Chapters (66)
- PREFACE
- Full Page Image
- ONE
- TWO
- One week ago
- THREE
- Present day
- FOUR
- FIVE
- SIX
- SEVEN
- EIGHT
- NINE
- TEN
- ELEVEN
- TWELVE
- THIRTEEN
- FOURTEEN
- FIFTEEN
- SIXTEEN
- SEVENTEEN
- EIGHTEEN
- NINETEEN
- TWENTY
- TWENTY-ONE
- TWENTY-TWO
- TWENTY-THREE
- TWENTY-FOUR
- TWENTY-FIVE
- TWENTY-SIX
- TWENTY-SEVEN
- TWENTY-EIGHT
- TWENTY-NINE
- THIRTY
- THIRTY-ONE
- THIRTY-TWO
- THIRTY-THREE
- THIRTY-FOUR
- THIRTY-FIVE
- THIRTY-SIX
- THIRTY-SEVEN
- THIRTY-EIGHT
- THIRTY-NINE
- FORTY
- FORTY-ONE
- FORTY-TWO
- FORTY-THREE
- FORTY-FOUR
- FORTY-FIVE
- FORTY-SIX
- FORTY-SEVEN
- FORTY-EIGHT
- FORTY-NINE
- FIFTY
- FIFTY-ONE
- FIFTY-TWO
- FIFTY-THREE
- FIFTY-FOUR
- FIFTY-FIVE
- FIFTY-SIX
- FIFTY-SEVEN
- FIFTY-EIGHT
- FIFTY-NINE
- SIXTY
- SIXTY-ONE
- SIXTY-TWO
"Wow," I mutter when a moment later he's back by our side, a circle of black dust in place surrounding the demon.
Ze gives Cer a smirk before he jumps into the circle with the demon.
"Does the barrier work against Ze, too?"
"No." Cer shakes his head. "He made that dust."
"Made?" I frown.
"From his blood."
EIGHTEEN
My mouth drops open in shock, and I turn my head to watch the makeshift cage we created. The space is crammed. There's only Ze and the countless shadows that are now screeching every time they come in contact with the barrier before disintegrating. The more shadows the demon creates, the more they perish as they try to cross over.
"They're not sentient," I note.
"No, they are not. At this point, I doubt the demon itself is too sentient. It's consumed too much energy to be able to think of anything else but the urge to attack—and the desire to feed. It needs to defend itself and find more sources of energy," Cer explains.
"That's why he was coming for me. The demon saw me as his next meal," I add drily.
"Could be."
"Will Ze run out of energy, too?"
"Unlikely," he answers tersely.
He's been fighting relentlessly and only on the defensive. I now see that it was all in an attempt to make the demon weaker because soon, the rate at which he's creating the shadows slows down.
"Are all demons like this?" I inquire, trying to imagine the effort it would take to defeat more of them.
"Ascended ones, yes. This is considered a level one, although he's a very developed level one."
"What's the highest level?"
Cer gives me a side glance—one I take to mean do you want to know?
"Twelve."
"What?" I blink repeatedly, thinking I haven't heard him right. If this is only one, then how powerful can a level twelve demon be?
"Level twelve are considered to be the most powerful. There aren't too many of those, and we've never encountered one in a fight so far," Cer explains.
"It's why we have an army dedicated to this problem," Thea interjects. "If these demons were let to roam freely around, there would be no more souls left in the universe."
"That's incredible. And no one knows you guys do that—that you're basically real-life superheroes."
"Well," Thea's expression sours. "They do have multiple fan clubs at home."
"His energy levels are going down," Cer interrupts us, nodding to the cage.
Ze's wielding his sword with both hands, rotating it in a circle. His speed is out of this world as only flashes of white remain as he moves it, taking out all the shadows in his vicinity. He takes one step at a time as he gets closer to the demon. And at some point, the demon stops producing those external shadows.