Infernal Blade – Part 09
“A Death Spell?! It can’t—”
A dull squelch followed, and the demon’s thumb vanished, leaving him with no fingers on his left hand. The flames around him surged and split apart. They landed on the ground, writhing ominously and shifting into an unusual shape.
The mass of flames took on a form resembling a creature on all fours, more human than a wild beast, yet crawling like an animal. The fiery beast-man, birthed from the flame demon, lifted its head—devoid of eyes—toward Hannibal. Its mane flickered.
Stunned, Hannibal muttered, “A demon creating another demon?”
The beast had no mouth to respond. It clawed at the ground and scuttled forward with an unsettling, insect-like speed. Swearing, Hannibal drew his greatsword. He swung down with force, but the blade passed through the beast without cutting it.
The sword could not kill fire. It slipped through the beast’s body without any resistance, and the blade itself began to melt, turning to scrap iron.
“We’ve got ourselves a problem.”
Hannibal stepped back, furrowing his brow. Meanwhile, the flame demon itself charged past him.
“Shit!”
With its burning tail trailing behind, it charged toward the Knight Guards’ wall. Hannibal tried to follow, but the beast-man blocked his path.
The demon glided towards the Knight Guards’ formation. The knight at the forefront, face twisted in terror, struck his jewel steel shakily and recited the incantation in slurred speech. Despite his clumsy efforts, he managed to form a barrier. The demon crashed into it headfirst.
A metallic clang echoed, like hammer striking iron. Then came the sound of glass breaking.
The demon’s headbutt shattered the Prayer Pact barrier. The jewel steel in the guard’s hands splintered into fragments, and the heat wave that burst from the breach burned him alive. A scream of pure agony rose. The demon, like a fiery arrow, pierced the guard’s chest, melting through his armor. His torso and abdomen turned to ash, and his remaining limbs and head tumbled across the ground in flames.
The demon’s relentless charge showed no sign of slowing as it headed straight for the makeshift stage. Guards in its path were burned and flung aside with no chance to resist. No obstacle remained now.
Cecily Campbell was there. She had witnessed the entire sequence of events. She stood dazed, her eyes locked on the hellish scene of pure pandemonium.
It wasn’t her first time facing a demon. She had recently confronted an ice beast demon herself. She thought she’d be prepared. She believed that even if she faced demons again, she would manage, that she could at least strike back. She had trained hard for this.
She had been naive. Facing the approaching fire demon, Cecily realized her earlier confidence was misguided. One encounter was not enough to handle this kind of situation.
A threat was a threat, and it came with overwhelming violence. Experience was a non-factor.
“It’s after the Infernal Blade! Protect it!” Hannibal roared.
Cecily gave a start. She glanced down at the rapier in her hand—the Infernal Blade Aria. She had to protect her.
Cecily bit her lip until her skin tore. Her job was to protect Aria. She couldn’t lose sight of it. Switching the Infernal Blade to her left hand, she picked up the saber that had been left on the stage with her right hand and faced the flame demon once more.
The enemy was already upon her. It moved with a disturbingly human gait, its arms and legs swinging in a strange, rhythmic motion, spreading fire as it advanced. Flames roared from its hollow eye sockets and gaping mouth, giving it the very image of a demon. It looked like something from a ghost story.
Frozen with fear, Cecily roused herself with a determined roar and raised her sword.
The demon leapt, extending its right arm toward her. Cecily felt the intense heat on her cheek. The demon’s arm would reach her, scorching her clothes and skin, before her saber could strike.
“No!”
Cecily was shoved aside. A wave of flames whooshed past her, barely missing a direct hit, though she felt the searing heat graze her left shoulder. She was thrown to the ground, unable to brace herself. Cecily looked up in surprise at the person clinging to her side.
“Lisa?!”
Lisa abruptly rose and started patting down Cecily’s body. Her uniform was singed at the edges, and she had small burns on her skin, but she appeared otherwise unharmed. Lisa let out a sigh of relief.
“What are you doing—”
“Run!” Lisa interrupted. “You’ll get killed!”
Cecily felt an intense heat on her cheek. The flame demon stood nearby, its bare back facing them. Its flaming armor rippled with every breath. Its left hand had been reduced to a palm and back, missing all fingers, while the right hand held a sword—the very rapier that Cecily had dropped when Lisa pushed her away.
“Aria,” Cecily called out.
The wind rose in response, a wind pregnant with heat. It singed the fine hairs on her skin and transformed the demon’s surrounding armor into a swirling pillar of flames. The fire enveloped the sword completely, binding it to the demon.
The demon had taken hold of the Infernal Blade.
“Aria! Aria!”
No matter how many times she called, only the hot wind answered. The rapier, now wrapped in flames, was silent. Cecily rose to her feet and readied her saber, but it had already melted halfway from earlier contact with the fire. She tossed the useless sword aside and prepared to rush forward. Lisa grabbed her around the waist, stopping her.
“Let me go!”
The demon suddenly lunged, thrusting the rapier forward. The air exploded, and a torrent of flames surged out, engulfing the center of the square. A blinding flash burst forth, followed by another explosion. Several knights were vaporized in an instant. A spiral crater was left in the square.
“Ah… ah…”
Just like that, they were gone.
In a matter of seconds, the resolve that drove Cecily to take action vanished entirely. She trembled, helplessly watching as the demon turned to face her. The demon held the rapier at its side. A scorching wind licked at her skin.
It was coming. The torrent of flames, from this close range. A merciless demon closing in, and a knight paralyzed with fear.
A small girl stepped between them.
Lisa pulled a rough, uncut stone from her pouch—a piece of jewel steel. Gripping it tightly in her left hand, she raised a hammer from her belt in her right.
“Close your eyes!”
The moment Lisa struck the jewel steel with the hammer, a brilliant white light enveloped the area. The impact triggered a reaction, an explosion of Aetheria that bathed the entire square in blinding light, robbing everyone of their sight.
“…”
The demon was no exception. It stopped moving within the light, forced into stillness for several seconds.
As the white light faded and the world returned to normal, both the knight and the girl had vanished from the demon’s sight.
Only shards of the shattered jewel steel remained, scattered across the stage.
“Demons lack visual organs, so they perceive objects through the fluctuations of Aetheria around them,” Lisa explained as they fled through deserted streets. “By causing an aetherial explosion, you can disrupt their perception and force them to stop for a short time.” Her words barely registered, slipping in one ear and out the other.
The city was likely evacuated, as there were no signs of life. Though distant voices could be heard, the area near the central square was wrapped in an eerie silence. It was as if all the humans had vanished. Their hurried footsteps drummed on the ground littered with fruits.
“Where… are we going?” Cecily asked.
“Anywhere but here. We’re no match against that demon. You can’t do anything about it, either.”
“What about Aria?”
Lisa didn’t respond, and her silence said it all.
“Huh? Cecily!”
“No.”
Cecily had to save Aria. She couldn’t just run away. She stopped, trying to shake Lisa off, but Lisa stubbornly refused to let go.
“What can you do?!”
Cecily froze. What could she possibly do against that demon? The answer was painfully obvious, and she felt utterly pathetic.
“Can’t we… do something?”
“There’s nothing you can do,” someone interrupted.
Cecily and Lisa turned to see Luke leaning against the wall of a shop, apparently waiting for Lisa. He looked annoyed.
“You won’t stand a chance against that demon. You’d just die for nothing.”
“But—”
“Besides, the Infernal Blade is already in the demon’s hands. You have even less of a chance now.”
“But—”
“Hannibal is over there, isn’t he? You can leave it to that musclebrained geezer. He’s got more lives than a cat.”
Cecily could only repeat “but,” knowing it was futile. Deep down, she understood she had no chance. Captain Quasar was reliable, but was that acceptable for her? Could she really just run away with her tail tucked between her legs?
She was going through the same emotions she had felt during the recent expedition, the same kind of struggle she had faced before confronting the ice beast demon. Back then, she protected her honor by fighting back. Now, she found herself paralyzed by the same doubts.
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