The doors opened, surprisingly silently as if the hinges had been maintained and oiled properly. However, the more it opened the more it revealed the creature behind it until the doors properly hinged all the way open and stopped against the outside wall.

The creature the doors revealed was massive, easily as tall as a normal bus is long. The creature was a demon of the best of descriptions with hard-looking black scales, his chest had more sandy beige scales. Four horns pointing backwards and spikes following them, piercing glowing blue eyes and a mouth filled with sharp teeth. Strong-looking arms, legs a strong tail and a pair of massive wings on his back. He looked intimidating just from his size and apparent strength, so the addition of spikes on his shoulders and along the spine of his tail didn’t make this less so, and this was without even considering that having grown this large probably meant that he had consumed truckloads of hearts.

Gilliam had no idea how strong this creature was or his abilities. The only thing he could properly tell from this distance was that this creature was strong, incredibly so.
It had him second-guessing the whole plan, he didn’t expect the Lord of all the demons to be a pushover, he hoped deep down but he never planned on that being a thing. He would love for nothing else than just attack at this range before it became proper combat, but for the demons to recognize this as a valid change of power it had to be a duel, and at that point, he couldn’t exactly use any surprise before-combat tactics.

A lot of things went through Gilliam’s mind, would the Lord even take his challenge? Or would he just stomp on him as soon as they were close enough? What could he do to something this large and strong? Would his magic even work on him on account of some of the smaller Fracturians seemingly having some magic resistance? This was even without considering what abilities or powers his opponent might have amassed over however long he had been fed the majority of what comes through the gates.

Gilliam’s hesitations and thoughts didn’t stop the behemoth of a demon from coming closer. Every step sent vibrations through the solid sandstone ground, strangely his hooved feet didn’t harm the stone at all.

Gilliam was briefly knocked out of his bubble of thought by a hand on his shoulder. Turning towards it Angela gave him a thumbs up. “You got this, I’ll get out of range.”

Before Gilliam could properly react she grabbed Petal’s tail and left him to his fate. Though Petal seemed to have things she wanted to say she didn’t resist being led away from him. Seems like she was also contemplating leaving the area.
The good thing out of this was that once shit started going down they would at least be out of range of it.

Gilliam tried his best to steel himself, everything had built up for this and there wasn’t a way out of this. All his training... lacking and misguided as it was at times, all the hurdles they had to get through in the Fractured lands, all the killing or ‘self-defending’ the demons to death led up to this. His body was filled with fear and adrenaline at the same time, his flight or fight response was leaning hard into flight, but he had to resist it. Though leaving here could guarantee their survival, it wouldn’t stop the invasion of Lisica, so even if he made his way back it wouldn’t be a good place to live.

He didn’t have a choice.

His mind was tilting from flight into ‘fuck it’ territory, he had to do this out of necessity, he had to believe in what he had learned and what he was able to do, he was still shaking but he was somewhat getting it under control. It seemed that the best course of action might be to stop thinking and just do.

The incoming demon looked like he was already having fun, almost as if he was consuming his fear and enjoying putting terror in his eyes. Every step he was getting closer, he was getting larger and Gilliam must have been seeming smaller. Like getting into cold water it might be best to just jump into it and get it over with.

“I CHALLENGE YOU!” Gilliam shouted in Fracturian well before Vozellath was within normal talking range. Gilliam was most proud that his voice didn’t break during the challenge.

This seemed to catch the demon lord off guard a little, he was still walking into normal conversation range but his expression changed slightly.
“Why should I accept a challenge from you?” His voice was deep, bassy and thundering. “What could you possibly give that I could not just take from you?” He put pressure on the word ‘take’ in a quite threatening way.

Gilliam had a moment of internal panic. Though he had considered this before, he didn’t have anything to barter with for this kind of discussion. His items, his gear, his information, with some luck while consuming his heart the demon could take it all after killing him. This would free Petal from the bond which could make her more pliable back into the demon forces unless he just ate her as well. Any information he could try to barter with could be learned from his heart... Though it was based on luck as far as Gilliam was aware, a fight to the death would make it problematic to freely give information as a trade.

“I have been a pain in your ass-” Gilliam started, he decided to make it into a threat instead, trying to trigger arrogance and appeal to annoyance might work better. “-I have the ability to teleport, something you are probably aware of if you have any form of information network.”

Gilliam was not able to properly read the lizard demon Lord’s expression, so he didn’t know if any of this was landing or not. “I have destroyed one gate’s location, the army there and the mages who opened it. There is nothing stopping me from going around and doing the same in the rest of the Fractured lands. I can pop in anywhere and throw one of the spells I cast in the air before, no doubt you know about it.” Gilliam started smirking, it felt both natural and unnatural at the same time.

He wasn’t lying, though he would need some time getting to all the landmasses feeding Savia with extra mana or just giving her mana crystals should mend the problem with energy when teleporting across the lands, meaning he could guerilla warfare the whole place to fuck if he used enough time on it.
“And even if you kill me here and now, before the challenge. Consider the fact that I am not alone. My group can continue doing this even if you kill me.”

This seemed to work a little, the demon Lord’s grin had faded slightly and he seemed a little more interested. Though Gilliam still couldn’t read his face properly at least it seemed to do something.

“If you accept the duel. Should I win I’ll take over your position as the Lord. Should you win my party will stop with this and return to our world and you can do whatever you want from there.” Though there was a bluff in this statement it wasn’t entirely wrong.
Should the demon Lord win, though skilled and powerful in their way; Angela and Petal couldn’t take out gates and groups of enemies from afar as easily as Gilliam. This meant that if Gilliam died this would stop. They might not be able to return to Lisica but the statement wasn’t wrong, just not entirely correct.

The Lord laughed, hard and strong for several seconds. Though Gilliam doubted that he could be heard across the plaza there were several Fracturians outside of the area that laughed along with it.
“And you think that you’ll win?” The Lord flexed some of his muscles, not in an overly dramatic way but just enough to draw attention to them. As far as a threat went this was a surprisingly simple but good one.

“Rather, do you think you will not? Is that why you don’t accept the challenge?” Not answering the question since Gilliam was honestly not certain, he rather turned it around trying to antagonize.

A short but deep-voiced chuckle had Vozellath’s grin fade slightly. Gilliam took some pride in that it seemed it was working. Either that or his threats of tactically taking out the gates and mages could have hit better than he thought.
Though that said, since his grin didn’t fade entirely he might have considered accepting regardless, the hierarchy of the Fracturians was built on power, and since he was so far beyond the others he might not see much action, so this could be just a little entertainment if nothing else.

“Interesting.” Vozellath chuckled, his smile back on his face. In his intrigued moment he vaguely flapped his wings which caused enough wind movement to almost knock Gilliam over, had it been just barely stronger it might have succeeded.
“If you win, you eat my heart and become the new Lord. When-” Vozellath shared some information Gilliam was not aware of, but also putting heavy pressure on ‘when’. “-I win, your people leave the Fractured Lands and we continue to invade you.”

He toned this as a matter of fact that he’d win and this would remove the problem. Gilliam knew the Lisicans wouldn’t just lie down and die, but if this was what would get the fight on board then they were good to go.

“When I kick your ass-” Gilliam was again channelling his inner arrogance, but this time to fish for more information.”-do I have to eat your shitty heart? Can’t I just put on a crown or something?” He toned it like he didn’t want to eat the heart because it was below him, more than him finding it legitimately discussing and horrifying.

“Eat what remains of my heart to get the energy of the Lord, if you can’t even stomach that idea. Well, then this fight might be even easier than I thought.” He chuckled with his taunt.

Gilliam cursed internally, he didn’t expect that to be a necessity. He had eaten heart before prepared as a food item, it wasn’t bad but for some reason; just knowing it was a heart put him off it a little. This was worse as it was from a talking sentient being, and a demonic one at that. Assuming based on his size the heart must be something you need to hold with both hands. It’s easily larger than what Gilliam could even hypothetically eat in a single sitting.
Though, there was hope in something Vozellath said; what remained of his heart. He could just botch the extraction or make sure that whatever final blow happened to damage the heart a lot.
If worst came to worst, he’d just have to cook it and eat it over a few weeks...

“Fine, I suppose we have a deal, then.” Gilliam commented as he mentally prepared for an attack to happen immediately.

The demon laughed, suddenly and without warning a pulse of energy came from his body, Gilliam channelled another barrier spell through the staff and cast it on himself. However, the reaction was unnecessary.
A few seconds after the pulse left his body Gilliam noticed that there was a gargantuan barrier forming around the whole plaza, it grew from the bottom and upwards in a large dome.
Quickly checking he could at least confirm that Angela and Petal had made it outside, giving him a brief moment of relief.

“I accept.” The rumbling voice of his opponent confirmed.

Gilliam turned towards him, but the first thing he saw was a massive fist contact with his barrier, a powerful light pulsed around the area where they connected and though the damage was stopped from reaching Gilliam momentum was still a problem. The force of the punch sent him flying backwards quite a distance before he stopped enough to get back on his feet. He felt Savia’s worry but couldn’t react to it due to Vozellath coming in at a terrifying speed, it seemed he was running but also using his wings for lift and forward movement. His first thought was to counterattack, he still had the barriers so he had a moment to use.

Forming a spell circle as fast as he could, spending as little time as he needed he put in Water, Ice, Spear, and Launch in a square, however before he was able to properly activate it Vozellath had closed the distance and punched again. The punch passed right through the spell circle and destabilized it as it made contact with his barrier again, Gilliam’s dodging was not fast enough. Though Gilliam wasn’t the most experienced fighter in the world he was getting at least the basics, the natural movement of dodging which was also enhanced by the passive enchantments in his coat wasn’t enough.

The punch contacting with the barrier again flashed with a powerful yellow light as he was sent flying backwards, much harder this time, lifting him off his feet and sending him into the barrier around the plaza. The impact with the external barrier was hard enough to consume the outer barrier Gilliam panic-cast earlier, he was down to just one but at least that was properly cast.

He had more distance now, again he attempted the spell which this time was pre-determined and didn’t need to be planned out. The demon Lord came flying towards him, this time a little slower due to him having only flight behind his movement. Gilliam cast the spell which collapsed into an ice spear and launched towards the demon Lord.

The demon was heading at Gilliam in a straight line, this was beneficial for the large icicle-shaped spear heading his way, twisting his wings moved his massive body in a screw which let the spear miss his head and instead hit his arm. It did a decent amount of damage, piercing a fist-sized hole in his lower arm.

Not seeming to care he kept his straight path towards Gilliam.

This time he had a bit more time to react, though the flight spell was a decent overland spell it wasn’t cast nor prepared for a quick burst of movement like dodging. Though it was enough to stop the Lord’s direct attack, but not enough to get out of his reach. Vozellath grasped Gilliam and his barrier as a whole and in a twisting motion, he turned around and threw Gilliam into the ground with a staggering speed.

Crashing into the sandstone floor the remaining barrier broke. Gilliam took no damage save some disorientation from this but he now stood in a small crater. His opponent seemed to have too much fun with this and took a moment to laugh before diving towards him.

Gilliam used this moment to cast another barrier, using a massive amount of energy on it to make it last. Barely having completed the barrier his satisfaction for making it was cut short as the massive creature he was fighting landed on him with a massive stomp. This drove Gilliam and his barrier further down into the ground, the relentless punching and pounding didn't help his situation and he was getting further and further hammered through the sandstone.

Repeating the spell that worked wonders earlier he cast a smaller version of the spell he used against the lighting demon.
Water, Ice, Pulse and Target became the shortened version, and though his focus was wavering he managed to keep it enough to fuel the spell through the staff and activate it.

The point-blank activation, which was also locked into a targeted function activated. The demon jumped backwards with a powerful flap of his wings, creating a decent distance between them but there was no escaping it this time. A large chunk of ice grew out in a single pulse, tearing and cutting into his skin as it penetrated some areas.

As it was just a pulse it didn’t last long and had already started melding in the desert heat. Since the ice was not given any other programmed commands besides the pulse, it also started breaking up on its own.

At this moment Gilliam noticed three things. First was that ice did indeed work rather well. The second was that the wound he gave him earlier, the one that impaled his arm, was no longer present and had healed. The third was that though his activation speed was more than fast enough, he was struggling with choosing the runes and placing them.

Using the moment the demon needed to return for another attack he used his flight to get out of the hole, it wouldn’t be fast enough to get him anywhere good but during the flight he activated the pocket with the Aether darts in them. This worked wondrously and the magic circle flashed in and out of existence as four darts spawned and jetted towards the demon. He had already started closing the distance and dodged to the side, but the homing effect ignored this and they all impacted him. Two landed in his chest, one hit his shoulder and the last hit a wing.

The two that hit his chest did a minuscule amount of damage, if any at all, they seemed to destabilize before penetrating his scales. The one that hit his shoulder managed to penetrate more and left a decent hole as it popped through. The last went through the wing’s membrane and managed to arc around and hit him in his back. Gilliam couldn’t see the damage the last one did but based on the others it was probably nothing at all.

With this level of damage, he didn’t have a chance. The Star Lance was too powerful to use within the enclosed area, he didn’t have any good spells he could activate fast enough.

In this brief moment of uncertainty, Vozellath had again closed the distance and grabbed Gilliam in a bear hug, crushing him stronger and stronger Gilliam could feel the shield nearing its limit. Gilliam had a moment now to attack!

Again forming the ice spell he wanted to aim it at his back, hopefully using the demon’s own body to protect himself. Though it seems his plan was figured out and in a quick movement the bearhug ended and Gilliam had been flung into the ground, forming another small crater.

The barrier shattered and the short distance between them allowed Vozellath to land a powerful tail strike, sending Gilliam tumbling backwards coughing up blood the whole way as he dropped anything in his hands.

A brief flash in his mind as he was tumbling gave Gilliam a new idea and newfound morale. Forcing himself to his feet he had already started healing himself, but rather than casting a barrier he started running towards his staff that landed some distance behind him, towards the building Vozellath came from, sending out a telekinetic tendril would shorten the time before it was back in his hand.

He could hear the flapping and stomping behind him of an incoming wrecking ball of demon and armour. As soon as the telekinesis contacted with the staff he yanked it back into his hand and turned towards the demon in the same motion, he had only a few seconds at best before contact.

Focusing, he activated the tattoo in his hand through the staff and aimed at the incoming demon Lord.