Just as the Archmage took a step forward and the demon roused his demonic energy once more, Xaren silently pulled his spare sword from his magic pouch, turned around, and hurled it at the Archmage with 5x gravity-enhanced force.
The blade tore through the air faster than the eye could follow, but the Archmage—who was mid-cast—naturally detected the incoming attack.
Instinctively, he turned towards it, and the magic circle he'd conjured to use against the demon unleashed a pressurized beam of water that struck the sword down before it could reach them.
But in that brief moment of distraction, the demon seized the opening and lunged at the Archmage.
The Archmage tried to turn back and cast another spell, but he couldn't conjure a magic circle fast enough to block the demon's claws, which tore cleanly across his arm, sending a spray of blood into the air.
