The Demon Lord's expression changed.
Not dramatically. Not with a sudden flare of rage or some evil villain scream. He just… lowered his shoulders a little. Straightened his spine. Let out a breath.
And in that breath, the room shifted.
The atmosphere thickened like soup made from dread and bad decisions. The floor cracked under his boot as he took one slow step forward.
And he drew his sword.
You could feel it before you saw it. A presence—like the concept of war was whispering in your bones.
It scraped free of the sheath strapped across his back with a metallic screech, and the entire world flinched.
The blade was massive. Broader than Edelbrecht. Its edges glowed with molten lava veins, pulsing like a heartbeat. The hilt was forged from scorched bone and weeping steel.
He held it in one hand.
Casually.
Velis muttered, "That… that's Maledictor. The Devourer Blade."
Lyra: "The what now?"
Iria stepped forward and said nothing at all.
The Demon Lord vanished.
One moment, he was standing in front of us.
The next, Iria barely raised her sword in time to catch a blow that sent her skidding twenty feet back, digging twin trenches in the obsidian floor.
She stood. Shaking.
"I felt that in my ancestors."
He flicked the blade once, and the room erupted.
Velis cast a barrier—shattered.
Lyra raised a ward—scorched.
Silas vanished into shadow—then got flung across the room, tumbling like a ragdoll.
I stood in the center, pink cat-shield raised, sweating bullets.
He stared directly at me.
"Still here, little mascot?" he said. "You really want to play with gods?"
"Not really," I said. "But I've already committed to the bit."
His eyes flickered.
Reality fractured.
He moved faster. Not physically—preemptively.
He dodged before Iria swung.
He countered before Velis finished her chant.
Every move we made was predicted, countered, flipped.
"That's precognition," Velis growled, eyes wide. "He's using the Eye. He sees us before we act."
"I hate this," I said, mid-dodge. "This is like fighting someone with save states."
Lyra launched a volley of healing fire—a sacred burst meant to both heal humana and harm demons.
He raised his gauntlet and ate it.
Literally absorbed it into his palm. The fire wrapped around his fingers, then vanished with a pulse of crimson.
He grinned.
"My turn."
He slammed the ground.
Maledictor screamed.
A blade of molten force cut the room in half. We scattered.
Iria jumped the rift.
Silas threw knives. They disintegrated in mid-air.
Velis tried casting again—shut down.
Lyra whispered, "We're not winning this round."
I ducked behind a broken column. The shield hummed with leftover force. My knees were jelly, my breathing a song of wheezing.
He was walking toward me.
Slowly. Purposefully. Sword dragging behind him, carving molten symbols into the floor.
"Any last words, mascot?"
I raised the shield. "Meow."
He lifted Maledictor.
Lyra screamed something.
The air bent.
Then—
CLANG.
He flinched.
And missed.
His sword embedded in the floor beside me.
We both stared down.
At my waist.
At the old, rusty sword I'd never used—the one the king gave me after we beat that corrupt noble.
It had slipped from my belt.
And gotten stuck in the floor.
He tripped on my sword.
---
There was a pause.
Then I said, breathless: "It was a tactical placement."
He hissed. "You don't even know how to hold that thing."
"I held it long enough for you to trip on it."
Behind him, Iria roared—and struck.
Her blade met his shoulder with a crack of divine fury.
Velis threw a prism spell—this time from the wrong hand, in the wrong direction, using words she made up.
It hit.
Lyra hit him with a bomb disguised as a healing charm. It splashed. The fire purified part of the armor.
Silas reappeared from below and stabbed him in the ankle.
Not the best hit.
But it hurt.
---
He staggered.
Not broken. But bleeding. Visibly, for the first time.
He snarled.
Then laughed.
"Well. You're better than the last batch. I'll give you that."
His skin pulsed with red light.
The room began to shake.
"I suppose," he said, voice rising, "it's time I stop holding back."
He activated all five relics at once.
---
The walls howled.
The castle glowed.
His body cracked with energy.
And the second phase began.