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As the demon's skeletal-like, black, leathery hand reached out for Harry's neck, he ducked under it and swipe a leg out, tripping the horrifying creature down. Harry recovered his footing and tried to jump away from the demon, but it grabbed him by the ankle.

A sharp spike of cold dread washed through him the moment it made contact with his body. Harry quickly turned his wand, just as the antlered-demon pulled him closer and reached for his neck again.

"Expecto Patronum!" Harry called out, sending his stag of light at the demon. He figured that if it looks and feels like a dementor then it is worth a shot to use this spell.

The demon bolted off of him the moment it saw the Patronus. The stag gave it slight burns, which made it hiss in pain, but it didn't make a run for it – much to Harry's dismay. It instead formed a ball of black energy from its mouth and fired it at Harry.

Harry didn't want to find out what this did, so he dodged it. The dark magic energy hits a tree behind him; however, nothing happens. Harry is confused as to what is going on with this magic, and thought maybe it only affects humans. Unfortunately, he didn't have much time to figure it out.

{Harry, look out!} Fawkes called out urgently. Harry spins around in time to see the demon right in front of him, but there is no time to dodge the oncoming attack. With its clawed-hand, the demon swipes down Harry's chest, starting from his left shoulder to his ribs. The wound would have been deeper if Harry hadn't bothered to try and jump out of the way.

Harry crumbled to the ground by the tree that was hit only moments ago by the demon. If the demon could smirk, it would have. Harry finds out what the magic did to the tree, but not understand how.

The tree exploded, causing pieces of wood to imbed in Harry's flesh along his shoulders, arms, and back. Harry suppressed a cry of pain, but was unable to stop a small whimper from escaping his throat.

'What in Merlin's name… How did that tree explode after already being hit? Is it a timing thing?' Harry couldn't understand what just happened. The tree should have exploded the moment it was hit, but instead it was somehow delayed. 'What is going on? What is that magic?'

"Can't figure it out, can you?" Harry froze at the sound of that voice. It sounded like there is no emotion behind it, but at the same time sounded evil. Similar to the howling, the voice sounded like it has suffered, but promises pain to the soul. Harry slowly looks up at the demon, which stopped right in front him, looking down on him.

'Did that thing just talk?' Harry questioned in horror.

"Of course I can talk… Only my creations don't. They are mindless, after all," it explained, making Harry wonder if he spoke out loud, but he knows didn't. "Would you like to know how that tree exploded long after it was hit? I'm inclined to tell you, just to see the look on your face."

Harry didn't say a word. This demon is definitely more terrifying than any dementor; although, he couldn't help but feel curious. He wants to know what this creature has to say about its power.

"Before I kill you, I'll tell you. Feel honored for you will be the second human I have told this to. What happened to that tree when it was hit with my magic is that its soul fell under my control. To put it simply, I told it to explode when you fell in front of it." That was the last thing the demon said before going for Harry's throat again.

The world felt like it slowed down for Harry. He is shocked at what the creature told him. If that dark energy touches him, will that make his soul fall under this being's control? Or is this power similar to the Imperius Curse? It could also do something else, but he didn't know what. Harry doesn't won't to find out, however, so he dives away from the horrifying monster and casts another spell.

"Bombarda!" The curse hits the demon, but it hardly did anything to it. Harry hears a laugh from the evil being before it sends another ball of dark energy at him. Harry tries to move out of the way, but it hit him in the arm. A tidal wave of depression filled up his body. He saw some memories he remembers seeing, but there are some he has yet to see. He couldn't make them out too well, but he saw his parents being murdered, Sirius falling through the vale, and a small, elf-like creature slowly dying from a knife wound.

"Would you like the pain of death to go away?" the demon asked. "I can make it happen. All you have to do is give your soul to me."

A small, tiny part of Harry's soul wanted to give in to the demon's request, but a much larger part knew that this evil creature is lying. The pain of losing his loved one won't go away if he lost his soul to this thing, he will be a broken, soulless shall of his former self if he allowed such a thing to happen.

{Fawkes…I think this thing is an evolved version of the dementors,} Harry said, slowing getting back up while holding his bleeding chest.

{That is impossible. Creatures of death and life don't evolve,} said Fawkes worriedly. He is concerned for Harry.

{If it is not that, then what is it?}

{I don't know, but I'm joining this fight so we can kill it faster and get as far away from it.}

Harry nods his head in acceptance, and then cast another Patronus to get rid of the depression he felt. After the feeling left him he sent his stag after the demon.

The monstrosity dodged out of the way of the glowing creature, but Harry decided to leave it out and keep attacking the dark creature with the light magic since it is the only thing he has that is effective against it. The stag keeps going after the demon with antlers out forward. The demon becomes traps between two roots and the trunk of a tree. It looks forward again and saw the stag closing in on it.

Harry thought that he finally got the thing this time, but then the demon did something Harry wasn't expecting from it. The demon lowers its own head and lock antlers with his patronus. The fight between the two antlered creatures looks just like a fight between two stags.

The demon appears to be stronger than the guardian stag, unfortunately. It pushed the light magic back, which made tracks where the stag's hoofs are trying to fight back. Once the evil being is no longer stuck between the tree and its roots, it sent another ball of black energy at the stag, which made it fade into energy that looks like stars.

Harry cursed under his breath and tries to summon his patronus again, but nothing happens. Harry is surprised by this. He tries again, but still no glowing stag returns.

"What happened to my…?" Harry trailed off in worry for both what caused his spell to not work and the demon somehow being the one to stop it from returning, preventing Harry from attacking.

"I can't kill a spell like that one, but I can get rid of it for three days," the demon said. "Now that your pet is no longer here to fight for you I can take a sample of your soul."

Harry snapped his gaze up just in time to see the demon charging at him. He tries to move, but for some reason his legs wouldn't listen. Just as the creature is in front of him, Harry can feel his legs start to listen; alas, it is too late. The demon kicks out, hitting Harry's shin. The force of the attack cracks the bone, but the dark-haired wizard made no sound; however, he did fall to the ground.

The demon grabs hold of Harry's neck again, putting enough pressure to choke him. It brings its gapping mouth down towards Harry so it can suck out his soul; that is when Fawkes finally decides attacks the demon.

The fire bird grabs the creature by the shoulders, digging his talons into the rotting, blacken flesh. The demon howled in pain as it is pulled away from Harry. Now in the air and away from the wizard, Fawkes lights his body on fire, pushing his magic through his claws and into the demon's body. The demon howls again, but it lefts up its own claws and tears at Fawkes' leg, making the phoenix drop the monster at the sharp, burning pain.

After the demon fell back to the ground it sent out a ball of soul magic at the phoenix. Fawkes recovered from the pain in his leg, but not in time to dodge the magic the normal way. In a flash of fire, Fawkes was gone from his place, making the attack miss and hit another tree.

The bird of fire reappears right in front of the demon and breathes a huge stream of its element. The smoldering heat of the flame collides with the already burnt looking demon full force to the face. With a cry of pain and rage, the horned-demon jumps forward instead of backing away from the fire. Fawkes us too surprised by the creature's actions to be able to react in time to dodge the clawed hand.

The demon's black, burnt hand clasps onto the fire bird's neck. It then does a 360 spin before releasing Fawkes and making him go soaring through the air. Fawkes flashes away just short of slamming into a tree; this helped him recover his bearings.

Fawkes was about to attack the demon again, but the tree behind him is the same one that was hit with the demon's attack. Not noticing anything going on behind him – or around him for that matter – Fawkes didn't see the tree's branches swinging down at him like whips or hear Harry calling out to warn him.

With a sharp sting meeting his back, Fawkes screeches out in anguish. Now his flying has become labored due to the pain and blood loss in his back. The demon shoots a ball of dark soul magic at him; fortunately the fire bird was able to dodge it, but due to dodging the attack, he is unable to change course with the oncoming tree. Fawkes crashes onto the thick truck, and falls to the ground. The demon stalks over to the down magical animal, but before he could try and eat the soul of such a pure creature, Harry cast the levitation charm on a huge rock and throws it at the demon.

Thanks to being too focused on Fawkes, the demon didn't notice the small boulder until it collides with the back of its head. Just as the rock slammed into the demon, Harry cast Accio on his familiar, bringing him to him. Now with Fawkes in his arms, Harry sees that he is passed out. He looks up at the demon, who is getting up with a look of rage in its once dead, white eyes. Now the eyes are black as pits or voids.

"I was going to take my time eating you, and I will, but only after I take your soul out of your body. Your soul will never be free by the time I'm done with you!" Harry couldn't help but wonder if that meant that all the other souls this thing has eaten are able to move on to the afterlife at some point in the future. It doesn't seem he is going to get his answer, however, since the demon sends the same ball of dark soul energy at him as it did the tree in the beginning of this fight.

The energy comes rushing towards him at high speed, but luckily Harry is able to put up a shield. "Contra Protector!" An orange shield forms in front of him just in time to block the attack; though, it did more than just block it. It sent the attack right back at the demon.

The demon wasn't expecting its attack to come back so didn't have enough time to react. The energy explodes when it hits the demon and sends it toppling down.

"Anima Devoratrix!" Harry followed up with an attack of his own, but this spell popped into his head the same way as his shield of death spell. The spell takes on the form of a skeletal hand, which then reaches out and down into the demon's throat. The demon tries to fight the spell off, but from its last attack being sent back at it, the blast weakened the evil being considerably. This didn't stop the demon from attempting to keep its soul, though.

Harry felt he was having a game of tug-of-war with the demon, so he starts to pull harder on his wand where the black/purple energy is connected to. The demon tries to fight harder, but with one final pull from Harry, the soul comes loose, and is then absorbed into the elder wand. Harry doesn't know what this means, but he does know one thing: the demon is dead.

Harry panted in both pain and exhausting. He sits back on his arms to try and relax and calm himself, but before he can do that fully, a voice somewhere to his right speaks up.

"That…was…AWESOME!" Harry snaps his head around to see who it was that shouted, only to see his whole team there. It was Natsu that spoke.

"What are you doing here?" he asked them breathlessly.

"It was found out that this job you took was ranked wrong," Gray said.

"Yeah, you luck duck! You took an S-class quest and won!" Natsu exclaimed in excitement.

Harry's eyes widen at the news. "That was an S-class? No wonder that demon was so hard to fight," he said in awe at what he just accomplished.

"Are you and Fawkes okay, Harry?" both Lucy and Erza asked.

"Fawkes needs healing for all the wounds on his body, and I need healing done on my leg. I think that thing cracked a bone in my shin," Harry replied.

Erza nods her head and tells Gray to carry Harry back to town while Lucy carries Fawkes. "It is getting late, so we'll stay the night at an inn. I'll make sure the master gets the message that Harry is safe and completed the job on his own with Fawkes," she said.

Gray picks up Harry to help him hop back to town while Lucy grabs hold of Fawkes, and then Team Zeal returns to the town that sent out this job request.

TBC

Special thanks to Mintaro for this brilliant idea of a job. I don't believe I would have thought of if unless it was for something else not involving this story. It happens all the darn time. -_- So the job and the demon's past that are going to be mentioned in the next chapter were their idea. The rest was my doing. I hope you enjoyed this job. I think this is my favorite chapter so far.

Voldy: You killed it off! DX

Enj/Dark: Yes I did. Now you know why you weren't getting it.

Harry: Thank Merlin for that.

Zeref: Like I was going to say, it belongs to no one.

Enj/Dark: Well, I was thinking it would have belonged to Zeref…but then Mintaro gave me a better idea of its past.

Natsu: You said it is going to be in the next chapter? Why not this one?

Enj/Dark: I need to go back and fix this during Thursday. There is a part with Fawkes that needs fixing. To the readers: I'll just say that I skimmed with Fawkes' fight the first time, so it should be better when you read this chapter.

Harry: Oh, that makes sense.

Enj/Dark: Please review! ^-^