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Viola was frozen in place. Fear spread through her entire body, which was just on the verge shaking. Her breathing shallowed to almost a dead stop. Her heart beat once before it seemed to stop in place. Everything was reacting to the horrifying truth she was faced with.
He knew she was there...
The Demon King stood up out of the large stone chair. A deep grunting noise escaped his throat, showing that he was chuckling. He turned to face the pillar, speaking out to her.
"There's no point in hiding. I could smell you the moment I entered the room. Human scent is so foul, I can easily recognize it. Though I'll admit, you smell much nicer than Grim. Your scent is actually tolerable."
His large claw like hands flexed once, while Viola heard his large leathery wings shift. Her eyes darted around the balcony to the many openings to other tunnels. The closest opening found itself under her main attention.
"Now, why don't you make it easy on yourself and come on out..."
Viola then burst out into a full run straight into the cave opening. Every part of her being was bent on just one objective. Put as much distance between her and the Demon King. She heard a deep sigh behind her.
"I guess we're doing this the hard way. But that's alright. It's the way I prefer."
Suddenly, she saw a brilliant white glow of a shock wave speed along the edge of the tunnel past her as the sound of something heavy landed right on the balcony where she had been. She moved as fast as she could, wherever her legs took her. The faint vibrations of footsteps were heard behind her, growing closer each step. Finally, she emerged into a large cavern. At a glance, she noticed it looked like a natural formation of a cave unlike the throne room she had come from. Unfortunately, she saw no other tunnels for her to go through. This cavern was a dead end. With the footsteps behind her approaching quickly, she dived behind one of the many stalagmites and flattened herself against it. Her were held wide open as she brought her right hand to cover her mouth. Her heart beat loudly in her chest and she was afraid it would give her away.
Then the sound she was dreading was heard as the large footsteps entered the chamber.
"Run into a dead end have you? How unfortunate."
Fear gripped her chest to the point it felt like clawing out her heart. She counted the beats of her heart, which had now slowed to a quiet beat. She could hear and sense the large demon moving around the chamber, looking for her. The Demon King moved around slowly and deliberately, making the entire process drag out. Then suddenly, there was silence. Tears started leaking out of her eyes as the fear somehow managed to rise even higher. She could now no longer sense where he was. Several eternities passed with her as rigid as stone. Slowly, she saw faint movement out of the corner of her right eye. Turning her head just as slowly, she looked around. Her face was within a foot of the face of Mangosta himself. Both his glowing red eyes were upon her and the black slits of the pupils narrowed. His jaw widened into a menacing smile, revealing his jagged, razor sharp teeth. Very softly, he spoke out to her.
"I found youuuuu..."
Viola then tried to turn to run, but at the same instant a large claw-like hand grabbed her, almost burying her entirely within it. Suddenly, she felt her self being tossed over Mangosta's shoulder to the opposite wall. She flipped and spun through the air until she landed loudly on her back and fell down onto the floor.
She was dazed and disoriented, as she struggled to get on all fours. She felt the vibrations of Mangosta approaching once again. Her vision cleared as she looked up to see the Demon King's form standing over her. His wings once again flexed with anticipation.
"So, little paladin. Shall we play a little game?"
Viola lunged forward and tried to run between his legs, but he jumped with a few flaps of his wings, and then landed on top of her. His left clawed foot had pinned her down on the ground as he shifted his weight. Cracks were heard all around her.
"Very good. I would've hate to have things become boring. Though you are becoming a bit of a disappointment with this game of cat and mouse, paladin."
Viola managed to get her arm free and was wrestling pointlessly with the Demon King's foot. After a minute of struggling, she grit her teeth together. She looked up at the 18 foot form of the Demon King and thought about her promise to Kurama. Warmth spread throughout her arm as she held it out stretched, facing the Demon King's face.
"My name... is Viola!"
A blast of sound erupted from her palm and hit the Demon King's face dead on. He jumped back in surprise and Viola took the advantage to quickly rise to her feet. In a fluid movement, she pulled her sword out of it's sheath and held it over her head. Mangosta recovered and began to lunge at her. Feeling the intense heat in the sword, she swung it down, breaking the resistance that was developing around it.
"Shattering Shockwave!"
The air in front of her cracked once again. The form of Mangosta was suddenly pushed back at an alarming speed into the wall behind him. Several stalactites as well as part of the wall crumbled down, burying him completely. Viola dropped to one knee and placed her hand out to steady her. The sudden drop of energy had surprised her and she was panting heavily. She reached to the hidden compartment and pulled out the potion. After a quick drink to replenish her energy, she placed it back into the compartment. She stood up and looked at the rock pile. She then pulled out the clock device. It registered that it was about nine in the morning back in her realm. She placed the device back in the compartment and then turned to leave. She was going to try for another hour to disable the magic device before she would try and leave the demonic realm since the Demon King seemed finished.
After a few footsteps away, she suddenly stops. The rock pile started stirring and crumbling to the ground. She turned around to see the Demon King emerge from the rock pile. Cuts were seen all over its body with a black liquid gushing out of them. However, the black blood quickly withdrew back into the wounds and they healed over, leaving the Demon King unharmed before her.
"Ow. Now that actually kinda hurt. I was definitely not expecting that."
He steps out of the pile and stand before her.
"That was certainly a very interesting ability you just did."
He exhaled and a bit of flame escaped his mouth. He tilted his head to both sides, causing a sickening crack sound to appear when he did so.
"Okay then. Enough with the warm ups."
He bent down closer to stare directly into her eyes.
"Go ahead. Give me your best shot."
That was my best shot...
She thought out loud to herself. She was not expecting the Demon King to heal rapidly like Grim. Why did all the bad guys she had to face have this ability? She backed two steps away from Mangosta and looked around. She noticed that the opening was right behind her, but would she get to it in time?
She took her chances and ran for it as fast as she could. She could hear the rumbling of the Demon King behind her as she fled. She was so close to the opening of the tunnel, until a large clawed hand swiped around and pinned her to the wall. She pried at his fingers, but it was no use. She then took the sword in her hand and stabbed Mangosta. With her sword vibrating, it cut into him like butter, causing the black blood to gush out. But if this hurt him, he didn't reveal it. Instead, the hand tightened down on Viola, causing her to flinch and let go of her sword. With his other hand, her removed the sword as if removing a thorn.
He brought the sword up to eye level and studied it.
"Interesting. Your sword is different than Grim's. Smaller and more agile."
He bent down closer to it.
"But of course, there is the secret to your powers. The Paladinis Crystal that you have inherited. Grim told me he can't willing leave ten feet from it, but why is that?"
He looked down at Viola. Fear grew inside of her as he smiled his menacing smile.
"Let's find out what happens when a paladin is separated from their crystal. Shall we?"
He then gripped her tightly in his hand as he turned and walked out of the cave into the tunnel. The sounds of his footsteps echoing around him.