Chapter 198: The Devil Emergence [Part-2]

"Sorry to come a little late, my dear weapon. Don’t worry now, your master is here."

Ravena looked at him, puffing her cheeks out in a small pout.

"Oh, even if you had never arrived, I could have easily dealt with them..."

"Is that so? Then it seems there is no need for me to stay here. I should leave..."

"No—wait?! Where are you going? I can’t fight him all on my own!"

Alen smirked, but he stayed rooted to his spot. He wasn’t actually planning to leave her behind, as he knew the terrifying opponents standing in front of him were far beyond her current capability to handle alone.

Alen immediately shifted his target to the other Devils. They looked back at him calmly; they didn’t look even the slightest bit worried about their decapitated companion bleeding out on the street.

One of the guys stepped forward and kneeled right in front of the dead Devil. He thrust his bare hand straight into the corpse’s chest, tearing through the tough skin. He pulled out a glowing dark crystal dripping with demonic energy—an energy which Alen wasn’t quite familiar with. The Devil brought the crystal to his mouth and swallowed it whole, acting as if it was some precious elixir instead of his own comrade’s body parts.

Suddenly, the Devil’s aura began to expand as the dark Demonic purple energy began to coil around his figure, making his presence feel even more dreadful. His body started to growing larger and larger in size. His muscles expanded, coiling and tightening into something far stronger and denser.

His height, which was originally almost six feet tall, now stretched to at least ten feet. Not only that, but his raw power had increased to at least twice his earlier limit.

Alen could feel the danger coming from the monster. He could easily guess the opponent standing in front of him was now way too stronger than his current capability.

’So they are the guys from the Devil race. From the books I read, they are the race which hates Spirits to the very core, and they absorb them to boost their own power. They also get stronger by consuming the dark crystals of their own kind.’

Just as the giant Devil finished growing, he began to emit a thick, dark purple energy (Malice). As his skin turned a dark shade of purple, his eyes turned bloodshot, making all of the hairs on the back of Alen’s neck stand up.

He looked at the monster in front of him, while the other Devils looked at the big Devil with an excited grins.

"Hahaha! Shitra, handle the boy while we capture the Spirit!"

The giant Devil stirred. His bloodshot eyes flicked downward toward Alen’s figure. He moved his giant hand, emitting a large amount of Malice to coat his fist, and shot straight toward Alen’s figure.

Alen was forced to push himself backward immediately, dodging the heavy attack by a hair’s breadth.

The ground trembled just from the sheer air pressure of the missed punch, forming a massive crater in the stone street. Large chunks of rock flew around as the pavement disintegrated into dust.

The other Devils and Ravena also pulled back from the epicenter as the spiderweb cracks spread rapidly across the ground.

*ROARRRRR!*

But the Devil was far from finished. He immediately burst out from the crater, appearing directly in front of Alen with insane speed, giving him no time to dodge. He landed a perfect, Malice-coated punch straight to Alen’s head.

*BOOOOM!* *CRASH!*

Alen’s body flew like a broken ragdoll, tearing through the ground of the street. He slammed hard into the distant wall of a building. The impact spread deep cracks across the entire wall, and his body fell limply to the ground.

*THUD!*

For a moment, he didn’t move, looking as if he was already unconscious. But his body stirred awake in pure agony. As he opened his eyes, his vision felt incredibly blurry, and he felt a warm droplet of blood roll down his forehead.

He touched his head. His palm felt a warm and wet sense of blood covering his skin.

’Blood...? After so much time, someone was actually able to physically hurt me. Sigh... It seems I am not unbeatable after all...’

He forced his aching body to stand up, almost losing his balance. He looked up at the giant Devil, who stared right back at him blankly with those same bloodshot eyes.

"Okay then. It seems there is no reason for me to hold back anymore."

[Nexus Elemental Art: Absolute Levitation!]

Suddenly, Alen’s senses expanded to the surroundings. He felt the connection to everything present around him. He focused on the large chunks of broken rocks scattered across the street, and they began to float weightlessly above the ground, circling the giant Devil like meteors.

The Devil’s eyes traced the floating rocks, staring at the phenomenon with a blank, raging gaze.

*ROARRRRR!*

The giant Devil emitted a massive burst of aura. The sheer air pressure radiating from his body caused the floating rocks to explode in midair all by themselves.

Alen immediately felt a sharp string of pain shoot through his head as his mental connection to the floating objects was severed instantly.

The Devil immediately charged straight toward him with incredible speed. Alen forced himself to dodge the attack immediately, slipping out of the way just before the devastating punch could hit him.

*BOOOM!*

Alen immediately countered, moving with incredible speed to grab one of the Devil’s arms. He quickly coated his own hand in dense Crimson Essence and squeezed as hard as he could, trying to break the monster’s bones.

But to his shock, nothing actually happened! He wasn’t able to break the devil’s arm, even with his strong Celestial physique combined with the boosted power of the Crimson Essence.

Before Alen could even react to the shock of his failed attack, the giant Devil slammed an elbow straight into his chest. The impact threw Alen several meters away, sending him crashing violently through several thick building walls.

Refusing to give up, Alen immediately dismissed the blinding pain shooting through his ribs. He moved with incredible speed, forcing his blurring vision to lock onto the giant monster.

[Nexus Elemental Art: Weight of Existence!]

The Devil suddenly lost his footing. His massive body instantly became several times heavier, as if the localized gravity around him had increased to at least double its original force. His movements were restricted, pinning him in place.

Finding the perfect advantage, Alen immediately brought up the massive chunks of ruined buildings. The rubble began to float high above the ground, gathering together to form a giant sphere of stone that blocked the sunlight falling over the Devil.

[Nexus Elemental Art: Falling Star!]

Suddenly, the giant sphere of rock began to descend toward the now immobile Devil with terrifying speed, falling like a literal meteor. Before the Devil could react, the attack crashed right on top of him.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!*

A massive flood of dust spread around the alley, along with broken rocks and debris. Several of the surrounding buildings cracked, and their walls shattered from the shockwave. Alen blocked the flood of dust with his hands, preventing his vision from getting any more blurry, as his eyes remained fixed on the impact zone.

He expanded his vision, looking through the settling dust, desperately hoping the giant Devil was finished.

His eyes caught a massive figure standing amidst the rubble.

The Devil stood there unharmed. There was not even a single scratch on his tough purple skin. His bloodshot dark eyes suddenly snapped toward Alen, and a wave of pure killing intent hit Alen so hard he felt a trail of blood leak from his eyes.

Suddenly, within the blink of an eye, the giant Devil appeared right in front of him. He grabbed Alen’s head before he could even react and slammed him down into the ground like he was nothing but a dead man.

*Gah!*

The giant Devil lifted his fist high, glowing with pure Malice, and punched him down again. And again. And again. He slammed Alen brutally into the ground, deepening the crater with every devastating hit. Alen felt his vision blur into darkness as his consciousness began to slip away.

He looked toward the distance. The very last thing he saw was a crystallized sphere of crimson light floating inside a glass cube, as several of the devils stood around it.

A vortex of red malice tore open through the space, as all of the devils began to step inside it, taking the floating glass cube along with them and disappeared into the vortex.

"R-Ravena...?"

*BOOOOOM!*

The fist slammed down one final time. Alen’s body was driven brutally into the giant hole in the ground. As the final vestiges of his consciousness slipped away into the dark, he could only hope to leave everything for his other self to handle.