I was alive. Continued to be, despite my own failures, the struggles of my work, and the nefarious plots of those who truly embodied evil. You would think that would be an obvious statement - after all, I saw my grisled face in the mirror each morning. Ever repainting the fence of my existence, I had found a new hue that suited my current reflections. The greater purpose that sought to use me as a tool, the fate that I had turned my nose up at now seemed like the path so obvious for me to walk upon.

Sparks rang out as my reflective revolver blocked the sword attack - some of the weight of his swing taken away from his surprise at my new form.

His wings buffeted the air around me as he pushed away.

“What are you?” Curiosity shared space with discomfort upon his contorted face.

“The inevitable asshole,” I clucked, leveling the gun toward him. “I need names.”

Anger once again flared through him. “A fancy light show won’t convince me, Hunter.”

I could see the flicker of doubt in his eyes. He knew he might not be able to escape the bubble of pure void Wight had created. My own body was glowing a golden, radiant light - brighter where I still had healing or open wounds. It would be enough to put most off. Powerful demons seemed to be stubborn when it came to realizing they were out of their depth.

My hands brought the revolver up to observe. I hadn’t used the gun last time, and I felt bad I didn’t currently have Pearl’s dagger with me. I kneeled down to pluck Wight’s one up instead. Joxx’un was seemingly too on edge to take advantage of the open weakness I offered up in the act.

The interesting thing was that Wight’s energy had been expended in activating this form - but there was still a constant amount in the air. I began to tease more into me - a vessel that had started to fill up. There was a rough measuring point where I knew how much was enough now to get to the point where I wouldn’t damage myself to use the divine skills.

I raised the revolver. . There was a sharp scratch of pain that ran down my arm, but nothing terrible - in fact, the current form I was in made it seem like no big deal at all. The demon was fast though - and dodged away from the radiant ball. Expecting it to fade away into the void or become inert after a certain distance, it seemed to just hang in the air at the perimeter of the dark sphere we were in.

Syphoning enough energy to do it again took time. Time that I didn’t have - and Joxx’un didn’t want to leave anything to chance. He came at me like a blur, and I barely diverted the strike wide with the dagger. Even in this form, the demon still had the advantage of speed and strength. It didn’t worry me though - in fact; I felt calm. This was how things were going to end, after all.

“Names,” I requested as I jumped backward, his sword biting a chunk of the stage out from where I had been standing.

“You’re in no position to demand,” he growled in response - but there was still that lingering uncertainty behind his fury. He knew he couldn’t teleport away.

One of us was going to die here, and I had a track record to uphold.

Debris shuffled about around us as Wight continued to slowly destroy all matter - and I was intrigued to see that it hadn’t started to affect my opponent yet. I had assumed the Jailer had been in the higher digits when it came to the Mids - but couldn’t remember when we had clarified any of that mess.

The cup was full again. . The demon fell backwards off the stage to avoid being struck, the radiant ball careening over his face at the last moment. His wings caught him before he hit the ground. Once again, the missed shot hung in the at a distance by the supposed wall of the void that looked infinite.

“You bring divine powers here? You are no mere Hunter, Eric.” He rose back to a standing position, hovering in the air. Still anger on his face, but now also a weariness rather than slight panic.

I shrugged, already a few seconds into filling the tank again. It had started to have a rough taste to it, like gasoline lapping around inside my organs. The demonic energy was permeating my existence, only kept from destroying me due to my divine form and latent demonic power. I was the ying and yang, the balance the mortal plane needed to restore order. To save it. It gave me a big head, too.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Joxx’un became a vibrating blur that my eyes could hardly track as he swooped down into me - only by luck I managed to block the downward strike with the revolver. My legs buckled from the weight and my arms strained to not have the sword meet my fragile skull.

He had longer reach than me, but I held the dagger up, pointed towards him. . The foot-wide beam blasted out of my hand, taking most of the appendage with it. As the demon relented and flew back, the radiant energy put my broken pieces back together and the dagger spun back up into the glowing golden hand.

It hadn’t burst through Joxx’un, unfortunately - just left a blistered scar across part of his side where it had hit. . He deflected the shot with his sword; the metal screaming out in agony as if it had been wrenched apart - the ball flying off diagonally.

I wasn’t so lucky with the next block, and his sword skewered my side as the dagger couldn’t protect enough of my flank. I emptied the cylinder of the reflective gun into him as he hopped backwards away. Even the direct strikes didn’t seem to do much to him. I took a couple steps away too, pain warming my arm but not really hurting. Dripping to the floor was liquid gold. My radiant liquid. Despite the abstraction, I was still offended by the gall of the demon to wound me.

crackled along me, now yellow lighting arcing around my body and held weapons. My reaction time increased and now I truly danced with the demon. We exchanged blows again and again, the ring of metal against metal occasionally punctured by the sound of my divine or demon shots. I received a few cuts, he received a few close shaves - but always seemed to be slightly ahead.

It was starting to get harder to draw Wight’s energy in. There was still plenty around - and even as the sphere of darkness was scouring everything from being, I now just found it harder to grasp. Whatever force I was using was tiring, and pain was pulsing down my right arm almost constantly. Even with our combined maximum force, we were slightly outmatched and held back by my mortal body.

Whether Wight could sense it or not, he didn’t seem to give any signal. He remained impassive, glaring down at the battle with his beak open, stripping the area clear of its core components.

//hsssssssssssssst

A whisper circled in through comms - at first I thought the Blank was having trouble getting through our energy-dense sphere, but as he finished the scratchy sound, I realized what it was.

//Enjoy your new slug.

Wight knew too. A wide grin spread across my face and Joxx’un paused, unsure as to what had become so amusing.

My patron whispered the true name out into the swirling void - loud and deafening, yet incomprehensible.

The demon all but paled. His eyes darted between Wight and me. “What? How? You can’t just…”

He wanted to leave now. Despite being fully in charge of how the battle was headed, now with his potential head on the line, he had lost a little faith. I could see it in his eyes. All demons had the same look when you dangled oblivion in front of them. Mortality was a curse for those that thought they were beyond it. Now he just wanted to live.

“Names,” I repeated - holding my revolver leveled at him. In truth, I didn’t have another Last Light lined up - and might not be able to handle salvaging another for a dozen more seconds. But the implication was enough, sometimes.

“You’ll get nothing out of me.” He spat on the floor, which instantly sizzled away. “Your power can’t seal the deal, Eric. Call your demon off before you die from overburdening yourself.”

[ERIC CALL ME OFF? YOU HAVE THAT THE WRONG WAY AROUND.]

“I’m the loose cannon here, bud.” I started to wave on my legs. Felt a little light-headed. It was fine, I’d had worse. “Wight here has been very calm and patient. I think you owe him a little apology.”

Joxx’un seethed, physical flames jutting out of his ruddy skin in anger. “You die now, Hunter.”

I had set the pins up, my patron just had to knock them down. It had seemed strange at first - but I had understood. Now the void looked almost like a beautiful night sky. All the radiant shots just hanging there like a spotty constellation.

The giant eyes of Wight burned brighter.

At once, he pushed all the shots out towards the demon. As fast as he was, they were spread out and more than a handful struck him. He slunk to the floor - dropping atop the remnants of the stage, which had long collapsed thanks to my patron’s scouring void. Arms limp, his wings faded away, and the sword dropped to the floor.

I sauntered up to him, something that would have looked more impressive were I not losing some of the function in my legs. Enough energy was syphoned off for one last shot and it was burning me up inside something fierce.

The silver revolver pressed against his forehead.

“No-no, please I’ll talk.” His mouth moved slowly as he slumped, the radiant shots burning and sizzling on his skin.

“I gave you several chances to do so. Why is it you have to wait until punishment looms to do as you're told?” I leaned in a little closer. “Naughty boy needs to go to his bedroom.”

“Claude Clover, Hupp-fo, Kraxa, Ione the Pale, Felix Se-"

“You think you can buy your way into my heart with sloppy words? Why did you even come here?”

“I just-“

I pulled the trigger. . He went silent as the radiant shot lodged into his forehead. Still not killing him. I drew the blade and slammed it into the wound, piercing through into his brain. The light died in his eyes as his body slumped over.

[RETURN, ERIC.]

The radiant light illuminating me flickered out, as I gave one last sneer at the body, and I returned home.