While Holo and Martha were locked in a fierce fight far from the crowd, Samael turned his gaze back to the badly wounded Cain. The flaming Demon Sword, burning like a torch, immediately flung out several waves of red-black fire.
Bang!
Just as the unlucky assassin was about to be struck by the demonic flames, the earth beneath him suddenly churned and cracked open. A pillar more than a hundred meters tall, formed from dark-red fleshy tendrils, drilled out of a completed Magecraft array and blocked Cain from the attack. Its surface was covered in grape-like eyeballs that rolled eerily.
Slanted Eyes! Crimson Eyes!
In an instant, a wildly gathering Ether tide surged forward. The flaming light of the Demon Sword sank into it as if into a swamp, meeting intense resistance before being completely worn away.
At the same time, dozens of purple-red tentacles came lashing in with sharp whistles and rumbling force. Some swept down from above, while others burrowed through the ground, attacking Samael where he stood.
A Demon Pillar! These damned things under Marduk still haven't been wiped out!
The Ancient Serpent's cross-shaped star pupils focused. He gripped his sword with both hands and charged forward. Laevatein slashed left and right, cutting its way through as the purple-red tendrils along his path snapped one after another.
Even though those things possessed powerful regeneration, once they were stained by the flames of the flaming Demon Sword, the worm-like tendrils that bounced and shrieked did not last long. All their vitality was corroded away, and they turned into ash that scattered with the wind.
The purple-red fleshy pillar seemed to have suffered serious damage. It trembled violently, and its blinking eyes all fixed on Samael at once. Several Magecraft arrays formed along the path he was stepping through, their wildly surging Mana gathering into Ether light streams as solid as matter.
The time of awakening has come! Incineration Formula!
In the next instant, thousands of purple-red Mana beams shot across one another, sealing off all of Samael's possible starting points, while countless tendrils stabbed and thrust in from every direction.
"By the covenant of the Mandate of Heaven, I answer forgiveness with revenge, trust with betrayal, hope with despair, light with darkness, and grant all living things a blackened death! At the hour of the end, with the blood of the fallen, I cast the edge of ruin and recreate the Apocalypse that decomposes all phenomena!"
However, a rapid, low chant of divine words came from within the crisscrossing net of fleshy tendrils. Samael lightly wiped the sword's edge and used divine blood as a catalyst, further raising his synchronization with the flaming Demon Sword and forcing out its power. A terrifying torrent of flame surged forth, annihilating the thousands of tendrils and Mana beams in one sweep.
It's him! That monster!
As intense pain struck, the Demon Pillar trembled uncontrollably. Fear branded deep into its soul rose up and completely extinguished its will to fight.
Blink! Stare!
Immediately, the Demon Pillar before him rapidly rolled its eyes and released a purple-red miasma.
Trying to run? Hmph!
Samael's gaze went cold. Divine markings pulsed across his body, and a fierce wind blew. He raised a hand and split the haze apart, sending a dark-red wave of flame sweeping forward.
However, as the ground shook violently, the Demon Pillar had already burrowed underground while releasing the miasma. Several divided tendrils emerged from the soil, swiftly wrapped around Cain's ankles, and dragged him into a newly formed purple-red Magecraft array, avoiding the blast from the flaming Demon Sword.
Missing his strike, Samael grew irritated. His cross-shaped star pupils opened and swept around, tracking their aura. A moment later, he locked onto two figures appearing several miles away in a crack between the rocks.
Damn it!
The middle-aged man in a green trench coat and top hat, with brown hair and black eyes, suddenly felt a chill down his spine. He immediately grabbed the half-dead Cain and fled without looking back.
Wait. That's Professor Lev!
The future incarnation of the Demon Pillar Flauros!
That Grand Bombardier who blew up the whole group of Team A monsters at Chaldea, the Human Order Preservation Organization?
Samael's pupils contracted slightly. His restless battle lust cooled a little, and his brows tightened.
If the Demon Pillar that had appeared was Flauros, then this was no ordinary matter.
Because among Solomon's Seventy-Two Pillars, that thing was in charge of the intelligence room.
In other words, he could be regarded as the scout and eyes of the Seventy-Two Demon Pillars. His appearance might very well be tied to the movements of the other Demon Pillars, and could even be directly connected to Marduk's location.
Just as Samael was hesitating over whether to chase after them alone and find out the truth, Leonidas's hysterical roar and Caesar's elegant cursing came from behind him.
At that moment, Thermopylae, the main battlefield, was on the verge of collapse under the overwhelming assault of the Immortals and humanoid Ifrit.
"Get out of my way!"
In an instant, a low, grim shout rang out. A violent wind swept through, and nine blazing-red explosive flames like miniature suns madly devoured the surrounding Ether, gathering in midair to form a burning crown of fire.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
As the flaming Demon Sword Laevatein swung forward, the nine explosive flames above Samael's head smashed down one after another into the densest ranks of the enemy and detonated. Under the mountain-crushing shockwaves, nearly a thousand Persian Immortals and mammoth soldiers charging forward were wiped out without leaving even bones behind.
The hundreds of fire elementals Ifrit above, given form, clad in armor, and wielding weapons as they dived down, also exploded one after another like chain-detonating fireworks.
Hum!
The flaming Demon Sword trembled in delight. The red-black patterns on its blade grew clearer and more bewitching. Under a strange rhythm, the Ether refined from lives burned free of flesh and form flowed back into the sword like a thousand rivers into the sea, feeding its host.
Yet faint threads of black mist seemed to flow in as well. Behind him, Leonidas vaguely saw twisted, shattered faces in the haze, and his ears seemed to catch endless curses and abuse.
Feels good!
Samael gripped Laevatein as his body trembled with excitement. Every cell cried out in longing, and his eyes were stained scarlet.
The suffocating divine might made the surroundings feel as though they had plunged into purgatory. The air carried a harsh scorched smell, and the ground dried and cracked inch by inch.
"@#$%…"
The few remaining Ifrit in midair felt that, under such terrifying source fire, even approaching the monster on the ground would make it hard to maintain their forms. Instinctive fear drove them to chatter among themselves for a moment, then turn and flee behind the Persian army.
"Get down here."
A brutal cold snort came. Samael snapped his wrist and swung his arm, sending several crimson arcs of light shooting from the flaming Demon Sword. Crescent edges sliced across the sky and directly severed the wings of the fleeing Ifrit.
Immediately, the Ifrit stripped of their wings fell to the ground. Golden-red blood flowed from their wounds, splashing onto the soil and melting dark-red pits into it like magma.
The fire elementals had only just scrambled out of the deep craters in a sorry state when a figure wreathed in red-black flames arrived in an instant, carried by a violent wind.
Puff!
The flaming Demon Sword thrust forward, and two fire elementals were instantly skewered like meat on an iron spit. They were burned away in a flash, and the remaining Ether essence was plundered into the sword host's body.
"Trying to leave? Stay."
Amid that cruel cold snort, a hand wrapped in red-black flames shot out like lightning, grabbed an Ifrit by the back of the neck, and burned it directly to ash, absorbing its Mana.
Puff!
Then the burning figure's lips split into a savage arc. His right foot stomped down, and the head of another fire elemental shattered along with it.
There are more!
The fire-wreathed Demon God seemed to scent new prey. His violent gaze swept toward the Persian army gathering not far away. The Demon Sword trembled excitedly, and blood-red flames surged into the sky like apocalyptic fire, descending upon the heads of those frail lives to deliver judgment.