RACE: Demon of Pride.
BLOODLINE/SIN: Pride.
DEMON RANK: Mid-Rank Demon.
ATTACK RATING: Physique:75. Spirit:63. MAGIC:60.
DEFENSE RATING: Physique:69. Spirit:57. MAGIC:57.
MAGICAL POWER: Mid-20
PHYSICAL RESISTANCE: Mid-23
MAGICAL RESISTANCE: Mid-19
SPIRITUAL RESISTANCE: Mid-20
SIN ABILITY: The Superiority of Pride(Rare)- +3 boost to any stat disadvantaged during a confrontation.
STATUS: Experiencing Self-doubt.
Razoo is a perfect all-rounder. She had chosen to evolve all her stats and hence has no weakness. One might call her mediocre but her sin ability made up for it. It allowed her to supplement any weakness she has against an opponent. Pride means a need for superiority in every aspect.
If her opponent is faster than her, her own speed will pick up to meet the demand. Her sin ability will make her defense tougher if she faces something that she cannot resist. The boost of +3 stat to a mid-rank demon means an increase in power rating by 9. That kind of boost will put her well above the normal power rating of mid-rank demons. So she is better than Fitalo in every sense.
Even better is her grasp of magic. She can't cast it yet but she has formed a barrier around her that will protect her from both physical and magical damage. She is also coating her crude sword in a layer of fire mana that will allow it to do both physical and magical damage if it strikes an opponent.
The word here is "if" it strikes her opponent. Her problem is her swordsmanship or her lack of one. Her mastery of the sword is cruder than her weapon. Aeternus was able to evade her strikes calmly and easily with minimal effort. He wasn't stronger than her or faster either. In fact, those two stats of hers were higher than his but her sword couldn't reach him and she was getting irritated. He hadn't touched her but her pride was getting hurt.
She shouted in her frustration, "Stay still."
"Why don't you stay still?"
He was much smaller than her so it made him a smaller target and he was much more nimble. All these factors coupled with his footwork techniques and she couldn't hit him.
Another problem she is facing is that her sin ability wasn't helping her in any way. After all, she is superior to him in every aspect that he has confronted her with. There is no need for her ability to supplement any weakness. But after several swings and subsequent misses with her sword, her pride broke down. He was able to get within her guard and toucher her lower torsor with flames made with his chaotic power.
Things didn't turn out as they did with Fitalo. She has a magical barrier and it was resisting the dark flames. Still, the flame didn't go out. She had to continue consuming mana to resist its effect. When she noticed that nothing was happening to her, she resumed trying to skewer him with her sword. Aeternus had to endure more dodging until her barrier lost the fight. Then the Chaos flames got to work on her body.
"So the Chaos flame will maintain its unquenchable state even when I bring it out of my body and use only a little of it. Persistent and dangerous." He appraised the effect of the chaos flames while the female demon of pride writhed and screamed.
He had used a small amount of flames so it did slow work on the demoness but finished its work. The flame grew stronger and spread faster as it burned. Her pain didn't come close to what he felt for years as Chaos energy tried to burn his soul. It took willpower and an immortal soul to withstand it but it was the most painful experience ever. Razoo didn't have an immortal soul or immortal body, so she was burnt into ashes and energy that improved Aeternus's mark of sin. Her unsightly weapon also joined her.
"Next fight then." He said.
Then he began walking deeper into the plane. Demons can't grow stronger without fighting. They can't hole themselves up in a corner and cultivate. They have to fight and kill to grow, unlike others races that fight for resources to cultivate even when they don't need to. The refinement path relies on mana mostly and sometimes items with vitality. Most races can sit just sit down and cultivate calmly until they become strong. It might not work and they will be weaker than their counterparts who fought to reach their positions, but it is certainly an option. Demons don't have that option. Their entire life is to kill or be killed.
The so-called territories of mid-rank demons are areas where certain demonic beasts live. These demonic beasts aren't demons, more like animals that have adapted to the environment of the abyss. So the demons rear them and kill them for growth.
The availability of demonic beasts means mid-rank demons don't need to risk their lives in death matches with other demons to progress but they still need to kill something. Demonic beasts don't have the same value as a demon. Killing a demon will provide 100 times the benefit of a demonic beast but killing demonic beasts are safer. Follow current novels on ɴovᴇl(F)ɪre.ɴet
But competition doesn't disappear. The larger the territory of a mid-rank demon, the more demonic beasts they have and the faster their growth. If other races can be greedy, demons are definitely greedy. So demons fight over the territory now. The stronger ones have the largest territory.
The concept of territory is an evolution of the killing and foraging of low-rank demons. Mid-rank demons now take their time and think of the bigger picture and the future. They won't kill all the beasts in their territory at once when they harvest them. They will give them time and allow them to reproduce before coming to harvest them again.