Demon Continent Alsace in the year 307 in the 10-month Asmodum on the 26th day after the empire was crushed.
The demon standing before her had not changed in all these years and still looked the same as the day he had attacked the Caravan of Cikarti with soldiers. Although she could have sworn she had petrified both arms and not just one, he might have found a way to free himself from the curse of the Basilisk or Meinoume knew one.
Her gaze wandered to the other demons and three Larrua standing around the demon, who was obviously able to protect himself from the attack on his spirit.
He was one of the few creatures in Alsace capable of doing so, as she hadn't encountered many of them before.
Unlike the priests, he was wearing metal armor, but he had no helmet and no armor for his right arm. The arm, which was also made of stone, might not need protection like the other arm or something else that wasn't made of stone. Still, there was the question of whether it could withstand more than an arm made of flesh and blood.
With his free hand, he had drawn the sword hanging at his right side and taken up a position opposite her and now seemed to be waiting for her.
His body was turned sideways towards her so that he formed a smaller attack surface, and he held the sword protectively in front of him so that he could fend off any blow from her.
She imitated him and also drew a sword she had picked up during the day. They began to slowly circle him, which he countered by turning on the spot.
His mental defenses were strong enough to withstand the passive onslaught of the magical constructs she had placed around them. However, without having tested them, they didn't seem like they would survive an attack if she attacked him directly and with all her might.
"Hu, but I want to get better at using Arcane Energies of Body and Will, even though I've already cast a lot of spells and body enhancements today, you can't say I've gotten more experienced at it, considering the opponents I've used them against... -" They were still looking at each other as she circled him, and from what she could sense of his surface thoughts, he was going to let her attack. "-The question is probably more a matter of whether I want to risk relying solely on my skill in using these two arcane energies or whether I want to guarantee my victory."
After another moment, she had made her decision, she would face her opponent without her skill in the arcane arts of the mind. The smile that crept across her face at this thought seemed to unsettle the demon, or had he realized that she had locked them in a cage from where, if the runic mandalas lived up to their promise, he would no longer have contact with Meinoume or his army and they could fight each other undisturbed.
Judging by the flow of Arcane Energy within his body, he was a user of Arcane Energy of the body and he seemed to have concluded that attack was the best defense.
"What a coincidence, I just came to that conclusion too."
As she could see his arcane energy spread across his body but his legs and a bond to the ground were the biggest users and she had seen this flow of arcane energy many times in her life, she knew he wanted to lunge forward at her. The only question was how he would strike and all she had to do was be ready for him to strike or for him to expose himself and for her to take advantage of it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The demoness before him frightened him more than he had ever thought possible, and it didn't help that he could feel his control over the army and his connection to Meinoume weakening with each passing moment. Not to mention that the mental strain on him was getting heavier and he couldn't tell if she was actively attacking him or if she was using magic she had summoned earlier.
Still, he couldn't give up here, he was a champion of Meinoume after all, and if he could defeat her and devour her power, he would be powerful enough to rise above Meinoume and avenge his family.
Startled at his own thoughts, he paused, which was immediately taken advantage of by his opponent who struck at him, only by dodging backward was he able to avoid her knocking the sword out of his hand and possibly splitting him in two.
But what had just happened? He had never regretted betraying his family for Meinoume. What by Meinoume's balls was he thinking?
This time she didn't even strike at him, but sent a lance of fire at him, which he blocked with his shield. However, it bounced off his shield and pierced one of the priests, who was thrown away by the subsequent explosion.
Ignoring his inner turmoil as best he could, he struck back and sent one attack after another towards his opponent.
Interrupted only by a sword strike here and there when he got close enough to her.
But she only dodged them or counterattacked and then he struggled to keep the upper hand, as she was much stronger and faster than he had initially thought.
After another unsuccessful sword strike, which she had simply dodged with a body turn. He put some distance between himself and her again so that he could bombard her with arcane projectiles without any danger to himself.
Only she countered every single attack with one of her own or took control while they were still manifesting and sent them against him.
With each new exchange of blows, they were both forced to stop them with a shield or a projectile of their own, or simply dodge them.
Slowly but surely, the small clearing changed into a cratered landscape, making it increasingly difficult for him to find safe ground to stand on without losing his footing.
An explosion shook him and sent earth and stone raining down on his shield, which was riddled with cracks here and there, making it harder and harder for the shield to knit itself back together.
His breathing was rapid and he felt like he couldn't get enough air into his lungs, yet he had to keep going.
It must be possible for him to defeat her, she was still young after all. With growing desperation, he tried to attack with more and more projectiles. Which she mirrored and saw as a challenge of sorts, as she began to attack him with more and more magical projectiles, which were eating away at his shield and his external arcane reserves and he would soon have to feed it from his own if the reserves were to run out in his ring or belt.
"I need to end this fight as soon as possible!" He took a moment between their exchange of blows to launch several Arcane Projectiles at her at once, hoping to overcome her defenses. It was simply not possible that she had more experience than him when it came to dueling between Arcane users, so he assumed she was relying on her instincts.
He, on the other hand, had been fighting demons and monsters with all kinds of arcane skills all his life, and like the other battles he had won, he would win this one too, and prove himself worthy of Meinoume.
His projectiles raced through the air towards her with a loud scream and he was sure that she had no chance to dodge or counter them, as she simply didn't have enough time. After all, he had planned this counterattack so that she had no time left, he had plenty of opportunity to see how long it took her to counter or take over his attacks, and he had simply not increased his speed to lull her into a false sense of security.
The explosions shook the earth and he had to fight to stay on his feet and not fall to the ground.
Through the swath of smoke and raining earth, the demoness shot towards him and he could see movement out of the corner of his eye before his shield was hit and he had to parry a blow so hard that the pain crawled up his arms and left furrows in the ground.
She completed her movement with a twist and let the swords circle in her hands so that the air sang and blood came off them and spread in fine lines on the ground.
"Blood!? And when did she pick up a second sword?" He used the distance between them to check himself for wounds, but luckily he couldn't find any. It was only the blood and the sizzling sound it made as it flowed down his shield that made him realize she had pinned one of the priests to his shield.
She looked at him again, like a snake watching a mouse, then nodded and said. "I think it's time we got serious." With that, she summoned several arcane projectiles as well as elementals and hurled them at him with a wave of her hand. At the same time, the weapons and objects scattered around the clearing came flying towards him.
Sensing the weight of the priest and the loss of energy that this entailed, he tried to dodge most of the projectiles, but they simply changed course and continued to pursue him.
Pursued by explosions and debri, he struck back while trying to get close enough to the demons to engage her in a duel again so that she could no longer fire artillery shells at him, at least not without endangering herself in the process.
"Why was she even using arcane constructs that are used to break shields for cities and armies?" It occurred to him more and more with every volley they exchanged that she knew of no other constructs for arcane energy of will.
Even if he could recognize his own arcane constructs here and there, which she seemed to copy.
After one such volley, his shield cracked alarmingly and he found another body pinned to his personal shield.
Breathing heavily, he looked at the new corpse and decided to lower his shield to avoid the body falling on him from above. Now he was rid of the bodies and he could activate his shield again and had regained his mobility.
"If she didn't stir up so much rubble and earth with her attacks, she might have seen that I had deactivated my shield." Just in time, his shield was back up as he was yanked off his feet and disoriented, his shield flickering one last time with the sound of breaking glass before disappearing.
Dazed, he tried to get to his feet, but his body would not obey him and he felt as if he could no longer feel anything below his stomach. With difficulty, he was able to turn his head in the direction from which the demoness was approaching.
Without her touching him, his body straightened and he floated towards her, his head slumping forward so he could see his legs dragging on the ground.
"I would have expected more from a champion of Meinoume." She said without any emotion in her voice as she took his head to look him in the eye.
He would not be defeated by her here, he focused on his core to make it explode. Meinoume would catch his soul and give him a new body, even if he took his cursed arm with him. The moment would come when he could take revenge on her.
"I won't tell you anything, little demoness, and the next time I see you, I'll win." Which only elicited a quizzical look from her, which made him laugh out loud.
He would get his revenge on her and if she survived the explosion of his core, then they would meet again and he would get his chance to get his revenge on her.
With a deafening bang, everything in a one-hundred-meter radius was vaporized and the landscape was transformed into that of a crater, exposing the underground passages of the city and interrupting the battle, as everyone was blown away by the shockwave and trees were blown down several kilometers away.
