The fire bird demon was trying to get away from Noel. As long as he could persist for a bit more, he would be unstoppable.
But Noel had thought one step forward. He used the new rune, the Enhance Forward Rune, on his shirt.
Yes, he applied it on his shirt so that his shirt would move forward, carrying him. This way, he didn't need to spare some attention for the Phoenix Wings and other things.
He could retract all of them and focus on the next strike.
He also used the Rune Sword to summon another sword for his left hand. The bird never saw Noel wielding two swords. In fact, his subordinates had never seen it as well.
The bird was surprised, trying to figure out what Noel wanted with these two swords.
Noel gathered the Spiritual Energy for the Circular Sword Strike on Ardagan and Spirit Weaponry for the Rune Sword.
The bird hurriedly raised its talons and stopped both swords. But Noel instantly cut the talon made of fire. Even if the bird was big, he still had enough power to cut through the giant body.
The other talon also tried to stop him but to no avail. Noel had his momentum, cutting the demon's legs.
The demon was wailing in pain, but he didn't stop there. The demon knew that Noel was unstoppable and it would be hard to defeat Noel in his current condition. So, he planned to injure Noel with some sacrifice until he reached his peak.
With Noel's momentum, he would have a hard time stopping his movement. So, the bird invited him in while wrapping Noel with his wings and body.
"!!!" Noel realized that the demon was trying to burn him from the inside.
It seemed that the bird was ready to pay some sacrifice in order to defeat him.
Noel gritted his teeth, enduring the pain that came from his body warming up. If he didn't do anything, he would be cooked alive. So, Noel used the Phoenix Wing to strike the demon.
Phoenix Strike.
The black-colored phoenix reappeared and flew straight to the demon's body before exploding.
*Boom!*
The phoenix exploded, releasing a raging black fire that seemed to be able to burn the demon's fire.
Despite not having intense heat like the demon's fire, the Undying Fire was completely dominating the demon's fire.
Even the bird ended up falling down while feeling all the pain. It felt like the flame was eating him alive.
Noel was supposed to launch another attack here, but he couldn't help but spat a mouthful of blood.
"Gah." Noel coughed a few times. His organs had started failing for being too hot. He never thought that the bird would sacrifice a huge portion of its body to harm him this way. It was surely effective, but the demon didn't have an easy time either.
When he looked down, he saw the bird's size shrinking drastically until it revealed the real body of the demon. It turned out the demon was a bird the size of Noel's body. It had extended its body with the Spiritual Energy, but because the Spiritual Energy was connected directly to the body, he ended up feeling the pain being cut by Noel's Spirit Weaponry and Circular Sword Strike.
Though, now that the flame had gone, the demon's real body was revealed. As long as Noel could defeat it, he would win the bet with Dimitri.
Still, Noel couldn't rejoice. After all, the bird might have revealed its true body, but the fire remained on his body. The scattered flame was burning even fiercer than earlier.
When Noel glanced up, he realized that the sun had reached its peak.
Although the demon was in its weakened state due to the attack earlier, the power of the sun was boosting its ability to an unprecedented level.
In the meantime, Noel was injured internally. Inner injuries were far more dangerous than outer injuries, so Noel didn't know whether he was still fit enough to kill the demon or not.
He might be able to kill the demon, but if he continued, he might end up with a long lasting injury that would plague him for the rest of his life. So, Noel had to consider it properly.
'Ardagan. Is there anything you can do with my current condition?' Although Noel didn't want to rely on Ardagan, Dimitri or anyone else too much, he had to do it this time.
[Heisk's power can let you recover for a bit. But Heisk can't use her power to freeze the organs immediately since it'll end up harming you instead. As for your current condition, Heisk said that it's not too bad at the moment. As long as you don't receive a similar attack within five minutes, you will be good.]
'There are a lot of risks, huh.' Noel took a deep breath. He started to feel the energy from the Spirit Link that gradually chilled his body. It wasn't an overwhelming chill since the drastic change in temperature could harm the organ. It was a gentle breeze that would gradually cool down the organs.
'Five minutes… It seems I have to find a way to survive for the next five minutes.' Noel muttered inwardly.
Meanwhile, the demon had stood up while spreading its wings. It released another cry before soaring to the sky.
The fire that covered his body started to recover. The intense heat from the small fire could rival the one in his prime condition.
"…" Noel clicked his tongue. It would be a bit risky, but he had to do it.
Seeing the change in Noel's expression, the demon flew forth, trying to kill Noel.
On the other hand, Noel had drawn the Spiritual Energy Dispersion Rune. His sword was gathering the Spiritual Energy for the Spirit Weaponry. Due to the rune, the energy that had been converted by the Spirit Weaponry was dispersed in the air.
"!!!" As expected from a demon, whose senses were heightened, it noticed the change in the Spiritual Energy. He didn't know what would happen to him if he passed this Spiritual Energy, making him hesitate.
