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705. Overwhelmed

I flew back away from the collapsing mountain as I dusted my hands off. A grin was plastered on my face, and I looked down towards the rising cloud of dust and debris.

“How about that, huh?”

I had crashed Jofis right into the mountain with the force of all my strength, boosted by my two Grand Skills. He hadn’t even been able to break free from my grasp. Which was expected, because my [Divine Essence of the Angelic Devil Princess] gave me a massive increase in strength and speed.

However, despite that, I knew this battle did not end so easily. I watched as a giant boulder the size of a small hill shot into the air straight at me from the cloud of clearing dust.

I easily dodged to the side, before looking back down at where the attack had come from. Jofis stood there with a glare piercing up my way.

“Did you really think that was enough to defeat me?”

He asked as he strode out of the rubble. He began to spread his black wings wide, and I waved my hands off dismissively.

“Oh, I was not done yet.”

“Hm?”

He narrowed his eyes when he heard that. I snapped my fingers as a symbol flashed on his back.

“[Divine Demon’s Mark].”

The Winged Horror’s eyes went wide as he spun around. But the explosion went off anyway. There was nothing he could have done to stop it. I watched as the powerful blast completely obliterated the nearby rubble.

But even still, I knew the battle was not over yet. Even if my attacks were far more powerful now thanks to my Grand Skills, Jofis was strong. Not only that, but he most definitely had some kind of regeneration Skill.

He emerged from the blast, screaming as he raised his arms. They were scorched and burned from the blast. But I watched as they began to heal quickly. Not instantaneously. But like he was dipping them in a healing potion.

“Huh.”

I blinked at that. That was interesting. I wondered if that regeneration applied to his entire body or only his arms. If it was a continuous regeneration that was active at all times and covered him entirely, I was going to have a lot of difficulty killing him, even with my two active Grand Skills.

“I will kill you!”

Jofis roared as he shot up my way, and I raised my hands with a grin.

“Come on, you can kill a few more me’s if you want!”

I clapped my hands together as a flash of light created three more of my clones. They laughed and flew down to meet the Winged Horror.

His claws expanded in size as he swung up at them.

“Pests—”

But unlike before, when he killed my clones easily and effortlessly, he was unable to even hit them as they deftly zipped around him. They unleashed a barrage of strikes as he recoiled in pain.

I twirled my scythe behind my back and watched as Jofis finally managed to grab ahold of one of my clones. When that happened, the other two simultaneously flew straight into him as they chuckled.

“Got you!”

They all exclaimed. And at once, the three of them erupted into a massive blast that engulfed the Winged Horror.

I could hear his scream in pain, before making out the vague shape of his disfigured body through the clearing smoke. I didn’t let up. I immediately swept down upon him as my scythe shone with a brilliant iridescent light.

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“[Divine Radiant Slash]!”

I swung down at Jofis as his eyes went wide. A large chunk of both his arms was missing, and his body was bleeding and wounded, but not as badly as his arm. He looked up at me just in time to raise his injured left arm to block the attack. But his arm went flying as I cleaved through his flesh.

Then I brought a hand up, pointing at his face as he stared at me.

“And next, [Worldb—”

But Jofis moved faster. He let out a guttural cry as he opened his mouth.

“[Armageddon Unleashed]!”

All at once a sphere of black flames shot out of his mouth. It struck me head-on. I couldn’t dodge it in time.

It was a powerful blast— stronger than the combined explosion of three of my clones with my [Divine Essence of the Angelic Devil Princess] active.

But even still, it didn’t leave a scratch on me.

The explosion cleared as Jofis panted before me. He his left hand had already regenerated at this point, and he must’ve used his arms to protect himself from the blast because both of them were in a terrible state. They began to heal as Jofis’s brows snapped together at me.

“How…?”

“[My Flames Shall Burn Until Eternity Ends] is still active. So—”

I bared my teeth at him and pointed at his face.

“[Worldbreak].”

“What—”

Jofis started, before his entire body began to twist. He looked down at himself in confusion as space distorted where he was. But that wasn’t all.

Slowly, tiny little flakes of his body began to disintegrate into these iridescent motes of light.

Slowly, he was being corrupted.

“What in the world is this?”

Jofis screamed as he flew back. He escaped the distortion as I couldn’t move [Worldbreak] to keep up with him. So the Skill came to an end.

But that didn’t mean the Winged Horror escaped unscathed. He flew back as some motes of iridescent light was leftover covering parts of his body.

He turned around and pointed back at me.

“[Sacred Hellfire]!”

And nothing came out from his fingertips. Blinking, he looked down at himself as I smirked. The realization settled in for him.

“My Divine Skills— why aren’t they working?!”

“Because you’re corrupted now! But not like me!”

I exclaimed as I flew up to him. He spun around in a panic, and I followed-up with a [Divine Strike] at his arms— specifically, where the corruption was oozing off his skin.

And my attack struck true. It ripped apart his arm as he let out a cry of agony. After all, divine attacks were effective against corruption.

This time around, he didn’t heal from the injuries he sustained on his arms.

“No regeneration too. So that was a Divine Skill, huh?”

I bared my teeth as I swung at him once again. Jofis cursed, trying to disengage. But I pressed after him as I raised my right clawed hand.

“There is no escape for you!”

“You’re—”

His eyes widened as more corruption began to flake off my hands. But this time, it didn’t immediately engulf him. Instead, the corruption seemed to take the image of a giant version of my hand.

Jofis tried to fly off. However, he was drawn towards the corrupted hand as the corruption that covered his body was pulled in. He began screaming pain as I began to twist my claws shut. There was no escape for him.

“[Claw Of Corruption].”

I laughed as the Winged Horror continued to cry out in pain. His body began to rip apart, chunks of him shooting out in corrupted bits. The space itself around him was torn apart. Nothing he did could let him escape.

“It’s over…”

I whispered as I watched my [Claw Of Corruption] slowly crush him with the overwhelming mass of corruption that acted as an extension of my hands. I had used all my greatest Skills as quickly as possible in this battle. I wanted to end things quickly. And that was exactly what I was going to do. Because I knew that he was far stronger than me if I gave him time.

But as I watched my [Claw Of Corruption] tear him apart, he craned his neck down to face me.

“Y-you really—”

Jofis strained his voice as his arms were ripped off. He was no longer healing. His legs began to twist into themselves, and his body jutted in every direction.

And suddenly, his eyes flickered as they flashed with a black light.

“Do you really think you are the only one with a Grand Skill that can give you strength?”

“Um, what?”

My eyes widened as Jofis’s entire body rapidly began to twist back into their original position, fighting back against the corruption.

The black mass that engorged his arms spread to the rest of his body, and he grew three times in size. With a shout, he broke free from my [Claw Of Corruption] as he landed in the ground right before me.

“[Demon Mode: Wrath of the Berserker King].”

“...Demon Mode?”

I blinked. And the Winged Horror bared his teeth, looking more like a [Hellbeast] than a [Fiend] now. His wings had become spiked with black blades, and his entire body was seemingly deformed. There was no longer a shred of corruption covering his bodyl

“You are so fucked.”

He said. Then he shot forward, reaching me faster than I could react as he swung down with a burning claw.