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'Why did she come back…?' frowning, Malzorath surrounded himself in his dark flames again. Even if ineffective against the Holy Sword, it'll work on Freya and Guinevere.
Fortunately, Guinevere was focused on the hordes the Watcher sent through.
The Watcher ordered him to come back immediately so that the first battalion can overwhelm them until there's an opening to act. According to the Watcher, he was able to connect with Lilith's subconscious and suspected that they had a plan with her, which is why she's still alive.
Naturally, this was obvious but if he's giving the order, he already concluded why she was captured. But according to him, it's better to let the army overwhelm the humans. Even Guinevere and Freya would find it hard to deal with a hundred thousand demons pouring out all at once. They had five times that number ready to attack.
Even if it cost him a life, he needed to escape so that his soul returns to the other side. They can't think about Ekterina and Lilith for now. It was a massive blow to their military force as Lilith is the second most powerful mage while Ekterina is the best commander they have, with her skills ranking third among the three demon lords.
Guinevere might've been fighting above but Malzorath knew she's keeping an eye on him too. That woman has an arsenal of skills and bag full of artifacts he had no clue about so he was a little anxious what she was carrying.
A demon lord feeling anxious… Anyone would mock him for this but the person in question is the one and only Guinevere.
"Fellow Malzorath, you seem to be having trouble." Mumulbur landed with his dragon as the demon lord was corned by Freya, Luke and Arthur.
Unbeknownst to them, a certain boy had snuck out of the barrier and was observing from afar, waiting to draw near.
"Stall them for me. I need to go back."
"That soon? You must have some concerns. Why not share with me?"
"Stop colluding in front of your enemies." Freya pointed at Mumulbur, "Your opponent will be me, Undead."
"Oh? Can you back up your arrogance with power, Archmage? Why haven't you used a 16th or 17th Rank spell until now? If you did, we would've been in for a harder fight."
"…I don't need those tiers right now because I have others fighting beside me. 15th Rank is more than enough for you, Mumulbur. Don't think you're getting out of this unscathed because you tried to kill my apprentice."
"Two against four—now that's a bit unfair." Mumulbur chuckled, "Why don't we even out the odds?"
Freya's eyes widened.
An anti-magic barrier appeared over the city block, covering at least ten blocks.
"This will take a few seconds to break so protect me while I can't use magic!" Freya shouted at Guinevere.
"Roger." Without question, she descended and stood before Freya.
Mumulbur then hit Arthur with a high-tier mental attack so he simply stood there blankly. Without the Holy Sword's defenses or Freya's spells, he won't be able to break out of it.
That took care of them for at least ten seconds.
Just in time, the red-armored knights appeared and started slaughtering the demons. These demonic creatures didn't just appear in this side of the capital. There were portals all around.
Could a single skill really get rid of all this chaos…?
A boom resounded as Malzorath's sword connected with Guinevere. The two were standing so far apart just a second ago but within a blink of an eye, clashed as the demon lord tried to eliminate Freya.
The rubble around them turned to dust.
"Ugh! Fast as always, huh!?"
During this time, Luke charged at Mumulbur. However, a black smoke spread from the undead's sleeve. When it fully engulfed him, his sword went through him as if he became one with the shadows.
Cackling, he floated upwards and landed back on his dragon's head.
"Luke, you need to retreat and focus on the purification skill. We'll handle these two." Freya ordered.
"Alright!" no questions asked, he gained distance and held the Holy Sword with both hands after closing his eyes, its tip facing the sky.
'This woman is such a nuisance. I'm striking with all my power but she's matching me with equal intensity.' Malzorath even tried to use his black flames but a winged creature appeared from Guinevere's back and spread gold dust that turned the flames into golden fire.
It seems that Ekterina was right: she comes up with contingencies for all her enemies.
He actually expected to fight Guinevere in the future again. That means he came prepared, knowing he can't overpower her with raw strength. Ekterina, having fought her twice before, shared some insights. Even with her strength, she brought strange artifacts and magic items with her, showing she was also cautious of him.
He slashed empty air beside him, revealing voids. The next moment, hands shot out trying to grab Guinevere.
When one hit a building, its hand didn't crush the material—
It went right through, leaving a hole where it struck as if the material simply vanished upon contact.
Instead of taking the hits to see what he did, she threw out talismans that created a barrier around her.
Glowing wires latched onto the wrists of the void hands, redirecting their momentum. With a sharp yank, Guinevere sent the abyssal claws crashing into the crumbling buildings around them. Entire stone facades simply ceased to exist, swallowed by the void magic she had expertly turned against its caster using light magic.
Malzorath didn't wait for the dust to settle. He knew physical clashes would only stall him. He spun his sword, the black steel humming as he coated it in gravity-dense miasma.
He swung the blade horizontally. He wasn't aiming for her body—he was aiming for her space. The gravitational pressure of the strike fractured the air itself, creating a shockwave that sought to pin Guinevere to the ground. The cobblestone street beneath her instantly compacted, sinking three feet into the earth.
Yet, Guinevere was already moving. Anticipating the shift in gravity, she had dropped two small, silver spheres from her sleeve. The moment they hit the ground, they unfolded into serrated chakrams powered by wind crystals. They erupted upward, catching her under her boots and propelling her into the air, surfing the violent updraft to completely bypass Malzorath's localized gravity well.
"You rely too much on toys!" Malzorath roared, his demonic wings snapping open as he launched himself into the sky after her. He thrust his empty hand forward, firing a barrage of condensed demonic lances—each one capable of turning a heavily armored knight into a puddle of gore.
While airborne, Guinevere expertly parried them, her arm moving in a blur. The dark lances buried into the street and rubble.
She bypassed his sword entirely, sliding inside his guard.
Alarm bells went off inside Guinevere's head.
He knew it wouldn't be easy to escape the moment this woman showed up.
Must he truly abandon his pride and kill himself to escape?
Her rune-carved gauntlet slammed directly into his sternum before the doubts could fully form, the artifact discharging a point-blank kinetic detonation that sounded like a thunderclap.
Even though he was wearing armor, this monster's hand simply crushed it along with his ribs.
Malzorath coughed black blood, rocketing downward and crashing through the roof of an abandoned guildhall. But the demon lord was far from finished. The moment his back hit the floorboards, he plunged his sword into the foundations, flooding the city block with a viscous, shadowy swamp that began melting the surrounding architecture.
Meanwhile, the battle on the ground was spiraling into a completely different kind of nightmare.
Mumulbur drifted through the chaos like a ghost, completely ignoring the laws of physics. Arthur, after Freya was freed from the anti-magic and removed the mental attack, swung his blade in a sweeping arc, his aura blazing, but the steel simply phased through the undead lord's rotting robes.
Not even his divine aura could catch the undead.
"Brute force against the formless? How primitive. You should think a bit more before attack, boy." Mumulbur cackled. He exhaled a sprawling cloud of necrotic ash that immediately began to corrode the armor of the nearby red knights.
Arthur gritted his teeth. Thinking that what was in front of him was an illusion, he frantically looked around to find Mumulbur's real body.
High above, the golden dust from Guinevere's winged familiar began to rain down over the battlefield, purifying the ash and neutralizing Malzorath's expanding shadow swamp.
Malzorath burst from the wreckage of the guildhall, his armor cracked, his demonic energy flaring wildly. He could feel it now—the terrifying, singular point of holy energy gathering behind the lines. Luke was a beacon of light, the Holy Sword vibrating with a purification spell that was intended to cure the corruption.
While it won't immediately kill Malzorath or the other demons, their biology can't handle an atmosphere with this red mist that comes from their world. They will be weakened greatly and lose any advantage they might've had.
As such, the priority is to kill the Hero. If he's not dead, this will all be for nothing.
Arthur barely registered in Malzorath's brain as he saw the golden divine aura as the bigger threat since he was familiar with what Promethius was capable of.
Two of Mumulbur's undead dragons descended with fierce speeds and crashed into the ground near Luke, intending to interfere with his focus.
Their bones exploded into pure energy that made the capital rumble.
"Guh!" Luke spat coughed out blood even with the sword's barrier protecting him, signaling that his adrenaline was about to run out and he can't force out too much aura. Freya quickly surrounded him in a different barrier while she fought Mumulbur alongside
Sensing the disturbance in Luke's signature, Malzorath roared, making the debris shoot up into the sky. His roar shook the entire empire, making even the veteran knights tremble. The divine barrier surrounding the church pulsated slightly but remained standing.
"I shall not die a coward's death! I shall use the last of my power to end you, Guinevere!"
Malzorath yelled with rage as he unleashed all his strength. His two summons appeared by his side again so he put every ounce of mana an
He gripped his greatsword, channeling every ounce of his energy into the blade.
However, a gigantic shadow suddenly descended above him and he felt something sharp grab him. The Defensive Summon's barrier appeared and he was finally able to see what was going on.
Surprised, Guinevere stopped advancing as Malzorath was slowly being lifted by something.
The stink of decaying flesh caught his attention first. He finally realized he was between the teeth of something gigantic.
It was the dragon.
"Mumulbur, why is your summon attacking me!?"
"Hah! I am no longer under that skeleton's control thanks to this boy!" on top of his head was a boy with brown hair who was covered in a white energy that was being sucked into the dragon's body.
"Luke! Is the spell ready!?" Freya, while holding back Mumulbur, shouted at Luke.
"Y-Yeah! What's going on!? Why did the undead dragon suddenly attack?"
"I don't know but look at the top of its head! There's a boy there!"
Luke did as Freya said and his eyes widened, "Nait!? What are you—"
"Focus on the spell! The sword is glowing so it's ready!" Guinevere shouted this time, "Stab it into the ground then the purification will activate!"
"O-Okay! Please protect Nait! He's my little brother!"
"Got it!"
"—Mumulbur, why aren't you responding!?" Malzorath roared at the undead still fighting Arthur and Freya.
'Hold on, his signature is gone? But he's right there… Ah…'
He said his goal was that girl. He didn't gather all those dead souls for nothing and probably used some kind of duplication dark arts that he used to split up his body and divide his power. Since he got a power boost from all those dead people, he shouldn't be too much weaker than before he split up his body.
It was a genius move but something that frustrated Malzorath greatly due to what was happening now.
'Dammit! All our preparations will go to waste! Why hasn't Ekterina showed up yet!?'
Malzorath, his mind working in overdrive, searched for Ekteirna's signature.
But…
'!'
He was met with a sea of dread coming from in the direction Guinevere went to seal the portals.
It was a kind of dread that didn't lose out in intensity to that of a demon lord.
He saw a woman's pale white as she smirked at him with her sharp teeth.
'What kind of being is giving off this killing intent!?'
Since Guinevere left Ekterina and Lilith in that person's hand, she's probably an ally of some sort. But this person didn't feel as strong as Guinevere even if her killing intent made even Malzorath tremble slightly.
"[Vantablack Serpents]" a last attempt at an attack, Malzorath used one of his strongest skills that he was saving for Guinevere when he caught her off-guard. Now he has no choice but to use it as a last resort.
Flames as black as coal manifested, coiling into two serpents that twisted around each other. The dragon holding him in its mouth growled feeling the heat.
Who should he fire this at?
He noticed Guinevere, whose back was turned to this scene as she was cautiously watching the demons above. Her angels were getting rid of them easily so she didn't need to act.
Though he's sure it won't kill her, he didn't want to die a fool's death. To demons, dying in battle was their greatest desire that coexisted with their desire to exterminate the human race.
The serpents shot out like water jets, manifested into goliath-sized serpents that didn't lose out to the undead dragon holding him in its jaws.
"Ms. Guinevere, watch out!" Luke shouted but she only turned slightly and held out her hand.
A gigantic barrier spawned before her, covering several kilometers of space. Upon contact, the manifested serpents were sucked into the barrier.
It was as if he never used one of his strongest attacks at all.
The sense of hopelessness manifested deep within his heart as he realized he never had a chance against her at all. Her fighting him was simply to protect the city and keep damage to an absolute minimum. If she truly went all out, she could split an ocean from one shore to the next across a thousand kilometers.
"…" Malzorath's hands fell weakly to his side.
Thousands of years later, he is still chasing Guinevere's shadow. Her sheer hatred for the gods of the Divine Realm pushed her to train and fight evil relentlessly until she needed absolutely no one. For her to ever lean on another, their greatness would have to defy comprehension.
**
A divine light suddenly covered the entire empire when Luke lifted the Holy Sword. Its light was like a second sun, turning the night to day and revealing the blue sky above the sea of red mist.
It spread to every corner of the empire, burning every demonic parasite that tried to enter the water system, every fungus that tried to eat the vegetation, every demon that thought they could eat humans for the first time in hundreds of years.
Countless howls of pain and suffering echoed at once as the divine light of the highest caliber burned their skin. The flying demons above that didn't manage to retreat into the portals were either cut in half by the sudden space being closed again, or got burned so must, they fell to the ground and shattered like dry clay.
Arthur watched all this in a daze. Before his very eyes, Luke's power was clearing the red mist and black wall of flesh like it was nothing.
The imperial army, now just over fifty kilometers away from the empire and marching as fast as they possibly could, witnessed this phenomenon.
They halted, not because they sensed danger but because the light at that moment meant there was some hope left for an empire that was invaded by demons. They were half-expecting to return to ruins except for the institutions and guilds that had barriers strong enough to protect the people.
But what they saw left them dumbfounded.
The Hero had awakened.
**
The barrier around Malzorath vanished as the demonic summons faded away. the demon lord was now half-buried into the jaws of the dragon with only the top of his body sticking out.
"Now, boy! Kill him!" the dragon shouted.
"B-But we need his lifeforce and soul!"
"You can't use the lifeforce of a being with three lives!" fighting against Malzorath's break with his fangs, Thalgrimm roared, "He must be killed twice first!"
Hearing that, Luke's eyes widened and he looked at Freya.
"It's okay, Luke. Do it. I suspected this might be the case and have a different plan for getting him."
"Dammit, so this was that unexpected variable…" Luke flew up and held the sword with both hands.
Thousands of people watched this from afar.
Luke descended with incredible speed as his silhouette was a shadow in the wake of the morning sun that was slowly coming up in the distance.
The Hero beheaded Malzorath Doom with a beautiful golden light that trailed the path he slashed.
As Malzorath's head fell, his body turned into particles of dust.
Cheers erupted across the empire as Luke fell to his knee, the exhaustion finally catching up after he'd been on edge the entire time.
'Did you see that, Big Brother…?' he looked up at the sky. 'I killed a demon lord…'
Then Luke fell on his back with a smile on his face.