The two struggled for a while trying to beat the other and gain the upper hand in momentum. Their fight had entered the close range as they fired punches, kicks, knees, elbows and even headbutts to beat down the opponent.

The fight was quite hard for Ventus as he was facing basically himself, his whole repertoire of training and skills was read like a book by his dark self and was countered blow for blow. That left Ventus feeling quite vexed as he could not think of a way out of that deadlock so easily.

"You're quite stubborn," said the inner demon "You know that everything you know, so do i."

"So why insist on trying to fight me?" he mocked, "Give up, you can't actually believe that you can beat me right?"

"Shut up!" Ventus roared.

Ventus kneed the inner demon on the stomach and use the little breather he got to jump back so that he could get some ground between them and try to think of a way out of this. He then stomped the ground making an earthen pillar shot up from the ground and hit the demon square on the chest making him fly backwards for a few meters.

He clapped his hands and slowly separated them showing dozens of mana threads between his palms. He slapped his hands on the ground and inserted all the mana threads on it making the land tremble. Instants later several rock hands shot up from the ground and flew towards the demon.

"If I can't beat you down," Ventus said coldly, "I'll crush you!"

The demon finally reacted as he saw the rock hands heading his way and, just like Ventus, created threads of his own and slapped the ground making similar rock hands shot up from it and collide with his opponent's technique.

"Two can play that game!" The demon laughed.

The inner demon then got up and dashed towards Ventus using the several rock hands as platforms to reach him faster. Ventus reacted quickly and also dashed to clash with the demon, as he jumped on the rock hands he conjured twin one-handed rock sabers and gripped tight. The demon, however, chose to fight differently and created a one-hand rock sword and a rock shield.

Ventus swung his sabers and hit the demon's shield hard, enough to crack it but still not able to break through and harm his opponent. The demon took this chance and stabbed at him, Ventus reacted fast but still received a cut on his waist. He kicked hard at the shield and opened some distance between them.

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He stepped hard on the ground and conjured rock boots around his feet that went up to the height just below his knees. Ventus then fired multiple kicks at the shield and quickly shattered it before dashing and swinging his sabers once more.

"You really don't know how to stop!" The demon laughed, "Just like your pathetic father and his obsession with magic!"

That threw Ventus off guard as he got angry, The demon used that chance to block the attack with his blade and stomp the ground making four rock shards explode out and hit Ventus square in the chest perforating him and making him cough blood. The inner demon swoop kicked Ventus making him fall on his back.

"Not only that," The demon continued, "You're weak, and somehow you still have delusions about revenge."

"You're a failure that couldn't save your family from those flames, how do you expect to beat me? give up!"

He walked to Ventus and summoned rocks to lock his limbs and neck down. The world around them began to twist and no more was it a world of ashes, but, as if a spark ignited the past of that place, everything burned once more.

The ground began to turn red and melt with the heat of the dark and red flames, the withered trees blazed and shot fire to the sky becoming blazing pillars of corruption as shortly after, even the ash-grey sky began to burn and turned scarlet as the heat twisted even the air itself.

The once dark figure flared up and began a humanoid flame, everything about him changed and he became a personification of the flame world. His features became blazing as everything on his figure transformed into dark-red flames.

"And now," He chuckled, "You're going to join them in their burning suffering!"

The rocks that bound Ventus began to heat up tremendously as easily burned through his clothes, reaching his skin and burning it. Ventus screamed in pain as his flesh boiled and burned under the intense heat of the bindings.

A cackle reached his ears that shook his mind from the intense pain. The demon was laughing loudly at his suffering, so much so that he was holding his belly in seeming pain due to the laughter.

"Relax kid," he laughed, "We've still got lots of time to enjoy."

He proceeded to stomp one by one the rock shards stuck on Ventus's chest. Ventus roared in pain as the shards traversed his flesh and torn his insides, but soon after the pain rose to unsurmountable levels as the heat from the demon's body traversed the shards and burned his insides.

At this point, Ventus's throat was so badly burned that he could barely breathe, and no matter how much he opened his mouth and how much air traversed his throat no screams came out and he just trembled with his mouth opened as wheezes came out.

"Still not broken?" The demon inquired surprised, "I thought that after this much you would certainly give up."

"I mean, your daddy, mommy, and sister didn't resist as much as you did, they died muuuuuch faster," he laughed, "But then again, their whole bodies were in flames HAHAHAHA!"

"I will break your will," He spoke slowly with a growling voice that seemed to originate from a demon or from hell itself, "I will break your mind and soul. No matter how much you struggle, no matter how much you scream and beg, I will not stop. Nothing you can do will ever defeat me!"

"In this mental world of yours, I, the manifestation of all your fears and pains, am unstoppable!"