My stepsisters are sexy demons, and I must protect them-Chapter 42: The secret of Velshekar’s flames

«So that’s why you’re hunting down the two hybrids—to take over their bodies,» Shin says.

He takes advantage of that moment to catch his breath and regain his strength.

The emerald flames that make up Velshekar’s body flicker like a candle’s flame.

They seem insubstantial.

Now, Shin fully understands the situation.

It’s a wandering spirit—the soul of a demon so powerful it can remain alive even after death.

But to do that, it needs to possess a body strong enough to endure its power.

Without a body, a spirit dissolves quickly.

Driven by desperation, Velshekar charges at Shin.

It assumes the form of that same huge, flaming serpent he used before and it rushes him with the same strength and speed.

A speed greater than Shin’s.

No longer confined to a physical vessel, the spirit can fully manifest its strength.

And now, Shin’s focus and guard are higher than ever.

Shin knows perfectly well that Velshekar’s goal now is to take over his body—it’s the only way the spirit can avoid vanishing from the material plane and ending up in the Realm of Forgotten Souls.

Velshekar is upon him—their clash is imminent.

Shin raises his sword, ready to strike.

But...

...but at the last instant, the serpent veers—it skirts around Shin.

~What the...?~

The spirit isn’t aiming for Shin, but for Oliver’s corpse.

When Shin realizes it, it’s already too late.

An explosion of green flames and energy bursts from Oliver’s body. It forces Shin to retreat far back.

~That dark emissary... I’m sure I killed him! A wandering spirit can only possess a living being... what kind of demon can do something like this...?!~

The calm is now completely gone from Shin’s face.

He’s nervous, clenching his teeth, as he sees what should be impossible—Oliver’s corpse standing once again, wrapped in green flames that flow steadily into him.

Even worse, the dark emissary’s wings are now completely purple.

The one in front of him is a spirit so powerful it can reanimate a corpse.

It possesses the body of a semi-divine being.

Thanks to Velshekar’s presence, that body has reached its maximum possible power—almost equal to that of a light emissary.

Shin steps back.

A desperate situation appears before him.

Again, Shin looks around, but sees nothing.

«If I’d known that fool had such a powerful body, I would have taken it over much earlier,» Velshekar says, incredulously—even he is surprised by all that power.

In his clenched fist, a flaming green sword takes shape.

Then, he raises his gaze to Shin.

«I agree with what you said before: it’s time to get serious!»

Velshekar instantly lunges at Shin.

Their blades clash in violent, devastating impacts.

They move so fast that only the explosions of light and huge craters around them show the effects of their blows. freёnovelkiss.com

«You know, in the end I have to thank you, Shin. If you hadn’t pushed me to possess the body of this emissary, I wouldn’t have realized what I had right under my nose. Now, I have no further interest in taking over the bodies of the two hybrids—no matter how strong they are, they’re not comparable to that of an emissary!» Velshekar exclaims, between blows, with extreme satisfaction.

«So this means you’ll leave them alone and everyone lived happily ever after?» Shin replies with a tired smile.

Keeping up with Velshekar’s pace pushes him beyond his limits.

«No, this means that instead of killing you and kidnapping them, I’ll kill them too!»

With a faster and more powerful blow than the others, Velshekar manages to unbalance his opponent.

And then...

-SWISH!

...a horizontal slash cuts across Shin’s abdomen.

He has just enough time to realize the blow is coming.

He manages to step back enough not to be cut in two, but not enough to dodge it entirely.

The wound across Shin’s abdomen is deep. Blood starts to pour out in a worrying manner.

Velshekar piles on.

His sword comes down on Shin again, but he manages to avoid the blow with a leap upward.

Shin struggles, though, because of the pain, the blood loss he’s trying to slow with his Sacred Flame, and the exhaustion of this fight, which is lasting longer than he expected.

In his youth, Shin would have been able to withstand this battle without any problem. But now, the weight of age is starting to show.

His strength is indeed lower than before, though not by much.

But what’s really failing is his endurance.

Velshekar’s missed strike tears violently through the air, but it’s not over.

The blade of his flaming sword reshapes into a green serpent like the one from before, only smaller.

It instantly darts upward at Shin, who is still suspended in midair from the jump.

This time, Shin can’t hold back a scream of pain as the jaws of the serpent clamp down on his right arm.

He desperately tries to release his Sacred Flame at the point of the bite. But that attempt only serves to delay the inevitable.

The red-hot teeth first pierce through the Sacred Flame, then into Shin’s flesh.

Like a poison, green flames spread from the bite along his entire arm. They instantly reach both his shoulder and hand, consuming them completely without leaving smoke or ash.

Shin has only a fraction of a second to decide what to do, but in his mind the solution is clear.

He slides the sword from his right hand to his left.

Then...

...he severs his own right arm before the flames can spread to the rest of his body.

Another sharp, agonizing scream of pain escapes his lips.

Blood flows copiously from both his abdomen and his shoulder. Shin tries to staunch it with his left hand—the sword vanished just before.

Even his nose and mouth are filled with blood.

His vision is clouded by pain and the alarming amount of blood he’s losing with each moment.

Shin is on the ground, on his knees—there is no longer a single drop of Sacred Flame in his body.

But even Velshekar is not doing any better.

He has used those green flames for too long, not to mention the huge amount of energy needed to resurrect Oliver’s body.

On top of that, he also used up all the energy needed to keep his previous body alive and the energy needed to keep his spirit intact while he was out of the body.

«If we had fought some years ago, I definitely would have defeated you. Getting old really is a pain in the ass...» Shin mutters, with a smile twisted by pain.

Once he creates an energy plug on the point where his arm was severed, Shin takes out a pack of cigarettes from his jacket pocket—there’s only one left.

«Hey Velshekar, mind giving me time to smoke one last cigarette?» Shin says.

The demon laughs heartily at that request.

«You’re really amusing. It’s such a shame you were born human; if you’d been a demon, I’m sure we could have gotten along,»

Velshekar’s answer almost seems friendly, but his gestures say otherwise.

Velshekar grabs Shin by the neck with his left hand and squeezes until Shin coughs up blood.

He lifts Shin into the air and pulls back his right fist, ready to deliver the finishing blow.

«It’s over, Shin Tendo!»