As the fight in front of the Doryubori started, Malaskador and Metallican were about to start their fight. More like a fight from the past, as it seemed to be something, due to something that had transpired ages ago, and it was something embarrassing for Malaskador.
Ages past, back when Malaskador became a devil after being defeated by a Tokugawa, Malaskador had a fancy place in Inferno. One of the biggest devils in the layer of Wrath, and he was renowned for making sure that the suffering of the penitent ones was merciless and unforgiving, a position many coveted for centuries, and it only took him a couple of years to take it.
But as things happen, rising in power so quickly leads to some people thinking it would be easy to make contracts with Malaskador.
And one of those would be a mage known as Jonathan Visreich, called John by his friends, a third rate mage who couldn’t pass the 30% mana control requirement to pass the last exam of the magic academies, even though he had a talent for reformulating spells and a vast knowledge of the magic theory.
John was a young man in his 18’s, who had a slim body, black eyes, brown hair, and a rather handsome face. He always wore a brown cloak, a blue shirt, brown pants, and brown boots. He was rather nice to the commoners, but had an issue dealing with nobles and was prone to taunt and trick people who believed that were far better than him, and was considered quirky by his stubbornness regarding not using wands.
John had tried everything to improve his mana control with the methods given by the professors, the methods for commoners that is, as he was a commoner. And quite hated by the nobles, as he was a genius but a man who loved taunting people and tricking them in order to save innocents.
As John lacked ways to acquire better methods for improving mana control, he was desperate and decided to trust his tricks to trick a young devil in giving him the capacity to improve his mana control instantly.
John’s target was Malaskador, and he had it easy due to being a Devil Meister, so he prepared to summon the Radio Devil.
A foolish notion, but he thought that a young devil like the Radiophonic Devil would be easy to trick with the contract, and one he would regret vastly.
John was in an empty room below a church, a precaution for any Devil Meister who dared to summon a devil, preparing a pentagram to summon Malaskador and left an old radio in the middle of the pentagram.
Usually, devils summoned to the mortal realm were extremely weakened and if they stepped into a holy domain the weakening could be even worse. The idea that John had was to weaken Malaskador to the limit, and use the contract as a way to make him feel better, while using fire magic to keep weakening him by delivering damage.
If Malaskador was sacrificed or killed there, he’d go back to Inferno while being immensely weakened, so he’d have no reason to say no to a subordination contract, and then he’d have Malaskador assist him with his mana control issue.
But John miscalculated a little bit, as the devils could showcase a 20% of their strength due to the Devil Meister’s passives instead of the 10% from normal summons. The weakening caused by the church would only leave Malaskador back at his 10%, far enough to kill a student like John without looking back, and it wouldn’t do enough to stop Malaskador from destroying the church itself.
As John summoned Malaskador, the radio started syntonizing while John smiled with glee. He expected the radio to just sound a little and have a talk with Malaskador, but the radio exploded and Malaskador appeared from the fumes of that explosion, while the devil had his usual smile.
“Oh, good to be back in the air! So, trying to keep me bound down so you can subordinate me? Someone is being quite the trickster. The payment is obvious: Your eternal servitude and your soul. So let’s do the deal. If you try to sacrifice me, I’ll destroy you before you do.” Malaskador said, while keeping his smile, as he enjoyed seeing John’s scared face.
“U-Uh, shouldn’t you have been so weakened that a slime would be better than you? My plan…” John stuttered as he trembled in fear.
“Hm. Oh, I know what’s your issue! Commoner methods to improve mana control are trash. Well, noble ones are slightly better. That’s because you all just focus on learning useless crap, and trying to find new methods to improve mana control, without accepting the truth. Godslayer methods were the best to improve mana control. Oh, wait, a student like you wouldn’t know them. But good on you to not use wands. I have the ideal method for you. It’s a bit of ride or die, but your mana control will improve, undoubtedly.” Malaskador said, as his smile became wider. ‘I know how to do Evan’s mana control, but there’s still something missing. Something that I don’t know. Maybe this guy, who is similar to him in terms of trickery, can decipher the part that is lacking.’ Malaskador thought to himself, amused by his idea.
John simply gulped in fear, it was what he desired… But he knew how Malaskador was. A devil who enjoyed watching those sinners of wrath that hated the nobility, and tried to trick them and one-up them, trying to become better and exactly what they hated.
Once the target became exactly what they hated, that was when Malaskador went to settle the debt and drag the fool who did the deal to Inferno.
“So… If I do it, and I do it properly, I can surpass everyone else? I can surpass the nobles with this, right?” John asked cautiously.
“Indeed, my good man! Ladies, achievements, power… You name it. Sign the deal, and all of it will be yours.” Malaskador said, as he extended his right hand towards John.
That should be it, as John accepted the deal, and Malaskador inserted within John’s mind all what he knew of Evan’s method.
During the years, John became more known amongst the world. A trickster magician who managed to reach the godslayer land in terms of mana control, and tricked many people (who did deals with Malaskador afterward), while being also one of the nicest mages around the country of Elstivia.
But John knew that Malaskador was waiting for the moment in which he became exactly what he hated, to rip his soul and have a new sinner to punish, as he felt his influence always keeping an eye near him whenever he was close to a radio.
And then he noticed he managed to mess up even with the method handed to him, but it was not his fault entirely as Malaskador’s method was incomplete, and that messing up had caused his mind to be overexerted almost every single time he used a spell.
Sooner or later, he’d become a vegetative and die. He had to find a way to prevent it, and that’s when Metallican appeared. Both had a plan, which was more daring than anyone could ever think, as both hated Malaskador for tricking them, and so they started working on the perfect plan to trick several devils and cause a mess in Inferno.
After numerous years, John had managed to make four deals involving his soul with several devils of the different layers of Inferno. And when John lost his mind, due to the failed method, and had forgotten even to breathe… Malaskador came to settle his debt.
Malaskador arrived to the same room he had been summoned, so many years back, with glee in his eyes, as he saw an older John almost about to die.
“I was amused, by all what you did, but you truly became what you hated. Greedy, arrogant, and stupid. But now I’ll be taking the soul, as I love to do. Your deals with the others won’t save you. I can always get them all to back off, and say that I was first. Maybe let them in the fun, but I’ll have you scream for my radio show for eternity.” Malaskador said calmly, as he watched John unable to breathe.
But as Malaskador was going to attack John to kill him, to prevent any sort of trickery from the other devils, Metallican walked inside the room and released a fire blast onto his face.
“Nonetheless, I told them all about all the deals. And all the demons know you are fair to everyone. But having 40 devils trying to kill you for that soul, as you used his trickery and killed him off so no one else would get it… A wrath devil being greedy, your peeps wouldn’t let you breathe easy for that. Paradiso would happily take that in. The archangels would be celebrating the weakening of Inferno.” Metallican said, while clearly happy to see Malaskador.
“But if anyone else gets that soul, I’ll just say I was first. There’s the rule of the first deal, after all.” Malaskador retorted.
“Yeah, but he made priority deals. And yours is in the lowest priority right now. As you gave him an incomplete solution. His soul is about to float away, you need to do something or Inferno will be engulfed in a bloody fight.” Metallican retorted back.
Malaskador stopped smiling, he never considered priority deals as humans never knew of them, and was enraged by what Metallican had done. His deal had a backdoor, and a nasty one… No one could collect the debt before him, but he couldn’t collect the debt as his priority was the lowest.
A conundrum that would lead to enough bureaucratic fights to turn all the layers into chaos, and all of it made by a silly manager of the Magic Corp, and so Malaskador had two choices: Either let it happen, or save John.
“Ah, shit. You took that idea from that book! I’ll make sure to pay you back for this!” Malaskador said, as he used his own mana control and his abilities as a devil to restore John’s brain and complete what Evan couldn’t (or so he thought) by making a system akin to the one used by the members of the Pavilion for John’s mana.
As John’s body was remodeled, John felt way better than ever. He now had three mana centers that acted like the brain: One in the brain, another in the heart, and the last one below his stomach in the dantian.
From there on out, the devils kept John alive as to prevent the mess while dealing with the bureaucracy… This in itself also marked part of the demise of Malaskador, as his position as a devil was starting to take damage due to many devils trying to destroy the concept of radiowaves being evil.
***
Back to the present, Metallican and Malaskador were about to start the fight. A fight between godslayers who specialized in the magic arts usually ended in ten attacks, because no matter how good anyone was… The high output of some spells or the defense piercing spells would decimate any mage who messed up first.
The only exception to the 10 attacks situation was Evan. But in his case? It was more harrowing. He first took all the mobility of the enemy while dodging the attacks, and then the ability to attack, only to finally finish it off in one attack.
It was a battle of wits and focus, not of magical power, and both knew that one misstep would equal death. Both had faced Evan, and both had tried to learn from their fight with him, yet Malaskador was the one who opened up with the first move.
“Occult Pull!” Malaskador exclaimed as he circulated his mana and summoned a claw to pull Metallican towards him. ‘Close the distance first, then use Occult Blaze. It may burn him and with pull I can limit his speed. Also, slowing down his speed may allow me to cast Occult Barrier between us. We both have teleportation skills, but he has less teleportation than I do, so keep him inside the barrier and keep myself out. I can use Occult Portal and Occult Familiar together to open a path for my spells to pass through the barrier without breaking it. If so, I’ll have the match done. If he can’t heal himself, and can’t pierce the barrier normally… I can just cast a downpour of attacks from safety and defeat him.’ Malaskador thought to himself.
But as the claw tried to pull Metallican, the manager quickly used Teleport to teleport 150 meters away from Malaskador while shooting several bolts of mana at Malaskador. Which resulted in Malaskador teleporting away, but maintaining the distance with Metallican as he used Occult Blast to strike Metallican.
The fight was fierce, but slowly and surely Malaskador was winning an advantage over Metallican. When he was a devil bound to a concept, Malaskador was weakened in the mortal realm… But now? He was at fully power, and he had more mobility spells and skills than Metallican.
If more mobility wasn’t enough, the base output of the spells was totally different and Malaskador had the advantage there too. Gem wielders could be useful, yes, but in a 1v1 with no holds barred… Gem wielders came out extremely short compared to a warlock with occultist abilities, especially one with dodging skills that worked with very tight timings and a lot of trap crafting, like Metallican.
“Well, we both know how this is going to end. No need to make more moves to know that in ten moves… You will be just a dead idiot. How about we stop this stupid fight, and you stand down? I’ll let you go with a few strikes on your body. I have some pressing matters, like sending that Tokugawa packing.” Malaskador said, confident in his win, while he started preparing several copies of his spell in his brain. ‘Just like the old days, use the Memorization technique to do a copy and paste of one spell. That way you can do a five-fold Occult Blast. His HP can take it, but the pain shock should be enough to incapacitate him.’ Malaskador thought, while his brain started straining itself as it was preparing numerous copies of one spell at once.
“He is the hero, Malaskador. You shouldn’t try to kill him.” Metallican retorted, as he tried to recover his stamina.
“Because of the Dark Lord? If it’s related to the soul, any godslayer worth their salt can deal with it. And if Evan is back, we can just ask him to burn him to ashes.” Malaskador retorted back.
“You would ask that psychotic bastard before letting go of your wrath!?” Metallican asked with an enraged tone.
“Without a doubt. He created a primordial dragon, he created a monster that created a new species… If someone can deal with our reliance to heroes like that brat, that’s him.” Malaskador calmly replied.
“That doesn’t mean we should deal with it. The mortal realm is for all the mortals, hence we shouldn’t go beyond our limitations.” Metallican retorted.
“Hm. Then who is the administrator of the mortal realm? The gods administrate Paradiso. The highest rank devils, and the primordial devil, administrate Inferno. But who is the admin of the mortal realm? The primordial dragons? One was made by Evan. The other is an old fool who is absolutely disconnected from the realm. And we know that the third one is a hatchling. And the rest, they either died at the hands of the other godslayers for their attacks against the gods and the villagers… Or are in the sealed half of this realm.” Malaskador retorted back.
“And what about Maleliana? That one was killed by Evan.” Metallican retorted back, while preparing to attack.
“We both know that Evan did so because he snapped. I was there, just like you. And I never agreed with what he did to her.” Malaskador said calmly, as his mana circulated quickly across the body.
“All of the FA leaders wield weapons made out of her.” Metallican said, while going to shoot another gem blast.
As Metallican was going to shoot, Malaskador released a barrage of powerful Occult Blasts which incapacitated the Magic Corp Gem Wielder. It was what Malaskador was getting ready with the talk, after all, as it would be better for his mana pool to just blast away with that counter than using several spells to do it slowly.
Memorization: The magic technique developed by the godslayers to increase the casting speed without relying on very specific items. They consider the brain as a computer, mana as electricity, and spells as apps you could have running on the background.
This technique made the brain act like a computer, processing each step, which looked like the user managed to spew many spells at once to the ordinary spell casters.
But this technique had a drawback, the mana flow in the brain and the stress could overwhelm an unprepared brain. If the technique backfired, the user would have an aneurysm due to the chaotic flow of mana going across the entire brain while frying it. A rather nasty death, but the benefits truly outweighed the risk.
“You always walked on eggshells. You can do Memorization, but choose not to use it unless it is a must. You ignored one of the godslayer basic techniques for mages, while being a spell caster. That’s the reason you lost. And the reason behind Malelania’s death, as she tried to plan to control the godslayers once the gods tried to drive us away. She would overtake all the bodies, and then use them as puppets. Not like I don’t understand her reasoning, but that doesn’t mean I agree with her ideology or methodology.” Malaskador said while he looked at the fight going on in the other side, while remembering the day in which Evan murdered Malelania.
While Malaskador was remembering the situation, Kanbe focused on using the inventory to grab a sword from it and walked towards Malaskador with a serious face. The sword was a pitch black blade given by Themeria, which had a golden cross guard and an amethyst as a pommel, and it was extremely thin for an arming sword and seemed more like a jian (a chinese sword).
***
In a dark and damp cave, there was a massive pile of gold, treasures, jewels, and even rare metallic artifacts. All of that pile was placed in the depths of that dark and damp place, where it was placed in the form of a massive mountain in the middle of a circular cavern that protected from rain and all sorts of light.
A dragon of at least 30 meters tall, golden scales, red eyes, and massive feathered wings would rest on top of that pile of riches. That would be normally, but not today, as massive insect-like humanoid monsters with composite eyes akin to a fly’s eyes, with sturdy golden exoskeleton that reminisced of the one that a beetle would use and wings similar to a bee that were hidden behind some wing exoskeleton similar to their torso, their limbs were humanoid, but they had long claws and were covered by their exoskeleton, and they were wielding golden spears.
Countless of these monsters had stabbed the dragon, until it resembled a porcupine, and had chained the dragon up above the pile of treasures while placing a mythril muzzle on their mouth that blocked all sorts of usage of dragon breath.
Evan was looking with cold eyes at the dragon, while Malaskador and Metallican had followed him. That dragon was Malelania, the primordial dragon, and was going to die that day at the hands of Evan.
“Why have you attacked me, Evan?” Malelania asked weakly, as the chains were draining all sorts of energy from her.
“Oh, come on. Let’s stop hiding each other’s mind. We both know the truth. You planned on fucking using our bodies after the wipe. When is the wipe? If you tell us, we can set everything to self-destruct before the wipe. I don’t know why the devs would close their golden goose, but I am not going to let them keep anything if they are going to backstab us like that. It’s just natural, right? And how would you manipulate the bodies? Why?” Evan said calmly, as his eyes didn’t show any emotion.
“Because this world isn’t just a game, it’s a living world. You may not believe me, but that’s the truth. I will not let you return. I’ll pull out your bodies from stasis and then use them to dominate the world. Otherwise, chaos will rule the world for at least 30 years.” Malelania replied.
“Interesting information. So for the villagers, this world would still run. And supposedly we could return? That’s more interesting.” Evan said, pondering on what Malelania said.
“Of course you could. Don’t know how, I helped with the first summon. But bringing the souls back would be… impossible if they close all. At least from my knowledge. So I would happily take only what you wouldn’t touch again.” Malelania said.
“This is just NPC words, Evan. No need to be that harsh.” Metallican pleaded with the demon.
“Oh, no. Metallican. While I am thankful for her being the one allowing us to come to this land in the first place: She attacked me first. She attacked my students and tried to kill my sweet Legadonia. She owes me a debt. And I’ll make sure that I get that debt paid. Even if I must skin, butcher, and rip out her organs. Oh, and trust me, I will undoubtedly do so. All of her will be mine to use. Well, more like of the FA. Turns out that Gio and I have exactly the ideal experiment to use her body.” Evan coldly said, clearly not caring about the primordial, while Metallican looked at Malaskador.
“I do agree that paying the debt is a must. Let’s loot all her riches, and leave her there. No need to kill a primordial dragon. They don’t respawn after all.” Malaskador said, keeping his smile.
“That didn’t stop the other godslayers. And they did it for their own greed. In my case, I am just asking for a sensible payment. She hurt my people, tried to kill my family, damaged the FA, and allowed several villages to be damaged just because I was around. To not talk about her plan of using our own things as marionettes. So, if she aimed that high… Then why don’t we rip her into pieces? It’s just fair.” Evan said while looking at Metallican.
“That logic is good. But it’s straight up evil. Magic Corp won’t endorse such attacks-” Metallican said, before being blasted to ashes by a massive Flashfire that came out from Evan’s right hand.
“Then Magic Corp doesn’t need the experience nor materials granted by the primordial dragon. And absolutely, they don’t need the loot.” Evan coldly said, while glaring at the ashes.
“You could have just used a petrification curse…” Malaskador commented, while looking at the pile of ashes.
“You are a psychotic monster, Evan!” Malelania roared, as she glared at the demon.
“Yes, you are right. I don’t care about sheep people like Metallican. Even sheep beastkin have more brains than him. At least they don’t go kamikaze by saying such bullshit. And to be fair, a crybaby of your size is an insolence. Are you fat, or you are just big sized… You damnable overgrown lizard? Good lords, I am doing the gods a favor by turning you into materials.” Evan said as he smiled with a malicious smile, even though he wasn’t feeling anything right at that moment.
“You are sick, and manage to trick people into believing you are not. What sort of monster would be like you? You disgust me.” Malelania said, before trying to free herself.
“She’s right in that one.” Malaskador commented.
“For that bullshit, I have Jackie back at home. Seriously, I thought that after dating Elizabeth… Dealing with this talk wouldn’t be required at all. And Jackie keeps at it. Not like I mind about it. I know she cares about me. She could be less explosive when she gets embarrassed.” Evan said, before flicking his fingers.
After Evan flicked his fingers, the insect monsters started using their strength and spears to damage Malelania until she was dead. And not even a second after, they started dismantling the corpse… Not even giving her any rites.
“As a primordial’s dragon soul goes within the blood, do not miss any drop of blood, my Insectiers.” Evan ordered calmly, while the insect monsters followed his command.
“That always annoys me. They follow you rather well. Unlike the Fatso Wine Lord you made.” Malaskador said.
“Ah, fuck you. I was having my fun with the Euro group and Themeria. Also content creation. It was funny. Seeing a Flesh Golem dance the cha-cha-cha on their territory.” Evan said, while looking at Malaskador coldly.
“Godzilla sized FGs.” Malaskador added.
“Weren’t they funny? Made them extra thick so they would be like the lava lamp. If they are going to be like moths, might as well make a proper lamp so they just stay in the path and get crushed by the dancing fat bastard.” Evan said, as he started to calm down, while smirking at Malaskador.
“Well, congrats. Back to the world of sanity. You always go full pragmatism once that brain of yours goes insane. No emotions and the like. Poor Metallican. He’ll have the Christians annoying the life out of him.” Malaskador said, as he smirked at Evan.
“If I don’t calm down, Jackie will get angry. Gotta balance my insanity with my love life. Or that, or get used to hours of cuddling in the bed. Only to get bombed afterwards. I should take in consideration what Wukong told me: Don’t date the crazy tsunderes. Even though he has experience with that when it comes to Darya.” Evan said while smiling.
“That said, Grandine asked if Jackie was her mom. The blonde hair and all. And then Legadonia asked if Jackie’s real hair was silver colored, and then asked me if she was her mom. Man, they are teasing you through me.” Malaskador said, as he started grabbing gold from the pile.
“Not even an hour, and already looting the primordial dragon’s pile of treasures. Later, you all call me loot goblin because I loot you all as much as I can before you respawn.” Evan said, as he tried to hide his blush.
“Ah, the good old: Distract with anything, rather than trying to face your daughter’s teasing. Man, you are lucky your daughters are just little toddlers. When they get old, you are going to suffer at this rate. You kill gods, and still are awkward about love. Man, they sure didn’t love you in home.” Malaskador said, as he kept looting, only to be stopped by Evan shooting a bullet made of fire from his left index finger to his knee.
“Next time you bring up my family, I am putting a spiked iron rod up your ass. I have a stack of those. We may be friends, but I don’t condone any sort of debauched talk about my children. If they are debauched later on, then I may admit some of this sort of talk. But right now, they are pure and innocent.” Evan warned, while glaring at Malaskador.
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“Sorry, I should have kept myself quiet. Either way, what’s the next step?” Malaskador said, as he kneeled and covered his wound, clearly controlling his pain.
“It’s simple. The Pavilions must suffer for their insolence. There’s a weird assassin that clearly has been considered the best assassin. That’s some hefty insolence considering Robin and Moriarty are still around. It’s said that he is a Thread Master. Can you believe it? A Thread Master calling itself the best assassin?” Evan said, as he started grabbing all the loot he could get.
“Quite insolent, that one truly is. So you’ll be punishing them for that one’s insolence?” Malaskador said, as he managed to recover from the damage as the body reformed itself.
“That’s part of the reason. The rest is because they insulted and berated Grandine. They think they are above my children, in their arrogance, and I will make sure they all learn what it means to anger a Von Aegilard.” Evan said, as he finished looting the corpse and the treasures, while leaving a hefty amount of loot for Malaskador.
“Yeah, but they won’t stay quiet about it. And the Magic Corp might interfere.” Malaskador said calmly.
“Will they? Are they stupid? I am doing them a favor by teaching the murimists a lesson.” Evan said, as he walked towards the exit of the cave.
“Eh, you killed Metallican.” Malaskador retorted, as he followed Evan.
“Fuck Metallican. He’s more like ‘Metalli-can’t understand basic logic’. If there was a Guiness world record for walking on eggshells, he’d be the owner of that world record. He was born and crawled on eggshells, the damned bastard.” Evan said, before scoffing.
“Heh. You never lose that capacity to do hefty jabs, my friend.” Malaskador said, trying to stifle his chuckling.
“If you leave it to be that easy to do, then don’t blame me. Blame the rest for making it easy for me to make those jabs.” Evan said while smirking.
Malaskador simply shook his head, and followed Evan to the exterior of a cave. As both godslayers walked outside the cave, they were greeted by an army made of undead and under the orders of Evan.
The army itself consisted of two types of monsters, as it was just a battalion of monsters made for siege and fighting heavily fortified encampments with their sheer attack power and high defense capabilities of the entire group combined. The battalion itself was around 600000 monsters together, of the two types mixed together, and it was just a patrol battalion made to deal with murimist affiliates and the pavilions of Murim.
The first type of monster was a group of skeletons of 2 meters tall, with more bone density than normal and reinforced bones due to the mana embedded within the bones, who were wearing golden armors that covered all of their body and were thicker than their entire body. These skeletons wielding golden tower shields of at least half the weight of the armor itself, and a massive sword made of gold.
The second type of monster was a group of flying skeletons, of average size, who wore black robes with enough enchantments to make them look like disco balls on any radar that could detect mana. These skeletons wielded massive staves that had black orbs made of mana crystal, and it was clear that they all were the bombardment forces.
Evan simply smiled, as he knew that he had gotten the least mobile battalion but the one that worked the best against the murimists. While the murimists were known for their fighting abilities and physical prowess, it was clear that they couldn’t reach the bombardment forces nor damage the vanguard enough to take them down efficiently.
That, after a long time, would be known as the Murim Blitz. The first, and last, time that Evan lost due to a cunning plan from Jia Yeon to taunt him as much as possible and drain him out of all the mana. But the defeats the pavilions would take during the blitz were so many, that the only reason it wasn’t considered a loss was that Evan was defeated for the first time during his time in Dawn World.
***
Back to the present, Kanbe was going to attack Malaskador with an angry face. He held his sword with a strong grip, remembering that Themeria gifted him that sword as he needed a proper sword, and looked ready to kill.
“Which is your grudge against me or my family, devil?” Kanbe said while glaring at Malaskador.
“Oh, well, there’s a Tokugawa that tried to kill me… Oh, wait… Two of them! You also stabbed me! I can’t forgive such disrespect, even if it was easy to heal even without a healer, it’s a matter of reputation. Of course, you will be considered far above mortals for what you have done. But I’ll still be mocked by other godslayers. So I’ll kill you painfully for your insolence, and then I’ll use your corpse to go after the other one!” Malaskador said, while keeping his smile.
“Let’s be honest, I can’t defeat you. No matter what I do, the attack that struck you was a lucky shot. But I can still make your life harder.” Kanbe said with a confident smile, trying to taunt the devil.
“True. If you keep breathing, that is. Do you think I’ll let you go, though? I already told Moriarty and Paytell that you are mine to kill.” Malaskador said, keeping his smile, while trying to not frown.
“Of course not. Because you are evil. You enjoy causing suffering. But I am a hero, and I will show you why a hero should be respected.” Kanbe said, as he prepared to attack Malaskador while his grip on his sword became stronger.
“Go on, show it to me. Let’s see how far that power of yours goes to.” Malaskador said as he started preparing a spell, making sure his mana circulation was perfect.
And at that moment, Kanbe quickly teleported just in front of Malaskador as his mana circulated like a flow of a river towards the sword. Malaskador was caught by surprise, but quickly used Trick Dodge to translocated right besides the hero, as Kanbe moved his body to slash Malaskador’s back.
“Teleport plus Flash Strike. Combo skill: Warrior’s Ambush.” Kanbe said, as he slashes Malaskador’s back.
Even for a level 100 devil like Malaskador, that combination was hard to dodge, but he managed to dodge the attack thanks to the high agility he had. But even so, that was thanks to both his high agility alongside the passives known as Drilled Dodging and Acrobat. Kanbe had moved with extreme accuracy, and without wasted movements, alongside having his speed increased due to using the Flash Strike skill of the warrior skill tree.
But this was just the opening of the fight, and both knew that the other could be dangerous if they were allowed to use their best attacks. And Malaskador had talked about killing the hero, but the truth was that he needed Kanbe alive… To drag out the other Tokugawa out of hiding. He didn’t mind killing the heroes, but right now: He was unable to kill Kanbe.
Yet the fight was going to be easy for the devil, or so he thought, as he had far more agility and dexterity than the hero. And no matter how different Kanbe was from the others, not even the hero could cross the gap caused by all the abilities he had at his disposal.
And so the devil started the fight as he used Trickster Bomb plus Mark Creation to create a blinding bomb trap which would blind Kanbe and deal low damage. While Malaskador would prefer the binding effect, he needed the hero blind before using Earth Binding or a variation of said spell to bind Kanbe to the ground.
While Earth Binding was known as the staple immobilization spell, it was also known to be rather weak against warrior builds, as a strength superior to 200 points was enough to break free of the stone hands. A level 5 hero shouldn’t have a strength of 200 even if they dumped all the points into strength, so it was safe to assume that the hero could just be bound with Earth Binding.
Kanbe charged towards Malaskador, and triggered the trap. Which did blind and deal a few wounds to his left ankle, and that meant that he wouldn’t be able to move correctly nor put weight onto the left leg, and that was what Malaskador was waiting for. But Kanbe instinctively used a spell he had learned about during his training days, which was Fly, and had started flying haphazardly around the area as he wasn’t used to flying.
‘Ah, smart brat. If he flies, Earth Binding does shit. Unless I get him to attack me and lower altitute. And since even with the ranker equipment, using Water Ball or Speeding projectile could be lethal at that height… Yeah, can’t attack him so happily. Using Mana Bolt would kill him because of INT gap… Homing Mana Bolt would be the same. And the rest is the same story. Shit. I can use Dark Envoy and then use Dark Eye to get him to get down, then use the proper spell for binding: Dark Chains. With the passives from the Devil skill tree… Should be enough to keep him down. But if I use Dark Eye, I’ll have an eye like a lightbulb. He is out of range for Dark Chains. Do I use an eyed familiar and get them to suffer the effects of Dark Eye? Oh, wait. Yeah. I always forget about that skill. Because it costs me 20 MP, for things that are just useless. But out of range. The bastard is around 30 or 40 meters of distance, so hah: Nope.’ Malaskador thought to himself as he prepared his mana to cast Occult Barrier and block any attack from Kanbe.
Kanbe took the chance to shoot a couple of Holy Bullet spells to damage Malaskador, but Malaskador finished preparing the spell and without any sort of chant. He created a barrier of dark green energy that surrounded him, and the bullet didn’t even crack the barrier. It just struck the barrier and dispersed, while Malaskador smiled until he noticed one problem.
‘It’ll be more annoying, but I need Kanbe to get closer. But I can always use Demonic Hand to cast Dark Chains from a distance, and chain him. Thing is that the hand is so slow. As its speed is always the same. I could always smack him from afar. The hand has the same strength as I have, so it would hurt him badly. Just a pimp slap sort of damage.’ Malaskador thought to himself, as he used the Demonic Hand spell.
Once the spell was used, a dark hand made of an ink-like mana appeared outside the barrier and floated towards Kanbe. Only to be shot down by Hiro, who had shot a precise shot at the hand, which did annoy the devil.
‘Mental Note: Rip off that archer’s hands. And fingers. In the most painful way. Seriously, I just want to kill Takuto and then kill the hero. And because both have hurt me, and tried to kill me, so it’s fair game. Why must the rest interfere!?’ Malaskador thought as he did his best attempt to keep his smile.
But now the situation was clearly terrible for the devil. Demonic Hand had a long cooldown, at least one minute, and the barrier was more of an annoyance than protection. Malaskador had raised it to prevent any sneak shot, but now the situation had turned around, and he couldn’t just drop it and risk being sniped by the archer. To not count that doing any sort of hefty damage was out of the question, as Kanbe had a huge stat gap which made him quite easy to kill by any skill even with the equipment.
And so the situation became a rather annoying situation for the devil, as he could win instantly but would easily lose what he desired to get. But he wouldn’t give up, nor let the hero escape, and a plan formed in his head. But one which required Paytell’s assistance.
Kanbe status:
Race: Human
Genre: Male.
Age (True Age/Human standard age): 18
Height: 1 meter and 65 centimeters.
Likes: Pizza, good acts and fighting.
Dislikes: Injustice
Level: 5
STATS (Maximum of 1000):
HP: 30000/30000
MP: 15000/15000
STR: 100
VIT: 200
INT: 100
DEX: 300
AGI: 200
Magic affinity: Holy Magic.
Skill affinity: Magic, Warrior, Crafting, Enchanter, Guardian, Scout, Trap Master, Draconian knight, Charmer.
Skills:
Magician (Master):
Magic Knowledge: Passive. Allows the use of magic.
Magician's soul: Passive. All spells cast by the user are a 20% stronger.
Magic control: Passive. All spells are cast 10% faster. Some can even be used without chanting.
Magic modification: Passive. The spells can be modified to give them new effects and change the way they are used.
Chantless: Passive. The minor spells will be automatically cast without even saying the name of the spell and the user only has to think in the spell and the adept spells only will have to be chanted entirely when using magic modification.
Holy Magic (Master):
Holy bullet: Active, 5 MP. The caster creates a bullet of holy magic. It is like a laser that will perforate anything.
Holy Heal: Active, 10 MP. The caster can heal an ally a 10% of their maximum HP.
Holy Lance: Active, 16 MP. The caster creates several spears made of holy light.
Holy Blade: Active, 22 MP. The caster can create a sword made of holy element and throw it or implant the holy element temporarily to the blade that the caster is using.
Holy Aura: Active, 30 MP. The caster implants the holy element in the armor he/she has and increases his/her defense a 20%.
Photon Laser: Active, 80 MP. The user shoots a laser of light that pierces through anything but can be redirected using mirrors.
Divine Salvation: Active, 1 MP. The user can dispel any effect like nothing had happened.
Lion's Heart: Active, 5 MP. The user can give bravery to the target and increase their resistance to fear and ailments a 50%.
Holy Empowering: Active, 0 MP. The user can add the holy element to anything. Pinnacle spell.
Basic Magic (Master):
Minor Analysis: Active, 1 MP. Allows the user to see the stats of the target. It can be tricked with false status skill.
False status: Active, 3 MP. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status.
Medium analyze: Active, 5 MP. Shows to the user the status and the personal data of the target. It can be tricked.
False data: Active, 15 mp. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status window and the skill window when they use analyze skills like Greater analyze or medium analyze.
Fly: Active, 8 mp/second. Allows the user to soar through the sky.
Greater analyze: Active, 10 MP. Shows to the user everything of the target. It can be tricked with false self.
Telepathy: Active, 12 mp/second. Allows the user to speak to the mind of the target.
False self: Active, 20 mp. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status window, the skill window and even the name and gender that appears in the status window when they use analyze skills.
Teleport: Active, 15 mp. The user can make small teleports. Range of 1500 meters.
Full analyze: Active, 20 MP. Shows to the user everything of the target.
City Teleport: Active, 30 mp. The user can teleport to any city that the user has visited.
Warrior (Minor):
Knowledge of Swords: Passive. Allows the user to use more efficiently the swords, greatswords and any other kind of weapon.
Flash strike: Active, 3 MP. The user does a swift strike that is hard to parry.
Impact strike: Active, 5 MP. The user does a strike with enough impact to disarm the opponent.
Charmer (Master):
Increased Charm: People of the opposite sex or those of the same sex interested in the same sex will be more attracted to the user.
Charmed Trust: Those who are charmed by the user will trust him/her totally.
Charming negotiations: The negotiations with the ones who can be charmed will be easier.
Irresistible: Those who may be interested in the user will lose any kind of restraint when they see him/her.
Paytell Status
Race: Human.
Gender: Female
Three sizes: 105/98/100
Cup Size: E
Age: 23 years old (in human years).
Height: 1 meter and 60 centimeters.
Likes: Taking care of her companions, chai, helping people, drinking, tacos, freedom, loyal people, godslayers, being with her comrades.
Dislikes: Wukong, corruption, slavers, having to deal with Robin, Zerax, Jackie’s stare, sorcerers, nobles, being called a phony.
Level: 60
STATS:
HP: 30000/30000
MP: 25000/25000
STR: 400
VIT: 200
INT: 300
DEX: 300
AGI: 300
Magic affinity: Thunder, Wind, Basic, Holy, Stealth.
Skill affinity: Djinn Wielder, Magician, Swordsmanship, Enhancer, Charmer, Blademaster, Draconian Knight, Survivalist, Blacksmith, Appraiser, Recovery Guard.
Titles: Grand godslayer, Djinn Mediator.
Job: Mercenary.
Special skills:
Super body: The user’s body is far better than usual, so it can withstand way better than the average person the side effects of skills like Limiter Release.
Royal Surge: The user recovers 50% of their remaining HP, and all of their mana when they lose 50% of their HP.
Djinn Favor: The user gains 1 status point, and 2 intelligence status, per deal fulfilled with a Djinn.
Sword Virtuoso: The user is far better than usual at using swords, and can use the swords as mana catalysts even if they are not ready for it.
Skills:
Blademaster (Master):
Blade Mastery: The user is more proficient with all kinds of blades, whether they be one-handed swords or katanas that are used as one-handed swords.
Earth’s Skin: The user’s resistance to cutting and perforating attacks increases a 50%.
Bladed Power: The user’s damage output with blades is increased a 10%.
Agile Feet: The user’s agility is increased a 20%, and the movement speed of the user is increased a 30%.
Focused Mind: The user can focus their mind, and so they can detect everything that goes near them in a range of 40 meters.
Layered Slash: Active, 40 MP. The user dashes with an incredible speed across a circular area of 400 meters, attacking up to four targets with a powerful slash per target.
Mana Breathing: Active, 15 MP. The user breathes calmly while absorbing mana, increasing their strength and agility a 30% for five minutes.
Flash Slash: Active, 50 MP. The user teleports near a target, and slashes them from the front. Range: 150 meters.
Twin Slash: Active, 10 MP. A double slash done so quickly that if the first hits, the second is guaranteed to hit. But if the first slash fails, the second shall fail too.
Fateful Cleave: Active, 25 MP. A wide slash that hits those in front of the user that are in a range of 15 meters in a conic range.
Divine Steel: Active, 50 MP. A quick slash reinforced with mana, which increases the cutting edge and offensive power of the attack.
Mortal Cleave: Active, 50 MP. Can only be done after a Fateful Cleave. A wide slash reinforced with mana, with the same range as Fateful Cleave, which causes grievous wounds that can’t be healed with skills or spells.
Sealed Slash: Active, 200 MP. Can only be done after any slashing skill. A slash done in the seconds after slashing a target, that deals massive damage and leaves grievous wounds. This skill never fails. Pinnacle skill.
Enhancer (Master):
Hardened skin: Increases the defense of the user a 50%.
Instant Reflex: The user returns to the attack stance when the enemy throws off-balance him by a previous attack. It can hurt depending on how the user is thrown off-balance.
Magic Soul: The user gains a 50% extra resistance to magic.
Body Enhancement: Active, 1 MP. Increases for a brief period of time (1 minute) all the status a 20%.
Skill Boost: Active, 3 MP. The damage caused by skills is increased a 3% for a long period of time (1 hour).
Evasion enhancement: Active, 5 MP. The user increases his speed when he dodges attacks during a brief period of time.
Improved Body Enhancement: Active, 10 MP. Increases for a long period of time all the status a 20%.
Improved Evasion Enhancement: Active, 25 MP. The user increases his speed when he dodges attacks during a long period of time.
Neural Enhancement: Active, 30 MP. The user makes his brain go faster, obtaining increased attack speed and reflexes.
Battle Aura: Active, 50 MP. The user increases all the power of the muscles and allows the user to imbue the weapon used with magic so not only can be stopped without any kind of mana skills.
Limiter Release: Active, 25 MP/second. Nullifies any limit that the body has, increasing a 90% all Status. But causes pain and overused will cause the death of the user.
Appraiser (Master):
Knowledge of medicinal and poisonous herbs: The user can recognize the plants that are good to use for medical use and the ones that are used to make poison.
Knowledge of medicinal properties: The user can recognize all the items that can be used to make items to heal people.
Knowledge of armors, and shields: The user can recognize the quality and utility of all armors and shields, their enchantments, and materials.
Knowledge of weapons: The user can recognize the quality and utility of all weapons, their enchantments, and materials.
Knowledge of materials and tools: The user can recognize the quality and utility of all materials and tools.
Appraisal: Active, 10 MP. The user uses mana to check the status sheet of the target, and it can’t be tricked.
Body Appraisal: Active, 15 MP. The user uses mana to check the body of the target, showing all the augmentations they may have and special situations (ailments, or special body types).
Item Appraisal: Active, 30 MP. The user uses mana to appraise an item, showing their rarity, value, durability, state, and enchantments.
Psychological Appraisal: Active, 30 MP. The user can use this skill to appraise the psychological state of an individual.
Truth Appraisal: Active, 30 MP. The user can discern instantly if the target is saying the truth.
Building Appraisal: Active, 60 MP. The user can appraise a building, its durability, amount of people inside, number of rooms, secret rooms, and even if the building can stay there without any risk of falling down.
Mass Appraisal: Active, 100 MP. The user can do a massive appraisal in an area of 300 meters of radius. Pinnacle skill.
Survivalist (Master):
Survival Specialist: Passive. Allows the user to survive harsh conditions for extended periods of time, and grants the ability to recover from any ailment with enough time.
Survivalist Stomach: Passive. The user can withstand easily eating rotten food, with only some minor indisposition.
Survivalist Compass: Passive. The user knows always where he/she is, and which path to take in order to go back. Only works as long as the eyes are open, and if the user has seen the path they have followed.
Survivalist Last Stand: Passive. If the user is going to die due to not natural causes like starvation, once per month, they can heal themselves up to optimal condition.
Trap Making: Active, 10 MP. The user can make all kinds of traps, as long as he/she understands how to make them.
Mapping: Active, 20 MP. The user can make a map of the area with their mana, to plan where they go.
Marker Addition: Active, 30 MP. The user can place a mana signal on an object and is able to sense it in a range of 200 meters.
Light Sprint: Active, 2 MP/minute. The user can increase their speed a 200% while running. Pinnacle skill.
Swordsmanship (Master) (Elathana Style/Extreme Style):
Expert in Swords: Increases the power of sword skills a 25%
Perfect Striking: The accuracy while wielding a sword increases a 30%
Swordsman Wind: Increases the stamina of the user a 40%
Controlled Breathing: The user can control their breathing and increase their speed and power a 30%. Exhausts people faster.
Elathana style:
Wind’s Reach: The wielder of the sword has a better understanding of the sword, making him/her able to increase their range a 20%.
Elathana Posture: The wielder has learned to stances and posture of the Elathana style, which makes the user capable of using the style. Using the Elathana stances increases the speed and cutting power of the sword, and it is a style that focuses on dodging and attacking rather fast at the enemy. Most of the attacks and unsheathing attacks, and quick slashes.
Elathana’s Singularity: Allows the user to modify the active offensive skills (like breeze) to adapt most situations.
Sundering Wind: The user can detect when he/she can stagger the enemy more easily.
Mana Infusion: Active, 2 MP/minute. The user can infuse mana inside himself/herself to raise up his/her power a 20%.
Elathana’s breeze: Active, 20 MP. The user dashes forward cutting in half any enemy encountered alongside the path.
Piercing winds: Active, 25 MP. The user flanks a target and the next strike can pierce barriers and armors. It doesn’t have to be a thrust the next attack.
Maelstrom of Elathana: Active, 100 MP. The user focuses the mana on the sheathed blade to release a wave of mana that cuts the opponents in a spheric area of 150 meters of radius.
Extreme style:
Extreme style swordsmanship: The user is able to use the extreme style well, which is using a sword with enhanced perception while doing powerful slashes.
Sword Essence: The user is able to sense the intent of the swords, and can concentrate mana and turn it into sword essence, which essentially powers up the sword or can make its own blade. Also, this essence can be used in special abilities.
Extreme Essence: The user, with a great deal of meditation and training, can gather mana and make a small reservoir of mana. This small reservoir of mana can be used in conjunction with sword essence to go into extreme mode.
Scarlet Nova: Active, 20 MP. The user does a combo consisting of an upward slash followed by a downward slash, and then finally a thrust.
Perfect Senses: Active, 5 MP/minute. The user can increase their reflexes to the point where they can block attacks without thinking. This taxes heavily the user, and consumes both sword essence and extreme essence.
Reverse circle: Active, 10 MP/minute. The user spins the sword, releasing a wave of sword essence to push allies away while cutting the enemies.
Scratching blades: Active, 50 MP. The user stabs the ground, and releases several waves of blade essence that will spread making a dome, keeping the allies safe while cutting the enemies and pushing them away.
Extreme wind scratches: Active, 25 MP. The user releases a pair of blades made of pure extreme essence to damage the enemy.
Extreme mode: Active, 100 MP/minute. Pinnacle skill. The user uses both blade essence and extreme essence to boost his stats a 10%. This mode improves all the swordsman skills effectiveness.
Djinn Wielder (Master):
Djinn Absorption: Defeating a Djinn will allow the user to absorb their elemental power, and keep it within a metallic vessel (usually a weapon) to wield it. Also, can be absorbed if the Djinn allows it, or Wish Granting is used to grant said element.
Djinn Resistance: The user is immune to any mind manipulation or manipulation of any sort done by a Djinn.
Vessel’s Might: The metallic vessels wielded by the user are a 30% more effective.
Djinn Mana: Active, 30 MP/minute. Each minute, the user can spend mana to acquire the special mana type known as Djinn Mana. Djinn Mana production speed is equal to 1+(INT*0.6) per minute.
Djinn Wave: Active, 20 MP. The user uses mana that can deal massive damage to Djinn, and releases it in the form of a sword wave.
Djinn Elemental Vessel: Active, 4 MP plus 30 DMP. The user uses their mana and Djinn mana to transform one of their vessels to a form suitable to use the elemental power of a Djinn.
Djinn Elemental Burst: Active, 10 MP plus 10 DMP. The user uses their mana and Djinn mana in one of their vessels to release a burst of elemental power of a Djinn.
Djinn Expulsion: Active, 200 MP. The user uses their mana to expel a Djinn from the mortal realm.
Djinn Subjugation: Active, 2000 MP. The user can subjugate a weakened Djinn and turn them into a familiar bound to a metallic vessel.
Djinn Transformation: Active, 1000 MP/minute. The user can manifest the full elemental power of a Djinn by transforming their body and using a copy of the Djinn’s body. This increases vastly the strength, vitality, and agility of the user. Pinnacle skill.