The Damned Demon

Chapter 725 A Million Possibilities

The battle began in an instant. As soon as Anna launched herself forward, her body a blur of dark yellow lightning, Asher's aura flared as it shook the very earth beneath them.

His fingers twitched, and in a split second, he let the darkness flow through him, drawing from the infernal energy that crackled around his being.

Anna was a streak of raw speed, her legs nothing more than a blur as she closed the gap between them in the blink of an eye. She was going for a quick strike, aiming to knock Hellbringer out before he could react, just as she had planned to before. But just as she could get near him, Rebecca smirked as she struck her staff to the ground, unleashing a powerful layer of chilling darkness around them.

Anna frowned as she knew the Bloodice Mistress was trying to distract her and never let her focus stray away from Hellbringer.

But Asher's senses and movements, sharpened by countless battles and empowered by his Hellbringer form, were beyond what Anna had expected.

With a sudden, almost imperceptible movement, Asher vanished, his body melding into the total darkness around them. The world seemed to freeze, as if even time had taken a breath. Anna's eyes widened, trying to predict his movements, but the darkness clung to him like a second skin, making his location impossible to pin down.

In that heartbeat of uncertainty, Asher reappeared directly behind her. His ring blade, glowing with dark green flames, swung in a perfect arc, but Anna was already gone, streaking forward again, a blur of motion so fast that it left afterimages in her wake.

The ground beneath them trembled and cracked over kilometers as they clashed, Anna striking with blinding speed, her hands moving like a lightning storm. Each time her hand would strike, Asher would be one step ahead, dodging or parrying with unnatural grace, his skeletal form radiating an aura of death and power.

The collision of their forces created shockwaves that shattered nearby buildings and tore at the earth, sending debris flying into the air. The landscape itself seemed to bend and crack under the pressure of their battle.

Asher's hollow sockets glinted with a eerie light as Anna's attacks came relentlessly, each one faster than the last. She's quick, he thought, his mind calculating every movement, but the real challenge was not just the speed—it was also breaking her resolve.

He knew best how someone would fight when their loved ones were in danger.

"Slow down, bitch!" Rebecca, standing on the periphery, raised her dark blue crystal staff with a malicious grin. Her eyes glinted as she whispered incantations under her breath. A blast of icy, blood-red mist shot from the tip of her staff, curving around the battlefield to encase Anna in a layer of freezing darkness. The cold stung, but Anna was faster. She darted through the frost, avoiding the attack with a sharp, lightning push. But as soon as she avoided it, she found herself face-to-face with the Huntress, who swung her silver staff with the vermillion crystal glowing, "Going somewhere?"

Grace's staff whistled through the air, unleashing a torrent of vermillion flames imbued with darkness. The flames twisted like serpents, intent on incinerating everything in their path. Anna's breath caught in her throat as she dodged, but the flames grazed her arm, searing her skin. The pain flared, but Anna pushed through it, her mind already calculating her next move.

I have to end this—now….Anna thought as she knew every second she wasted was a second longer of suffering for Cila. Never before had she felt how slow she was.

*Boom!*

But the ground exploded beneath her as Grace summoned another wave of Willforce, and in the chaos, Yui and Emiko stood in the back, their white staffs glowing with radiant green energy, making sure to soften the burden on Grace due to the tremendous usages of dark powers. Yui's and Emiko's hands trembled as they focused their healing powers on Grace, trying to protect her mana circuit from further damage from the corrosive darkness.

Asher appeared again, now fully embracing the power of his Hellbringer form. He moved like an unstoppable force, the air around him crackling with an energy that bent and warped reality itself. With a single strike of his ring blade, he released a burst of dark energy that tore through the battlefield, sending Anna skidding backward across the ground.

The force was overwhelming. Anna's vision blurred as she skidded across the wasted terrain, her body protesting the brutal impact. Her hands dug into the earth, her fingers curling into fists. She could feel her power faltering, the exhaustion beginning to catch up with her. She had to think, had to push through.

I can't give up now. Not for Cila…

But as she looked around, the scene painted a grim picture. The once old yet sturdy buildings that littered the landscape were now little more than shattered fragments. The ground itself had cracked, fissures spreading like spider webs across the battlefield.

The air was thick with smoke and dust, the smell of burning flesh and blood hanging heavy. Hellbringer and his cult members had the upper hand, and Anna could feel it. Together, they worked so well, complimenting each other's strengths and weaknesses while working together to suppress the advantage of speed she had over them.

She rose to her feet, slow and deliberate, her body aching with the strain of the battle. Her hands trembled, but her resolve remained unbroken. The glare in her yellow eyes was filled with defiance, though her heart was heavy with pain and worry.

Asher watched her carefully, his skeletal form towering above the wreckage of the battlefield. He could feel the hesitation in her, the momentary lapse in her focus. But there was something else, too—a flicker of defiance, a will that refused to be crushed.

"Anna, that's enough. We don't want to kill you unless we have to," Asher warned as he assumed his human form to persevere whatever mana was left. He knew the real enemy wasn't Anna, and he also didn't want to risk fighting her to death due to the limitations of his human shell. Killing a powerful peak Soul Devourer like her was a monumental task considering the present scenario.

Anna stood tall, despite the agony coursing through her. Maybe that blue-eyed monster was right…She can't afford to hold back anymore…

The battlefield, once a chaotic flurry of motion and destruction, came to a sudden and unnatural stillness. The winds died, the earth seemed to hold its breath, and the flames that had consumed the air paused mid-flicker. The sounds of battle—shattered stone, crackling fire, and the pounding of their hearts—faded into nothing. Time itself seemed as if it had been frozen.

Anna's breath slowed, and her pulse became the only sound that filled the vast emptiness of her mind. She stood amidst this eerie silence, her body battered and bruised, her limbs aching from the previous blows, but she didn't move. She didn't need to.

Her eyes—those sharp, piercing dark yellow eyes—narrowed as she focused, the air around her thick with tension. The world around her, frozen in place, became hers. Focus, she thought. This is the only way.

With a single, controlled exhale, she opened her mind fully. Her vision shifted, her Mindforce abilities expanding to their fullest extent. Her surroundings blurred and then exploded into a storm of infinite possibilities.

Every attack Hellbringer might make, every spell the Bloodice Mistress or the Huntress could cast, every move the two healers could unleash—all of it unfolded before her, playing out in her mind at once. Now that she had a good idea of their powers and abilities coupled with the data the blue-eyed monster had given her, it made it easier.

Anna's mind raced as she processed millions and millions of possible scenarios. She saw Hellbringer's dark green flames roaring towards her, the ring blade swinging through the air, cutting the very fabric of reality with its power. She saw the Bloodice Mistress's blood-red ice encasing her in an unbreakable prison and the Huntress' vermillion flames licking at her skin, burning away everything in their path. The two healer girls always supported the Huntress from afar, allowing her to attack without fearing any consequences.

In one possibility, she saw herself dodging, just barely avoiding death—but in the next, she was pinned under Hellbringer's power, his overwhelming strength crushing her into the ground. Another possibility played out where she was impaled by the Bloodice Mistress's icy, blood-red spires, her body freezing from the inside out. Then there was another, where she was trapped by the Huntress' Willforce and enveloped by her flames, the heat searing through her, turning her to ash before she could even react.

The possibilities spiraled out of control, each one more violent, more brutal, than the last. It was like watching a million different versions of herself being torn apart, scattered to the wind. The weight of it all pressed down on her, suffocating her thoughts, filling her with doubt and fear of whether there was truly no possibility where she could defeat them. Were they truly that unstoppable?

But Anna pushed it away, focusing deeper, sifting through each one, examining every single path they might take.

No. I cannot fail. I will not.

She clenched her fists tightly, the metal of her fingernails digging into her palms, but still, the visions played on. They were too much, too many to process. It was overwhelming. But Anna's will was more than this fear, more than these visions.

Her mind snapped back into focus. The possibilities stopped. The world around her ceased to be a storm of infinite paths and returned to a singular reality, a reality in which she was standing, facing Hellbringer and his cult.

Her breathing was steady, calm, despite the chaos her mind had just endured. Her eyes, once filled with uncertainty, now burned with cold, deadly intent. Her body, once battered and slow, now seemed to pulse with an unseen energy. The glow in her eyes intensified as she now knew what she had to do.

Asher couldn't help but frown. He stared at Anna, now standing taller, fiercer, with a force that had not been present before. Her aura had shifted; something was different. It wasn't just her demeanor—her presence now radiated with an intensity that made the very air around her feel heavier, more oppressive.

Asher's instincts screamed that something was very wrong. He could feel it deep within his bones. This was not the same Anna who had fought so recklessly before. Her eyes locked onto him, and for the first time against her, Asher felt a very bad feeling that didn't sit well with him.

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