Chapter 83. Shattered Shackles

Chapter 83: 83. Shattered Shackles

The red Oni’s grin widened as black blood dripped from the corner of his mouth.

The jagged shackles across his body shifted and tightened, spikes lengthening, the chain-fist on his missing arm compacting into a denser, sharper weapon.

Whatever restraint he had shown earlier was gone.

"Your current form is unstable. You can’t hold that form forever. I can feel it leaking out of you with every breath."

Eira’s both eyes narrowed.

"I only need it long enough to erase you."

She launched again.

The six wings beat once, sending a short gravitational shockwave across the ground that cracked the dirt in a ten-meter circle.

Lower demons nearby were driven flat with heavy thuds.

The Oni planted his chain-fist into the earth and weathered the pressure, then answered with a wide horizontal sweep of coiling chains.

Eira caught the sweep with one bare hand.

Her mana ate through the links with a harsh screech of stressed steel.

She twisted and hurled the broken mass back into his shoulder. The impact staggered him, but her own power stuttered again at the same moment.

The pressure field dropped. She dropped half a meter in the air before the wings caught her.

The fight became a brutal exchange of brief, overwhelming surges and sudden dips.

Every time Eira’s aura peaked, the Oni was forced onto pure defense, chains shattering against the invisible wings or the dense pressure that surrounded her.

Every time the aura flickered, he pressed in hard, scoring shallow cuts across her arms and side.

Red blood mixed on the torn ground.

Kael watched from where she had left him, fists clenched.

Seraphine had moved closer, dagger ready, eyes never leaving her sister’s flickering form.

Neither of them spoke.

The unstable weight of Eira’s presence made the air itself feel heavy and thin at the same time.

Shackle Spiral

The Oni drove a full-powered spiral of chains straight at her chest.

Eira’s wings flexed.

The pressure field rose again, crushed the metal mid-flight, and sent the broken pieces raining down with sharp metallic clinks.

For a moment the mana around her burned bright and steady.

The golden eye and the crimson void both locked onto the Oni’s face.

Then the light around her body dimmed again, just a fraction.

She was still winning. The oppressive aura, even when unstable, kept the demon from landing a decisive blow.

But the cost was written in every uneven pulse of her wings and every short, sharp breath she took.

Eira hovered a short distance above the ground, ashen-violet hair drifting in the residual pressure,

eyes both fixed on the battered demon.

"You hurt what belongs to me," she said, the double-layered voice still calm despite the visible strain.

"That debt will be paid in full."

The Oni answered by slamming both feet into the dirt.

Binding Cage

Coiling chains erupted from the ground in a rising cage of jagged spears, aiming to pin her in place from below while his chain-fist shot forward in a straight, armor-piercing thrust aimed at her heart.

Eira’s wings beat hard.

The pressure field flared outward in a sudden, violent pulse that shattered the rising spears before they could close.

The force of it kicked up a wide ring of dust and broken earth.

She twisted sideways, the chain-fist grazing her ribs instead of punching through, leaving another shallow line of blood.

Her power surged in answer, a bright spike of holy and demonic energy that slammed into the Oni’s chest and drove him skidding backward across the torn field.

For two full seconds her from held firm, the air around her so heavy that nearby lower demons could not even lift their heads.

Then the spike collapsed.

Eira’s flight dipped. Her breathing turned sharper.

The golden light in her left eye flickered once before stabilizing again.

The crimson void remained half-lidded, still refusing to fully awaken.

The Oni rose from the dirt, black blood running freely from a deep gouge across his chest.

The metal covering his body shifted once more, drawing tighter, the spikes along his spine lengthening into curved blades.

He no longer cared about Kael, he just wanted to finish her fast.

He looked like a cornered predator that had decided the only way out was through.

He raised his remaining flesh hand and the chain-fist together.

Iron Devourer Drill!

Shackles poured from both, weaving into a massive, spinning drill of interlocking links that screamed as it tore through the air toward her.

Eira met it head-on.

The six wings spread wide.

Dual mana gathered around her bare hands in unstable, crackling streams of gold and crimson.

She thrust both palms forward.

The pressure field and the dual energy collided with the spinning drill in a deafening crash of force and metal.

For a heartbeat the two powers locked, neither giving ground.

Dust and broken links exploded outward in a wide circle.

Then Eira’s output surged again, wild and uncontrolled, and the drill shattered into a rain of twisted steel.

The backlash threw both of them apart.

Eira recovered first, hovering unsteadily, one arm pressed against the fresh cut on her side.

The Oni rolled to his feet farther back, chest heaving, the metal on his body now cracked and smoking in places.

Around them the larger battle continued without pause.

Lily’s water lances and Lina’s spear thrusts still traded with the two generals.

The lower ranks of both sides kept dying and killing across the field.

Yet a widening circle of open ground had formed around Eira and the red Oni, as if even the mindless demons preferred to stay clear of the unstable pressure radiating from the transformed girl.

Kael took one step forward, then forced himself to stop.

Seraphine’s hand tightened on her dagger until the knuckles whitened.

Both of them could see it clearly now. Eira was still dominant, still forcing him onto the defensive with every full surge of her power.

But each surge cost her more than the last, and the dips between them were growing longer.

The red Oni wiped blood from his chin and settled into a lower stance, chain-fist raised, shackles coiling tighter around his body like a second skin.

Eira hovered above the cracked earth, ashen-violet hair drifting, six invisible wings still spread, golden eye and flickering crimson void fixed on the demon who had dared to hurt what she claimed as hers.

The next exchange was already building.

Lust watched from the edge of the circle, pink eyes sharp and calculating.

The girl’s control was slipping further with every clash.

The dual mana around her body pulsed in uneven waves now, bright one second and almost guttering the next.

The six wings flickered between full solidity and half-transparent distortion.

Lust shifted her weight, ready to step in the moment the form collapsed completely.

She could not let the queen’s daughter die here, not when the truth of what she was still remained mostly unknown.

Inside Eira’s mind the borrowed presence snarled in frustration.

’This damn body is too weak. Why did she never exercise or train even a little? I only taught those bullies a lesson so they would leave her alone, and she shut me out afterward like I was a complete stranger.’

The red Oni moved.

He stomped hard enough to crack the ground and unleashed a sudden, wide-range burst of living metal from every spike and ring on his body.

Thousand Shackle Net!

Dozens of sharp, whip-like chains erupted outward in a deadly net, closing from all sides at once with a chorus of high, hissing shrieks.

Eira tried to rise higher and twist clear using the wings.

The power stuttered at the worst possible moment.

The field around her collapsed.

The wings distorted, one moment solid and the next half-faded, and she lost altitude in an instant.

She threw both arms up and crossed them in front of her body.

Mana flared in a desperate, uneven shield.

The chains slammed into it with a series of heavy, bone-jarring impacts. Several links shattered.

Several more punched through the weakening barrier and scored fresh cuts across her forearms and shoulders.

The force of the collision launched her backward.

She tumbled through the air, the six wings flickering wildly between visible and invisible as the transformation began to unravel. Red blood trailed behind her in thin arcs.

The ground rushed up.

Kael was already moving.

He caught her before she hit the dirt, arms locking around her small frame and taking the impact on his own body as he dropped to one knee.

A thin smear of her blood stained the front of his tunic.

Eira’s eyes were still the mismatched gold and crimson, but the light in them had dimmed.

She tried to push herself up at once.

Kael’s hand settled gently on her shoulder and pressed her back down.

He lowered himself further, one palm resting lightly on the top of her ashen-violet hair, and spoke in a calm, steady voice.

"It’s fine, Eira. You should rest. I’ll handle rest of the work."

Then he stood, turned, and walked toward the red Oni without looking back.

Eira lay where he had placed her, the last traces of the six wings fading completely.

She watched the straight line of her stepfather’s back as he moved to meet the demon alone.

Something warm and unfamiliar settled in her chest.

For the first time in years the feeling of being protected was not a distant memory.

A small, genuine smile curved her lips.