As the purple light slowly faded away, Niko walked towards the small lagoon within the cave, he was curious to see what fruits his evolution had borne. His looks seemed to be unchanged, for the most part at least. The demon’s wings became broader and larger, they could now stretch as far as his hands. His wardrobe however was completely changed. The ceremonial uniform was replaced by a broad black overcoat with polished red buttons and a crimson lining, underneath the intricate coat was a simple plain shirt following an inverse colour code, i.e., red shirt with black buttons and a simple tie. His trousers matched the overcoats colour scheme and his boots were now formal shoes. His new look was less of a warrior and more of a syndicate superintendent. Nevertheless, what mattered to him more were his abilities.

Niko flew out of the cave, with his new wings he was able to sustain flight at greater altitudes than he could ever imagine, however now was not an appropriate occasion to be revelling in his flight, he soon landed upon an area of the forest which had gone completely barren, there were nearly no trees here nor was there any streams, hence eliminating the possibility of a spirit ambush. Satisfied at this location, Niko decided to test his magical prowess, stretching his left-hand Niko shouted, “Shadow Spikes”, immediately a purple magical circle with an inscribed pentagram appeared in front of his outstretched palm which glowed causing dark purple spikes to violently appear out of the ground in the direction in which his hand had pointed. Niko further tested a slew of spells he had conceived of as an Inferior Demon, although he did find it extremely strange that he knew magic at all, he was more inclined to master magic and increase his survivability. It seemed he could cast a variety of spells of the shadow variant - spikes, ball, lance, mine which were quick to cast but not extremely effective. However, elemental spells using fire, water, air, earth, or lightning took time to cast. He overcame this handicap by imbuing his elemental spells with the shadow attribute, making them quick to cast and even more devastating than their conventional counterparts.

As Niko prepared to leave he had an ominous feeling, instinctively he increased his speed multifold and activated his newly obtained thought acceleration, what he saw was an angel holding a glowing sword who had charged straight at him, no doubt about it, there was killing intent in her eyes, judging the limits of his ability, Niko teleported behind her and struck her on the back of her head. Due to the cumulative effects of his thought acceleration and speed increment combined with the velocity of the angel’s charge, the angel sped out of control and suffered a terrible impact on a nearby barren tree, splitting its trunk into two pieces. The angel however managed to get back up on her feet, using her sword as a cane she immediately resumed a combat stance, as she spread her wings, Niko immediately stretched his arms uttering, “HELLFIRE WALL!”, immediately a huge wall of bluish-purple flames rose up, the angel seeing her trajectory interrupted had to change her angle halfway, as she flew above the wall she was shocked to see Niko waiting behind his wall of flames, his sharp claws extended, in an instant, he slashed at the angel who barely managed to avoid the blow, glancing off her white armour, leaving a massive scratch mark across her breastplate sending her staggering back. Clearly frustrated, she held her sword perpendicular to her shoulder bones in a defensive stance.

“WAIT! HALT DEMON!” screamed the angel, Niko slightly confused by his assailant’s sudden demand decided to hear her out and lowered his stance to a defensive one. “What is it, Ms. Trigger Happy Angel? Want to tell me why you’re attacking me?” asked Niko, still keeping his eyes peeled on the angel. The angel, seeming annoyed by her nickname, retorted, “The name’s Bianca, I’m a greater angel, while you are a mere demon and yet you dare to freely roam about this forest doing what you like, I’m not going to kill you, just discipline you.” Niko upon hearing it started laughing uncontrollably, “Indeed, even if we tear our limbs off it's a matter of when not will it grow back. However, it would be a mistake to underestimate me.” Bianca was amused, “Very well let’s have a bet, let’s fight, whoever resigns first or is about to be dealt the killing blow loses. If I win, you will have to leave the forest, if I win then you leave my domain, if you win then we can coexist, what say?” “Fair enough.” smirked Niko.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Sparing no time, both resumed their duel immediately, Bianca rushed with her sword towards Niko, who surprised her by charging at her head first and intercepting her blade with his claws. Niko knew that as a demon his advantage was magic while angels were typically stronger swordsmen, considering Bianca’s speed he might waste too much magic power on shots that simply won’t connect, he needed to close the range so that his magic could connect better and more accurately. This strategy relied strongly on him being able to sustain a defence against an angel who was a higher grade than him, a defensive on a near unwinnable field, a true last ditch stratagem. As he blocked Bianca’s sword with his right-hand claws, he used his left arm to create an orb of hellfire and punched Bianca in the gut, however the impact, despite being hard, didn’t knock her back far enough. Pushed by the momentous force of Niko’s hellfire fist, Bianca decided she needed to do something about her foes’ impeccable defence, charging her sword with magic she slashed at his claws, in one clean strike Niko’s right hand went flying off. Intense pain coursed through his body, even though it wasn’t a permanent injury, Niko knew that for the course of his battle his defence was compromised, he needed to change his strategy at once.

However now he had an idea of an angel’s strengths and weaknesses, had Bianca been an Angel his hellfire fist should have knocked her out cold, considering that a Greater Angel was made to break her stance meant good news for him, there was a hope. Immediately he teleported multiple meters back and prepared his second line of defence, he extended his wings and activated his speed and thought acceleration. Immediately, he cast dozens of hellfire lances and hurled them towards Bianca. Bianca assumed that he was getting desperate, especially considering that he now only used his magic and didn’t have a melee counter to her. She spread her wings, charging towards Niko and skilfully dodging the lances directed at her, however the next moment she realized that she was completely outsmarted. Niko had used his speed ability to execute a manoeuvre he perfected on wild beasts, hitting from the flank. The lances were a cover, however his main trump card was a high destruction spell, compressing styx-water into icicles and charging them with black lighting he propelled them using a wind spell and while coating their tips in shadow magic. Bianca, who had been busy dodging the lances, didn’t gain room to manoeuvre and ended up being pierced in the gut by Niko’s makeshift pike. Not giving his opponent room to recover, Niko charged his other claw with black lightning and brandished his charged claws over her head. Since he was in position to deliver a killing blow, winning the battle.

Had they been evenly matched, the match would have lasted far longer, however Bianca was a superior foe, she was a higher grade than Niko, the reason Niko won was his craftiness and his ability to lure in his foe. His victory was barely scraped together. Bianca could have easily fought for a few more minutes, even the hour, while his magic would have run out in the next ten minutes, beyond that he couldn’t hold a candle to an angel’s skill with a sword, much less a greater angel’s. He realized that his specialized defence, while exemplary, left him open once he lost it while his offensive magic, while very destructive, needed to be refined, something he would practice greatly now. Bianca who now got back on her feet noticed Niko’s contemplative expression, she let her golden hair uncurl, as her blue eyes stalked a daydreaming Niko, she decided to interrupt him. “Ahem!” Bianca cleared her throat to get Niko’s attention and said, “now that we’re coexisting, a tip, don’t evolve blindly. The reason you won was ultimately your craftiness, not your power, remember that. Refine your technique, remember it’s not always how much power you have, many times it depends upon how well you can use your power.” Bianca smiled at Niko and teleported away, Niko returned a smile and teleported away back to the cave where he always resided. “I am going to practice, as hard as I can, as much as I can!” proclaimed Niko to himself. He would practice for three more months nearly non-stop until he would finally cross paths with Lisa again.