Irvun had thought Erin was bluffing but he was immediately proven wrong. The mediocre swordsmanship from before was now a storm of blades encroaching him from all sides. His left arm which had only just regrown was cut off once again in a short amount of time. His pain receptors were inhibited by his constitution as a Demoid but with lightning coiling around Erin’s blade, the pain nevertheless coursed sharply through him.

His momentary stupor from the pain left him open for a split second but it was more than enough for Erin to take his other arm. His armour skin might have been able to protect him from physical harm but Erin’s lightning attack prevented the denticles from clamping down on her blade as the edge tore through his flesh.

Much like his colleague, Irvun could regenerate any part of his body as long as he had enough Mana, so he wasn’t in despair yet. But his wishful thinking lasted only for a few seconds. It came to an end when the corpse of his partner was dropped right in front of him. It was completely charred and burnt.

“T-Taric?” he stammered.

“Well, that was harder than I thought,” Amyra said in a casual tone as she strolled leisurely towards Irvun with her oversized cleaver-sword hoisted on her shoulders. “Still, real Demons are harder. Absolutely tenacious. Your friend? Not even a quarter of a Demon’s tenacity.”

“J-just who the fuck are you?”

“Who, me? I’m Amyra. Your employer did not tell you? Well, I suppose no employer in their right mind would relay everything to a lowly goon like you.”

“Lowly?”

“Are you not? You’re only level fifty,” Amyra scoffed. “As far as I know, that’s the minimum level of a Demoid. Stop lying to yourself any longer. You don’t matter to your employer. You were probably sent here to plumb us like all the others.”

“So what if that’s the case?” Irvun snorted. “It doesn’t change what I have to do.”

Erin spared no words for the Demoid as she closed the gap between them with Warp and flourished her sword.

Even without arms, Irvun still had other ways to defend himself. He bent his upper body out of the way of Erin’s slash.

Amyra also lunged at him right at this moment.

“Annoying!” Irvun uttered, tossing himself out of harm’s way in a very unsightly manner. He tumbled head over heels as he had no arms to balance himself. When he bounced back to his feet, Amyra and Erin were already upon him. He clicked his tongue and bit down on the capsule he was hiding beside his gums.

“Get back!” Erin shouted and leapt a considerable distance away.

Amyra was slightly slower in her retreat. As a result, she was hit but the wave of aura erupted from Irvun.

The aura did not rampage for long. It calmed down and became a thin layer of a veil on the Demoid’s body. While the aura was mellowing, Irvun himself was undergoing a violent change. His face distorted further into some more than demonic it already was. His body grew in size and denticles on his skin became more obvious. A pair of horns sprouting from his head. Another pair of arms grew out from the back of his shoulders just as it grew a new pair of arms.

“He became a Demon…” Erin muttered. Her Appraisal told her Irvun was no longer a Demoid. His level was now fifty-five. It was a tremendous increment.

“Well, doesn’t that just make things easier?” Nivia said and produced a small pouch from her pocket.

“I doubt it.” Erin threw a small sphere of Essence Flare at the now evolved Demon which instantly sizzled out without leaving so much as a singe on his skin. “Hmm… just like Velkan.”

“That second skin he has, it’s protecting him from the Spirits,” Nivia muttered gravely.

“What a crook,” Amyra huffed.

The Demon guffawed and conjured four swords into each of his hands. “I win,” he declared triumphantly. “You are all doomed.”

“Nivia, we might need the Fairy Dust later, so be prepared to take it out when I gave the signal.”

“But aren’t Spirits ineffective now?”

“For now.”

“Enough talking!” Irvun roared and lunged at them.

Erin was about to lunge in response but she stopped herself the moment she saw the Demon throwing two of his swords. Having seen the trick before, Erin allocated four skill points into Spatial Magic, hoping to gain something she could use to turn the tide of this battle. Spirit Magic was useless for now and other Arcane Arts were most likely just as useless. Spatial Magic was her best bet.

[Spatial Magic: Rend - Acquired]

[Mana consumption for Spatial Magic has been reduced.]

Erin grinned. Her bet paid off. Though it was still too early to celebrate. She could roughly understand what Rend does from the description but using it in actuality was a different story.

The Demon teleported to the two swords he threw, landing between Erin and the other two. Amyra guarded against the weight and force of two swords. The ground underneath her feet cratered. She groaned as a numbing sensation threatened to seize her grip.

Erin didn’t block the swords coming for her. Instead, she used Rend, cutting off one arm and parrying the other. She noticed the sharp drop in her Mana but not as immense as the consumption of Warp, though the mental drain was just as strong.

The Demon shoved Amyra off their clash and redirected all of his focus to Erin. His missing arm quickly regrew and the sword was back in his grip. Irvun, with a chagrined look, unleashed a flurry of attacks on Erin.

Erin switched her weapon of choice into a glaive, one that resembled the spell, Storm Glaive, but only in appearance, not essence. Erin swung and twirled the glaive as if she was performing a dance. In a way, it was a dance. A very lethal dance. A single misstep would cost her life. She gracefully, but narrowly, deflected the Demon’s flurry of attacks.

Once the tumult of blades was over, Erin switched her weapon back into her trusty sabre that was the size of a greatsword. This was Bespoke. She could tailor the weapons to her liking and it barely cost her any Mana. The only downside was that she needed to have a clear image of the weapon she wished to wield or else it would never give form.

The other downside to this was not within her control. Showing off her Bespoke ability was basically her giving her enemies information about herself and how to plan against her better. These Demoids she had been fighting were just prodding her, preparing for the final advent. The more she revealed her cards, the less assured her victory would be later on. But she couldn’t just conceal her cards until the culmination. Many would die or suffer before the final advent.

Although, she was running out of tricks.

“No, I still have one final trick left,” Erin assured herself. Revenant was her true trump card. They did not know about this skill of hers yet. If she was to last in the final advent, she could never reveal this skill of hers until the time comes.

“You’re nothing!” the Demon spat as he gained more and more ground in his battle against Erin. He had been overwhelmed by her swordsmanship just minutes ago but now the tides had turned. He was the one overwhelming her. He couldn’t be more thrilled at this turn of events. This battle also served to define his worth. If he could incapacitate her, then his employers would rate him higher and give him more privileges. Just thinking about it was making him grin like a fool as he exchanged devastating blows with the Fox-kin. Of course, the blows were only devastating against Erin, or so he presumed.

Erin was being pushed back. It was evident to anyone who might be watching. However, Erin was sporting a face that was only lightly frowning, a stark contrast to what one was expecting of her considering her odds. She still had her composure. Her eyes were not of one who was in a dire strait.

“Do you not understand your position?!” the Demon roared. “You have lost!” He shouted straight at Erin as he landed blows after blows against her spell sword. “Your Spirit Magic is useless and so are your other Arcane Arts! Surrender now and I’ll spare your friends.”

“Don’t be delusional, Demon!” Amyra baulked and barged into the clangour of steel that was not of actual steel. “You think of us as bargaining chips? How belittling.”

“Piss off!” Irvun scorned and spun with the four swords in his hands.

Amyra had only slightly touched his blades but it was enough to send her staggering. She knew she was out of her bounds when she saw the chip in her blade from that single contact. Amyra had exhausted most of her Mana in her last battle. She didn’t have her Blaze Armour protecting her. She could only rely on her trusty cleaver-sword to defend against the approaching whirling blades. That said, her sword was useless against such an attack.

Erin intercepted by using every spell she knew under Lightning Magic that wasn’t overly destructive but the whirling blades either absorbed her attacks or deflected them.

“The ceiling!” Nivia shouted as she threw spheres of condensed air at the ceiling.

It wasn’t a good idea but it was an idea they had. Erin nodded and blasted the ceiling with Lightning Bolts. A good part of the ceiling crumbled right above Irvun and pieces were dropped on him. Irvun was barely slowed at first but as more and more pieces fell, a large piece of the ceiling collapsed on him eventually.

The three hadn’t even begun to take their breathers but Irvun already burst out of the debris with a rage-filled scream. “You insolent audacious fucks! I’ll kill all of you! I don’t care what the boss said! I’ll fucking kill all of you!”

“What is this called again?” Amyra mused. “Out of the frying pan, into the fire, I believe it was.”

“Aedan?” Erin asked.

Amyra nodded with a giggle.

Nivia glanced at the two oddly. She wanted to reprimand them for their devil-may-care attitudes but when she saw Erin’s unperturbed gaze, she knew Erin had a plan and one that guaranteed their victory.

Seeing their nonchalant exchange, Irvun’s rage was only inflamed. He glared at Erin hard. “I’ll start with you!” Irvun practically flew at her like an arrow when he lunged.

“Be prepared to run, just in case this whole place came crumbling down,” Erin said and charged at Irvun. She made an odd gesture at Nivia as she did so.

Nivia understood Erin immediately and produced the pouch of Fairy Dust from her pocket.

“You think you can win!?” Irvun taunted Erin in a bellow.

“I already have.” Erin thrust out not her sword but her empty hand.

“What are you—” Irvun paused and frowned when he saw a black hole appearing on her palm. He recognised it as the spell, Vault.

Before Irvun could utter another question, a vast inferno greeted him from the black hole. It was no Fire Magic or an Arcane Art at all. It was actually the explosion from the bomb earlier that Erin stored in her Vault just as it exploded. She had learned from Aedan that time moves tremendously slow in Vault and it was one of the main reasons why he kept all of his valuables and treasures in Vault.

Irvun tried to run but the fire was incredibly hasty with its growth and this fire was further propelled by an explosion. He recognised the bomb which the explosion came from. It was the same kind of bomb they had used to destroy the other research sites. He was well aware of how great the destructive capability of the bomb was. It was enough to even harm individuals above the level of eighty. The bomb was meant to be thorough in its “cleansing”, which was why it had such a sheer destructive force.

Though some time had passed, the explosion wasn’t as great as its prime, it was still enough to disintegrate the fine and thin second layer of skin that protected him from the Spirits. The released explosion caused the whole cave to tremble but it stayed intact, much to everyone’s relief.

Nivia seized this opportunity and propelled herself forward with Air Burst. Irvun saw her approaching but he couldn’t evade her. Erin and Amyra were watching him closely, cutting off his retreat. Nivia let out a smirk and scattered the Fairy Dust on him before setting him alight with a ball of cyan flame.

In no time at all, Irvun was reduced to nothing but charred meat and bones.

[Experience gained +10% - Level Progression: 40%]