Demoness 2 - Chapter 40 - Divine Simulacrum (Patreon)

Elania’s vision blurred as she shot forward, her wings trailing behind her like a shimmering comet tail. Whatever they were chanting, she could feel a slight pressure growing now that she knew what being restrained felt like.

Letting them finish would be a mistake.

Before she reached Winx, Elder Eidan broke his chant and threw a wave of golden needles at her.

Angling her wing sent her into a roll that dodged the first wave, and then she flared to raise up into the air to dodge the second.

Despite Eidan stopping his chant, the pressure continued to increase. A hiss escaped from her.

Whatever they were doing, they hadn’t needed both of them!

She curled her wings and dived toward Winx. Eidan continued his attack, and needles stabbed into her side, but she ignored them.

The energy from the attack absorbed into her on its own, and that fueled her [Regeneration] enough to heal and close the wounds.

Elder Eidan stopped his attack and began to chant again.

She needed to take out one of them or she was going to end up in a game of tag-teaming that she couldn’t win. Assuming that whatever chant they were doing would imprison her again.

She couldn’t risk that being the case.

Nearby, a whirlpool of water exploded into a geyser, as Magister Bannon dueled with Elder Gant. The Magister’s sword traced a line of mist that formed into slashes of water that the Elder deflected with his staff.

Each exchange added to the water floating in the air, and in the churn, spears and blades began to form.

Elania turned her attention back to her own fight. A second before she reached Elder Winx, he opened his eyes and a golden spear formed in his hands. He braced it against the ground and aimed the tip at her chest.

There was a split second for her to decide to dodge or block.

She decided to do neither.

There was a flicker of shock on the Elder’s face as she impaled herself on the construct like a rampaging boar. Blood and light motes sprayed out of her back as it punched out of her back between her wings.

The weapon didn’t have a proper point guard, so she slid right down the shaft and closed the distance and grabbed him by the arm.

“Got you,” she hissed at him, a thin spray of blood and light motes spewing into his face.

He let go of the summoned weapon and punched her in the face.

That almost hurt more than the impalement.

But not enough to make her let go.

She twisted as her feet touched the ground and yanked, but it felt like she was trying to move a mountain. She turned it into a hug.

He found ways to pummel her anyway, but as she got a better hold, she found that as strong as he was… she was stronger. The golden spear began to melt as her own [Power] began to absorb it into her. The wound closed.

She wrestled him to the ground. Elder Eidan was still chanting in the background. A clock was ticking in time with the digital counter she’d built on her [System] HUD.

He head-butted her, but she blocked with her own forehead. Both of them were bleeding and bruised, and she’d win any contest of attrition.

But this was a battle against time.

She needed to end this before Eidan finished his chant.

Her eyes fell on the Elder’s throat. A bestial memory filled her.

She could end this now.

Sliding forward, she bit down on his throat where she knew the important artery was hiding. His skin was like rock, but a surge of [Power] and will preceded her teeth sharpening into Darkwalker fangs.

When blood filled her senses, she ripped her head back and spat out a chunk of flesh.

She contorted, both of their bodies straining in an attempt to break the other. His pulse had reached a frantic pace. She could tell because the powerful sprays of blood had turned into a nearly constant stream.

The liquid turned things slippery, and he twisted away onto his knees, moving to escape.

She landed on his back and wrapped her legs around his middle and grabbed his head and twisted.

The sound of his spine shattering and then flesh ripping was grotesque.

Winx’s body went limp.

This time, he was dead.

Her heart was racing as she stood up. It felt like doom was approaching and she realized Elder Eidan hadn’t paused at all.

He was nearly done with his chant.

She needed a weapon.

Winx’s head flew like a cannonball but before it struck the other Elder it smashed into an invisible barrier and splattered, skull and all. Eidan didn’t even flinch of pause his chant.

Elania glanced at the ground. Elder Winx’s staff was laying within reach of his body. She knelt down and picked it up, triggering the cascade of absorption of the Elder without even having to touch him thanks to the coating of blood.

It didn’t matter whether she was an angel, darkwalker, or a human. Why did she always end up covered in blood in a fight?

The staff was heavy and felt like it was made of solid lead. It flexed slightly as she swung it around experimentally.

Then she tugged on the floating morass of [Power] that had once been Winx and condensed it into a thread.

Something fought her as she tried to mold the power to her will.

She realized it was Elder Winx’s own lingering will. The Elders certainly didn’t go down easily.

But he was dead, and she was a demon, transformed into a seraphic form.

Essence, [Power] and [Energy Manipulation] were her domain.

The light formed into the bowstring she desired and the staff creaked as she pulled it back. A golden arrow formed in place and she released the shot.

The pressure reached a peak as the arrow slammed into the same shield that Winx’s head had. White spiderweb cracks formed on a transparent surface, and then it shattered.

The chant broke as the arrow took Elder Eidan in the chest. He spewed blood, hinting that she’d hit something important, maybe a lung.

That was good enough. He wouldn’t be chanting any more.

The Elder’s staff began to dissolve in her hand as its cohesion disintegrated from the [Power] she’d forced through it.

Suddenly, the oppressive feeling vanished, and it felt like she was free. A short spear of light formed in her hand as she slowly approached the wounded Elder.

He reached up and yanked the arrow out of his chest. The gesture wasn’t entirely required. The projectile began to evaporate into the air as it clattered to the stone.

“Demon. Fraud,” he coughed out, “You show why your kind are an abomination.”

Elania didn’t respond. That was a lot of painful words for a dead man to cough out before he died.

Elder Eidan opened his arms wide and leaned back. “Behold your doom! Relea—“

She didn’t want to know what he was trying to do, so she made sure he never finished his sentence. The spear of light punched through his chest on the opposite side of where the arrow had struck.

“Try choking out a holy-condemnation-whatever with both lungs full of blood, asshole,” Elania muttered.

A reverberation ran through her spine as the emotion rebounded through her. It was like her entire being was a tuning fork and any emotion was a hammer.

That was an odd sensation and pushback, and she analytically examined her thoughts.

She’d never experienced something like that while transformed into a Darkwalker, and she’d had plenty of Darkwalker-esque bleed-through to her before without issue.

Was it the fact that she was pumped full of [Divine] essence, or was that a ramification of being transformed into a Seraph?

Were angels not supposed to have emotions at all?

An orb of water exploded as spears of light jutted out of the spinning waves like a holy porcupine.

As the water cleared, Elania headed that way, pulling free Elder Eidan’s essence into her spear.

When Elder Gant spotted her, he began to make space between them, then raised a hand. “Release the first threshold!”

Was he doing some kind of stupid limit break dance or something? The feeling she should kill him before he could do anything troublesome was strong.

Before she could raise her spear for another throw, the entire cavern began to shake, and then a gout of flame exploded from the fortress.

The sound of chains snapping and stone crumbling filled the air.

It was all very dramatic, but she couldn’t see anything happening other than the pyrotechnic display and minor earthquake.

Magister Bannon had a grim expression on his face and nodded to her as they spread out to come at the Elder from both directions.

They rushed forward at the same together; Gant would only be able to block one of them.

Her charge was cut short by a sudden slash of light from above, sending her skidding to a halt and jumping back.

Above the fight, there was a new form.

A figure of light, with wings of fire and a sword of shimmering divine essence.

Suddenly, she understood why Eidan had called her fake.

The seraph was much larger than her.