Water blades rained down on the Demonic Exorcist’s exposed organs. We were already underwater, so the blades were camouflaged.
But even though I went all out, uncaring about Ord expenditure, the Demonic Exorcist’s skin proved hard to cut, and it took over a dozen attacks to bisect him. His lower and upper bodies separated, and blood and chunks of meat turned the water around him crimson.
The Demonic Exorcist didn’t take the attack too badly and had a tendril of blood grab onto his lower body.
I immediately cut the tendril with a water blade, but a dozen more replaced it, and then a hundred. No matter how many ropes of blood I chopped, he gathered more and fused his midsection back together.
Though Tamae No Mae wasn’t renowned for her regeneration as an Ultimate Class demon, she still had a fearsome rejuvenation. Integrate that with the Demonic Exorcist’s ability to control blood, and it produced a very dangerous combination.
At this rate, the one who would run out of gas first will be the one to lose. The winner would be the one who kept their transformation active the longest!
One minor slip, and I was dead. I had to stop him from summoning any more demons. No doubt, he had noticed that our fight only needed a small interference to turn for the other side.
Despite there being plenty of exorcists just outside the Colosseum, none were suitable to fight within the water dome.
The obsidian sphere Emer was in started glowing red, and the Demonic Exorcist’s lip tilted upward in something almost resembling a smile.
Despite Emer being at an extreme disadvantage if he tried using lava underwater, he could still become dangerous enough to distract me from the Demonic Exorcist.
Boom!... Emer broke out of his cocoon and came into the water, the surrounding water steamed, but his special ability did little else.
But before he could act up, a dozen invisible water blades chopped Emer into small pieces. At that moment, the Demonic Exorcist attacked me with all the blood he had spewed before, but I changed the density of the surrounding water, and it reflected the blood away.
As the blood scattered around, it attacked the barrier.
Crack!... The barrier creaked and broke before I could do anything about it.
Panic ran through my heart when I saw that, but as I flexed my water control. I could still hold the water around as a formless blob?
The Demonic Exorcist smiled as if congratulating me for tricking him into thinking I couldn’t hold the water without the barrier. But I didn’t even think about how I could control this much water.
Carpy’s water control abilities were just that good.
At least the Demonic Exorcist’s face started turning purple, which was a sign that I should be able to outlast him as long as I held on. The fight had been intense, and I doubt he could hold his breath for much longer.
I had bisected, cut, shredded, and even blasted his lungs apart.
Actually, how the fuck was this guy still holding his breath?!
***
Anika stood atop a rooftop with her teammates and stared at the battle happening in the distance. Her heart shook as Kon and the Demonic Exorcist ripped themselves apart.
She could do nothing but stare. The fight was surreal to look at, and it was as if she was reading a book about some legendary battle between exorcists whose names would be carved in the annals of history.
“It’s like watching a fight between monsters,” one onlooker said.
Anika agreed. No human could survive being ripped apart, and even as Kon lost an arm, he had the limb float back to him and reattached it. Then he continued fighting as if nothing had happened.
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“Damn it!” Sei clenched his fist. “I thought I had finally caught up.”
She understood what Sei was feeling. With the power Kon had shown before and how he acted with his peers, she always assumed they were around the same level of strength.
“This distance isn’t even funny. How the hell am I supposed to catch up to that?” Anika muttered under her breath. Often reality was too unfair and despairing to face.
This power, no matter how hard she trained… she felt like she would never reach it.
“That shitty bastard, when did he grow so strong?” Said a girl; Anika recognized her as a Dark Sword Clan member, and Kon’s cousin.
The man next to her was the clan head. Contrary to Delia’s annoyed appearance, he smiled and addressed the man beside him. “Your son is quite something, brother.”
“Of course, he takes after his father,” responded a man with a bandage wrapped around his head.
Anika had read up on all notorious exorcists and recognized him as the man known as ‘The Bomber Dressed in Black’. From what she had heard recently, he temporarily was instated as the Dark Sword Clan head.
‘For a house of killers, they seem to trust each other quite a lot.’ Anika thought. She had always assumed that families like the Dark Sword Clan would betray and kill each other for power.
Maybe performing assassinations together had strengthened the brothers’ relationship.
“By the way, uncle. How did you get here so soon?” asked Delia.
“I used the doors of the Black Market,” the Bomber answered without missing a beat.
Anika swallowed and wondered if approaching them was a good idea. Did the Dark Sword Clan know about Kon’s ability and how it had a time limit? If they did, then they seemed a bit too relaxed for that.
Maybe they just didn’t care about him? No, that was unreasonable. They seemed more proud of him being their clan member than hateful.
Anika analyzed everything in a split second and jumped down.
“Where are you going?” inquired Agon. But she wasn’t about to explain her plans to the dumbass of the team.
“Excuse me, but we should help Kon. His special ability has a time limit,” Anika explained. She didn’t know how much the Dark Sword Clan would trust some girl who came out of nowhere, but there was no time for introductions.
“Oh! Marriage candidate three!” Delia exclaimed. “Dad, she’s from the Raion Clan.”
Marriage Candidate three? Anika’s heart skipped a beat, but she would think about that later. “We need to-”
Before Anika could finish her words, there was a large pop, and water gushed from the sky like a downpour of rain. The water tasted salty as if it was from the sea.
Anika’s heart stopped as she saw Kon floating in a water bubble, and his tamed demon was next to him.
She turned back to address the Dark Sword Clan one last time, but they were no longer there. As she looked around, most of the Expert Exorcists weren’t around any longer. “Shit, so they knew already and had their own plan!”
Anika went to her teammates, but only Agon was there. “C’mon fool! We have to go too!”
“Go where?” Agon looked at her with a dumb look on his face that she wanted to punch. But Anika took a deep breath and calmed herself.
“Help Kon against the big bad guy,” she explained as if he was a five-year-old. But Agon seemed to understand and nodded with a resolute gaze.
Almost a hundred exorcists of Expert Rank and above surrounded the Demonic Exorcist. But the latter's silver fox-like tail swished behind him, and he smiled widely. "What an amazing fight! Ahahahaha! I almost died there!"
Boom!... Suddenly something landed like a meteorite. That 'something' was the Lover Exorcist, and she had pink skin and horns. Her arms were covered in blood up to her elbows. "Your puppets took a while to take care of. Ready for round two?"
"This is amazing!" The Demonic Exorcist exclaimed. Ord burst out of him, and Anika felt like her mind was slipping and going insane. He had more Ord than everyone else here combined!
"Let's all die a little!" He screamed like a madman.
Every exorcist took an involuntary step back; their instincts screamed at them! Even Ellen had a bead of sweat roll down her cheek.
A pig came out of the ground, it threw up dozens of people with lifeless eyes. The Demonic Exorcist stopped, his silver hair flickered back to black, and he coughed out a mouthful of blood.
Seeing that, every exorcist there finally got their senses back. The Demonic Exorcist wasn’t some undefeatable monster; he was human too!
He glanced at Kon, who was lying on the ground while his weird serpentine fish stood guard over him.
“What a shame,” the Demonic Exorcist said, and a whirlpool of blood surrounded him and every human under his control, and they disappeared into a mist of blood.
Anika was closest to Kon and approached him. He wasn’t unconscious and didn’t have any injury on him. He licked his lips and cringed at the taste of salty water.
He opened his mouth, and every exorcist in the vicinity turned toward him, expecting something grand from the young man who had held back a monster they were too afraid to attack.
"I want a pizza," Kon grumbled. Then he glanced at his tamed demon. “Actually, make that two. One for my buddy here too.”
“...”