Demonic Devourer's Development

In his movements, the demon wasn't fast, but had a gait and an aura that brought back memories of an avalanche I once had a misfortune to be buried under. His footsteps left imprints in the layer of compacted filth that was the ground here, and made the air tremble with their force.

His rage was a thing as powerful as his muscles. This sort of fury was a magical thing, and before, I only saw it on monsters and adventurers, Yvenna first of all. It made him appear bigger, made his veins bulge and his eyes burn. It was a sure proof to me that I really did all these things I was accused of—no one would be THAT angry without a good reason.

A pity the demon was too furious with me to consider joining my future army. He'd do well in there.

With all that, it came to my mind that though the guy wasn't astounding in the usage of throwing weapons, meeting him face-to-face would be hitting his strengths with my weaknesses. Stupid, in other words.

So I did a smart thing and flew up, away from his grabby hands. Moron! Did he think I had wings just to look pretty?

Soaring through the air a good dozen meters away from the offending demon, I was perfectly safe from his attacks. I expected him to throw more of his crude darts at me, which would do me nothing, or to rage helplessly at all.

What I saw instead was him coming to the lone bird left on the ground after the air bandits escaped. It was the same one that the demon killed before by accident—now free from its previous body and its wounds, it was trying to defend itself from the world by covering in fear.

I couldn't hear anything in his mind through the wall of rage in the demon's thoughts, so I didn't guess his intentions until he already jumped on the bird's back and grabbed its neck.

"Up! After him, you beast!" the demon shouted, pulling the bird's head in my direction. In clear panic and pain, with eyes bulging from such treatment, it did the only thing its bird brain came up with.

Just like the raging demon wanted, it fluttered its leathery wings and flew towards me—not because it had any intent to approach me, but just in a hope that if it goes where its head is pulled, it would stop being pulled.

Ingenious from the demon, but still useless, since I was faster and nimbler than any bird in Hell, not to mention that one, carrying a heavy burden and on the verge of choking. It was a wonder it could fly at all.

Then I threw some wind blades at it, aiming at its wings. They tore through skin and bones like through soft jello, letting out blood and provoking a screech of anguish from the beast. With one last flap of its mangled wings, it hovered in the air for a fraction of a second, until the gravity won over the remnants of its initial speed and pulled it down.

But the demon who rode it refused to accept that. Instead of falling down, just like I wanted, and let me cut him into mincemeat, he used the bird as a stepping platform to jump towards me.

The strength with which the demon's legs pushed him was so high that the bird not just fell to the ground—it plummeted here, the impact killing it at once. The demon himself flew like an arrow at me, with his sharpened horns being the tip he intended to skewer me on.

I had to admire the man's dedication, effort and the sheer rage. Too bad they were directed at me. Instead of saying something like, "Wow, is this real? Can you really do that?" I flew up and made a somersault in the air, spinning forward to give my legs additional momentum. When the demon was right below me, my feet finished the circle with a resounding hit at the back of his head.

He plummeted down, raising a cloud of dust from the ground where he landed next to the bird that had just suffered a similar fate. I was sure that I cracked his skull with my blow, but he still appeared to be alive, if unconscious.

Well, that was even more convenient.

I rubbed my stomach, where under a layer of carapace and flesh hid my precious magic tome, and thought that if I keep fighting as much as I do, it is bound to get damaged at some point. After I return to Dis, I should find a good hiding place for it.

As for the demon who sought revenge on me… I floated closer to him and raised my eyes at the dozen of onlookers who, now that the fight seemed to end, crept towards its site again in search of a reward. With sunken cheeks and eyes shining with hunger and animal cunningness, they looked more like ghouls of some kind than demons as I remembered them to be in stories.

This close to the Abyss, Limbo was always crowded. You couldn't scratch your ass without someone wanting to bite it off. Right now, it saved me some trouble.

I pointed at the defeated demon. Unmoving, with the back of its head coated in red blood that trickled from the wound my foot left on it, he looked much less imposing than before. "Take this guy and cut him up until he reincarnates. He's yours. And he'll kill you if he escapes, so better don't let him."

I didn't think they needed the advice. As soon as I flew a little farther away, they jumped the demon, working with surprising unity for creatures who were always a hairbreadth away from tearing at each other's throats.

I left them be with an assurance that this weirdo won't bother me again and flew towards the Abyss. My work in Limbo was done, for now.