Theodore couldn't turn his head, he just stood there, frozen as he realized that he'd made a big mistake. '...Guess this is as far as I go.'

His increased reflexes had made it seem like time has slowed down, though it would still be impossible for him to dodge or counterattack as if his body won't move with his thoughts.

He calculated his odds of survival, and at point-blank range like this, with the sword position in a way that even if he ducked or jumped, there was practically no way for him to live this attack.

That was unless he'd missed an unknown variable.

A thundering bang had delayed his seemingly inevitable fall, Theodore didn't question what'd just happened as his legs finally began to move, he dashed onto the ground before rolling back on his feet, backing away as he looked at Beelzebub.

The demon king's dominant hand had a large, gaping wound on it, the katana laid on the ground with its handle covered in blood, his other hand was clutching at another wound on his stomach as blood continued to flow despite his attempt to stop the bleeding.

Beelzebub's eyes were widened with glaring anger, though it wasn't fixed at Theodore but someone else behind him.

"...Sloth."

Belphegor didn't lower the two pistols in his hands, his sight trained sharp on his target as smoke rose from the eagle's muzzles. "...Don't get the wrong idea, I just don't like owing people favors."

Theodore felt like he'd just accomplished a great feat, a fast sharpshooter had always been useful in his eyes, he would know best since he had been with a friend like that for years. He glanced at the boy behind him and smiled softly. "Thanks!"

Belphegor didn't reply back before suddenly pulling the triggers once again, the bullets embedded themselves deep into Beelzebub's shoulder and leg, causing him to stagger onto one knee.

"F*ck! You both are cowards!" Gluttony shouted angrily as he tried to get up, although he wouldn't get the chance to even go half way since Sloth shot him again, but this time he was at least to block the bullet with his katana.

Theodore used this moment to quickly pull up his attribute window, skimming through his list of skills to see which one he should use to kill Gluttony. 'System, what's the limit to Voracious Beast?'

[The Demon King of Gluttony has used 'Bottomless Hunger', this got rid of limitations to 'Voracious Beast'. Gluttony can devour any and all abilities, regardless of their status as a Bloodline Skill.]

He was about to simply switch to melee when his eyes landed on Gluttony once again and spotted that something was off about his body.

Beelzebub's neck seemed to be covered in frost and it was still moving upwards, nearly reaching his broad jawline.

'...Is that his weakness? System, what's the side effect of using Voracious Beast?'

[The user will still feel the negative effects of the skill.]

Theodore hadn't used Embodiment of Chaos because he thought the attacks would just be eaten before it could inflict the status effect. 'So I can still use it then?'

[The Fragment of the Original is responding to the use of 'Embodiment of Chaos'!]

[The Bloodline Skill 'Coldest Death' is enhancing 'Frozen Disaster'!]

He extended his palm and summoned a frozen sword from a magic circle, the air around it instantly turned cold as it softly fell into his grip.

[Frozen Disaster: Frozen Blade.]

He strolled closer to Beelzebub while listening to Belphegor's soft footsteps behind him, the sword was raised in front of him until he stopped in front of the kneeling king. "You were good with bluffing, though unfortunately, my ice is too cold for you."

Theodore raised the weapon high in the air before striking down at Beelzebub's head, not even giving the king a single second to respond to his words, the face was split entirely in half before ice began to sprout from the gaping wound, traveling along his body before eventually encasing it entirely in a frozen block.

Belphegor held out his red pistol and shot at the ice, shattering it along with Beelzebub's body inside.

As the two of them watched the multiple frozen flesh scattered into light particles, another banner appeared up directly above them.

It depicted the image of a snake and a bear to the right of a large bold text [SLAIN] with a boar on the other side, it had a similar cross striking on top of it, similar to the magpie bird earlier.

Theodore didn't look at the sign for long though, he shifted his attention downwards and his eyes landed on Belphegor, who was still looking at the banner in awe.

"...I did it." The boy spoke in a soft, barely audible whisper.

"You did it." Theodore responded with a smile, the longer he looked at Sloth, it was hard to believe that such a kid was actually a demon king.

'...He's actually older than me though.'

Belphegor soon caught his gaze, but it was only for a second since he instantly looked away while speaking in an angry tone. "I…I didn't need your help! I was just trying to fool Beelzebub and make him let his guard down!"

Theodore rolled his eyes, finding Sloth's words funnier rather than frustrating. "Yeah okay, you totally weren't about to let Gluttony kill you just now."

His words caused Belphegor to flinch, it was just a sight twist in his shoulders but Theodore saw it clearly. He didn't push the matter further though and he turned away, preparing to go in the opposite direction. "Anyway, since you don't need me now I'll get—"

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

"Wait!" With a desperate cry, Belphegor’s head turned towards him, he would’ve given himself a whiplash if he wasn’t a demon. “I…I didn’t say that I don’t…Please don’t leave…”

Theodore looked at Sloth blankly, trying to hide his surprise behind his neutral expression; he didn’t expect to see the once-stubborn demon king making such a sad face. “…You can come with me if you want.”

Belphegor looked up at him with sparkling eyes, the hopeless expression he had on earlier had completely melted away into joy. “Really? I can…I can come with you?”

“Of course, I don’t see you as a dead weight at all.” Theodore reassured the demon. “You saved me, so why don’t we continue helping each other from now on?”

“I…Okay!” Sloth said eagerly before extending out one of his hands. “I’ll let you call me Belphi!”

Theodore was speechless for a moment but he would quickly take the boy’s hand. “Alright Belphi, you can call me Theo then.”

Belphegor nodded then looked off somewhere behind him, tilting his head slightly to the side so that he could see better. “Do you have some sort of plan moving forward?”

“Well,” Theodore put his hands inside his trousers’ pockets. “Not counting us, there are three other demon kings left, it would be best that we wait until only one remains standing first.”

“What will we do in the meantime though?” Sloth asked, but he didn't sound like he had any problem with that plan, though it was most likely because he didn’t like the idea of fighting very much.

Theodore looked off towards the forest. “We can just sit around and wait…But it might be best if we can speed things up by ambushing a fight like I did with yours.”

“…” Belphegor’s brows flattened into a thin line. “Wouldn’t waiting be the safest route though? There’s no need for you to get involved in a mock battle like this one.”

Sloth’s words only made Theodore huffed, he was right, he didn’t need to jump in and risk getting eliminated, nor did he need to save Belphegor either. “But isn’t this a good opportunity for me to make new friends?”

“Huh?” The boy didn’t expect that to be his answer, his eyes widened slightly as he stared at Theodore with a mixture of confusion and surprise.

“I meant what I said,” He shrugged. “You guys only know Lucifer, not me. I want to use this as a way to gain allies.”

Belphegor bit his lips, his gaze averted to the side. “…I don’t think you’re very good at choosing friends.”

Theodore blinked at Sloth without saying anything for a moment, though he would speak up after organizing his own words. “You were a better pick than either Leviathan or Beelzebub. Sure you might not be the strongest out of the demon kings, but apart from Asmodeus, you seem the most reasonable.”

“But I’m not strong—“

“I don’t care about that.” Theodore cut Belphegor off. “There’s strength in numbers right? Don’t worry about it too much.”

Sloth still had a worried look on his face, though it seemed that he decided not to say anything more about the matter. “Okay, so where are we going—“

‘BANG!’

The sounds of fireworks rang out from above them, Theodore was slightly startled by the sudden noise but immediately looked up when he realized what it signaled.

Another banner had appeared high in the sky, depicting the image of a goat and a crossed-out dragon sandwiching the bold words [SLAIN] between them. Theodore unknowingly smiled after noticing whose those two symbols belonged to. “Asmodeus won.”

.

.

.

A little earlier, Asmodeus had accidentally ran into someone that had a very bad grudge against her, she didn’t even get to say hello and Mammon began attacking her immediately, forcing her to defend herself.

Mammon was a close-range fighter, his main weapon being a pair of brass knuckles, gleaming with dark energy as the demon king enhanced it with his magic. Greed unleashed a fury of attacks towards her while she couldn’t do much at the moment but dodge while occasionally deflecting attacks with her trusty whip.

“Hah! I’ll defeat you today, Lust!” Mammon made his villainous speech, fists flying through the air, even if Asmodeus retreated, she still needed to deflect the power gusts that were created by the punches. “This is payback!”

Asmodeus sighed tiredly as she slowly regained her composure, her opponent had jumped her when she wasn't prepared, so she needed some time to figure out what was going on. 'This is annoying…If Theo was here, I'd just leave all of this up to him!'

She didn't want to lose this fight, it would be bad for her image, not to mention how her "beloved" would think of her if she lose to this piece of sh*t!

Asmodeus decided to hold her tongue and focused on the fight at hand, after rolling on her side to dodge a gale wind, she stood on her knee and slashed her whip, letting the lasso fly towards Mammon at a blinding speed.

Greed merely glanced down at her attack and dodged, causing the whip to strike the empty ground instead. When he looked back, he saw that a large crack had formed on the spot where he once stood. He swallowed nervously as he stared at Asmodeus. '...She can probably kill me in a few hits, what a f*cking monster.'

Lust was considered to be second just below Wrath, she'd rightfully climbed her way to the top, relying on nobody but herself, though most demon kings disliked her because of her attitude, she was giving hope to the normal demons that they might one day rise to become just like them.

'Foolish thoughts! They can never rival us kings!'

But then that serpent had to show up, a mere monster of unknown origin, it wasn't even a demon yet it could easily stand its own ground against a demon king. Mammon had to suppress his thoughts so he wouldn't lose his sight on the current target. 'Whatever, I'll get rid of Lust then take that f*cker on later.'

He'd seen the two notifications in the sky, it was infuriating that his kin had fallen to the serpent, twice, not to mention that the trash demon king, Sloth, had gotten an assist for killing Gluttony too.

While Mammon was too busy monologuing to his own thoughts, Asmodeus had stepped a little closer so he was within her whip's range, with a single swing, the air rippled around the lasso as it dashed towards Mammon once again.

Greed frowned, his eyes instantly landing on the whip. He moved his fists and caused a powerful gust to slow down the whip's speed, allowing him to dodge to the side and dashed towards Asmodeus, one fist drawn back and ready to strike.

Lust took a step back and casted a spell. A purple magic circle appeared in front of her and a blast of pink smoke clashed straight into Mammon's face.

[Mist of Desire.]

"F*ck!" Mammon had to stop moving and cover his face with his arms, although it was already too late, he'd been hit directly with one of the most dangerous mental-corruption spells, Mist of Desire, he could feel his entire body growing hotter with each second and his clothes was starting to feel uncomfortable against his skin.

Asmodeus couldn't hold herself back and laughed at Mammon's flushed expression. "Aw, you're kinda cute when you're blushing~"

"Fu-Shut the f*ck up!" Luckily for Greed, a demon king's body is extremely tolerant to debuffs, it would take a bit of time but the effects should disappear after a moment.

Though Asmodeus only needed that few moments to gain the upper hand, she quickly backed up and swung her whip, forcing the dazed Mammon to go on the defensive.

While most of the damage done was negated by Greed's good posture, Asmodeus' fighting style focused on repeatedly attacking the enemy's weak spots, her whip can weave and turn abnormally, allowing it to bypass shields and a blocking stance easily.

Though as soon as Mammon dispelled the Mist of Desire's effects, he immediately released his magical energy, causing Asmodeus to grow wary of his next move and retreated for the time being, holding her whip in a way that it could lash out at Greed again once he'd show her an opening.

Mammon gritted his teeth as he glared at Asmodeus with pure anger in his eyes. "I'll f*cking mutilate you b*tch!"

With a powerful stomp, the ground around them was suddenly engulfed in an orange magic circle, the arcane spinning and turning ominously as it emitted out an eerie demonic aura.

Asmodeus frowned at Mammon's spell of choice. "Domain?"

[Land of All that is Glitter.]

The ground began to burn into gold as constructs rose from all around the magic circle's perimeter, it encased the both of them which ensured that it would be difficult to escape.

Asmodeus didn't want to use the domain spell, it was a risky move since the demon king would be left defenseless for the entire duration of the casting process.

But it was different for Greed.

'He could've surpassed me if he didn't have the attitude of an arrogant idiot and a head hotter than the sun.' She thought to herself while staring at Mammon, who was entirely uncased in a tornado made from his orange demonic power.

[Power Hungry.]

Greed's Unique Spell, when using any and all forms of buffing or debuffing magic, he will gain a temporary increase in his defenses. However, when paired with a domain skill, he will instead become invulnerable to attacks entirely.

Another effect of Power Hungry was that the more risk Greed takes, the stronger he becomes, the buff from the skill is non-dispellable and the only reliable counter to it was a form of attack debuff spells.

'F*cking hell…' Asmodeus couldn't help but see the irony, she had nothing but mental skills, usually meant for reducing her opponents will to fight before she can easily take them out, but she still managed to make her way to second place in individual strength because of her hidden skill.

'...It seemed like I had to use it again.' Asmodeus had a love-hate relationship with this 'attribute', it was something that she wouldn't use unless it became extremely necessary.

This was such a scenario.

She knew she had just about a few seconds left before Mammon finished casting his domain. She quickly extended her hand and summoned a short sword into her palms.

It had a beautiful design carved onto its silvery blade, the guard and handle that connected to it looked like it was meant to replicate the appearance of a cross.

Asmodeus didn't know the weapon's origin, but it was given to her by Lucifer before their Fall, it was meant to be a gift of sorts from a friend to another. She'd kept it even after the blade became harmful to her.

She didn't want to risk engaging in a close-range combat with Mammon, one of the best melee fighters among the demon kings. Beside that, the weapon was constantly burning her hand, Mammon would only have to stall for time until she could no longer hold on and drop it on her own.

Asmodeus wasn't going to use it on him though.

The powerful swirl dispersed outwards, revealing a dragon-like humanoid floating a few meters above the ground, his wings were spread wide and his arms and legs were covered in thick dragon scales, tearing through his neat suit and overlapping each other to form the appearance of armor.

When Mammon saw the holy sword in her hand, he frowned while tilting his head in confusion. "What are you going to do with that thing?"

Asmodeus didn't waste anymore time and suddenly pointed the sword towards herself dragging the short sword's blade across her chest. She gritted her teeth and fought through the pain, before she finally unsummon the weapon when she'd managed to create a large cut wound starting from her right chest to her left waist.

Despite the excruciating pain that she was feeling, Asmodeus looked up at Mammon with an unsettling hint in her widened gaze. "...You'll know soon."

[Sadomasochist.]