With the world moving so fast that the gravel moved at a snail's pace, Scrael closed the distance between herself and the Stone Demon. Despite the storm of gravel surrounding the demon, Scrael didn't have any trouble finding the almost nonexistent gaps between the clusters of stones and inching closer to her target.
Scrael swam through the air, occasionally stepping on the stones to reposition and redirect herself and squeeze through the narrow gaps in the Stone Demon's defense.
Eventually, she managed to enter the storm's eye of the whirling gravel around the Stone Demon. Inside the final layer of defense, only a slight wind rustled the Stone Demon's leather skirt.
The Stone Demon stood wide-legged and with its arms stretched out to either side. It had its eyes closed as it focused on maintaining the near-impenetrable wall of gravel that spiraled around it. The demonic energy surrounding the Stone Demon was so oppressive and malevolent that Scrael flinched, and she almost snapped out of her trance.
But she regained her momentum, and the world didn't stop moving in slow motion.
Now that Scrael had breached the Stone Demon's defensive magic, the only thing left was to attack it. Since her attack on the demon's leg had been useless, Scrael hesitated since she wasn't sure she would actually manage to injure the demon. But the magic empowering her body didn't accept her hesitation. She could either continue forward or give up entirely, which would, considering the magic's drain, leave her weakened and exposed to the demon's counterattack.
Scrael shook her head to get rid of the hesitation, and she gathered all of the magic in her body to unleash a final burst of power. Her body roared at the magic surpassing what it could handle, but Scrael didn't stop, and she directed all that power toward the Stone Demon, using her body as a catalyst.
The Stone Demon opened its eyes after hearing thunder ring out right next to it. Its eyes flitted around in panic, but all it could see was the bright flash of purple lightning that filled its entire vision.
The Stone Demon's eyes throbbed in pain due to the bright light and its ears rang after the thunderclap that exploded outside its ears. The demon rushed to tighten its defenses and began rearranging the gravel to create a dome. However, the soft thump of its arm falling to the ground, which it barely managed to hear through the ringing of its ears, preluded the burning pain of the dismemberment.
The pain and the lost arm prevented the demon from concentrating enough to control the mass of stones it used to defend and attack. Most of the gravel dropped to the ground when the demon first felt the pain, and the rest followed as the demon knelt down and clutched its bleeding shoulder. Thick grey blood began trickling down from the Stone Demon's injury, hardening as it hit the ground.
As a demon excelling in defense and that only rarely got injured, the Stone Demon wasn't used to grievous injuries and the pain that accompanied them. But it was still a demon used to battle, and it quickly realized that its opponent wasn't done yet. The demon picked up its arm and quickly put it back, using a bandage of stone to keep it in place.
The arm still hurt, and it wouldn't work properly until it fully healed, including using magic with it, but it was better than losing the arm forever. It might not even function even after healing, at least not without help, since the arm had been torn off with brute force and damaged a lot of tissue and nerves.
After reattaching the arm, the Stone Demon stood up and looked around, trying to find the cat that had burst out with speed faster than the demon could comprehend.
Since the cat hadn't used that speed from the beginning, the demon guessed that it couldn't use it all the time. But before it could even turn its head to look around and try to find the cat, the demon saw another flash of light.
There wasn't as much thunder this time, but pain once again accompanied the lightning strike, and the demon instinctively looked at its shoulder. Pain-fueled wrath began bubbling up inside the Stone Demon, who had otherwise managed to retain a semblance of calm.
But the Stone Demon didn't have time to process that he had lost his arm again before another streak of lightning passed him by and brushed against his stomach, leaving behind four deep scratches.
The Stone Demon stopped trying to find Scrael and instead focused on defending. Since the arm had flown away after the attack, the demon regretfully gave up on it. After firming its resolve, the Stone Demon roused all of its demonic energy and reinforced its body as much as it could.
Trying to counterattack had proven impossible, so the Stone Demon hoped that it could at least outlast its opponent.
The Stone Demon's skin grew darker and thickened, its wounds closing up just in time for Scrael's next attack.
Scrael's three previous attacks had all managed to injure the Stone Demon in some way. The first attack tore off its arm, the second tore it off again and flung it away, and the third left several long wounds on the demon's stomach. The third attack was admittedly not Scrael's best work. She had grown overconfident after managing to blow away the demon's arm using all her strength.
Scrael realized her mistake and decided to wear down the demon slowly, one piece at a time, instead of trying to land a serious injury in one go.
However, even after changing her mindset, Scrael's attack didn't succeed. Just like her first attack on the demon's calf, Scrael barely managed to scratch the Stone Demon's remaining arm.
Scrael grew frustrated since she could feel her body lose to the power of her magic. She wouldn't be able to handle running around with her body fully powered up for much longer. She only had a limited time to defeat the Stone Demon. But if even her most powerful attacks didn't work, there wasn't much she could do.
She considered giving up and asking Toz and the others for help when the world stopped moving in slow motion, and a sluggish feeling overcame her. But then she thought of what would have happened if she didn't have Toz and the others to rely on. Before she met them, she had only had herself. There was no one to ask for help. She didn't miss being alone, but always relying on Toz and the other cats had given Scrael a sense of complacency. She liked not having to fight for her life every day, but she could feel her senses and fighting instinct deteriorate.
Scrael threw away whatever hesitation she felt. She completely ignored everything other than herself, her magic, and her opponent. She wouldn't rely on Toz and the others for the fight. But she could at least enjoy the luxury of having them watch her back and make sure no one interfered in the battle.
If the Stone Demon's defenses are stronger than her attacks, she only needs to attack with more power.
Scrael gritted her teeth and readied her next attack.
