Crash!
A violent explosion of stone and glass. Ren's eyes snapped open. His heart lurched in his chest.
The ground trembled as a shadow fell across the room, and Ren jerked upright. Dust and smoke swirled through the air. His instincts kicked in, but his mind was still groggy, still trying to catch up.
"I've waited a long time for this, Son of Elest."
A humanoid figure stepped into the ruined room, its form a blur of darkness and light. Horns curled from its skull-like head, its eyes glowing like fiery embers. It radiated power. Pure, unrelenting power.
Ren's heart raced. Fear gripped him.
The demon raised one clawed hand, and a blast of pure black energy shot forward, tearing through the air. Ren barely managed to raise his hands, conjuring a thin shield of magic just in time. The impact knocked him back, slamming him into a bookshelf. His mind snapped to full attention. His pulse quickened.
He staggered to his feet, eyes narrowing as he met the demon's glowing gaze.
"You've been waiting a long time," Ren muttered under his breath, a thrill running through him. "Well, I'm ready."
The demon lunged, faster than Ren could react, its clawed hand coming down toward his head. Ren barely dodged, twisting his body out of the way. The blow smashed into the floor with a thunderous crash, sending debris flying.
Ren barely had time to breathe. He raised his hand and fired a fireball—a swirling mass of flame that rocketed toward the demon. But the creature was fast, impossibly fast, dodging with a flick of its wrist and launching a burst of dark energy right back at Ren.
"You think this is enough?" The demon's voice was a deep growl.
Ren grinned.
A battle of this scale. It was what he'd been waiting for.
He conjured a water blade in his right hand, slicing through the air with a wave of his arm. The demon swung its arm in a wide arc, summoning a wave of shadow to block the attack. The two forces collided with an explosion of sound and fury, sending Ren sliding back, but he held his ground.
The demon came at him again, this time with an afterimage—a split-second blur of motion that struck from a different angle. Ren felt the air shift just in time and barely ducked, the demon's claws missing his face by inches.
This was real.
This was the fight he had wanted.
Ren could feel his body reacting instinctively now, magic flowing through him like it had always belonged. He leaped into the air, using his wind magic to boost himself, and from that height, hurled a volley of fireballs toward the demon. Each one exploded on impact, but the creature was still standing, unscathed, glaring at him with something akin to disdain.
But Ren was grinning now. His heart raced, not with fear, but exhilaration.
"Finally," Ren muttered, pushing himself forward. "A real enemy."
He slammed his palms together, summoning a rock spike from the floor beneath the demon's feet, sending shards of stone flying toward the creature's chest. It twisted, avoiding most of the attack but still taking a glancing hit to its shoulder.
The demon roared in fury, its form shifting as it summoned an energy whip, cracking it through the air like a lightning bolt. Ren barely dodged, his body moving on pure instinct as he dropped into a roll, narrowly avoiding the strike that would've split him in half.
His blood was pounding now, his magic swirling wildly around him.
"Come on!" Ren shouted, grinning madly. "Is that all you've got?"