New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Paimon, after stepping back a couple of steps and caressing her slightly singed black skin, smiled enticingly at the woman near her master.

Phoenix, whose blue flames had condensed on her form in a fitting blue fire armour, in the looks of a leather breastplate, and some pieces over her arms and legs as well, looked like an Amazonian coated in fire.

Paimon looked her up and down before taking a step forward again.

"For a hottie like you, I might as well share," she said, smiling seductively.

Before Phoenix could say anything to rebuke her, or even attack her, Astaroth's commanding voice came from next to her.

"Enough, Paimon. I didn't call you out for you to play whore. Your target is over there."

He pointed behind Paimon, where the Fey woman, Titania, was looking on with wariness.

Titania knew of the demons before her, as she had once seen another man fight using them. But that was over five thousand years ago.

"I knew Solomon had disappeared. But to think he was dead and his legacy had found a new user. I am impressed. But you don't seem to control the demons entirely," Titania said, lowering her stance.

'This may only be a fraction of the powers in that ring, but it will still be troublesome…'

A demon king was nothing to scoff at.

Especially since demon kings usually sported the same power as her.

Paimon knew the Fey before her was her match, simply by looking at her. She also thought the woman looked familiar, but it was blurry thoughts, at best.

"You also look tasty, little butterfly. May I taste you, as well?"

Titania shot forward a crescent slash, which detached from her thin sword and flashed toward the demoness.

But with a flick of her wrist, the attack disappeared without reaching her.

"Your magic is wholly inadequate, little butterfly."

Somehow, hearing Paimon call Titania like this made Astaroth's teeth grind on each other.

He turned his head to the other demons, who were still awaiting commands, and spoke.

"The Fey is the target. If a single attack grazes the human, I will cut you off for a week. No. Make it a month. Understood?"

The demons gulped in fear.

Phoenix wondered what he meant, but didn't care to ask now. Maybe later, when a level hundred and fifty mythical native wasn't threatening to take their lives, only then would she take that time.

Until then, her focus needed to return to the battle at hand.

Titania decided she had waited around enough. Since Astaroth willingly went this far, using a power she could tell he wasn't ready to use, then she would kick up a gear as well.

"Queen's Regalia, activate."

Her armour pulsed to match her wings, and Astaroth felt a surge in Aether coming from it.

'An armour skill. I wonder what it does…'

But the answer came soon enough when she vanished from sight.

Astaroth saw her blur out and knew she was coming at him. But her speed was twice what it had already been.

He didn't have time to react and felt like it would be over instantly. His Thousand Thoughts was already in cooldown, and he couldn't use it to see where the attack would come from.

But a jingling of chains appeared behind him, making him jump forward and spin midair.

And right behind where he had been, Titania stood, her sword stretched forward in a stabbing motion. Around the blade, as well as around her feet, thick black chains had risen and wrapped around her weapon and legs.

Astaroth heard Paimon's mocking laughter.

"Shishishi. Did you think I would leave my master open for attacks from a zippy opponent like him? I already marked him."

Titania blurred out again, appearing further away, as the chains had broken off her. But her eyes were narrowed.

'This demon is annoying to deal with,' she thought.

But she didn't have time to think much, as a sudden surge of attack came her way, and her shadow tried swallowing her legs into the ground.

Titania beat her wings fiercely, taking off the ground, to escape the shadows, but exposed herself to blood blades flying at her.

She smacked them away, the power behind them weak. But she felt something fly at her from behind.

Turning her head, she saw one demon flying at her, with wings made of bone and flesh, looking like an abomination.

His face was distorted, as was his body, suddenly bigger than earlier.

"Ra ka ka ka! It's been so long since I used the flesh of my sacrifices! They sing for freedom! Let me give it to them!" Duke Gusion shouted, his voice cracking with madness.

Titania thought the demon was about to slam at her from under, as his hands clasped together, but suddenly, her eyes widened. She jerked backward, dodging a much closer attack, as a giant blood hammer appeared in the abomination's hands.

Looking below, she saw the other demon that had sent blood blades flying at her, controlling the blood he had sent flying with his magic, and forming new objects.

'The twins! Annoying little weaklings,' Titania cursed in her mind.

She would normally wipe the floor with them, but the pressure was coming from all around.

After dodging the blood hammer, one of the demon's ugly wings flew at her, whacking her to the side. She blocked the blow with her swords, but it still pushed her away, the weight behind the attack unnatural.

As her body neared the ground, she saw her shadow become murky again, and she knew she couldn't land.

Flapping her wings again, she stalled her descent.

But the shadow grew, and out of it came flying two things.

The first one was Astaroth, coming at her incredibly fast. And with him, another batch of thick black chains.

The chains attempted to wrap around her legs, to keep her from leaving, but a quick swipe from her sword shattered them. Unfortunately, she left herself open to Astaroth's attack.

Expecting a strike from his short sword, she tried angling herself to make it land on her armour.

But she did not expect the next thing that happened.