Without any further warning he vanished.

SWOOSH!

He reappeared directly in front of Rathlos with his fist already drawn back and covered in dense crimson energy that crackled and pressed against the air around it.

Then he struck with everything behind it.

BOOOOM!

The impact shook the sky and Rathlos’ massive body shifted slightly as the force spread outward and a shockwave tore through the clouds above them. The nearby mountain peaks cracked under the pressure of the collision.

But Rathlos did not move much. He tilted his head slightly and looked at the demon with an expression that carried no particular urgency in it.

"That’s it?" he said.

Before the demon could react a massive claw came down.

BOOM!

The demon was smashed downward and crashed through the air before slamming into the ground below with a force that shattered the mountain beneath him and tore through it as his body carved a path into the rock. Dust and debris exploded upward in a wide cloud.

But in the next moment the demon shot back out. He charged again and faster this time and his attacks became relentless, punches and kicks and bursts of raw energy all landing with enough force to destroy mountains individually.

Each collision between them sent shockwaves rolling across the surrounding area and flattened everything within range of the pressure.

Rathlos gathered his power and drove it into his claw and came down with a devastating strike but a barrier snapped into existence and absorbed the blow with a deep resonant pulse. The energy held and pushed back and Rathlos pulled his claw back and studied the barrier with narrowed eyes. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Blessing of a demon god," he said, his frown settling in as he recognized what he was looking at.

Demons had gods of their own beyond the Church of Darkness and this barrier carried the mark of one of them clearly. He did not know which one specifically but the barrier itself was frightening in how solidly it had held and the bloodline eruption running underneath everything else was going to be troublesome on top of that.

Rathlos made a decision. He was going to go all out.

His massive body blurred and the shadows around him twisted and gathered inward as if being drawn toward him by something they recognized.

From within those gathered shadows a blade emerged and the moment it came fully out the entire world around them seemed to shift in some quiet and fundamental way. He held it without effort and the darkness around its edge pulsed steadily like something alive and breathing.

"What a fine craftsman," Rathlos said and the genuine appreciation in his voice was clear even in the middle of a fight. The blade felt like an extension of himself in a way that made him want to say it again.

The demon’s eyes widened slightly as he looked at it. "What is that," he said and the question came out with an edge of something that was not quite fear but was getting close to it.

Rathlos swung.

A gigantic blade of pure darkness erupted from the sky and came down onto the Mythic rank demon with a weight and scale that dwarfed everything that had been exchanged between them up to that point.

The demon threw his blessing up to meet it and the barrier flared bright and strained visibly against the pressure pushing down on it.

For a moment it held and the two forces ground against each other with a sound that shook the surrounding peaks. Then the barrier cracked across its surface in several places at once and in the next instant it shattered completely and the demon was blasted backward through the air and sent tumbling away from the point of impact with blood trailing behind him.

He hit the ground hard and skidded across it and then scrambled upright and without wasting a single second threw a shroud of chaos around himself and turned to run. The concealment wrapped around him and he pushed into full speed and moved away from Rathlos as fast as his battered body would carry him.

SWISH!

Rathlos disappeared from where he had been standing. Then he reappeared directly behind the demon and the blade moved in a single clean and silent arc. The demon twisted his body just in time to avoid the center of it but even that partial evasion was not enough and a deep cut opened across his side as the edge caught him. Blood sprayed into the air in a wide arc.

"ARGH!" He stumbled forward and his aura flickered unevenly for a moment as the pain hit him.

Rathlos did not give him the time to stabilize. He stepped back into the shadows and was gone again and then reappeared from a completely different angle.

SWISH!

Another strike landed and then another after that. Each movement was impossible to track with any reliability and Rathlos moved through the shadows around him like they were part of his own body, appearing and disappearing without pattern and without warning.

The demon tried to counter. He unleashed bursts of power outward in every direction and sent waves of energy tearing through the surrounding mountains in wide destructive arcs that demolished the peaks around them.

But he could not hit Rathlos and every time he committed an attack Rathlos was already somewhere else and every time Rathlos appeared he struck cleanly and precisely and with a deliberate economy that made each cut worse than the one before it.

Cuts began to cover the demon’s body and his breathing grew heavier with each passing exchange and his movements slowed in ways he could not fully compensate for. "Damn it, damn it!" he roared and swung wildly at the empty air.

Then Rathlos appeared directly in front of him and for the first time their eyes met at close range with nothing between them. The demon froze for a fraction of a second and his body did not respond the way he needed it to.

That was enough.

Rathlos raised the blade and brought it down.

SLASH!

The demon’s arm was severed instantly and before the scream that followed could finish another strike came.

SLASH!

The other arm fell and blood poured from both wounds in heavy streams and the demon dropped to his knees with his body shaking violently beneath him.

He tried to move and tried to push his regeneration into action but Rathlos stepped forward and slammed him down into the earth with his full weight behind it.

BOOOOM!

The ground collapsed and formed a deep crater around the demon’s body as it was driven into it and dust rose up into the air in a thick column.

Silence followed and settled over the mountain like a held breath.

Rathlos stood over him with the shadow blade resting calmly at his side and his eyes looking down at the broken figure in the crater below him, cold and steady and in no particular hurry.

"If you want to live speak," he said quietly and let the rest of it sit unspoken in the air between them, "or else."