(Rebecca Storm POV)

Diablo made the first move. He swung his sword at us. He was swinging from a considerable distance so I thought he was using {Mana Slice}. However, the sword started extending from where he was standing.

From that movement, we understood it was a whip sword. Whip swords could extend several times their length. We avoided this first attack, arranging ourselves in our basic battle formation.

Since my husband, Mitch Storm was a support mage, he moved away from the battle, intending to support us from behind.

Support mages all specialised in the facilitation mana property. This mana quality allows the user to interact with other's mana, supporting them in combat.

Healers were a subset of support mages and used facilitation in conjunction with restoration mana property to heal others.

Augmenter, another subset of a support mage used facilitation, reinforcement and enhancement to further empower others. They increased the maximum of their allies' techniques allowing them to become stronger.

Since Mitchell was both an augmenter and a healer, he was a perfect support. Though his facilitation couldn't increase my maximum to Demon King Diablo's level, he allowed me to close the gap.

After Diablo launched his initial attack, Matthew sprinted forward and attempted to strike him with a lightning-covered fist. Diablo easily avoided the attack.

Thomas followed up by forming water whips to ensnare Diablo. However, he saw that coming and destroyed the water whips with a swing of his sword.

The droplets that fell on the floor started to dissolve the ground. Thomas Ocean used his liquid attribute to create highly acidic (or basic) water that was extremely corrosive.

Combining it with his concept meant he could dissolve most objects, even ones that normally don't dissolve in water.

I couldn't let my comrades do all the work so I shot a beam of light off my sword. Diablo deflected the laser beam with his sword. While he was distracted I tried to slice him with my weapon.

However, he extended his sword to block my attack. I wasn't discouraged though, so I kept trading blows with him. He was extremely strong so I was the only one able to take the lead in this battle.

While I duelling Diablo, Lyra kept distracting him with her magic weapons. She had many different weapons at her disposal, made of various rare and powerful metals. These metals had different weird and wonderful effects that made her a difficult opponent to face.

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She controlled these weapons with a technique called {Telekenis}. To perform this technique, the user had to use the construction mana property to pick up objects without actually touching them.

Lyra was controlling 10 arrows simultaneously and attacking Diablo with them. Every time he would have to disengage with me to avoid the arrows or intercept them, allowing me to gain the advantage in this fight.

However, we all collectively knew we were at a disadvantage. Our abilities were widely reported but we didn't have any information on Diablo's abilities. We didn't know what he was capable of.

During our clashes, Diablo managed to overpower me by exceeding his maximum temporarily and nearly cut my arm off.

I used {Full Body Regeneration} to restore my arm and cautiously awaited his next move. Realising that I had an opportunity to attack him, I rushed at him intending to deal as much damage as possible.

However, as soon I as appeared in front of him, I felt my instincts telling me about an attack coming from behind me.

'SHIT! I can't dodge.'

But, Matthew had my back and he diverted the attack targeted at me. My body suddenly felt lighter and the demon I was going to attack disappeared showing the real one standing further away.

"An illusion? No, it was a hallucination."

On the outside I was calm, but inwardly I was terrified. I didn't even realise I was in a hallucination and Diablo could've easily killed me then if I didn't have my allies.

The only reason I broke free was that my husband used {Curse Negation} to remove Diablo's mana influence in my body. Even still I could still feel his mana weakening me.

I understood now he specialised in using the contamination mana quality and used poison to defeat his opponents.

"His abilities... I remember him!"

Mitchell suddenly shouted out.

"Huh?"

"He was known as the Toxic Devil. He appeared decades ago and was reportedly killed by your predecessor."

*Clap Clap*

"Oh, that's impressive. I thought I erased all traces of my existence after I faked my death. I did attempt to kill your previous hero, but I was too weak back them."

He then lifted his armour to show a nasty scar on his chest.

"I refused to heal this wound and stopped my body from doing so to ensure I remembered my failure."

As I attempted to move to attack while he monologuing I could feel my movements slowing drastically.

'He's stalling for time so the poison can influence my body.'

I could also see my comrade's movements slowing.

'How's he poisoning all of us? I get him poisoning me, but was because I was wounded by his attacks. However, the others weren't hurt by him.'

I enhanced my senses focusing on the mana in the atmosphere. As I guessed, I could see Diablo's mana floating in the atmosphere invading our bodies, weakening us.

Mitchell also discovered this and erected a small barrier where Diablo's mana was erased. After this move, I could feel my strength returning to my body and the traces of mana inside my body removed.

Diablo stared coldly at Mitchell when he realised his actions. We communicated silently and shifted our positions.

Thomas and Lyra moved in a way such that they would be in an optimal position to protect Mitchell. They would be on the defensive protecting him from attacks.

We couldn't win the fight without him and Diablo would be targeting him exclusively. Our win condition was dependent on Mitchell's healing abilities countering Diablo's poisons.

I once again took the lead with Matthew being my wingman. I held my sword in front of me analysing my next move.

Mitchell once again augmented us with his abilities as we went in with a more conservative mindset. We had to discover the full extent of his abilities if we want any chance of defeating him.

Diablo shattered the barrier as his mana started seeping in again. I reinforced myself further to mitigate the effects of the poison as his sword met mine once again.