I was in the middle of the explosion debris when I recovered. The blast had sent me across the enemy's lair. I saw the path I trailed through the walls of the structure. With a simple eye sweep, I counted at least 15 walls.

This place seemed larger than I thought previously. I stretched and an audible bone crack echoed in the vacant corridor.

*This is the power of a demon. Truly awe-inspiring. I think it should be a weak one though. If it was a medium one or a high one, this place would have been erased from the map as well as the nearby city.

*Despite this demon being on the lower end of the power spectrum in hell, it's powerful enough to destroy so many magically reinforced walls in our world.

I thought in wonder.

"Where are the cultist?" I spoke out loud.

The commotion should have attracted quite a number of them. Or I should have come across some of them given the distance I was blasted to.

When I observed closely while ignoring the infrastructural damages caused by the demon, I saw it. Pieces of what seemed to be broken bones. They had been darkened by an extremely high temperature. Smoke was still vaguely coming out of them.

My eyelids twitched as I became aware of the fate of some members.

*Unlucky bastards.

Suddenly, I felt a chill in my spine. I instantly leaped forward. Just in time to avoid a gigantic paw.

BANG

I landed in a roll and turned to face the relentless creature. I raised my hand, more as a focus than for a real effect, and I compressed the surrounding air into various points. I shot the compressed air dots at the oversized dog.

Each impact gave birth to a small explosion as the air was abruptly released from compression. Wounds started to appear on the skin of the beast. Aware of its recovery rate, I willed for the blood spurting out of its wound to ignite and act in a similar way as fuel.

"ROAR!!!!" Its roar shook the structure. This time, it wasn't an intimidating one, it was a roar of pain and hurt.

I was able to affect the blood in the way I envisioned. His wounds ignited and he became a burning outline. The fire wasn't just causing external burning damage. The demon was also being cooked from the inside.

In an agitated state, it hurtled itself against the walls, the floor, and the ceiling.

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BANG, BANG, BANG

*Yes, I imagine it isn't pleasant, is it?

I thought sarcastically.

Since the fuel was its blood it wasn't able to extinguish the flame. At this point, its regeneration became a disadvantage. As long as the burnt blood kept being replenished the fire would continue forever.

Seemingly understanding this point, the demon stopped trying to put out the fire. Instead, it directed its efforts on finding a way to kill me.

Its speed was still as ridiculous as ever. But after having died a few times, I was getting a hang of it. I naturally still couldn't have a physical contest with it but as long as I had a bit of forewarning, I could dodge or simply run away.

*In a short period, even if I die 100 more times, I am not likely to match this demon in pure physical might. I should keep away from it while attacking.

I had decided to opt for a long-range battle. I was far from being it's equal physically thus I could only resort to a mage-like approach.

While evading the demon's attack in a chase that spanned numerous corridors, I met some cultists. Sadly for them, the battle between the demon and I was far too deadly for the unprepared spectator. As such, they all perished tragically, either burned or simply beaten to a pulp by yours truly.

What? I was capable of multitasking.

The battle was indeed taxing, more than once I was almost shredded to bloody piece. It was exhausting, mentally speaking of course. Physically, I could maintain this rhythm forever.

I needed to calculate and predict every single move. I was starting to get hurt more and more frequently, mostly due to miscalculations.

After some time, I could hear noise coming from ahead. Before long, I could see Kelia. She was surrounded by tentacle-like objects. They seemed to be made from a mist of blood. It didn't stop them from ripping through her adversary like they were made of paper.

The cultists were like sheep before her. She was stationary all through their slaughter. At my entrance upon the scene, she barely raised a brow. It was only when she saw what was behind me that her pupils contracted.

*So you can show that expression too.

I thought before sidestepping a blow that would have crushed my entire body. At one point the demon had seemingly gotten used to being on fire. The calm that had left its eyes was now present once again.

I reached Kelia's position in a blink of an eye. She threw me a side glance.

"Here, a gift." I was holding four heads in each hand. I had taken care of her remaining adversaries.

She ignored my attempt at humor and pointed at the demon who had come to a stop before us.

"There's a creature I highly suspect to be a demon chasing you!?" Her tone was a mix of question and exclamation.

"Ah, yes, that. A companion of these guys," I raised the heads in indication before dropping them on the floor. "Just as we were fighting, one of them had the brilliant idea to sacrifice themselves to summon a demon."

"I see." She had regained her expressionless visage by the end of my explanation.

"You found a friend. Good, I hope you will stop fleeing now." The bestial voice shook the air. The demon six eyes looked at me with a calm gaze.

"Say, do you have a way to get rid of a summoned demon ?" I asked conversationally.

"The only three ways to get rid of a summoned demons are 1. Be overwhelmingly stronger than it and simply destroy its 'sin'. 2. Complete the desire of the summoner. 3. Open a portal to hell end throw it there."

"Ok, so which one of them can we apply?" I asked excitedly.

"The first way is impossible for us as we are not strong enough to accomplish it. For the second one, do you know what instructions the summoner agreed with this thing for his soul?"

"No..." I was getting a bad feeling.

" The third way is also impossible to do. No one had been able to do that since the legendary wars." She finished calmly.

"So, you are saying that it's hopeless." I was dejected. After all, this thing had been chasing me for a moment now. It had developed a grudge against me due to its inability to understand me. If nothing was done about it, I reckoned I wouldn't have a moment of peace going forward.

Just when I was searching for a way to contain the demon permanently, Kelia spoke.

"Or we could simply waste the energy used to summon it here through combat. Because of the veil, a demon needs to constantly spend energy to manifest in this plane. The summoning process gives the demon enough to stay in the plane for a certain period.

Activity augments the rate at which that energy diminished. As such, as long as we keep it busy, it should eventually vanish on its own."

I sighed with relief.

"Why didn't you start with that?" I asked.

"I thought you liked tasteless jokes." Kelia deadpanned.

*What a vengeful personality. Not to myself: Joking with the white-haired vampire Kelia is unhealthy.

"Get ready."

She suddenly said as her eyes start glowing an extreme red. The demon had lost patience and decided to initiate an attack. It opened its maw familiarly. This time, instead of a single big fire orb, tens of small ones appeared above us.