Chapter 83: Dog Fight

Inside the consciousness of a certain demon, two similar individuals were fighting each other with explosive force that each of their blows constitutes a deafening blow if one were to be near them. The one with small horns that have not sprouted was very exhausted that he strains to even continue clashing with the similar looking demon with sprouted horns. The two demons were Adrian and his inner demon which is a greater demon version of himself.

The two demons were basically having a showdown of power and did not notice that their immense power was already leveling out the ground. Adrian was below 70% health points while his inner demon is below 80% in health points. He realized that a match that focused on taking time will not give him an advantage. Adrian started using his brain in overdrive and finally smiled but his smile looked sinister because he started to forgo fighting with honor.

Adrian scooped up some dirt suing his enormous gauntlets and immediately thrown it at the face of his inner demon. The inner demon tried to close his eyes but Adrian used his Chrono Lag skill to delay the responses of his inner demon. Adrian really loved this debuff skill especially when he realized the flawed nature of the skill and now it was his ace in the hole during close range combat.

Skill: Chrono Lag

Mastery: V

Tier: Uncommon

Type: Debuff

Effect: Slow down the time of an enemy using temporal manipulation. The target is slowed down by 80% for three seconds. Can be dispelled.

Cooldown: 30 seconds

Cast Time: Instant

Mana Cost: 100 Mana Points

The skill was broken because of the 80% but it was balanced by the low duration and it could be dispelled. Adrian also noticed that his inner demon does not nullify half of the debuffs that it was hit which means the title effects must not be in effect. It is a pity that Adrian had no other debuff skill that could help him take the advantage. A few minutes into the brawl the inner demon was also using the same tactics that Adrian was using.

The inner demon was getting smarter and is learning how to fight from Adrian himself by witnessing firsthand on what his combat tactics was. The AI installed must only have some of the parts of his combat simulation from his interactions with his other enemies. The inner demon must not have all his titles or probably the effect for some titles are locked which means the inner demon must not have a free revive like him or this match would be much more difficult.

"Hah….I do not really care anymore." Adrian muttered after exhaling loudly.

"Oh..What do you not care anymore?" asked his inner demon mockingly.

The two once again started exchanging fists but Adrian just straight up went ham and even tried claw attacks. Adrian did not think through what his next attack would be or even calculate it because if it would all be learned and copied later so why bother. He did not care about tactics or his teachings with Bronx about fighting styles. He just straight up did nose punches, uppercuts and even threw soil just to disorient his inner demon.

Adrian's inner demon tried to cope up with the wild attacks and managed to block some of the strikes in some type of way that even Adrian himself did not do. Adrian was now sure that his inner demon was also equipped with a martial artist's basic defense. When Adrian was watching tutorial videos on the Pandemonium streaming site, he made sure to look at all the known job advancements and its advantages and disadvantages so that he could choose a suitable battle style. Although he picked the newly released Summoner job class in the end, that did not mean he does not remember what each NPC job instructor did.

The inner demon would sometimes redirect Adrian's punches using the backhand of the gauntlet and distribute the force towards the ground since the gauntlets were enormous and a slight tap of the same power would easily divert it. The inner demon also relied in kicks after averting Adrian's punches which put him in the least advantage. Now that Adrian's fighting became erratic in nature and no longer had patters, the inner demon took much longer time to comprehend what Adrian was doing.

When Adrian's punch would be diverted, he would suddenly follow up using a headbutt or strike at the chin. When Adrian's kick was avoided, he would claw the ground and suddenly toss soil and dust towards his inner demon. If a spectator were to look at their fight, one would even doubt who the real demon is in this bout. Adrian did not care if he looked petty or unrefined as a fighter and it finally paid off when he looked at his inner demon's health points and compared it to his.

Name: Equinox(Inner Demon)

Race: Daemos

Species: ???(Greater demon)

HP: 1000/3000

Name: Equinox

Race: Daemos

Species: Imp (Lesser Demon)

HP: 1731/3000

Adrian was winning the fight and only needed to land a couple more hits in order to win the fight but his inner demon suddenly backed off. Adrian was supposed to catch up with his inner demon but his body would not move. The system prompts even tells him that he is under stasis.

[You cannot move your body because you are in stasis.]

Adrian did not know what was happening and only managed to return to a calm demeanor when his inner demon talked to him because the adrenaline must have gone through his head as he was smiling while beating down his inner demon.

"I must say I did not expect then host to be this savage and unrelenting." His inner demon said with a surprised tone.

Adrian could not mutter a reply since he could not move but his senses was still fine. The inner demon continued speaking as if he knows not to expect a reply from Adrian.

"I am proud of you because now I know that you have the mentality of doing what is necessary in order to win. From my observation, you always needed to calculate your next move or overthink a strategy and that is part of your weakness but our battle proves that you can overcome your over decisive nature and release all inhibitions. I might have been speaking a bit too much but nevertheless you have passed my trial." His inner demon said with utter delight.

Adrian had a mixture of doubt and dismay as he finally was enjoying trampling down on others. Maybe a little too much as he suddenly shivered that he might have that tendencies. He suddenly closed his eyes and prayed that he must not become a battle junkie like his best friend told him he was during their past video games. Adrian put that thought immediately into the back of his mind and continued listening to his inner demon as it was still not finished from speaking.

"Although you have passed my trial that still leaves what kind of greater demon you will become. As I have no control over that since you need to look further unto the powers sleeping inside of you to become stringer. You can think of me as a gate keeper if you will." His inner demon said as it made some hand seals and a door appeared.

The door was something akin to a mouth of a demon beast with sharp teeth with horns at the top of its head. The demon's mouth had sharp teeth and visible pair of fangs that close up. The demon gate's eyes were even closed. His inner demon touched the demon gate and it suddenly opened its eyes revealing black corneas and violet pupils. It started opening its mouth bit by bit until a swirl of gray and white energy reminiscent of the aura that Adrian was releasing was seen when it fully opened its mouth.

"This portal will lead you to your heart or core if you will. Each time that you pass the test, you will be sent there to commune with the energies inside your body. From there, we your inner demons no longer have say on what you do as it is only our role to open the gate if the host is worthy." His inner demon explained.

Adrian was not able to move again and started to ask questions.

"So you are saying that it solely depends on me on what type of energy that I will commune with using my body? Does that mean that I could also get nothing if I fail to do so?" Adrian asked.

"Not necessarily as you will still elevate into a greater demon even if you fail to commune to certain types of energy, it's just that even I will not know what you will become." The inner demon said.

Adrian now had the qualification but he did not know if what this commune with an energy was and he is now looking lost as he does not want a random evolution because it might become either a blessing or a curse. Adrian was lost in thought until he heard what his inner demon said to him and gave a shocked face like that of a famous meme.