The Acknowledgement - Volume One

Demon Slayer

                "There are some abilities, or skills in Winter's case, that don't consume mana in their use," Ultima explained to himself. "For example, the 'commander's touch,' and 'shadow preservation'-" it continued- "Shadow Soldiers have already been preserved, so mana isn't necessary to summon them," Ultima reasoned, "But when they're destroyed, mana is required to regenerated their hp and rebuild themselves. Once mana is depleted, they are no longer capable of regeneration and return into Winter's shadow- '' it explained- "With it being so important to increase his intelligence stat, he can have increasingly more soldiers and mana. However, the strength these demons possess is often equal to or slightly weaker than the Shadow Soldiers," Ultima thought, "If Baran's abilities are how I think they are, summoning them again or even summoning more should be taking a toll on his reserves no matter how large they are!" It reasoned. Baran charged another beam attack, and blasted it at Winter. Leaping to the right, he rushed to close the distance between himself and the demon king. "Regenerating the strongest of my soldiers will take more mana from me, but I'm still unsure if I can fight this alone!" Winter thought, "I have to win this battle quickly!" he added as his strongest soldiers formed around him. Iron swung his battleaxe at Baran, but the demon king met the attack with his fist. Clashing with nearly equivalent strength, pushing Iron back. Baran readied the sword, but Igris met his and blocked it from attacking Iron. The demon king began building up another beam attack, but Ez forced her fist into Baran's jaw. Forcing his mouth shut, Ez stabbed her spear into the demon king. Baruka cuts through Baran's gray skin, speeding through his allies. Baran jabs Iron in the face, launching him back several yards, kicks Ez and launches her back as well. The demon king slams his fist into Igris' guard, pushing him back as he slides along the ground. Finally, Baran brought down his sword on Baruka's head. Finding themselves in a clash, Winter comes from the side.

~>System<{" The [Skill: Vital Strike] Has Been [Enabled]!"}>It rang<~

                With immense speed, precise and hasty cuts are driven into Baran's body. He stumbles back, facing Winter, and reaches out his hand. The demon king grabs Winter by the head and attempts to cut him with the great long sword. It sped toward him, with immense magical energy building up along the edge as it traveled through the air. With only a foot left, Hellraiser blocks the attack with his halberd. Pushing it down to the ground and striking Baran with the butt-end of the staff, and with a flinch, the demon king dropped Winter. Without letting this free attack go to waste, Winter stabs both of his daggers into Baran's chest. Hellraiser kicked the demon king's wrist, forcing Baran to drop his sword. Baruka and Ez combined their strength, slamming their fists into the demon king and launching him back, while Baruka got some cuts at the demon king's arm. Skidding back against the ground, Baran dug his feet into the ground. With a mighty roar, an explosion of mana and cursed energy erupted from him. Launching everyone back to a reasonable distance for him to recover. Consuming him in a light of lightning, Baran covered himself in magical armor. He opened both hands, summoning two large black daggers with brown hilts and red blade guards that resemble a demon's mouth. Winter gripped his daggers tightly. The Left dagger had more pointed edges than the right, but both had the similar curved and pointed edge to them. While Baran's daggers were round at the edge and their edges glowed blood-red, with the blade itself having a strange shadow-like flow to them. Winter raised his daggers, his eyes glowing blood-red as lunar-black energy covered his face, forming a mask with the white cursed energy.

                At once, they explosively launched themselves at each other. Clashing daggers with sparks coming off their blades. Baran pulled his right dagger back, and attempted to make precise and hasty attacks on Winter. With frightening precision, Winter narrowly avoided each attack, speeding between the blood-red and black after images of the demon king's right dagger. Making counter-attacks, Winter attempted to make a right hook on Baran. Raising his left dagger, he blocked the first attack but was too slow to notice the second attack that cut through the skin of his cut, narrowly unable to pierce his tense muscles. In the next moment, they exploded into a repeated clash of dagger edges that lit up the battlefield with sparks from the clashing weapons. Making hundreds of attacks each, they were equally matched. Holding their guards on equal ground, but Baran decided that was nonsense, building an electrical blast in his mouth. "From this distance?! You bastard!" Winter yelled, before he watched the torrent of electricity rush in his direction. He blocked with both forearms, resulting in an explosion of massive destruction. Leaving the earth eviscerated and displaced, and the demon king watched the dust settle in amusement. Winter stood among the dust and smoke, with smoke rising from not only his forearms but his body. The demon king tilted his head, "You're lucky you know how to protect yourself with mana and cursed energy!" Ultima commented, "Yes! We are," Winter replied.