The timing couldn’t have been any worse.
Percy’s body felt like it had been electrified; his flesh rippled in anguish, and his mana path tightened. His bones crunched, and his muscles felt like they were pulled apart.
It was painful and near impossible to endure. His body threatened to collapse, yet nothing like that happened. On the contrary, Percy’s vision improved as the Devil’s claw came crashing down upon him.
Time seemed to come to a crawl as certain death inched closer.
Percy couldn’t move. Not even his lips parted to scream.
I don’t want to die. I don’t want to lose. I…
It was painful to watch, but even more painful was the burning in his eyes as they teared up. Percy couldn’t believe how painful it was to burst into tears right before death.
His sight blurred, and blood sprayed in all directions. The blood was warm and splashed all over his face.
But there was no pain. Percy didn’t feel the claw as it connected.
Is that what death feels like?
No, that couldn’t be it. Percy was still in pain due to the tears trickling down his cheeks. His body was still a wreck, though a soothing heat took root in his heart. But he hadn’t been killed. The Devil’s claw never struck Percy.
The time around him never accelerated, yet Percy felt like he could move normally. He was still in pain, his entire body feeling like it was tearing apart, but he could move his head again.
Fiona Angy, her family, and others who Percy didn’t recognize had entered the edge of his sight. Even Beastmen, probably Mythics who had come to help, their eyes glued onto Percy.
A middle-aged man standing next to Fiona screamed something. His eyes widened in disbelief at what unraveled before Percy. It was only at this moment that Percy caught what had happened. At last, he knew why the Devil’s claws didn’t tear him apart. They found another target.
Percy’s hair stood up to its end, the overwhelming pain tormenting him suppressed and forgotten.
His father stood before him, his armor and chest torn apart, a huge claw mark etched into both.
An unnatural amount of blood spurted out of the claw mark, but instead of focusing on the Devil ahead, King Phillip turned around to check on his son.
A thin smile blossomed on his lips seeing that Percy was fine and his lips parted. Yet, before he could say something, the Devil struck him again. This time, the Devil’s smile ceased. He was angry and swatted the king with the back of his hand, hurling him through the air. A cracking resounded, but the Devil did not care.
He stepped forward, the glow in his crimson eyes flickering as he towered before Percy.
“You fooled around long enough. It’s time to return to me,” The Devil didn’t take note of Percy even now. He was still focused on the Abomination, the worst sin of the human race flickering in his eyes; Greed.
The Abomination was still lodged deep inside Percy. It was a part of him. They belonged together. It resisted the Devil even as bits of its Essence surged into Percy. The Devil didn’t care about Percy anymore after realizing that he couldn’t move. He treated Percy like an inanimate puppet, his claw clutched tightly around Percy’s head as his Essence surged forward.
Percy would have screamed if he could still feel pain, but there was nothing like that. His eyes were glued onto his father and the blood gushing out of him with every heavy breath he took.
His father was about to die.
Percy saw members of the Angy family, other Healers, and Beastmen Mythics rush forward, some to tend to King Phillips, others disappearing from his vision to tend to the Beast King’s wounds.
The stream of humans and Beastmen coming their way was small at first, but something changed. Paul Reeze, the Imperials, the Beastlands’ Apex, and the summoned Monsters of the strongest fighters gushed forth. King Phillip’s Six-armed Troll may not have been the fastest creature, but it had been the first to react. It appeared behind the Devil with the Colossus Shadow Serpent’s help and [Ghost Step] to hit the Devil on the head with its heavy maces.
The Devil didn’t expect any more retaliation. It was certain the morale of the united forces had been crushed, but here they were. The united forces pushed forward, their hearts beating like crazy as they charged the Devil…as they dashed into certain death.
A primal roar escaped the Devil’s lips as dozens of attacks struck him. After consuming more than half of its Essence to defeat the Imperial Head, the Beast King, King Phillip, and finally Percy, it was more vulnerable to the incoming attacks.
Fury fueled the Devil as it hurled Percy around. He let go of Percy, throwing him at the masses coming his way. A moment later, the Devil’s Essence surged, regrowing the rest of his arm in one go.
“You did well enough,” A familiar voice rang out behind Percy, but he didn’t quite believe it.
What is Grandfather doing here?
Percy felt someone pulling him away from the battlefield. Fiona’s voice rang out, and her Healing Ego surged forth, trying to bring order to the mess ravaging through his body, but Percy could hear nothing.
Someone set him up straight, revealing a glimpse of what was happening.
The Apex, Knight Order Leaders, Imperials, Pillars, and most summoned Monsters charged the Devil. They pounced on him, trying their utmost to injure the Devil and force him to use his Essence. He was not as strong as before, and with every bit of Essence he used, the Devil grew weaker.
Unfortunately, that didn’t mean the Devil was weak. Quite the contrary. Even though his strength had already diminished, the Devil was stronger than everyone else.
He tore through several Beastmen within seconds until the Old King appeared before him.
“You’re still alive?” The Devil roared, “It’s time to change that, old man!”
The Old King didn’t listen. Instead, he ignited his lifeforce and unleashed a portion of his power one last time.
He accelerated rapidly, appeared before the Devil, and slashed at him with a large broadsword. The broadsword arced beautifully through the air, the pure mana surging through it whistling like a boiling kettle.
The Devil blocked the attack with one arm while his other claw, mantled in darkness, surged forward, crushing an Imperial’s skull.
Even though the strongest Gifted of the united forces surged forward, sacrificing their lives to weaken the Devil, it was to no avail. They were still on the losing side.
They had lost.
It was over.
“It’s not over,” Percy heard his father’s voice from the right. It was weak and barely audible.
Percy turned to the right, noticing only now that he could move again. Every movement hurt like hell, but it was possible to move again.
He turned to his father, tears welling in his eyes when he saw his father’s deadly pale expression.
The bleeding had slowed, but it didn’t cease. Not even [Monster Regeneration] and the combined efforts of several Healers stopped the bleeding.
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“You can do it,” The King struggled to reach Percy, his hands stretched out as far as possible, “I believe in you. You…You will be a great king!”
Tears streamed down Percy’s cheeks. He couldn’t believe his father was about to die. There was no way he would accept this. Yet, the pleading eyes and the all-consuming sadness in his eyes spoke volumes. King Phillip was certain he was about to die.
Percy’s hand, as painful as it was, moved. He leaned forward, ignored the agonizing pain, and held his father's hand.
The King smiled at him, his hands ice-cold. His lips parted, a few final words escaping his lips.
“Take it all. You…can always rebuild it later.”
As his father’s whisper filled the air, something unexpected happened.
Something popped up before Percy…and all around him.
Interfaces, tens of thousands…no…millions of them, emerged all around him. All he could see were interfaces.
Is that…
Percy swallowed hard, faintly grasping what his father had just given to him.
Desperate screams filled the air. Death was everywhere.
Everything around them was overflowing with death and destruction. They were on the losing side, the Devil gaining strength as he started devouring humans and Beastmen while fighting them.
Even though they had just weakened the Devil…he was already growing stronger again.
Percy had never felt this lost. He could move, but there was no way he could fight anymore. Even if he were to make use of the interfaces around him…what was he supposed to do? Fight with a broken body like this? He could activate [Limit Break] a second time. It was not that easy.
The Devil stared at Percy, who returned his gaze. Yet, instead of looking straight at Percy, the Devil was still focused on the Abomination. But something was odd. The longer Percy studied the Devil’s expression, the more apparent something was.
Why is the Devil so obsessed with the Abomination?
Was there a reason for the Devil’s obsession?
The Abomination returned to Percy, who was assaulted by hunger. After consuming tens of thousands of Demons who’d been affected by the Devil’s endless hunger, the Abomination was also affected by it. However, there was something else to it now: millions of interfaces had popped up around Percy.
Something had changed.
The Abomination…wanted to consume the kingdom.
It writhed in pain, the hunger consuming the Abomination.
But before Percy could stop the Abomination, forcing it to calm down, he froze in his tracks.
Father surrendered his throne…“Take it all. You…can always rebuild it later.” He said…Is that what he wanted? It must be…
He glanced at his father, who was surrounded by half a dozen of the kingdom’s best Healers, and swallowed hard.
“I can always rebuild it,” He murmured.
Finally, after a few painfully long seconds, Percy came to a decision.
He used [Consume]...and devoured the kingdom.
….
The world around Percy turned dark as the Abomination burst through the pores all over his body. No. Not only Percy was affected by the Abomination’s sudden move. The early noon sun hung high in the air, illuminating the war zone one moment, and the next moment, darkness shrouded everything.
But this was just the beginning.
The darkness spread rapidly. It instantly engulfed the war zone and the Meiso Plains within seconds and spread further. The more it engulfed, the faster the Abomination spread in all directions. It shrouded the nearest villages, the nearby town, and the city in one go, but that was not all.
Not even minutes after Percy allowed the Abomination to spread, it occupied the entire kingdom doing what it was best at.
It devoured everything Percy owed.
The nearest villages and towns were the first to disappear. The closeby city was next. More and more buildings, objects, and places disappeared. At last, the royal palace, the treasure vault, and everything owed by the kingdom and the royal family disappeared, leaving behind nothing but the kingdom’s subjects, some houses, Artifacts, and other objects that had been purchased.
Countless interfaces popped up before Percy, but he didn’t look at all of them even as the darkness of the Abomination retracted. The darkness engulfing the kingdom retracted even faster as it spread and returned to where it truly belonged. It returned to Percy, where it digested everything it had consumed just now.
The only interfaces he could pay attention to were a few.
[Your Tier increased by one rank.]
[Your Tier increased by one rank.]
[Your Tier increased by one rank.]
All that was left were the residents of the kingdom, their belongings, livestock, and all plantlife. Percy would have felt bad about that under normal circumstances. In fact, he would have never done something like that in the first place. However, the circumstances forced him. He didn’t have the luxury to pity others or to feel guilty.
He got up from the ground, the rank-up surges of mana flooding him, empowering him.
A small Card manifested in his hands but wasn’t a Monster Card. It was the Capture Card.
[591,915,625,362 Prosperity has been consumed.]
[Capture Card’s capture rate increased.]
[Mythical Card has been enhanced to its limit. Excessive Prosperity will be re-invested to increase the Card’s lamination.]
[Capture Card’s limit improved.]
[Capture Card’s capture rate increased.]
[Capture Card’s capture rate increased.]
[Capture Card’s capture rate increased.]
The Devil didn’t remain idle even after the Abomination engulfed the entire kingdom. However, he had grown restless, throwing his Essence around to repel the united forces until the darkness retracted.
His eyes widened slightly in surprise, the crimson glow in his eyes fiercer than before as he laid eyes upon Percy, who was still standing, the Abomination’s darkness coiling intimately around his hand.
Something was off. Percy surged with power, and the Abomination was also much fiercer than before. Percy did something, yet the Devil had no idea what it was. All the Devil could sense was the mythical power twirling in Percy’s hand.
His attention pulled toward the Card mantled in the Abomination’s intimate grasp, and he charged forward.
Percy was still too weak to move. Mana surged through him, but his body was like a broken vessel. He couldn’t fight anymore.
But the Devil wasn’t aware of that. The Devil emerged before him and pierced his abdomen with a swift blade thrust.
This time, the Devil didn’t laugh. He didn’t even smirk as the darkness blade pierced deep into Percy’s abdomen. He stared straight into Percy’s eyes as the life in them dimmed slowly.
However, Percy was not yet dead.
“Fool.” He muttered, coughing up blood as he pulled forward. The darkness blade pierced deeper in Percy’s abdomen, but the young man didn’t care. He stretched his hand out and planted the Capture Card on the Devil’s chest.
A sigh of relief escaped his lips, the corners tilting upward even as warm blood trickled down.
“I got you.”
[Target detected. Target confirmed.]
[Capture Card has been activated.]
The Capture Card burst open like a box, revealing a maelstrom made of pure mana at its center. It oozed out of the Capture Card until it detected the Devil. What happened after that was as simple as it was terrifying.
A horrifying suctioning force came to be, but only the Devil seemed to be affected. His chest was pulled inside the Capture Card, but the Devil resisted. He roared at the top of his lungs and shouted at Percy, cursing him in every possible way.
However, Percy was no longer afraid. He stood there, calmly watching as the Devil suffered the consequences of his actions. The darkness blade stuck in his abdomen dispersed, blood pouring to the ground, but Percy ignored that. He watched in silence as the maelstrom swallowed the Devil.
However, the Abomination was not as silent. It acted even though Percy hadn’t demanded anything. The Abomination went crazy and smashed heavily into the Devil, slowly consuming its Essence. The Devil was still alive, yet the Abomination had no problem consuming it.
Percy’s Prosperity increased slowly, but the only thing he could do with it was to invest it back into the Capture Card.
The Capture Card’s suctioning force grew stronger while the Devil grew weaker. The maelstrom was like a world-ending power, but its sole purpose was to capture and trap the Devil.
“No. It cannot end like that! Nooo!! I don’t accept it. I won’t! I will never!!!” The Devil roared, but Percy could barely hear him at this point.
The maelstrom was too strong, and Percy was too weak.
The last thing Percy remembered was the Devil disappearing in the Capture Card.
[Target has been secured.]
A moment later, the world around him went dark.