The familiar figure belonged to none other than the second demon lord himself, Gilgamesh -- or as Reginn and the Goddess called him, Zealot. While he himself was proud to be Reginn’s brother, the hero never forgave him for following his ideals.
“Why the grim face? Are you not glad to see your brother in good health?”
“It can’t be… This wasn’t in Prometheus’s prophecy…” said Elem.
“...”
Reginn glared at his enemy, the hero’s aura extending far beyond his body. He was already prepared to battle him once more, and he was confident that he could defeat him once again. It was not too surprising to see Prometheus again. He was his worst nightmare after all, and he would always find a way to torment him no matter what. This also meant that the other demon lords of the eons may have potentially resurrected as well. However, he still had one question:
“Why did you follow me?”
“Hm… That’s a great question. I just wanted to see you again, that’s all.” replied Zealot with a smile.
The hero could tell that the demon lord was simply here to mock him and to rile his emotions, to salt his wounds. As a servant of the Goddess, he could not let his feelings affect his conduct, but he was ready to sate his thirst for vengeance with the demon lord’s blood.
“Elem, support me.” said Reginn, “Following me was your worst mistake, and this will be your new grave, demon lord.”
He took up a fighting stance, his right fist in front of his chest and left fist extended to guard and jab. The positioning of his feet was the perfect example of Acosta, a martial art developed by Reginn to incorporate both the fist and the flow of magic into his battles. This was the pinnacle of his current power, and he would not permit Zealot to survive this encounter.
“Hm… A battle would be pretty fun, but are you truly ready to die?” asked Zealot
Regin simply ignored the remark and began his attack. The hero move almost instantaneously, swinging his kick midair only to be blocked by Zealot’s arm. However, the demon lord’s arm was visibly damaged, with a blue burn mark remnant on his skin. This was part of Acosta, to infuse high concentrations of mana into every single one of his attacks, effectively coating his limbs with poison.
However, Zealot was familiar with this technique, and as Reginn recovered from the kick, retaliated with a punch. The hero was but two steps ahead, having already summoned a large metal ball from thin air in order to block his attack. As the ball was immediately pulverized by the demon lord’s fist, Reginn was already preparing his next spell. The hero knew that he would need to finish this battle quickly before his opponent’s talent activated.
Multiple crimson spheres began floating around Zealot, and then each latched itself onto his neck, quickly suffocating and crushing the bones. Elem quickly capitalized on this opportunity by causing great vines to coil around him while he struggled, forming a large cocoon. He did not condone violence, but this was the only option available. He knew how dangerous the demon lord was, and what the consequences of releasing him into the modern world could be.
“Now, Reginn!”
The hero quickly gathered every single particle of mana from the surrounding radius of a thousand paces, trillions of individual molecules converging into a sphere of void that emanated a feint blue hue. The force around it tore apart matter and reality itself, capable of destroying even Reginn himself. When the sphere grew to a size greater than himself, he let go of the spell, letting it tear through the cocoon and through the demon lord.
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“...I have achieved the first stage of Liberty!”
Through the ashes and smoke, a lone shadow emerged. This was Zealot’s talent, granted to him upon becoming a demon lord, ⌈Liberty, Chaos, Anarchy⌋.
Elem and Reginn had hoped to eliminate him before the first stage, but they wondered if it was even possible. Even the Goddess did not truly comprehend the true nature of his talent, especially his final stage of Anarchy. The hero wondered if the first stage was an auto-revive talent, seeing that he was fully healed after the devastating blow.
“Now we can really begin,” said Zealot, “show me your total capability!”
As the former child of freedom, the demon lord knew that freedom was not guaranteed, but earned. Therefore he concluded, power was freedom, and freedom was power. True freedom could only be achieved by becoming greater than all others and becoming greater than even nature itself, unshackling his soul.
In this state of Liberty, Zealot was fast enough to give even Reginn a difficult time tracking his location. While in this sub-lightspeed state, only Reginn with his innate mana-vision would follow his movements. However, even that would not be fast enough to dodge Zealot’s punch to Reginn’s back, but to only block it.
He was blown away by the first impact, but invisible hands seemed to follow up with a second, and third impact. This granted Zealot enough time to prepare his kick, which too was unavoidable due to the impact of the afterimages. Even at this speed, Zealot seemed to continuously accelerate, gaining enough momentum to give Reginn not a single opportunity to react.
Elem knew that he was nowhere close enough in his combat capabilities, but he had to do something. He knew that calling the attention of Zealot could mean severe damage if not death for him, but still, he cast multiple seed bombs onto the area, causing smoke and rubble to surround the two.
While Zealot was temporarily slowed down and blinded, Elem took this opportunity to retrieve Reginn. However, the hero pushed his brother away, eager to continue the battle. Reginn was only slightly damaged but had enough health and stamina to continue for at least another 24 hours.
The hero began to think about how he defeated his brother last time and suddenly remembered his opponent’s key weakness. However, before he could put his plan into action, the cavern began to crumble down around them.
Swiftly, Elem grabbed hold of both Reginn and the still-slumbering Har-Meggidos -- who slept through the commotion like a stone statue -- and disappeared, leaving behind wooden figures. Zealot soon regained his vision and realized what was happening. It’d be meaningless to try and search for them now, as Elem could teleport to the center of Cadra and the demon lord wasn’t quite ready yet to make his entrance in the modern stage. He also lacked the tracking capabilities of Reginn, and the best course of action would be to escape the collapsing cavern.
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“We have to go back and finish the job!” shouted Reginn.
The three of them were atop a mountain peak, the ever-snowing landscape causing both Har-Meggido and Elem to shiver. Reginn seemed just fine at this temperature as if he was used to living like an animal, but he was trembling for a different reason.
“Reginn, we can find him whenever we want, let’s just make a strategic retreat and-”
“Don’t you get it? If we retreat now, that means we lose.”
At the greatest peak of the nation, still within the boundaries of Cadra, Elem carefully observed his brother. This was the same Reginn he saw before he charged into the final battle of his life, enraged, disoriented. The child of the forest knew that no matter what he said, he could not change his mind.
“Fine, but this will be your battle to face alone. I cannot risk my life for I must continue my quest to unseal the Goddess.” said Elem, “Good luck to you, brother.”
He teleported away with Har-Meggido to build the World Beast a new domain. Reginn was left all alone in the white peak of the spire. The hero took a moment to pause, to recount his actions and events.
Zealot was able to track him, even with his lack of magical knowledge and small mana capacity. This was most likely due to the fact that three beings with great auras -- including two divine auras -- were easily visible from hours away. To mitigate this issue, the hero calmed his nerves, hiding his aura beneath his abyssal body.
While Reginn was extremely familiar with mana and all things magic, he was a stranger to techniques. However, he would not need to. No matter the source, the only absolute truth was power, and his faith in himself and in the Goddess would guarantee him victory.