Chapter 271: Chapter 271

I stood across from the two Demons, Abigor and Aym. All around me, the battle raged. The leader of the Demons, Andras, was gathering his troops into an organized retreat with himself at the very center of the formation where he would be safest. Below me, the giant serpent was eyeing new prey among the young Leviathans, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. Screams and roars mixed together as Alphas and Domain warriors alike fought for their lives. None of them, though, dared approach where the two Demons and I stood. We were the eye of the storm, but that calm was only momentary.

The flames billowing around my body grew hotter and hotter as I gathered momentum. Two wings of fire sprouted from my back. At first, the left wing was green, and the right was blue, but after fully unfurling, the right wing began to change. Bright green spread like an infection, consuming the blue fire bit by bit until none was visible. I was curious about the unconscious change but didn’t have time to investigate it at the moment.

The air around me began to shimmer as the heat of my fire reached the peak I could achieve. Breathing in deeply, my Divine Body activated. Glowing lines appeared under my skin in a geometric pattern. The book in my hand opened of its own accord, flipping through pages quickly as it began to levitate slightly. Anyone near the Chronicle at this moment felt as if dozens of conflicting stories were all ringing in their head simultaneously. The sentences bored into their brain. Each word overlapped with countless others, turning whatever it was trying to say into an incoherent chorus.

Having gathered all the power I could bring to bear, I grinned at the two Demons. “Try not to die too quickly. I want to test exactly what I am capable of before Envy arrives.”

Abigor scoffed as he crossed his arms. “I am immortal. Even if you have regained your strength, I do not fear you.”

“Immortal?” I chuckled, “You haven’t even scratched the surface of what that word means. Allow me to teach you.”

As I spoke, my domain gathered under my feet, propelling me forward in a burst of speed. In a blur, I raced up to the Demon. My hand stretched out to his head. Green flames gathered like snakes preparing to bite.

Abigor Did not try to dodge my incoming strike. He did not even flinch as my flames closed in on his face. He instead struck back with a blow of his own. Dark red mist gathered around his fist as he threw a punch towards my ribs.

Abigor’s reach was longer than mine. We both knew his blow would land first, but much to the Demon’s surprise, I did not flinch away from his strike either. Abigor’s fist landed solidly on my exposed side. The dark red energy enveloping his fist seemed to bypass my domain’s defense, ignoring it entirely as if it was never there. The power ripped at my flesh. It tried to eat away at my body like a parasite but found my skin to be much tougher than expected. After biting less than a centimeter into my side, the dark red energy was overwhelmed and expelled by the combination of fire and strength from the Divine Body.

I grunted in pain at the unexpected devious nature of Abigor’s attack but did not allow it to slow my strike. Green fire exploded from my hand as it reached the Demon’s head. The shockwave sent both of us flying back.

Abigor screamed in pain as the flames wrapped around his head. They did not disperse after the explosion but instead stuck to the Demon’s head like worms trying to eat their way into his skull.

I was knocked back by the combination of Abigor’s blow and the explosion, but I quickly shook away the disorientation and focused. Flames swirled around my body, taking the shape of a dozen arrows as I prepared to take advantage of Abigor’s moment of weakness. However, another blow surprised me from behind before I could launch my strike. A bright red metal bar struck my side, accurately hitting the exact location as Abigor’s fist had a moment before. This time, my domain was able to block the blow, but the combination of the two hits in the same place in such a short time left cracks in my domain armor.

I turned my head to look at the source of the surprise attack. The second Demon, Aym, had gotten behind me while attacking Abigor. His eyes were glowing as he aimed at the weakest point in my armor. I grimaced in disgust as I saw his body, covered in squirming maggots.

Reaching out, I grabbed hold of the red-hot metal rod Aym had hit me with before the Demon could strike again. Aym tried to pull the bar back. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized he could not wrench it free of my grip.

“Really Aym?” I said with a mocking grin, “You nearly lost an arm fighting me before. Do you think you stand a chance against me now?”

Aym released his weapon as he leapt back. With a devious chuckle, I pointed at him. A glyph of flames formed at the tip of my finger. The Demon’s eyes went wide with fear as he saw the glyph. Without even waiting to see what it did, he turned to run away. Unfortunately for him, Aym was not fast enough to escape before I completed the glyph.

Green and blue flames met as I prepared to blow the Demon to pieces. However, just as the glyph was completed and tried to activate, the green flames spread hungrily. The glyph sputtered and collapsed as they devoured the blue fire.

I blinked in surprise as the glyph failed to form. There wasn’t even the signature explosion I had grown used to. I stared at the remaining mass of green flames as I contemplated what went wrong but didn’t have time to examine the collapse in detail as Aym was still trying to distance himself from me.

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With a disappointed sigh, I waved my hand in his direction. The arrows of fire I had been preparing to fire at Abigor changed targets. Fire streaked across the sky, slamming into the fleeing Demon with thunderous explosions. Aym screamed as the fire engulfed him. His domain cracked under the attack. Little squeals echoed out as thousands of tiny maggots covering his body were roasted alive. Thanks to their sacrifice, Aym managed to survive the attack, but it was clear he could not handle many more. The heat from the explosion alone was enough to melt steel and rock. Aym’s body was not nearly as strong as Abigor’s, and the attack I had initially planned for the tougher Demon had left his skin charred and blackened.

Still, I knew that with a Demon’s vitality, this level of injury would not affect his power much. I did not want to be struck from behind again. Perhaps it would be better to get rid of the weaker one first.

I gathered my power for a follow-up assault, but before I could launch another attack. Abigor charged at me wildly. My green fire still burned away at his skull, giving the Demon a strange ethereal look, but any injury they caused was healed faster than it could affect the Demon. It did not slow him down as he clasped his hands together and brought them down on my head like a hammer.

Abigor’s attack left his chest open as if he were daring me to trade blow for blow with him. The Demon’s fighting style was simple and direct, relying entirely on his innate regeneration to overwhelm his opponents. Unfortunately for Abigor, this was the fighting style I feared the least. If he wanted to trade blows, I would happily comply.

I shifted my head slightly so that Abigor’s all-out strike would land on my shoulder rather than my skull and stepped forward to return that blow with one of my own. Dark red mist covered the Demon’s fist, once again bypassing my domain as if it were not there. The strange caustic energy hurt but it did not deter me.

Simultaneously as Abigor struck, the book floating by my side began to move. With the sound of rustling paper, the pages of the Chronicle turned. The chorus of voices emanating from within began to fade until only a single one remained. Everyone across the battlefield heard the words. It was not an audible sound that could be drowned out by the clashing of metal and roars of beasts. The voice boomed inside their heads like thunder. Each word was a declaration, a law.

“Power is meaningless. In the end, everything returns to the void.”

As the words were spoken, the book in my hand changed. It no longer radiated my flames' heat but instead grew cold. Ice appeared on my breath as the blood mist around us began to freeze. The world's light seemed to dim as if night had suddenly fallen across the valley, and all colors were sucked away. From within the pages, an inky black shadow emerged. Any that saw it, from the most bloodthirsty of Demons to the most hardened of soldiers, felt a chill down their spine. Their brain screamed that it was unnatural. It was wrong in some way that could not be explained.

All of this happened at the same moment that Abigor brought his hands down on my shoulder. I soldiered through the pain, keeping my consciousness focused on the Chronicle. Sweet formed across my brow from the effort of activating the armament. Following my will, the inky black shadow emerged from the book and lightly touched Abigor’s chest. There was no ripping of skin, no burning, no blood. It was a simple touch, and as quickly as it appeared, the shadow vanished back into the book. The bone-cold chill faded, and color returned to the crimson mist across the valley.

The Demon paused to look down at his chest as I stumbled backwards from the force of his blow. A single black dot remained where the shadow touched his chest.

“What did you do?” he asked in confusion. His hand reached up to touch the black dot. It looked utterly innocuous. It was as if someone had dropped ink on his chest, but when his fingers came into contact with the inky spot, it grew as if alive. It spread to the finger that touched it and slowly expanded across his chest. With every second that passed, the dot practically doubled in size. Abigor rubbed at the spot furiously but all that did was spread the inky blackness across his hand. “What did you do!” he shouted. This time, panic crept into his voice.

I let out an exhausted breath of relief as I saw the black void begin to spread across Abigor’s body. The Chronicle gently landed in my outstretched hand. The sound emanating from it had returned to an intelligible chorus that nobody could understand.

From not far away, I heard a string of vulgar curses shouted at me. Svend directly fled from his fight with one of the young Leviathans. His face was pale as he stared at the book in my hand. “Why would you use that power here?” the big man cried in despair.

I chuckled as I turned my attention back towards the Demon, still furiously trying to remove the mark. Without hesitation, his finger directly tore into his skin, ripping away a chunk of flesh, desperately trying to get rid of the strange spot. However, when his skin regrew, the inky blackness had only grown bigger.

“Do you really think your regeneration is that unique?” I asked as the green flames around me grew brighter. A single feather from the wings at my back shattered before flowing back into my body. A sizzling flame erupted from the two injuries left behind by the Demon's strikes. Within seconds, the injury vanished, revealing smooth, unblemished skin beneath the holes in my clothes. “I know a dozen ways to counter your talent, but I don’t want to spend all day fighting you while your little friends escape, so I borrowed a little bit of power from someone else. That mark on your chest is death, absolute and unavoidable. There is nothing you can do to stop it now.”