glad no more lives were lost when she intervened. After confirming Rayor had swum out of her range of perception, she let loose a sigh of relief and sat on the floor in the middle of the streets. As the noise of the battle had died down for quite some time, the townsfolk began coming out of their homes and shelters.

[Experience gained +15% - Level Progression: 40%]