Right as the demon emerged, Brutus swung his axe into his chest, knocking the monster backwards into the void it had stepped out of. A moment later, and another slash tore through the fabric of reality a few paces away. This time, the demon managed to emerge, launching two more strikes nearby, opening up more scars.
Before Jagón's longsword could reach it, he slipped back into one of the shadowy voids. Again, the demon cut a new hole but the bull was already upon it, swinging his mighty axe right down the center of the tear. His weapon never met the mark. Suddenly, the monster appeared behind the minotaur from one of the previous marks, slashing at his back.
Jagón immediately knocked the attack away, making the demon retreat again. This time, however, Brutus lunged after it, reaching his hefty arm through the rip. Just as he felt the demon's stony armor in his grasp, the portal snapped shut, completely slicing off the great warrior's left arm without warning.
As the minotaur staggered forward in pain, the fiend sliced through the air once more, coming out directly beside the beast, bringing his sword down upon the minotaur. Brutus, as a true warrior, did not hesitate. He swung his entire body behind his right arm, driving his axe into the chest of the demon mere seconds before being completely cleaved in half himself by the hefty sword.
Aster watched on in horror as the giant beast's insides were splattered across the dirt with a horrendously wet splat. A loud roar of sorrow erupted from another minotaur currently fighting to protect the prince's vicinity.
The demon only faded back into the void with the axe still in his chest, barely avoiding another lunge by Aster's father. The human realized in horror that the demon was merely toying with them still. This thought evaporated instantly as a tear appeared in the air right above his father now.
Jagón rolled out of the way right as the blade came crashing to the ground where he had just stood. As the demon went to take a step backwards into the fresh scar, it felt its back against Aster's shield, blocking its exit and giving Jagón just enough time to dash forward and behead it in one single slash.
The demon disintegrated where it stood, leaving the heavy axe of Brutus Rixator to fall to the earth where it stuck in the ground, almost like an eerie tombstone for the now fallen minotaur.
Aster let out a small sigh. His father was at least safe from that monster now. However, before the human could even react, another scar appeared before him, faster than ever. The demon stuck its head through the tear, seemingly unharmed, and Aster found himself staring up face to face with it.
Its blade hacked in a downward slash. It plummeted with an impossible speed that Aster had no time to block at this range. Luckily for the human, the she-wolf was there, striking the blade with both of her swords to deflect the strike.
The demon slipped back, and reappeared a few feet away now. It raised its greatsword into the air, and went to drive the blade into the ground below once again. The human used both arms to throw up the largest shield he could manage at the time, to cover as many behind himself from the devastating attack as he possibly could.
A nearly ten foot shield came up just in time, as the shockwaves rocked everything in their path once again. After another ten pulses, the fiend removed his sword.
Those lucky enough to be protected were unharmed, but many outside of range were caught in the blast and knocked away. Then the fiend disappeared again. Aster was tired of this repetitive game, but perhaps the demon was too.
It reappeared far away now and held its sword up with one hand, closing all of the scars it had opened, finally ending the flow of fiends that had already heavily saturated the arena.
However, it seemed, the demon hadn't accomplished what it came there to do just yet. It was met by Jagón once more, with Straga and a few other knights joining the fray this time.
As the demon shifted its focus back to them, nearby shrieks erupted as the fiends who had managed to escape the portals before they were sealed began tearing into the civilians still trapped in the seating area. Prince Tyfin gave Talan and a few warriors on his right side an order.
"Go! Assist your brother, protect the citizens!" The panther faltered at the idea of leaving his prince's side, but bowed his head in acceptance of the order before departing to handle the task with half the formation in tow. "We can hold this line for the time being."
A roar erupted from the main battle, and Aster turned to see the demon's fiery sword slicing through one of Straga's wings. He slashed at the large dragon again, but was fended off by Jagón stepping in to parry the blow. The demon took a step back in frustration, and slashed in front of himself, creating another scar that he quickly disappeared into.
It seemed he was determined to whittle down the number of warriors little by little, as he reappeared before the Prince's formation suddenly, snatching a hold of Aster's wrist as it spoke again.
"Time grows short. Even the most powerful hate can only do so much." The demon's grip tightened as his voice carried an ominous weight. "I'll handle you before I go. The boy should learn."
Stahl's sword came crashing down, attempting to sever the hand of the demon.
It evaded the swipe effortlessly, releasing its grip to fade back out of reach and into the abyss. As the final remaining fiends were being dealt with, the stadium was growing more silent by the second while every soldier present nervously waited for the monster to reappear.
"There! In the stands!" Aster turned to look where the beast that had shouted was pointing, and saw the demon with his sword stuck in the stone beside him. The monster seemed to be chanting something with its arms raised before it, and within seconds, a ball of darkness started to form in front of his hands.
This was clearly a charge up for something powerful, and Aster was already concentrating to give shape to the biggest shield he could manage to defend against it. The ball shot forward, erupting into a beam of shadow that barreled down upon the formation with lightning fast speed and intensity.
Aster would've been knocked back completely were it not for Stahl standing behind him to help brace against the impact, but even still, he could feel it. It was simply too much, he couldn't hold...
Everyone... Everyone was going to die.
Deep in thought of what to do, Aster felt a hand on his arm, and a familiar rush of power stronger than the last surged through him as Prince Tyfin lent the human everything he could to stave off the assault.
As the demon's attack collided against the shield in a deadlock, a ringing pulse began to emit from the magical metal, growing in both frequency, and pitch the longer the stalemate progressed. Aster was finally getting some hope back as he tried to reassure himself of the situation.
"It's going to hold. It's going to hold. It's going to hold. It's going to hold." His voice grew more strained with each repetition. "IT'S GOING TO HO-AAAAAAAAHHH."
His body was screaming beneath the crushing force, but they were holding somehow.
As the attack struggled against the shield to find its mark, smaller beams of the blast began to splinter off from the main magic and began bouncing away in random directions as anything or anyone they collided against was disintegrated immediately, torn from sight in the blink of an eye.
Aster couldn't do anything to stop that, and his arms were beginning to tremble from the efforts he was barely able to hold as it was. He was running out of energy fast, but he would exhaust every bit of his strength if he had to.
The ringing pulses had accelerated to a constant, high-pitched whine now as the demon's magical attack tried to adjust. The shield held in the end, but it couldn't stop anything when the blast suddenly split apart into hundreds of smaller beams, and enveloped everything around the shield in darkness.
Before Cortist had even finished shouting his brother's name, all traces of the human, the she-wolf, the prince, and the other soldiers around them were completely wiped from the arena. The prince's formation had fallen, but those still inside of The Selection Grounds had an even more dire problem now before them as the true nature of the spell was revealed.
***