Aldrich unleashed all that power, the might of a sun, inside of him. He flew forwards at hyperspeed, so fast that he easily shattered past the sound barrier. Unused to the sudden cocktail rush of speed, he could not get out a punch. Instead, he crudely shoulder bashed into Nilah, but even that hit so hard that Nilah shot backwards like a pinball, her head whipping back as her figure accelerated out of the boss arena, into the distance, rapidly fading into a black dot.
Shards of pale flesh broke off from Aldrich's shoulder, where he had made impact, and fell to the floor. When the gold tinted shards touched the blackened ground, they disintegrated into a thousand little particles. The broken shards made a small indent in his shoulder, and it was not muscle and blood and bone that was visible there, but just pure light.
Aldrich was literally turning into pure energy, breaking down to host the solar battery forced inside of him. He recalled an interview with Solomon Solar, back when he was a kid that looked up to that shining symbol of heroism.
While atop the unconscious body of a giant villain, Solomon answered an interviewer's question: what's it like to use your power?
Solomon had answered with a smile that Aldrich now knew to be a meticulously constructed fake. "It feels like I'm burning up inside. Not like a fever, but like I'm turning right into the sun itself. If I stop focusing for just a little bit, I can imagine my whole body just going bam! Turning into light.
Not that I'll ever let that happen. With Vanguard gone, someone's got to pick up the slack, and I know a thing or two about hard work."
Aldrich distinctly understood what Solomon had meant. If he let his focus go for just one errant instant, he could see himself just blasting apart, all that solar energy in his body going supernova and eating up his flesh in a flash.
But now was not the time to hesitate. Aldrich always knew he would have had to rely on [Sunlit] to finish this trial quest. Without his legion, that was the only way to beat Deimos. He had wanted to weaken Deimos as much as possible to minimize the time in [Sunlit] as he did not have a good idea of the risks involved, but he had no such luxury now.
[All spells disabled]
[All equipment disabled]
[Inventory disabled]
[Interface disabled]
All Aldrich had for power was now this. He had to end things with it, and he had to end them soon.
Aldrich flew, rapidly reaching Nilah's falling body.
In the brief breather that Aldrich took, Nilah adjusted. She flew as well now, wings of pure flame stretching out from her shoulder blades. When she saw Aldrich's bright figure approach like a shooting star, she clapped her hands together and cast [Hellfire Armor].
Red and orange flames roared all around Nilah's body, turning into a moving, flickering armor that would disintegrate anything that got close. A perfect deterrent for melee fighters.
Aldrich did not care. He sped forwards and unleashed a punch, this time now more in control of his enhanced speed and strength. His cracked fist smashed into Nilah's mask-face with a golden shockwave, blasting her rapidly down.
Aldrich glanced at his fist. It was gone, broken apart by solar energy, the impact, and disintegration from briefly touching hellfire. Not that it mattered.
Kill or be killed. That was the situation at stake. No, not just that, if he lost now, then his entire world was in jeopardy against Nilah. Chrysa's life, too.
Aldrich flew downwards, reaching Nilah again mid-fall. He cocked his other fist back and slammed it into Nilah's chest, where her heart was. Another shockwave impact blasted the demon even faster into the ground where she landed with a cataclysmic crash, gouging out an enormous crater big enough to swallow up an entire building.
That Nilah managed to even stay intact in the face of such overwhelming power was impressive, but not impressive enough. The damage she had sustained from just three full power hits was starkly visible in the cracks in her mask and body of solid darkness.
The holy damage infused into Aldrich's [Sunlit] state also affected her greatly, the cracks in Nilah's body burning up, turning angry red.
Aldrich flew down for the last, fully intending on ending this. He felt fiery heat rage beneath his eyes, begging to escape in the form of heat rays, but he narrowed his eyes and held off on them. Nilah's Mora manifested in her ability to draw energy and projectiles into her maw. She could even absorb holy energy, but melee attacks, she could do nothing about.
Aldrich landed on Nilah feet first. His impact unleashed a shockwave that rippled across Nilah's crater, gouging up several eruptions of dirt and chunks of rock.
"You stopped me from landing right through you by casting [Fel Skin] at the last second, enhancing your durability," said Aldrich. His feet were planted on Nilah's stomach. His landing had caved her mid-section in, damaging it horribly and turning anything soft, any organs or bones, into mush, but demons could take more punishment than that.
Nilah's hellfire armor was gone for it was sustained by both a mana cost and health cost, and health was something she lacked sorely.
"Unexpected. I thought your new realm…unimpressive, considering your original weakness, player. But if this power comes from it, then it is far mightier than I thought." Nilah laughed.
"I wonder, how is it that secret demons like you and Barbos find so much amusement in everything?" said Aldrich.
"When your existence is meant to harbor secrets, it is often very amusing to know things that others do not," said Nilah. "It will be a wonderful challenge to conquer your new realm. I do wonder how my kind will fare against it."
"You're not getting out of here alive, so we'll never know." Aldrich raised his arm up. He had no fist anymore, but his forearm bone jutted out like a blade, and it was still enchanted with holy sunlight.
"True. Or perhaps not. No such thing as absolutes, yes?" taunted Nilah.
"Enough talking." Aldrich stabbed his bone into Nilah's chest, into her heart, and pierced through her skin of darkness and into the demonheart within. "Though I guess you won't be talking much once I turn you into an item. Or a spell."
Nilah's mask and body of darkness cracked, all of it sucking into a purple orb that Aldrich pulled out of Deimos's now revealed body's chest, skewering it on the end of his exposed bone. The orb was lined with golden cracks as holy energy continued to purify it.
Aldrich deactivated [Sunlit]. The golden aura around him faded away, though it took several seconds for the energy in his body to simmer down. In the meanwhile, he could not access his magical abilities.
Another downside to the power. Deactivation was instant, but accessing spells and equipment again was not.
"Thank…thank you." Deimos whispered to Aldrich before the light in his already tired eyes dimmed.
Aldrich nodded to Deimos, stepping off of his body in respect. The fight was over. The demons were gone. Deimos was finally at rest.
He felt his magic return to him, and with it, a slew of system messages.
Rewards.
