The demon roared, sending tremor to the entire underground complex of tunnels and sewers. It swung its arm wildly, creating a massive crack on the wall and sending debris flying all over the place. Yet its target always eluded it.

Albert evaded the demon’s attack. Then closed the distance between them. Like a flash of light, he swung his sword ten times in a single second, targeting the same place. He wasn’t skilled enough to hit the exact same place each time, but he was close enough. Yet even with all his might put behind each attack, a swing strong enough to sever a steel rod, it barely exposed the demon‘s blood.

He jumped back and dodged another swing of the demon’s arm. For a moment, Albert’s gaze moved towards the small door the demon was guarding. He wanted to just ignore the demon and rushed there to save Rein and Iris, but ... he looked at the demon again.

“Albert!” The big door leading to the chamber swung open. Rose and the other poured in, only to halt in their tracks once they saw what was inside. A giant demon 4 meters tall with four blazing arms, lower bodies of a stallion, and head of a four-horned goat.

There was no need and no time for explanation,. The demon lashed out and charged towards the entrance, using its massive body and strong legs as a deadly weapon.

Though big and powerful, there was ample time and space to avoid such an attack.

It crashed into the wall, cracking and shaking the entire room and threatening to collapse it.

Not going to wait, Albert jumped and slashed at the demon’s neck and face. Hoping that there its weakness lay. But he was wrong on two things. First, neither its face nor its neck was weaker than the rest of its body. Second, he thought crashing to a wall with that amount of force would confuse and even cause a concussion on the demon.

The demon turned its head. The four horns, big as a man, moved towards Albert with enough force to crack concrete. Albert would have dodged it with no problem, but he was falling with nothing to kick, grab, or latch on to. He curled his body to prepare for the impact. But it never came.

His body hovered away from the destructive horn swing. There was one explanation, he was looking at her. Rose’s magic. Her face was red with anger and irritation. From the way she looked at him, it seemed she saw him more as the problem than that humongous demon.

She flicked her wrist around, sending Albert hurling to the nearby wall and tumbling to the floor. He got up and marched on to her with complaints on the tip of his tongue. “You basta-“ but she flicked her wrist again, sending him back to the wall.

“Amateur should just stand by the side. Let the professional do it.” She turned her body away and faced the demon. There was never a worry about an attack coming from behind her.

She sighed. She was fired up and excited when she saw Albert’s armor turning black. The intense aura coming from his body and his sudden jump of power might give her a hint to why Arthur was so interested. But in the end, he was an amateur with no real experience. And looking at his pure white armor, it appeared the excitement was over.

Rose pondered for a moment. With Pris, she could just tell Pris to create a barrier around the demon and then finish the demon off with her flame or gravity. But without Pris, there was no one there capable of restraining the demon’s movement. Well, no one but herself that was.

Rose opened her palms upward then twist it downward.

The demon fell to its knees.

It roared and thrashed its arm around. Though Rose magic made such a simple action seemed impossible. This wasn’t a perfect solution unlike Pris’ barrier, but it will do.

She moved her hands around, drawing runic symbols on thin air. The same runes appeared around the demon. Red runes that glowed with intense malice. The air turned bright orange and the temperature inside the chamber rose rapidly.

But as the runes appeared, the immense gravity that held the demon back vanished. It had drawn all the anger and ire the demon had inside it.

It stood again. Wings grew from its back and a crown of flame lit up above the four-horned head. Yet Rose wasn’t amused.

She snapped her finger. And the demon went up in a cruel blaze.

The demon roared loud enough to shook the heaven. But the roar soon faded as its skin burned, flesh melted, and bone turned to ash. So quickly it happened that Albert couldn’t believe his eyes. The demon whose skin was so thick and strong his sword barely cut it was now a pile of ashes laying on the ground. But the most fearsome thing about it was how calm and composed the caster of that ungodly magic was. She didn’t break a sweat or appeared even the tiniest bit of strain. As if magic of that scale was a child play to her.

Rose snapped another finger. A gust of wind swapped the air from inside and outside the chamber, bringing the foul sewer stench along with it. But it had to be done. As impressive as her magic was, it was just a very powerful version of simple fire magic. It still took up oxygen and burned it into carbon dioxide. If she didn’t swap the air, all of them would pass out from the lack of oxygen.

“Let’s go.” She said as she walked towards the small door on the end of the chamber, leaving the awed Albert behind.