<Careful, it looks like he's back to full power now>

Yeah, I noticed his Aura spiking.

"H-How dare you...how DARE YOU?! You lowly, inferior BASTARDS!!!" Snarled Zeifas, as he shot towards me furiously.

"<Return>!" I exclaimed, holding out my right hand to catch Desecrator, before taking aim with my left hand and firing out a Pulse Bullet.

He veered across to evade it, before zipping in with a powerful flap of his wings, his right arm shooting out and grabbing my left forearm, before he shattered my Blaster to pieces and snapped the bones in my forearm like a twig, a sharp crunch ringing out.

I let out a stifled cry of pain, before gritting my teeth as Desecrator got within my reach, grabbing it before firing out a blast of Negative Energy from my mouth.

He let go of my broken arm and sprang back, the blast striking the back of his hand and tearing his skin to shreds as he raised his arm right in the nick of time, growling as he lowered his arm, his hand healing in the blink of an eye.

As he began to sprint towards me, my eyes widened as a rapid wind arrow came shooting in towards his right shoulder, along with a ringing blast of sound towards the left side of his head at the same time.

Blood burst out of his left ear as a disoriented look appeared on his face, his right arm slumping to his side as his shoulder got violently shredded by the wind arrow, bits of skin and flesh flying off as blood sprayed out and splattered across the floor.

I mustered up my strength and shot towards him, leaping forward and unfurling a rapid, twisting thrust of my blade straight towards the middle of his torso.

The tip of the blade pierced through his skin, before plunging into his solar plexus, a look of despair appearing in his eyes as I felt my blade hit something hard...before bursting right through, a sharp cracking sound ringing out as he shuddered violently, an agonized, deafening cry of pain ringing out.

As he shakily began to raise his claws, I gritted my teeth and gave the blade a sharp, violent twist, shattering his Core to pieces and springing back as I pulled the blade back out, a deep cut appearing across the bridge of my nose as he swung his claws across, slicing through.

Blood streamed down my face as he stumbled back and collapsed onto the floor, clutching the middle of his body with a look of horror on his face.

"N-No, this...this cannot be..."

"Oh, but it can...in fact, it is. You're about to die. And whatever it was that you were hoping to accomplish, will die right with you. <Devour>."

"No-...!"

.

.

.

.

.

"Wow, that was crazy brutal, you totally just ate that guy. Why didn't you turn him into an Apostle?" Inquired Beatriz, as she approached, dragging her feet over wearily.

"Oh, I can only do that if I meet some very specific conditions, and unfortunately, that didn't happen," I informed her with a wry smile, before adding, "Thanks, by the way. That last attack gave me just the opening I needed to finish him off. Not sure how long I could've held out without it."

"Well, I can't take full credit for that," She replied, before nodding at Jin, who was hobbling over.

"I regained consciousness a few minutes ago, but I decided to pretend like I was unconscious and wait for an opportunity to help turn the tides. I was impressed, you really-...," He suddenly trailed off, as he glanced down at my sides, before adding as his eyes widened, "Wait, didn't he inflict deep injuries to those spots? How are you already healed?"

Huh?

"Yo, your arm too!" Exclaimed Beatriz, pointing at my left arm.

"What the...? I didn't even notice," I muttered as I stared in disbelief.

"Same here...the backlash from Blaze Ignition: Flare faded in no time," Came Aria's voice, as she walked over with a bewildered look on her face.

Is this an effect of Demonization? She doesn't have any visible Demonic features, though. No horns, wings or tail, the whites of her eyes are still white, not a single patch of red, scaly skin anywhere on her body-...hm?

Wait, her teeth look a bit sharper than they were before.

Her nails look narrower and more pointy too. But other than that, she looks the same as she did before. And since no one's said anything, I'm guessing I don't have any noticeable Demonic features either.

<I'll explain it all later>

<I'm busy right now, there's still work to do with stabilizing the effects of Demonization>

I see, that's-...wait, what about Aria? How is she going to get it stabilized? She showed up so suddenly and got caught up in it, I wasn't expecting her to-...

<Don't worry, she'll be fine>

<I'll explain later>

<Right now, I need to focus on the task at hand>

Uh, alright, then.

"Hey, I feel weird...it's, like, something's shifting inside me, it's hard to explain. My Mana flow, I think? It feels strange," Frowned Aria, as she stared at her hands.

"Yeah, uh...I'll explain later. I don't really get it myself," I replied with a sigh.

<Also, stay close to her until I'm done, I won't be able to properly do this otherwise>

<It'll take a bit of time, ask her to stay over or something>

What? Wish I knew exactly what's going on, but I guess I don't have a choice but to take your advice.

"Well, that was nerve-wracking. Great work, all of you," Charlotte voice suddenly echoed out through the speakers in the room, "The issue of the rampaging, corrupted Aces has also been dealt with, so this matter has finally been put to close. I'll get a medic team in there shortly, we'll get all of you healed up ASAP. And after that, go get some rest."

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