Chapter 18: Round Two

"Talk." Sora demanded more than asked. She only gestured to her bindings with a smirk causing him to frown before undoing the ones on her hands.

With her hands free, she undid the bindings on her legs and pushed herself to her feet while being sure to be silent.

Letting out a small frown of satisfaction at being able to move her body freely again, she stretched a bit.

"Talk." Sora repeated impatiently.

"Right. That demon Abbadon, if I heard correctly, is trying to revive his master back into this world." She started before quickly continuing as an annoyed frown made its way to Sora's face.

"He's been preparing a ritual that would tear a hole straight into hell, literally." She finished.

"He's been on earth for some time now so why hasn't he already done it? What's the point of kidnapping kids?" Sora questioned.

"I heard him discussing with someone a few days ago. As much as he claims to be powerful, he's not at his full strength."

"His magic isn't strong enough to tear a hole by himself so he plans to use the dormant life energy inside people to generate enough magic." She explained as she massaged her wrist.

'So she's been here before the others.' He noted.

"Then why only take kids. More specifically, why only take girls." Sora asked another thing that was on his mind.

"Apparently he's tried this method before but the magic the kids generated wasn't enough to do the job. He also noticed that female children normally produce more mana when used in this ritual." She answered a bit uncomfortably.

'Meaning that the kids he took before are all dead.' He thought before asking his last question.

"Finally, how do you know so much about magic and demons?" He asked as his cold black orbs stared into her blue ones.

"I do my research. Plus my dad literally drills this kind of stuff into my head." She said offhandedly.

"More importantly, I know how to beat him. Demons are vulnerable to holy water and this church has a lot of it." She stated smugly.

"This holy water, where do they keep it?" He asked.

She then pointer to a large container at the back of the room that was covered in a tarp. With one swift action, he pulled the covering to reveal sparkling water.

It seemed to shine a bit despite the darkness of the room.

'For it to not dispose of this, it must be more arrogant than I thought. Or maybe he couldn't even get close to it.' He thought as he grabbed a small bottle from the table nearby and filled it with the water.

With a thought, it disappeared into his inventory as three knife appeared, replacing them. He dipped their entirety in the liquid for a few seconds before pulling them out.

He had made a habit of carrying a full set of knives in his inventory at all times just to be safe.

With that done, Sora turned to the door and began walking away.

"Wait where are you going?" She called out in a whisper.

"To finish this. You wait here." He said as he walked silently to the door.

"Wait!" She whispered loudly and tried to follow after him only to find that she couldn't move. The feeling of her earlier bindings came back as she looked down to her body.

Her hands and legs that were previously free were now bound in their original rope bindings as she was once again tied on the floor as if she never got up.

"Stay put." He said firmly, as he reached the door. He never undid any of the bindings other than the one on her mouth.

He had her in a genjutsu the entire time as he extracted the needed information. He wasn't taking his chances with anyone.

He spared a glance at the tarp that was used to cover the container of holy water before grabbing it, using it as a cloak around his body.

"I can help. I can fight." She said, still being careful to keep her voice low but Sora didn't so much as slow down his movement, choosing to ignore her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Cloak of Invisibility Technique.'

The moment Sora exited the room, he activated the E rank technique to cover his movement. He moved slowly until he was back in the main hall of the cathedral.

From his position near the wall, he saw Abbadon floating close to the ceiling, surveying the room from a bird's eyes view.

Not wanting to risk being caught, Sora made no attempt to move. Although the jutsu hid him well, that didn't mean it was perfect.

Abbadon was being cautious but both him and Sora were getting impatient. They stayed in their respective positions for a while until Abbadom could stand it no longer and began his search at ground level.

Seeing this, Sora became relieved. Had the demon stayed up there, he would have no way to approach him without exposing himself.

From the pattern Abbadon moved with, it was estimated that he would move to Sora's position soon. Within a few minutes, just as was predicted, Abbadon slowly floated in front of Sora.

It passed him without suspecting a thing, making Sora grin. At that moment, he drew his soaked knife from his inventory, getting a reaction from Abbadon in front of him.

The pure aura from the holy water doused knife alerted the demon to his presence but it was too late as he was already in front of it with knife thrusted into the side of its head.

"AAAHHHHHH!" The demon bellowed as the weapon went into him with no resistance.

Steam was emitted from the point of the stab, drawing a cruel smile from Sora.

"So it works!" He exclaimed as he rushed to press his advantage. He slashed at it's neck, drawing another scream from it.

It let out a blind swipe towards Sora who ducked under it, slashing at the arm with the blade.

He pushed on, slash after slash, not allowing Abbadon any moment of rest. Just as the knife was becoming less effective as the holy water on it was gone, he drew another knife and continued.

A few minutes passed and Abbadon looked worse for wear. He was filled with injuries that emitted steam in reaction to it's opposite element.

"You're still alive?" Sora asked rhetorically but also a bit confused.

"Ahh…I'll….k-kill you…" It hissed barely above a whisper. It was on its last legs, knowing it won't survive any more attacks from those knives.

"Hmmph! You're over!" He declared as he rushed at it with his knife thrusted towards the center of it's face.

Just as the knife was about to pierce it, the demon seemed to regain its vigor for the moment as it burst forward in a burst of speed that caught him off guard.

Expecting to be attacked, Sora braced himself for impact but contrary to his expectations, Abbadon sped past him and dove into the large box at the corner of the stage.

That seemed to be it's last ditch effort as it's speed reduced as it got closer to the box. He had noticed the large box upon entering the church but hadn't had the chance to investigate it.

Sora didn't sit still as it sunk into the box, going through the wooden cover. He rushed forward, leaping into the air with the intent of pierce the box upon his descent.

Just as he struck the box, it exploded in a shower of wood, pushing Sora back a few meters. He managed to right himself in the air and land on his feet, sliding back a bit.

He looked up towards the stage only for his eyes to widen.

"W-what?" He exclaimed in shock as a figure walked out of the dust.

"You're…"