"Did I just get outsmarted?" Zet asked, a huge grin spreading across her face.
She wasn't insulted at all. Instead, she found the whole thing incredibly funny.
Her eyes sparkled with excitement as she laughed heartily, truly enjoying the moment.
She was a master at tricking people into believing they were fighting her, then surprising them with illusions.
This time, though, someone had turned the tables on her. She had been outplayed in her own specialty, bested at the very game she had mastered: tricking others.
This was the first time anyone had managed to fool her.
As she contemplated everything, her eyes glinted and her heart started beating faster and faster.
Hugging herself, her nails dug into her shoulders as she struggled to contain her emotions.
'But how did he do it? I'm pretty sure that thing wasn't an illusion, so how did he make it move?' She wondered, trying to figure out how Reign had managed to pull it off in the first place.
As her mind raced, multiple possible scenarios ran through her thoughts.
But only a few ideas stick out.
"A puppet?" she murmured.
This wasn't a new concept to her, as she knew about some demon races that could create puppets.
For example, the Arachne Race could control humans and weaker demons using their web strings, and the Gorgon Race could animate stone puppets.
'But that puppet is too powerful; it was at least Peak Upper Demon level,' she pondered.
Puppets were normally weak and used for distraction, but this one was different. Its fighting ability was not to be scoffed at by lower ranking demons.
"Could it be a clone?" she mused aloud.
She remembered the Doppelganger Race, which could divide their bodies.
However, the copies would progressively weaken with each division.
Additionally, any damage sustained by the clones would transfer back to the original, further diminishing their effectiveness.
'At the same time, it was made of bones. What kind of demon am I dealing with?' another question filled her mind. She recognized from the bone color, that it was the same demon that destroyed Crestwood City.
Despite all these questions, instead of feeling annoyed, she was actually enjoying it.
'Oh wait, I forgot I need to catch him,' she muttered, shaking her head. She had been too caught up in the moment.
With a snap of her fingers, the real hole appeared above her.
Her wings extended as she flapped them, soaring outside for a better view.
She now overlooked the entire mountain, a smile curling on her lips.
Though she was normally level-headed, deep down, she was still a demon, known for their selfish desires.
He weighed his options carefully, and considered the best approach.
'I can't just wait here,' he thought urgently.
Then, an idea flashed into his mind.
'This could really work,' a creepy smile spread across his face as he began to make adjustments to his plan to increased his chances.
SWOOOOOSH!
He sprinted back into the cavern where the Natural Crystallized Negative energy was located.
With the system, he could absorb its energy quickly to gain a huge power boost.
When he reached it, the purple mist was already closing in on the tunnels, but he paid it no mind. He charged straight ahead.
***
Above the mountain, Zet's eyes snapped open as she sensed a disturbance.
"What is happening? Five demons?" Zet squinted her eyes, unable to discern the exact strength of each demon, but she could sense their presences.
She considered flying down to meet her target head-on at the hole, but she stopped as she realized that they were closing on her position.
SWOOOOOSH!
SWOOOOOSH!
SWOOOOOSH!
the ground, their skeletal bodies cloaked in kimono-like garments that swirled around them.
Each wielded a katana, ranging in size from elegant and slender to imposing and broad.
'What are these things?' she mused inwardly as she observed the five.
They were all made of bones, just like the last one, with dark-red energy filling their hollow parts.
However, each one of them had a different aura, giving off unique feelings, as if she was not facing demons at all.
Looking closer, she saw two demons with identical auras—dark-red energy crackling around them, with wind snapping from time to time.
The next one had a bigger and bulkier body, which made it more imposing. It wielded a massive katana, its presence more commanding than the others.
What set it apart was how it casually rested the big katana on its shoulder, exuding a confident and intimidating aura.
Right beside it stood another one of normal human height. Its aura was a dark-red inferno, with dark-red flames dancing menacingly around its body, casting eerie shadows on the ground.
Finally, there was the one she had just destroyed, covered in dark-red energy with occasional arcs of lightning coursing through its body.
"Each of them use a different element mixed with negative energy," she mumbled, "Wind, fire, and lightning."
'And why do they look like hunters?' she wondered, squinting her eyes to get a better view.
The feeling she got from them was the same, especially because of the shape of their weapons, and how they carried themselves.