On the opposite side of the crater, the monster was barely standing.
Its sleek body hunched forward with one knee pressed into the dirt. Black blood poured from the chain burns across its chest and arms.
The dark purple aura that had crushed the air for twenty minutes was almost gone.
Only a faint haze of exhausted mana remained around its narrow shoulders.
Its split visor was cracked down the center, the jagged smile nowhere to be seen.
The creature that had toyed with an entire royal raid for twenty long minutes now looked like the loneliest thing left in the ruin.
Up on the ridge, the demon girl slowly exhaled through her teeth as she took in the full picture below.
Both combatants looked ready to collapse after their final exchange.
The explosion had carved a fresh crater while scorching the ground with mingled holy and corrupted mana.
'Unbelievable, and the whole report is going to sound like a lie.'
She had never expected the battered human below to survive this long.
