Chapter Eighty Seven, "Demonic Severence".
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The witch stared forward, gazing into the visage of the Emperor before her.
Her vision dulled, and she could feel the voice in her head emerge once more.
"This is a third order entity..."
She gulped, the vignette around her sight thickening. There was a grating sound in her mind, and a pressure was befalling upon her.
"I am forcefully opening your curse seals, you will not stand a chance without them." Behemot spoke to her.
The vignette slowly receded, as the pressure slowly escaped.
"DO. NOT. GET. CAPTURED." In an instant it all returned and came crashing down countless times harder. She could feel Behemot's voice, the hairs on her neck rising involuntarily.
But just like that, the entity had disappeared, and she could no longer feel him.
At that same time, she felt a tingling on her face.
Then it was burning.
Her whole body started to burn. As if she was engulfed by flames.
She struggled to keep her composure, a guttering scream escaping her.
Her body tensed, and she could feel everything changing.
She couldn't see it, but her hair had darkened, all of it becoming black. Both eyes became a deep red, and her teeth became more jagged.
Her bandages persisted around her body, but the small change within her appearance went nearly unnoticed.
What had drawn all the attention was the entity growing from her back.
"Rejoice. You have been graced by Satan."
Tendrils emerged from her body, a creature birthing itself as she lurched over.
She screamed.
"Our tether has thickened."
She screamed a blood curdling scream.
"Oh this is something..." A voice resounded. The emperor withdrew his sword, no longer having to defend his swordsman from the witch's attack.
"Go to the Palace. Find the throne room, and scream. Yell for a woman named Lady D." He spoke to the exhausted Eighth Sword.
"Go." With a gulp, his words were heeded, the injured man booking it for the Emperor's Palace.
The emperor continued to face forward. His gaze was flat, and he wasn't showing much reaction to anything.
The witch's back was hunched, and behind her was a grotesque sight...
An amalgamation of meat. A floating circular creature. It had rows of jagged teeth. Countless eyes misplaced among its body. Numerous spiked, arm-like appendages.
Standing before the emperor.
He was greeted by a screeching demon.
The first real life encounter with a demon in almost six hundred years.
And looking at it, he could tell it was only a level one entity.
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Story pin image [https://i.pinimg.com/736x/0a/ee/1e/0aee1ed35c4bd170ee0cef26ed548ea8.jpg]
(Not wearing these clothes.)
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On the witch's face grew a grotesque smile.
He could feel the pride and cockiness within her.
He cracked a smile.
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With a jab, he stabbed his sword into the ground.
"Excalibur won't be necessary."
He was now a level four human.
The gaps between rankings only increased as they went on.
Perhaps that's why the demons grouped them up into orders the way they did.
Sixth order for level zeroes. Fifth order for level ones. Fourth order for level twos and threes. Third order for level fours and fives. Second order for sixes. Then First order for sevens.
The first level was the first real step so of course it had its own realm, but two and three weren't vastly far apart in power. Four and fives were much farther, but they were within the same realm of capability.
A level four stood a small chance against a level five. But a level five was minced meat before a level six.
Understanding the power rankings, the Emperor didn't have a sliver of worry in his body.
"A witch and her demonic familiar..." He smiled, bringing one foot behind him. He widened his base, extending two of his arms and balling his fists. His front knee lifted, his heel raising.
"All I will need is martial arts."
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Lokreum flapped his wings, flying around in the sky. Her circled above the altercation, anticipating the battle between a top human expert, and a growing demon avatar.
This witch was the avatar of Behemot, an ancient, level six demon. A demon on par with Lucifer in terms of authority and strength in the underworld.
Of course, Lucifer was far smarter, and Behemot was rather clouded mentally.
But that did not matter in this situation.
This was a battle between a master martial artist, with techniques passed down through centuries of cultivation.
And a newly spawned demonic subject.
He knew that this battle would be a wipe out. Unbelievably one sided...
But it would be the after effect that he was interested in.
He could feel the tides of fate, and it was sure that an unexpected outcome would show itself.
Then tomorrow would mark one month, and he would show himself before Diana once more.
Maybe this time he would even show himself to Arthur as well...
He did not know, and he did not wish to foretell.
In this moment, he was entertained by the battle going on beneath him.
He squawked in anticipation.
"How fun!"
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Arthur threw a right hook into the demonic entity, ignoring the crow squawking above them.
"You're rather hard for a fleshy creature." He chuckled.
He dropped down, his knees bending completely.
A tendril flew overhead, and he swiftly turned to his right.
He kicked off the ground with both his hands and feet, launching himself forward.
He was in front of the witch in an instant.
She raised her hands.
But he was already behind her.
Her grabbed her, putting her in a headlock.
"The problem with you is that you have power but no experience." He said.
Tendrils came flying at him in this moment, the huge fleshy mass of meat pouncing his way.
He glanced upwards, watching as the demon blocked the dim lights from the streets fire lamps.
He let go of the witch.
Then he dropped backwards.
He fell to his shoulders, his hands catching him.
Then he launched himself upwards.
He took inspiration from Diana's new invention.
He squeezed himself together, creating a slimmer surface area. His speed had shot up, and he stiffened his body.
He kicked through the demon, emerging on the other side and leaving a gaping hole within it.
Flying through the air on the other side, he fought for his balance, regaining it rather quickly.
He touched down on the ground, and slowly he glanced backwards.
There was a smile on his face.
A stark contrast to the gaping horror the witch displayed.
The demon was mangled, a massive hole pierced straight through it. But eerily, it was still heaving... beating... breathing perhaps.
Arthur raised a hand, a white ethereal energy traveling to the demonic beast.
The energy consumed it, the pool of blood slowing to a halt.
"It's a good thing I know healing magics... I didn't think my magic bullet would be so powerful." He chuckled, keeping his hand outstretched.
He stood to his full height, stepping towards the awe struck witch.
She was frozen.
He approached, stopping just before her.
They were face to face.
His hand outstretched to the side, maintaining the demon's life.
He lowered his head, having stood far taller than this woman.
"Having had some time to study your kind... I have recently developed this technique." He spoke.
A finger raised, the witch closing her eyes shut in terror.
She knew she was dead.
Sweat dripped down her face, and tears followed.
But she was still frozen.
In this moment, she felt the burning sensation return once more, as a smoke started to emanate from her.
"Oh no, we cannot have that." She heard the king say.
"Heavenly Art, Demonic Severance."
It was like a blast of energy ripped through her, and the two prongs in her head were disintegrated.
In an instant, almost everything about her changed.
Her hair reverted to its half and half color, and even the curse marks reappeared on her face.
But noticeably, there was no longer a pressure in her chest. There was no longer the breaths of a cold entity on her neck.
She did not feel the connection she had with Behemot.
"I think the demons need to work on upgrading their tethering techniques..." He smirked.
The witch opened her eyes, seeing the Emperor's finger on her nose.
But that was retracted, and the man turned towards the demon writhing off to the side.
"I can tell by just looking at it, that you don't have the same control over this thing as you do over your tethers." He spoke to the creature, crouching before it.
"But I assume you can still borrow it's vision." he smiled.
"Without the authority to kill it with a snap of your fingers... I beckon you to watch as I cut into, and uncover all the secrets of this demonic species." The Emperor's smile grew more cursed.
"Keep taking your time Satan. I will catch up to your power in no time." A finger extended, gently touching a small drop of blood.
He lifted it to his face.
"And make sure to stay down there in the underworld... Our human god wouldn't enjoy an earth deity coming up here and terrorizing us... If you don't believe in our god, then I'm sure that you understand the Sacred Beasts wouldn't idly let a level seven walk the earth unsupervised." He toyed with the blood, the same wide smile on his face.
"I don't know how powerful you are... But I know for a fact that there are hundreds, maybe thousands of Sacred Beasts roaming this continent. Who knows how many are in the upper echelons of power?... I don't think you would stand much of a chance."
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