"Stop running around, you filthy rat!"

Vaelrith’s roar made the entire corridor tremble.

He stood in the middle, his body was being held together by thick purple-black demonic energy and Lucian...

He was nowhere near him.

He was halfway down the corridor, crouched behind a broken medical table. His coat was torn near the shoulder, blood running down his left arm from a cut that, if he hadn’t dodged at the very last second, would have sliced his hand off.

But despite all that—

"Geee. Stop being so loud, will you? I was taking a nap because your attacks never reach me."

He taunted.

"Face me properly."

Vaelrith’s eyes burned with intense anger as he looked in the direction Lucian’s voice came from. Lucian laughed as he then picked a broken metal clamp from the floor and threw it at him.

Once again, the demonic energy moved, twisted the clamp and threw it aside.

"I won’t."

Lucian grinned.

"You are too ugly, I’d puke if I looked at you."

"YOU IMPUDENT FILTH!"

BOOOOM

Vaelrith snarled as another wave of purple-black energy burst from Silas’s ruined body and tore through the corridor.

And again, Lucian moved before it reached him.

He hid behind a restraint chair, the wave struck the chair and ripped it into pieces, its shards flew everywhere.

Lucian dodged most of them, but one still cut his cheek and another stabbed into his thigh.

"Hsss!"

He gasped in pain, but then, he plunged his finger into the wound, pulled the shard out and continued moving.

"Aahhh... fuck!"

He cursed in pain.

As for Vaelrith, he continued using more and more demonic energy, not moving from the centre. Lucian sighed at that, he knew that it wasn’t that Vaelrith didn’t want to move—

It was more that he couldn’t.

Silas’s body was a mess, even the smallest movement needed an absurd amount of demonic energy to hold it together and the more demonic energy Vaelrith used, the more he ruined the body even further.

So he avoided moving in order to not waste too much demonic energy in keeping the body together.

Attacking with energy was the only way he had, be it using it as waves, tendrils, blasts, or a crushing force that tore everything into pieces.

Lucian too, used that to his fullest advantage.

The demonic energy around Vaelrith was too dense, if the demon got close to him, it would be over since then, he would be inside the influence of that energy, one touch from those black-purple tendrils and his body would be torn apart before he could react.

That was how strong Vaelrith was.

So Lucian used his immobility to his advantage and kept his distance.

He ducked behind machines.

He threw trays, broken guns, glass jars, severed pipes, metal hooks, anything his hands could find. He even picked working guns and aimed all the bullets they had at the demon.

Of course, none of his attacks ever reached Vaelrith.

Vaelrith stopped them with raw demonic power.

But every time he did that—

Silas’s corpse became worse.

A vein burst across its face, the dead skin near its throat dried and cracked, the shoulder of the hanging arm tore open, exposing the dark energy that was holding it all together.

"You think I do not see what you are doing?"

Vaelrith growled.

Lucian slid behind a cracked pillar as another blast tore through the corridor.

"Well, I did think you were stupid.

Guess I wasn’t entirely corr—."

Lucian shrugged but just then—

BOOOM

The blast of demonic energy hit the pillar, the stone broke. Lucian avoided the demonic energy but the impact still sent him flying until his back slammed into the floor.

"Khawkkh!"

Lucian coughed, for half a second, his vision blurred, but the rest of his senses were still there, and they told him another attack was coming.

So, even when he couldn’t see clearly and was in pain, Lucian rolled aside, letting instincts drive his body.

But even then—

"Aggghh!!!"

The edge of the purple-black energy wave slashed a part of his body, cutting open his clothes and the skin on top of his ribs.

Spurt

Blood sprayed out, Lucian screamed in agony as he lost his balance and fell on the floor again.

"Yes. That is your place.

Remember it well."

Vaelrith spoke in a heavy voice as more demonic energy tendrils moved towards Lucian and Lucian, in his pain, pushed himself up with one hand.

His legs shook from pain, the cut on his chest was deep and blood ran down his waist but he...

"Says the one with a hanging shoulder."

He grinned as he dodged the demonic tendrils, this time, perfectly.

"This is not my True Body."

"Makes me wonder how ugly that would be."

"You won’t live to see it."

Vaelrith’s grin widened as he sent another wave of energy towards Lucian. Lucian jumped back and avoided it again, then, he grabbed another tray and threw it at him.

Again, Vaelrith crushed it in the air but this time—

The corpse’s wrist snapped backward from the force.

And that made Lucian grin.

"You are falling apart."

"Come closer and say that again."

Vaelrith’s smile vanished, the corpse’s head tilted too far to one side in an eerie manner.

"Nope.

Too ugly."

Lucian shrugged.

Vaelrith however, was no longer joking around.

"DIE!"

Vaelrith screamed as a dozen tendrils burst from his body at once, striking the corridor like whips, tearing through doors, walls, machines, and even the floor.

Lucian moved through the chaos, his movements were far from perfect, especially when he too, had taken quite a bit of damage.

The tendrils weren’t slow either, one grazed his shoulder and burned through the skin, another almost caught his ankle, right before he pushed through the pain in his shoulder and jumped over it, nearly falling in the process.

Still, he kept moving.

After all, he needed to stall.

He needed to... win.

Lucian thought that inwardly, his violet eyes shone dangerously and—

He increased his speed, pushing past his limits.