Urpize the Despoiler

Danis could only hide others if they stood still. For an ambush, the team had to move deeper into the Glass Fields and wait for the demons there.

They hid in a crevice behind a glass pillar, close enough to the border of the Glass Fields to see the greenery outside.

It was extremely strange to not see any of his teammates around, or even his own hands. Since all noise was forbidden in an ambush, Zemin could only find them by their auras—and even those they suppressed as much as possible.

The group barely got in place in time. Ten minutes later, they saw a procession moving into the glass fields: a wobbly line of grimy, exhausted, suffering people, guarded by a trio of demons.

A pair of them looked just as Danis explained: weak. They had the size of children, and faces of goblins from fairy tales. Both carried carbines over their shoulders, proving themselves even weaker—stronger demons didn't like to rely on firearms.

The third demon was a two meters tall creature with thick red fur and a goat's head. In one clawed hand, he carried the chain that connected all the captives together; in the other was a barbed whip, which the demon sometimes cracked in the air above them.

Just the sight of it made Zemin want to spring into action. His fingers trembled.

An elbow sharply poked his side—Narcisa. Zemin blinked in confusion, then realized that he almost stopped hiding his aura.

He had to wait for the signal.

The procession approached. The closer they were, the better Zemin could sense their auras.

'Void System, give me direct access, and show me the danger level of these demons.'

A flash of white—and Zemin saw it.

[Red Goat]

[Danger: C]

[Goblin A]

[Danger: E+]

[Goblin B]

[Danger: E+]

[Energy reserve: 21 units.]

Danger levels meant that a demon of that level was as strong as a Psionic, each of whose three graded parameters were of the same level on average. Most Esquires had an average grade between D and C, while Exemplars had a grade from C and higher. Each grade could also have up to three "+" added to it, showing the difference between earlier and later stages of it.

A C-ranked demon could swipe Zemin away easily if he didn't open a Void Portal. But Zemin wasn't alone here.

The group was twenty meters away when the Red Goat demon noticed something. His ears twitched, and his eyes narrowed, searching for the threat amid the glass.

Everything began at once.

"ATTACK!" shouted Jagger, shooting from his rifle at the Red Goat.

Before he could finish the word, the others acted too, shooting with their weapons at once: Danis from a rifle, Zemin and Narcisa from handguns, and Citri from a railgun attached to the hand of her exo-suit.

The glass around the demons colored red with blood and explosions. Danis and Jagger used Psi-retaining bullets, but even normal ones wrecked chaos and broke glass.

The head of Goblin B exploded like an overripe melon. A couple of weaker shots threw Goblin A to the ground, and the creature shot back wildly with a screech louder than even the rest of the surrounding cacophony. Most of the bullets flew into the sky, or whizzed over the Esquires' heads.

A shot blew a see-through hole in the Red Goat's shoulder, making him stumble. Another one hit the demon straight in the chest—but despite the grievous wound, he didn't fall.

"GHAAAAAAAARR! A fresh wound for the Urpize the Despoiler! HE WILL FEED ON YOUR PAIN AND TERROR AND YOU WILL PAY FOR HIS BLOOD TENFOLD!"

The deafening bellow of the goat-like demon drowned out the panicked screams and prayers of captive civilians. The flash of power that flew from him with that roar made blood freeze in Zemin's veins.

Despite that, his hands were steady when he aimed his gun at the demon. It had 10 bullets in a clip, and Zemin just shot two. The last two bullets Zemin put in this clip were Psi-retaining.

Zemin shot, and several more bangs echoed him.

Urpize let go of his whip and chain and threw himself forward like a rocket. The bullets flew above and below him, leaving only scratches.

In a flash, the demon was close enough to see the yellowish sclera of his goat eyes. They shone with malicious light.

"Brace yourselves! Have no fear!" Jagger shouted, raising his hands. His Psi-power gathered into a telekinetic shield.

Two molten beams shot from the goat demon's eyes, piercing the shield like a needle pierces fabric. They struck Citri in the chest, throwing her back and sending drops of molten metal fly on the glassed ground. The beams glowed more pure Psi-power than Zemin had stored in the Void right now.

Citri's exo-suit protected her, but that won't last for longer than a few seconds.

Zemin moved.

He had never felt more clarity than in this moment. The Void System lit up the demon's vulnerable points for him, his body felt weightless, and the time appeared to have slowed down. Not a single thought was in Zemin's mind—only pure understanding of what to do.

He screamed something wordlessly, shooting at Urpize eyes over and over, until there were only two bullets left in his magazine.

The demon looked at him, leaving Citri alone—wounded, but alive. The deadly gaze flicked over Danis, searing his arm, and landed on Zemin.

But he already raised his sword to block it. The metal dripped to the ground and over Zemin's protective vest, but gave him a moment of safety.

Only a moment. Not enough to counterattack, but Zemin didn't have to. He wasn't alone in this fight—he was with people he could depend on. This was what he believed in.

Jagger's bullet stopped in the air right in front of the demon's forehead, stopped by Urpize's telekinesis. The explosive Psi-power within tried to blast Urpize's hand, but was held in a tight cage. The opposing Psi-powers made the air crack.

But the molten beams stopped. Without their hiss in the air, the shouts of the civilians were more audible than ever. "Run!" and "God, oh no!" and shrieks of pain. A prisoner tried to run despite the chain on his leg, and the surviving goblin-like demon shot his knee.

The goat demon swatted the bullet aside, where it exploded like a grenade, sending shards of broken glass everywhere. One nicked Zemin's cheek.

"While I, Urpize the Despoiler, can feed upon humanity's fear, I am unstoppable!"