Chapter 11

Necromancer, Baako was a Necromancer, it made sense. He was able to instantly revive from attacks that would otherwise result in certain death for normal Devils.

“Hyahahahaha, I thought I recognised one of those so called familiars, that’s Berko. I’d recognise that swordplay anywhere.”

The geezer was pointing at one of the resurrected vassals. He was the one that was standing to the right of Baako. If what the geezer said was true, then it was a given that the other so called familiars, were probably former Marquis. Baako had referenced himself as their “heir” and had also called them “Marquis”. This was bad. Not only did Seir have to deal with someone who was practically immortal, he also had to go up against fighters that potentially matched Baako's ability.

The fighters lined up behind Baako and another stalemate ensued. The arena was still silent and we were all waiting for someone to make the first move. Seir raised his bow and aimed at Baako. Baako lined up for another one of his patented lightning quick strikes. Just before Baako flew toward Seir, Seir raised his bow toward the open air and fired. The arrow sped into the air, shattered through the defensive barrier and disappeared inside a small warp circle.

This was the second time that Seir had done this. Although I was unsure as to why Seir fired arrows into the sky, I was certain that he had a good reason, Seir wasn’t the kind of person that would do something for no reason. Baako stopped himself from lunging at Seir and eyed Seir from his side of the battlefield. I hadn’t noticed it at first, but it seems that the arrows that Seir fired into the sky, were laced with a stronger concentration of his demonic energy than the ones he fired directly at Baako and his vassals. This no doubt caused Baako to double take and be wary of an immediate charge.

Seir readjusted his bow and fired an arrow at Baako. This time Baako stood still, was he going to let it pierce him? From what we witnessed earlier, he would most definitely revive, after it hit. Instead of allowing the arrow to pierce him, Baako shot toward it, it seems he was intending to use the momentum of his charge, to parry the arrow. He made sure to make contact with the arrow before Seir was able to split it.

Unlike with his vassals, Baako was able to parry the arrow a lot quicker. He seemed to be on edge after parrying it. He probably wanted to react to any warp circles as and when they appeared. However, none appeared.

Baako wasn’t able to break the arrow, however he was able to deflect it. It deflected from Baako and darted toward the direction of the spectator stands. I followed its trajectory and noticed that it was heading for a terrified looking Sabrina Sitri. The parried arrow made contact with the defensive barrier.

“Old man!”

“Wahahaha, leave it to me foolish boy.”

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I evoked the old man’s wings and propelled toward Sitri’s location. Thankfully the barrier had brought me a few seconds before it cracked under the pressure of the golden projectile. I dashed toward Sitri and managed to block the arrows path before it reached her. I evoked the old dragon’s arm and anticipated the arrows arrival. I felt Seir’s sharp demonic energy draw closer and closer. Just before the arrow reached me, Alessia appeared out of nowhere. She was using the birdbrains wings to fly and had her Hrotti in hand.

Her body was draped in her yellow aura. She raised Hrotti high above her head and delivered a downward strike to the incoming arrow, right before it was able to make contact with me. I spun around and covered Sitri from being hit by the aftermath of Alessia’s attack. Luckily, Sitri was the only one in this section of the stands, it was the area that was reserved for official adjudicators and special guests only. Alessia sliced through the arrow like butter. A controlled explosion erupted after Alessia cut it. Thankfully the old man’s wings were able to protect Sitri and I, after I used them to form a cocoon around us.

I unwound the cocoon, Alessia seemed unscathed, but this was probably due to the birdbrains influence.

“Y-you coulda killed me!”

“Hmph, I just wanted to see if I could cut it, I could.”

“What about the aftermath!? Sitri here could have been seriously hurt y'know!”

“It’s fine, you were here after all.”

“Th-that’s not the point!”

Alessia turned away from me and returned to the geezer and the others. I sighed deeply and began making my way back as well. I gave Sitri a quick glance before I left and saw that she was unharmed. She had a shocked look on her face and for the first time since I’ve known her, she was speechless.

Before she was able to regain her composure and say that she “wasn’t going to thank me or anything”, I made my way back to the others. It seems that Baako had attempted to use the movement of his parry to attack Seir, Seir had managed to avoid impact and Baako was now standing a few feet away from Seir’s blind spot. His vassals looked to be gearing up for another coordinated attack, however, something was different.

4 giant warp circles with the Seir family crest emblazoned on them, were slowly rotating in place as they surrounded Baako’s vassals on all four sides. The vassals were standing tentatively in place, Baako was looking on curiously as Seir showed a confident smile. The speed of the rotating warp circles suddenly increased and an endless stream of golden arrows shot toward Baako’s vassals from all sides.

A cycle began. The arrows would pierce Baako’s vassals, they would attempt to parry or avoid them but would eventually fall. Black miasma would excrete from their lifeless bodies and they would rise again. The warp circles would produce more arrows and the whole process would repeat. It was checkmate, Seir had managed to somehow take the numerical advantage away from Baako. Just how in the hell was he able to conjure so many arrows out of nowhere?

Baako raced toward the entrapped vassals but was unable to breakthrough whatever Seir was using to ensnare them. Baako starred as his men, as they suffered at the hands of the relentless assault. He finally turned away and looked at Seir.

“The first arrow you fired into the air, that was when you planned this, wasn’t it?”

“Ahahaha, I never miss.”

“The more demonic energy you pour into the arrow, the greater the number of arrows that you can produce by splitting it.”

“Who knows, ahahaha.”

Baako smiled and looked down. A few moments passed and he finally took a deep breath and looked up. He gripped his akrafena and turned toward Seir.

“This isn’t over yet!”

The atmosphere around Baako changed. His obsidian akrafena shone with the colour of his demonic energy and Baako himself was shrouded in the same miasma that accompanied a resurrection. All of Baako’s vassals fell to the ground simultaneous and Baako’s front foot seemed on the brink of buckling and unleashing an attack that would shake the very foundation of the arena.

Seir flashed his usual confident smile and we all braced ourselves for Baako’s attack.