A few seconds later, the black figure resisting the combined assault of all three froze in the ice crystals condensed by the Cold Mists, as though it had been frozen solid.
Shade finally found an opening. Moonlight gathered between his palms before he thrust them forward:
"Moonlight Ray: Second Form!"
This time, the immobile Demon was finally struck head-on by Shade's strongest attack, blasted into fragments along with the ice crystal.
Flora transformed into an owl again and landed on Shade's shoulder, while Claire came to his side. The three watched chunks of debris plop into the water one after another. At the spot where the ice crystal had just shattered, only trails of black mist continued to swirl.
"Did... we win?"
Shade believed that even if they could not completely kill the Demon, they had at least severely wounded it again. But what happened the next moment was something none of them had expected. A glowing White Ring gradually appeared within the swirling black mist, and under its radiance, the mist condensed once more into the black-robed figure.
It seemed no different at all from when it had first appeared, as though every wound Shade and the Witches had inflicted simply did not exist.
The white halo was not large. After the Demon reappeared, it fused into the chest of its semi-materialized body. Yet it did not vanish, instead seeming to be embedded within its body.
Shade stared at the ring in disbelief. Every instinct in him was telling him what it was:
"Ring... of Fate?!"
A low, hoarse laugh came from beneath the black robe. The Demon of Weapons truly seemed incapable of speech, able only to make sounds like this.
That white ring really was a complete Ring of Fate. But the problem was that a Ring