"The power of one of the strongest demons to ever live is finally mine!"

With the necklace in his palm, the gas demon grasped Caleb's long silver hair and yanked his arm away from his chest.

The demon examined the rings attentively and was pleased when he discovered the writings on them. He then took Caleb by the hair and drew him closer.

"How did this helpless little girl manage to get his hands on the elixir rings..." The demon said taking a closer look at Caleb.

Caleb's eyes, however, had lost their sparkle, and blood was pouring from the hole in his chest. Without a doubt, the young adult was already dead.

The demon dumped Caleb's body on the ground like it was trash and glanced at Roy, who was too terrified to talk or move Roy's heartbeat increased as he gazed at his friend's corpse, which lay still on the ground.

'He killed Caleb without hesitation...' Roy thought as his breathing got heavier and heavier, 'what do I do now, there is no point in running, he would still catch up to me easily, plus I can't leave Caleb's body here, what type of friend would that make me!'

When the monster turned his head to Roy, his body began to tremble violently. He was afraid for his life at the time, believing that the demon would murder him without hesitation.

"This is a lucky day for you human," The demon smiled cynically, "I am in a good mood, so I'll give you this chance, and run... run for your life before it's too late!"

Roy had already taken a choice without second thoughts. He was sick of it, but remaining here and risking his life for someone who was already dead was a ridiculous option.

He turned around and started sprinting back in the direction he had come from, but as soon as he made his first step, he felt tremendous pain in his leg. A dreadful sensation ran from his leg up his body, prompting him to abandon his endeavour.

He spotted a little spike penetrating his leg as he looked down. When he turned back, he saw the demon grinning maniacally, and one of his fingers had morphed into the little pointed spike that reached his knee.

Roy collapsed to the ground and yelled in anguish as the demon withdrew the spike from his leg.

"ARGGHHH!" Roy shouted with tears on his cheeks, and saliva drooling down his mouth.

The agony was excruciating, a torrent of blood was gushing from the cut, and Roy couldn't keep his cool. The spike appeared to have destroyed one of his leg's nerves.

"HAHAHAHA!" The demon started to laugh.

"You really thought I would let you leave this place!?" the demon exclaimed, "once I'm done with the ritual, I will need something to fill my stomach, so you stay put right there!"

He immediately manipulated the rings in his hand to float right over his palm, and the inscriptions on the rings began to light up in the same manner they did at the museum.

The colour of the inscriptions shifted to crimson when the rings heated up. The heat created by the rings burned the demon's hand, but it had no impact on him.

The demon adjusted the rings so that they were in the middle of both his hands. It subsequently created a purple fire aura between his palms, directly around the rings.

"Come to me, give me the power of a thousand armies, and a thousand dragons!"

The rings responded quickly, shattering the chain and beginning to whirl around each other.

A thick dark ball ringed the rings within the purple fire, and the purple fire faded away after the ball had fully encompassed the rings. The gas monster let go of the black ball, which was still floating on its own.

Both rings detached from the black ball and dropped to the ground. The monster then grabbed the ball, completely oblivious to the rings. The inscriptions on the rings were no longer visible; the ball had most likely absorbed all of the information or power contained in the rings.

"After many centuries of waiting, I've finally got the power of one of the demon celestials, and not any, the power of the dark demon,"

For the first time, the gas demon had a serious tone and expression while he looked at the dark ball which was as big as a meatball.

"Now it's time to-"

*SLASH*

Before he could continue his remark, he noticed his surroundings turning sideways. His wide-open eyes reflected his perplexity as he realised what had occurred to him.

The gas demon was slashed into two in the blink of an eye. He dropped the dark ball, and it landed right near Caleb's corpse.

"I'm too late..."

A brown-haired ponytailed girl in a full black suit stood in front of Caleb's corpse, holding a blue huge two-handed sword around her height and resting on her shoulder.

That woman was Lizz, Caleb's sister, and when she saw her brother lying motionless with a hole in his chest, the rage she felt was perfectly reflected through her expression.

"Ms Mont..." Roy whispered weakly with tears drooling down his face.

Lizz looked at Roy who was in severe pain, and her rage grew even greater.

"Don't worry, I will get you out of here,"

"My gosh..." The demon's bottom body, which had been split from its other part, was beginning to materialise as a gas and merge with his higher body.

When the gas reached his opposite half, it rematerialised into the remainder of his body, reuniting him.

"What is a magus doing in the middle of nowhere?" the gas demon smiled standing back to his feet.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

"Begone..." Lizz said in a menacing tone.

She ran at the gas monster, her enormous two-handed sword in hand, and aimed for the stab directly in the chest. However, it appeared the demon didn't feel any pain when the sword passed through its body.

"That doesn't work on me girl," the gas demon declared with a demonic smile.

The demon had transformed a portion of his body into gas, allowing the assault to pass right through him. The demon then transformed his arm into a big spike and flung it towards Lizz, who narrowly avoided being hit on the cheek as she ducked the swing.

"You can't hurt me, only attacks of Ether can damage me, and I sense no Ether in you," the demon exclaimed, "you know what that means right... you're as inoffensive as a cat to me!"

"You wanna bet?" Lizz replied with a smirk wiping the small amount of blood on her cheek.

After which she vanished in a fraction of a second, surprising even the demon. She emerged suddenly behind the demon, her sword held in two hands at the level of her waist to create momentum for her attack. Her blade was blazing blue, and pixels were swirling around it, eventually expanding like a bubble.

Lizz's dangerous posture caught the demon's eye, and he knew what would happen if that strike was delivered to him. Lizz slashed her sword at the demon, who managed to evade in time to soar into the sky, but her manoeuvre wasn't finished.

Her swing unleashed a magical slice that rushed towards the creature. Unfortunately, the gas demon broke his body in two at the last second due to his gas abilities, allowing the slash to rush in between.

"She's dangerous..." the demon then whispered while reassembling himself, "the last time I had goosebumps from encountering a human was many years ago, she has to be a high-ranked magus, and this is a plus reason for me to kill her now before she gets too dangerous,"

The demon charged towards the Magus, and they fought, each wielding equal strength. While Lizz and the gas monster engaged, Roy regained his calm and crept carefully to Caleb.

"Damn it!" Roy said seeing Caleb lying dead on the ground, "there must be something I can do,"

*BANG*

A large explosion was caused by the clash between the magus and the demon. Roy was too weak to react and continued looking around for a solution to save his friend.

'Roy,' A female voice from inside Roy's mind was calling for him.

He turned around to see who was speaking, but he quickly gave up trying due to a lack of strength and chose to ignore the caller.

'Roy, you need to save Caleb!' the voice shouted.

He had heard it well this time, but he was too weak to figure out who it was. He made the decision to give in and communicate with the voice.

"And how am I supposed to do that?" Roy responded weakly.

'Look around you, and search for the black ball, with that, you will be able to revive him!'

It took a few seconds for Roy to respond. His wound was tiring him out, and he was close to passing out.

'Roy, wake up and look for the dark ball!' The voice shouted in an attempt to keep Roy awake.

Roy struggled to carry out what the voice suggested and searched about for the ball.

"I-I see it," Roy whispered when he saw the ball near Caleb's hand.

'Good, now grab the ball and repeat what I am going to tell you,'

Slowly but surely, Roy reached for the black ball and grabbed it weakly with his right hand.

'Now I want you to repeat after me, Bone, flesh, breath. Yours eternally.Bone, flesh, breath. I beg of you, return to me."

"Bone... flesh, breath... yours internally... bone, flesh, breath... I beg... you return to me,"

The dark ball began to morph and materialise into something else. For Roy, it appeared as if a squishy liquid was flowing in an unusual pattern on his hand. The dark ball suddenly transformed into a sharp, gleaming knife.

'Now stab Caleb with the knife, and do it quickly before the spell dissipates!'

However, the spell caused a rush of Ether, which alerted the gas demon who was still fighting Lizz. The demon turned to see what was going on and saw Roy holding the dagger.

"You fucking brat, I let you live for longer than you deserve and this is what you do!?"

Unfortunately for the gas demon, this lapse in concentration allowed Lizz to locate an opening, and she reappeared behind the demon in the same pose as in her last strike, but this one seemed much more powerful.

"I don't know who you think I am, but never in your life turn your back to me ever again," Lizz said with her eyes giving out a deadly aura.

'Fuck, I can't dodge it!' The demon said looking back at Lizz who had her sword ready to swing at him.

Lizz swung her sword at a gigantic speed, and the demon used his skills to morph the section of his body that was about to be struck into a solid shield, but he didn't finish the transition and was hit by the strike head-on.

The force of the hit was so powerful that it caused a massive explosion that reached beyond the forest's tall trees. The fog from the strike made it difficult to see who had won the battle, but it was evident that the one who had taken damage was the demon. Lizz walked out of the room as soon as the smoke cleared, leaving the gas demon behind.

"That demon was way too strong compared to the usual in Tyggstral," Lizz said.

Roy, on the other hand, had successfully stabbed Caleb, and the dagger was gradually dissolving. He was now immobile on the ground, his eyes wide, but the source of life within him had been extinguished.

"Fuck... I should've finished this battle sooner," Lizz said walking to Roy's body.

"You ruined everything!" a voice shouted from behind Lizz.

She came to a halt and turned behind her to see the gas demon half-melted and expression full of rage.

"You're still alive... it's unusual to see such a strong demon in Tyggstral, any other Magus would have died if he encountered you,"

"You're gonna regret this Magus, once I get my hands on you, I'll have a good time with that body of yours before I obliterate it in a million pieces," The gas demon shouted as he slowly changed into gas state.

Lizz smirked, remembering how all demons had such spiteful attitudes and not realising what was going on behind her.

She soon felt an enormous amount of energy strain behind her. Even though she didn't have any Ether, she could feel the presence of a wicked being nearby. The energy pressure was so intense that it caused the air around them to thicken. This form of power was 100 times more powerful than the gas demon, even for Lizz.

When she turned back, she noticed Caleb, who had entirely altered in appearance and mood. The hole in his chest had vanished, and a black-and-white aura encircled his body. His aura was the energy pressure he exerted, and this phenomenon appeared like his body was encircled by white and black fire. The energy pressure was so strong that the earth underneath him broke and the little pebbles and leaves that surrounded him floated about him.

His body had altered into a more compact shape with a well-defined muscular build, to the point where garments that were formerly too big for him were now too tight and somewhat ripped at the level of his shoulders.

He was looking at his own body as though for the first time. He raised his arms and stroked his hair. He chopped his long silver hair short as soon as he touched it, using a quick hand movement as if it was a blade.

He shut his eyes and took a big breath before lowering his head and exhaling, then he abruptly raised his head and opened his eyes. Lizz saw his eyes had turned bright crimson.

"This world appears to have changed... I sense a huge number of humans nearby, and an unpleasant number of Magi" Caleb said in a sinister tone.

His attention was then drawn to Lizz, who had already realised what was going on when the black demon took over Caleb's body.

She grinned and assumed a battle stance in order to irritate the dark demon.

When he saw Lizz's taunt, the dark demon lifted his arm. Suddenly, his arm began to morph into a dark substance and grow larger and taller until it reached the height of the tree, much like the gas demon's ability.

At that instant, his arm transformed into a peach-black scythe as tall as the forest's trees.

Lizz, who seldom appears impressed, gazed at the black scythe in amazement, and the dark demon let out a little chuckle when he observed her reaction.

"At least our objective hasn't changed, eliminate all Magi from the surface of the earth,"