My arms felt as stiff as wood. Though my mind screamed for them to move, even lifting a single finger was a slow and laborious endeavor. It was as if I had been struck by a sudden bought of sleep paralysis. There was a disconnect between my brain and my body that no common exhaustion could cause.

I had been poisoned. I had experienced it enough times throughout my lives to recognize the sedative effect. If not for the recent improvements Mare had done to my body, I would probably be no different than Dad, asleep on the floor and lost in a world of pleasant dreams.

I wanted to curse and scream at my own carelessness but all that came out of my mouth was a low groan. As if in response, a musty smoke began to fill the room. It was the same moldy smell that filled the entire house.

I couldn’t turn my head to look at the source of the smoke but I could see it from the corner of my eye. It was that stupid boulder that destroyed half our house!

As soon as the smoke was released, the sound of cracking rock began to fill the room. The seemingly normal boulder broke apart. Broken pieces of stone clattered to the ground revealing the chilling sight of two glowing red eyes. The bloodthirsty domain of an Alpha Demonkin radiated from those eyes, washing over the room like a tidal wave.

Panic began to set in as those hungry eyes shifted from me to my dad. I screamed for my body to move as more rock cracked apart the reveal the Demonkin underneath. Ten legs the same color as stone unfurled beneath its body. Standing up, it was like a spider straight from an arachnophobe’s worst nightmares with each leg longer than a full-grown man. A vertical slit in its torso opened and closed, creating a clicking noise from several rows of needle-like teeth gnashing against each other.

I struggled to find the power to do something… anything as the Demonkin skittered across the room to where my dad laid completely oblivious. The energy in my body was moving as lethargic as my muscles were. The poison in my system was just too strong. I tried to move my body with my domain but all I managed was collapsing to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut. I tried to ignite the fire that burned in my veins but all that came out was a little spark. It sputtered weakly for a second before extinguishing. I just couldn’t muster the strength.

Right, strength! I took as deep a breath as I could, feeling my lungs burn. A golden pattern flickered across my skin. It looked unstable, dimming and glowing in different places randomly like an electronic short-circuiting. The little energy I could muster was not enough to completely activate the Divine Body but it did have an effect.

It still felt as if I had weights tied to my arms and feet but it was better than not feeling them at all. With excruciatingly sluggish movements, I pushed myself up from the ground.

The spider Demonkin stood over my dad. Foul green saliva dripped from the overly large mouth in its torso. It had been about to eat my dad!

Rage burned in my chest but not sure I could walk in my current state, I kind of just flung myself at the Demonkin in a controlled fall. A normal person would have probably just collapsed to the ground in an embarrassing tangle of limbs but after Mare’s experiments, my body was far from normal. Even weakened, there was enough force in my body to turn my stumbling grasp at the Demonkin into a flying tackle.

The Demonkin’s eyes went wide in surprise as I tripped headfirst into one of its legs with enough power to send both of us crashing through the sturdy wood wall of the house. My body still did not listen to me very well so it was all I could do to hold onto the spider’s one leg in a death grip as the two of us tumbled down the hill at the back of the house.

The remaining nine legs of the Demonkin stuck out wildly as we tumbled across the dirt. The little clawed feet were like knives as they slashed at my skin. I felt warm blood trickle down my back as dozens of cuts opened up one after another. It was a testament to the power of my augmented body that the wounds were shallow. Even a weak Alpha Demonkin could shatter rock with ease and this one was definitely not weak. Each of its flurry of blows created shockwaves that tore apart the unfortunate vine and trees in our path.

I could the burning pain of my back getting torn up by the skittering legs of the Demonkin but I could not spare the energy to protect myself from them. As if everything was moving in slow motion, my attention instead focused on the large mouth and more importantly the thick red mist pouring out from it. Instinctively, I knew if I was bit by this creature, it was all over. Without even touching it, I could feel the intensely concentrated corruptive energy. All it would take was a single bite from the Demonkin and I would have to make the choice between death or becoming a monster no different than it.

I ignored the ever-increasing number of wounds across my back as I laboriously forced my arms to move. I grabbed both sides of the spider’s body, barely stopping the terrifying mouth from latching down on my shoulder. I hissed in pain as the flailing knife-like legs started cutting up my arms. Still, I did not let go. I couldn’t let go no matter what.

Putting what energy I could into my legs, I repeated my earlier stumbling tackle. This time I slammed the giant spider directly into the ground. It squealed in pain as the rock shell on its back started to crack. The flailing legs cut at anything they could reach. My every step now left a puddle of blood in my wake. It hurt. It hurt a lot but it wasn’t as bad as Mare’s experiments. I could still handle this much pain.

I repeatedly slammed the creature into the ground. Each move carried me further and further from the house. The Demonkin’s back was cracked open and leaking nauseous green blood that smelt of fungus and mold. My eyes felt heavier and heavier with each passing second while the Demonkin only grew more frenzied.

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I struggled to hold back the mouth as teeth clacked together a hair’s breadth from my face. This was anything but an elegant fight. The two of us rolled across the ground desperately struggling to survive. Only one of us would walk away from this and more and more it was looking like it would not be me.

My body may have been slow and unresponsive but my mind was madly thinking a thousand thoughts a second as I tried to find some way out of this. It was at this time I spotted the nearby church and my face lit up. Instinctively trying to draw the Demonkin away from the house where Dad slept, I had ended up back near the village center and towards the perfect solution to my problem.

Putting all the strength I could into my legs, I leapt at the church. The spider acted like a battering ram as the two of us crashed through the stone wall. For the first time since the fight began, I released the Demonkin, pushing him off me desperately. The two of us slid across the floor with all the grace of a brick thrown through a window.

I groaned in pain as my body sluggishly picked itself up off the ground. The Demonkin was much quicker to its feet. The blood leaking from its wounds began to boil. The room filled with musty smoke and I felt a wave of vertigo wash over me. I nearly collapsed as a renewed wave of exhaustion washed over me. Blood loss only made my situation worse. I knew I did not have much longer.

With one staggering step, I moved to the center altar at the front of the church. There, the paintings of the Thirteen Divisions stood proudly. My hand shook as I reached out to the nearest painting. Blood streaks soaked the oils ruining the picture forever.

“Please work,” I mumbled weakly before collapsing to the floor. I had no more strength to give. It was over.

The spider Demonkin clacked its teeth together triumphantly. Its red eyes were filled with hunger as it approached. However, before the Demonkin could take a second step the blood I left on the painting began to sizzle and pop. A disembodied voice echoed through the church.

“Distress call received. Activating defensive protocols.”

The Demonkin jumped at the sound of the disembodied voice. It looked around for the source of the sound for a moment before its eyes locked back on me. Regardless of the what voice meant, it looked like the Demonkin wanted to take a bite out of me first. It skittered across the floor in a blur. Its mouth opened wide as it leapt in the air.

At that moment, all the stars in the ceiling began to glow with radiant light. Faster than the eye could track, a beam of searing struck down at the Demonkin. The creature did not even have time to react. It had still been midair when the light struck but when it landed in front of me, the Demonkin had been cleanly sliced in half. Its body twitched for a moment before nearly a dozen more beams of light sliced down from the stars in the ceiling chopping the creature apart until it lied completely still. The musty smell of the spider’s blood intensified as it pooled across the floor.

I closed my eyes in resignation as the warm embrace of sleep began to take me. It had not been easy but the Demonkin was dead and I was still alive. That was a win in my book. Though, the exact, dirty details of this fight were best glossed over.

“I really owe the Fourth Division this time,” I conceded. Letting out a long breath, my muscles went limp as the Divine Body deactivated.

Just before sleep took me though, I heard a slow clapping echo through the church. “That was quite impressive. I guess you are not one of the Five Calamities for nothing. Even one of my favorite Alphas could not take you down despite catching you in a surprise attack.”

My eyes shot open at the sound of the somewhat familiar voice. It took all my willpower just to turn my head.

Walking into the church was a man dressed in a finely tailored suit with slicked-back hair. I almost mistook him for a con artist until I saw the glowing red eyes. A chill traveled down my spine as I recognized the man. He was the Wind Demon, Andras.

The church reacted to the Demon’s presence instantly. Hundreds of swords of light stuck down from the ceiling in a hail that was too quick for my eyes to track.

The Demon barely reacted as the blades rained down on him. He just smiled up at the incoming attacks. A sound like metal grating against metal screeched through the church as his domain easily blocked the myriad of blows.

As they attacked, the stars in the ceiling began to dim one by one. They faded to black and became unnoticeable in the ceiling above. I grimaced internally at the sight. A small church like this one did not have the energy reserves to attack for more than a few dozen seconds. It was strong enough to threaten most Demonkin when caught unaware but against a true Demon, this level of attack might as well have been an evening drizzle.

Once the attacks stopped and the ceiling fell completely dim, Andras walked into the church completely unharmed. He had a smug grin on his face as he spoke. “You humans really are predictably sentimental. All I had to do was leave a few walls standing and you walked into my trap without a second thought. I will never understand why Berith was so afraid of you.

A strong gust of wind tossed aside the minced corpse of the Demonkin, clearing a path for Andras to walk without dirtying his shoes. I grimaced in pain as I took another deep breath and once again forced the Divine Body to activate. I didn’t have the energy to fight a Demon and we both knew it but I refused to remain lying on the ground without even trying. My wounds and muscles ached as I forced myself to stand one last time.

Andras chuckled at my small show of defiance. A gust of wind blew past me before picking up speed and hitting like a sledgehammer. A coughed in pain as my exhausted body slammed against the wall. I slumped down, holding onto one of the paintings for support. I tried my best to remain standing despite my legs giving out.

Andras just shook his head as he approached. His hand reached out, gripping my neck tightly and lifting me into the air. “Your resistance is meaningless. You lost the moment you breathed in that poison but do not worry. I am not going to kill you. We can’t have you reincarnating again after all. No, I am going to take my time with you. I will slowly break your body down until the day my master arrives. Piece by little piece I will rip your flesh apart until all that remains is a husk.”

I felt Andras tighten his grip around my throat, cutting off my ability to breathe. I flailed my arms and legs, striking at his body with all the strength I could muster. I tried to burn him, to explode in a fiery blaze but it was all meaningless. The poison had completely worked its way through my system now and I was growing weaker by the second.

Andras seemed to relish in my struggle. He had a vicious smile on his face as he continued to choke me. As my vision began to darken and my consciousness faded, my last thoughts were of my dad. I prayed that I had drawn the fight far enough away and that the Demon would be distracted by his prize enough that Dad’s sleeping form might go unnoticed.