Chapter 360: The Fiend’s Due

CRASH!

Grey’s eyes locked onto the kneeling, bleeding Kael. A savage, victorious grin split the man’s face.

"He’s completely tapped out! This is my chance!" Grey roared.

CRACKLE! His golden staff erupted with violent, blinding lightning. He turned into a streak of electric blue light, rushing forward at terrifying speed. "Die, you monster!"

He thrust the staff directly at Kael’s head.

But just as the lightning blast was about to connect, Kael’s body dissolved into a thick, billowing cloud of pitch-black smoke.

WHOOSH!

"What?!" Grey’s eyes widened as he plunged into the smoke. His vision was completely obscured, and the smoke clung to him like a physical weight, disrupting his sensory perception.

Lady Bone, standing a few meters away, recognized the technique instantly. Her face drained of blood. "Grey! Behind you! It’s a shadow substitution!"

FWOOSH!

Kael materialized from the smoke directly behind Grey. The man had no time to turn.

Raishoton: Shinki-Raikiri.

BZZZT-SHLICK!

Kael’s hand, coated in a terrifying mixture of lightning, gravity, and Demonic Asura Hellfire—the deadly fusion of the Heavenly Flame and his demonic energy—pierced straight through Grey’s back and out his chest.

SPLURT! The purple-black flames instantly incinerated Grey’s heart to ash.

"Guh...!" Grey choked, his eyes rolling back. The golden staff slipped from his grip, CLATTERING against the rusted metal floor.

At the same time, Lady Bone fired a volley of lethal bone spikes at Kael’s back. SWISH! SWISH! SWISH! The spikes tore through Kael’s robes, lodging deep into his shoulder and back.

Kael didn’t even flinch.

After the weeks of unspeakable torture at the hands of Draxos and Claudia in the House of Crimson base, his pain tolerance had been forged into something inhuman. A few bone spikes were nothing more than a minor annoyance.

Squelch. Kael pulled his bloody hand out of Grey’s chest. Grey’s lifeless body dropped to the ground. Whoosh! The Netherworld Soul Locking Flag appeared, absorbing Grey’s panicked, screaming soul into its fabric.

Kael turned his cold, silver-flecked eyes toward Lady Bone and the Frost Armor woman.

The two women felt an overwhelming, primal terror. The strongest among them had been one-shotted like a novice.

FWOOSH! Kael’s Heavenly Flame flared, instantly turning the bone spikes in his back to ash. His Void Sovereign Physique kicked into overdrive, the puncture wounds closing and healing visibly within seconds.

SCHING! The Shadow Slayer blades, which had fallen to the ground, flew back into his hands, humming with a dark, thirsty resonance.

Void Step.

Kael vanished.

He appeared directly in front of the exhausted Frost Armor woman. She shrieked, "Absolute Zero!" FZZZZT! A massive wave of freezing ice erupted from her hands.

Crackle! Kael activated Lightning Body, dodging the attack with a flash of blue light, appearing at her side as he says, "Bitch, is that the only technique you know?.

Lady Bone panicked. "Don’t touch her!" She formed a complex seal. "Bone Rule: Piercing Execution!"

WHOOSH! A massive, glowing bone spear, infused with her Rule Power, hurtled toward Kael.

Kael spun one of his Shadow Slayer blades. Sky Rending First Form: Falling Star.

The blade ignited with the dual intents of Wrath and Slaughter, coated in Darkness Rule Power. CRACK-BOOM! The blade strike collided with the bone spear in mid-air, shattering it into countless fragments.

The Frost woman used the split-second distraction to channel every ounce of her remaining mana. "Glacial Titan!"

RUMBLE!

The ground shook as a massive, 20-meter-tall golem made of impenetrable, diamond-hard ice erupted from the earth, encasing her within its chest cavity.

Kael looked up at the towering ice construct. He let out a low, mocking chuckle.

"Well, would you look at that. I guess you do know another technique."

His expression then turned serious as he murmured, "Shadow God Transformation... First Form: Fiend."

BOOM!

A pillar of absolute darkness erupted from Kael. The shadows around him twisted and solidified, forming a set of jagged, abyssal armor over his body. A crown of dark, flickering flames materialized above his head, and horns curved from his temples. His hands elongated into razor-sharp claws, and his aura amplified exponentially. His soul attacks and darkness abilities surged, radiating the aura of an unstoppable demonic god.

The Frost woman inside the golem felt her heart stop.

Kael lunged. BAM! His clawed fist slammed into the golem’s massive leg, sending spiderweb cracks through the ice.

The golem swung its massive fist downward. WHOOSH!

Kael raised his hand, unleashing a torrential vortex of Demonic Hellfire. FWOOSH! The purple-black flames collided with the golem’s arm. HISS-CRACK! The entire right arm of the golem evaporated instantly.

"Nowhere to hide," Kael’s distorted voice echoed.

He formed a hand seal. Soul Weaver’s Requiem: Mind Fracture.

BUZZZZZT!

An invisible soul shockwave bypassed the ice entirely and slammed directly into the Frost woman’s mind.

"AHHHHHH!" she screamed, clutching her head. Blood poured from her nose and ears. Her focus shattered completely. CRACK-KABOOM! Without her will to sustain it, the massive Ice Golem crumbled into a heap of melting slush. She collapsed to her knees, coughing up blood.

Lady Bone watched in absolute horror. He... he’s a monster. Her greed had blinded her, and now, she had angered a demon. She didn’t even entertain the thought of fighting. She bit her tongue, spitting a mouthful of blood onto a hidden talisman in her sleeve.

"Blood Escape Talisman!" she shrieked.

WHOOSH! A spatial ripple enveloped her. Her body dissolved into a streak of red light, tearing through the fabric of space and vanishing toward the upper atmosphere in a split second.

Kael clicked his tongue. Tch. A coward’s escape.

He deactivated the Shadow God Transformation, the abyssal armor and horns fading into shadows. He walked over to the trembling Frost woman.

Clank. Clank.

He bent down, looking directly into her terrified eyes. Dark chains erupted from the ground, wrapping tightly around her limbs and neck, completely binding her.

Kael looked at her with absolute disgust. How pathetic, he thought. Their Rule Power hasn’t even reached the second step, Resonance, despite being Peak Spirit Souls. No wonder they are stuck and can never achieve the Origin Realm. Compared to elites like Draxos, Claude, and Claudia, these guys are just disposable trash.

"Please..." the Frost woman begged, her voice shaking. "Please don’t kill me! I have money! I have Shadow Vatican secrets! I can tell you where their bases are! I-I can serve you!"

Kael didn’t even blink.

WHOOSH! WHOOSH!

Vyra and Darian landed softly beside him. Their armor was covered in blood and soot. Vyra bowed her head.

"My Lord," Vyra reported, her voice steady. "The rest of the riders and the remaining beast-kin are dead. However... only two managed to escape."

Kael’s expression didn’t change, but a dangerous, freezing chill filled the air.

He looked down at the captured Frost woman, a cold, predatory smile spreading across his lips.

"Well then," Kael said, his eyes glinting with dark malice. "It seems we have a lot to talk about."