John knew he could probably take on the demon prince alone, but he couldn’t ensure the safety of his men while doing so. Sor Al had lost while fighting with a demon prince because she was trying to protect the crew of the Swift Retribution at the same time. John would not make that same mistake.

“Keep running,” said John. “I’ll hold them off. When you’re a mile away let me know.”

“John,” said Spiz. “We can’t leave you alone.”

“Just do it,” said John. “That’s an order.”

“Consider this insubordination then,” said Spiz, stopping at the entrance. “We’ll take on the warlock while you fight the demon prince. How would that be?”

It was too late to say anything more. The demon prince was upon them. John stopped its advance, glaive in one hand and his aura forming a flaming whip in the other. This demon prince seemed odd. Its movements were clumsy, almost as if it was trying to learn how to walk. Had the warlock created this demon with his golden scepter and his blood magic? John lured the demon out into the open where his men were not at risk.

“Go into the cave and kill the warlock then,” he shouted to Spiz. “I’ll take care of this one out here.”

“Yes boss.”

John weaved Thunder Steps. Every movement he made sounded off a roar of thunder. He concentrated the sounds and launched sonic attacks at the demon prince while he circled around it. He’d move towards the demon and thrust his glaive every now and then, and then quickly jump back out of its range. This demon was far more powerful than any foe he’d faced before. John feinted to the left and lunged on the right, drawing demon blood that frothed and hissed as it fell to the ground. He manipulated the ground below the demon’s feet so that it remained unsteady. He phased behind it and tried to slice off its neck but the demon dodged just in time, its aura shield shedding light.

The demon took flight and John followed it into the dark night sky. This was a better battleground for him, John thought with a smile.

“Hey, can you talk?” John asked the demon. The demon Sor Al had faced was able to talk and make deals.

This demon didn’t bother to reply. It attacked John with its claws. Black fissures appeared in the air wherever it struck. The demon shattered John’s aura shield and came so close to splitting his skull that John could feel the slice of air on his scalp. It had probably messed up his haircut. He’d have to shave it all off.

John was still relaxed, though the momentum was now in the demon prince’s hands. He defended himself as the demon unleashed attack after attack. It cast chains of fires at him which he slashed through. It then tried to trap him in a tornado but John could see the demonic energy powering it and unraveled it. This was just like the first Trial Tower, breaking the weaves of his opponents. Demonic energy was different from aether, but the general principals of manipulating the elements were the same.

The demon tried to weave a rain of fire and earth, but John cut his weaves into two and only tiny sparks descended on his head, too weak to cause any damage. The demon prince then did something strange. It looked like it was twirling something in its hands. John could see green light emit from whatever it was the demon was doing. He suddenly felt his energy drain away. The demon was sucking up his aura. John still wasn’t worried. He studied the demonic technique with interest. Maybe he could replicate it. Once he had understood the basic working of the demon’s Aura Drain he cut off the link by phasing.

John then drowned the demon prince in a whirlpool of fire. He immediately wove earth and made meteors that hurled down on the demon from about a mile up in the sky. That was the maximum reach of John’s aura weaving. When the whirlpool ended the demon was still standing in place, its black aura shield sputtering little particles of corruption that fell to the ground. He had hurt it, but not enough.

The demon’s infernal energy began skyrocketing. Its eyes were shining ever brighter and the green flames surrounding its body were growing in number. Was it warming up to its ultimate attack? John strengthened his aura shield and extended it outwards until it was a perfect sphere. The demon rushed at him, but John easily phase dodged. Wherever the demon stepped in the air it left a puddle of green liquid fire that burned for a while before slowly descending to the ground. This demon prince seemed to be growing more adept at fighting as the seconds ticked.

John unleashed Sor Al’s Colorful Particle Spray and directed it at the demon prince. The particles exploded leaving the demon a charred mess. John immediately followed with a thrust of his glaive, infusing layers of light and darkness in his body and weapon. Space tore upon as he moved his glaive and the demon prince’s aura shield exploded. John had destroyed half its neck but it was not yet dead.

“Silly boy,” he heard a voice in his head. It was the Sleeping Goddess. She was getting more powerful if she could contact him when he was awake. “Use the Beam of Balance I taught you last night.” Beam of Balance was a stupid name for a technique this deadly, but the Sleeping Goddess had insisted on calling it that.

John wove fifty elements together while he defended himself with his glaive. He just needed ten seconds. The demon prince was growing more and more frantic with its attacks. John was riddled with cuts and bruises. A part of his skin was burned. He could feel some liquid like acid searing him from inside. Just ten seconds. John defended himself with all he had, phase dodging death by milliseconds. His aura shield was paper thin now that he was using most of his reserves to weave the Beam of Balance. He’d been overconfident in this fight. The demon prince was like a cockroach, clinging to survival despite all the odds. Eight...Nine...Ten. John let loose his mighty white beam of energies. The demon screamed as the beam hit it and destroyed every last particle of its body.

John fell to the ground. Spiz and the others ran towards him and helped him up.

“The warlock?” John asked.

“We surrounded and killed him. He was weakened after casting his magic spell.” Spiz showed John the golden scepter the warlock had been holding. “I think he came here to get this.”

“Keep it safely,” John said. “How many died?”

“Twenty three dead and fifty two injured.”

“Call in the med team. Get some vehicles here as well.”

“Are you okay?” Spiz asked.

“I’m fine,” John said, but he soon realized that he wasn’t when he tried to stand up on his own. His head was spinning. A second later he blacked out and fainted.

John woke up on a hospital bed. He was back in his city, he realized when he looked out of the window. How long had he been out? That demon prince had really hurt him. He felt the part of him that had been burned. It seemed like his doctors had grown and grafted new skin onto his body. He was tempted to pull out all the tubes attached to him and run to the command center to find out the latest news. He quelled this impulse. It wouldn’t look good if he fainted again in front of everyone. He called his Grand Admiral with his chip.

“What’s going on?”

“We routed the enemy fleets, Lord Baron. Young Abzulon did a marvelous job in destroying their formation fulcrums. He was our linchpin. Though we were heavily outnumbered we prevailed. This battle will go down in the history books.”

What were formation fulcrums? John was clueless about naval warfare.

“That’s good!”

“The enemy hyperspace beacon was found and destroyed. We found another one hidden next to the planet Taler and destroyed it as well.”

“Good job, Grand Admiral! I will commend you to the Empress for your defense of Fi.” The Grand Admiral was only here on deputation. In a few years he’d probably retire.

The doctors came in at that moment and John said his goodbyes to the admiral. “My Lord,” said the chief medical superintendent, “we cannot help you make a full recovery with the equipment we have here. Your internal organs are a mess and you will require specialized treatment that can only be found on Tanis.”

“But I feel fine,” said John.

“The medicines are keeping you alive and relatively free of pain. We have stabilized your condition for now, but it would be best to head for the Imperial Hospital as soon as possible.”

John spent the rest of his day delegating work to his trusted deputies. Luten proved to be invaluable here, knowing just who to pick for each task. John was then taken to a ship heading for Tanis.