The Demon roared. Angry that he missed, he screeched. Snow flinched.

With flurried steps, she pushed off from the ground. Her sword Lady Luck snakes in between a small opening between two silver of the armor, stabbing it into its side. A gush of black blood spilled out as she pulled out her sword.

Quickly hopping back, she barely dodged a backhand swing that could have knocked her out.

Snow reset, trying to catch her balance. She couldn’t just bolt back in without getting caught by the Demon’s attack if she wasn’t fast enough.

Her sword swung tightly, trying to block the attack. The large sword on a small sword made an impact, throwing her backward. She expected the brunt of the attack to land, but she didn’t expect the force behind it. Such a fierce attack pushed her back on her feet. She flipped in mid-air and threw herself back.

The Demon’s sword slammed into the ground, leaving an ugly indentation on the ground. With a grunt, it dug its foot into the ground and yanked out its sword.

Once again, Snow burst in. She wasn’t going to allow it to stop the flow. Her feet took a step forward. She snaked through the cracks of its armor that was in between the shoulder and the chest. Lady Luck stabbed into its small previous as she pushed in with the intent to dismember its whole arm.

With a roar, the Demon growled out in pain.

Lady Luck was stuck underneath the Demon’s armpit.

Suddenly, the Demon smashed his hand against her, throwing her into the air. She flew backward into an arc, smashing into the ground.

Her breath left her body. She rolled quickly to the side and pushed off the ground. Being thrown had left her winded, but she didn’t have enough time to linger around.

The black sword Black Widow was a few steps away. She rushed in and grabbed the hilt of the sword.

The Demon raised his stumpy legs and smashed down onto the ground. Snow dodged a few times, swinging her sword at its ankles. Ugly black lines were present, causing the Demon to stumble. Ugly green boils quickly followed after, telling her that the poison was effective.

“That’s more like it.” Snow licked her lips.

Just as quickly, the boils started to nasty, the Demon snorted. The magic around it shimmered, causing the boil to become tamed.

Snow frowned at how resilient the Demon was, especially with a sword stuck underneath its armpit. The Demon couldn’t even use one of its arms. Snow ducked underneath the Demon’s body, trying not to get stomped on.

Her sword continued to slice against the Demon’s legs in the hopes of making it collapse on the ground. It still stands.

Snow grabbed the hilt of the Demon’s tassel that was wrapped around its waist. The Demon thrashed around, trying to get her off. She swung herself up with her arm and threw herself over onto the Demon’s shoulder. Her body smashed into the Demon, causing the Demon to take a step backward.

With a few steps back, allowing Snow to run straight into a sprint toward the direction of her next sword: White Gryphon. With light steps, she snatched the sword out from the ground. Its gallant vestige glowed in her hand, giving it a warm tingle. She could feel the warmth of light wrap around her, giving her the extra boost that she needed.

Summoning up her magic around her sword, more and more appeared around her, giving her a menacing glow. She swung her blade, and the rest of the sword followed after. Many of its attacks pierced through its thick skin, making it look like a giant porcupine.

One sword got lucky enough to stab itself into its foot. It tripped, throwing its hand wildly in the air. With a mighty roar, it fell back with a loud thud.

Snow stopped. Her breath is heavy and wheezing from the constant flurry of attacks. It wasn’t easy to push through so much energy without stopping, especially in such a heated fight.

She watched.

“Come on…” Snow glared at the Demon on the ground.

The sword of lights flickered on and off. Eventually disappearing and leaving behind large gaping wounds.

“Stay down.” Snow bites her lip. Her muscles were tense. She waited, hoping that the Demon wouldn’t get up. When she realized the Demon was still grunting, waving its hand around him to push itself back up, Snow blitzed in.

Everything seemed to slow down. Her mind was focused. She had one goal. To survive.

Snow threw the White Gryphon sword in the air like a spear. It blazed white, shooting through the air. She zipped toward and grabbed Black Widow that was sticking out from the ground.

Poison coated around its blade.

The Demon shuddered, realizing that death was a step away. When it saw White Gryphon heading straight toward its heart, it moved its giant blade, blocking the attack with a gluteal pain. Both blades spat out magic conductivity with a loud bang, giving it an eerie glow between dark and light. One trying to overpower the other, but they were both in a heavy stalemate.

Snow pushed off her feet. Jumping into the air, her sword next to her body as she swung it wickedly. A hiss like sound followed after, and sparks of flashing light exploded around her.

The Demon reeled back from the intense pain.

In an instant, Snow took this chance. She knew she wouldn’t have another. Her sword snaked in, stabbing in one of its open wounds on the side. Stabbing in deeply, she slammed into the Demon’s body.

Both of them fell. Snow used the full weight of her body to dig the sword in as deeply as she could. A loud squish and black blood splattered on her. She choked and coughed as it went up her nose.

The Demon squirmed, letting out its last struggle of breath. Snow didn’t let go. Her body was thrashed around violently until finally, the movement slowed.

Snow panted heavily. She pulled back her white hair, looking down at the Demon in disgust. Black blood-covered half her face. Reaching over, she wiped the blood off with her backhand.

Something black caught her eyes. She reached down and noticed a tear-shaped jewel in the cracked opened armor. Bending over, she reached in and yanked it out from its chest.

Opening her hand, a dark glimmer of magical energy flowed beautifully around it. Snow couldn’t help but gaze with admiration at what she had found—a demon’s jewel.

A priceless artifact that held immense dark energy. Finding something of this size was rare, and only a handful was ever circulated in the world. But the downside was that she knew that the dark society would covet this item. Such a powerful source of energy was highly favored by dark magic users.

Snow couldn’t use this jewel. She put it away into her storage. She went around and collected the rest of her sword that was stuck in the Demon’s body.

Suddenly, the Demon disintegrated, leaving behind two large horns. She had read about demons. The black jewels to their body disappear in thin air, sometimes leaving behind a few things. There have been no cases of their pelts or even their bones but their horns. Still, such materials were greatly coveted, especially their gems and their horns. The stronger the Demon, the stronger the materials, allowing the blacksmith to create stronger weapons.

Picking up the horns, she stored it away.

Satisfied with the rewards, she continued toward her destination and stepped into the darkness.

The endless emptiness of darkness was always unnerving. Not being able to see what was going to pop up inside the darkness had Snow weary. The light ball floating around her was sent before her, allowing her to see a bit ahead.

A shining metal caught her attention, and she saw a large group of priests in their usual white attire dirtied up, disheveled and hopeless. Many were silent as if part of their soul were sucked away. When they saw Snow, gallantly gleaming with pure white light, the shadow in their eyes was being pushed away with the realization that someone was there to save them.

“Who?” One of the priestess asked with a dry cough. “Are you the saintess?”

Each and everyone's ears perked up when they heard the name, Saintess.

“Well, people call me that, but I’m Snow. I work alongside Dragon Express and the Gold Phoenix guild.” Snow slashed the chains that held the door in place. With a loud clatter, the chains fell.

A loud creak, the door opened slowly. The prisoners slowly looked up at her but did not move. It was as if they were cursed to sit on the ground.

Snow waited, wondering why they were getting up.

The priestess, who spoke to her, spoke again. “Why did you come here?”

Baffled by her words, Snow opened and closed her mouth.

“You shouldn’t have come to save us.”

“What are you talking about?” Snow said in disbelief. Did she make the wrong mistake and wasted her effort on wanting to help? “Don’t you guys want to be out of this darkness?”

“No.” All of them spoke in unison. “We love the darkness.”

It was an eerie synchronization. Almost as if they were all mind hacked.

Snow didn’t like where this was going. There was something wrong. Light magic swirled around her.

The people hissed and cowered, glaring at her hand that was building up with magic.

“Stay away!”

“Stop! We love the darkness!”

Snow didn’t believe them. Mainly because all of these people were part of the famous Church of Light disciples. Each and every one of them were wearing the same clothes of a simple white attire. But the usual cleanliness was gone, giving them much of a more disturbed and crazy look.