Knight of Crimson Flame

This was not his first time in combat with a Demon Lord. This one was still a newborn, and could barely hold a candle to its towering city-sized brethren of old.

Had this been in the past, he could have obliterated the vermin in front of him, the entire church, and the mountain range behind it, in a single swing. But now, he estimated he only had a few more powered swipes left before the shining blade in his hands became of little more use than a butter knife.

This was his first time drawing his blade since he had awoken in this miserable world, and it was still taking some getting used to. These days, he had devolved to the point of using it to cut bread and spread butter. Try as he might, he could not summon its power, for ever since that fateful day, the light of the Goddess had all but disappeared from this world.

Thus, finding a church here in Erma was a gift (for he could not call it a blessing) in disguise. In the old days, this was one of the most popular places for pilgrimages, and he had spent much time here himself. Even if it was a shadow of its former glory, built atop the ashes of the grand cathedral it once was, remnants of the Goddess’s power still remained.

Even so, it still wasn’t very much- as Ren struggled to parry the flurry of scaly tentacles flying at him from all directions, he was focusing on trying to conserve as much energy as he could. The remaining villagers were all fleeing from the church, but he had to end this quickly, before-

Finishing his thought for him, the Demon Lord suddenly pulled back one of its other arms, which began to shimmer and glow with ominous red light. With every blow traded, with every drop of blood spilled, the organism in front of him continued to evolve with frightening speed. What was once a long, spindly arm was now a massive armored carapace, with a 5-foot barrel mimicking the rifle Merrit had been using above.

His earpiece rang- “JUMP BACK!”

You don’t need to tell me, idiot-

The arm cannon pointed straight at Ren-he could not get out of the way in time, and as he attempted to throw himself backwards, the ground beneath the Demon Lord suddenly exploded, throwing it off balance, and blowing Ren backwards, sending him crashing into the giant Goddess statue in the center of the church.

The cannon fired into the air, a beam of dark light clearing a massive hole in the ceiling.

“Are- are you ok?!”, came a worried voice through his earpiece.

As Ren was getting up off of the floor, covered in wood chips, he responded angrily-

“What was that?! I told you to get out with the rest of them!”

“Plastic explosives-I set them while you were busy charging your…your… sword-battery thing…”

“You didn’t bother to tell me that you’ve been laying bombs all over the place?!”

“You looked so scary sitting there with that look on your face! I thought you were gonna yell at me! But now you’re yelling at me anyway… ”

For once, Ren decided to hold back, and simply heaved a sigh. He stuck his arm directly up in the air, out of habit.

Nothing happened. It seemed he was really running low...

Slightly embarassed, he slowly bent down and picked up his sword instead. In the cloud of smoke, the Demon Lord stood, only the carapace arm remaining, supported somehow by a mere set of bones, and hollow, floating eyes. All the flesh had been melted off, but it was quickly reforming, and this time as something similar to knitted blast-resistant fiber.

Ren’s keen eye was able to spot what he wanted though, before it was swiftly covered by regenerating tissue.

“Alright. I need one thing from you. There’s a core inside it we need to target. On this one, it’s located in the right center of the chest, 3 inches right, 2 inches up, and about a fist’s width in size-”

“Slow down! I’m not good under pressure-”

There was an explosion at the creature’s feet, propelling it forward at ridiculous speed. It swung its arm, and a sea of scorching flame flew towards Ren, searing the hairs off his arm as he dodged away.

An idea striking him, he flung the geolocator that he had used to track Merrit’s order up towards the balcony.

The Demon Lord jumped back, cutting through the air with its arm in a swift motion- in an instant, a giant, seemingly impenetrable wall of fire appeared, blocking off Ren and Merrit’s line of sight.

It seemed to know that Ren only had one good swing left, and clearing out that wall would leave him only with a very sharp stick. From experience, it seemed to Ren that it was trying to escape, and regroup to find some easier prey.

A sane man, one who valued his life, would have left it at that.

I won't let a single one of you escape alive-Not this time...

The Demon Lord had its eyes set on the door, when the sound of more explosives going off made it turn back. The giant statue of the Goddess came crashing down, cutting a small path through the flame. Through it, a small figure rushed through, the wall instantly reforming behind him.

It seemed that this Demon Lord was not at the point anymore where you could catch it by surprise. It was now almost twice the size, corded muscles bulging under dark chitinous armor. It instantly formed a black longsword out of thin air, slashing it at Ren. Ren slid under the beam of black light that flew at him, and leaped at the monster itself.

While it was adaptable and constantly evolving, that would also be its fatal mistake.

Its speed was still ridiculous, but in trying to emulate Ren, it found itself locked blade to blade with the best swordsman in the realm. Clash after clash, Ren soon disarmed it, its larger size proving to be a disadvantage against the nimble young man. He sent its blade into the air, and readied his own. The armor was going to be very difficult to cut through, so this would have to do it.

With a sudden massive flash, the blade in Ren’s hands erupted into a massive vortex of gold and crimson fire. He swung with all his might, a beam of light firing into the now heavily armored chest of the beast.

It was not enough to kill it, but it shattered the armor, and the very tip of its core was poking out. However, Ren was now basically only armed with a toothpick. Realizing this, the Demon Lord bared its fangs in an eerie, mocking smile.

Unfortunately, Ren was already in motion.

A blessing and a curse of his company was that their tech was very sophisticated. In order to make sure deliveries were made on time and accurately, each delivery order required a matching puck (sold separately) that allowed for perfect tracking, down to the inch, by a geolocator.

Ren was almost very close to considering being grateful, as he flung that puck towards the Demon Lord’s core.

“Dont miss-” he muttered through the earpiece, looking back at the massive wall of fire between him and the sniper.

The puck landed directly on top of the hole in the Demon Lord’s armor, covering the core.

“You ask for a lot…” , replied Merrit, holding the geolocator in his hand, and cycling the bolt of his rifle.

A silver-tipped bullet, wreathed in flame, sped towards the Demon Lord’s core, piercing it clean through and shattering it to pieces.