First Demonic Dragon

"Frozen hell!"

Exedra roared and the temperature around him quickly began to plummet.

Spears of black ice shot up from the ground in waves, their purpose to pierce Braun and freeze him inside out.

The archangel did not even move and instead allowed the attack to reach him.

Crash!

The sound of glass breaking against a hard surface was heard all around and Braun wiped away the shards of ice with a bored look.

"Disappointing. As a member of that monster's family shouldn't you be stronger?"

Exedra ground his teeth.

He knew the gap between them would be big, but this is more frustrating than he could've imagined.

But if he could just hold on for five minutes, the final activation for Maliketh's blessing would trigger and all of his current stats would double.

"Alright demon, you've had yours now it's time for mine."

Braun leisurely lifted up his massive sword and a sweltering heat began to radiant from the blade.

Suddenly, four pairs of pure white wings sprouted from the armored man's back and he shot up into the sky.

"Sun's tirade!"

Braun swung his sword downward and a dense wave of superheated energy burst forward from his blade.

Seeing the massive magical attack coming for him, his wives and daughter began to panic and scream.

No matter how great his feats had been so far, they knew he was out of his league in this fight.

Exedra activated hate shield and poured all of his anger and rage into his spell before Braun's attack struck him.

BBOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!

A thunderous explosion rang out and a cloud of smoke blotted the sky.

Suddenly, the body of Exedra was sent flying out of the dust.

With a bang he embedded himself deep into the ground and lay there breathing hard.

Braun appeared above him in a golden flash and stared down at the once dominating demon lord.

Exedra was bleeding heavily, and his right arm was missing completely.

'I couldn't even hold on for five minutes.' Exedra laughed bitterly at himself.

He'd never lost a fight in such spectacular fashion before.

If Seras was here she'd laugh at him for days on end.

"Jeez, only one attack huh?" Braun looked irritated that Exedra had fallen so easily.

"Whatever, any last words then?" The archangel held his sword executioner style over the demon's neck.

"A few." Exedra weakly replied.

"Hey! *cough, cough* I think it's time for the ruse to come to an end don't you?"

"Hm? What ruse?"

"Not talking to you."

Before Braun could even ask what the hell he was talking about, a terrible pressure descended upon him and the landscape for several miles turned black.

Not dark, but black as the deepest cavern.

The archangel immediately spun around looking for this new enemy and turned around to see a massive bat over fifteen feet tall towering above him.

"You… what have you done to him… WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY LOVE?!?!?!"

The bat's screeching was enough to burst Braun's eardrums, leaving him bleeding and reeling back from the appearance of the sudden monster.

'A vampire.. and a high ranking one… it can't be?'

The angels guess would go unanswered and in the next second the bat was in front of his face.

Braun's strength was considered monstrous by all and legends of him were told in every human city.

But even he was no more than a child in front of this monstrous sixth stage creature.

She promptly grabbed both of his muscular arms and twisted and ripped the flesh and tendons until they came free of his body.

"AAAAARRRRRGHHHHHH!!!"

His suffering did not persist however as in the next second Audrina opened her mouth wide and bit off his head.

A sickening crunch was heard before the bat spit out the man's flesh, not even finding it worthy of consumption.

She let the man's body fall to the ground and in the next second retracted her dark domain from the battlefield.

Without Braun's blessing, the last of the humans were quickly dying out and the Rabisu were feasting once more.

Audrina timidly walked forward to the crater where Exedra lay and covered her mouth as tears began to fall from her eyes.

He was in terrible shape and his arm had been cleanly severed at the shoulder.

"Aww come on.. I know I'm handsome and all but crying at the sight of me is a bit much don't you think?"

The vampire did not even pay his joke any mind as she spoke through choked sobs. "W-why didn't you let me help you sooner?"

Exedra didn't know how to answer that question.

Audrina had been communicating telepathically with him begging to allow her to help but he had refused.

Was it pride?

Was it a sense of duty?

Could it have been a desire for revenge?

Or did he think he had the strength to change his future single handedly just because he'd seen it?

He knew that no answer he could give the sobbing woman would be a good one.

"I… do not know."

Before Audrina could respond they suddenly felt footsteps running towards them and saw Lisa, Bekka, Lailah, Valerie, Mira and her friend approaching with tears in their eyes.

As they stared at Exedra's broken body he forced himself to sit up to make his injuries look less severe.

In truth, he was down to the last 10 percent of his health.

But he couldn't allow them to cry any harder than they already were so he gave them a rare wide smile. "I made you girls worry huh?"

His efforts were in vain however when in the next moment they each fell on top of him sobbing.

The poor girls were crying so hard they couldn't even speak, their hearts in complete agony from seeing the man they looked up to so mangled.

Exedra said nothing and simply tried to hold them to let them know he was fine, something that was a bit difficult to do with only one arm.

"I'm sorry girls.."

As the group cried together, the little girl who was saved by Mira watched with a thoughtful gaze.

She thought this man was supposed to be a super scary demon but right now he looked so gentle and fragile.

The version of him when he fought and the version she was seeing right now, she wondered which one was real him.

If she stayed with them, if she didn't leave this new family, would she find the answer?

The girl was scared, but where else could she go?

She did not have any money, family, or any way to defend herself.

She'd never even been outside the city before.

The young girl nodded her head in resolution when she finally made up her mind and walked toward the sobbing group.

Instead of offering a hug like everyone else , she walked behind the group and sat right next to Exedra's tail.

She held in her breath and reached out and patted it lightly.

Exedra seemed to recognize she was trying to comfort him to so he wrapped his tail around her waist while being careful not to nick her with the blades at the end.

For the first time he thought he saw a smile on the corner of her lips but he blinked and it completely disappeared.