Rex stood there staring at the Archdemon, and the bastard was staring right back. Big son of a bitch, had to be eight feet tall easy. The air between them felt heavy, like right before a thunderstorm hits. Rex knew this was it - everything they'd fought for, everyone who'd died, it all came down to this one fight.
When they finally moved, it happened faster than expected but felt like slow motion. Rex swung first, putting everything behind his blade, and the Archdemon met him halfway with casual confidence that made Rex's stomach drop. When their swords connected, the sound cracked like thunder, and the shockwave sent cracks spider-webbing through the ground. Both sank several inches into the dirt from the force.
He tried to press the attack while the demon was recovering, figured he'd keep momentum and not give the bastard time to think. That was his first big mistake. The Archdemon slipped aside like he'd been expecting Rex's move all along, smooth as water, and suddenly there was a dark spear materializing in his hands.
The spear punched right through Rex's foot, sliding through his divine armor like paper. Rex had always figured his armor would stop anything the demons could throw at him. The pain hit like a sledgehammer, white-hot and blinding, and before he could process what happened, the demon's boot caught him square in the chest.
Fifty feet - that's how far he flew before gravity slammed him back down. Rex was still trying to get his breath back when the world went dark and cold.
The Archdemon didn't run over like any normal fighter. One second he was fifty feet away, the next he was right behind Rex, surrounded by flickering darkness that hurt to look at. He grabbed Rex by the hair and delivered a kick so hard Rex felt his teeth rattle and tasted blood.
Lying there spitting blood, Rex couldn't figure out what was happening. Why wasn't his armor working? Why was this thing so much stronger than everything else he'd fought? If this was just an Archdemon - not even the strongest thing crawling around in the depths - what the hell was he supposed to do against anything worse?
That's when everything went white and silent.
Rex found himself somewhere else entirely, a space that stretched beyond imagination. There were beings there - huge, glowing figures in robes that seemed to hold entire galaxies, stars and nebulae swirling in patterns that hurt to follow. Rex was on his knees, could barely lift his head to look at them.
One came down and helped Rex to his feet with a hand that felt like holding the ocean itself. The others started talking, their voices echoing inside his head, explaining things he'd never understood. They were the ones who'd given him his powers. They kept the world running, made sure the sun came up and life kept going. And they'd picked him to fight the demons because some supreme being had laid down rules that said they couldn't interfere directly.
Then one stood up, and Rex knew without being told this was Poseidon. "We're going to tell you how your powers really work," he said, his voice carrying the weight of tsunamis. "And how to push them past the limits we built into them."
Rex snapped back to the battlefield. The Archdemon was still there, probably wondering where Rex's mind had gone. Rex grabbed the dark spear buried in his foot and yanked it out with a grunt that turned into a roar. It hurt like hell, but he focused divine power on the wound to slow the bleeding.
The Archdemon wasn't giving him recovery time. He conjured spheres of dark energy in his palms, each crackling with power that made the air shimmer. When he threw them, they moved faster than Rex could follow, streaking like black comets. Rex tried to dodge, but two caught his legs anyway, punching through his armor and tearing holes above his knees.
The pain was unbelievable. Before he could scream, another kick sent him flying into a stone wall. His back cracked against the stones, and agony shot through his body. Blood poured from his legs, ran down his chin. His vision went fuzzy, and he couldn't move or think straight.
The Archdemon laughed quietly, nastily. "You gods picked a real winner here," he said, walking over slowly. "A shitty puppet with shitty powers. I've seen imps stronger than you."
He grabbed Rex by the head, lifted him face to face, then slammed his skull against the wall hard enough to make stars explode behind Rex's eyes. "You know this isn't even your full power," the demon said, breath smelling like sulfur and rotting meat. "Without it, you're nothing. But let's see if we can make you desperate enough to use it."
That's when he brought out the girl.
She materialized wrapped in chains of pure darkness, couldn't have been more than eighteen with a terrified expression that said she knew how bad this was. The Archdemon shaped his fingernail into a thin blade and started making shallow cuts along her legs while maintaining eye contact with Rex.
Rex tried to get up, but his legs wouldn't cooperate and every movement sent fresh agony through his body. The demon kept cutting, kept laughing, calling Rex weak, pathetic, worthless - a failed champion who couldn't protect one innocent girl. The girl was crying, trying not to scream, and Rex could hear her parents calling her name in helpless terror.
The cuts got deeper. The girl was losing too much blood, her face going pale, breathing shallow. Rex was still on his knees looking defeated. The Archdemon was eating up every second, convinced he'd broken the Divine General's spirit.
That's when the bastard picked up the girl, lifting her above his head, and opened his mouth wide. What Rex saw wasn't teeth and tongue - it was like staring into the deepest pit of hell itself, complete with flames and screaming voices.
But Rex wasn't beaten. While the demon gloated and tortured the girl, Rex had been healing his legs as much as possible and studying every move, every attack. There was definitely a pattern - the thing hesitated just slightly before each major attack, like it had to channel power for a fraction of a second longer than it should.
Rex closed his eyes and pulled all his divine power inward, concentrating it in his chest. It felt like holding lightning with bare hands - dangerous, painful, but potent. The energy built until he could feel it pressing against his ribs, and he shaped it into a spear of pure divine energy, sharper than any blade and bright enough to burn shadows.
Then he moved, and the world exploded around him.
The ground disintegrated from the force of his launch, sending chunks flying like shrapnel. Rex crossed the distance faster than thought, his body surrounded by divine energy that turned the air white-hot. The demon's chest glowed with dark energy - his power source, his core. Everything else was just meat and bone.
Rex struck with everything he had. The divine spear punched through the demon's defenses, sliding between ribs and striking the glowing core dead center.
The Archdemon staggered backward, black ichor pouring from his mouth and chest, shock replacing his smug superiority. But Rex wasn't giving him time to recover. All that rage from watching the girl's torture, all that fury at his helplessness - he gathered it up and drove his fist straight into the demon's wounded chest.
Something fundamental changed inside Rex. Like a dam breaking, all his power came flooding out at once. The demon didn't just die - he got completely erased by an explosion of light so brilliant it lit up the entire battlefield.
Rex stood looking at the smooth crater where the Archdemon had been. The creature's entire massive form had been vaporized - flesh, bone, armor, everything consumed by divine fire. Not even ash remained. Yet somehow, impossibly, the demon's claws lay intact at the crater's edge. Four curved talons, each the length of a sword blade, gleaming with an otherworldly darkness that seemed to absorb the light around them. They were the only proof that the Archdemon had ever existed at all.
Then pain hit like a freight train. Using that much power had cost him - his body felt like pottery fired too hot and cooling too fast. He could barely stay upright but forced healing energy into his legs.
The girl was barely alive. Rex knelt beside her and let warm light flow gently into her torn flesh, taking away the pain, bringing her back from death's edge. Her breathing became steady, and she started to wake up.
When she opened her eyes and looked at him with pure gratitude, Rex felt his strength give out completely. The Ethereal Knights were suddenly there around him. The girl was looking at him like he'd saved her entire world.
Maybe he had. Rex's vision went dark, and the last thing he remembered was hitting the ground and hoping someone else would take care of things from here.