Chapter 29

Niris launched his first attack head-on. Pushing on his right leg, he propelled himself towards the demon at extreme speed. With precise movement and no hesitation, he brought his katana down on the demon. Eviris parried the blow with his sword and then counterattacked.

Niris parried effortlessly, then renewed his attack, this time on the demon's left side. Again, Eviris parried. The exchange was even for the moment. The two opponents were simply measuring themselves against each other. But the angel quickly picked up the pace, stringing together attacks at an even greater speed. Eviris was unable to respond with counter-attacks and only parried for a moment, but quickly leveled up. Once again, the two swordsmen seemed to be on equal terms.

Suddenly, Eviris swung his sword in a wide arc as Niris turned his back, recovering from an attack. With a victorious smile, the demon brought the weapon down on the angel with greater speed and strength than he had ever shown before.

The blow cracked the ground on impact, raising a cloud of dust around them.

"NIRIS!" shouted Seiran, who had lost sight of the angel.

He banged against the wall separating him from the combat zone, but nothing helped. He couldn't get in. Too panicked to think, he didn't realise for a second that as long as the wall was there, Niris was still alive...

Eviris distanced himself from the place he had just partially destroyed and waited. He knew he hadn't killed the angel with that blow, but he was certain he had hit him. With his eyes riveted on the scene, he didn't sense the danger coming from behind him and turned around a second too late to parry the angel's attack.

The blade of the latter's katana lacerated his right arm from shoulder to elbow, leaving a red trail where it had come into contact with the demon's skin. He quickly parried the next blow and leapt backwards. Flabbergasted, he looked at the angel standing before him, completely unharmed.

"There's no way! There's no way he could have escaped my attack earlier!" thought the demon, who couldn't believe it.

But the angel was in one piece. Not even a scratch. Its cold gaze was planted in the demon's eyes, sending a shiver of terror down Eviris' spine. The demon gritted his teeth. Not only had he dodged his attack with no problem, but he had managed to camouflage his presence all this time, to the point where he could have wounded him. He had been completely fooled by the angel.

The guard began to panic. He had thought that the angel had shown at least eighty percent of his abilities during their first exchange and that he had been able to assess his level quickly. But he had been wrong. Not only had the angel failed to reveal the essence of his skills, but he was almost at full strength himself. He was beginning to doubt his ability to beat him.

"At worst, I've always got this in reserve if things go wrong! He won't be able to do anything against me if I use it!" he reassured himself to regain his confidence.

Regaining a good grip on the hilt of his sword, he raised it with both hands and gritted his teeth, preparing to launch another attack. He had to give it his best shot before resorting to his secret weapon. With a cry of encouragement, he threw himself forward.

Opposite him, Niris was waiting with bated breath. He had more or less identified his rival's fighting skills. Fortunately, they weren't as high as he thought. Being a palace guard had apparently made him rusty, and Eviris seemed to lack any recent real combat experience. If he hadn't underestimated Niris, he could have been much more dangerous.

He was going to use this situation to his advantage and end the fight as quickly as possible, as he had planned to do. The longer a fight dragged on, even against a weaker opponent, the more likely it was that things would go wrong. And you should never take that risk, never! Because anything could happen in a fight, that was what experience had taught Niris.

He raised his katana again and parried the attack firmly. This time, he sensed that the guard was no longer taking him lightly. Pushing the sword away in one swift movement, he spun around to shift to his opponent's right side, the side of his wounded arm, to attack him again. If he could get him to focus on his wound, he'd probably get him to drop his guard. At that point, he would strike a violent blow to harm him enough to make him give up fighting.

Continuing his tactics, Niris continued a series of three attacks on the demon's right side, which the latter parried without exception. The angel could feel the demon putting much more force into his sword strikes than before. His weapon was a heavy one, made for this kind of use. It was harder to handle because of this, but anyone who managed to use it perfectly could easily deal powerful blows to their opponents.

Niris smiled. The sword he was currently using, Phoenix Mino, was a similar blade, although it didn't look like one. This long, thin-looking katana was in fact made of a very heavy, particularly sharp metal. Used correctly, it could cause very serious injuries in a single blow. Niris had been fighting with this katana since he was a child. It was the blade with which he had the most affinity and experience.

So when he struck the demon repeatedly with Phoenix Mino, he knew that his blows, set to the millimeter, would go where he wanted with the strength he wanted.

He continued to string together attacks, increasing the power of his blows. Eviris kept pace, gritting his teeth. He was sweating profusely and already showing signs of fatigue.

"Now!" said Niris to himself as he raced towards the demon, who was trying to catch his breath.

"Rise of the Phoenix!" said Niris, brandishing his katana.

With a perfectly controlled blow, he brandished Phoenix Mino in an arc directly in front of him, infusing the blade with his natural energy. The blade glowed golden and, while still a meter from its target, it released a wave of destructive natural energy without physically touching the demon. The attack left a clear line in the stone ground and ended its trajectory in the demon's left shoulder, who screamed in pain, unable to avoid the attack, which was too fast and powerful.

He found himself propelled against the wall behind him. His open shoulder was dripping hot blood. Standing back, Niris watched the demon with a grave expression on his face. Without further ado, he uninvoked Phoenix Mino and was about to deactivate the dimension when he heard Eviris's voice calling him back.

"He was right, you are much more powerful than you look... He knew from the start that I was going to lose... I was conceited to think that I could beat you easily..." Niris hesitated for a moment.

Niris hesitated for a moment. He felt something in Eviris' hand that he hadn't felt before. Something that agitated him strangely.

He approached slowly, suspicious.

"You felt it, didn't you?" laughed Eviris in a voice that was almost deadpan. "It's the secret weapon I was given to fight you with. I didn't believe it, but the way you're reacting it must be true."

Niris couldn't understand a word the demon was saying. He took two more steps, hesitating, to try and make out what the guard was holding in his hand. He made out a small rectangular box made of glass and forged metal. Inside, something seemed to glow.

"Activation," said the demon in a barely audible voice.

Then an extremely powerful violet light began to radiate from the small box. The light began to blind the angel, who instinctively stepped back, invoking Phoenix Mino once again. After a few seconds, he finally lowered his arm to see what was happening.

In front of him, Eviris, still sitting on the ground, was writhing in pain. His wounds seemed to be closing little by little by some strange mechanism, the cause of which the angel could not define. He remained at a distance, observing the scene cautiously. He had a bad feeling about this.

He turned his head and saw Seiran staring at his former best friend in horror. He didn't seem to know what was happening either.

"If this thing is able to heal Eviris, who has no healing skills, then it must be very powerful. The healing seems to be particularly fast too.... but it's not natural energy. I wonder what it could be, I've never felt this energy before."

As a precaution, he made Phoenix Mino disappear and summoned his Dancing Blade Tae Min. Phoenix Mino's strength would certainly not be enough to face this thing, which he sensed to be extremely powerful. Instinctively, he activated his natural energy channel. His blade needed it anyway. It couldn't function without natural energy.

Ready for any kind of attack or event, the angel took up a defensive position. Keeping his distance, he continued to watch the demon metamorphose. After a while, the violet light faded until it was extinguished. Under the watchful eye of the two princes, the guard staggered to his feet, then straightened his head and smiled confidently. His left iris was completely purple.

The aura he gave off was totally different from before. Niris could feel it. He would have a much harder time fighting him this time. He'd have to be careful.

"Haha... You seem much more on your guard now," the demon cracked his neck. "Get ready, this is just the beginning. I've got one more surprise for you!"

Before he had finished his sentence, the demon, who had recovered his sword, lunged forward, straight at the angel. On his guard, the angel reacted quickly and raised his blade to parry the attack. But he was knocked backwards by the force of the blow.

Following up with another attack, the demon twirled in the air, his cruel smile still on his lips. Using his natural energy, Niris dodged. With his watchful eyes, he followed the demon's movements with precision. The more he watched, the more he realised that what was wrong wasn't so much Eviris's technique, or his strength as such, but rather his very nature. Something different was emanating from him. Something had changed in him.

Not missing a beat of his enemy's movements, the angel continued to analyse the situation while avoiding and parrying the demon's blows. He was saving his attacks for the moment in order to save energy. He had no idea what he was up against, so he had to be careful.

You're much more cautious now, is there something stopping you from attacking?" the guard poked him with his ever-confident smile. "I told you the worst hadn't happened yet, so don't expect too much from this situation, you're going to lose! You'll never be able to beat me in this state!"

"Don't listen to him Seiran! He's the only one responsible for his choices! He alone is responsible for what happens to him, not you! You are in no way responsible for his rejection of your philosophy and your own choices, only he is! Don't let him get to you with his words!"

Eviris laughed at his desperate attempt to get his lover to stand up to this surreal scene. Seiran slammed his forehead against the wall with a frown, fighting against the rage and despair that seized him at the sight of this scene.

The angel turned back to the guard, who was gradually regaining his composure, ready to resume the fight.

"When you say demonic spirits, you don't mean... a real demonic spirit?" he asked, trying to find out more about the situation. "They don't exist anymore and the last one was destroyed over a century ago..."

"Ah, what did they teach you about demonic spirits? These things can't die! How do you think they managed to destroy them?"

Niris didn't answer. The subject had been closed for the angels ever since Niyari, the most powerful demon spirit of the modern era, had been disintegrated by the last Master of the Blades, Lou. All the angels were taught was that they belonged to a bygone era.

"Admittedly, the smaller ones were able to disappear thanks to the techniques developed by the organisation and the angels, but the more powerful ones could not be totally disintegrated. Niyari in particular. This legendary spirit was far too powerful to be destroyed, even by a master of blades!"

The demon suddenly raised his hand. He still had the small glass box in his hand. It glowed with a faint violet light. The angel frowned. He wasn't sure he understood. No. He wasn't sure he really wanted to understand.

"What do you think this is?" the demon asked, waving his hand proudly at the astonished angel. "It's a fragment of Niyari! It wasn't destroyed, it was turned to stone, losing its spiritual dimension, then divided into fragments scattered in a multitude of different places. What I have in my hand is a piece of one of those fragments. And this box is what we call an extractor. As its name suggests, it extracts the spiritual energy of the demonic spirit compressed in the fragments and transfers it to its bearer.

Nris' mouth dropped open in amazement. It couldn't be true! What he was saying couldn't be possible! And yet everything made sense! The rapid regeneration of the severely wounded demon, his sudden rise in power, and his change in personality, all fitted together! Demonic spirits were known to alter the personality of those who used them in any way.

"Eviris, you have no idea what you're doing..." Niris tried to bring him back to his senses.

"I know exactly what I'm doing! I'm helping to put an end to the reign of angels over the intergalaxy and their lousy rules of peace and understanding! I'm going to end your lives here and now, so get ready!"

With these words, the demon lunged forward once more at full power. Niris raised his blade but his dansing sword was no match for the guard's heavy sword. It was a light blade, made for hand-to-hand combat rather than brute force. It was used with a high level of technique that allowed dodging without parrying and very quick, deadly direct hits. But it required a great deal of natural energy and, above all, perfect precision.

But for some reason, Niris didn't seem to be able to land a single blow against the demon. While he took a few steps back to try and get a better idea of the situation, the angel was thinking at full speed to try and find a solution to his problem. He dodged the demon's attacks but was soon unable to run anywhere. Each blow from the sword left deep marks in the walls and floor of the room, and the attacks radiated a considerable amount of natural energy that was difficult to escape.

Niris had to keep jumping to avoid the blows and moving faster to protect himself from the natural energy being projected. Finally, he saw an opening as he ran across the ceiling of the room using the natural energy he had concentrated in his shoes.

"Now!" he thought as he propelled himself towards his enemy.

"Tae Min's deadly dance!" he shouted as he charged towards the demon's right shoulder at a frightening speed.

The demon barely had time to turn and attempt a parry when the angel had already snuck up behind him and placed the edge of his blade against his enemy's neck. It was then that the pain hit him even harder than before.

He screamed in pain. But just as he was about to turn and walk away, he saw the guard's sword coming dangerously close to his left flank. In a desperate move, he raised his light katana to parry, but the blade rippled and the sword cut into the angel's flesh, causing him to writhe in pain.

Finally, he managed to put some distance between himself and the demon. Panting, slightly bent over, he held his bloodied side. Opposite him, Eviris was laughing with pleasure. He seemed visibly confident of victory. The angel frowned. He could hear Seiran calling to him from the other side of the energy wall. His vision blurred for a moment as he was hit by the pain from all sides.

He closed his eyes for a moment. There was something preventing him from reaching the demon. He didn't know what, but he could feel it. The pain he felt reacted every time he was about to attack the guard. Something inside him held him back at the last moment, even if it meant putting his life in danger. But what he didn't understand was that this something had only woken up after Eviris' transformation. So it had something to do with his present state.

The angel opened his eyes again. In front of him, the demon was preparing for what he surely thought would be his fateful attack. The angel frowned and gritted his teeth. He had to do something. Whatever it was, it didn't matter, but he had to. Monopolising all his natural energy, he stopped the bleeding and grabbed his dancing blade with both hands, determined. This time, he wouldn't miss. This time, he would go straight to the point and drive his blade into the demon's flesh. This time he would succeed! He had to!

With a cry of rage, he threw himself forward against his enemy. He felt the seconds tick by as he threw everything he had into the attack. He brandished his blade when suddenly he felt his blood race through his veins. His vision blurred and turned red.

Something was calling him. Something inside him was calling him. And he couldn't resist. Suddenly, he felt his consciousness fade and slip into a nauseous unconsciousness. Wandering for a few moments through muddy marshes before landing somewhere. Or rather to feel himself land somewhere.

He opened his eyes. Or thought he did. He was surprised because the space he saw around him was no longer the room in Yerpena's palace in which he was fighting Eviris. It was a sort of cellar with damp, oozing walls. He was sitting on a chair, water up to his calves. A cold draught with an iron taste caressed his cheek.

"Where am I?" he asked himself.

"Welcome to my lair, Niris of Egea," a voice echoed against the walls of the cave.

The angel turned his eyes but saw no one.

"Who are you? What do you want with me? Where have you taken me?"

Suddenly, purple smoke began to rise from the water and the surrounding walls, gradually invading the room until it almost filled it completely. Then suddenly, before the dazed eyes of the angel, the smoke took shape. A very tall woman, too tall, appeared before his eyes. Once fully formed, she advanced towards the angel, her long violet hair swaying to the rhythm of her hips. Once in front of Niris, she leaned forward so that her eyes were at the same height as his.

"I am Niyari and we are in my spiritual lair, young mortal."