Before their eyes, stood its foul, unholy form. A creature so vile and depraved in nature that its very presence felt like a mockery of all that was sacred in life. It was humanoid in shape, a bit over 240cm tall. It seemed as if its flesh had been charred— bright embers still glowing from within. Its head resembled the skull of goat, though much larger and with longer horns. From Its bony visage, molten magma dripped as if it were demonic drool. Each of its hands held a massive bladed weapon, that looked like something in between a sword and an axe, glowing fiery-red as if they had just come out from a forge.

“You… Gotta be kidding… Right?” Her voice trembling, Iris asked while hiding behind Steinar. It was her first time seeing such a monstrosity, and she certainly did not seem eager to face it in combat.

“Isn’t this a little too much, Steinar?” Alice, who was standing by her sister’s side, further inquired. “I believe you’re aware that we have no experience whatsoever when it comes to fighting, right?”

“That’s the sole reason why we’re here.” He declared, as he grabbed the reluctant twins— each under one arm— and started carrying them towards the place where the creature awaited. “So that the two of you can get some real-life combat experience.” Behind the monstrosity, a massive pyramid-like structure protruded out of the swamp. It was still half buried into the ground, like it had been just excavated, or somehow forced up from the depths through means unknown.

“That’s not the point, Steinar!” Iris argued, as she was easily carried under one of Steinar’s muscular arms. “Look at that monster! We’re dead if that thing hits us even once!”

“Well, then I guess you better not get hit.” Steinar said, as he basically dropped the two girls into the ground. Luckily, this place was relatively ‘dry’ when compared to the rest of the swamp, so instead of that ‘filthy’ water, they only had to put up with the muddy ground.

Before they could voice any complaint, however, the unholy monstrosity was already lunging towards them— the shadow of its massive blades quickly approaching their petite bodies. Iris raised a hand towards the creature, gathering mana and preparing to fire off a spell; though before she could actually finish the cast, Steinar had already moved to parry the blow with his own sword. “I’ll handle the defense.” He said, pushing back the demon with a roundhouse kick that struck at its ribs. “You two handle the attack.”

Poising themselves for battle, both Iris and Alice focused on the feeling of mana pulsating within their bodies. The two were very eager to test the full extent of the darkness attribute that they had awakened with their witch-brand. “Alice, with me!” Iris shouted, beckoning her sister to follow her. With their arms stretched and hands pointed towards the enemy, a mass of dark-purple energy gathered within their palms. They didn’t know many darkness-attribute spells yet, but whatever Bruna had taught them would surely be strong.

[““Dark Ray!””] The two conjured in unison, their angelic voices resounding across the swamp. Two large beans of dark energy were fired from their palms, making their way towards the place were Steinar and the demon were fighting. Steinar jumped sideways, skillfully dodging the energy beams, while the demon couldn’t react in time and got hit by them— or at least that’s what the twins thought would happen. The creature crossed both his swords and used them to block the beams, being pushed back just a few centimeters before completely deflecting them.

“Eh…?” Iris watched in abject surprise as the creature deflected her spell. It was just absurd, impossible even. With the amount of mana she had put into that spell, she had hoped that the creature would have been completely obliterated— not even a corpse remaining. Even more so since her sister had cast the exact same spell, with the exact same amount of mana behind it. She gritted her teeth and calmed her rising anger, readying herself to fire yet another spell; but the next thing she knew... The creature was gone.

“Sister, behind you!” Alice screamed, pushing her sister to the side.

“Wha—?” Iris stumbled and almost fell onto her butt, her arms flailing about as she struggled to maintain her balance. She then flinched, her face turning pale as she noticed what had just happened. In the place where she previously stood, now laid a deep, smoldering gash. The creature had moved behind her, and that was the aftermath of its attack— that she had just dodged by the skin of her teeth. If not for Alice’s help, her entrails would now be splattered all over the ground, her body squashed like a human-pancake.

“Damn, this one is fast.” Steinar said, as he moved to intercept the creature’s next attack. He parried both massive blades with his sword, releasing a thundering impact that sent a loud echo far into the distance. It seemed as if the demon’s sudden burst of speed had caught him by surprise. Might be that he had faced a similar demon before, so he kind of expected it to be a bit slower than it actually was. No matter, it wouldn’t happen again. He couldn’t risk losing the twins.

By now, Iris’ legs were shaking like green bamboo on a storm. This was not a fight she should be taking part in… It was something far beyond her current level. “Fuck!” She shouted, stomping a foot into the muddy ground. For someone as proud as she was, the realization of her own powerlessness was a bitter truth she did not care for tasting. “Is that how it is?! Then just you wait… I won’t hold back anymore!” She stepped forward, letting the mana run rampant inside her body, as she pointed the index finger of her right hand towards the skies. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, her body being surrounded by the powerful glow of her overflowing mana.

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“Sister, that—!” Alice tried to say something, but was cut off before she could.

“Hearken!” The roar of a thunder followed Iris’ command, as if issuing a warning to any who dared oppose her. “Notus of the southern wind, through my will make thine wrath manifest!”

“Shit…!” Alice muttered, her tiny eyebrows frowning at her sister as she hurriedly set up a barrier. “Stupid Iris!”

“Through my mana, unleash upon my enemies the fury of heaven’s brightest star!” As Iris kept conjuring, the air around her started crackling— sparks of lightning wildly flying about. She was about to unleash her mightiest spell, her trump card, of sorts. Though an argument could be made against unleashing one’s trump card so soon into a fight, she was ready to bet everything into that single spell.

“Let thine might rain down upon the world, and cleanse it of all impurities!” Iris chanted the last verse of its invocation, the last verse of the strongest spell she knew— a High Sorcery.

[“Sirius Lightning!”] And at that moment, their whole world was enveloped by a flare of pure white; the ear-splitting roar of thunder, descending from the heavens. A divine spear of lightning tore through the dark clouds, opening them up and revealing the starry night sky that hid above. The majestic spear reached for the earth, disintegrating everything in its path. The ground quaked upon impact, a thick mist forming from all the water that instantly evaporated from the mud. Everyone was blinded for a few moments, their ears ringing from the extremely loud thunderclap. It was only once the tremors subsided that everyone was able to regain their composure.

“H-How’s that…?” Panting heavily, Iris fell to her knees, exhausted from the hideously high amount of mana she had to use in order to conjure that high sorcery. Her body was absolutely spent, in a far worse situation than any training had ever put her.

“Well… Color me impressed.” Said Steinar, who was now by her side, staring into the enormous crater that now stood where the demon once was. “I had no idea you could conjure a high sorcery.”

“Iris, you stupid dumbass!” Alice screeched from the side, as her barrier dissolved into nothing. “You almost got us killed!”

“Sorry...” Iris apologized, still gasping for air. “That bastard pissed me off... I kinda forgot to think about the area of effect.”

“No need to worry about me.” Steinar shook his head, offering a hand to help Iris get up. “If something of that level could kill me, I wouldn’t be here right now.”

“Is that so?” Iris took his hand and got up, though her breath was still unsteady and her legs trembling. She kind of assumed that Steinar was just trying to boast, but then again, he was someone very strong. “Well, I’ve taken down the demon. Now what?”

“Now? Huhuhu…” Steinar let out a slight chuckle. The twins stared at him in surprise, eyebrows raised and wide-eyed, as it was the first time they had ever seen him actually laugh. His usually cold and stoic demeanor never let emotions show through, so one could only imagine the extent of their surprise upon seeing his reaction. “Ah, seriously… You amuse me greatly, Iris.” He proceeded to pat Iris’s head, his big, rough hands stroking her silky locks.

“W-What? What is it!?” Iris asked nervously, her cheeks blushing as Steinar caressed her.

“You see, my dearest Iris, when it comes to demons...” Steinar gave pause to his words, then pointed into the distance and continued. “There’s never just a single one.”

“What…?” Iris showed a puzzled expression as she looked towards the direction Steinar had pointed to. ‘There’s nothing there, just more swampy landscape’, or so she thought, until she noticed something moving. “Wait… Is that…!?” Then more figures caught her eye, then more, and more, and more… All coming towards their direction. Easily over a hundred demons, just like the one she had killed.

“No way...” Iris fell to her knees once more, laughing in desperation as she was struck by the harsh reality of her situation. “There’s no way... This can be real… Right?”

“Steinar...” Her face pale and eyes moistening with tears, Alice rushed to Steinar’s side, expecting him to say something.

“This is a little more than I anticipated…” Steinar muttered as he readied his sword. “The training is canceled, for now. You two, stay behind me and focus on staying alive— no matter what.”

What followed was hell. Iris could barely move, her body was so exhausted that she couldn’t even fire a single spell. Hugging her tired body from behind, Alice desperately struggled to maintain a barrier around the two of them, while Steinar fought back against the swarm of demons. They simply didn’t stop coming… So many… There’s no way all of those could have been summoned in a short amount of time. There was something else going on behind the scenes, something far more serious than what they had initially thought. ‘Gods… There’s a whole army of them...’ Iris felt as if her whole existence was being swallowed up by fear, her heart threatening to stop each time a demon almost made it’s way past Steinar’s defenses. Her body was freezing, to a point where she could no longer feel the tips of her fingers. ‘Ah… Is this… How we’re going to die...’ She wondered, as her consciousness started to grow dim. ‘No… Not yet... I...’ And then, she finally succumbed to exhaustion.

##

End of Chapter 18: Demons Abound.