How do you beat sixty-thousand demons?
Simple: You send them back to Hell.
The first thing I learned as an occult detective was summoning and banishing demons from and to Hell. I had done it to a few, not thousands. I needed access to a near-infinite magic well to accomplish such a feat.
Thankfully, the full moon provided me with the latter.
Esther flew to the top of the stadium, standing on the edge with her hands behind her back. The moon glowed above her, chasing away the possessive darkness threatening to consume the world.
This was another test from her. Even if she knew I was powerful tonight, it seemed she wanted to see how much. It was a good thing she had the best seat in the house. Or should I say the best seat on the stadium? Ha!
The vanas jumped from the stands at the same time—activating their magic powers—covering every potential escape route. Sadly for them, I wasn't planning on running away. I'd fight to the death.
I took a deep breath, clasped my hands together, then summoned every bit of the moon's power. The moon flicked twice like a bulb, making Esther give it a shoulder glance. I snapped my fingers—a white hexagram materialized below me—and stomped my foot on the ground, causing fissures to form over the lines before exploding. Millions of fiery tentacles shot out of the crevices, wrapped themselves around the vanas, disintegrated them with one squeeze, and returned to the pits of Hell.
It ended in less than ten seconds.
The public would notice the missing sixty-thousand corpses and complain as usual. The Supreme Leaders would blame "Grave Robbers". The people would move on to the next thing fast. That was the modern world.
Esther dropped to the ground, standing a few feet from me. "That was anticlimactic." She sighed. "Never send demons to do a sorcerer's job." She rolled her neck, cracked her fingers, then clapped twice.
Her body bloated before fifteen clones popped out of her like bubbles. They surrounded me, the glare in their eyes beautified with the sparkle of mischief. The necromancer had met her match. Excitement caked her face like a problem child.
"In another life, we would've been best friends," they said.
"Definitely."
Two copies ran at me. I stomped the ground, making it explode under them, thrusting them in the air. Then I raised my right hand, creating hundreds of arrows made of the moon's light. I lowered my hand, and the arrows tore the two copies into pieces before disintegrating.
Another one was already on my tail, trying to catch me off-guard. It aimed its open palms at me and released bolts of dark magic. I evaded a few while others grazed my skin, drawing blood. The wounds healed immediately.
The third copy created five clones of itself. Jeez! What was this? The Matrix? Naruto? The clones attacked me. Activating my time magic, I froze them in place, including the remaining copies. I didn't want to use this power now, wanting to catch Esther by surprise, but this nonsense needed to end.
I observed the thirteen copies and five clones, unable to tell which one was Original Esther. I raised my right hand—summoning the lunar arrows—and opened my left palm, activating my fire magic, which caked my hand with a roar, ready to devour everything in its path. Then I moved my right hand downward and thrust my left palm forward, unleashing the lunar arrows and blaze of fire upon the copies and clones.
Esther leaped sideways before the arrows pierced and fire disintegrated her body.
I smiled. "There you are."
She placed her hands in a prayer stance and inhaled. I clenched my arms and jaw. Our surroundings turned pitch black as the pocket dimension swallowed us, then a bright light appeared above.
Damn, this was cool. A near-perfect power. A cheat code in case you didn't want your enemy to run away or anyone else to interfere in your fight. I'd have to master it one day.
When the magic circles with zodiac symbols appeared above and below us, I stood in a fighting chance. The online advice ran through my mind on repeat, making sure I didn't forget or make a mistake. I had one chance to counter her. One!
Once the circles stopped spinning, the levels behind Esther were Rabbit: Superspeed, Snake: Invisibility, and Dog: Immortality.
Shit!
I had Rat: Animation, Sheep: Weather, and Pig: Heat Vision.
I could work with that!
Esther turned invisible. I couldn't see her footprints on the ground nor hear her movements or breathing. Total invisibility.
A hard blow to my face sent me rolling on the ground. I stood immediately and got a kick to the chest, knocking me down. I got up again and received two punches to the gut before dropping on my knees, wheezing.
Damn, she hit like a cannon.
Without my healing ability, the pain lasted longer.
Esther was the first sorcerer in a long time to make me feel weak and pathetic twice. The hopelessness that came with being unable to beat her could crush anyone's soul. Thankfully, I had none.
I stood, rubbed off the blood dribbling out of my nose, and spat out more. The taste of iron brought normalcy to the surrounding madness. Since I couldn't use my powers, the advice I received online said I could fight a zodiac sorcerer using their power. I needed to know which animals were assigned to me and use them effectively.
"There's no such thing as a bad combination," the online advisor, milkmemommy, had said.
Thinking fast: I used Weather to create a dark cloud over the area and hid in the shadow. Then I shot heat vision from my eyes—its thunderous sound filled my ears and intense speed made the air around me blow hard—moving my body around until I heard a groan and a thud.
I withdrew the cloud, finding Esther on the ground, decapitated. Her body, a few feet away, crawled towards her head. She glared at me. "How did you—The internet?"
"Of course."
"Who even listens to the internet's advice?"
"It's not all bad?"
The necromancer raised her brow.
I shrugged. "I gambled."
She laughed. "Unpredictable, as expected."
I sat on her body, stopping it from moving. Without the head, it was useless. It was... braindead. Ha! "I can't kill you, and you can't fight me. What now?"
"That's not true." Esther closed her eyes and withdrew the pocket dimension. Before I took advantage and killed her, her body spun and kicked me off it. I stopped midair, activated my fire magic, and shot a blaze toward her. She blocked it with a dark magic shield. "Remiel knew you'd be a challenge. So, she gave me insurance."
The necromancer reached inside her back pocket and took out a small transparent sphere with a bright light inside. It reminded me of when Lucifer returned my soul. Damn, that felt like ages ago.
The bright light was a soul: Whose was it?
Esther dropped the sphere to the ground and crashed it with her boot. The soul swirled out and formed a humanoid shape, standing beside her.
I gasped, then stumbled backward. No, no, no, no.
Tears welled in my eyes. My family and I had tried countless times to summon him from the afterlife to find out what had happened—it never worked. Now it made sense. His soul was still on Earth.
"You look tired, Binti," Baba said.
I chuckled while tears streamed down my face. His terrible sense of humor always made me roll my eyes. Now it was comforting.
"Family reunion's over." Esther stepped between us. "Your Baba is my insurance to take moon magic. If you kill me, you damn his soul to Hell." She smiled. "I promise to release him after I kill you." She raised her pinky finger. "Pinky promise."
Baba taught me everything I knew about the magical world. He had urged me to keep learning even when he wasn't around, insisting knowledge was the key to power. A skilled sorcerer who lacked the knowledge to move up in the world was useless. And you could only stay at the bottom for long before it consumed you.
Glancing at Baba, he nodded at me with tears in his eyes. There was only one solution here: I had to kill him.