Demon - 2

[20,000/100,000]

Gabriel gripped tighter to his sword, the wind rushing over his hair as it blew feathers further through.

Scattering into the wind like some sort of dust, some sort of debris. 

Yet for all the trouble in the world, for every attack and pattern that the demon shown light upon. Each and everyone was dodged with razor thin precision. A fist, trailing with a blazing fury, was taken to the side.

It barely even grazed Gabriel, but the damage brought him exactly where he wanted. Even if the glancing blow struck with much force, enough that another would kill him.

There was a surety to his movements that flew with such fluidity that even the demon himself, the servant, found himself dazed.

But just as he pushed mana through his wings once more, accelerating to his top speed. Another such thing came upon him.

Dozens of warriors -knights to be precise- yelled aloud their war cries and with it struck at the demon.

It would've been comical had it not been so demoralizing. To see the corpses of the few burst to pieces. Their blood flying through the air and landing upon the lucky few that survived with minor injuries.

Yet those that did could only continue their swing, their muscle memory carrying them more than their minds could.

It was filled with fear, an effect that Gabriel had resisted, too used to the machinations of the demons.

Gabriel flew once more, taking position and gathering the remaining mana. Every part of it went to his sword, imparting it with a holy smite that, with enough force, would harm the demon.

His eyes narrowed as the sun disappeared from existence, replaced by a hand coming to swat him like some sort of common fly.

But just as a fly would, he was not trapped. Gabriel swiftly turned and flew through the hole in the demon's stomach.

'This could be my chance' He briefly thought to himself.

The same mana had finished charging, and with one final yell of effort. An exertion that brought him to the brink of the Demon, to the top of the cavern that was the demon's stomach.

It pierced soft flesh, and down into the crevices of unseen organs.

A roar echoed through the land, with enough force to knock back the same warriors.

But it brought the felling of the demon.

[-1,700]

Panting, his breath almost gone, Gabriel rose from his place. Ignorant of the roar that had occurred.

Merely concerned with the body falling to the floor. So injured that it could not even use its knees. 

But there was a problem, even if Gabriel knew all of the patterns, each and every attack and habit.

It was useless if he had naught the strength to take advantage of it. Which was what was happening right now.

Devoid of mana, and of stamina, Gabriel found himself struggling to stand in that his wings would not flap.

But even then, under the threat of death, he couldn't flap them, nor could he use anything to save himself from death from below. The ground impacting him and draining the rest of his health.

"I got you" 

His neck raised, arms flailing in the wind as he reoriented himself. Gabriel took a look at the voice that had spoken. 

Armored arms that ended in padded gloves, a face covered by a full steel helmet. A knight, one of the lucky few that had survived the initial onslaught of the demon.

"I hope you do…" Gabriel muttered before craning his neck to the side and glaring at the fallen demon.

It had picked itself up, even with all the blood drained from its body, even with its organs exposed to the air.

It was resilient, a facet of the demon physiology. It would not die until it had depleted all of its vitality, the monstrous amount it had.

And so as his body impacted soft hands, his feet placed over the ground. Gabriel's wings fluttered with repressed strength.

One last look to the demon, and a tackle to the side. 

A moment later Gabriel felt a shield block his sight.

Only to realize that it had not been an actual shield, but one made of mana. Yet there was only one person he could think of, so close to here, that could do such a thing. 

Blocking a demon, low level as it was.

"Vahn"

"I see my reputation precedes me." 

His face was filled with sweat, beads of it running down his forehead like some sort of waterfall. But he looked no more disturbed than one would look reading a book.

A feature that had made him famous, at least in this level. His level expression, never breaking, never faltering.

And so as the shield was battered down, the demon pounding his fist on it uselessly. Gabriel found himself thrown to the side, where he then found strength in his limbs.

Gabriel flew back through the sky, and even when he was completely out of mana, his reserves taken from him in the last attack. He still found it in himself to fly through the sky with a dexterous speed that brought Gabriel closer and closer to the eye of the demon.

It widened in surprise, before it closed one of its eyes. The one it had thought that Gabriel would target. Only for Gabriel to change course at the last moment, his eyes bloodshot as Gabriel, once again, put all of his strength into his attack.

For this would be the last, either this attack killed the demon, or he would be forced to flee, weakened to his core, and too exhausted to even move.

And so he prayed, not to any god, but to himself, that this would work. That his gambit would succeed.

Blood splattered to the side, covering Gabriel in its sticky substance. It clawed its way into his wings, and onto his clothes.

But even then, he found himself weakened, matter from all sorts of substances cloaking his presence. 

Yet it had worked. The demon had been felled. A fierce battle fought, only to be won, in a way that he had thought impossible.

But the him of now, was stronger than the him of years past. And so, unbeknownst to Gabriel, he had grown more skilled, even with targeted practice.

He could outperform all those that tried to stand in his way. Today was only the first of many.