HUDSON
TWENTY-NINE
Demons, there had to be actual demons in the mix, didn’t there?
The Dark Lord was making use of all that he controlled in this world, not just on those injected with the serum.
It made sense that the Elementi helping us couldn’t kill demons the same way we could with just blessed weapons.
They needed holy weapons, and they didn’t have those.
In reality, there were only a few hundred of them to go around so it wasn’t surprising.
The sound of gunfire filled the air as we fought.
We hadn’t been able to catch them off guard, having an open field in between us and them, so they came out charging, ready for a fight.
The only good thing about that was I could hear the roars of higher-level demons trapped in the forest, unable to come into the light.
It gave the Elementi a fighting chance, while Parker and I went to deal with them.
My newly improved weapons shot faster and with the flaming bullets, they were one-hit kills if I hit a vital spot.
Winged demons darted around us but I used water to swallow them up into a whirlpool where I could shoot them easier.
Parker moved lightning fast with his double-bladed staff, cutting down our enemy as if they were nothing.
It gave me peace of mind that we were paired together since our weapons and fighting style meshed well.
The problem we were running into was there were far more to fight against than we anticipated.
Were the others dealing with this as well?
These groups were not meant as backup. They were equipped to make sure that everyone was dead and stayed that way.
The higher demons alone made that clear since they leach the soul right out of you.
Memories of when Lailah was attacked by one flashed through my mind, marking the beginning of our journey to this point.
That was when the Dark Lord marked her and started to torture her mind with nightmares.
“It’s been awhile since we’ve faced one of these, you ready?” Parker asked as he gripped his staff tighter.
Taking a steadying breath, I nodded. “Let’s do this. The sooner we kill them, the faster we get back to Lailah.”
“Yeah, this was far more intense than I thought we would be dealing with.”
As we entered the forest, we found three higher-level demons prowling about.
I created a water whip and sent it slamming into two of them, tossing them back and allowing us space to deal with one at a time.
Parker charged forward and dropped to his knees at the last moment, dodging the long-clawed arms of the demon.
He sliced up and across, effectively gutting the demon while I sent off as many shots as I could into its skeletal face.
To our shock and amazement, the demon burst into smoke and evaporated, returning to Hell.
What once used to take all our power and strength, now was something we could defeat rather efficiently.
Never would I say it was easy, but this was a far better outcome than we were used to.
The other two recovered from my attack and boxed us in.
The most dangerous part of the higher-level demons were the claws.
They were attached to long spindly arms that could reach while leaving their bodies a safe distance away.
I fired off two shots, watching it stumble back then I pulled on my power, wrapping it up and freezing the water so its arms were trapped at its sides.
Never before had I been able to freeze without Jay’s help, but clearly our powers were changing now that the bonding was complete and Lailah had her powers.
Just as I was going to get off another few shots, a body slammed into me, knocking me to the ground. Shoving back with my elbow, it slammed into something hard and a person cried out. There was a shattering sound as the demon broke out of my ice bindings.
Fuck, I need to get this man off me.
Using my power, I tried to shove him off me but it didn’t work, which meant it was a pure human.
This also meant my spirit weapon guns wouldn’t work either, and my real gun was trapped on my hip against the ground.
Thrashing about, I nailed him again with my elbow but he wouldn’t let up.
It was as if he was trying to hold me down long enough for the demon to get me.
But that would mean he would steal the soul from this person too. “It’ll kill us both!”
“Hail the Dark Lord. May he reign the world forever,” the man answered.
“Sorry, asshole, that’s just not going to work for me and I’m gonna need you to get off my friend here,” Parker commented from somewhere above me. “Hudson, would you mind shooting that demon while I deal with this prick?”
There was a grunt and the weight of the man on me was gone.
Glancing over my shoulder as I got to my feet, I found Parker wrestling the man to the ground in a choke hold.
Not wasting any more time, I called on my weapons but instead of my handguns, a large crossbow appeared.
If this was anything like Lailah’s, then this was going to be a one-hit-and-done moment for the demon.
Sure enough, as the bolt shot out of the crossbow and struck the demon, it exploded.
The force of it shook the ground, bringing along with it shrieks of lesser demons as they got swept up in the aftershock.
“Holy shit, dude, why didn’t you use that to begin with?” Parker demanded as he stepped up next to me.
Glancing down at the crossbow and then back up at him, I blinked a few times. “I didn’t even know I could call on it.”
“Well, now that we know you can, let’s skip the pew-pew guns and go for the big boom, alright?” He patted me on the back and started to jog back to the main fight, a reminder to me that this was far from over. We’d just begun.