The Prince of Demons

Ufr grew to his full size, showing he had seven tails, <Runes> going halfway down his front arms, and nine halos. Shiza. How many of each was I actually at? As I was also growing to my full size, I checked discreetly seeing I at least matched him on those fronts to my internal relief; Ufr was proving to be a monstrous opponent, so he didn't need any edge up on me. Unlike my other opponents, Ufr felt solid on all fronts so far. He must have some weakness; I just need to find it or figure out something I can hit him with. I needed to think of something that I could use to help shift the tide in my favor or at least slow him down. Ufr was proving to be immensely difficult to deal with so far. While I was thinking of what my next move was, he renewed his assault.

I sensed his path as Ufr rushed with much more speed than before. Nil, thanks for that practice with erasing time and ridiculously fast opponents. I slugged Ufr with an <Aqueous Formation> coated paw, not wanting to risk my claws with the collision. Ufr's shock as I effortlessly intercepted his faster speed was apparent as his eyes went wide, looking at me while he launched several tails at me in response. I detonated my <Mana>, launching him back so that his tails missed me by hairs. I reached out, grabbing one of his tails to pull him towards me with while I manifested several needles for a more targeted <Channel Disruptor>. Ufr pivoted to try and free his tail with a kick, but I slipped the attack as I buried a pawful of needles into his tail. Ufr grimaced and hissed before he did a short speed burst to slam me away. We both landed back at a neutral distance, flicking his tail hard while venting some <Mana>, and launching the needles into the ground.

Ufr's brain was clearly working at light speed to refine his strategy. I rushed him to stop him from thinking it over too much because I did not want to see what his improved assault plan entailed. I projected several claw slashes at Ufr to make him start moving, attempting to intercept his dodge with my tails. He swatted them away with his, stepping in as he tried jabbing me with his claws. I rapidly cast <Light Laser> beneath his extending arm. Ufr engaged a halo to tank the <Spell> while he tried closing the distance. I shot back, flipping around with a kick to his arm with my back legs before pivoting into a front swipe. Ufr, of course, remained completely unfazed as he did a similar pivot with <Light Blade> to try and connect. Are you forling serious? I dual cast two <Burning Stars>, wanting one to finally connect. Ufr yet again dashed back to dodge, using his own <Spells> to attack mine to break them. My <Spells> are better, but Ufr is taking virtually nothing from the pokes that are connecting. His <Technique> and halo usage were problematic as well. I need something, a gap, a lull, or weakness I can hammer to actually hurt him.

I engaged the ethereal halo and combined it with <Light Screen> again, seeing if a change of tactics would yield some form of progress. I faked manifesting near him to see how fast Ufr could react, seeing him bisect my illusion in less than a second. I conjured a few illusions as I manifested, making a <Light Blade> for each to swing at him. Ufr shot out a massive disc of light that I jumped over while continuing my swing. He used two tails to shield himself from my attack, rotating hard with his own counterattack. I spun over his swing, grabbing his ears with my paws to move him. Ufr seemed furious that I grabbed his ears while burying my feet into his face, kicking his head to the ground. I could tell from the feedback in my legs Ufr barely felt that as his <Mana Reinforcement> felt like hitting Ikol; I really needed to learn to reinforce my body as well as these two could. Ufr wasted no time to finally connect with one of his tails as I could not get the distance to dodge nor deflect. Holy shiza, how can he hit so hard with his tails? I wrapped his ears a bit with my paws, using his force to flip and slam him even harder by the head. I am not letting go that easily; this is the most progress either of us have made.

Ufr let out an angry roar because weaponizing his ears against him clearly infuriated him; waves of wrathful <Mana> oozed off of him while I began trying to swing him by his ears again. Unfortunately, Ufr was nowhere near down as he unleashed a barrage of <Light Lasers> to force me to let go and rush after me, cranking his speed way up. He's truly motivated now. It was all over his face how much of a nerve I struck for that maneuver. Ufr unleashed a rapid flurry of attacks that truly reminded me of Miril. Wait a second. I've dealt with the superior version of this for years. I ducked and wove around his onslaught as his maelstrom of attacks tried to reach me in vein. I knew from Miril's gip beatings there was a tiny opening she usually covered with several <Spells> or using a halo. Any second. It would pop up any second now. I prepared by covering my paws with <Channel Disruptor>, staying focused on Ufr's assault. There! The strong swing and tail combination finally came out as I rotated in, slashing Ufr across his ribs. Finally, I did measurable damage to Ufr. Lords above this is exhausting. A fountain of red shot out while Ufr let out this guttural growl, jumping back to a neutral distance for a moment.

Despite sweet, sweet progress against him, I could feel the strain of maintaining the fight against him. Ufr looked between his ribs and me, seeming even angrier than before. Every <Rune> on his arms lit up as I felt the world invert from him moving full speed. The twist of light from his speed was worrisome, but I knew how to deal with it. I created the bending tunnel around me while activating my own <Runes>, generating speed of my own to force Ufr to chase me. We quickly exchanged another flurry of strikes, headbutts, and tails as Ufr was now not giving me a moment to breathe. I hoped injuring his side like that would at least slow down his ability to attack like this. I bounded around, launching several <Light Arrays> at him, forcing him to shift directions to slow him down a bit. Ufr is not good at maintaining this speed and casting <Spells> at the same time. Not that it mattered with how solid his <Technique> and speed control were. My body was screaming at me from maintaining the battle with Ufr, meaning I could not drag this out much more. I rotated on the ground, shifting to kick Ufr as my hips and joints screamed from the constant shifts in speed and direction was agonizing on them. He didn't even bother trying to dodge, instead opting to forcing his way through, slamming into my kick shoulder first. Something crunched, and I didn't think it was in his shoulder. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. I think my ankle just broke. We both deflected back, landing a distance apart yet again. The wound on his chest was not closing like he wanted with sparks crackling around it and still bleeding heavily. My back leg was launching waves of pain throughout my body. I definitely cracked or broke something there. It was difficult for me to tell if the damage I did to Ufr was getting to him or not, but the bleeding gave me hope.

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"Ufr! There you are!" someone yelled as Ufr and I glared at each other.

"I'm busy!" Ufr panted, looking incensed.

"I'm fine to keep going, are you?" I lied to taunt him some more. My body is barely holding it together.

"Enough! We need to keep our pace!" the same voice snapped.

Now, several beings descended, seeing Ufr and I glaring at each other. My backup was Ikol, Onilin, Vndrglz, and Zagzin, so was that good or bad for me right now? How useful were they compared to Ufr's backup? There was another <Sentinel Lord>, some kind of snake with chromatic scales, a large hawk like <Spirit Beast>, and some type of multi-armed monkey arriving by Ufr's side. Ufr looked absolutely furious they immediately went to his side while he gave them a commanding glare; they then realized they were interrupting our duel. Ufr was looking between them, me, and Ikol as he debated his next move. He was oozing anger in waves as he was trying to come up with the best move in the situation. To be honest, I do not know if we need to pause, resume, or call it a draw for now. Regardless, I needed to look ready to keep going no matter how much my body was protesting such an action. I at least began recovering in case Ufr decided he wanted to settle this duel here and now.

"Really, five on one?!' the snake hissed. I laughed as Ufr gave them a stare that made them shrink in fear. Thank you, snake being.

"Oh yes, he needs the help of you four to even this up against me. Ufr, need the help of your <Pack> to beat me? So pathetic." I mocked him. Ufr was barely keeping himself in check. The other <Sentinel Lord> finally noticed the bleeding wound on his chest he was failing to heal.

"We can't be late; stop screwing around and win." The ape snapped at him. Ufr was radiating waves of wrath as he stood there.

"Lux, I have an obligation with a King I need to complete. I will find you to resume this." Ufr spat. The others except the <Sentinel Lord> seemed a bit surprised when he said that, but his face made it obvious he knew it would cost them too much time to finish our duel for whatever they had to do.

"Fine, we need to reach Elijiah anyway. Tie for now." I agreed, knowing Ufr was making a promise not a threat.

"Tie?! Dare claim a tie?!" the snake spat. Ufr took a massive breath, unleashing a wave of <Mana> as he clearly focused on healing his chest. The other <Sentinel Lord> looked at the snake like he was a dilwaul, shaking their head.

"Chef and brother were still dueling!" Ikol interjected, seeming annoyed that my prowess was being questioned. Good musclehead.

"It's currently a tie. I do not need you of all beings to defend me, Ikol." Ufr declared bitterly. He sounded calmer, but his demeanor let me know this was internally killing him.

"Do not insult your brother. He at least can recognize our duel was nowhere near decided, unlike your morons." I told him. When I implied they were dumber than Ikol, you could see they all looked ready to fight.

"Enough, do not embarrass me by falling for her taunting. We need to go." Ufr ordered as he turned to leave.

"Look forward to your loss!" I called after him.

"I know I cracked your ankle, Lux. I also know I do not have the time to finish this, so take this tie while you can. We are going to settle this; I am not stupid enough to fall for your taunting. Granted, I will credit your ability to talk shiza." Ufr shot back. Forl, he noticed.

"I bet your ribs are just fine." I pointed out. Ufr chuckled at that.

"Cheeky bezka, why I said tie." Ufr retorted as he began moving with his <Pack> to wherever they had to be.

I cast <Cartographic Projection> and <Waypoint Compass> to reestablish where we needed to go. We began walking, with me trying to heal my body as much as possible now that I was in the clear. My body was screaming from all that exertion. Lords above Ufr is in a different league. I wasn't sure if that duel continued if I was going to win; I realized just how drained my <Mana Reserve> was from fighting him. I couldn't tell if Ufr was also on fumes or was fine to keep fighting for another thirty minutes. I mentally began going over our duel, trying to think of how to deal with a lot of what Ufr was doing. Just imagining a smaller, younger, and less angry Miril is honestly a good starting point. My joints were gradually hurting more as we kept walking which was a bit concerning. I knew rapid pivoting in kicks put a large strain on my back and ribs, but the high-speed shifting made my ankles and other joints in my legs cry out in pain. How do I reinforce them better? This pain was unsustainable and could not be good long term.

After several minutes of moving in a different direction, I finally let out a massive yell of pain and frustration. They all jumped in surprise as Ikol seemed concerned about just how injured I got from dueling with Ufr. I need to train and prepare for when Ufr wants to pick up where we left off. I knew Ufr was going to go all out from the get-go next time we fought each other. Ikol sat next to me, summoning another fish of appeasement. Ikol is such a loyal musclehead. I gladly took the fish, devouring it to start recharging. The ground felt good as I was cooling off and healing myself from the brawl I just had with Ufr. Ikol shifted slowly closer, leaning subtly against me in his attempt to comfort me. Hey, I didn't lose. I didn't win, but that did not go as well as I would have liked.

"Are you okay, Chef?" Ikol checked as he gave me his pouting eyes.

"I'll survive. I just need a minute to recover." I replied as I laid down, panting a bit. I am so sore.

"Yes Chef." Ikol mumbled, staying still for me. Onilin, Zagzin, and Vndrglz were giving me hard to describe stares that were some mix of awe and fear.

"We'll resume travelling again in a moment." I assured them, laying down to heal for a little bit.