Chương 58: Dragon vs. Demon

Ch 58 - Dragon vs. Demon Reid dashed toward the ritual circle at full speed. As he entered the clearing, the Ghost Fires and the three Awakeners under the demon's control turned toward him as one. The floating specters condensed into humanoid figures, their red eyes fixed on him as they drew their katanas. Beside them stood Vasia, Aiden, and Adalynn, their expressions blank and their eyes carrying the same eerie glow. Without a word, they charged. Adalynn moved first, sending countless threads toward Reid.

He slipped through the web, but Vasia and Aiden were closing in, with Lael, back in its wolf form, lunging from the side. He darted between their attacks, kicking Vasia's ankle before driving an elbow into Aiden's ribs. Lael snapped at him, but Reid caught the wolf by the scruff and hurled it across the clearing. The Ghost Fires closed in from all sides, their blades striking in unison.

Reid caught the first blow on his dagger, steel scraping against steel before a Sacred Light-coated palm slammed into the ghost's face. He swept another's legs out from under it, then raised his pistol and fired a volley of bullets. The three Awakeners pressed forward. Reid bent backward as Lael leaped over him, then twisted aside as Aiden's enlarged knife slammed into the ground. Sacred Light gathered around his hand, expanding into golden chains. With a sharp swing, the chains shot forward like living serpents.

They wrapped around Vasia, Aiden, and Adalynn, then tightened together, dragging all three into a tangled heap. Lael sprang at him from behind. Reid twisted away from the wolf's jaws and caught the familiar with the remaining length of chain, whipping it around its body before pulling tight and binding all four together. Reid raised his pistol and emptied the magazine into them, each shot tearing through their spectral forms until the last dissolved into drifting embers.

The chains kept the three Awakeners and Lael restrained, suppressing the demonic influence over them for the time being. Reid would have preferred to cleanse them, but there wasn't enough time. His attention returned to the ritual. Breaking an activated formation was never as simple as erasing the symbols etched into the ground. Once completed, it became a living construct sustained by the power flowing through it, and the one before him had already reached its halfway point.

Normally, dismantling a formation of this scale required careful handling to prevent a catastrophic backlash. Reid had never been afforded that luxury. He placed a hand against the circle and poured Sacred Light into it. Demonic energy met his power at once, thick and suffocating, but such resistance meant little to someone who had spent a lifetime dismantling demonic rituals.

Sacred Light threaded through the intricate network of glyphs, overwhelming the dark energy as he traced the currents running through the formation. He dismantled the stabilization glyphs first, then turned to the sacrifice glyph. One by one, he broke them apart, causing the formation to falter before collapsing.

"RRRAAAAAAUUUUGHHH!" The howl reverberated through the surrounding ridgelines. Reid sprang forward and seized the Dragon Pearl resting at the circle's center. Gentle multicolored light swirled within its surface, and warmth flowed through him as his fingers closed around it. The energy carried the same noble presence he had sensed from Shizunagi. So this was what the demon had been after.

By corrupting the Dragon Pearl, it had hoped to claim the dragon's power and use it to break free from the seal imprisoning it within this realm. With the pearl secured, Reid called the golden chains binding the three Awakeners and Lael back to him, pulling them clear as the demon crashed into the clearing and gouged deep trenches into the ground.

"How dare you, human!" the demon shouted in the Infernal Tongue. Reid sent the bound Awakeners and familiar flying through the air, and Hyo-ri barely managed to catch them with her telekinesis.

"You crazy bastard!" she yelled. Reid shouted toward the heavens.

"Now, Lord Shizunagi!" The clouds parted, revealing a dragon descending from above. Yamanoi clung to his mane while Shizunagi descended like a falling star.

"Throw it to me!" Shizunagi commanded. Reid hurled the Dragon Pearl upward. The demon reached for it, but Shizunagi was faster. One claw intercepted the pearl as the demon's jaws closed around empty air. Radiant light erupted from Shizunagi's eyes and flowed across his scales until his entire body shone with power.

"Shizunagi!" the demon bellowed.

"Your death is at hand, demon!" Shizunagi declared, sweeping forward with claws that raked across the demon's face. The blow tore through scales and flesh, yet the creature barely flinched. An ear-splitting screech followed, and a surge of demonic energy hurled Shizunagi backward, obliterating the clearing.

"Aaagh!" Hyo-ri cried as the shockwave sent her spinning through the air. Even so, she kept hold of the bound Awakeners. This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. Reid let the force carry him until he thrust out a hand and fired a golden chain into a nearby cliff. The links sank into the stone and brought him to an abrupt halt. He launched a second chain toward Hyo-ri, securing her to him.

The demon used the opening to flee into the sky, with Shizunagi close behind. The two dragons raced between towering stone formations, their passage disturbing the cloud layer. Obsidian fire poured from the demon's jaws. Shizunagi countered with a wall of water that surged upward to meet it. Steam erupted where the two forces collided, but the dragon held his ground. His torrent broke through the infernal blaze and struck the fleeing creature, driving it through several ridges.

The demon emerged moments later and climbed farther into the heavens. Higher. Higher still. Its crimson eyes burned like twin blood-red suns as the clouds overhead churned into a violent storm. Thunder rolled across the Sealed Realm, followed by bolts of violet lightning that rained from above and carved through the landscape with the wrath of an angry god. One bolt descended within the demon's reach. Its claw closed around the lightning before hurling it toward Shizunagi.

Thunderclouds gathered around the dragon, blue electricity crackling through them. The incoming bolt vanished into the storm barrier, its energy swallowed before it could reach its target. Spheres of black fire rained from above, curving around the storm shield to reach Shizunagi. One struck his flank, drawing a pained roar, while the others passed harmlessly as he twisted through the volley and chased after his foe. Then the demon abruptly changed tactics.

Rather than attacking Shizunagi, it brought down the rocky formations around him. Ridges collapsed one after another, sending debris tumbling through the air and blocking Shizunagi's path. Boulders came crashing from every direction, forcing the dragon to weave between them. By the time the dust cleared, fallen stone surrounded Shizunagi on all sides, trapping him in a cage of rubble. A pillar of lightning descended from the heavens.

Shizunagi's storm barrier expanded at the last possible moment, layers of clouds billowing outward to absorb the discharge. The impact reverberated through the Sealed Realm, but the demon only increased the pressure. More lightning poured into the barrier, joined by black flame that fed into the beam until it became a column of thunder and flame. The storm barrier shuddered under the strain. Its clouds began coming apart, their edges unraveling beneath the immense pressure.

When the shield seemed moments from collapse, a voice echoed through the air.

"Don't touch Lord Shizunagi!" A figure emerged from the shadows. An Umibozu dropped onto the demon from above, wrapping its arms and legs around the dragon's neck and locking it in a chokehold. The demon twisted through the sky, trying to throw its attacker free. When that failed, it slammed sideways into a stone spire, crushing the Umibozu against the cliff. Still, the creature held on. With the lightning storm ended, Shizunagi closed in.

His serpentine body coiled around the demonic dragon, pinning it in place as he opened his jaws and fired a concentrated jet of water into its face. The torrent blasted away part of the demon's skull, exposing bone, but the creature answered with a furious roar. Black flame erupted across its body, engulfing both dragons and their attacker. The Umibozu finally released its grip and reverted to Yamanoi midair.

"Hot, hot, hot, hot!" He dropped through the air for several seconds before reaching into his robe and tossing out a folded paper talisman. It unfolded, transforming into a paper crane that swept beneath him and carried him safely away. Shizunagi strained to break free, but the demon held him fast. The two dragons collided in midair. Gradually, the demon gained the upper hand. Dark fire engulfed Kagetsu's body, burning so fiercely that her dull-blue scales began to blacken.

From his position below, Reid could see the blaze eating away at the dragon's body, yet the demon showed no concern for the damage inflicted on its host. It continued hammering Shizunagi with claws and blows, driving him backward. At last, the demon drove Shizunagi into the ground. The dragon barely had time to recover when a claw came down, its talons sinking deep into his chest.

"Return what belongs to me!" the demon snarled.

"You dare speak of ownership?" Shizunagi asked.

"The Dragon Pearl has never answered to you. It was my sister's from the day it came into this world."

"Your sister's corpse now bends to my will, and soon her Dragon Pearl shall do the same. Mourn your own if you wish, for before this night ends, I shall claim your body and soul as recompense." Shadowy fire crawled across Shizunagi, engulfing him from head to tail.

"Lord Shizunagi!" Yamanoi cried. Reid sprang from the ledge and bounded across the ridgelines toward the dragons.

"Where are you going, you moron?!" Hyo-ri shouted. He ignored her. While crossing the distance, he ejected the empty magazine from his pistol and replaced it with one loaded with sanctified rounds. The magazine clicked into place as he cleared another cliff, landing beside Yamanoi atop the giant paper crane.

"Get me closer." Yamanoi gave him a bewildered look but nodded, guiding the crane toward the two creatures. The demon laughed as Shizunagi writhed beneath its grip, his movements growing weaker beneath the infernal blaze. Then he went still.

"No... Lord Shizunagi!" Yamanoi shouted. Reid bent his knees, ready to leap from the crane and confront the creature himself. A magic circle suddenly appeared beneath Shizunagi, its markings extending across the space beneath him. The demon stiffened and tried to flee, but water rose around both dragons and froze in an instant. Within a heartbeat, the pair were sealed inside a sphere of crystal-clear ice, their bodies suspended motionless within it. The frozen prison trembled.

Water erupted from below, spiraling around the sphere before condensing into countless projectiles. Each hardened into an ice spear, hovering in the air with its tip aimed at the imprisoned creatures. Your arrogance has become your undoing, demon. Shizunagi's voice echoed directly within Reid's mind. The ice spears moved as one. Thousands shot forward in a single volley, striking the demon from every direction until jagged ice encased its form. A second later, the frozen prison shattered, releasing the two dragons.

Reid caught a flicker of movement. A fragment of the demon's soul broke away from the ruined corpse, attempting to flee into the shadows. His pistol was already trained on it.

"Aeth Luxara Ven..." he chanted softly.

"Thaevareth… Volkaris!" The sanctified bullet streaked toward the fleeing soul, trailing golden light.

"You... Demon Hunter!" the demon screeched. Kaboom!