Chapter 36: One wave has not yet subsided, another wave rises.
The abyssal demon reacted with lightning speed, swinging its scythe the moment Aphrosia thrust her spear. The clash of spear and scythe echoed through the forest, the eerie runes on the twelve pillars flaring like daylight.
Clang! Clang!
The demon slashed twice, both parried by Aphrosia, but the sheer force sent her spear flying. It spun through the air, embedding deep into the distant soil.
Her pupils shrank. She considered a spinning kick to push the demon back but dismissed it—her stamina was too low. The kick would be futile, likely numbing her leg and leaving her open to being cleaved in half. The stat gap was too wide; she couldn’t act rashly.
It was like a game from her past life: her hits dealt two or three points of damage, while the demon could wipe her health bar in one blow. Reality had no health bars, but the line between life and death was starker.
She made a snap decision, summoning vines to bind the demon’s ankles and unleashing a blood-blade wind slash, using the gust to dash toward her spear. But to the demon, her attacks were child’s play—it broke the vines with a casual step and shrugged off the wind blade.
Infuriated by her taunts, the demon’s speed and power surged, each step shaking the earth. Boom! Boom! Boom! Trees fell in droves, the forest becoming its demolition ground.
Yet Aphrosia found a rhythm. Retrieving her spear, she charged straight for the twelve pillars, the demon hot on her heels—her intent clear.
Her observations confirmed the pillars were feeding the demon energy. As long as they stood, it was near invincible. More alarming, half the life force they drained from the earth empowered this demon, while the other half flowed toward the fiery chaos at the orphanage.
In the distance, the Phoenix family’s flames engulfed the giant demon, yet couldn’t defeat it, the battle deadlocked. Aphrosia’s heart sank—she recognized the pillar runes as the Dark Tide Coagulation Array’s energy source, sustaining summoned creatures until their “enemy” was eradicated.
Was that enemy Phoenix County? Or all life?
Either way, she had to stop it. Unable to destroy the pillars herself, she’d make the demon do it.
She glanced toward the orphanage, praying Ifrora could evacuate the children. But the distant chaos suggested otherwise.
…
At the orphanage, the cherry-haired girl knelt, sweat dripping down her face, eyes locked on a child before her. The child’s smile was innocent, but the bloodied dagger in their hand told another story—Ifrora’s torn clothes and the scratch on her pale skin were proof. Had she not reacted quickly, her heart would’ve been pierced.
“Crimson Abyss’s Arbiter, well-hidden,” Ifrora said, voice tight. An Arbiter, a full rank above an Accuser, was beyond even her.
“You’ve held out well, Phoenix prodigy,” the child said, voice turning old and raspy. “That look? Heh, I’ll treat you well—let’s see if phoenix blood can truly rise from ashes.”
The child’s body exploded in gore, a more horrific figure emerging, swinging a crimson greatsword at Ifrora.
…
Aphrosia darted across scorched earth like a night owl, her spear tracing a silver arc under moonlight. The demon’s scythe grazed her hair, slamming into the ground, the shockwave making the pillar runes flicker. She spun, hurling her spear into a crack in the nearest pillar.
Hum!
The runes wailed, purple flames racing along the crack. The demon roared, its scythe smashing the crumbling pillar with devastating force. Aphrosia rolled to another, her vines wrapping its base.
“Break!” She bit her tongue, spitting blood on the vines. Magic-fueled thorns wove a cage, and the demon’s second strike shattered three linked pillars, black mist flooding out.
Distant booms followed as all twelve pillars collapsed. Aphrosia stood bloodied in the ruins, clutching a blood-stained stone slab—its runes matched the strange marks on the orphanage children.
Her gaze snapped to the orphanage, pupils shrinking.
Ifrora was in trouble!