Desmond clashed sword with the wind ori-tandemon's wind drill fist.
The demon still had wind belts circling its neck and waist.
Both attacks bounced back but the demon pivoted, returning the force from the impact at Desmond, the wind drill arm smacking into his cheek.
He was sent flying at a tree but balanced himself before collision, landing against the tree.
With lightning flashing around him, he launched back at the demon, the spot on the tree where he jumped from carving in.
At he neared the demon, his sword disappeared, fist clenched, lightning bustling around it. 'If swords won't work... then I'll just use brute force to pin him down.'
He threw the punch just as the the demon did.
But as the fists closed in, Desmond's hand moved above the demon's, aiming for its face. 'Got you.'
The demon reacted fast, its other arm moving in the way to block as its fist closed in on Desmond's face.
Lightning crackled around Desmond's head. 'Not yet.'
Then he head-butted the demon's fist downward, using the momentum to spin forward and over the demon, closing in on its face.
While spinning, he delivered nasty lightning–charged headbutt to the demon. 'Now, I've got you.'
The demon was falling—
Or that's what it looked like.
It was actually pivoting forward—Its body folded mid-air—torso dropping as its legs whipped upward in a sudden counter.
Desmond noticed it too late.
The demon's feet smacked Desmond in the chest, sending him flying into a tree.
Desmond slammed back first into the tree, gasping out blood, before falling to his butt.
The demon straightened up, looking at him with a wide grin.
Blood trailed from its nose. "You've got a pretty tough forehead. What is made of, metal?"
Desmond slowly got up, staggering for a second before planting his feet hard in the ground, balancing himself. "Don't know. Never asked my parents why." He also grinned, breathing heavily.
The demon chuckled, wiping the blood off. "Not bad, kid. Show me more."
Lightning crackled around Desmond. "That I will."
With that, the two dashed at each other again.
— —
Emmanuel whirled backwards, arm guard still on fire, a little bit of the left side of his shirt burnt.
He landed harshly on his feet, skidding backwards to a stop but immediately, the flame copy ori-tandemon was above him, flaming sword aiming for his head.
Emmanuel blocked with his flaming sword and a flare burst from the impact in all directions as both opponents struggled against each other.
Emmanuel started losing his grip, going down on one knee. "He... He's too strong."
He quickly rolled to the left as the demon's blade struck the ground.
Fire erupted into a long line in the direction of the cut.
Emmanuel jumped at the demon before it could recover, attempting to decapitate it but it ducked, avoiding the attack, flames screaming outward in an arc in the direction of slash.
Then it slashed upwards with its blade but Emmanuel quickly blocked.
Again, fire blazed from the clash as the demon threw Emmanuel back with a swing.
The demon lunged at Emmanuel, not wasting any more time.
The two clashed on—striking and blocking.
Ringing steel and explosions sounding even from a distance.
One wouldn't even need to be told there was a fierce exchange coming from their direction.
Even viewing from the sky, one could see flames dancing at different parts of the scorched land close to the forest.
Emmanuel was whirled back again, landing against a tree at the far end of the field.
He launched forward, landing and dashed at the demon. 'I can't defeat this thing. Not on my own. It's too strong.'
The demon's blade blazed.
[Acerbic flames slash]
It started raining compressed arcs of flames at Emmanuel.
Emmanuel maneuvered his way through the attacks and kept advancing forward. 'Dammit! Do demons have infinite dark energy or what?'
'In any case, I just have to hold it off until help arrives. There's no use running if it's going to catch up every single time.'
'But...' He grinned as he closed in on the demon. 'It'll be fun if I manage to take him out on my own.'
The demon pointed its sword at Emmanuel.
[Blaze]
As if knowing what was coming, Emmanuel flipped up.
Immediately, fire burst forward in an incredible amount beneath Emmanuel.
"Sorry buddy." Emmanuel said, looming over the demon.
"I created that technique and perfected it on my own."
Then he grabbed the wolf headed demon by the neck. "Knowing what it can do..."
He paused, ramming the demon into the ground as he hovered in the air above it. "I won't let it touch me."
He ended, pointing the tip of the sword at the demon as it flared in a whirlpool.
[Blaze]
Then—
Fire burst downward at the demon lying unguarded on the ground.
Emmanuel yelled, increasing the intensity of the burn.
Every passing second of the burn seemed to bring him to victory.
Well, seemed to...
Emmanuel's eyes widened and he suddenly retreated, twisting in the air and landing at a far distance away from the demon.
The spot was screened with smoke, making it hard for Emmanuel to catch a glimpse of the demon.
'Tch! It didn't work.'
A chuckle came from the smoke which started to clear away. "You're quite tough. I'll give you that!"
"Well, thanks." Emmanuel responded, taking quick, heavy breaths, not even trying to lower his guard.
'Damnit. I can't keep going on like this forever. I need help and quick.'
The smoke cleared, bringing the demon on its feet into view, upper part of its kimino slightly burned along with its chest, smoke rising from its body. "I guess I underestimated you. But it won't happen again."
"Bring it on then." Emmanuel charged, katana blazing again.
The demon stuck its tongue out in a grin, also lunging forward, blade burning.
They crossed swords, a huge aura of flames whirling outward from the clash.
— —
On a different part of the island, among the woods, a back-length white-haired girl stood.
She wore a white shirt and purple tracksuit with a yellow jacket tied around her waist, letting it flow behind her.
A candidate's ID hung around her neck and she had a black wrist band on.
She also wore a mask, covering the upper part of her face—her nose up to her forehead.
She was staring down at a bunch of dead dar-tandemons lying on the ground.
"What an insult." She said in a calm voice. "Did they really think we were all this weak. At least someone like me is built different from all those other weaklings."
"Tch. This isn't even worth warming up."
She suddenly lifted her left hand to her side and some sort of purple, translucent scales materialized in layers, locking together into a shield.
Just then, an arrow flew, hitting the scale shield and breaking before falling to the ground.
She moved her hand and the scale crumbled into flakes, following her hand movements, spinning at the palm of her hand.
Then she sliced her hand to her left as the scales shot like bullets in that direction, piercing an ori-tandemon crouched beside a tree.
The girl turned to look at the dead body. "This is just annoying. I've never felt so mocked."
She clicked her tongue, walking away.
— — — — — —— — — — — —— — —
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