Endless hunger spread across the war zone, fueling the demonic forces. They spun around, foam oozing from the corners of their mouths as they roared. Demonic Essence gushed from all over their bodies, and they shot forward, ignoring their brethren as they closed the distance to the neared defender.
But they didn’t reach the defenders as a wall of black flames struck them, killing hundreds of Lesser Demons in one go. Their desperate screams as the Purgatory Fire burned them alive resounded, but it didn’t seem to affect the demonic forces. They paved new ways for the defenders and attacked.
“Once they fall victim to the Devil’s hunger, their strength and speed increases. They fight more aggressively and will drop their defenses. Take advantage of that!” The Beast King roared at the top of his lungs while turning to the Devil.
King Phillip, the Pillars, and the Apex issued orders to their forces, preparing them for the final fight. Meanwhile, the soldiers resting in the makeshift camps got up one last time. They were still tired from the constant fighting, but their prowess was needed. It was either now or never.
The medics and Healers handed the tired soldiers some potions, which they consumed without a second thought. Their stamina and mana recovered quickly, yet the exhaustion never left their bodies. They would only be able to rest once all of this was over.
Once, the Devil was dead, and the demonic forces extinguished.
The Beast King was the first to charge forward. He released a few more waves of Purgatory Flames in all directions, burning countless Lesser Demons, whereas the Imperial Head and King Phillip retained their power. All they could afford to spare to help was to give their summoned Monsters a mental command to kill their enemies.
The Six-armed Troll, wielding a heavy, spike mace in each hand, squashed Lesser Demons and Elites alike. The Giant of the Bronze Spire swept through the ranks of low-ranking Demons and appeared before a hulking Greater Demon. It didn’t wield an Artifact, but that was not needed in the first place. The King’s Giant roared at the top of his lungs and tore the hulking Greater Demon apart, showering the demons and united forces in black blood alike.
The Giant turned to the next victim and pushed forward, only for dozens of silver streaks to pass him. A massive wolf, the Prince of the Moon, followed by its pack of Moonlight Wolves, slaughtered large squadrons of Lesser Demons, their glowing claws and fangs tearing through them like warm butter.
The Colossus Shadow Serpent and the Mutant Wyrm of the King also did phenomenal work. However, instead of fighting openly and attracting everyone’s attention, the two summoned Monsters focused on what they were best at. They assassinated powerful enemies by teleporting through shadows and piles of corpses or pierced them with massive spikes jutting out of darkness at a shocking velocity.
The other summoned Monsters of the Imperial Head, the Pillars, and most other Cardists performed well, eliminating hundreds of demons with combined efforts. Still, the Ego-enhanced Cards were the most efficient, allowing the summoned Monsters to inflict tremendous damage.
More demons emerged from the Moonlight Forest if one could still call it such, but the quantity and quality of demons in the most recent wave were lower than they had been before. That was good, given the Devil’s hunger could transform the weakest demon into a starving monstrosity.
The Beast King swatted the demons obstructing his path aside, burning most in the process, and rapidly closed the distance to the Devil, but their enemy was faster. The Devil vanished and appeared above the Beast King suddenly, his fist smashing downward.
The Beast King’s wild instincts kicked in, and he lifted his arms, wreathed in Purgatory Fire, barely in time to block the attack. A thunderous crack resounded, and the Beast King groaned, but the fight was not yet over. The Purgatory Fire erupted explosively, and the Devil responded with a snicker.
Darkness burst from his body, disrupting the Purgatory Fire and dispersing it in all directions. Contrary to before, the collision of the Devil’s power with Purgatory Fire didn’t result in any explosions. The Devil’s darkness emerged victorious, instantly overwhelming the Purgatory Fire.
The brute force of the impacting punch was enough to crack the ground. The Beast King’s feet pressed tightly into the ground, which caved in. His feet sunk into the blood-drenched ground, and the Devil pulled back his other arm to punch again when a silver flash entered the edge of his vision.
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The Devil twists his body, evading the silver-glowing blade that was about to cut him deeply, and kicked the Imperial Head mid-air. The Imperial Head flung several meters through the air and landed heavily on the ground. He slid across the wet, blood-drenched ground, jumped up in a smooth motion, and dashed to the Devil.
King Phillip, unleashed in the strongest form of the Armor of Everlasting Night, faced the Devil head-on. He used the Giant Card’s [Wrath] and [Power Surge] Augmentations and added [Crown of Darkness] in an attempt to stay on equal footing with the Devil, but the situation was not that simple.
[Greater Agility Boost], [Greater Strength Boost], and [Greater Endurance Boost] closed the gap between the two parties, but they didn’t fill the gap.
He was not an Exalted, and even if he had been, it was not like the Beast King fared much better against the Devil. Right now, the Devil was a monstrosity of incomprehensible power. But the king didn’t care. He evaded a blast of darkness coming his way and used [Ghost Step] to phase through the Devil.
He appeared behind the Devil, tapped into his power with [Crown of Darkness], [Darkness Manipulation], and his Ego’s might, decreasing the Devil’s power output for a quarter of a second, and slashed at him.
[Wrath] and [Power Surge] did their utmost, but the runic enchantments on the King’s weapon were the game changer. [Absolute Slash], combined with [Greater Sharpness].
The Devil reacted in time, but the Beast King and his Purgatory Fire obstructed him. As the Devil’s power output was forcefully restrained for a quarter of a second, the Beast King gained enough power to fight back and overwhelm the Devil. He blocked him, even if only for a short moment, which was barely enough to cut him once.
King Phillip struck the Devil, leaving a deep gash in his chest. The Beast King and others could see the Devil’s wildly beating heart for a second, but that was about it. The Devil roared in anger rather than pain and unleashed a flurry of darkness, repelling the Imperial Head, who had just pounced on the Devil to drive his sword deep into his back.
The Devil’s tail coiled around the Beast King’s leg and pulled hard, hurling him through the air. Simultaneously, he reached King Phillip and snapped his arms with quick attacks. The King evaded the worst, but his arms had been broken on the spot.
[Monster Regeneration] kicked in, but that was not all. The Healers of the Angy family and Mythics had decided to emerge from the makeshift camps. They joined the battle, mended the injured, and used their Ancient Powers to grant superhuman powers.
King Phillip’s arm healed rapidly, but the Devil’s threat was still there. His tail smashed into King Phillip when he least expected it. His rib cage crunched, and the King instinctively knew that several ribs were broken. But he was not dead yet. The Healers and Mythics healed him quickly while supplying him with more power.
His eyes turned sharp, and his movements accelerated. King Phillip saw the Devil’s next attack a quarter of a second earlier. That was all he needed to evade it, albeit by a hair’s breadth.
“He is still not at full strength!” The King roared when the Beast King and Imperial Head returned to his side. They checked on him from the corner of their eyes, “The Old King was stronger during his prime!!”
That struck a nerve. The Devil vanished and appeared behind King Phillip, whose corners tilted upward. He had activated [Ghost Step] when the Devil disappeared. The Devil’s claws pierced through the king without inflicting any harm while the Beast King and the Imperial Head pushed forward to attack.
After some exchanges, the Beast King’s claws finally reached the Devil, but they didn’t inflict much damage. All the Beast King achieved were some cracks in the Devil’s scales.
The fight went on for what felt like hours, yet it could only have been mere minutes. The sun had yet to reveal its beauty, engulfing the bloody battlefield in its beautiful light.
But something changed slowly. It was almost like the death rattles around them ceased and the desperate screams of the dying died down. The surroundings were eerily silent as more and more Mythics and Cardists diverted their focus to the main battle. They unleashed their Support Augmentations to aid the united forces and used their powers in an attempt to restrain the Devil or slow him down.
It wasn’t truly effective, but it felt like the united forces could fight the Devil head-on. Their combined power rivaled the Devil’s strength…somewhat.
Unfortunately, an individual’s power was more important than the combined prowess of a group. A single mistake was all it took to destroy everything.
The Devil was aware of that and focused on the weakest chain in the united forces. Suddenly, he vanished into thin air, and the corners of his lips curled into a devious smile. The three powerhouses realized something was happening, but they didn’t expect the Devil’s next move to be so…dirty.
The Devil appeared in the masses of Mythics and Cardists, who’d charged ahead to help their leader, a resounding cackling escaping his lips as he tore through humans and Beastmen alike.
Blood splattered everywhere, and body parts were flung around carelessly.
The powerhouses turned to the bloody sight and propelled forward to help, but it was already too late. More than half of the Cardists and Mythics coming for the united forces’ help had been exterminated.
And the Devil had just started.