GREED: ALL FOR WHAT?

If Aeternus chooses to pledge to a high-rank demon, he won't need to hunt other demons. Viron himself is pledged to one. He stays in one of the fortresses in the domain of high-rank demons and he would be willing to take Aeternus there. But anything can happen on the way there. Any unfortunate event can befall Aeternus and render him unable to reach the fortress. Unfortunate things happen in the abyss plane every time.

He was thinking about how to trick his opponent when Aeternus suddenly bolted toward him. Viron didn't make any move.

'Come closer.' he thought eagerly.

Then something caught his attention. Aeternus had stopped all of a sudden, but something was moving closer to Viron at a fast speed. Viron felt threatened by that thing, so he waved his hand and materialized a shield made of fire. But nothing struck the shield.

'Did I overreact?' Viron asked himself.

He put away his shield. Then he saw Aeternus kick something toward him and that sensation of danger came again. He created another shield. This time something struck it. The shield held on for a brief moment before it dissipated on its own without his permission. Viron was shocked, to say the least.

Whatever Aeternus was kicking at him was deceptively small but dangerous. He couldn't let the strange demon get the upper hand, so he prepared one of his favorite spells and shot it at him.

Aeternus had only been half listening to what Viron was saying. Most of his attention was mapping the surroundings and determining where kick-worthy rocks are. He had made a full rotation around Viron and set aside some special rocks. Then he coated it in Chaos flames and kicked it toward Viron. Unfortunately, the rock turned into ashes before it could reach the target. It was burned by its cargo.

So he tried again. This time, he reduced the amount of flame he placed on the rock with his foot before kicking it. It struck through and performed exemplary.

'Just as I thought. Normal spell structure will collapse when influenced by chaos.' he observed to himself.

He understood that Viron knew spells, but until he knows what those spells are and how they react with his Chaotic power, it will be foolishness to engage in close combat with him. He wanted to know how the clash of chaos energy and magic with equal power rating will proceed without risking himself. So that left ranged options.

He would have loved to shoot his chaos flames, but his soul is too weak to do that. That's why he improvised. His improvisation didn't go to waste too. Now he knows that Viron has a shielding spell and that chaos energy creates an imbalance in magical spells.

Then Viron pointed at him and shot a bolt of fire at him. The bolt was very fast but Aeternus could track it.

'So he has a fire bolt spell too.' he thought as he swung his sword to deflect the spell.

The bolt streaked through the air and struck the side of his claymore. Then it shot off to the side for a long distance before it struck the ground. Aeternus had collected data with his divine sense in that brief moment of contact with the bolt of fire and his claymore. Then he used the data he had collected to run simulations.

When the next bolt shot at him, he knew what to do. He angled his claymore and smacked the bolt backward while twisting his wrist. The fire bolt flew back to its sender. Then he began kicking more chaos-infused rocks toward Viron.

Viron sighed in relief when the bolt struck his shield. Thankfully he had a shield ready for unexpected situations like this. The shield protected him but he wasn't pleased. Things weren't going the way he expected. Their short exchange had shown that Aeternus will not be easy to beat. Most demons will have rushed forward, especially when they are clearly wielding a close-range sword. Then he would have shot them through with the fire bolt spell.

Aeternus didn't do that. He was so skilled with his blade that he could deflect his spells back to him. Even worse is that those dangerous things were shooting at him in larger numbers as Aeternus kicked more of them at him. As an experienced demon, Viron knew that whenever a fight isn't going your way, it means the chances of your death are increasing. So something had to be done to even the odds.

"Deflect this." He said menacingly as he cast another one of his favorite spells.

A ball of fire, 1 meter in diameter came into existence. The air warped and expanded around it as heat poured out of it. Then he threw it at his opponent.

Aeternus stopped kicking stones. He narrowed his eyes in concentration, his divine sense was analyzing the spell as it flew toward him. The fireball spell was bigger than the fire bolt, but it is also slower. It gave him some time to get some information about it.

He didn't get much information about it. What he got was enough to deflect the spell easily and run away. He couldn't apply much force to it or it will explode. So the spell struck the ground close to where he was standing and exploded. The range of its explosion was very wide. If he had been standing where he was, he would have been severely damaged.

'That makes three.' Aeternus counted to himself.

He was about to start kicking stones but Viron would have none of that. More giant fireballs were shot at him. He had to be on the run constantly and his stones were destroyed by the explosion. Aeternus chose to retreat when he ran out of ranged options. The fight became a game of cat and mouse with Viron chasing Aeternus.

'He is out of options. I've got him.' Viron thought ecstatically.

Now things are going in his favour.