Anthony, closest to the portal's position on the wall, immediately darted and grabbed Mark's leg. However, the ripping demon's power was stronger. Anthony was even dragged into the portal hole. Ethan and Jonathan rebel against their captors. Together they helped pull Anthony's body so it wouldn't be removed into the portal hole.
The portal hole in the wall sucked up all the furniture in Adaline's house. The wind was blowing very fast. Mark's body could not be saved dan he had been thrown into the portal. Only the ripping demon hiding inside Adaline's body was left behind after throwing Mark into the portal.
Slowly the portal closed again. The demon growled. His vacant eyes swayed toward Rain and started to move toward the girl.
Jace got in his way. The runes on Jace's body seemed alive and glistening in black and silver.
Erica watched Jace with frightened eyes. "No, Your Majesty—"
Jace looked the demon up and down. "I never knew there was a devil so ugly and smelly as you," he said.
The demon opened its mouth and hissed. Inside its mouth were two rows of glass-sharp teeth filling its entire mouth. The demon's breath smelled foul as if green was wafting from its breathing hole.
The demon jumped on Jace.
Jace moved his hand quickly and created a blade of black mist that made runes on his body. The blade was pitch black and quite long.
Rain thought the blade Jace created was a trick that would not have any effect. However, when Jace slashed the blade at the demon, the demon's hand was cut off.
Rain flinched in surprise. Everything happened very fast. Jace did it so effortlessly, as if he were cutting jelly. However, the demon's arm was only torn apart. Black liquid spurted from the demon's arm over the floor and furniture.
"He is so strong!" Rain was surprised.
The demon howled in pain and attacked Jace even more brutally. He tossed Jace aside and knocked him off his feet.
Jace rolled over and got to his feet with difficulty, but Rain could tell by how he held his arm that the boy was hurt.
That was enough for Erica. She dashed forward and attacked the demon with her poisoned whips. The whip slapped the demon's skin, causing lash marks to appear and black blood to drip down.
Rain was worried that they had hurt Adaline. Because the demon was still using Adaline's body as a shell.
"Stop!" shouted Rain. "Get out of Madam Adaline's body!" called Rain.
The demon grinned. "This witch is dead. I'm just taking advantage of her decaying body!"
The demon kept walking towards Rain, but Jace blocked again. Now, he knew who his opponent was.
Jace moved his uninjured left hand and created another blade from the runes on his body. A shroud of black mist was made. The smoke formed a blade that was now slightly bigger than before.
Jace raised his sword as the demon loomed before him. Jace looked so small in front of the devil, like prey ready to be pounced on at any second. But Jace grinned instead, even as the demon grabbed him in his grip.
"You know who the real devil is here. That's why you started targeting me."
Samantha screamed. She dashed out in shadow and appeared at the demon's feet. Sam changed her body's function like a noose wrapped around the demon's body. Randall did the same. Together they combine forces to ensnare the devil and give Jace a chance to escape and incapacitate it.
The demon briefly stopped with a stiff body and kept groaning. Jace is free. The devil tensed all the muscles of Adaline's body that became its shell.
As Jace struggled to his feet and was ready to attack, the demon's razor-sharp hand suddenly knocked him down again. He grabbed Samantha and Randall, who were twisting his body, and threw them to the right and left like ripping clothes.
Sam and Randall return to their original form as shadow humans with injured bodies. Erica immediately checked them out. The injuries suffered were quite severe. The forces of darkness usually quickly recover from wounds. However, the power and effect of the demon's attack prevented them from recovering immediately.
The demon lunged as Jace swung his blade again. The demon's strong hand tore at Jace. He staggered backward.
As the demon attacked again, something darted between Jace and the monster, a dark shadow with a shining blade in her hand.
"Erica!" Jace said.
Erica stretched out her iron claws and tore open the demon's chest.
The demon screamed. Erica's claws had penetrated his skin. With a groan, the demon lunged again. His bony claws caught Erica, then swung the girl savagely until she was sent flying towards the far wall.
Erica hit the wall with a terrible crunch and then slumped to the floor with her mouth spitting blood. Rain, who saw all that, shouted Erica's name. She almost crawled to reach her. Erica didn't move at all.
The demon turned around and hit Rain with the back of his hand until Rain spun to the floor. Rain coughed up blood and then started to stand up.
When the demon touched Rain, Benjamin's rage peaked. He couldn't just watch.
The demon was about to hit Rain again, but this time Benjamin protected her. The three werewolves transformed themselves into enormous wolves with a pair of sharp, gleaming eyes. Together they lunge at the demon to give Ben a chance to save himself.
"Get out of here, Young Master!" Anthony said to Ben.
Jace gets annoyed with the three wolves Hardy and Benjamin kidnap Rain from him. Ben tries to pull Rain into his arms. But Jace held Rain and asked Ben to stay away.
"Not the time, Ben!" Jace hissed.
The demon stepped towards them. Jace immediately stood up and protected Rain behind his back. Jace looked at the fallen bodies of the dark troop like he was stuck in a dream. Rain screamed as the demon approached.
"Go, Rain!" Jace said. "Let me deal with it."
Right then, Ben was standing beside Jace. The two of them intercepted the demon to give Rain a chance to escape. Meanwhile, the devil had knocked the three werewolves down like he had knocked out the army of darkness.
Erica managed to claw herself upright. She pushed her hair out of the bun and was covered in thick blood, then shouted at Jace and Rain.
Rain heard Erica shout her name, then saw Jace blink his eyes like he had been slapped awake. Jace turned towards Rain and started to run, leaving Ben alone there.
"Bastard!" Ben cursed.
The demon was close enough that Rain could see the wounds on its skin. Before the demon attacked Ben, Jace had hit the demon's hand. Jace swung the blade created from the curse on his body and stuck it in the demon's chest. The demon groaned as if the tip of the blade only irritated him.
"Lord of darkness!" the demon hissed. "I would love to kill you. I want to hear your bones crunch like your troops did when I killed them during the rebellion."
Jace jumped onto the banister and made it his pedestal. He threw his body towards the demon. The power from the jump knocked the devil backward. The demon staggered.
Jace kicked him in the back. He recreated the weapon from the black mist spewing from the runes on his body and thrust it right between the demon's shoulder blades. Black blood splashed.
While groaning, the demon tried to rebel and got up again. He dodged and backed up against the wall. The demon threw Jace to the floor.
Jace kept trying to recreate weapons from the runes on his body. However, that demon was too fast. His hand waved and once again hit Jace and threw him far away.
"You guys just keep getting in my way! I just want that man and his daughter. Leave her to me."
The demon approached Jace and choked his neck with claws made of long bones. Jace couldn't breathe. His face turned blue, both hands trying to pull the devil's grip from his neck.
"Give the girl to me!" said the demon once again.
Out of breath, Jace tried to pronounce Rain's name. But Rain will never know what Jace wants to say. Because at that moment, Rain suddenly saw a bright flashing light. Then after an instant, Benjamin was already standing behind the demon.
Benjamin drew his bow and arrows with his two muscular arms. The hand flew free. As the arrow shot past the demon's head, his voice buzzed hot like a vast wasp. The arrow went through the demon's head and into the wall, right over the top of Jace's head.
The demon screamed and staggered while covering his strange face with his hands. His head was blown off by the arrow shot.
Jace fell after being released from the grip of the devil. He held his throat and breathed in as much air as he could.
Jace looked in disbelief as he saw the demon shrink and shrink as it howled. Rain half expected the demon to explode and burn, but instead, it shrunk into smaller pieces. The monster had disappeared entirely in a few seconds, leaving only scorched marks on the floor.
Benjamin lowered his bow. The bow and arrows belonged to Anthony. Currently, the three werewolves are also injured and lying down. Benjamin blinked as he stared at the devil's scorch marks on the floor.
Jace was lying on the floor, where the demon had pinned him against the wall. He struggled to sit up. Rain came back to him and knelt beside Jace.
"I'm fine, Rain." Jace sat up and wiped the blood from his mouth. He coughed and spat out red blood. "What about Erica and the others?"
"They are fine."
Rain checked on Jace's condition. The girl just realized that the runes on Jace's body had almost covered his entire body. Even black rose runes were seen starting to grow, appearing in several parts that Rain had never noticed. It seemed as if Jace had deliberately hidden them.
Jace stared at the girl. Jace's face was lit by the sunlight spilling from the hole in the window. He looked like he was trying to hold himself back from something.
"I'm fine," Jace said once again, then pushed Rain aside rather roughly.
Jace stood up, staggered, and nearly fell. He covered his body with clothes as best he could.
"Erica? Sam? Randall?"
Rain watched Jace limping across the room to his friends, who were also injured. Then Rain stood up and stared at the wall where the portal hole was. She saw her father enter the portal and disappear somewhere.
On the other hand, Benjamin also examined the three werewolves, now curled up and bleeding. They all get hurt. Rain approached Benjamin.
"Thank you," Rain whispered. "That was amazing."
Ben tried to help Jonathan up. Joe had the most injuries.
"Don't thank me," Ben said. "I was just lucky that Anthony left his arrows there."
“Ben… I don't….”
"Rain!" Erica called her. "Can you help us here?"
Ben let Rain go reluctantly. Ben himself is busy with the three werewolves.
Rain went and knelt beside the soldiers of darkness.
"We should return to Darkwood," Erica said. "You must come back with us, Miss Orwell. There is something more important for us to accomplish than finding your father right now."
Rain once again turned to Ben. But Erica demanded Rain's full attention.
"It's about Jace," Erica said.
Finally, Rain focused and turned to Jace. He looked fine, but he was actually the most injured of all of them there. Even now, Randall was enveloping Jace's body with the power of the runes on his own body. Randall seems to turn into a shadow and blend into the clothes worn by Jace to keep the man conscious.
Rain screamed in surprise. She had not realized that Jace's condition could be as desperate. Jace's already blue eyes grew unnaturally darker. His grip on Rain's wrist left a bloodstain.
"What's wrong with you? You seemed fine just a moment ago."
"That demon attacked His Highness with its hooves," said Erica. "There is devil poison in it. He was no longer able to use the power of runes. The rune is getting more and more toxic to his own body." Erica touched Jace's face again gently.
Jace didn't move. The shadows under his eyes looked blue. Rain would have thought Jace was dead if he didn't look like he was still breathing.
Samantha bowed her head. Her black face covered Jace's, and she hugged Jace the way Randall covered Jace's body.
"What should we do?" asked Rain quickly. "Do something to him!" Rain shouted at the three armies of darkness.
"We'll take him to my place." Benjamin was standing behind them with his bow still in his hand. "I'll help you carry it."
"Not!" Erica exclaimed. "We can't believe you, Young Master Flynn. We will bring him back to the palace."
"But…"
"We wouldn't risk going to your place. You're one part of the enemy that we have to watch out for. You even kidnapped Rain from us," Erica said firmly.
At that time, Ben looked upset. He pulled Rain's hand towards him, and Erica also pulled Rain's hand toward her. The girl was in the middle and was contested by two parties.
"You are the ones who have put Rain in danger!" Ben hissed. "She will be with me! She came with me and will come back with me!" Benjamin said firmly.
Erica glanced at Rain. Her eyes seemed to say, "Make your decision right now!"