Ash watched as Nara and the purple monster engaged in a fierce close combat battle that shook the very ground they stood upon. Even the warriors fighting far off against the demons were taken by surprise from the trembling and thought an earthquake was occurring at that moment.

It was then that the Simhara Beast Clan members recognised the power of the War Titan and clicked their tongue before saying it was just him. Even in these two years, none of them have come to soften their opinion off him, but they still thought it was a reassuring presence since it meant that the Monkey King was receiving help in fighting that strange monster.

“Fight on! Victory is by our side!” they roared, spurring their beasts forward into attacking while the other beast clans continued to assault against the demons.

At that place of the battle, Nara was moving numerous times in a blink of an eye and so was the monster that seemed to have copied his speed skill. Still, he did not lose his ground nor was he hit by any of its attacks as he dodged them quickly to punch the monster numerous times in the face and chest.

“You’ve copied my skill, but you haven’t copied me!” Nara shouted with a truly fearsome look on his beast face.

He backed away after a close enough with the monster attempting to punch him in the face and rushed at the monster to smash forcefully into its gut. The impact was so strong that the monster seemed to lose its strength to stand, but there was no problem with that because Nara suddenly grabbed its arm and began swinging around before hurling it high into the air.

As the monster flew high into the air, he charged his energy and fired after it while yelling, “Roaring Cannon!”

The energy wave rocketed towards the sky and seemingly incinerated the monster, but when the wave disappeared, the monster was revealing hovering in mid-air with heavy bruises all over its body. Despite the energy wave not working against it again, Nara merely smiled as he charged towards it at high speed that made him disappear momentarily and reappear a moment later right in front of it.

The monster looked at him as if momentarily surprised despite not showing a single expression on its expressionless face before it got beat up like a ragged doll as the War Titan treated it like a punching bag. After the umpteenth time of punching the monster, he disappeared and reappeared right behind it before kicking it towards the ground, where the monster flew and crashed heavily that caused the ground to vibrate while dust rose from the crash point.

Nara seemingly waited for the monster to rise back to its feet and turned to face him. When it seemed to be ready again and the bruises on its body began to disappear, Nara truly made an expression of delight as he prepared for his next round of fighting.

Extending his hand out, he began gathering energy in the palms of his hands before shouting, “Gatling War!”

As soon as he shouted, he began to rapid fire energy blasts that soared to almost every direction before flying towards the monster. Seeing the waves coming at it, the monster attempted to dodge them but it eventually got smashed by them and one by one, they exploded on impact and heavily bruised the monster greatly.

While the monster was being bruised and fell to the ground once more, Nara raised both of his arms above his head and gathered a great amount of energy as he shouted, “War Destroyer!”

A large energy ball soon formed that hovered just above his open palms before hr dived towards the ground. Soaring quickly, he reached where the monster was slowly getting to its feet before bringing the large ball of energy down like a hammer to smash it on top of the monster. This force caused the monster to momentarily scream in pain before being completely incinerated as the large ball of energy dug a deep hole in the ground before an explosion occurred that pushed Nara back.

Several seconds passed by and it looked like the monster was destroyed, but Nara knew full well that the monster was not done yet. Out from the smoke, the suddenly reformed monster rushed at him and before he could retaliate, he punched him squarely in the face with all its might. A shock wave was released from the force of the punch that caused Nara to momentarily release blood and stuff out of his mouth.

As it kept its clenched fist extended towards his face, Nara tilted his head forcefully to face the monster sideways before extending his own punch forward. This time, his delivery was also onto its face, but the applied force was different as the monster was seemingly pushed back from the intense amount of unleashed force from the impact. It soared away into the distance at super speed and smashed heavily against a mountain in the distance that slowly crumbled down.

“Heh. Good punch, but you’re not me to send people flying!” Nara retorted with a smug look on his face.

Surging with power once more, he charged towards the monster at high speed. Meanwhile, Rumble stayed in his guarding position in order to protect Ash from anything that might get to her as she prepared for the spell to take out the monster spiritually. Unfortunately, the person in question was having a mental breakdown due to the amount of thought she was putting into discovering how to destroy the monster permanently.

“I could use Spirit Burst Cannon that Lakshman seemed to use on Sevedant, but no…! That’s an energy technique, and I need to make direct contact with the opponent to do that. Mmm…! Maybe Death Scythe? No… That won’t work since only the owner of the wielder which was the Death Titan. Dang! What other techniques are there…?”

She was desperately looking up all within her knowledge of techniques she learnt within the two years she trained with Sevedant and observed the Phoenix Titan. Even so, the numbers were few as both of them did not bother to use such vastly powerful techniques as they never thought they would have the opportunity to use them in battle.

Of course, they knew at least one that would work but one was a spirit bursting energy wave that destroys the physical body and feeds them to the Serpent of Revenge in the Border Plane while the other was the use of a death scythe that decimates one’s body physically and absorbs the power into the weapon itself to trap them eternally in the endless torrent of darkness. As such, they did not feel the need to fear or learn any other techniques in the field of spirit slaying.

At that moment, she heard a familiar voice in her head cackle with cold laughter and ask, “Cakakaka! Look at you! So down! You’re out! Cakaka! Want something from me?”

“No,” replied Ash shortly.

That was the voice that belonged to the staff she was holding, which was a Sacred Spirit, however, it was completely different to all the Sacred Spirits seen or heard so far. Something truly mysterious and evil was emanating from its very being as it tantalised Ash, who was in a lot of pressure.

“Oh, come on! You’re in a pickle. A situation needing my help! You know I can help you!”

As the sound of the voice spoke, from out of the black staff came out black smoke that soon transformed into that of a woman wearing a unique set of clothes, possessing long black hair that fell down to her legs and a face that was rich with beauty. Unfortunately, the rich look did not mean her heart was one as she suddenly twisted her face to make a truly evil expression as it floated around Ash. Rumble seemed to be completely unaware that it was even there, meaning that only the Demon Titan could see her.

“I rather not take your help, Kara,” said Ash, seemingly ignoring the twisted existence that was circulating around her. “I’ll find a way.”

“When? In the next century? Cakakaka!!!” the woman, called Kara, spoke aloud since Ash was the only one who could hear her and laughed as she floating in the air while cracking herself up. All of a sudden, she rushed at Ash and faced her upfront with a menacing look on her face and asked, “That’s not funny at all, young miss. Your ally is there fighting hard and keeping that… whatever that thing is… away from you so that you can destroy it! Now that you have the opportunity to destroy it, and you refuse!”

Ash, who seemed to be keeping her expressions solid without the slightest change and turned her eyes to look at Kara in the eyes before she replied, “I don’t trust you. You’re too dangerous. You destroyed many lives and devoured their souls without my permission. You’re evil.”

“Oh?! Oh?! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! Oooohhhh!!!”

Kara pulled back looking utterly shocked as if a lightning had struck her, but instead of looking ashamed, she smiled evilly at her master and asked, “Okay, okay, okay. You’re right. I am evil, but then what makes you innocent? Even you killed the lives of those around you, including those from your own clansmen which is why I allowed to make a contract with you.”

Ash narrowed her eyebrows a little and said, “I had no choice. They were going to kill me, so I fought back and killed them.”

“Yes! You certainly did! There’s no hypocrisy at all!” Kara said, making a truly ugly expression on her face as she lowered herself to be on the same level as her master’s face as she replied, “If you think about it, everyone here has killed someone in their life, which makes them… murderers! Especially your master, the Death Titan, being the bringer of death and the envoy of death, that man is a monster.”

“Perhaps they are, but unlike you who kill for the thrill, they kill because of circumstances. Sure. Killing is bad, but they met dangerous foes and had no choice to bring them down to protect what they care.”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

“Aha! There is it! The contradicting line I’ve expected has come!” Kara said, and she burst into a giggling fit as she slowly said, “You kill for good…? You kill for justice…? Whatever it is you’re killing for, you’re still evil. Isn’t that the principle law dictated by the God of Justice, or did you forget?”

“I don’t believe in gods,” retorted Ash, gazing sharply up at the black hearted woman.

The long-haired woman wearing interesting black clothes did not say anything, but she did smile down at her master and said, “You indeed are fascinating; be it your principles or rules, you’re full of contradictions! Cakaka!!” After laughing once more, she pointed at the fierce battle occurring far ahead of her and said, “Come on! If you believe you’re doing the right thing here, use me! Unchain me! Use my ability and win the battle! I’m hungry for a fresh meal!”

With those, the black hearted woman relished the chance to devour the soul of that monster. Ash looked at the battle scene and then glanced up at her before speaking in a calm and strong voice.

“Yes… With you it’s easy, but after winning the battle, you’ll grow stronger from devouring its soul and you’ll turn against me, overthrow me and eventually devour me. Did you forget already the last time this happened, and Sevedant had to step in to seal you up?”

At those words, Kara became a little agitated and turned away while saying, “Don’t blame me if I kind of went on a rampage because I was over excited from getting a contractor after years of being left alone.” Seeing her contractor looking unconvinced, she made a wicked smile and flew down to her level before saying, “Then let’s make a deal. I’ll help you, and you’ll let me eat your enemy’s souls. Alright?”

Ash paused for a moment longer, thinking things through, before coming to a conclusion as she nodded, but with a serious voice, she said, “Remember, Kara… If you so much as think of harming me, Sevedant will—!”

She was cut off when Kara, who lost her cool attitude and seemingly becoming desperate, said hurriedly, “Yes! Of course! He’ll destroy me! I know! I don’t care! Now, hurry up and unchain me! I’m hungry! I can’t wait to devour the soul of a life that has no will of its own! I bet it’s going to be epic!”

As she finished speaking, Kara licked her lips expetently while gazing at the monster with a relishing look on her face. It was a truly creepy thing to witness, but Ash ignored it as she tapped her staff onto the ground and placed her hands over the top of the staff before muttering words in a strange language like a chant. Within seconds, a bright red glowing chains appeared all over the staff and a moment later, they snapped into pieces and vanished.

“Finally! I’m free! I can kill! I can devour! I’m finally free~!” the black hearted woman said, tears of joy forming in her eyes before it got replaced a look of evil as she gazed towards the monster while saying, “Come on, little lady. Let’s go.”

Nodding, Ash began surging with power while radiating violent aura that surrounded her. Rumble, who winced at the sudden surge of power from behind, turned around to witness a strange event occurring. Black aura that surrounded her seemed to be taking on a form of its own as energy slowly extracted from her to take on an ominous form. Even Nara, who was in the midst of a fierce battle, felt it and smiled as he realised the energy belonged to the Demon Titan.

“Well, it’s about time!” he thought firmly.

Energy continued to surge from her and caused the ground to shake violently while cracks appeared all around the area where they stood as some part of the land exploded. The sheer force of her power was great and it stirred up the warriors far away from her to feel fear as well as a chilling sensation ran through them. It was truly an indescribable feeling as if the power was born to devour them.

Ash, who had momentarily closed her eyes while surging with power, opened them in a flash and shouted, “Spirit Destruction!”

In an instant, the black power gathering behind her instantly transformed into a tall woman wearing classic black clothes with black hair that fell all the way down to her feet. That woman, who was the spitting image of Kara the Sacred Spirit, began to glow in transcendent colours as Ash readied to strike the enemy, which was the monster.

Using telepathy, she warned Nara, “Get out of there! This is going to get dangerous!”

“I know! I can feel it!” Nara shouted, feeling a chilling sensation run throughout his body just from feeling the pressure that came from the unleashing of the Demon Titan’s power.

Raising her staff into the air and pointed it towards the monster, Ash made a fierce expression and said, “Kill!”

The moment she uttered those words, the tall figure of the woman made of energy with her eyes closed, flash them open. In an instant, she let out a screech as power surged forth, causing a great wave of wind and shock waves to be sent everywhere while the ground shook violently. It truly felt like a disaster had befell the continent as the inhabitants feared for their lives, including the demons that fought against them, thinking the continent might get destroyed.

In the next moment, the woman made of energy flew towards the monster at high speed with a twisted expression on her face. Rumble remained motionless as he stood there and watched it fly past him with his mouth gaping open in shock. Nara, seeing the monster soaring towards them, initially got goose bumps erupt all over him from the sheer shock of seeing the woman that looked like a living nightmare.

“Crap!” he yelled and kicked the monster away before flying away to safety.

In Ash’s mind, who was projected the view of what the woman of energy was saying, heard Kara’s voice in her mind cry, “Finally! I’m going to devour you, my precious meal!”

Extending her energy arm to the side, she summoned an energy scythe that switched colours randomly and swung it at the monster the moment it reached it. The monster had no idea what it was facing nor could it copy it due to the nature of what the attack was, however, it sensed incredible danger from its existence itself. As such, it extended its right hand towards the scythe that aimed for its scythe and activated its power.

In an instant, the scythe got destroyed and momentarily surprised Ash as she did not expect that to happen. Remembering that the monster had successfully copied Maga Distrab that she used to save Rumble a while back, made her curse at herself for not thinking about it. Strangely enough, she got consoled by the very person she wanted to keep a distance between and it was none other than Kara herself.

“Ah! Don’t be so down! If I don’t have one scythe, I’ll just summon another!”

True to her words, the woman of energy summoned another energy of scythe that she attempted to hunt the monster with. Once again, the monster activated Maga Distrab to destroy the scythe and also tried to destroy the form of the monster. It momentarily worked as he woman of energy lost its form and was about to disperse when it suddenly reformed and seemed to smile evilly down at it.

“You’re not getting away from me! My first meal after a very long time! I’m going to devour you!” Kara said and licked her lips once more.

True to her words, she continued to hunt the monster, but it fought back with Maga Distrab. After failing to destroy her energy form numerous times and not understanding why, the monster resorted to attacking the form physically in close combat. Unfortunately, it sealed its own doom as it suddenly got caught by both of the energy hands as the scythe of energy disintegrated after letting go off.

“Meal time!” Kara said energetically.

Exerting its power, the monster attempted to flee but there was no use as its body began to disintegrate. There was no pain and no feeling loss, but that was truly the devastating part as it was losing its physical form. Being transformed into matter in a matter of seconds and unable to fight against it, the monster finally cried out last time the same word it had uttered over and over throughout the battle.

“PPPOOOOOWWWWW!!!”

It’s screams got cut off as the next moment it completely turned into particles that flew into the open mouth of the woman of energy. As soon as they entered the mouth closed, and the woman seemed to make a friendly smile from the satisfaction of earning its meal.

“MMMMMMM!!!! DEEELLLIIICCIOUSSS!!!” Kara said happily, who had a hand placed to the side of her cheek with her eyes closed, mesmerised by the amazing taste of the monster she enjoyed devouring.

“I hope that appeases your appetite,” said Ash, who was being wary of her as she felt at any given second, Kara would round on her and start attacking the others there.

“Plenty! Oh! Chewing on them is so much tastier than turning them into sweets!” Kara said, completely immersed within herself and not caring about anything else.

Ash waited for a few more seconds before deciding things were safe and with that thought in mind, she finally deactivated her magic. In an instant, the energy form of the woman dispersed everywhere. The chilling pressure in the air finally died down and Rumble, along with Nara, sighed deeply in relief. Even the warriors engaged in war with the demons, sighed in relief before continuing to wage their war.

As Ash sighed in relief, Kara floated over to her with a brimming face full of joy and said, “I finally got my meal thanks to you! I love you!”

“No!” Ash shouted sharply, wearing a disgusted look on her face.

The Demon Titan instantly became grossed out by those words and began pushing Kara away as the black hearted woman seemed to want to rub her cheek against hers. This, somehow, gave her a slightly different feeling about the woman that appeared to be childish, but still she knew deep within that this woman was full of cunning and that made her extremely dangerous deal with.

“I look forward to working with you!” Kara said cheerfully with a bright, but twisted smile on her face.

“Mmm,” said Ash wordlessly, having a second thought about whether she made the right decision by unsealing her.

***

Far away from them, watching the scene of the final awakened monster being destroyed was a Demon King. He narrowed his eyes and looked down at the boxes in his hand, momentarily wondering whether he should unseal the monster orbs he held. Realising it would meet the same fate and also coming to understand that they had lost this war against the Bazaraka Continent, surged with power and headed off towards the Demon Continent to report back to his ruler, the Calamity Titan.

***

While the Demon Titan was having second thoughts about Kara, she was suddenly interrupted when a telepathy communication reached her and the Magic Titan’s voice was heard saying, “Attention, Nine Pillars of Power. This is a communication to inform all of you that Lakshman has returned. The Phoenix Titan is ready to attack the Demon Continent and as such, the order is for all of you to head over there as soon as you’ve finished on your ends.”

Ash then heard the arrogant voice of the Dragon Titan retort in her mind, “Of course I’m ready! I’ve been ready this entire time, woman! Tell that idiot to pay me a visit because I have a beating to give him!”

“Oh? Prideful as ever, Lagron, but why beat up Lakshman? Did he do something to you?” Nara asked, who was slowly walking towards Ash and Rumble, who was looking curiously at her.

“YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND THE HUMILIATION HE DID TO ME!! I WANT PAYBACK!” Lagron roared like a wild dragon on rampage.

“Stop yelling! Our mind’s going to explode after hearing your stupidity,” said a voice belonging to Azar.

“That’s it! I’m going to beat you all up once this is over!” Lagron retorted.

***

Meanwhile, on the Human Continent, in the courtyard where Amaranda sat in a chair that the soldiers brought for her and the other women surrounding her. She sighed wearily after hearing the Dragon Titan roaring at the others as they took quips on him. As she sighed, she heard Lakshman speak in their minds as he stood out in the courtyard with his back to them.

“Whatever’s the case, we’ll deal with it later! Right now, we have a war to win, enemy to defeat and a world to protect! It is time the Nine Pillars of Power go head on against the Nine Testaments of Darkness!”

He spoke fiercely in his mind and to his words, the others agreed with simple words while Lagron seemed to snort. Still, agreeing to meet up at the Demon Continent together, Amaranda cut the multi-telepathy communication connecting them all with a sigh.

As the connection ended, Lakshman coolly smiled and muttered, “It’s almost time for us to meet… Chandra…!”