Chapter 369: The Archdemon gave up.

’He was... doing the same thing...’

Lucian’s eyes widened in realisation.

All this while, he was wondering how exactly Neroth managed to find his weakness when even he himself couldn’t.

How was it possible for the Archdemon to know his body better than he himself did?

Now, Lucian had the answer.

If Neroth could sense how much energy he was using, where he was using it, predicting his movements would become... possible.

Of course, it still wasn’t easy, Lucian himself couldn’t do it if he were in Neroth’s position, nor were Varek’s body’s senses strong enough to pull something like this off—

But...

Neroth was an Archdemon, with the experience he had, Lucian was sure he must have found a way to somehow read and predict his movements without having the senses required for it.

It was a ridiculous thought but then again...

Neroth was just that much better than him, so in a certain distorted sense, it did make sense.

’He’s incredible.’

Lucian couldn’t help but admit it.

Of course, right now, none of that mattered. He kept his focus on Neroth, the Archdemon moved again, only this time, Lucian had already turned around, he knew exactly where the Archdemon would appear and that was all he needed.

His body tilted, Neroth appeared and punched before Lucian could react, only this time, Lucian had already reacted beforehand.

His fist passed by Lucian’s face.

"Wha...?"

The Archdemon’s eyes widened, Lucian’s grin widened. He got excited and punched—

BOOOOOOOM

The impact was ridiculously strong.

But...

There was the same problem—

It was too strong.

The momentum from his own punch moved Lucian’s body several meters away from where he was, the punch was nowhere close to Neroth.

Just that this time—

"Tsk, almost."

Lucian didn’t lose hope.

He grinned as he regained his balance and stared at the Archdemon.

"You won’t be so luck—"

Before he could finish, the Archdemon moved again. Lucian already knew it was coming, he formed a barrier right in front of where Neroth was supposed to appear.

Neroth couldn’t even punch, he didn’t have enough space.

That made Lucian grin.

It was working.

He could read him.

Just then, he noticed something else. In their little battle zone, something came from outside. A beam fired by one of Arcelis’s defence buildings.

Neroth was using external resources again.

Lucian stopped the beam with a barrier before it even got close to him. Another beam came from another direction, Lucian blocked that as well, and since this time, the barriers he formed were so far from him, none of them blocked his vision.

Neroth could attack him with beams all he wanted and it wouldn’t make a difference.

And...

Neroth realised it as well.

Lucian saw the realisation dawn on the Archdemon’s face.

"Out of options?"

He grinned.

And this time, he honestly didn’t do it just to provoke the Archdemon. He actually wanted to see what else the Archdemon could do. He wanted to know what he could learn from him and add it to his own arsenal.

"YOU..."

And Neroth...

He kept glaring at him with intense anger.

He gathered more energy and sent another sphere towards him, Lucian raised one hand and this time, the sphere froze in the air.

Telekinesis caught it and because his energy was clearly the stronger of the two, since Neroth’s energy didn’t come from his real body, the Energy of Suffering inside the sphere couldn’t resist.

The sphere stopped dead in its tracks.

Lucian stared at it, so did Neroth, then—

Lucian flicked his finger and the projectile flew sideways and exploded in an abandoned area.

BOOOOOOOM

That made Lucian’s smile wider.

"...this is fun."

And Neroth...

His face turned ugly.

He attacked again, forming multiple spheres again and Lucian—

Lucian stopped all of them.

He was wrong, Neroth wasn’t the only one with endless energy, he was no different. The energy in his body was so absurdly dense that he felt like he could fight for days and still not get tired.

Even now, even when his body had regenerated his limbs more times than he could count today, he could barely feel a dent in his reserves.

About 90% of the energy in his reserves was still there.

So Lucian, just like Neroth, could waste as much energy as he wanted.

So he did.

And instead of using telekinesis to control his own body, he started controlling Neroth’s attacks.

Within an instant, every sphere Neroth summoned turned against him. The Archdemon was forced to dodge his own attacks.

What was even more humiliating was the fact that every time Neroth was cornered, Lucian actually stopped.

He didn’t end it.

He still wanted to learn from Neroth.

He stared at him with burning eyes, hoping he would show him something.

But it wasn’t working, Neroth didn’t have his real body, not only was the energy he was using just something he gathered from the beings around him, his body was weaker, slower and much less durable.

In the state it was in, it wouldn’t even regenerate if Lucian attacked it even once.

So even if Neroth was an Archdemon, in a situation this bad, there was practically nothing he could do.

The only advantage he had was that he could read Lucian’s movements and predict what he was going to do, but Lucian had stopped moving entirely.

He was standing in a single spot, stopping all his attacks through the sheer use of his energy.

It was... an unfair battle.

"FACE ME PROPERLY!!"

Neroth screamed in pure rage.

"Trust me, I want to."

Lucian answered honestly.

"But my control is too poor.

You should have given me some time."

"DIE!!!"

Neroth screamed in anger as he formed hundreds of spheres, using so much energy that Varek’s body practically began shedding its own skin.

It was dying.

Now, instead of hours, it had minutes left.

"Oh, c’mon."

Lucian shook his head.

"You still could have taught me something, you know?

Didn’t have to give up like that."

"I AM NOT GIVING UP!!

I WILL KILL YOU!

MARK MY WORDS!

I WILL RETURN!!"

Neroth screamed, he too knew this was the end.

"I hope you do.

Really."

Lucian smiled.

Then, he looked at his enemy one last time.

"It won’t be easy next time, you know?

I am going right back to training after this."

Lucian chuckled.

Then, he moved his hand, controlling all the spheres Neroth created, then, he redirected them all back at him.

Neroth kept glaring at Lucian in hatred.

But he...

He did not move or try to dodge.

The Archdemon gave up.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM