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As Nait was pulled away by the impatient Adrianna, he answered the undead dragon through the chaos.
'I'll still use your power to challenge the Death God. If you have no issues with that, I'll help you revive.'
The dragon's laughter echoed through his mind.
—Gahaha! Even if I were to agree, there is no way for you to actually face the Death God while you remain in the mortal realm. He travels the Sea of Lamentation, a dimension far beyond your reach. Dying is the closest you'll ever get to him!
Nait continued moving, and the dragon's voice gradually faded beneath the screams, explosions, and frantic footsteps surrounding him.
Before the connection disappeared completely, however, he heard one final question.
—I wonder who this person is to you, that you would risk your life like this.
Nait didn't answer.
Perhaps to the dragon, it really did seem foolish. Claudia had been his first love, and losing her had left a wound so deep that he still didn't know how to live with it. Maybe that was why he was willing to grasp at anything that might give him even the slightest chance of bringing her soul back.
But as he watched the people fleeing around him, he realized something.
It wasn't only Claudia.
He thought of her daughters, who had lost their mother. He thought of the countless people who had died because they happened to be too weak to protect themselves when monsters descended upon their homes.
If he had been stronger and faster to shield her body from the debris, Claudia would still be alive.
That thought would probably never leave him even if he falls in love again.
But he didn't want to become stronger merely so he could undo one tragedy.
He wanted to become strong enough that the next time someone important to him stood in danger, he wouldn't have to watch helplessly as their life was taken from them.
He wanted enough strength to protect the people who stood beside him, whether they were friends, family, comrades, or complete strangers who simply happened to be caught in the same disaster.
And if one day he became strong enough to reach the Death God himself, then he would use that strength to challenge him and demand Claudia's soul back.
Until then, he had no intention of stopping.
Nait clenched his fists as he ran.
He had lost someone precious.
He could mourn her.
He could grieve for her.
But he would not allow that grief to become the end of his story.
If anything, it had given him another reason to keep moving forward.
Because he wanted to fulfill his wish of becoming a hero just like in the stories he read.
'I'll find a way to get close to your body…'
**
Malzorath's black flame was suppressed by Luke's golden aura so it couldn't eat through the barrier any longer.
'My Dark Flame can naturally chew through barriers and divine treasures yet this boy is able to suppress it with his golden aura. His control is beyond my expectations.'
Not only that, if his golden aura continues to suppress Malzorath's flames, then the demon lord won't be able to suppress the holy sword's skills.
It's now become a game of "cat and mouse". That being said, the golden aura can't be endless so there must be a limit as to how much he can use. There are tales that heroes get all their divine aura from the hopes of the people—just like Gods whose power depend on the faith of their believers—but Malzorath didn't have time for fairytales.
Despite Ekterina being one of their greatest generals, surpassing even her predecessor in achievements, she was reduced to a prisoner.
For some reason, she wasn't killed along with Lilith.
'That Guinevere must have something planned for those two. Whatever it is, I need to deal with this boy and save them. Lillith possesses some troublesome abilities which can be troublesome if used against us. Ekterina also knows many secrets and has lots of artifacts that mustn't land in the humans' hands.'
Though Luke didn't have the firepower to pose a threat, Malzorath still had to be cautious as the boy was wielding the Holy Sword even if he's in a hurry. As aforementioned, his special flames can't suppress the sword while it's in Luke's hands.
If he has no other options, he might have to risk his one of his three lives to get an advantage. That would be deeply shameful but he'd have no choice.
This boy was vastly different than the one that charged through the demonic portal and demanded their Majesty's head. How could he describe it? This boy seemed to have the interests of his entire race in mind and knows what to do.
Whereas that other one seemed immature despite being older than this boy.
Malzorath wanted to cut that other hero's head off for his display of arrogance but that bastard Vesemyr interfered.
'Why did he not kill that White Aura hero? We could have made it easier for ourselves if that one was eliminated.'
Vesemyr is a deeply shrewd and cunning being with a lot of mystery surrounding him so he's probably sadistic and likes causing future troubles for even his "allies".
He's just a failed abortion from the result of rape and yet he possesses such incredible power and intelligence, making even the Watcher question if he can be stopped. They had no choice but to listen to that being as even their Majesty was willing to work with him.
Those tentacle monsters the demon race has been dealing with for centuries were very troublesome so that was probably why she cooperated with Vesemyr.
Fate is the most powerful ability in the nine realms. Even its skills pose a threat to the demon race. If they actually defied the being, they would've been at constant war with that being and its tentacle kin. It's possible Arsnoria had a backup plan to deal with them but Malzorath wasn't filled in on it.
Maybe Vezraya knew something since he has the closest relationship with their king.
If only they could find the Dark Scroll to know how he dies in the future or even just the Future Letter would be enough.
..
Luke's golden aura burned through all Malzorath's flames so he chose to summon his main weapon, a longsword oozing with dark energy.
Seeing this, Luke put most of his aura into the holy sword, ready to receive his strike.
Malzorath charged, but his speed was so fast, he vanished in a blink of an eye and connected his sword with Luke's.
A thunderous boom gathered around the two, shaking the entire empire as they crashed to the ground.
Even when faced with that powerful strike, the hate remained in Luke's eyes, as if he was determined to kill this demon even if he had the upper-hand in experience and skills.
'This boy barely budged under my strike.'
While not his full strength, he's certain no one besides his peers can survive this kind of strike. Yet this human boy, 15 and barely awakened, could do so.
Even with the Holy Sword, Malzorath could tell—
'He must be running on adrenaline.'
This was quite similar to when they fought Promethius, the man who consumed his children's lifeforce in the purest way—by eating them. He was a force of nature none of the lords could handle alone but it became apparent later on that he was running on adrenaline alone.
Throughout the fight, his body broke down until he was on his knees. He even had to call Guinevere for help.
"Where's Zathriel!?" the boy released more golden aura, which gave him the upper hand in physical strength while Malzorath was deep in thought.
'Zathriel? That's one of the ancient demon lords—our predecessors who served the Demon Gods. Why is the name being brought up now?'
Unless…
'Could it be that someone posed as a demon lord? But why? The Hero seems to hate this person so they must've done something heinous.'
Frowning, Malzorath gained distance from Luke after releasing a shockwave of black energy that separated the two.
He muttered under his breath, "Curses, is that imposter really the reason the boy awakened?"
This makes their plan much harder. Dealing with two heroes was hard enough already but one has awakened his full power and will continue to grow stronger in the future. If he synchronizes with the Holy Sword even further, he'll become unstoppable.
'I have to finish this quickly.' Malzorath opened his storage pouch and pulled out two demonic artifacts, which manifested into two demonic figures—one in a long robe and the other holding a shield.
The shielded entity slammed its colossal iron bulwark into the paved earth, instantly tethering its life force to Malzorath. A dome of purple energy erupted, overlapping the demon lord's form with a multi-layered ward. Simultaneously, the robed figure raised its skeletal hands, chanting in a forgotten tongue. Veins of sickly green light attached themselves to Malzorath's back, pumping endless restorative vitality directly into his core.
With his defense absolutely guaranteed and his regenerative capabilities entirely handled by his proxies, Malzorath smiled. His three jaws unhinged in unison, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.
He no longer needed to split his focus. He severed his internal reserves from defense, vitality, and magical resistance, funneling every single stat point and every drop of his monstrous mana strictly into raw physical strength and destructive speed.
His physique swelled. Obsidian muscles tore through his armor, and the dark energy surrounding his longsword condensed until the blade looked like a jagged tear in the fabric of reality itself.
"Let us see if your hope can outlast pure ruin, boy!"
Malzorath vanished.
There was no visual tracking his movement—only the catastrophic sonic boom that followed a split second later. Luke barely had time to raise the Holy Sword, relying purely on his awakened instincts to guide his hands.
CLANG!
The impact was apocalyptic. Malzorath's downward cleave struck Luke's golden aura. The boy's knees buckled instantly, the ground beneath him cratering into a massive thirty-foot sinkhole. But it was the resulting kinetic shockwave that unleashed true devastation. The concussive force of the clash carried outward in a massive arc, slamming into a row of multi-story merchant estates behind Luke.
The stone buildings exploded outward into clouds of fine powder and jagged shrapnel, their foundations utterly erased by the shockwave.
Luke gritted his teeth, screaming as he pushed back with a desperate burst of holy light. A rogue arc of his golden energy bypassed Malzorath's blade, slicing a deep, searing gash across the demon lord's shoulder.
Yet, before the holy fire could even begin to eat away at the corruption, the shielded summon absorbed the brunt of the divine aura, a massive crack forming down the center of its iron shield. A split second later, the robed figure flared with green light, instantly knitting Malzorath's torn flesh back together as if the wound had never existed.
'If I didn't have their protections, my entire body would've been burned by that aura…'
Malzorath didn't even blink at the counterattack. Freed from the consequences of taking damage, he became a hurricane of unadulterated violence.
He swung again, a horizontal arc that forced Luke to launch himself into the air to avoid being bisected. The residual dark energy of the slash sheared straight through the thick stone pillars of a grand guild branch, sending the colossal structure toppling into the streets with a deafening, earth-shaking roar.
Every step Malzorath took shattered the bedrock beneath the city. Every swing of his blade, even when perfectly parried by the Holy Sword, pulverized the surrounding architecture. Within mere seconds, half a city block was reduced to a desolate wasteland of crushed brick and splintered wood, all falling under the shadow of a demon lord who had turned himself into an unstoppable spear.
An arc of black light hit Luke's arm, severing it, however his golden aura sprang to life, reattaching his arm in the blink of an eye.
'Tch, so long as that sword is in his grasp and being fed divine aura, he'll be trouble even as an amputee.'
Malzorath looked at the ward that the defense demon placed on him, noticing that the golden aura was eating through it, almost matching the speed at which the shield was being replaced.
'If that Lilith girl were here, she could've placed better protective wards on me. I hate to admit it but her defense magic is greater than my artifact puppet's skill.'
He looked at where he sensed Lilith's signature—which was moving for some reason—spotting a red-haired woman flying through the sky, accompanied by two angelic summons, one holding Ekterina and the other holding Lilith. Both women were unconscious.
'Guinevere will be troublesome to deal with. Even though I've grown stronger over the years, I don't think I can handle her alone, much less with the hero helping her.'
He needs Vezraya's help.
'I'll need to inform Lord Watcher that we need to abandon our precautions and invade the mortal realm fully.'
Arsnoria's advisor and the one that nurtured her egg before her birth, just like her father and her father's father and so on. He's also the most powerful mage in their entire history, close to a hundred thousand years old.
He's a great strategist but a deeply cautious being. He's the one who gives orders. He also only made Malzorath come instead of Vezraya as well.
'Lord Watcher probably anticipated Guinevere's scheme, which is why he's cautious on who he sends.'
He hates to admit it but even he was starting to feel a bit anxious. If Guinevere is involved, who could blame him? She was more powerful than Promethius and all the other Gods if you only factor in combat power and not artifact treasures like the Holy Sword or divine authorities like Life, Love, Fate, Destiny, etc.
"Where are you looking, demon!?" Luke slashed the air with the sword, sending a torrent of golden aura towards him.
'This amount of golden energy is absurd… Just how deep is this boy's reserves?'
He was under the impression that divine aura is endless but the heroes need to mature before they're able to use it all. So long as the divine realm stands, there will never be a limit to how much a Champion can use.
If you think about it, this was very irresponsible as the Gods took a big risk. But the Hero's purpose isn't just to protect the world, but the entire nine realms. The demon lords are a world-ending threat but there are dangers out there even beyond Arsnoria's level even if she is a god-like being.
The investment is probably worth it in their eyes.
Malzorath sent a transmission using Void Transfer, a dark arts skill that sent his thoughts through the shadows. It jumped from shadow to shadow, then went through the portal in the sewer.
The moment Vezraya shows up, no one will be able to stop them.
Of course, this is on the assumption that Luke isn't yet able to use any of the Holy Sword skills.
They were gravely mistaken to think that.