Meanwhile, Aeternus was having a field day at the fortress. This group of demons is tougher meat, but meat nonetheless. They resisted even though it was ineffectual. They resisted because it was all they could do. Black flames enveloped them. It had robbed them of their senses and it was still trying to kill them.
Still, they resisted. They burned through mana trying to keep off the corrosion. The corrosive property of the chaotic flames is their immediate threat. If they don't hold it back, they will lose a lot of their essential body mass to it. It is not the kind of weight loss that anyone will appreciate.
Their resistance reduced the corrosion to a level that was more like suffocation. Their resistance won't last long of course, but it bought them time. They had heard about Aeternus using something like this. They had laughed back then and had not taken it seriously. Now that they were in the shoes of those that they mocked, they could finally feel what they felt. They felt confused at first.
That's how it all starts. Alert and ready as they were, they still felt confused by what happened. It is an outsider that will be able to tell that they are enveloped in a cloud of darkness or a pillar of burning flames. It is an outsider that can laugh and say, 'Just run straight forward. How bad could it be?'
Those that are inside didn't know what was going on. One moment they are glaring at a demon that can't count. He counted 9 as 8. They were feeling superior because of their numbers and his mistake that was caused by how terrified he was. The next moment, all they could feel is terrifying darkness.
Next comes resistance and determination. They couldn't tell left from right. They can tell up from down because they are on the ground and can still walk. They used this functional frame of reference to coordinate their resistance. They picked a direction and ran straight. It is what they thought was the answer to the problem back then when they eat watched the videos of those that fell for the cloud of darkness.
They are wrong. They couldn't get out of the darkness. Running in a straight line didn't seem like the correct answer. They were running in circles. It is an outsider that will be able to tell that the pillar is rotating. The ones inside the pillar don't know that they are being subtly pushed around and made to run in circles. Then came the attacks.
This group of demons might have been robbed of their senses but their Instincts remained and so is their determination to survive. So they managed to put up an ineffectual resistance. It was then that fear and despair set in. They could feel the death of 2 of their alliance mates through their contract. Nothing was working. So determination turned into despair. Their doom was all but certain until one of them made a decision that bought them a chance of survival.
The threat of death and the hopelessness of the situation called for desperation. The disgusting worm chose to explode itself after realizing that their fates were sealed otherwise. It combined a highly reactive Fusion of his sin energy and mana with the massive store of acid it has within a pouch in its body to create an explosion that blew the pillar of darkness apart.
Aeternus appeared when the pillar was scattered.
"And now there were three." He said as he swung his claymore around playfully.
The explosion saved them, but only 3 remained. One of them exploded while the explosion killed 2 more. The pillar had scattered because it was overwhelmed with energy and went out of his control. All the chaos energy returned to his soul and brought with it all the energy from the death and destruction he had caused. His sin mark grew stronger.
He had used his control over the chaos energy to prevent it from returning to its source, so all the energy it acquired from killing the defenders of the fortress was bottled up in it making it more powerful. It's why a pillar was created instead of a cloud. His mark of sin had grown stronger with the scattering of the flames but he has lost a powerful aid.
The three demons alive were worse for wear. They had been through a lot in this short moment and they wanted it to be over. But they understood that it wasn't going to end unless they tried to escape now or stayed together and get rid of Aeternus. It wasn't a matter of getting his spatial artifact or his blade anymore, it is a matter of survival.
The three demons looked at each other and agreed. The Balde demoness, the scorpion demon and a demon that looked like a single giant eye decided to fight him.
The beholder said to the other two. "Hold him back while I use my trump card."
"You better be quick." The scorpion replied.
The blade demoness nodded before she dashed towards Aeternus with her arms drawn. Her two arms were blades so her Blades had been drawn. Blades stuck out of her back, neck, legs, and almost every part of her body. Her body wasn't made of flesh but metal which made her very durable. She is the incarnation of carnage, a demon sculpted to rip flesh apart and make the blood of her enemies flow.
As a demon of carnage, she gets a boost from the destruction that she causes and she had a sense for determining the weak, vulnerable parts of her opponents. But she couldn't sense any from Aeternus. She even doubted he had flesh behind that view of darkness he wore around himself. Even so, she has to fight, her life depends on it.
The scorpion brandished its 4 pincers and 3 stingers and followed behind her. It shadowed her ready to reinforce her while the beholder staying behind began to glow. They were very fast and they showed impressive footwork technique. The demoness reached him first and their blades clashed. His claymore cut through her arm and would have cleaved her in two had her partner not come to the rescue.
Well, technically, he didn't come to the rescue. The scorpion ignored her cry of pain and struck with all three of his stinger from three different directions. He aimed to use her as fodder to distract Aeternus while his stingers pierce Aeternus. Aeternus felt a little threat from the stingers so he released one of his hands from his weapon and he used it to smack the stingers aside in one quick movement. The blade demoness went with the flow of the blade and was thrown aside.
"Hmm. The first step of blade mastery. Impressive." He said as he considered the blade demoness.
She had sustained a big injury instead of being cut in two. Her left arm was gone and she was missing some blades that made up her side. She and the scorpion were circling him all too content with prolonging the fight.
"If you don't come to me, then I'll come to you." He said as he began to conjure blades of flames with his claymore.
The scorpion dashed forward this time. It used its pincers coated with mana and sin energy to deflect blades of chaotic flames while its empowered sting acted as spears. The scorpion became a spear user with four shields. The blade demons joined in once in a while but she wasn't so enthusiastic. That first encounter with his blade made them realize how sharp it was so they were wary of it. They tried to dodge if possible or deflect it. Blocking it was a bad idea.
"Truly impressive." Aeternus applauded their performance.
The fight continued at a fast pace. Weapons clashed numerous times in less than a second. The environment didn't escape from the consequence of their fight. The two of them worked seamlessly. It turns out that they had both acquired the first step of weapon mastery. Their sense of momentum and manipulation of it helped them to enhance their corporation and display a fighting prowess beyond the simple combination of the one plus one.
The pincers of the scorpion demon could be used as a shield for defense, a club for smashing, or large scissors for attacking. The changes between each stage occurred seamlessly. The demoness was like an assassin. She tried to hem him in, restrict his movements and when possible take cheap shots at him. Each of their movements was meant to cover each other's weaknesses.
The scorpion is a demon of weakness. In a society with a strength-based hierarchy, weakness is a sin. The scorpion doesn't grow stronger in a fight but it makes its opponents weaker with each of its attacks. It can sense weaknesses and create them. Even more, it can exacerbate an already present weakness. All it needs is to stick one of its stingers into its opponent. If there is a weakness, it will be enhanced. If there is none, then one will be created.