The Demonic Duo

"Master, I have just been informed that Ray has been killed. It was the elf commander Herderal and the human that freed him."

"Who informed you of this Lasx?" Ratar asked while punching a pillar of gold

"It was commander Faran that came to me with this. Even weirder, the human was the one that finished Ray off." Lasx explained

"No wonder I felt a larger amount of my energy return recently. It seems, that the elf commander is not only conscious but messing with things he shouldn't be. If I had known it were him I would have sent someone more capable. Also find out more about this human. For a human, even killing a lesser demon to me seems like an impossible story."

"Faran has never been wrong sir. His demon invocation guarantees that."

"Well if this human is different somehow we have to know how and why." Ratar explained

"Of course sir, I'll send Tex and Yale over to where the incident occurred. Maybe they can finally prove their worth."

After I informed Herderal that I didn't have a name, he told me that the battle against Ratar would be one we couldn't handle on our own, and said he needed to search for more elves to help us in the fight. Before he left I had fully learned how to materialize my holy energy and I was able to make a few small ball shaped bits of holy energy. If he had a corrupted elf absorb it then they would probably revert back to their normal state. As he started to walk off I grabbed his shoulder and told him that this would not be the last we see of each other. I told him that despite the challenges we face within the next few months, if one of us learns of Ratars whereabouts we would find a way to contact each other. Soon after he left in search for elves that had survived Ratars wrath.

It's been a few days since Herderal left. It's weird that after all that time of being alone I had forgotten about the feeling only after being with Herderal for a few weeks. Since we had set up camp so close to the village I scoured the place looking for any answers of where Ratar could be. I don't know this language so the text isn't helpful. I need a map that could lead me to people with answers.

Digging around the houses some had very little tomes and maps while others were stacked with them. Hidden in this pile of maps is one that could actually be of some value to me. I wish the sense that allowed me to find this place was still active but ever since me and Herderal killed Ray any trace of a demon suddenly vanished. I began pulling out maps and organized them by if they cover ground I've already seen or not. I started with the pile that had nothing to do with the forest. There was one that had rocky mountains with a drawing of a dragon laying upon one of them. Another was mapping out this giant building. There were multiple maps that covered the building and piece them all together it seemed like a blueprint for a castle.

I had no luck with the maps that covered things outside the forest so I have to resort to the other pile. Mostly all the maps seemed identical but a few stood out to me. One had another village that seemed to be directly north of this place, another showed a field that was empty. No trees or any remains of them which is hard to do in a forest.

Chopping down trees thoroughly with such a scale would definitely alert a dryad. My dad would talk endlessly about dryads and how valuable they were to a forest. If not for them things like what this map shows would happen to the entire forest. Since that isn't the case here and this place seems to be the only exception. It seems that the dryad of this forest wants it to be there. This is the place I'll investigate first.

The map showed that the place I'm heading to was east of the village. I walked over to the middle of town to begin my journey when I noticed something. Someone was here after the fight in the village happened. The tracks matched none of the other beings that day and the prints were far more recent then the others. If someone knows what went down here then that's a whole other storm of problems. I guess it's best I leave this place at this time then later.

The trip was smooth and happened without incident. Nothing but the vast trees and a slight breeze. When I reached the field I was surprised to see there really were no trees or stumps to be seen. Standing in the middle of the field it felt like I was in some big hole in the ground.

"Interesting spot you've brought us to. What is this, the spot you meditate at or something?" A demon says, stepping out from the trees.

"Yeah I guess it's a fine spot for you to be buried in, right Yale. hahahaha." Another demon stated while coming in from the same direction.

"No nothing like that. I just thought it would be better to fight you guys here considering no trees could get in our way." I said

"What are you trying to say? You knew we were following you the entire time?" Yale asked doubtful

"Well it's hard to miss all the footsteps crunching the ground and whisper discourse you were having."

"Tex I told you to keep your mouth shut." Yale said

"Well how was I supposed to know he'd had some type of super hearing?" Tex asked

While they were talking I quickly jumped forward to strike the lesser demon on the left side. My attack was quickly stopped in mid air like it was stuck. They stopped having their conversation and their expressions changed from calm to battle craving. I took a risk and threw my other hand, punching him right across the face. He fell right to the floor and my right hand was able to move again.

Yale landed a punch I had no time to react to and sent me flying 10 meters back.

"Tex, get up." Yale demanded

"That did not feel like a normal punch." Tex said, holding his jaw. He let his hand down to reveal a large chunk of his jaw was missing.

"Shit, what did he hit you with?" Yale helps Tex up and they both get ready to charge me at once.

Tex can clearly use some kind of protection around him that allows for him to freely manipulate an attack. He could stop one of my attacks but when it came to the second one he couldn't freeze it like the first one. Yale is still a mystery but he somehow got past my senses and landed an attack without me realizing it was being though. Even if it were invisible I would notice, so it has to do with its speed.

Yale jumps in first and lands a clean blow to my body with no sign of any attack. Tex then jumps in front of him and acts as a human shield. I quickly strike him with my fist never reaching him then I go for another but that time my other hand stopped as well while my right hand was free again. Tex winds back his head and lands a clean head bump. The strike to my head made me dizzy as both Tex and Yale began landing attacks I couldn't see coming. I was beating so bad I couldn't move anymore. I fell to the ground and a star left my armband.

"Was that really the human that took out Ray?" Tex asked Yale

"Well they did say Herderal helped so I guess he did the majority."

"That human did land a pretty clean blow on me. I don't think I've ever had an injury this long before."

"Well I did imbue my punch with holy energy so it does sting for demons." I said rising from the dead. Yale didn't stop to chat and landed a blow on the right side of my body but after it landed I grabbed his arm.

"What?" Yale said

"Your invocation has something to do with instant acceleration. Usually, I can predict and dodge attacks that take time to build up or take time to make it to me but if something has such a fast acceleration then it would make sense that I couldn't see it coming." I explained

"You might be the first creature to ever get my demonic invocation right after such little time. If you spent less time analyzing and more time throwing punches then I'd respect you for it." Yale said. I quickly gripped harder on his arm putting a dent on the skin and snapping his forearm bone.

Tex stepped in but instead of throwing one punch at a time I threw both of my hands out at once with my right hand going slightly behind my left. Since imbuing my fists cost a star every 5 minutes. While I was being followed I spent the last minute of walking putting holy energy into my hands. It was about 3 stars worth so I need to act quickly and make sure none of the blows with holy energy miss. My right hand makes contact and sends Tex to the ground unable to move. I have 4 stars and another star's energy still stored in my hands.

Yale began attacking again with his right since his left arm was too damaged to move. I kept my distance since too many blows could result in something fatal. I try running over to Tex's body to finish him off with a holy sever but Yale quickly intervenes and kicks me in the side. I get back up and rush for Tex again. Yale tried to stop me again but I was aiming for him this time. While trying to kick me I slice his leg off with a holy sever. He fell to the floor and as Tex regained consciousness I reached down and pierced his heart with another holy sever.

"Noooooo, he couldn't even defend himself! You're no human, you're a monster! You'll die for that!" Yale yelled and began charging me hopping on one leg

"Come at me then." I said but that was all I had. I was completely out of stars. Something took me over back there. It was like I was hungry to kill. That was a terrible feeling. I fell to my knees but before he could reach me a large war hammer sent him flying.

"For a human to fend off against two lesser demons. Reminds me of the days I was young. Hahahah. They called me a fool for fighting against the demons. I guess I'm not the only one. Ahahaha;" The man had the stature of an absolute warrior. He had heavy silver armor and a hammer twice his own size. "The names Gaberieal, but I hate it so call me Gabe. I'm sorry for not helping you back there kid but with two lesser demons at our front door nothing much to do but cower they say." Gabe apologized.

Yale laid a few meters back and another man with more of a soldier's clothing began to approach him. Yale quickly got up and ran off into the trees. He probably realized that if two fighters could show up then many more could as well. There must be a village around here. Maybe these people can tell me more about what's really going on here. My exhaustion reached a critical point and I soon passed out.