Unity

The demon lord easily swats aside your attack, and you roll to avoid his return strike. Remembering your times training with Uzume, you stay light on your feet, dodging his heavy blows. With a growl, you slash low, hoping you slow him down, but your blade rebounds off the thick armor plates.

With a grin, he slashed at you, driving you back, and as you back away he hurls black fire at you. Instead of dodging the lethal fire, you simply lift your rune-carved arm. The demonic flame is absorbed, the runes glowing brightly. You relish the surprise on his face, and hurl black fire back at him. It washes over him harmlessly, but you follow it up with a blast of lightning from your blade. He grimaced slightly, and lifts a hand towards you, palm out.

You feel your muscles lock, nerves screaming as your feet leave the ground. You struggle to concentrate, knowing this is what he hit Uzume with. With effort, you focus on the spell, and absorb it, dropping to the ground heavily. The demon lord snarls as you rise, wisps of smoke rising off you. Every muscle aches, but you’re free, and with a new spell thrumming with power in your mind.

You lift your own hand, and smile at the grunt of pain you draw from the towering demon lord. However, it only slows him, and he stalks forward, smoke rising from the joints in his armor. He raises his sword to strike, and you know you’re too slow to dodge now. Instead, you lift your shielded arm.

It’s like blocking a freight train. The shield immediately dissipates from the impact, and you feel your arm snap. Staggering backwards, you shout in pain as your arm hangs useless by your side. Unable to hold your concentration, you drop the spell as well. The demon lord swings again, a strike which you attempt to parry with your lightning-wreathed sword.

The dwarf forged blade squeals and explodes, shards of metal and lightning scattering everywhere, blasting you onto your back. Even the demon lord is rocked back a step from the violent shattering of the blade. Undaunted, however, he stands over you, raising his blade to deliver a killing blow. “Time to die, little mage!”

“No!”

A searing blast of hissing white flame connects with his sword arm, which vanished below the elbow, disintegrated in an instant. He staggers back, clutching the stump, and weaves aside as another blast hisses past his head. Both of you look over to see Kali, both fists pointed at him and trailing white fire. She strides towards the demon lord, eyes glowing golden-white, blasting at him yet again.

As he sways aside, a glowing axe head buries itself in his side. Clarissa rips her axe free, a gout of black blood pouring from the canyon she just carved in the black plate armor. She swings again, scoring a smoking line along his thigh as he staggers back.

Sudden lightning engulfs his head, poured on in an endless stream by Sadie. Snarling, the djinn leans into her spell, arcs pouring off her to fry anything that approaches.

A limping Uzume staggers forward, swatting aside demons running to aid their master. Despite her bedraggled and injured appearance, she easily crushes any she can reach.

Samara kneels beside you, helping you to your feet. You grimace as pain shoots through your shattered arm, and your armor is a mangled wreck. Samara supports you as you stand, smiling through a tear stained face. “We need you, Josh. He’ll never be weaker than this…”

You nod, taking a deep breath. You focus, despite your pain, despite the carnage around you. You pull all your magic, every stored spell, twisting and binding, until it’s a bright ball in your mind. Your vision blurs from the strain, but you lift your hand towards the demon lord. Blinded by lightning, bleeding from repeated attacks, and missing an arm, he doesn’t see you until too late.

Blood running from your mouth and ears as you maintain the massive amount of magic, you focus for long enough to fire everything you have in a searing white beam, which strikes him square in the chest. And blasts straight through.

Silence falls over the battlefield.

The demon lord drops to his knees, a gaping hole through his chest.