The demon's body was covered in wounds.
Even one of his arms bore a deep bite inflicted by Larriet.
Vordrak watched the dark blood slowly drip onto the ruined streets of Norvind and smiled.
"Damned lion... you almost tore my arm off," he growled before lifting his gaze toward Sofía. "You are a worthy opponent."
But just as the situation seemed to be improving, a strange silence spread across the battlefield.
Something changed.
The demon began absorbing the demonic mana from every fallen creature.
And not only from the corpses.
Also from the monsters that were still alive.
Even the members of the demonic cult began collapsing one after another, staring at their own bodies in despair as their energy was ripped away from them.
Streams of dark mana crossed the streets and gathered around Vordrak like a corrupted vortex.
The demon's body slowly began to grow.
Its skin became darker.
Denser.
More monstrous.
And the pressure emanating from him made even some Douglas soldiers instinctively step back.
Larriet, the Solar Lion, retreated several steps.
For the first time since the beginning of the battle, the enormous king of beasts showed genuine fear.
Palpable fear.
In front of him, within that abyss of corrupted energy, the demon smiled.
"I have lost ten years of existence using this power..." he murmured with a distorted voice. "But once I bring your head before the heralds, I will recover them."
His eyes burned with a fire that did not belong to this world.
The demonic mana pouring from his body distorted the surroundings. The earth began twisting beneath his feet, unable to endure such monstrous pressure.
Sofía watched him without blinking.
Her spear contained two sealed spells within it.
But at this moment...
They were useless.
"The heralds... they summoned you," she murmured. "Damned corrupt churches."
The entire sky seemed to be burning.
Overflowing mana covered Norvind like a living storm, twisting into shapes similar to luminous serpents strangling reality itself.
Fragments of earth began to rise into the air.
Debris.
Corpses.
Stones ripped from the destroyed streets.
Everything slowly started floating around the demon, as if the world itself were losing stability.
The riders mounted on their magical beasts instinctively stepped back.
Even the fiercest creatures began stirring nervously.
"Fall back," Sofía ordered.
Her voice was firm.
She did not need to explain anything.
She immediately understood that the presence of the others would no longer change the outcome of this battle.
They would only become wasted lives.
She did not fear death.
She never had.
The only thing she truly feared...
Was leaving her son alone.
The demon's attack was so fast it could barely be seen.
Larriet reacted thanks to his enormous reflexes and barely managed to dodge it.
But not completely.
Vordrak's claws tore through part of his side, ripping away blood and fur as the gigantic lion roared in pain.
The pressure released by the impact was so brutal that several nearby Magisters collapsed even while standing more than a hundred meters away.
Sofía staggered as well.
For an instant, she was on the verge of falling from Larriet's back.
And to make matters worse, there was a limit to how long she could maintain "Alpha Synchronization."
Never before had she needed to sustain that spell for so long.
But the demon was not in good condition either.
If Sofía and Larriet managed to hold him back just a little longer...
Vordrak would disappear.
He would not die.
He would simply cease to exist.
Sofía tightened her grip on the spear.
There was no time to lose.
Her body was bleeding, her armor was shattered, and every breath burned her chest.
But her determination still burned stronger than ever.
Larriet roared beside her.
With every swipe of his claws, he repelled the demon's attacks using pure brute force, though every exchange also slowly destroyed the body of the enormous Solar Lion.
It was a battle of titans.
Every spell, every strike, and every shockwave consumed precious seconds.
While the demon tried to crush Sofía with a brutal offensive, Larriet answered with devastating charges that shattered the currents of black energy through sheer force.
The ground began to warp under the excess demonic mana.
The streets cracked apart.
Buildings trembled.
And the air itself seemed to twist around both monsters.
Every minute mattered.
Every second Vordrak continued to exist meant more lives lost within Norvind.
Villagers trapped beneath the ruins.
Douglas soldiers falling under the remaining creatures.
Mages kneeling, struggling to breathe while the mana distortion slowly destroyed their bodies.
Every instant was a desperate race against death.
Then Sofía realized something.
Victory would not depend on absolute strength.
It would depend on precision.
On speed.
Every technique had to be executed at the exact right moment.
Every command had to synchronize perfectly with Larriet.
It was a deadly dance.
A choreography of power, blood, and desperation where a single mistake would mean death.
And even so...
The duchess did not retreat.
Every attack she blocked.
Every strike from Larriet.
Every second they managed to endure...
Slowly shortened the demon's existence.
And Vordrak began making mistakes.
Small errors.
Slightly slower movements.
Impulsive attacks.
As if, deep within his existence...
Fear had begun to catch up to him.
The citizens and soldiers of Norvind understood that the battle was far from over.
But for the first time since the beginning of the disaster, a small thread of hope began to emerge.
As long as Sofía and Larriet continued resisting...
Perhaps the demon could be contained.
And perhaps...
Defeated.
Vordrak seemed to understand it as well.
He realized that his time was running out.
His body began shining with increasingly concentrated demonic mana, and violent waves of dark energy erupted from the center of his figure, shaking the entire city.
He no longer intended to hold back.
Not now that his own existence was at stake.
The sky darkened even further.
The demonic pressure increased brutally.
Even Larriet stepped back upon sensing that explosion of power.
But then...
Something changed.
A bolt of lightning descended from the sky and struck the demon's body directly.
The electrical explosion illuminated all of Norvind.
Vordrak released a furious roar as his body convulsed violently.
He had been so focused on Sofía and Larriet...
That he failed to notice the presence approaching from the distance.