The revenant knight of darkness fought a losing battle alongside two titans cshing. From the first csh, where the giant demon proved even at level 20, the level cap, he could still one shot the undead.

  Rays of light poured out of the bowl that the winged androgynous humanoid carried. It struck the rocky tier 4 demon repeatedly. The attack was an all-or-nothing attack. It meant to dismiss it from this pne of existence so no actual damage was done. The beams of light impacted the rocky body, causing a portion of the demon to become slightly transparent only to solidify back into reality a moment ter.

  “Outsider dismissal attempt ineffective. Requesting permission to unlock the next seal.” The flying combatant had a robotic voice that repeated the request. But by the repetition it wasn’t getting answered.

  Unlike the angel’s attacks. The dark knight’s energy drain imbued strikes gave a much more serious type of damage to the giant cultivator. It damaged his channels for the demonic power to flow through, setting back years of progress with this prolonged battle.

  The hero doll had seen better days. The revenant took the brunt of any attack that would have smushed the effigy but if a boulder could crush the armored skeleton then not all of the damage could be avoided. The armor was crushed, stuffing was hanging out and the only working weapon left was a single auto crossbow. This worked good, because a magical girl weapon bypassed the defense of the much more powerful creature. Tiny bolts were like mosquito stings to the giant but that didn’t mean they did nothing. Likewise, the ‘edgy teenager music’ that the doll pyed provided a buff to the dark knight, much like a bard would to their party.

  “This is a pointless waste of my time.” The arrogant demon bellowed. “The hero could not defeat me and the gods will not tolerate this btant disregard of the accords. This is merely a distraction from my ascension.”

  "Silence, behemoth! The only noise in this pathetic realm is the hollow echo of your colossal, yet utterly fragile, self-importance." The skeletal horror's voice was a dry, rasping thing that tasted of grave dust and forgotten curses. Its glowing sockets fixed the monstrous dirt-clod with an icy, nihilistic stare. "If this trivial skirmish truly wounds the delicate fabric of your precious time, then be gone. Vanish. Shred your wretched little contract and slink back into the infernal chasm that birthed your meaningless existence. Go and be forgotten from Terre, which is your only true destiny."

  The demon unched another giant boulder that ended him and the world went bck, for a moment.

  An undetermined amount of time passed and the dark knight arose. He looked around but didn’t see the demon and the angel. Focusing on his grudge he determined that the fight had gone further to the west, into the ocean.

  “The seas will not protect you from the martyrs that cry out for justice.” The revenant grabbed the battered doll, and put the stuffing back in as best as possible, bending the shattered armor back into pce to cover it.

  The doll had stopped pying music but the string was still intact. He just needed to pull it to start the doll back up again.

  Using his senses, he could tell that there were no demons around within a 100 mile radius except for the tier 4. After grabbing any scrap, he patched up his armor, and grabbed a rge metal beam with a point from a crushed house, likely the former residence of some noble from this area.

  Some people were milling about, but the dark knight ignored them. Some praised him, others cursed him. He didn’t care, just continued to where the grudge directed him, into the water. Unlike normal eyes, the murky depths didn’t obstruct his vision. Living things glowed, pnts less so, and the tier 4 demon shown like a lighthouse on the coast.

  Walking through the bottom of the ocean was slow going. It took the better part of a day to find the battle that was still waging between the earth demon and the angel.

  “Mindless thing.” The demon’s voice crackled with contempt, spitting curses at the angel. “Return to your disgraced master. She abandoned this mortal coil, and you have no business lingering here.”

  The dark knight continued forward, and resumed peppering the submerged demon with the doll’s tiny autocrossbow. Fighting underwater slowed things down, but long slender projectiles worked just fine underwater, they were just slower. Luckily a giant earth demon was a big target.

  “Kain!” The demon’s roar rippled through the water. “Stay down long enough to become someone else’s problem.”

  “Kain is dead.” The dark knight trudged through the muddy ocean floor. “If you don’t want to deal with me, forsake your contract with the demon queen and leave this world.”

  The demon stomped him out of existence. But not before he activated a cooldown to transfer the damage that would be inflicted on the doll onto himself. He had just enough time to plunge his makeshift weapon into the ground and activate ground teeth.

  His defeat didn’t allow him to see the recoil of what must have been like stepping on a board of nails to the giant.

  When he came to the angel and demon were gone. He couldn’t sense any demons nearby, apparently the damage he did was enough to not get knocked into a prolonged torpor. However, the rocky path of destruction on the ground was enough to show the path.

  Weeks passed, and he followed the demon south. The ground became shallower and he surfaced, covered in kelp, barnacles and other sea sludge to a familiar fight, the demon had kited the angel to another of the general’s territory.

  A coastal town looked to have been completely cleared out of demons except the big one.

  “Requesting permission to break the seal.” The angel continued saying its mantra in a robotic voice.

  A fsh of starlight came down from above. A magical girl appeared, suspended in the air.

  For the first time, the huge demon looked shaken. “Cosmos?! You can’t be here, it is a viotion of the accords to intervene. I’ve attacked no familiars."

  “As much as I’d love to show you a real pnar dismissal.” Cosmos waved her star-tipped wand. “I’m actually here for your pymate.”

  The demon did a complete turn around in his attitude. “Took you long enough. This thing has been harassing me for almost a month. Take it away so I can return to my cultivation.”

  This visibility angered the legendary magical girl. “If you are so great. Take your best shot and we can settle things.”

  He apparently wasn’t that stupid and didn’t rise to the bait.

  “I thought so.” Cosmos turned to the angel. “Come on, we’ll get you to a dimension that Catalina isn’t ignoring.”

  “Requesting permission to break the seal.” The angel didn’t falter in the slightest in pouring out rays of light onto the demon.

  With a sparkle and a flourish of her star-tipped wand, Magical Girl Cosmos cast her portal spell. A shimmering ring of pure starlight fred, twinkling brilliantly. It completely enveloped the distracted angel. With a final, graceful wave, the light colpsed, and the angel vanished, transported to some unknown pce.

  The giant demon gnced at the dark knight but retreated. He didn’t move fast but having such long legs made it easy for him to outpace him.

  “Magical girl Cosmos.” The revenant gave a show of respect by the slightest incline of his head.

  “I have to go.” The magical girl ascended. “But to answer that rude guy’s question. I didn’t want to get wet so I waited for the fight to leave the water.”

  The dark knight continued trudging on nd, dragging seaweed alongside the sand. There were other demons here and he would use them to get his lost levels back and take another shot at the general.