Another week passed until the enemy forces arrived. We had completed our preparations and were ready to meet them. Lucy was in her fox shape, Kira was a dragon, everyone else was using their armour and weapons.

  "Good luck." I said, as I watched them approach. All of us had their own missions, my job was to confront Abaddon.

  I used Storm's Embrace and felt the familiar magic protecting me. Then I flew towards my opponent.

  Abaddon was a big demon. Leathery wings protruded from his back and four horns adorned his head. Despite the horns he managed to wear a golden crown. His armour consisted of a metal breastplate, bracers and greaves. His skin was a greyish blue. His glowing blue eyes studied me as I approached. He was accompanied by four glaive wielding guards.

  "Facing me alone? I suppose that is the arrogance of the fey." Abaddon said in a deep voice. We were hovering in the sky above his army.

  I smiled. "I don't think you truly realise who you are challenging." Then I unleashed my aura. Clouds appeared in the sky and rain began to fall.

  "Cute." Abaddon replied, then his own aura pushed back. It was the first time that I measured myself against an ancient. I felt a pressure pushing against my aura, trying to usurp my domain.

  I pushed back. I embraced my emotion, my hatred for the demons threatening us, my love for Lucy, my desire to protect my people. My eyes glowed.

  But I was not alone. Through the bond power flowed into me and I could feel Lucy unleash her own aura in the distance. I could even feel Lilith as warmth spread through the air. She was not part of our bond, but my aura recognized her. My aura mingled with hers. Perhaps that she had helped create Haruka gave us a link, or maybe trust was really all this was about. But we enhanced each other.

  I fought Abaddon's control. I fought his try to take over the storm, and I pushed him back. Thunder accompanied our fight for dominance and lightning began to fall. It hit both of us. I welcomed my element coursing through me. Abaddon might have been a demon attuned to lightning, but I was the storm. This was me. This was mine.

  I heard a grunt from Abaddon as the lightning started to fight him. Demons started screaming as the storm targeted them.

  "I am the storm. Now feel my wrath." With those words I cast my 9th tier spell: Storm's Wrath. Now that I was winning the aura battle I added my spell to it. The storm intensified and started to hurt the army. Abaddon himself only seemed slightly inconvenienced though.

  Doubt briefly showed on Abaddon's face. "Interesting. However…"

  "DID SOMEONE ORDER A WRATH?" Shani shouted as she almost seemed to appear from nowhere. The elemental was racing through the sky, her electrical scythe crackling hungrily.

  Two of the guards intercepted the elemental as she charged straight towards Abaddon.

  "I am going to harvest all your blood! Mine, it's all mine! Muahahahah!" Shani laughed manically as she started slashing at them.

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  I shrugged, then drew my sword and followed her. It seemed that most people still thought I was only a spellcaster. I caught the first guard by surprise and with one swift strike removed his head. After the initial surprise the remaining guard fought back in earnest. Abaddon himself conjured a black glaive with red runes. Was he going to try to steal my soul again? Maybe I could feed my people another snack! Oh, wait. The last time all of them fell unconscious. That would be a fatal flaw. Damn it, maybe I had to be careful when it came to devour magic.

  Interlude Lilith

  I floated with my fiery wings above Focalor's legions. Lily was to my left, Erin to my right. I had upgraded Erin's equipment but she was nowhere near Lily's level. Amaya's succubus kept surprising me. I was strangely proud of my former servant. She had come a long way from the mid level succubus I had once employed.

  I could feel Amaya's aura flaring in the distance. I could see the storm forming above her battle. I could feel her aura reaching even us. I answered with my own. Reaching the third aura tier had done wonders for my power. And somehow Amaya managed to boost it even further. While she summoned a storm, I made fire fall from the sky.

  Lily was a new demon lord but I could feel her adding to the aura as well. Focalor himself had not shown up yet. He might have been at the back of his legions. As the demons below us started to face the fire they responded swiftly and calmly. Shields were raised, both physical and magical. Even though some of them fell they marched on.

  Finally Focalor rose to the sky and flew to meet us with his guards.

  "Lilith, you are no warrior. Surrender and join us! Join the new kingdom of hell! Join us as we will take the mortal realm!" Focalor said.

  I snorted. "For a long time I was unable to advance my power, to reach that third stage. But make no mistake, I am ancient. And finally I have broken through the last threshold. It seems that you have forgotten who I am. But today the world will remember."

  My entire body was covered in adamantium plate armour and having said my piece I closed my helmet. People thought succubi were only about seduction, but I understood the value of armour, and I was no stranger to fighting.

  I did not open with a ball of fire, a meteor, or something flashy. I used the true power of the succubi. I hit their mind. I hit them with emotions of love, of devotion. Did they really want to fight us? Of course not, they loved us!

  While the guards were stunned my companions acted. Lily's glaive created a trail of beautiful cherry blossoms, captivating the enthralled guards. I could use that. Who would want to fight such beauty? Why not embrace it?

  Not even bothering to block the first guard was struck down. Focalor watched in horror, his other guards were mostly just stunned. I could not enthrall Focalor himself but his minions were not prepared for my mental magic.

  "Attack you fools!" He shouted, managing to break the trance in one of them. He actually blocked Lily and evaded Erin's attempt to stab him in the back. But the damage was done. Focalor had lost most of his guard already.

  I summoned my longsword from my inventory and prepared to engage.

  Interlude Lucy

  The fighting had started in the distance. Meanwhile, I was waiting for Levathius to show up. I sat there calmly and started licking my paw. Kira was next to me and the dragon seemed nervous.

  "Relax." I told her.

  "Relax? You don't have enough tails to face an ancient lord! You can feel Amaya's aura from here. They are on her level!" Kira said.

  I snorted. "No one is on Amaya's level. And hey, we should add our aura too. Just feed it to the link, like we have practised. And remember that Levathius is a monstrous demon, do you know what that means?"

  Kira frowned. "You mean we will have to fight natural weapons, like claws? Probably less magic and more physical combat."

  I shook my head. "No silly! It means he might taste good!"

  Kira blinked and stared at my grinning face.

  "Why did I join again?" Kira muttered.

  Finally our enemies came into view! It was a horde of all sorts of monsters, led by the biggest one. Levathius was the size of a giant but he was less animalistic than I had thought. He actually had the head of a bull and was carrying a giant axe. I was somewhat disappointed. Then again, maybe he would have beef flavour?

  "How are we going to defeat that? You can feel his power from here." Kira said.

  "Did you notice that I have often said this is an 'Amaya thing' when something strange happened?" I asked.

  "Yes." Kira replied.

  "I will let you know a little secret. I am an 'Amaya thing'." I said with a wink. Kira looked confused. My exact origins were still a bit of a secret. Our allies and friends knew that I was Amaya's warlock, but they did not know about the strange things that happened when I became a warlock. They did not know that Amaya turned me into a kitsune. When Amaya had shared her soul with me I had inherited a few quirks, like ridiculous regeneration. Something that had only become better in my kitsune form. And there was my magic. I used Storm's Embrace on myself.

  Then I howled and charged.