Way of the Knights

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Raven could be found suspended in the air.

He had one arm folded behind him while other grasped the Brush of Wisdom. There was despondent expression on his face and he looked down on the scene of chaos beneath him. 

Behind Raven, there was a massive rune glowing with golden-silver radiance. On top of him, numerous portals appeared, spitting down enormous rocks burning with white flames that laid waste at the area beneath him.

A cacophony of explosions occurred, debris and limbs flew every where and a burning heat remained from the while flames spreading everywhere. The whole area was filled with screams of agony and distress yet Raven had his heart closed to their voices. 

These abominations doesn't deserve even an ounce of his pity.

The Meteor Shower continued until every inch of this area was covered with white flames. Raven scattered his senses to feel if there are any of Devils who managed to remain alive from all of this. He had found some but he saw that they're not going to last long since they're severely injured so he ignored them directly. 

Raven flew past the burning dead bodies and went straight towards the black beam of light. He looked up to it and under his gaze, the black beam of light began transforming and showing numerous runes that kept it functioning. 

He studied them for quite sometime, and after analyzing them, Raven didn't waste any time and began fortifying the runes with a few of his own. 

He strengthened the rune, added some hidden functions on them to ensure the safety of those who will visit this place after him and disappeared from this area by going through the black beam of light. 

Raven's back at the Devil Emperor's Pagoda. He's still trying to climb as high as he possibly could, fortifying the seals on each floor and also thinning out the numbers of devils just to buy them sometime. 

Using the Cleansing Flames was definitely helping him out a lot here since these flames could truly incinerate devils through and through. Devils killed through other means would just be sending them back to the Devil Emperor's embrace and giving him intel, by killing them with Cleansing Flames, these devils won't have the chance to be resurrected, forcing the Devil Emperor to spend more energies on creating more of them. 

Raven just arrived at the 60th floor. When his vision re-adjusted, he saw that he was actually standing at the edge of a small island surrounded by a large body of water that seemingly spans endlessly. He looked around and saw that the entrance to the next floor is actually located north from the island. 

And from the general theme of this floor so far, it wouldn't be surprising if it turns out that he needed to dive on the depths to enter the passage to the next floor. 

Ravens scattered his senses and saw numerous sea devils silently surrounding him. A playful smirk appeared on his face he thought that these things must have been waiting for him to step out of the island so that they can get a few bites out of him. 

Additionally, this place somewhat works against his methods as well. Since he's dealing with deep see devils and he's surrounded by a large body of water, that automatically suppresses his flames...at least that's what one would think if they are in the similar situation. But see, Raven's cleansing flames are a cut above from what it was previously. 

"I don't feel like stepping out of this island just yet."

Instead of diving down, Raven retreated at the center of the island. He took out a chair and a table. He enjoyed the cool breeze of the wind but was somewhat disgusted when he smelled the foul odor of the deep sea dwellers. 

He raised the Brush of Wisdom and began weaving a giant rune. Golden-silver radiance gathered at the tip of his brush as he drew one line after another. After numerous swings and intersecting many lines, the rune was formed. Raven placed the Brush of Wisdom on the table and waited patiently. 

The giant rune flew above him, it started gather massive amounts of energy which charges it completely. After that, numerous portals appeared above him once again. If one looked closely, each portals revealed the scenery of the Outer Space for the briefest of moments before gigantic rocks started coming out of them. 

As soon as the rocks passed through the portal, they would be covered with pristine white flames carrying a terrible heat. One meteor after another fell on the seemingly boundless sea, stirring up tall splashes of water. 

Raven picked up the brush and with a single wave, he formed a barrier that encapsulated the entire island. The tall waves of water crashed through the barrier but they failed to break it. The barrier didn't even shake from the impact. 

He watched in wonder as he saw numerous injured sea devils crash through the barrier, leaving behind trails of blood. He saw how they tried their best to swim fast enough in hopes of escaping this terrible rain of meteors to no avail. 

The sea turned black shortly after, mostly due to it being stained by the black blood of the deep sea devils. Raven can't recall what the deep sea devils look like since they were dead before he could take a good look at them. 

Nonetheless, it isn't really important to him. It's not like his decision to eradicate them will change once they found them adorable. 

"Hmm?" Raven raised a brow as he felt some tremors around him. He looked around and saw a shadow blotting the entire island. His eyes gleamed as he let out an amused sound. 

"That looks like a whale, a sperm whale but fifteen times bigger at least." Raven mused to himself, "It has scales? Or are those corals? Meh, don't care. But it does look strong and it should be swift too since I noticed it pretty late. Eh? What's that?"

Raven looked towards another side and saw another enormous creature. 

"Uh...a giant squid? Octopus? Both? I mean I could count at least ten major tentacles and hundreds of thinner ones. Woah, those...teeth? Is it called teeth if it's attached to its tentacles or should call them fangs? Whatever. Those looks pretty dangerous too."

"Woah, they're thrashing around." Raven chuckled as he felt the barrier shaking. Nevertheless, he wasn't worried that it's going to break. "Too big for a rain I guess? Well, I don't care. Perish."

As soon as he declared that, meteors crashed through the barrier, severely injuring the two gigantic creatures. It was only now that Raven recalled reading about them and remembered what people called them:

"The whale was dubbed as the Great Leviathan and the squid/octopus thing was called Great Kraken. I wonder this Kraken was related to the one I spared back in the Grand Ancestral Plane...they shouldn't be, I mean these two were created by the Devil Emperor. Yeah, they shouldn't be related. Oh well. They're dead so its not like it matters anymore."

Raven's non-chalant attitude might just infuriate tons of people if they saw it. It had to be known that these two deep sea giants caused so much despair in the Crusades due to how powerful they were. They were undoubtedly the kings of this floor and if they want to get to the next floor, they have to endure their torture. 

These two in particular harvested many lives of their troops. Some people were even tasked for the sole purpose of distracting these two just to have others slip away from them. In other words, sacrifice. None were proud of this strategy but it has to be done or else, more lives will be lost. 

However, these so called kings of the sea, were reduced to nothing but a mere joke by Raven. Judging from how he relaxed he looked, it doesn't seem that he actually tried just now. It was as if eradicating all deep sea devils including these two were something so trivial to him that he could do it in a snap of a finger. 

Yeah, that's both terrifying and infuriating at the same time. 

Raven spread his sense out to check if there are still devils alive. Just like on the previous floor, there were some who's still alive but barely. 

He waited until the sea calmed down for a little bit before he dropped the barrier. He then walked on the surface of the sea, towards north where the beam of light if located. Once he got close, he stared at it for a good while but he was concentrated that he didn't notice that a sea devil managed to get close to him. 

It was about to take a bite out of him it suddenly exploded into pieces. A pair of large but ethereal hands appeared behind Raven's back, dealing with the ambush easily. 

Raven didn't break his focus and analyzed the runes. When he did, he used the Brush of Wisdom to fortify them and when he's done, he released a sigh. 

"I guess this is as far as I can go right now. I won't be able to fortify the runes on the floors above this one. Alright then, time for me to return." 

After saying that, Raven promptly disappeared from where he was, leaving a ruined sea which will take a couple of months to return back to it's original state.