Belron's Demonic energy had limits.

Because of how much it surpassed Caius's magic, it could tear through any of his spells with ease. The Fiend could even disrupt the equilibrium of Caius's burrowed power to unravel them as it had done to push Caius out of the Shadow earlier.

However, this superiority hinged a lot on Caius's Magical level and while Caius was limited in how much of the Umbral Fox's energy he could harness, the Umbral Fox was still a Six-Star Beast. The equivalent of the Sixth Circle. Two Circles above Caius's Magical Level at the moment.

As such, when Caius decided to burn through his reserve of Umbral Fox energy, he broke past his usual limitation with the Trait Acquisition Potion. Which meant the Shadow hold was now at a level Belron could not so easily unravel.

Of course, for every pulse of Demonic energy that was unleashed, Caius lost more minutes out of how much longer he still had with the energy from the Trait Acquisition Potions. Even with the three more vials he had downed, he was down to five minutes at best. And that was if Belron didn't increase the intensity of his Demonic pulses further.

Which, judging by the increasing frustration on the Fiend's face from still having the shadow tendrils wrapped around it, was unlikely.

And then a sound pierced through the air…

Like a streak of lightning, only it was so tiny that it was near-imperceptible.

Something about the charge within that tiny lightning caught Belron's attention and the Fiend jerked its head towards that direction right before something hit its cheek and sent its head spinning in the other direction.

*BAM!!!*

That something was Delia's Warhammer.

The tiny sound of lightning expanded then. All of the energy concentrated into Delia's Warhammer Strike and delivered into Fiend's body at a close and very impactful range.

Belron's eyes were wide in shock. The attack had genuinely caught it by surprise. Every other attack the Fiend had suffered thus far, it had practically let happen to feed its masochistic thrill maybe. But this had truly blindsided it.

Lightning had been compressed so much that it had masked/sped up the attacker and the attack was then delivered into its body to only then expand and deliver maximum damage.

'How genius,' Belron thought, 'If they could actually muster up Divine Energy, that strike might have actually mattered. Alas…'

As though to answer Belron's thoughts then, a sound spread all over the inside of the Sealing Cube, unleashing a wave of Benevolent energy. The Fiend raised its head and Aurelius was now glowing.

Divine Energy harnessing was close at hand.

But then, Caius kicked off the ground.

The shadow around his body became even darker as he drove the very last bit of Umbral Fox power within him to fuel his next moves. Irrational as he had become, Caius could still recognize that feeling he was getting from Aurelius as being a sign that this was all about to be over.

Caius was swinging his sword at Belron before the Fiend caught on to the coming attack and looked down.

Belron still couldn't extricate itself from the shadow tendrils so it basically had to stay right where it was for Caius's attack. Still, not being able to get free of the shadow tendrils didn't mean Belron was at Caius's mercy. Far from it actually.

Caius's sword swing was fast. His sword made contact with Belron's body but his blade merely slid across the Fiend's body. Unable to even cut through its tailcoat. This wasn't new of course.

Caius had successfully attacked the Fiend with his sword many times already and it had never bled. The same was the case for Delia who, despite landing many heavy attacks, had not caused the Demonic creature any visible injury. Her last successful attack thus far was the lightning she passed directly into Belron's body very recently and from how the Fiend was acting, that hadn't slowed it down.

And so Caius and Belron 'fought'. Sword clashing with bare arms. Belron retained a defensive stance. It only ever raised its arms to parry Caius's strikes and never made moves of its own. It just looked amused.

Delia wished to get into the fray but the tempo rose so high that even when she sped herself up with Lightning charge, she was unable to keep up. It was the fastest Delia had ever seen any two people fight. Sure, she hadn't ever seen all that much combat—especially Mage-Knight Combat considering the family she came from—but this was still an incredible display.

And while she watched, she wasn't able to keep herself from thinking… about Caius.

The thickness of the shadow around him created a kind of shroud around his form. It had gotten increasingly thicker since Caius began to yell with exertion and began to try his hardest to pull Belron back down. As such, Delia couldn't quite pick out his features.

Still, she was sure she had seen his eyes go from purple to blood red. And it wasn't just a change in hue— He actually looked a lot more ferocious than she ever would have thought he could look.

Gone was the suave, confident Caius that she knew. In its place was a primal creature driven by instincts and not by rationality. A being that looked vastly different from what Delia had ever thought Caius to be. And yet, it seemed just like him. Like the image she had always had of him had long been incomplete and now, finally, the missing piece had been provided. The full picture revealed— For better or for worse.

*CLANG!*

A flash like metal striking against another pulled Delia out of her thoughts. More of that sound came then from what looked like a vortex of darkness created by the shadow tendrils because of how fast and hard Caius and Belron were spinning in the air, attached to one another.

Delia couldn't pick out either of them but the clanging sounds made her believe Belron was finally doing more than defending. The Fiend had begun to attack.

"Oh nice, little godling! Awesome strike!" Belron yelled in a patronizing tone. Even though the spin and aggressive winds carried his voice and dispersed it so no one could really hear, Caius heard it clearly enough.

He didn't care though. It didn't matter to him that all his strikes had been blocked/were useless. All that mattered was that he was striking.

"But, are you a godling?" Belron asked, "Your visage is quite peculiar…"

Caius ignored it.

"Hmm, I sense something from you… Ah, one of Anyxyl's experiments, I see…" Belron said and laughed.

And then, Caius saw an opening. For one second, he let his rationality back in and didn't strike blindly. He thrust his sword, but it got blocked. But that was merely a feint. And in a flash, he stretched his left hand out to Belron's throat.

The Fiend raised a brow, considered intercepting the attack, and then scoffed at the attempt. Like those made with that 'fancy' sword, Belron expected this to fail like all other strikes.

Alas, Caius's sword was not imbued with the same divine edict as his claws.

The edict that his Vampire claws and fangs could pierce all skin no matter the difference in strength.

It all happened in the space of a split second.

Caius's claws touched Belron's neck, dug in four three-inch deep grooves. The Fiend's blood was spilled, sizzling with the heat of the hells, splashing against Caius's skin and scalding him.

The pain overloaded his rage, clouded his senses, and forcefully pulled him out of his feral state.

And right then, Belron threw his head back both to get out of range of the attack that had already succeeded as well as to open his mouth toward the ceiling of the Sealing Cube and let out a cry.

"ARRRRGGHHHH!!!"

The cry called Belron's Demonic energy to arms and a demonic Circle was conjured. There was a *BANG!*. Caius's already shattered sternum was ruptured by a great force and he hit the ground so hard that he created a four-foot depression in the earth.

The energy of the Umbral Fox was finally used up. Nothing was left to shroud Caius as he lay there, his limbs at strange angles and his breath leaving his mouth in harsh gasps.

Delia froze and then she let out a yell that threatened to surpass Belron's cry of pain in volume and intensity.

"CAIUS!!!"

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