A pillar of light broke through the dark clouds above. It was a short instance, but it was quite a spectacle. After that, the dark clouds covered the sky again, covering Meredith and Eizer’s battlefield.

The powerful release of energy was from Meredith’s summon. It was a great display of power, and so, it was reasonable that the summon that Meredith called would be just as great. And indeed, it was a great summon.

A human-like figure appeared, something almost human. The summon is of a female figure, with patches of fish scales scattered sporadically on her bluish skin. Her hair was wavy and white, appearing as if it was glowing. The pair of fins behind her ears were eye catching, moving so smoothly that it looked like they’re underwater. Her eyes were shaped as a human’s except it was entirely black in color. Although she lacked visible irises in her eyes, anyone looking at her could somehow know where she was looking.

Cadell and his comrades, even Seqina, were amazed looking at the lake guardian. One glance and they knew that the figure was no ordinary summon. Their intuition was not far off, because, the lake guardian is a second-level summon, a greater summon that only few humans could boast to have as a servant. Meredith is one of those humans.

The summon kneeled at Meredith. It was making unintelligible echoing hums that only Meredith could understand. Meredith greeted her summon, and then, she requested the lake guardian to pay attention to Eizer.

Eizer stared at Meredith’s summon, intrigued, possibly even more delighted. He could feel the hostility of the greater summon. What he felt was the same as how Meredith looked at him.

“Another great opponent, truly delightful”, Eizer said, then he bowed at them. At this point, there’s not a scratch nor wound on the demon’s body. He didn’t even show any sign of fatigue despite the barrage of flames he did before.

“You’re taking this lightly aren’t you?”, Meredith asked. Eizer replied with a smile. “You will regret that attitude”, Meredith said.

[Water Cutter]

The summon opened its hands toward Eizer. Droplets of water began forming, floating in the air around the lake guardian. At a certain point, the droplets formed into spearheads. Then, all of it rushed towards the waiting demon.

[Dark Flame]

Eizer intercepted the summon’s attack with his flames. The water cutters evaporated from his attacks, but some were quick enough to reach him.

A water cutter made contact with the demon’s left arm, and for the first time since the start of the demon invasion, someone managed to graze Eizer. Another did the same to the demon’s right leg, then another grazed Eizer’s elbow. The rest of the lake guardian’s attacks were unfortunately vaporized by Eizer’s powerful flames.

Eizer felt the damage he got. He was closing his eyes while doing so as if savoring the sensation he rarely felt. After some seconds, he opened his eyes and was confronted by another attack.

[Water Disk]

It was a single attack, but it almost finished the fight. Eizer was fast enough to vaporize the water disk before it cut through his neck. He felt the strong pressure of the unassuming attack, and he knew that it was several times sharper than the water cutters. If his right hand was not covered in dark flames, the water disk will surely cut through.

Eizer looked at his hand. The water disk was no more, but his hand was shaking from the effort he needed to exert. It was a new experience for him that someone pushed him that far. It was what he was waiting for so long, but, he realized from the summon’s attack that Meredith will not be an easy opponent. From there, Meredith and Eizer were both at the same page.

“You almost had me”, Eizer said.

“Are you scared?”, Meredith asked.

Eizer showed his sinister smile again, then he looked at Meredith with killing intent. The demon’s gaze made Meredith feel real threat. Both are looking at their foes, ready to give their all. Eventually, one of them initiated the next phase of the fight. Eizer moved first.

[Dark Flames]

The intent was just like before. Eizer will throw multiple dark flames towards Meredith, aiming to distract her, while he will go behind Meredith. It didn’t work against Meredith the first time, and as expected, it didn’t work again.

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Eizer kicked an illusion once again. Meredith was the one behind him. Meredith was about to redo what happened before, when Eizer vanished suddenly. Meredith looked behind her, and Eizer’s flaming fist was about to hit her.

[Water Wall]

The lake guardian was able to comply with Meredith’s command on time. The dark flame was extinguished, and the impact of the attack hurled Eizer away. The lowering of the water wall revealed no demon. Eizer vanished once again.

[Dark Flame]

Meredith looked in front of her. A dark flame almost got her. She dodged, but as soon as she did so, multiple dark flames started appearing in every direction. Meredith and the lake guardian were back to back from each other, preparing to defend against the flames.

[Barrier]

Every flames were more potent than the last. The lake guardian could keep up, but Meredith must steadily increase the strength of her barriers. She could defend well, but only for a short while.

Meredith’s supply of her mana boosting potion was depleting rapidly. Even with her masterful resourcefulness, Eizer’s attacks were still far too many. The demon was getting stronger because of the darkness, and Meredith wasn’t getting any progress. She must decide whether to dodge the attacks herself, or consume all the boosting potions she has. She didn’t spend so much time thinking about it. She chose to defend herself, and reserve her remaining potions.

Meredith dodged one after another. The flames didn’t give her time to breathe. She wasn’t worried about her summon disappearing, as the lake guardian had a great defense against the flames. However, because of so much flames distracting her, Meredith forgot to look for the demon.

Eizer was moving quick, running in circles around Meredith. He could sustain and even raise his speed, which made him unseeable for his opponent. From the start, he was planning to exhaust Meredith’s potion supply, as he knew that his human opponent could only be defeated if he did so. He didn’t know the amount of potions that Meredith had, but he was confident that his flames could eventually consume all of it. And when he saw that Meredith stopped creating barriers, dodging only by her movements, he thought that he was successful.

The critical point was reached. Meredith was tired, and couldn’t dodge fast enough. Only the lake guardian remained moving, defending both of them. Such turn of events made it harder for the summon to keep up, and so, when Eizer’s flaming fist was moving towards the summon, it couldn’t react on time. The demon made a direct hit, and flung the lake guardian away from Meredith. All of the remaining dark flames hit the potion master.

The powerful explosions created a cloud of dust, making it hard to see what happened to Meredith. Seqina was stunned, as she couldn’t imagine her teacher losing. As the situation suggested, it seemed that the master mage would be gravely injured.

“Teacher?”, Seqina muttered.

Eizer was delighted seeing what happened. The cloud of dust was yet to settle, but he felt that his victory was assured. Even if Meredith survived his flames, it’s guaranteed that the potion master was injured enough that she was no longer a threat. But, the demon forgot what he already knew before. Meredith is not an easy opponent.

Once the dusts settled, Meredith reappeared, surrounded by a dome barrier that was durable enough to withstand all of Eizer’s remaining attacks. Meredith created the barrier using all her remaining mana boosting potions, and it saved her life. There were only few potions left with her, which were the only things she could rely on. She looked at Eizer, and then, she looked at Seqina and her companions.

“All of you, go away from here”, Meredith commanded.

Seqina was surprised, but before she could say anything, Meredith spoke again.

“I don’t think I can hold back anymore”

After hearing Meredith’s words, Seqina realized the nature of Meredith’s remaining potions. The potions left with the potion master were far too dangerous to use with people near her. Knowing this, Seqina urged the others to follow Meredith’s words.

Cadell and his comrades saw the battle between Meredith and Eizer. Everything that happened gave them an idea that they could not help Meredith even if they wanted to. With that in mind, they followed Meredith’s command.

“Help the people of this town, they need all of you”, Meredith said.

“Do you think I will allow that?”, Eizer interrupted. The demon was about to attack Seqina and the others, but he was quickly interrupted by the lake guardian. The mages were able to escape, leaving Meredith and the lake guardian with Eizer.

“You will regret doing that”, Eizer said.

Meredith just smiled. For the first time since facing against the demon, she was relieved. She took one of her remaining potions.

“Prepare yourself, demon”

The lake guardian returned by Meredith’s side, and then, Meredith threw the potion towards Eizer.

“Protect me”, Meredith commanded.

[Water Wall]

As soon as the lake guardian created the water wall, a powerful explosion shook the ground, creating a deafening boom. Meredith wanted for the fight to be over with that, but there’s still some uncertainty in her mind. The powerful explosion was yet to reveal what happened to Eizer. Meredith prepared herself.