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Anna charged her body and sword with Lightning, in hopes of finishing off Jeremias with a quick slash. Or at the very least weaken him enough.
However…
FLASH!
Before she could slice him up, he disappeared in an instant, vanishing from where he was a second ago and appearing elsewhere far away.
“I told you that this is my domain, a dimension I control as I wish!” The imp-like demon said it in frustration. “Stop thinking you have a damn chance-”
Before he could finish his words, Jeremias realized Dan Baihe, Anna, and Sara were running towards him. Baihe channeled her Mana in all her totality as a gigantic storm of ice engulfed him.
“{Winter’s Wrath}!!”
FLUOSH!
“URGH…!”
Jeremias realized his body was slowly being frozen as it was covered by ice, slowing down his movements! His eyes opened wide to realize that Sara had divided herself into many clones made of phantasmal energy.
“{Spectral Rush}!”
Her entire body was divided countless times into many phantasmal clones, attacking Jeremias dozens of times! Her dagger attacks released waves of darkness and phantasmal flames, covering his body with them!
“GRAAAAHHH! S-STOP IT ALREADY!”
Jeremias couldn’t help but scream in utter frustration. A shockwave of demonic energy surged from his body as he shifted from where he was a second before Anna’s sword could reach him again.
“Y-You damn bastards…!” He muttered; he was still wounded from Baihe and Sara’s surprise attacks, gasping for air.
“It doesn’t look like you’re as invincible as you like to say.” Anna smiled.
“I am… As long as this castle exists, I cannot be killed…” Jeremias laughed; his wounds, however, suddenly started to recover, his body regaining its pristine original appearance. “I am the Demonic Castle’s Spirit! I am an immortal being, and you’re trapped here! Can’t you begin despairing already? You’re done for the moment, my master-”
However, to Jeremias’s surprise, they didn’t listen. All three of them attacked again, this time with both magic and physical attacks.
Anna’s lightning-enhanced sword came accompanied by a rain of blades made of sunlight and demonic energy, while Baihe’s snowstorm came with her frost spear attempting to pierce his throat, all while Sara’s attacks came accompanied by phantom fireballs!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Fools…”
However, Jeremias reappeared elsewhere, glaring at them furiously.
“I’m done with you; forget introductions, forget manners!” He cried. “Just fucking die already!”
He waved his two hands as the space around the girls distorted rapidly; the dimensions started to disintegrate and slice apart one after another, attempting to carry the girls with them!
“So that’s how he’s planning to get rid of us.” Anna was already beginning to figure out how he could fight.
As overpowered as his ability to control space seemed to be, Jeremias was someone with several restrictions that didn’t simply allow him to delete space wherever he wanted and however he wanted.
His ability was restricted to shifting space, in particular. Anna and her friends quickly started to realize this as they evaded his attacks, which seemed to come endlessly.
But they had some sort of pattern to them.
FLAASH! FLAASH! FLAASH!
“To the left! Quickly!”
Anna guided her friends as they evaded each of Jeremias’ attacks while making their way towards him once more.
Anna constantly slid through his attacks and barely evaded them; sometimes they got through her defenses but would be blocked by her tough armor temporarily.
She always made sure to touch the attacks; even a small touch did it for her.
Jeremias, however, was growing increasingly frustrated by their attempts. It felt like they were looking down on him, even though they were constantly hanging on a thread!
“Do you think my attacks are predictable, fools?”
As Jeremias said, the floor beneath the trio trembled, with countless spikes made of pure and transparent space emerging from it, attempting to impale them.
However, Anna swung her sword rapidly, imbuing it with her Lightning to give her speed, while adding small amounts of Cosmic Energy, Celestial Energy, and Demonic Energy.
The result?
“{Thousand Blades}: {Space Shifting Lightning Slash}!”
SLAASH! SLAASH! SLAASH!
Three slashes emerged from her attacks, which quickly divided into dozens. The attacks stacked on one another, slicing through the shifted space of Jeremias and forcing it to return to its original positions.
“What?!” Jeremias couldn’t believe what he saw. “Did she... dispel my shifted space? HOW?!”
This wasn’t something hard to do once she learned his pattern. Jeremias could, at most, control up to four areas he could shift. Each one seemed to not be able to go over thirty meters.
Alongside this, Anna was able to imbue the power of her Arcane Hands into her attacks, imbuing her slashes with the ability to dispel magical effects.
This wouldn’t have been possible if she hadn’t seen them and analyzed them for a couple of seconds, utilizing her hands to touch the shifted space to assess and reassemble their runic composition.
“This is bullshit…” Jeremias roared. “No matter what you try, your fate is already sealed! SEALED I SAY!” Jeremias grew insane, roaring furiously as a storm of Demonic Flames emerged around him and released a shockwave towards everyone!
“{Heaven’s Shield}!”
Anna combined her Celestial Energy with the power of her Lightning, generating a huge shield made of light and thunder and protecting herself and her allies.
“{Lightning Blast}!”
The shield then gathered the damage taken and gave it back as a beam of light as it disintegrated, reaching Jeremias as he was furiously shifting space, attempting to crush them!
BOOOMMM!!!
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“W-What- Arghh…!”
Jeremias couldn’t evade! He suddenly realized they had learned his one weakness. While shifting the maximum amount of space he could at once, he naturally could not shift his body around and escape their attacks.
“It worked!” Baihe said. “As long as he’s shifting a lot of space, he can’t escape our attacks!”
“Even then, this is too complicated.” Sara sighed. “But as long as Anna’s here leading us... It is possible!”
“Focus.” Anna said he’s getting angrier!”
“RAAAAH! FUCKING BASTARDS! Y-YOU DARE…! YOU DARE THINK YOU HAVE A CHANCE?!”
Jeremias’ entire body started shifting around, the space surrounding him distorting as he began shifting everywhere all at once!
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
“RAAAAH!”
Suddenly, he teleported right above Anna, his claws reaching her as his Demonic Claws grew ten times as big! He was genuinely attempting to just slice her into pieces with his physical body.
“DIE!”
“You’re only going to make this easier!”
Anna’s body erupted with a radiant aura, chains emerging from within as she activated her Arcane Hands once more, invoking her Demon Sealing Holy Chains and wrapping Jeremias’ claws with them!
FLAAASH!
“URGH?! AAGH…!”
Jeremias was about to shift away, but the power of the chains kept him in place! He forced them, and they gained cracks and were about to shatter… However!
Ding!
[You have activated the effects of the [Spectral Body (S)] Skill!]
[Your Body has temporarily become like a Specter!]
[Lightning has merged with your spectral body, enhancing your Movement Speed, Agility, and Accuracy by +200%!]
Anna activated the Skill she decided to inherit from Sara, fusing it with her Lightning Magic to temporarily transform her entire body into pure electricity, moving at an incredible super-speed!
FLASH!
“{Thousand Blades}: {Thunderous Starlight}”
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
She used this opportunity to cover his entire body with countless attacks. The almighty element of Lightning further helps her evolve her techniques by adding a much-needed speed and defense-penetration boost!
Jeremias screamed in agony; despite being "immortal,” his body could feel pain, even more when he was cut down into dozens of pieces!
“GRAAAH!”
With a furious scream, his pieces came back together again, the chains breaking as his body shifted away seconds before Baihe and Sara’s attacks could reach him!
“Hahh.. Hahh…! W-What was that?!” He muttered, his body fully recovered, yet the trauma lingered within his mind.
Despite having so many advantages, it felt like that girl, that little demon... She was someone capable of breaking through all things.
She would always find a way out of any situation!
“W-Who the fuck is she?! She’s not just a brat! WHAT IS SHE?!”
Jeremias had little battle experience and thought highly of himself. He had a fragile ego too… This made him a perfect opponent for Anna to abuse! And also someone perfect for her to practice her new abilities while pushing herself to her limits.
“Hey, are you going to keep running away?” She provoked him, giving him the cockiest smile she could muster.
“T-Tch…! Running away…? ME?!”
The Imp-like demon grew more furious, his small body beginning to distort, growing larger, until it resembled a tall, skinny, and lanky version of himself, over four meters in height and with gigantic claws!
“I’M NOT RUNNING AWAY!”
The surroundings started to shift around, as Anna noticed he was making sure to leave one space shifting usage for him to teleport anywhere he wanted, appearing, and disappearing as countless cylinders, spikes, or hammer-shaped shifted spaces constantly assaulted them.
“Run! Evade!”
Anna commanded her friends as they kept evading the attacks. Violet and Snow were helping a lot as well, as they were riding both of them, being carried by these two monsters, which had excellent instincts and the ability to naturally evade blows.
Violet and Snow kept chasing down Jeremias as he continued teleporting away. He grew more and more frustrated to realize this was becoming pointless! He couldn’t hit them!
“Why don’t you stay still for once, you FUCKERS?!”
He suddenly waved his two hands down, and the space around all of them shifted, forming a huge, invisible cube! Suddenly, the cube started compressing itself, attempting to crush them within space!
TRUM…!
“AHA! Finally got you!” Jeremias laughed. “Now- Eh?!”
Only for his joy to turn into disbelief, one of the walls of the cube suddenly collapsed on itself as Anna touched it. Jeremias eyes filled with disbelief as she and her friends rushed towards him at lightning speed!
“Shit! She dispelled the space again! I have to teleport away!” Jeremias thought, gritting his sharp teeth as he was about to shift space around him and escape through teleportation.
However…
TRUUM!
The wall that Anna had dispelled suddenly regained its magical and runic composition, going back to the form it was. This meant that Jeremias had no longer any space-shifting uses as the cube was still in effect within the next couple of seconds!
Indeed, to create such a powerful space, he had to use all his resources, putting himself in yet another corner. Anna smiled, knowing how to get out of there while also canceling her dispelling of the runic composition, turning it back to where it was, and taking away the demon’s opportunity to escape.
“How did she figure it out?!” He thought before his entire body was covered in countless slashing attacks.
“{Thousand Blades}: {Thunderous Starlight}”
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Countless slashes covered his body at lightning speed, cutting him down to pieces. At the same time, Demon-Sealing Chains surged from Anna’s Celestial Aura, wrapping around each part of his body, and stopping him from regenerating.
“{Freezing Touch}!”
Baihe’s hands overflowed with her mana as she touched each piece in mere seconds with her fingers; the pieces gathered together but were distorted and deformed as they were wrapped around chains, frozen as well!
“AARRGGH…! S-STOP!”
Jeremias screamed in agony, scared of what the hell was going on! He couldn’t recover, and he couldn’t teleport away instantly either, even as his space-shifting limit was freed!
“{Spectral Phantasm}!!”
And as if things couldn’t get any worse, Sara’s hands overflowed with phantasmal flames of blue, covering his entire body and constantly burning him!
FLUOSH!
Jeremias kept screaming as his demon energy couldn’t be used at all! “W-What are you doing?! FREE ME AT ONCE! W-WHAT ARE- AGH?!”
Suddenly, Anna’s sword gathered lightning powers and cosmic powers, at the same time as she once more turned into a being of pure lightning for a couple of seconds, her current limit, before receiving a huge backlash!
Ding!
[You have activated the effects of the [Spectral Body (S)] Skill!]
[Your Body has temporarily become like a Specter!]
[Lightning has merged with your spectral body, enhancing your Movement Speed, Agility, and Accuracy by +200%!]
“{Thousand Blades}: {Spectral Lightning}!”
FLASH!
For that split second, it felt as if Anna had merged with her very sword, piercing through Jeremias' sealed and tattered body, and then reaching the depths of it, to his very soul!
“W-What are you- AAARRGGHH…!”
SLAAASH!
She became the lightning itself, cutting through his very soul—not once, but hundreds of times! That single slash reduced his soul into countless pieces as countless slashes were unleashed all at once.
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Immortal? As long as she could reach his soul, he would be defeated, like anybody else!
“Y-YOU BASTARD…!”
Jeremias screamed in agony, space shifting crazily around them as countless blows came and went, Baihe and Sara evading them as they could as Anna kept shattering his soul into pieces. and then!
“Enough! You’re not even a third-rate villain, lackey; you’re just an extra nobody ever wrote,” Anna said, offending Jeremias the most with those words. “And now, you’re going to become mine!”
After having weakened his soul by cutting it into thousands of tiny pieces, Anna wrapped golden chains around it and compressed it into a black sphere with her Air Compression Skill and a new Spell she created, Soul Bubble.
“{Purgatory Portal}!”
Her mind quickly came back to her physical body as she hurriedly placed the sealed Jeremias’ soul inside her Purgatory, the Skill doing the rest.
“N-No! Free me at once! This can’t be happening…! T-The castle! How will it function without me?! LORD BEELZEBUB!!!”
Jeremias emerged once more in his imp-like form, slamming the invisible walls of Purgatory desperately, finding it futile.
“E-Eh?! What is this?!”
He quickly realized a strange stigma appeared on his left hand, showing he had become someone else's property now.
Ding!
[The weakened soul of a Demonic Castle Spirit has been sealed within the {Purgatory}!]
[The powerful Demonic Soul has lost all its abilities to exert its true powers inside.]
[It has now been marked with the {Prisoner of the Purgatory} Stigma.]
[This Demon Soul now belongs to you to use.]
[Several Constellations that hate humans are showing their ill intent against you!]
[Other Constellations that hate Demons are beginning to find you interesting.]
[Some Constellations have sponsored 5000 Plot Points due to your incredible ability to make things amusing.]
RUMBLE!
As that happened, the dimension where everyone was trapped slowly dissolved as the girls went back to where they were before—the castle’s endless maze of rooms.
“Phew, if it wasn’t for these Lightning Powers, I am not sure if I would have been able to out-speed the bastard.” Anna laughed, feeling relieved.
“Y-You actually did it…” Baihe said. “YOU DID IT!” She celebrated.
“Ugh… That was exhausting!” Sara complained, resting on the floor. “Hahh…”
“We have little time to rest though, girls,” Anna said, sheathing her sword. “We have to keep moving. Now that Jeremias has been cut off from the castle, the dimensions he created have dissolved, and everyone is once again connected! Quickly! There are people in danger right now!”
“R-Right!” Baihe nodded.
“Let’s go!” Sara agreed.
The team quickly ran across the seemingly endless corridors—no longer endless this time, though—as they quickly sensed someone nearby through the watches that the chairman gave them.
Another battle against a Death Apostle was occurring right there.
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