Kuroki raised another hardened magical barrier, blocking the Devil's claws as it moved in close to try and take him out. It was slashing at him repeatedly, changing its form in rather grotesque ways. It appeared that Devils had this rather dangerous ability to modify their bodies, that or this one had undergone some really dangerous experimentation. It was able to morph its body to suit its needs, which meant that it was able to have spikes come out of the back and claws from the hands. Kuroki raised a mana barrier and shielded the attacks, while at the same time shooting an ice spike from where his left foot had just been.

  It appeared to be trying to force him into close combat. Considering what most people expected of mages, especially those that carried staffs, it made sense. And yet, Kuroki was not someone who intended to die so easily.

  What do you think I had to endure for years? That good for nothing piece of shit! I won't die and let it end like this!

  Kuroki hopped backwards, as the Devil tried to move forwards. However, it discovered its feet had been frozen in ice.

  What?! When did that brat do this? Just how much does he excel at magic? I heard stories that this Anna was a prodigy in everything, but could he be similar? At least in magic?

  The Devil quickly broke out of the ice, but Kuroki was already cooking up another spell. Lightning bolts fired out from around him, and charged right at the Devil. It quickly slashed through them, but when it charged forward, its hands were coated in ice as it went in for the attack again. Still, he was able to have spikes shoot out of his elbows, forcing Kuroki to block, but it was hardly as powerful as its intended attack.

  Kuroki meanwhile had an air blast come from under his feet, causing him to rocket into the air. At the same time, his cloak separated from his body and wrapped around one of the Devil's arms, tossing it towards the other Devil that was firing magic attacks at the whole group to keep them pinned.

  The other Devil dodged it easily, but it gave Kuroki the time he needed to formulate another spell.

  "The frosted winds and the turbulent storm, show the powers that invoke fear and despair. Show the power of our hope against the enemy's darkness. You are the perfection of the sky itself, a horrific nightmare and a mighty king. So shower from the heavens and make it clear what you can do! Perfect Storm!"

  Huge pillars and spikes of ice rained down upon the devils and demons. They were dodging as best as they could, but as one did Riku stepped into his ideal range and position.

  "Brilliant Flare!"

  He cut through another Demon that had chosen poorly, while the other two were able to block the attack that cut through their ally.

  Ryuu went on the attack as well, but was blocked by the other Devil. It used some sort of magic and made Skeletons appear from the ground. Weak, but distracting. Kaede tried to backstab it, but it shielded itself from the attack and spikes shot out to skewer her. She blocked them and hopped back, preventing the counterattack And yet, despite apparently being blocked and made to retreat, the devil still took some damage from Kaede's attacks. It regenerated instantly however, but still.

  What was that just now? Her weapons never hit me, but I still took damage?

  The Devil looked around, and then noticed something odd. In the back, a bit away from the battle, there was a strange floating mirror in the air. Kuroki noticed its gaze, and immediately snapped his fingers. The ice spikes around them began to give off electricity, and began trying to zap and attack them from countless different angles.

  The Devil raised several barriers, while the other charged towards Kuroki. Ryuu tried to attack the one with the barriers while Riku blocked the one going after Kuroki, but suddenly the ground underneath him acted like a trampoline and he went bouncing and flying everywhere.

  "What the hell? What sort of magic is this?!"

  "An alteration type spell!" Kuroki realized, and raised more barriers and hardened them as the Devil attacked, shattering through the outer layer instantly. "Tsk, I see. You don't just morph your body, your using alteration magic".

  "Clever little brat".

  Kuroki then pointed his palm right at the Devil, which had a rune drawn on it.

  "Die".

  Kuroki released a full blast compressed wind with lightning projectile right at the devil. It tried to dodge, but then it curved and went after it, so it charged at Kuroki again to go after the caster. It tried to claw him out, but Kuroki's cloak flew up and grabbed its leg, stopping him from breaching Kuroki's defenses and making him a bit short on range. The projectile then hit the devil, but it emerged immediately from the impact and attacked Kuroki...only to discover it had been weighted down, this time by a huge chunk of ice in the center.

  Impossible, there was no ice element to that spell...unless...layering?!

  Layering was a reasonably difficult technique. The Starfallen had only arrived a month ago. If Kuroki was already beginning to learn it, he might be rather talented in the arcane arts for sure.

  This kid is a different breed of monster from the Anna iv heard about. If we let him grow his talent, he could be a threat to Lady Chianthias!

  The Devil used more of its magic, enhancing its body and breaking the ice in the process. As it shattered, Kuroki was a bit surprised but still brought his staff around.

  "Starlight Blaster!"

  Using the power of the stars above, Kuroki leapt out of the way and landed on the ground, as beams of light shot out of the night's sky and attacked the Devil. It was able to block most of the attacks, but it lost an arm and a leg. Both of which regenerated almost instantly, but the Devil looked far worse than before. It was obvious that regenerating entire limbs was not something that was good for them, and it seemed to take out a good chunk of their stamina. If Kuroki had to guess, each limb took about 10% of this Devil, which combined with their earlier combat, was taking its toll on him.

  Ice seemed to push out from under Kuroki's feet, growing towards the Devil and attacking. It tried to dodge, but then lightning emerged from the ice and got him good. The Devil knew for sure know, Kuroki was layering spells.

  How is he keeping them stable? No way he can do it perfectly every time already!

  Still, Kuroki's mana had yet to explode on him. It hadn't ruptured or caused himself harm from accidents typically of those still learning layering. But the Devil was certain, given despite all the spying they had no previous signs of him layering even in desperate situations, that he was used to it.

  That meant that Kuroki was using a trick to layer spells while still a novice at it. Some deception. Deception was one of the backbones of mage combat, and there was no way Kuroki didn't know it by this point. And if the Devil could work out the trick, that would almost certainly result in Kuroki's death in under a minute.

  It glanced back towards that mirror. It had been around for awhile. For what he remembered, it allowed him to duplicate his own spells. And yet, his spells were not being duplicated, but they were being layered.

  It attacked Kuroki while doing this, and this time lightning bolts came out of his staff. The Devil threw out a few ejectable spikes from his body to act like lightning rods, only for them to suddenly be frozen and shoot ice spikes back at him. Once again, a layered spell.

  That brat, just how much mana does he have? Wait...mana? Don't tell me, is he...

  At the moment the Devil realized it, he became shocked. And in that moment, Kuroki quickly cast Frozen World without an incantation, causing him to become frozen from the deck down. He used his own magic to protect his head, but his shock had caused him to delay his judgement.

  "Finally figured it out huh?"

  "What?"

  "It was really tough, holding on like that until you showed me that opening when you figured it out".

  "...you wanted me to figure it out. That you were casting spells at half mana, using your Twinning Spell to make them appear at full power. Since it was only half, the spells were more stable, and that let you layer them more easily".

  "Right on all accounts. Honestly, I was far more worried about you taking up my entire attention and time while my friends are outnumbered. Especially since its likely reinforcements are already under way, so...goodbye".

  Kuroki pierced his body with a magical projectile, taking out his entire torso and head. He had been charging it up the entire time they were talking, so Kuroki hadn't to stop to talk on a whim. Frankly, he wanted to keep the Devil distracted with talk so he couldn't focus on escaping before Kuroki was ready.

  "Now then, lets deal with...gah!"

  Suddenly, Kuroki coughed up blood and felt a pain in his gut.

  "That...bastard...a revenge hex huh? Piece of shit".

  Apparently the Devil had not accepted the bait as much as Kuroki thought, because he had placed a Revenge Hex on himself, designed to cause pain and suffering to the one who killed him. It wasn't as nasty or perseverant as a curse though, and Kuroki would be able to unravel it himself. But he can't fight and unravel it at the same time, which meant he was out of the fight for the moment.

  As Kuroki collapsed to his knees, he began channeling mana within him to work out the hex and eradicate it as fast as he could.

  At the same time, Riku used the pillars of ice that Kuroki had left around as footholds. Using mana to enhance his physical abilities in addition to the enhancements he got as a Starfallen, he was darting around all over the place around a Demon.

  "You think a brat like you can defeat me?" it questioned, as it launched a projectile which hit Riku in the shoulder. Still, the dark blast did nothing to slow him down. If anything, he was picking up speed.

  "Of course. Boss just took down a Devil. The least I can do is take down a Demon on my own!"

  "Arrogance. We will deal with that whelp soon enough as well! Darkness storm!"

  Riku quickly swung his sword around, using his magic to wrap flames around it and cut through the projectiles. He then took a runner's start position, aimed right at the devil. Flames began to wrap them selves around his boots and arms.

  "Flare Enchant: Incendia!"

  This time it wasn't his weapon that was being enchanted, but rather it was himself. Flames began to errupt from his feet, and he exploded forward as he went into a spring, his sword readied into slashing position. The Demon sensed the danger, and quickly unleashed countless projectiles, figuring he couldn't attack and defend in such a state. He was going in a straight line right towards the Demon, which made it easy to aim as well. A foolish technique. A few of the conjured skeletons went to intercept as well. In his haste, the Demon had seen that Riku made the wrong move.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  At least, that was what was supposed to happen. Suddenly, Riku jumped over the projectiles and landed on the ice pillar. He then jumped off of it, leaving a trail of flames in his wake as he landed on another one, jumping off that one and landing on another. A trail of flames wherever he went, but he was accelerating even more than ever before. Not only that, but his movements that should have been linear suddenly became hard to track. This shocked the demon and threw it off.

  "Fine then! We just need to destroy these pillars as well!"

  It fired a few shadow blasts at the pillars, but the pillars were made of incredibly dense ice so they didn't shatter so easily.

  The two had been fighting for several minutes now, but this was the first the Demon had seen him do this.

  "Were you holding back this whole time?!"

  "I was just following orders. If we fight two demons, hold stuff in reserve until one is defeated to guarentee victory".

  At the same time, Kaede was fighting with a Devil herself. She dropped a smokebomb to make it harder to see her, but the Devil noticed the movement in the smoke and attacked right where she was. And yet, the weapon did not strike flesh, but instead what appeared to be a plank of wood.

  A decoy?!

  Kaede appeared right behind the Devil, attacking again. It shielded again with magic, followed by a counterattack which she dodged and avoided again. Meanwhile, wounds appeared on its body again, a sign her weapons had actually managed to harm it again.

  "You have some sort of penetration ability. That is the only reasonable possibility".

  "Oh, is it now?"

  "Blocking is useless against you. I guess that means I can just abandon all defense, and go on full offense".

  Suddenly, several magic circles appeared around the Devil, a sign it was charging up some serious magic. However, Kaede just smiled.

  "If I can't overcome this, I'd look pretty foolish to the boys you know" Kaede said with a chuckle. "At the very least, the boys might say that they should have taken my place here".

  None of them actually would have said anything mean or mockingly, but that was besides the point.

  "You think you can defeat a Devil?"

  "I am thinking that even if no one, including myself, will eat it...I should be able to dissect you like I can a fish".

  Kaede's affinity with daggers came from her Starfallen wish of wanting to be good at cooking and knives after all. Her stealth came from wanting to avoid causing problems. All of her combat abilities came from abstract interpretations of her wishes, but in all fairness, that was the case for a lot of people.

  Kaede rushed towards the Devil, releasing more smokebombs. The devil attacked where she was, but Kaede avoided the attack and went under the Devil's legs, slashing them in the process before jumping up and slashing at its back. It moved to dodge and counterattack, but she was already gone from that spot, having moved around the side and cutting off one of its arms suddenly.

  Still, she managed to get stabbed in the shoulder by a spike that jet out, and the Devil regrew the arm like it was nothing, although it did look a bit strained as it did so.

  "So you can't just infinitely regenerate then. Good to know. Then I guess I will show you what I can do".

  As she said that, magical energy swirled around her.

  "Flare Enchant: Accel".

  Suddenly, Kaede moved even faster. Sprinting around the Devil within the smoke, the Devil tried to keep sight on her but between the smoke and her speed it was incredibly difficult. This was a spell that Amyris had taught her, not as strong as Riku's but for her it was a better fit anyways. She didn't have the aptitude to be a pure mage, but this was something she could do still.

  She then took off one of its legs when it got dizzy and lost her for a moment. It regenerated it again, but the Devil was realizing now this was a bad matchup.

  About an hour ago...

  "What happens if we encounter Devils?" Kaede asked. "They are way stronger then Demons after all".

  "The most dangerous thing about them isn't their strength" Kuroki mentioned. "It's that they are natural deception users. They often use magic or have great physical abilities, or both. But more then that, you can't just fight one directly head on. Even Demons can be problematic for that, but Devils? They would murder us silly, even if we were stronger then them. I can use my new trick using Twinning Portal, relocating the spell origin to myself. I can't cast spells at full strength, those would have to come from twinning portal, but if I cast them at half strength and then layer them at about half strength, I might be able to trick them and make them not realize what I am doing for awhile. Of course, given how unusual it is, the opponent will be shocked when they do figure it out. This will give me an opening to even kill a Devil, but the issue is if there is more than one. I will need you three to hold off the Demons and any other Devils while I fight one alone".

  "I think that falls to me then" Kaede said. "I am the best at sneak attacks and deceptions, and my new daggers have the ability to penetrate defensive barriers. Ryuu is too straightforward, and Riku is better to hold off his new technique for emergencies".

  "Agreed. Riku and Ryuu will fight the Demons, and you keep the other Devil busy. If possible, kill it. Otherwise, just keep it occupied until I can get there. Its possible I might need some time to recover, in case the Devil still has something up its sleeve for when it shows me an opening".

  "Understood. So you want me to run around it and whittle it down then, finish it off if possible?"

  "Yes, but be careful. It may fake an opening to draw you in".

  Kaede nodded, as they continued their search.

  Kaede was now executing that plan. She was slicing it up, but the revelation that it seemed to have to exert a good bit of energy for every limb made revealed that it might end faster then she realized it. Even now, it was starting to show openings.

  However, she didn't go for any of the obvious ones.

  Those are traps to lure me in. Probably intends to have spikes shoot out of its body and skewer me the moment I go for them. Slow and steady Kaede, slow and steady.

  Kaede did not jump in blindly, and instead stuck to the plan. Whittle it down until nothing remained.

  "You think those brats can hold on without you? Isn't one of them rather young?"

  "If you think I need to be worried about Ryuu, think again. If anything, he might be joining me here soon enough".

  As she said that, Ryuu was fighting against two Demons and a bunch of skeletons. He was severely outnumbered, and yet he was only panting slightly, while the demons looked a bit more ragged.

  "Come on now, let's play some more" Ryuu taunted, sticking his tongue out at them.

  The Demons did not like that and charged forth, but their movements were heavier and slower than normal. This is because of Ryuu's Heroic Aura, which seems to make things easier on his friends and worse on his enemies. It was different then the Heroic Aura of the Summoned Heroes though, as those auras were much wider in range and prevented strong enemies from even appearing. Apparently a Demon King had charged a newly summoned hero and died outright from the aura, but at the same time the aura disappeared completely if they willingly went to the Demon King's continent. This was why they couldn't just kill off the summoned heroes immediately, or at least so easily.

  Ryuu's seemed more combat focused and in a more localized area, but Chianthias had observed it enough to wonder if it shared some similarities. It looked like it probably didn't, but something to be cautious of.

  However, Chianthias was far more concerned with another ability she saw. One that was all too familiar to her. Ryuu's glowing blade, radiating light, was identical to Anna's glowing blade which radiated light. The magic felt identical as well. It was not as strong yet, however...she knew it would be a problem.

  That was why two Demons and a bunch of skeletons were focused on Ryuu. They had their order of priority, and Kuroki and Ryuu were higher up on the threat chart then Riku and Kaede were right now, so they had to go first.

  Ryuu however cleaved through their attacks, knocking them back with the force of the blade clad in heroic aura. It appeared to be enhancing the blade's power, making it more potent. And that made it a far bigger threat as well. It didn't even need to hit you for you to take damage, it just needed to get close to you and you would get knocked away.

  The two demons charged forth against Ryuu, but Ryuu jumped up into the air and then slammed his sword down into the ground between them. An impact crater was created, but even more importantly, the two demons got knocked away and the skeletons were outright shattered, removing the minions entirely.

  "First comes strength..." Ryuu declared, as he slammed his foot down. "Second comes bravery".

  As he said these words, his heroic aura began to charge up and get more powerful suddenly. The Demons could tell this was dangerous.

  "Third comes kindness!"

  The aura surged forth, and the Demons charged at him, weapons out and magic charging. However, Ryuu did not flinch.

  "Fourth comes love!"

  His heroic aura let loose a shockwave as it increased in power, causing the Demons to stumble a bit, but they quickly recovered and charged forward as Ryuu readied his sword.

  "And finally, fifth comes cleverness! Those are the five tenants of a hero!"

  At that moment, a huge heroic aura engulfed him, refining itself as its power increased. The demons tried to skewer him, but Ryuu backstepped easily and then slashed at them both. Both of them raised barriers to protect themselves, but they were all shattered in an instant. Somehow, the slash of the sword exceeded the blade's physical length, cutting through both demons with ease.

  The Demons finally collapsed dead, and Ryuu still had power to burn.

  "I better go help Kaede. Riku is only against a demon after all, and it looks like he is onto the finale".

  Yes, at that moment, Riku had caused quite a few injuries with his blade. Still, the Demon had avoided any serious wounds, showing its skill and danger in battle. And yet, as Riku left trails of fire through the air, he was only smiling more and more.

  "Flare Enchant: Incendia!"

  Adding another Flare Enchant, he charged forward at the Demon's blindspot. However, it seemed to immediately expect this and block the attack with its sword, even hitting Riku with another Darkness Blast.

  "Got you".

  "No, I got you. Now! Incendia Circle!"

  Suddenly, the flames of the trails that were in the sky around the Demon seemed to all join together and form a circle, which shrunk itself as it tightened around the Demon. Its arms and torso suddenly bound by this ring of flames, it tried to break free as Riku built up speed again.

  "Now, Riku Style Sword Arts: Blazing Sword Rush Dance!"

  He almost seemed to dance around the Demon as he got to high speeds, and then charged towards it. It tried to create barriers, but it couldn't do that and resist the ever tightening circle of flames. As such, with Riku's speed, force, and flames, the barriers were broken through and Riku cut off the Demon's head, killing it for sure.

  "And that is how the cookie crumbles" Riku declared, as he then collapsed onto his hands and knees panting. His legs were trembling as well, and they were screaming in pain. "Ah, I pushed myself too hard again. I am going to be sore all day tomorrow".

  The tension hadn't left his body yet, but physically he did need to rest for a moment. Moving at such speeds and with such force were still straining for him, even with all the enhancements to help do them.

  At the same time, Kaede was fighting off against the Devil.

  "Looks like you are the last one left".

  "Tsk".

  The Devil knew it wasn't the best odds. They should have been able to slaughter them all easily. It was a bit incidental, but both sides had underestimated the strength of Kuroki's team, and overestimated the strength of the devils. Not all were the same, and Kuroki had based his estimates that they would at least be closer to Chianthias' abilities that he heard a lot about.

  That said, this was still without a doubt a tough fight for them. The two sides had only barely been equal, and if the Devil's side had not underestimated Kuroki's party, they would have already won by now most likely. Meanwhile, because Kuroki's party had underestimated themselves, they had gone in with a lot more preparations and tactics then necessary. They were being so cautious, they had yet to show any true opening yet. No time that the enemy could finish them off with a single attack. Riku, Ryuu, Kaede, Kuroki. They had used bait, misdirection, layering, tricks, and everything else they could think of. The Devils had used surprise attacks sure, but they believed they wouldn't need such things to defeat mere children. Especially since they were already ambushing them.

  The Devil was glaring at Kaede especially. Anything that could penetrate defenses was a threat. With the right moment, and the right poisoned dagger, there was a chance that she could kill the Demon King with such an ability.

  All of them are monsters. The Monster of Magic. The Monster of Flames. The Monster of Heroics. And her, The Monster of Assassins.

  That was what it labeled them as. The Devil had come to realize this late in the game the true threats they all held. Their potential for growth was still so great, they would become grave threats if left unattended.

  "Abydos Calamity!"

  Suddenly, a black sphere appeared in its hand.

  "All of you must die!"

  "I dont think so! Heroic Slash!"

  Ryuu cut right through the sphere of darkness, which made it emit purple lightning as a result.

  "We wont let you get away with that!"

  Riku cut its right arm off, having rejoined the fight.

  "You won't be killing anyone else ever again!"

  Kaede used the opening from the attacks to pierce its heart. However, at that moment the Devil smiled...as its heart had been relocated to another part of its body.

  "And we wont be falling for such tricks" a young yet mature sounding voice said, as her actual heart's location was pierced by a spike of ice. She barely managed to look around, to see Kuroki there, panting.

  "Damn...you...all" the Devil muttered, before it collapsed to the ground as a corpse. The moment it did, and Kuroki confirmed no additional threats nearby, they all collapsed to the ground as a result.

  "Ahhh, my body hurts" Riku declared.

  "Same. I can barely wiggle my toes" Ryuu added.

  "I ran a lot...stamina gone, HP sacrificed..." Kaede joked.

  "Stupid...revenge hex..." Kuroki muttered, continuing to root out the remains of it.

  Unfortunately, it was only then that two more Devils appeared from the shadows, and immediately went to kill them all. And yet, all the attacks were blocked by magical barriers.

  "I believe I told you all to stay inside" Amyris muttered, as he seemed to fly down from the sky and landed next to them. The Devils twitched the moment they saw him.

  "This was something we had to do, master" Kuroki mentioned.

  "Yes, I can see from your expressions it was. Apologies, I thought I was still giving you room to grow, but perhaps I have been a bit more overprotective then I should have. It was never going to work keeping you perfectly safe all the time. Still, I do think you have done enough for tonight. I will handle those that remain".

  The Devils flinched again, but when they tried to run away, their feet were already encased in ice. Immediately, Amyris blasted them both through the chest, killing them instantly.

  "Good job, you four" was all that Amyris said as he let them rest there, as he both stood guard and deal with any Devils and Demons nearby that remained.