Dancing With The Devil

He sat in his house with a grim look on his face. The time had come - he had been training for this night, and he was ready to face his strongest enemy, the one that had plagued him for many years, and the one he was very ready to be rid of.

To be exact, he was possessed. By an arch-demon, no less. He had taken the proper precautions to prevent the possession, and he had been very well - he placed salt everywhere, he wore iron jewelry, he even had a special tattoo on his chest of the famous symbol, a symbol respected and avoided by all demons - except arch-demons, and Satan himself.

But, this was his consequence for being a ghost hunter - if you're in this line of work you have to be ready for just about anything. He also shouldn't have gone into the house where the Exorcist was filmed, even though he had very good reason to.

He had a very strong level of control, one that prevented even an arch-demon from controlling his actions. However, he could feel himself deteriorating every day - his face became paler, his eyes were more sunken into his sockets, he had trouble sleeping, trouble eating, trouble working, trouble walking properly… Life wasn't going so well, and he knew it had to change. Thankfully, he knew exactly what he had to do.

He got up and half-stumbled his way to the bedroom. He changed into his pajamas and lay on his back. None of his items could help him now, he had to go deep into his mind and fight the beast one on one!

He closed his eyes.

---

He awoke in a lucid dream. The sun was shining, the leaves were rustling in the trees, the hills were rolling, and the grass was as green as could be. It was wonderful, but it didn't last long - a black and red figure emerged from the background and consumed everything as it made its way to the main character.

"I didn't even have to go looking for you!" He said in a somewhat resentful tone. "I thought you'd make it more difficult than that!"

"And miss out on a chance for a good fight? Never!" It spoke in a deep, eerie, ghastly voice, almost as if it was composed of death, anger, and fear.

The demon began to change and transform. It slowly shrunk in size and the color changed as well. It was turning from a monster into… A woman? She looked beautiful, he thought… If only she wasn't a giant creature of death waiting to devour him at the opportune moment.

"I know it's you…" he said in a depressed voice. "Why even try to seduce me?"

She slowly walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

"Sweetheart…" she spoke in a soft, seductive voice. "I want you, don't you know? I want us to be together. I want to love you, forever and ever. I want you…"

She leaned in and whispered in his ear.

"...to be mine."

She walked her hand up his arm and put it on his cheek. She went in for the kiss, but he summoned a knife into existence and stabbed it into her! She fell to her hands and knees, crying, and he suddenly felt a pang of guilt.

"Why…" She sobbed. But eventually, the scenery around them changed… And so did she. She morphed into a multi-armed creature as the background changed into a post-apocalyptic city, and it ran at him with a frightening speed.

He summoned a force field around him made of white light to keep it at bay. It swiped at him with his hands but it could only hit the white energy. Frustrated, it prepared to put more power into its next punch, and our fighter knew he had to think of something else, and he had to think of it quickly.

He teleported to the side and the punch exploded against a gigantic, metaphysical building. It immediately used its 3 free arms to propel off of it and try again. This time he put up his arms to block his face, and the punch hit a shield that was twice as strong as it was before. It flickered, then it broke. He took to the skies and flew to escape it, but it followed suit. It opened a rift in the landscape, and he knew that if he flew into it, he'd most likely be trapped there for the rest of a very long time. He avoided it by ducking down and flying under.

He turned around and made a white ball of light appear in his hand. It grew to the size of his entire body, and he shot it at the monster. He thought it would dodge the blast. If it did he could catch it off guard with something else. But no, it simply took the hit without taking any damage! What?! But he spent 5 years developing that technique and making it stronger! He summoned the black book and used it to create a binding spell, however, it simply broke free from it with little to no effort.

He was frustrated, but he came up with another idea. He flew a loop around the demon and landed on top of a decaying skyscraper. He knew its one weakness was its inability to think during a fight, so he waited for it to come towards him. Every second seemed like an hour. He knew that if he lost this fight he would be forced to give his power to this demonic presence forever, and he wasn't about to do that.

It was almost on him. He stepped to the side, snapped his fingers, and a portal appeared right where he once stood. He wanted to trap it in there so he could crush the dimension and end it forever, but the demon grabbed his arm and took him in with it! The entrance to the portal disappeared, and they found themselves in an entirely new dimension.

The monster was at full power. He wanted it to be like this so he could crush it and end it entirely, but now that he was in there with it, things just took a turn for the worse. It began to hypnotize him and infect him with its black energy. It no longer fought with hand-to-hand combat, but its approach was much more subtle - it was taking over his energy, his life force, the very thing that made him human to begin with. Even with his level of power and control, he had a hard time resisting this.

His eyes began to shut. His will began to drain from his being. He was losing his desire to fight, to slay the demons, even to live…

Until he heard her.

"Don't give up, daddy! Don't let them win!"

That's it. That's why he did this. That's why he went to the deepest and darkest corners of the earth to hunt and banish these spirits. It was because they took her from him. His only light, his beautiful girl. They took her from him, and he was going to make them pay. Yes, that's why he did this.

He felt his full power arising within him and the demon's grasp significantly weakened. Everything began to flood back, his vitality, his sense of self, his will, and his purpose… He would find the one who took her and make it suffer.

He practically exploded with pure white energy, leaving the monster in awe and fear. While he knew he couldn't directly kill it like this, he could make it think he was stronger than he really was. He drew in more and more energy, and right when he was about to use it, the demon opened a portal to a new dimension, escaped, and closed it before he could even blink. He couldn't follow it since he didn't know where it went, but he had an idea of what his next step was.

He stepped through his own portal and landed in a "safe zone." Nothing could touch him, not even Satan himself, but he couldn't strike anything while he was inside. It was a trade-off he preferred at the moment as he took a moment to think and prepare.

He recently discovered that he could store dimensions and the portals that led to those dimensions. This was a great asset since many demons didn't know about this technique. He wanted to create and store so many portals that, when he threw them at it, it couldn't dodge them all. Once it got hit by one of them, it would never be able to bother him, or anyone, ever again.

He started with creating a dimension that looped forever - once anything entered the portal, it would fly into another portal and another portal for the rest of eternity. He minimized the entry to this dimension and put it inside of his pocket. He created a dimension that, when entered, automatically freezes whatever is inside of it for all time. He shrunk that portal and put it in his other pocket. After creating 20 more of these he knew it was time to face it once again, so he stepped out of the safe zone without teleporting anywhere.

Big mistake! The demon had encapsulated the entire outside of the safe room with its own energy! He immediately felt drained and he had a sinking suspicion that his portals were being disabled. He pulled one out of his pocket and, sure enough, they wouldn't activate. This wasn't good - now he had to think of something on the fly.

"You shouldn't have stepped outside," it said with a deep, devious voice and a malicious grin. "Now you're in my domain."

He came up with a great idea. "Yes, but we're still inside of my mind."

The entire room began to shake as he used his mind to collapse the structure the monster had made! It became extremely scared as he smiled his own smile, knowing that once it was weak enough his portals would begin working again, and he could simply end it.

"You will not overpower me" it stated as it… Grew in size? But wait, wasn't this thing already at full power, he thought? Apparently not - he grew a massive 10x in size and immediately stabilized the room again! Black energy began seeping through the floor and grabbing hold of him before he could even react, and even though he was strong, this thing was much, much stronger.

"Did you think you were close?" It said in a taunting voice. "Did you think you had won?" It squeezed him and he began to feel the pain of its grasp. He had to do something, but most of his power was disabled in this room, was there anything he could do?

"Maybe I'll let you live a little while longer, just so you can feel the pain." It laughed a malicious laugh as it knew victory was in sight. The demon had caught him off guard, and he was about to pay the ultimate price.

There was only one thing he could do, and it was something he wasn't fond of. He astral projected out of his body, leaving a lifeless shell behind. In this state he was transparent and the demon couldn't grab ahold of him, but he was also a lot weaker - at least he had a small chance instead of no chance.

"Oh, you think you can get away?" It teased as it snapped his lifeless body into a million pieces. "I've seen this before, you're so weak that you can't even teleport! At least you have some control, that will make your death a little less painful…" It laughed once again.

Damn. What was he to do? He couldn't create portals, he couldn't teleport, and he was stuck inside this massive room made of demonic energy. Even the entrance to the safe zone was completely blocked off. He was in a pickle for sure.

"Why don't you give up while you can?" He said in a confident voice. "Don't worry, I'll be waiting."

It uproariously laughed at the comment. It laughed so hard that it tilted its head back and took its eyes off of him! Perfect. He scouted the area looking for something, anything that could help him out. A chink in the armor. A weapon. Anything!

He quickly discovered there was nothing to be found, so he went to plan B - a risky plan that he never had to try before, but that may just work. Every demon, from the lowest level to the highest, has a life source, an orb in their body that gives them their energy. They almost never show exactly where it is in their body, sometimes they hide it in their head, sometimes their chest, or even in their foot. But he knew it had to be somewhere, so while it was still laughing, he would look for it, and if he found it he could siphon the energy for himself. If he got caught, though, it was instant death for him.

He flew, surprisingly unnoticed, straight into the demon's mouth as it was enjoying its perceived victory. Down the throat, into the body, he flew. He could still make himself smaller, so he did so to fly into the smaller crevices and find the orb. Come on, he thought, where is it? Where is it?!

"Your cocky attitude pleases me!" It yelled at the top of its lungs. The vibration of such a noise made him feel shattered as he flew around inside its body. "You truly believe you still have a chance!" It laughed some more as he covered as much ground as he possibly could.

"Little man, you are mine." He said in a matter-of-fact tone. "I will possess you for all of eternity. I will control your being in the overworld and give back what you have taken. You have lost, and you have doomed the future of your species forever. I will make sure that no one like you ever exists again, and our reign will be total and complete."

It sighed a satisfied sigh and took a good, hard look around the room. He had covered the legs and feet - it must be in the upper half of its body. He started looking in the chest, arms, neck, and head as it swiveled its head to find him.

"Where are you, little man? Why are you hiding from me? Don't you know my power is infinite? Don't you know your fate is in my hands?"

He focused on the safe zone that it was covered with its energy. It couldn't see behind it, so it automatically assumed he was hiding there. He knew time was short, as soon as it realized he was trying to find the orb it could crush him in an instant.

"Mmm… Coward." It began moving so it could see behind the room. He had just finished searching the arms, all he had was the throat and head. It had to be in the head.

It looked over the room, only to find he wasn't behind it. His face scrunched in confusion but immediately turned into an expression of fear. It knew what was happening, but he had found the orb - he rushed towards it. The demon filled its body with black energy in an attempt to crush him, but he was a millisecond too late!

As soon as he touched the orb he siphoned its power! The black energy didn't finish filling its body as it writhed in pain and began to shrink in size! As he gained its power he converted the demonic energy into white energy and used it to consume its black energy, essentially halving the time it took to defeat this monstrosity. It left itself open, and now it was paying the ultimate price.

Full power, and then some! Once it was gone he decided to go back to the scene he came into at the start of the story. Luscious trees, waving in the wind. Green grass on top of a hill. Sunshine, ever so bright. The clouds and the birds. He lay in the grass and relaxed with his arms behind his head and a smile on his face, happy to be done with another day's work. Eventually, he awoke, and he began making a delicious breakfast. And what’s this? A $20,000 check on the table with a note that read, “here is for your struggles?” He wondered what the next adventure would be...