Marvel: Incursio

'A low-level being that can use fire attacks? It should be a low-level demon,' Liam thought as he climbed onto a nearby house to get a better view.

'There's a river behind the murder scene, the rift shouldn't be there since water would have extinguished whatever came through.' He surveyed the area. 'To the right is a park, behind me is a busy road, and to the left is an old factory. No additional reports about this creature have been made, so it didn't come from the road, as it would have been seen and reported. There would also be burned leaves or trees if it had come through the park. That just leaves the old factory.'

Liam headed towards the small factory. 'According to Google, this factory is old but still in use by a small company with only around eight people.' He frowned as he remembered this detail. 'There haven't been any reports to the police about a murder or strange creature in this area.'

As he got closer to the factory, he noticed some burnt grass about 200 meters away from the factory. 'As expected.'

Reaching the factory, he saw the large sliding door lying broken on the ground. 'This certainly wasn't done by a small creature; the sliding door was smashed off its hinges, and there are molten areas here, too.'

Liam looked inside the factory and saw cracks on the floor and more molten lava patches. 'This confirms my guess, this creature either gives off heat or is partially made of magma.'

'There are only three low-level demons that match this description: a Cinder Imp, a Hellfiend, and an Abyssal Beast.'

Liam entered the factory. At first, he saw nothing, so he continued walking, following the creature's tracks. After a few minutes, a foul smell hit him. 'As expected, how unfortunate. The people working here are probably all dead.' 

He walked forward to a left turn leading to a slightly larger area. He didn't enter immediately, instead, he peeked around the corner, hoping to see something. 'The next factory hall must be about 40 by 40 meters.'

Suddenly, he heard something snap, followed by the sound of munching.

Liam cautiously stepped forward and looked into the hall. 'Rock-like body structure, around eigth to ten feet tall, cracks filled with molten lava running through the rocks. It must be a Hellish Fiend.' Liam thought as he looked at the left side of the hall.

As Liam finished studying the fiend, he noticed what it was doing. He couldn't help but feel angry and disgusted. 'It's eating someone… or rather, what used to be someone.' The fiend tore off another arm from a headless, limbless corpse, leaving only part of the body's chest and a single leg. Blood was splattered around everywhere in that part of the hall.

Behind the fiend, Liam noticed a dimensional tear, the edges showing pieces of this dimension breaking apart, with an orange-red glow coming through.

'This isn't good. Low-level demons near dimensional tears drain energy from their surroundings. If left alone, the tear will grow larger, allowing more powerful beings to come through.' He remembered the creature's known abilities and weaknesses from the dimensional creatures book. 'Its weaknesses should be its slow movement, limited intelligence and water. It can spew lava from its mouth and it can harden specific locations on its body when attacked.'

Liam analyzed further. 'I need to end this quickly. After finishing that corpse, it'll likely hunt for another victim. I can't afford to wait. Incursio's armor should handle the heat from a low-level fiend, given the low damage it caused at the murder scene.'

He continued assessing. 'I doubt it was holding back, considering how low its intelligence is. It didn't even need to use its lava against ordinary humans. Its physical strength alone should have been enough, while it may not be on Captain America's level. With its size and power, it should be more than enough to overpower some ordinary people.'

'While I could use water from the nearby river, fighting it head-on would be a good way to test my current abilities. Being non-organic, it can regenerate if I attack the wrong spots. I'll need to hit its core points—the shoulders, upper legs, chest, and head. These points are where its power circulates; once broken, it won't be able to flow energy there again.'

With this plan, Liam stepped forward and summoned Incursio's armor and Neontote. He deliberately made some noise to attract the fiend's attention.

The Hellish Fiend, hearing him, stopped munching and turned around. It screeched at Liam as molten lava dripped from the top of its mouth.

Both charged forward. The fiend reached out to grab Liam with one hand and opened its mouth, preparing to spew molten lava. 'There it is,' Liam noted, sidestepping the hand and using his spear to create distance.

The fiend spat molten lava, but Liam's distance gave him time to dodge. As it closed in, it swung a fist at him. 'Let's test this hardening ability,' Liam thought, bringing his spear down on the incoming fist.

Upon impact, the fiend's right fist cracked, revealing more molten lava inside. Enraged, it swung its left fist, forcing Liam to jump back. The fiend screeched at him, even angrier, and began throwing molten lava from its cracked hand in his direction.

Liam continued to dodge while closing the distance. When he got closer, the fiend opened its mouth again. 'This time I won't dodge,' Liam thought, advancing as the fiend spewed out more molten lava. Its accuracy was terrible, but since Liam was close, some of the lava splattered onto his armor.

'It's hotter than I thought,' Liam muttered to himself, lightly cursing, 'but at least my armor wasn't broken by some lava.'

The fiend swung its cracked right hand at Liam again, hoping to melt him with the lava flowing from the cracks. Liam pulled Neontote back and thrust it forward toward the center of its palm.

The already cracked hand was no match for Liam's thrust and shattered completely. Liam continued with another thrust towards the left shoulder, breaking the energy core that was in it, making sure it would not regenerate its left arm again.

As the energy core in its left shoulder was broken, its entire left arm fell off. 'That makes sense, if it can't circulate its energy, it can't keep its body together.' Liam thought.