As I smirked, a low rumble came from the demon in front of me, rising into a full chuckle. His gaze moved from the runes around him back to me.

  “A banishing circle, is it? Perhaps you aren’t as helpless as you appear, vyxa. Tell me, to whom do I have the honor of battling today?”

  His tone came off slightly condescending, as though our “battle” was merely an amusing bout of fun for him. That combined with his apparent ck of worry wiped the smirk off my face. The banishing runes were almost fully lit, and the moment they finished he would be whisked away back to his realm. So why did he not show even an ounce of concern?

  Why was he speaking as though our fight wasn’t yet over?

  “Ruby,” I replied, watching him closely.

  “Well met, Ruby. I am Berithal’tiil Leshn, or leader of the Leshn, as you would say in your tongue, and Destroyer of Hasnn. But you may call me Berith.”

  Just as he finished, the floor below him fshed as brightly as the sun, a wave of mana flowing out as the hole between realms formed at his feet. I had to blink away the bright light, missing the moment he was pulled through. But as I stared down the empty hall, the portal in front of me beginning to close, I knew that it had worked.

  I held my breath for two seconds, just to make sure it wasn’t some kind of ruse. The portal continued to close, and I released a sigh.

  “It’s only natural to lose when you underestimate your opponent,” I scoffed, turning around and sheathing my sword.

  “Underestimating you, am I?” a deep voice rumbled through the hall.

  I jerked back around, just in time to see a massive gray hand pop through the closing portal. Bck spears filled the area within the circle, like a shining steel ttice.

  ‘Why are you standing around gawking? Just run!’ the voice in my head shouted.

  I took a step back, but didn’t listen, unable to believe what my eyes were seeing. There was no way. The banishing circles were fwless... weren’t they?

  To my astonishment and horror, the ogre pulled himself up through the widening hole, fighting against the magic trying to push him back in. The magical ttice gave way as he moved through it, clinging to him like webbing. As he climbed his way fully back up into the room, held up purely by the strange magic he’d cast, his gaze finally turned to me. A smile spread into a full, joyous grin.

  “You didn’t think our duel was already over, did you?”

  “W-what?” I stuttered, completely nonplussed.

  “Perhaps you are the one who has underestimated me.”

  A small, red orb appeared below him, pulsing as it lit the hall.

  Just as I turned to finally run, a force smmed into me like an invisible wall, throwing me off my feet and against the floor. My ears exploded with sound as my breath was knocked fully out of me. I could feel pieces of brick and stone pelt against my back and legs, but the sharp pain in my shoulder far overwhelmed them. A throbbing ache in my ears joined. Unable to cry out, I instead sucked in air like a desperate fish.

  My arm reached out, nails scraping against the stone floor before my senses returned and I pushed myself up, despite the hideous pain. The red glow of the orb was gone, leaving only the glow of runes and torches ahead.

  Behind me, the demon hummed—just loud enough that I could hear it over the ringing in my ears.

  “Was that too much? I’d hoped to continue our game a little longer.”

  Stone crumbled beneath the heavy steps as the ogre took a step toward me. He paused as I turned over to face him.

  The portal was gone, as was the banishing circle, protective barrier, and much of the hall.

  Noticing my stare of horror, the fiend said, “Your little runes only work so long as their surface stays intact.” My eyes shifted to him as he reached up a hand to his neck and cracked it within the confined space. “I suppose you’ve done well for a vyxa, but it looks like our fun is over.”

  For what was likely the first time in my life, I sat frozen in terror before an opponent. I had no hope of winning. If he could outmaneuver a banishing circle with such ease, I doubted anything else I threw at him would work. It was over; I was done for.

  No…I couldn’t defeat him, but perhaps I could still escape!

  Many of the other runes were still active. Much like the banishing circle, I’d made them such that the only thing needed to activate them was the touch of mana on the right rune—at least so long as the hidden crystal continued to power them.

  If I could make it to the other end of the hall, I still had a chance at getting away.

  The demon reached for me, and I turned, almost tripping over myself as I leaped off the floor. The nearest sigils were broken and unlit, and I nearly lost my bance in my mad sprint forward.

  “Now, now. Either fight me or accept your defeat like a good little vyxa.” His voice came like a whisper from just behind me.

  A hand gripped my shoulder, completely halting my momentum and nearly bringing my legs out from under me. I gasped, ignoring the urge to look back, my eyes still glued to the rune that was just out of reach.

  “Let go!” I snarled, jerking and punching against the brute’s gray hand.

  I used his own strength to hold my weight as my feet slid forward, my body twisting to face the floor. Two of his fingers curled around my upper arm, sharp bck cws digging into my skin. I winced, blindly stretching one leg forward, as far as it would go. At the same time, I sunk my teeth into a finger.

  Please work!

  “Such a feral little thing,” he said, sounding pleased and pulling me upright. “A nice change of—”

  His words were cut off as the hall behind him was filled with deadly spikes of stone, one brushing just past me to my side. His body blocked the rest from reaching me. The ogre’s grip loosened, just enough for me to slip out. I fell and rolled, before hopping back to my feet. As I ran, I risked a gnce back, the peek almost causing me to stumble.

  Several spikes of stone clearly hit him but none appeared to have drawn blood. Instead, it seemed that the stone had crumbled on contact. The demon’s red eyes were focused on my own, his lips curling back into a smile.

  I continued running as he chuckled.

  “So that’s what the rest of these were for. Well. You wish to py a game of chase? I suppose I can oblige.”

  The st few words were spoken far closer than the others. I pressed my hand against a rune to my right, just moving out of the way as a wall of stone smmed down from the ceiling.

  The ogre didn’t even pause as he smashed through the thing. My head jerked back as rocks the size of my torso flew across the hall, eyes widening in horror as one smacked full-force into me.

  …or at least it would have were it not for the foggy bck barrier that appeared, blocking it.

  “Your little traps seem a bit too dangerous for you to handle, Ruby,” he commented, smoothly striding toward me. Hearing my name on the demon’s lips made me snarl. “But as you’ll belong to me, be assured that I’ll protect you, even from your own mistakes.”

  The stone wall wasn’t a danger until this fiend busted through it! Just what the hell is this monster?

  How had Melkar been able to summon and control something so powerful? It didn’t make sense.

  Only then did I realize that I’d stopped moving, and I jolted forward into another run. I was outcssed, completely and totally. The strange mind demon was right, I should have run the moment that the banishing circle activated.

  Or rather, I shouldn’t have come at all.

  It was too te to worry over regrets, however. I wasn’t giving up, no matter the impossible obstacle that I faced. I’d never give up.

  The next activation rune didn’t work, to my dismay, and the next one was too nonlethal to bother running towards. I slid almost to a halt when the demon flew past me, his cws digging into the brick floor to stop the momentum of his rge body. I gulped, finally unsheathing my sword once again.

  There was no point in running the other direction. I had to slip by him somehow.

  “I must admit, I’m curious as to what your pn is once you reach the end of this hall.” He smirked. “If you can get past me, of course.”

  It was a challenge not to taunt him back, but I knew it was a bad idea. There was no reason to anger him and make him take this more seriously.

  Against my better judgment, I stepped forward, sword ready. The magical attacks hadn’t harmed him at all, but somehow, my teeth had pierced into his skin. Was it some sort of magical immunity? A defense against ranged attacks? Had it been deliberate?

  All I could hope was that my sword might work where my magic had failed.

  I’d always been best with a bde in hand anyways.

  I jumped forward with an upward ssh, feinting to his left, before slicing at his midsection. The fiend blocked it with an arm, his other cw swinging for my head. I twisted, ducking beneath it just in time. His next two swipes seemed intentionally slow, leaving an obvious opening. My bde stabbed forward, only for his fingers to halt it mere inches from his lower gut. I winced, nearly losing my grip.

  “You are not bad,” he commented as I struggled and failed to pull the sword out from his fingers. “At least as far as humans go. But you will need much more than this to defeat me.”

  He released it, and I stumbled backward. He was toying with me, obviously. The demon had made it abundantly clear that this was all just a game to him. Unfortunately, the consequences of this fight were all too real for me.

  Once more, I charged forward, this time aiming for his lower legs. To my satisfaction, he stepped back to avoid my swing. Then a tail swept the hall, smashing into my own legs. I fell with a gasp, hitting the floor on my side.

  His rge gray hand reached for me, and a buried instinct took over. Just as he was about to grab me, my bde pierced upward. I almost didn’t believe my eyes as I watched it part skin, stopping only as it hit bone.

  The ogre ughed.

  My sword sliced through part of his hand, cutting deep as I rolled, and jumped to my feet.

  On the other side of him.

  Gasping for breath, I ran, the booming ughter behind me continuing. My body smmed into the bricks at the end of the hall, my fist smashing against the mechanism to open the secret pathway. Even as I cried out from fracturing a bone or two, I quickly slipped through the passage.

  And fell into darkness.

  FlitterPuff