“Solvei, follow my lead,” instructed Lex as he circled the devil, moving to Prevarius’ left. “Coordinate your attacks with mine.”
“Right!” Solvei was already mirroring his movements, positioning herself to Prevarius’ right. Even if she had been the runt of the litter, she’d still gone out hunting with the rest of her family as soon as she’d been old enough, eagerly soaking up all the knowledge she could about how to bring down prey. Attacking a foe from opposite sides had been one of the earliest lessons she’d learned.
For his part, Lex waited until she was on the devil’s other side – Prevarius still grinning as he bemusedly looked between them, apparently completely unconcerned by their intent to come after his life – then raised his left foreleg to point at the phistophilus. “You should know,” he announced darkly, “that I don’t believe in granting an opponent mercy. Even if you offer to undo the contracts and leave this world forever, I won’t spare your life.”
The threat was dire enough that it made Thermal Draft – standing well away from the trio – gulp, and even Solvei felt a shudder run down her spine. But Prevarius simply threw his head back and laughed. “You’ll have to forgive me if I’m not too worried about that,” he chuckled.
Behind his mask, the corners of Lex’s lips turned upward as well, but unlike the devil there was no mirth in his smile. His threat had been nothing more than a distraction, a way to keep Prevarius focused on him while he held his hoof toward Solvei – while making it look like he was pointing at Prevarius, since the winter wolf was directly opposite the devil – and channeled his divine authority toward her, giving her the same suite of powers that he had when she’d faced Bolverk, slightly modified to account for his guesses regarding the phistophilus’ strengths and weaknesses.
But even so, Lex couldn’t help the rebuttal that rose to his lips then, baring his teeth as his eyes glowed brighter, meeting Prevarius’ own. “You will be.”
It was the last warning he gave before he rushed at the monster. On Prevarius’ other side, Solvei gave a loud howl as she charged, the sound ringing across the clearing.
Prevarius simply snorted at the display, crossing his arms over his chest as the two of them rushed in.
Lex got there first, his legs leaving the ground as he jumped upward, a blue glow surrounding his foreleg as he cocked it back, preparing to punch the devil right in the face for the second time.
His hoof had just gotten within a few inches of striking home when Prevarius vanished, teleporting away and reappearing across the clearing, standing right next to Thermal Draft.
The mare gasped, her eyes widening. But she had no chance to react as the devil tsked, a smug grin on his face-
-only for a purple aura to suddenly appear around him.
This time it was Prevarius’ turn for his eyes to widen, unable to do anything before the magic yanked him back to the spot that he’d just vacated.
Lex’s hoof was waiting for him when he arrived.
Just like before, the hit struck with enough force to put cracks in stone, the blue glow around his foreleg flaring as it made contact with the devil. But the phistophilus only tilted his head slightly from the impact, ignoring the pale light surrounding the hoof that had just struck him entirely; it was enough to let Lex see that the only damage he’d inflicted had been to knock the smile off of Prevarius’ face, which was now frowning in mild consternation.
But that changed a half-second later, as Solvei sank her teeth into the flesh of Prevarius’ right leg.
“Hnrgh!”
The devil’s groan of pain sent a rush of hateful satisfaction through Lex as he stepped back, his horn already glowing tried to use the phistophilus’ moment of distraction to form black crystal fetters around the creature’s legs. With its teleporting locked down, all they needed to do was seal the rest of its movement, and then finishing it off would be-
But before he could even begin making the attempt, Prevarius pivoted sharply, causing the branch-like black horns curling from around his back to whip around directly toward Solvei. Fortunately, the motion was obvious enough that the winter wolf saw it coming, recognizing that she had to abandon her position or risk being impaled. Even then, she came very close to suffering that fate anyway, only barely managing to leap back – ending up alongside Lex – before the devil’s horns swept through where she’d been.
Panting in residual pain, Prevarius stumbled for just a moment before regaining his footing, and Lex held off on using his dark magic, recognizing that the creature’s guard was back up.
But the phistophilus seemed to be in no hurry to counterattack, instead shifting his legs as he made sure that his wounded leg was still capable of bearing his weight. “I see now,” muttered Prevarius, his smile reappearing – though now rueful rather than mocking – as he took several deep breaths, straightening up before looking back at Lex. “I thought that first punch you threw, the one that ended our discussion over the details of your contract, was just you having a fit of pique. But that wasn’t it at all, was it?”
The devil pointed at the amulet hanging from Lex’s neck, then. “That’s not just a simple protective device. It also allows you to imbue it with a spell and release it as part of an attack, and so you made sure to load it with an anti-teleportation effect ahead of time.”
“I told you I’ve dealt with things like you before,” sneered Lex.
That he’d be facing a foe capable of teleportation had been near the forefront of Lex’s mind ever since he’d realized that his foe was a devil. After all, Xiriel had possessed that ability, and there had been no reason to think that Prevarius wouldn’t as well; it was the most obvious explanation for how a creature from another plane of existence had made its way here to the mortal world. Given how strong that ability was – Xiriel had nearly killed him after it had unexpectedly teleported right back after Lex had managed to shove the thing through a rip in space, and Twilight Sparkle’s ability to teleport had very nearly cost him their duel – finding a way to shut that power down had been one of Lex’s top priorities during the brief trip from the winter wolves’ den to the forest clearing. Otherwise, even if he was able to overpower his enemy, killing it before it could escape would be exceptionally difficult.
The obvious answer was to simply use his dark magic to curse the entire area with dimensional impermeability, the same way he had when he’d fought Twilight. But Lex hadn’t been satisfied with that answer; after all, Twilight had ultimately broken through that particular restriction. No matter that she’d leveraged an unlikely – and highly risky – series of circumstances in order to do it; if his curse hadn’t been strong enough to keep her restrained, Lex had little doubt it could stand up to a malevolent creature who was, in all likelihood, more powerful than her.
The best solution he’d been able to come up with had been to try and reduce the area affected. Instead of locking down a set area, he’d scale the curse back so that it could only affect a single creature. That was easier to do – though it still required him to physically boost his dark magic – but ran into another problem: doing so would almost certainly tip his hoof. After all, laying curses on someone required that he be within a few dozen feet of them, and Lex hadn’t doubted that the creature he’d be facing would have magical senses at least as sharp as his own. The last thing he wanted was for his plan to be detected and defeated before he could enact it.
Fortunately, he had a brand-new amulet capable of – among other things – storing a magical effect and releasing it when he struck someone.
That had been why, when he’d determined that the time for talking was at an end, the first thing Lex had done had been to slug Prevarius across the jaw. It had been quite cathartic, not simply because the monster had more than earned that level of retribution, but because he’d managed to release the curse without the phistophilus noticing.
“And I’m guessing that glow around your hoof just now was negative energy, probably from that mask you’re wearing, likewise routed to your attacks via your amulet,” continued Prevarius, still eyeing Lex as though reevaluating him after that last exchange. “Pity for you that didn’t have as much luck getting past my defenses.”
Lex bit back a grimace of irritation at that. Even with all of his preparations, it had still been a stroke of good fortune that his anti-teleportation curse had worked; he’d felt the effect struggle to get past the devil’s passive resistances, and he had little doubt that its ability to withstand magical attacks was on a level similar to that of Xiriel, who had harmlessly shrugged off most of the spells he’d thrown at it. And judging from how he’d punched Prevarius twice now with nothing to show for it, the devil apparently also had supernatural toughness akin to – or, more likely, better than – Bolverk. Which meant that attempting to damage the creature physically, even augmenting his attacks with the magic of his amulet and his mask, was a losing proposition.
But not for Solvei.
Prevarius must have been thinking the same thing, because his eyes slid over to the winter wolf then, narrowing in consideration. “But what I can’t figure out is her.” He glanced down at the bloody wound on his leg for a moment before eyeing Solvei again. “I don’t see any active spell auras on her. Yet to wound me so easily should have required spiritual energies laced with sanctity, which is a numinous aspect her kind aren’t known for.”
He looked back at Lex then, his expression thoughtful. “Not to mention that if she had that power before now, she likely would have challenged me already. Which means that it’s something you granted her. But you don’t seem like that type either, and based on what Thermal Draft told me, neither does that divinity you worship. So how did you do it?”
“Figure it out for yourself,” replied Lex coldly.
“I’m happy to give you another demonstration if you want,” added Solvei, baring her teeth in a snarl.
Prevarius only sighed. “A pity. You’d be surprised how many people happily turn over information about their powers just because they’re asked about them, even in the middle of combat. But I suppose that was too much to hope for with you.”
The devil shifted his stance then. It wasn’t much different from how he’d been before, save that he lowered his center of gravity a little, keeping his arms up and in a ready position, muscles tense where before they’d been relaxed. “I’ll admit, I was taking you both rather lightly before,” he admitted, his tone conversational. “I thought I had the two of you all figured out. A lesson in overconfidence, I suppose.”
“Lex! Solvei! Be careful!” yelled Thermal Draft, backing up despite already being halfway across the clearing. “He looks a lot more dangerous all of a sudden!”
The warning came as Solvei suddenly began growling louder, hackles raised. It was enough to make Lex frown, realizing that he’d once again missed another non-verbal cue; to his eyes, Prevarius’ body language was inscrutable, but the other two had clearly read something in his posture that had caused them to become alarmed.
What Prevarius said next proved the two of them right.
“Now then,” continued the phistophilus, “would either of you like to try attacking again? Because I can assure you that this time, I’ll take you seriously indeed.”