The humanoid in the sky, remained static for a moment, relishing its handiwork.
It began to float forward, it trajectory to the main ground party, when it was stopped.
Dell emerged from the lightning, and struck the creature with his axe.
The blow connected cleanly and sunk into the creature's shoulder, piercing the its starlight form
Dell then disappeared into the lightning.
The frequency of the lightning strikes increased above the horde, especially within the vicinity of the starlight creature.
It circled in the air slowly, anticipating its adversary's next strike, having materialized a starlight sword, this time proportional to its wielder,
Dell emerged from the lightning, again his axe cocked back for a devious swing.
But as he swung it at the being, he found it bit thin air, the blade phasing through the creature.
Or rather the other way around.
The starlight blade struck Dell in the chest, sending him hurtling towards the ground.
As the seeming less lifeless body was falling through the sky, the black stone atop its crown rotated, revealing a pink gemstone instead.
Dell's eyes shot open, the wound in his chest repairing itself at a rapid rate.
His crown rotated again and he disappeared once more.
The creature did not expect Dell to return, and so it didn't see Dell materialize from the lightning strike behind it, his axe and body now coated under a veil of electricity.
Dell's speed multiplied tenfold and the bladed tore through the ribcage of the creature.
It wailed in agony, eerily, and swung round with its other hand, only to strike the empty air.
Dell jumped out of the lightning behind it once again, hacking at its leg.
The being phased through it, recognizing the threat of remaining corporeal, and swung its sword at the human.
Miss again.
Both parties went at it furiously building up in their pace.
Lightning and starlight dancing in the skies together, intertwined for the lust for blood.
Both parties could turn incorporeal to avoid damage, but had to return to a corporeal state to inflict damage on the other.
It was a deadly game of balancing risk and reward.
And while Dell's healing aspect allowed him to recover from any damage so long as his fury grew, the starlit creature's form was liquid almost, repairing damage to its body with the rest of its form.
Dell recognized he was playing a stalemate, and became more aggressive with his attacks, willing to take damage to exchange a lethal blow.
He materialized behind it once more, and swung on its head.
The creature anticipated this, phased and severed his arm, sending the axe flying into the skies.
It then followed by thrusting its sword directly into Dell's gut, piercing through to the other side, as it gazed into Dell's eyes.
Dell's gemstone turned pink, and his aspect began to furiously try to heal him, but the creature changed the shape of its weapon, widening the sword and severing Dell's lower half. His legs fell to the battlefield.
Dell shrieked in agony, as his body desperately began to repair the damage done.
It was only then that Dell could see the creatures eyes, he thought it had none, but it did. Hidden beneath a layer of the starlight shroud, Dell could make out a sliver of the reflection of its eyes.
What rank is this creature?
In all of Dell's travels he had never encountered a creature such as this.
No, it hadn't been a creature before being corrupted by the spell. No, it must have been an ancient human of the dream realm.
And therefore, it had once been intelligent.
And therefore, it had once had a mind.
Dell grabbed the creature's sword hand and slid himself closer.
His crown rotated once more, revealing a misty white stone.
Time to see how much of it was still left.
With the shift in his aspect, Dell's torso turned white and incorporeal like that of a ghost, with a trail of mist for his lower body, replacing his missing legs.
Dell grabbed the starlit creature by its head and… screamed.
For a moment, nothing happened and the creature paused.
Then, the effect took place and the creature began to shake its head violently.
As Dell continued on, its body eventually went limp, as its head continued to jerk back and forth, side to side.
Finally the creature went limp, and Dell spun around and threw it to the battlefield below.
The psychic damage had been done, but the fight wasn't over yet.
The mind damage he had dealt had led him to recoup a significant amount of essence, restoring his previously wrought condition.
Dell raised his hand to the skies.
The dark clouds darkened even more, before splitting apart momentarily to make way for the titanic object passing through it.
Dell's axe pierced through, revealing it had grown in size, almost a hundred meters tall.
The handle of the gargantuan weapon landed in Dell's hand, as he sent a torrent of his essence into it.
The axe began to form a trail of milky white mist, a sign it had imbued Dell's current aspect.
Dell strained unbearably with both hands and swung the axe down towards the starlight creature.
From the outside, the axe looked slow, but it was indeed moving terribly fast for its size.
The starlit creature finally hit the battlefield, sending waves of dust in every direction.
Several nightmare creatures began to rush it, their frenzied state cause by the bloodshed of countless humans, making them turn viciously on each other when one was weakened.
But only a dozen seconds later, the axe reached its intended target, crushing the remains of the starlight creature and all those that had chanced on feasting on it.
The impact was brutal, the mere shockwave shattering the earth in half, creating a fissure several hundred meters long, but the true calamity was yet to follow.
Imbued with the mind damage of Dell's aspect the axe spread its ethereal white mist across the battlefield, blanketing the horde of nightmare creatures.
The starlight creature and a thousand fallen creatures were stripped of any semblance of their will, falling to the ground abruptly, as their minds were eviscerated from the husks of their bodies.
The dark clouds instantly disappeared, revealing East Antarctica's natural twilight sky.
[You have slain Corrupted Devil, Apostle of the Storm God.]
Dell assumed the dark clouds had something to do with the now deceased starlight creature.
Perhaps it had been a devotee of the god, before becoming corrupted?
Well, it didn't matter now.
Dell, reassessed the battle for the stronghold, now from the vantage of the heavens.
Dell's axe, which remained in the ground had wiped most of the creatures.
The half of the human force that remained were currently fighting just over a hundred fallen creatures.
Although the price was steep, victory for the ground party was assured.
Dell began to descend to aid them, but suddenly stopped.
He felt an ominous presence lurking behind him.
He turned around, and felt an aura of dread fall over him.
Far beyond the scope of the battlefield, a titanic wood golem had emerged, its advance having been hidden under the cover of the dark clouds before.
But now it was for all to see.
It's head almost touched the skies, a near two to three hundred meters tall, it was hard for Dell to tell at this distance, and it's face was devoid of all features but just one eye.
No.
The eye glowed green, and beneath it a trail of vegetation began to shoot forward.
The carnivorous weeds shot forward, devouring the fallen corpses of the nightmare creatures, and headed straight for the remnants of the human ground party.
No, no.
Dell dashed forward in his ethereal form, hoping to reach the creature in time.
He shot forward through the air, moving at an incredible pace.
He nearly reached the wood golem, and had begun to open his mouth for a mind attack, but the titan noticed.
It turned its eye to face Dell, stopping the advance of its terminal vegetation.
In turn its eye now turned a milky white. No, hollow.
Dell froze and fell from the skies.