The Seven Demon's Tamer

"Distancing yourself won't save you from me. I hope you know that."

Ryder turned sharply to his back, and he could see Leo's face inches away from his. Those eyes—cold eyes displaying amusement. Despite how beautiful they were, there was something predatory in them, something that made Ryder's instincts scream danger in ways he had never experienced before.

Swoosh

He felt his hand slice through the air, colliding with nothing but emptiness. The momentum of his missed punch carried his body forward awkwardly, leaving him off-balance and vulnerable for a short while.

"What the hell..." The words escaped his lips like whispers of shock before he could stop them.

Leo's chuckle, barely audible, but Ryder could hear it clearly. He was toying with Ryder and deriving amusement from it.

Quickly jumping backwards, Ryder tried to distance himself from Leo again. His muscles tensed, preparing for the retreat that might give him some benefit, but mid-air, he subconsciously blinked. That single moment—that fraction of a second, a fraction of a heartbeat when his vision darkened—changed everything.

Leo was not in front of him anymore.

The realization hit Ryder like a truck: Leo was right above him in the air with his fist stretched behind his back, coiled like a snake ready to strike.

The warehouse's dim lights cast Leo's shadow across Ryder's face, and in that moment, time seemed to slow. Ryder didn't need any extra light to see every detail of Leo's knuckles, the wide ear-to-ear grin, and the glint in those merciless, beautiful eyes.

Boooooom!!!!!

As Leo's fist connected with Ryder's chest, a sound like an explosion shook the entire warehouse. The impact was extraordinary—it was as if the very air had been compressed and then violently released at the moment of collision.

The warehouse structure shook intensely like it was going to collapse. Dust and debris rained down from the ceiling, along with a big chunk of it that fell. It was quite good timing because all the lights and candles of the warehouse had already been destroyed. Now, the moonlight's illumination was cascading down on them below.

Ryder's whole body was sent crashing into the ground a few meters away. The concrete floor where he landed didn't just crack; it left a wide crater on the floor with Ryder's body at the center of the impact zone.

Pieces of concrete hovered momentarily in the air before they finally rained down.

Brok, who was the only person still present inside the warehouse other than Leo and Ryder, dug his legs into the ground and braced himself in order not to get blown away by the violent wave of wind from the attack. Upon all that, the ripple still gained on him, so he had to summon out his familiar.

Leo landed gracefully a short distance away, his posture relaxed as if he'd done nothing. He was spending some time again to allow Ryder to get back to his feet.

"Impressive," Leo remarked, tilting his head to one side. "Most people don't survive that first hello."

Standing up from the ground, still basically unscratched, Ryder retorted.

"I'm not..." he gasped, spitting blood onto the shattered ground, "...most people."

He straightened to his full height, drawing a deep breath that sent daggers of pain through his ribcage, but it was only momentary. His pain healed up pretty soon.

His eyes never left Leo's face as he added, "And I guess we are even as anomalies. I can sense you don't have a familiar. I just don't understand how someone who has no familiar could muster such strength."

Vwoom

Ryder's body blasted forward, blowing dust in the area where he once stood. His body sliced through the air, accelerating as a blur towards Leo, who stood at his spot, grinning without even flinching.

"So you realized I'm not a summoner," Leo remarked, his voice somehow perfectly audible despite the rushing air between them. "Impressive. Not everyone can tell without looking at my left shoulder, devoid of any mark."

The words barely sank into Ryder's mind as he closed the distance, his fist already in motion toward Leo's face.

This was no ordinary strike; this was a strike from him mustering all his strength.

Swoosh

Leo moved sideways and dodged it, seemingly effortlessly, as if he knew exactly how Ryder would move.

Ryder's whole body moved further with no friction at all, while he could feel Leo's gaze piercing him from the side. The missed punch carried him forward, past his target, leaving him exposed and vulnerable. In that moment, all Ryder could do was gulp.

He felt the whole world was going in slow motion as he gulped and staggered forward, finally catching himself. For a fraction of a second, he expected a blow to his unprotected back—but it never came.

"You are toying with me, aren't you, Leo?"

Quickly turning around, he quickly fixed his gaze on Leo. Even with a fixed gaze on Leo, he was still hard to track with a summoner's eyes, not to talk of taking eyes off him.

"Haaaa!" Ryder charged forward again, his body accelerating and leaving a trail of red streaks in his wake.

This time, he wouldn't miss. This time, he would wipe that smug expression off Leo's face.

Leo clenched his fist and raised it while Ryder approached him. He was not showing any attempt to dodge, nor was he showing any indication that he intended to move out of the way.

More than anything, he prepared to meet Ryder's attack head-on, narrowing his eyes.

Wham!

Their fists connected in mid-air, and the result was catastrophic. A ripple of airwaves was sent throughout the building, extending outward like the shockwave of a bomb.

The remaining windows shattered simultaneously, raining glass across the warehouse floor. The warehouse walls leaned backward as cracks spread across them.

The ripple of airwave that was sent throughout the building blasted even Brok, who stood at a good distance, watching the battle.

Brok's body crashed into the wall, causing him to cough out blood due to the stream of air that exuded from the attack, delivered in the battle at a far distance away. Even his familiar couldn't hold him anymore—he quickly retracted it.

Everything moving between Ryder and Leo was slow and normal, but for Brok who was watching from the side, all he could see was residual energy and sparks upon every attack between them. He couldn't trace the movement between Leo and Ryder.

Cough cough cough

Brok coughed twice as he pulled himself out of the wall crater his body was blasted into. He wiped blood from his chin, his hand trembling slightly from pain.

"Wait a minute," he muttered, his eyes widening in confusion. "I coughed only twice. How come there was a third?"

Turning to his side, he could see Ryder's body planted into the wall as well, just like him, with bruises on his face.

Run now, Ryder winced as he pulled himself out of the wall. I believe you are smart enough to know that running is the right thing to do.

Brok responded with a single nod as he darted away toward the window. There was no heroic declaration, no foolish bravado. Brok had, just in that instant, recognized that he was completely outclassed to experience this fight in close quarters.

He had long wanted to run away from the warehouse but couldn't afford to without the Black Devil's permission. Now that he had the 'go ahead', he didn't waste it.

Jumping through the broken window with the fluid grace of a monkey, he rushed away into the night.

Huh. Ryder stared, puzzled, then smiled. He honestly wasn't expecting that he could convince Brok so easily.

He half expected that Brok would try to act brave and declare to stay while he did some convincing, but it turns out that life doesn't always go like movies.

Ryder smiled. It's a good thing after all. I want my money secured. It's the reason why I am here after all.

"Hey!" Leo waved his hands in Ryder's face. "Snap out of your thoughts, you aren't paying me any attention. I've been inches away from you for the past five seconds."

Ryder quickly erased his thoughts—there was a threat in front of him.

Wham!

Before Ryder could think of attacking, a heavy fist connected with his torso, flinging him into the air.

While midair, Leo flashed to Ryder again and swung his fist. It collided with Ryder's chest, sending him to the ground.

The floor cracked as Ryder crashed to the ground.

He tried to stand up, but Leo's leg was already over his chest, pinning him firmly to the ground.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Punches rained down on his face, each one spewing out his blood. Ryder was getting hurt for the first time since he had contracted with Luxy.

Haaaaaaaaa!

Summoning all the strength he could muster, Ryder got back to his feet in an explosive push that should have flung Leo away, but still, he maneuvered as he flung himself upwards into the air.

"Better," Leo said, brushing nonexistent dust from his sleeve after landing on the ground a short distance away. "But still disappointing. I was hoping for... more."

Booooooommmmm!!!!!!

Both of them swung their clenched fists against each other, sending a quick ripple that traversed the entire warehouse. The force of the impact was too much for the already damaged building to withstand.

The walls collapsed, the ceiling gave way with a deafening crash, and the air filled with dust and debris.

One moment they were in the shelter of the warehouse, and the next moment they were outside, completely under the moonlight.

Between the two punches that collided, there was clearly one superior over the other; Leo's hand was sent sprawling away violently, his balance stuttering. In a battle of pure strength, it seemed like Ryder would be the winner.

Luxy, who had been silent for some time now, suddenly spoke up.

Ryder, summon me out. Now!

The urgency in Luxy's voice was unusual.

Leaping backwards, Ryder distanced himself from Leo. His chest heaved as he was slowly losing his breath. Blood dripped from various cuts on his face and arms.

He needed a moment—just a brief respite to catch his breath and speak to Luxy.

If I could summon you, I would have done so long ago, Ryder retorted back to Luxy's voice in his mind.

Swoosh

Leo suddenly flashed forward, gripping Ryder by the neck tightly. His fingers pressed against Ryder's throat, cutting off his air supply. "I can already tell how this fight would go, and it is beginning to bore me," Leo said, his voice conversational despite the violence of his actions.

Raising Ryder upwards, Leo stared as he struggled for breath. Ryder's feet dangled uselessly above the ground, and his hands clawed at Leo's, trying to remove the fingers from his throat.

"Oh, and before you die...

I always wanted to see your face," Leo spoke as he grabbed the hood of Ryder's cloak.

No no no. Ryder wanted to scream out but couldn't. He couldn't voice out anything due to how hard Leo was gripping his neck.

Grabbing the hood, Leo ripped it off, exposing Ryder's face. The first thing that caught his eyes was Ryder's white hair and red pupils—a rare mixture indeed.

"Oh, look what we have here," Leo spoke, surprise evident in his tone. "White hair? That doesn't appear so evil to me."

"Get... Yo... Your... Hands off of me!" Ryder grunted angrily.

Luxy... I summon you.

For the first time since all the attempts Ryder had made at summoning Luxy during his leisure time, there was finally a response in his soul.

The air, the aura—everything in the atmosphere changed. A new presence was about to enter Terra for the first time.

The air rippled and distorted for a short while, but then, all the generating presence disappeared.

"Huh!" Leo quickly took his hand off Ryder's neck and hopped backwards, taking a fighting stance for the first time since the battle began. "What happened?" he inquired. "Did you cancel out the process?"

Ryder remained silent with a knee on the ground, gasping as air rushed back into his lungs.

His throat burned where Leo's fingers had been gripping, and he could feel it swelling with each beat of his heart.

"No, you didn't," Leo replied to himself. "You cannot summon your familiar. The process canceled itself."

He sighed out of disappointment, his shoulders sagging slightly. "I was really hoping the fun would increase. Battling you along with your familiar might have made this more... entertaining."

Suddenly, Ryder, who was partially kneeling on the ground, muttered again—this time, shouting the last part.

Luxy... I summon you!

Dzzzzzzzzz

The air burst and began to crackle with purple energy like lightning, striking everywhere.

Leo moved swiftly as he launched himself backward, dodging all the few rampant bolts that nearly struck him.

While the energy still crackled, Ryder called out again—and for the last time, his voice stronger now, resonating with determination:

Luxy... I summon you!