As soon as Gilliam confirmed that he understood, the contract was fulfilled from the demon’s side, and he wasted no time. Suddenly spinning around brought the tail and its blade followed at a frightening speed. The internal energy was now much more aggressive and aimed at Gilliam.

Gilliam reacted by dodging, crouching down to a point where the blade barely missed his body, however, the electric energy didn’t need direct contact and arced from the jagged blade’s tip into Gilliam’s barrier. Luckily it took the damage without failing so he got out of it without damage this time. This interaction had the surrounding army break out into a roar befitting of this large crowd.

Jumping backwards Gilliam gained some slight distance as he took the broken sword out of his ring. Pulsing water energy into it the runes changed colour from their normal teal glow to a deep blue before he triggered the first activation. Though the blade kept the same sleek and thin shape, rather than a teal translucent blade it now spawned barely transparent ice. It radiated a small fog around due to the temperature difference.

The new blade caused the demon to react, Gilliam was glad that his thought potentially proved correct. He expected that the demons were so attuned to the heat of the desert that something cold like this might be either alien or feel dangerous to them. The demon didn’t let this stop him entirely and as his surprise faded he went in for another attack, this time seeming to aim to use his electrically charged claws.

Gilliam wanted to use the staff, he didn’t exactly know how to use it but it should come naturally. Though not the best time to try it out, he would have to do it eventually and it might be smarter to try it out now rather than later. He focused on the runes and manifested the spell circle for a single Aether Dart, it was the spell he was the most familiar with and it should be the easiest to gauge the difference. Trying his best to channel the spell through the staff rather than just manifest it in front of his hand.

The flow of mana felt different, it took the same amount of energy that he intended to use, since he controlled the flow it wasn’t like more or less was taken. However, as the spell circle manifested in the air, it became so much brighter. Still only existing for a fraction of a second before it collapsed into a vague dart-like shape it kept its much brighter glow as it darted off towards his target.

Having seen the spell and recognised it as offensive, the demon had chosen to dodge it to the side. This was something Gilliam didn’t notice and compensate for as he was too focused on the increased mana density in his spell.
The dart flew forth at an incredible speed, and though it missed the demon Gilliam aimed for, it passed through what seemed like a bunch of other demons behind him before it impacted the sand.
This did three things. First, it quelled the crowd's cacophony of roars and shouts, causing them to panic a little. Second, it seemed to affect Gilliam’s opponent slightly, his smile and glee had faded into a more serious expression. And third, it taught Gilliam more than he expected.

Though this was just a simple spell that didn’t even hit his target, the feeling of mana flow, the speed of activation, the increased density of power. Though it was a relatively weak spell per Gilliam’s standards, it increased in efficiency dramatically.
Though the demon’s smile had faded, a new one grew on Gilliam! He entered this duel relatively certain he could win, but this just changed everything for the better.

The demon quickly got over his reaction and was closing the short distance in an instant. Though seemingly slender and lanky his agile body still worked on demon logic, the claws on his hands tore through Gilliam’s barrier without much effort, popping it instantly. Small tines of electricity jumped into Gilliam’s body. They were small enough that they didn’t strongly affect him but it still felt like getting tased. Some of his muscles spasmed up as soon as the energy made contact, forcing him to again make distance between them.

Jumping backwards in reaction to the new distance didn’t seem to change anything, the demon had already moved his tail in for a stab towards Gilliam’s chest. Trying to dodge to the side as he pulled up his sword in reaction to block or deflect the tail worked! The tail didn’t hit its mark and was deflected to his left, however like before the electrical energy jumped the air gap between them and hit Gilliam’s hand, not only causing him pain but forcing him to drop his sword in reaction.

The demon’s smile grew back as Gilliam caused some distance, shaking his hand as a result. The blade landed in the sand still active, making a strange hissing sound as it contacted the warm sand.
Gilliam shook the shock out of his hand as the demon hesitantly crouched down and picked up the sword, smile growing even further and ending in a chuckle.

A brief thought of panic as the demon had his weapon caused Gilliam’s subconscious to realise something, something that should have been obvious, something he had realised several times but not acted that much on. He was no swordsman, he was a mage. Not just a mage, but one who understood the magical language, he could make the most messed up spells if he wanted to. Though the extent of that needed testing, he could ‘code’ the spells as he wanted with enough words. So he didn’t have the time to do that here but it still meant that he should be able to throw caution to the wind and stop being in reach of his opponents.

Spawning a hexagon spell circle, he quickly filled in the runes for Aether, Telekinesis, Control, Finesse, Strength, and Power. The circle glowed powerfully yellow as he fed it before it collapsed into his hand. He reached out for the sword in the demon’s hand and as soon as he felt it connect he yanked it sideways. The powerful force tore it out of the demon’s hand and as soon as it was airborne, Gilliam made a twisting motion with his hand and swung it back past the demon.

The demon’s reflexes were amazing, though not fast enough at the moment, the ice sword tore its way through his lower arm and cut his hand off. He screamed out in pain as he grasped the stump tightly, slowing the flow of blood slightly.

His hand landed in the sand, and Gilliam was fully aware of their superior healing and didn’t want to give him a chance to reattach it. Pulling his sword towards himself it landed securely in his hand, a brief mental pulse had it disappear into the ring as the Telekinesis spell again reached out towards the demon’s hand.

The demon realised something was going on and jumped to the side, using his tail to move for the arm in the sand. Though the demon was fast, the spell was faster and Gilliam soon had the arm airborne and shortly after in his hand. Putting it in the ring removed it entirely.

The demon looked furious, fuming with rage as the electrical energy built up in him to the point where it discharged from his body into the sand and air around him. Gilliam took this chance to channel a barrier spell through the staff and fed it considerable energy. As it collapsed and pulsed around it he could feel the difference, there was a heavy pressure in the air around him.

The pressure soon thereafter increased, though not from the barrier but the demon was doing something, he was shooting some lightning into the air as there was a lot of energy leaving his body. Before Gilliam could react properly the winds had started moving and circulating them, everything pointed towards that a small storm was incoming; it seemed that the demon could do more than just electrify himself.

Gilliam planned out a large-scale spell, but in the brief moment he was picking runes his opponent was done with his project. Small but surprisingly powerful strikes of lightning started slamming into the sands, causing Gilliam’s focus to waver even more. Deciding that he had to hurry up with his spell the nature of the storm changed. Though the lighting stikes kept happening they were now no longer random and were hitting Gilliam’s barrier. He could feel it losing a considerable amount of power per hit, so it wouldn’t last much longer.

The answer to this situation was simple, something he had thought of before; overwhelming force.
Creating a heptagon spell circle he filled it with the runes for Water, Ice, Pulse, Trap, Entomb-Area, and Target. This caused it to glow deep blue with a chilling aura around it. Gilliam’s focus was not at its best due to the lightning bolts hitting his barrier again and again, a few more hits and it would pop, but he still had the upper hand here.

Focusing on his opponent and activating the spell caused a brief moment where the spell circle collapsed and waited before pulsing back out, almost as if locking onto the chosen target the energy disappeared from near Gilliam and manifested around his enemy. As the energy used a moment to gather before it triggered the demon had a moment to react.
Dodging backwards to gain some distance it seemed he hoped to get out of range before it triggered, however, as Gilliam had chosen an area spell it didn’t matter.

A final lightning bolt was enough to tear the last bit of energy out of his barrier, popping it and making him open for a final strike, but at the same time Gilliam’s spell triggered at the location, causing a powerful pulse of ice that grew out from the point it manifested, this grew outwards for quite a distance and as it hit the demon it grew around his body and entombed him in ice.

Lucky for Gilliam there was no final lightning strike, taking out the demon had stopped the flow of energy and thus stopped the lightning strikes. Breathing a very, very relieved sigh he chose to err on the side of caution and cast another barrier on himself. Just in case.
Also not being certain if the demon’s resilience meant that he’d survive this, he decided to make absolutely certain.

The telekinesis spell was still active, taking out the broken sword still had the frost-blade active but a simple pulse of Aether energy changed this into the familiar teal runes that disabled the blade entirely. Sending the command for the second activation spawned the wide blade. In the same movement, he let go of the grip as his telekinetic spell had already connected.

He thrust the blade toward the demon’s head, and as he was entombed in ice there was nothing he could do to dodge even if he was alive in there. The blade pierced through the ice without resistance up to the crossguards, which was enough to penetrate through his whole head. The blood cooled down and started freezing in seconds after the sword was pulled back out. Another few stabs around the head and throat area made Gilliam feel incredibly safe about the situation. Deactivating and putting the sword back into the ring he dismissed the ice. It didn’t even use a second to disappear into deep blue particles that faded into nothing. The demon simply fell to the sand like a puppet that had its strings cut.

The army around them was entirely silent. Not as much as a cough to disturb the silence.
“I expect there won’t be any problems?” Gilliam asked around, feeling more confident about his arrogant side now than before, he didn’t feel like he was pretending this time.

There again was no response or reaction, just silence. If this demon was their leader and since their culture was built on strength, he should have been more dangerous than any individual, if not than most groups around here. He didn’t know how much of that was intimidation but it was enough for him to feel safe about being attacked for now.

Angela and Petal came running over, not saying anything. Angela did give him a pat on the shoulder with a congratulatory nod.

Gilliam wanted Petal to have the heart, in case it helped her in any way. Though she had eaten a few of them before nothing happened before the last one. He didn’t know if his charging her with mana helped the situation or not, but it could be a part of their link to magical energy.

He didn’t feel incredibly comfortable showing everyone here a potential hack to grow in power, so he thought it might be best to do that in private later.

“Petal, if you want it you can get his heart. But don’t eat it now, we’ll do that later.” He didn’t expect to be questioned and even though he knew that the heart lost... value? Power?.. At least something over time, it was still probably for the best.

Petal didn’t reply but did as told, walking over to the corpse she used her increased strength and claws to easily tear open his rib cage and take out the heart, it didn’t even take 10 seconds before she was holding the lifeless pump in her hand like a large fruit before returning to Gilliam’s side, again covered in blood.

It didn’t seem like anyone was attacking them, so at least their agreement stood. He was a bit uncertain if they would just jump them as their leader died and could have taken his worlds with him. However, it could also be the fear of someone more powerful than them.
Choosing not to question the specifics that kept this going Gilliam walked to the Gate.

Getting there without problems or obstructions he entered the cubical room. Walking over to the slot for the key he didn’t want to give up the staff, it was not just neat looking but he loved the efficiency boost from it. A quick pondering removed all fear of them leaving it behind as even if it was left behind, having been here Savia could most likely teleport him back, get it, and with some recharging go back to wherever the gate takes them.

Before he activated the circle he cast a new barrier on his party-members, using the staff like before and putting considerable energy into it, the fight and these barriers had taken a chunk of energy out of him but he felt that it wasn’t as much as he expected. It was to the point that he was considering if he even needed to absorb a crystal to recharge it. He still opted to do so, consuming all the marble-sized water-attuned crystals to get back closer to his full potential, just in case there was something on the other side. Not preparing is dumb if you have the time for it.

Putting the small conical shape on the bottom of the staff into the little slot on the floor seemed to do the trick. The collection of circles started powering up and glowing dimly as the crystal in the staff’s head did the same. Everyone gathered in the centre and waited for the energy to reach the needed level. Gilliam was already standing in it as that was where the slot for the staff was. It didn’t take long for the construction to charge up and activate, blinding them with the familiar feeling of teleportation.

Immediately after landing, though still blinded by the teleportation process, Gilliam felt the air being much, much denser. Or rather, the air itself felt ever so slightly thinner like if they were on a tall mountain, but there was still a heavier pressure around them. This denser feeling had been around them the whole time they were in the Fractured lands but Gilliam couldn’t properly define it and assumed it was part of the everpresent sandstorm, but as it was denser now he could identify it easier; Mana.

It seemed that the Fractured lands had a lot of mana in the air, which could explain a lot of things with the Fracturian physique and way of being. Gilliam had never learned how to take advantage of the mana around him, he always used his internal pool.

As soon as the bright light blinding him faded he realised that the area felt surprisingly calm and silent, there was not a sound to be heard from outside the building, not even the wind which was quite strange given the ever-present storm.

The room was still weakly illuminated from the runes powering down, giving the group a few seconds to look at each other and share some affirmative nods, it seemed they were all ready for stuff to go down.

Pushing gently on the door had it open on its own, the little push was enough to make it swing on its well-oiled hinges until it gently hit the wall. Looking out there were several things to notice. The first was the dense collection of demons just standing there, waiting. Much larger variations of creatures than the one they just left, though most of them weren’t more than double human size.
They were all standing silently, waiting, in what looked like a pristine city made of sandstone and some grey rock. The buildings were polished smoothly and maintained, having a similar surface finish as the modern world would have on marble. This would have taken a substantial amount of time.

The demons had surrounded them, but in the open area between the Gate platform and the start of the crowd was a single demon, looking like a female lizardman she stood at least a head taller than Gilliam, and had what looked like large webbed features where her ears should be. She was wearing robes and was holding a staff with an elongated purple crystal as a head, the staff itself looked wooden save for a silver band between two thinner golden bands near where you’d hold it.

Looking up was the most interesting thing to see. Around them there was still a sandstorm raging, looking surprisingly dense compared to the other landmasses. However, it was revolving around an opening straight above them letting them see the familiar blue sky in the far, far distance.

They were within the eye of a sandstorm of an apocalyptic magnitude.

The lizard woman had a strange smile, it might just be Gilliam who wasn’t used to the lizard face's mannerisms or just that she had several expressions going on at once.
“Welcome.” She stated in a surprisingly inviting tone as she gave them a curtsy.