A distant voice was heard. Elalios could hear it but he didn’t understand what it says. He was in a hurry to go back to town, so he considered the call to be his imagination and went on his way.

However, even if Elalios kept on ignoring it, the call became more pronounced as the time went by. At first, he was alerted, thinking that the demon he just defeated wasn’t dead yet. But as he looked back, a different picture was shown to him. He was utterly terrified, as he saw Abzer, an entirely new demon walking towards him. He knew that he must defeat the new demon like the first, but the demon’s presence was far greater than the fourth class demon he just defeated. His mind was telling him that it was a losing battle, that he could never win no matter what, and he surrendered to that thought. He felt sorry for his own misfortune.

‘This can’t be happening’, Elalios thought.

Meanwhile, Abzer was strolling, knowing he could reach Elalios if he wanted to. The power given to him by the darkness heightened his pride. He was too absorbed in his glory, forgetting that he was afraid before. His confidence was much too obvious to his adversary. A terrible display indeed.

Elalios looked at the demon with his feet unable to move again. He knew it by sight. The demon walking towards him was far too strong for him. The arrogance of the malevolent being was not without reason. In every step that Abzer took, he felt his heart stopping, his mind fixated on how to die without pain.

Because of Elalios’s fear, Abzer managed to go near him. The demon has one short horn and his torso has a wide opening that looks like a void. His simple appearance didn’t fool anyone, as it was evident that he’s a high class demon.

“Human, I will give you a chance. If you managed to stay alive after I sent my children to consume you, you will have the privilege to fight me”, Abzer stated.

Elalios felt even more troubled because of Abzer’s statement. He had no idea what the demon meant, but since it was coming from a demon, he knew that the demon will do something that will harm him. Soon after, the demon demonstrated what he meant by his words.

[Dark Eater]

Abzer produced small fuzzy dark creatures coming from the hollow void in his torso. The creatures are balls of fur with no eyes, but they do have a wicked smile which showed their sharp teeth and wide mouth. There are numerous of them, each the size of an adult human’s head. As soon as Abzer said a word, all of them rushed towards Elalios.

Elalios used one of his remaining shield potions. To his horror, the creatures opened their mouths and started eating the barrier that he created. It was a jarring experience, but he had enough wits remaining in him to do something else. Before the creatures could finish off eating the potion-created barrier, he threw a fire potion towards the creatures.

The fire potion was a little effective. Some of the creatures were bouncing around aimless trying to put out the fire. However, it wasn’t enough to eliminate the creatures entirely. Instead, the damage they got from the fire potion made them really angry.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

The dark creatures leaped to Elalios as soon as a hole was created to Elalios’s barrier. Elalios leaped back, and used another barrier to shield himself against the enraged creatures. He quickly looked for potions he could use to attack the creatures. In his panic he threw a potion without knowing what it was.

The potion that Elalios threw produced a blinding light. After the light dissipated, he quickly looked at where he last saw the creatures. The creatures were nowhere to be found. Elalios looked in every direction, but he could not see the creatures.

Elalios was confused rather than relieved. He looked at the remaining potions he had, and found out that what he threw was one of his two cleansing potions. Cleansing potions were generally used on one’s own self when curing poison or some other thing like it. He didn’t expect that it would be effective, but he was thankful nonetheless.

Abzer saw what happened. The confidence he had before changed to doubt. He was doubting his odds of winning just from the light that he saw. He wasn’t aware that it was just a cleansing potion, something that wouldn’t harm him in anyway, but he associated the light to something else. He thought that it was the light from the only magic that could completely remove demons from existing. He thought it was “Holy Judgement”.

“Holy Judgement” is a magic that only the Divine Emperor of the Rezelus church could use. It was regarded as the ultimate magic, as it was the only magic effective against demons. Abzer thought that, that magic is what he just saw, and that way of thinking made him cautious once again.

[Dark Eater]

He produced the creatures once again. This time, the creatures were thrice their numbers compared to before. Abzer commanded them to attack Elalios.

Elalios didn’t have any choice, but to use the last cleansing potion he had. The potion was effective once again, the creatures’ increase in number was useless.

Abzer was baffled and became alerted. For doing it a second time, Elalios unknowingly convinced Abzer that his dark eater was not going to work. Abzer prepared himself. He was left with only one choice. He must fight using his physical speed and strength.

Abzer was not as resilient as Talzer. It’s easy to damage his body, but he compensates with his speed and great control of his body. He was planning to punch Elalios many times without being caught by Elalios. He was hoping that the darkness boosted his speed enough so that Elalios could not keep up with him.

Abzer started moving in zigzag around Elalios. He was fast enough that for Elalios, he was circling around.

Elalios used the four remaining shield potions that he brought. The demon started to make a move, and that means he was about to die. He used some other potions. One of the potions boosted his senses, the other strengthened his body even more. Another potion complemented his already strengthened body, and another one was for boosting his reaction time. But, even with the potion that improved his senses, along with the one that quicken his reaction, Abzer’s speed was just too fast for him. Elalios could only wait for the demon’s powerful attack.

Abzer was serious, thinking about all the possibility that might lead to his demise. Even at his speed, he could see that Elalios was holding numerous potions. He decided that the perfect attack was in front of Elalios because it would be an unexpected attack. After zigzagging for awhile, he went for the strike.

Abzer brought his fist to Elalios’s face with all his might. His fist destroyed four potion-created barriers like they were nothing. His fist hit Elalios, and Elalios went flying towards the town. Elalios fell to the ground, unconscious and with a bloody face. Seeing this, Abzer was dumbfounded. He didn’t know that from the start of their encounter, his victory was already set in stone.