Chapter 12.8. Third time’s the Charm (8)

  “Yes, I believe that’s a good idea,” Kane said. “Greed’s complaining is… quite irritating to experience.”

  Lucifer then turned his Overlord Eyes toward Astarte and Ammit, who were battling the army of fairies. What he saw confirmed his expectations—they weren’t having much trouble. Though both had taken a few injuries across their abdomens, they had even managed to hypnotize some of the fairies into fighting for them, which was fascinating.

  Lucifer suspected they had used charm magic, but as long as their injuries weren’t severe, he allowed them to continue as they pleased.

  Lucifer activated his Overlord Sight once again, this time scanning the forest for Envy and Lust. When he located them, he noticed that they weren’t struggling at all—in fact, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, which was rather surprising. Satisfied, Lucifer deactivated the sight and turned his attention to Wrath and Pride, who were still engaged with the beastmen army.

  Pride’s actions were particularly gruesome. His hand pierced straight through a beastman’s chest, and on the other side, he held the still-beating heart. With a casual swing of his hand, the body slid off, and Pride tossed the heart into the air. As it descended, he caught it in his open mouth and sank his teeth into it. Blood sprayed across his face and flowed down his chest as he chewed until the heart was completely consumed.

  At the same time, Wrath’s assault was equally brutal. His greatsword had impaled four beastmen simultaneously, their bodies clinging to the blade. With a powerful swing, the bodies slid off, their blood dripping from the weapon as Wrath readied for his next strike.

  Pride and Wrath had sustained injuries that would be considered severe for a normal demon, yet they continued fighting as if untouched. Lucifer noticed, however, that their attacks were slowing. It was only a matter of time before the overwhelming number of beastmen would take its toll.

  “Looks like you’ll have to intervene there as well, Kane,” said Lucifer, turning his attention back to the battlefield.

  Kane and Lucifer focused on Mephistopheles and Apollyn. Mephistopheles swung his greatsword at great speed, aiming for the beastman’s head. The beastman ducked, and as the sword passed over him, he closed the gap and delivered a heavy punch to Mephistopheles’ stomach, sending him back several meters. Mephistopheles quickly straightened and brushed off the impact, seemingly unaffected.

  Meanwhile, Apollyn and the dark elf continued their high-speed clash, the ringing of their swords echoing across the battlefield. The dark elf saw an opening and aimed a strike at Apollyn’s neck.

  With lightning-fast reflexes, Apollyn ducked under the attack and countered with an uppercut slash. Just as the dark elf thought she had successfully dodged, the slash ignited into flames, exploding and sending her flying backward.

  “Well, look at that, he’s finally showing his true strength,” said Lucifer.

  “I don’t understand why he hadn’t been using magic this entire time. It’s his most powerful weapon,” said Kane.

  “I told him not to rely on one power to win a fight. Relying on a single ability gives your opponents an advantage if they can counter it. Just like the first time I fought the Demon Lord—I beat them rather easily because they all relied too much on their one way of fighting. That’s why our fight ended up one-sided. I’m sure they learned a lot that day. They knew I was a magic user, but they had no clue that I’d be physically as strong as I was. In any case, they learned from their mistake and perfected their fighting styles,” explained Lucifer.

  “So in the end, you were simply trying to get them to become even stronger than they were without relying on the power they already had. That makes sense,” said Kane.

  The Dark Elf got back up slowly, and the burn marks she had received seemed to be healing relatively quickly. This was a rather interesting sight for Lucifer, but he didn’t pay it any mind.

  Apollyn charged at the Dark Elf once more, this time with his swords covered in flames. These weren’t ordinary flames—they were Hellfire, a fire said to burn even one’s soul.

  As he reached her, he swung his sword vertically, and the flames created an extra slash. The Dark Elf was barely able to avoid it. Apollyn kept attacking, and she kept dodging.

  Then, as the Dark Elf’s feet touched the ground after avoiding Apollyn’s lower body attack, Apollyn froze her feet, preventing her from moving. He went in for a point-blank assault. He swung his first sword from above, but she blocked it. He then aimed his second sword for her stomach, but that was blocked as well.

  The Dark Elf most likely thought that was the end of Apollyn’s attack, but she had no idea what came next.

  The flames on Apollyn’s swords grew even fiercer and larger, until both swords were engulfed in a ball of fire. It was a risky move on Apollyn’s part, as he was also being burned by the flames, but they burned him far less than they did the Dark Elf.

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  Her screams echoed across the battlefield. Even Mephistopheles and the Beastman paused for a moment at the sound.

  Inside the ball of fire, neither figure was recognizable. One of the two shapes fell to their knees, while the other turned and walked out.

  It was Apollyn. He held one of his swords across his shoulders and smirked, triumphant.

  The fireball died down, and the Dark Elf was covered in scorch marks. Her armour was nearly melted onto her skin, though fortunately only the bracers on her forearms were partially fused.

  Meanwhile, Mephistopheles and the Beastman Prince continued their fierce duel. The prince threw a fist at Mephistopheles’s face, but Mephistopheles blocked it with his greatsword. At the same time, he formed a large ball of fire and slammed it into the prince, sending him rolling backwards across the ground.

  Mephistopheles touched his greatsword with his left hand, igniting it. The flames darkened gradually until they became completely black.

  He caught up with the rolling prince just as his momentum was about to stop. With the prince’s stomach facing him, Mephistopheles swung his greatsword upward, slashing from the stomach to the chest. The force sent the prince hurtling toward the Dark Elf, black flames bursting from his chest. Since she was still on her knees, the prince crashed directly into her.

  The battle seemed to be over. Mephistopheles and Apollyn’s victory appeared all but assured.

  But just as they began moving toward the Oread and Paladin, the Dark Elf and Beastman Prince slowly got back to their feet.

  The Dark Elf removed her damaged armour, which would have only slowed her down. Beneath it was a striking woman, her body covered in burn marks that had already begun to heal.

  The Beastman Prince still bore his injuries. The burn marks were severe, but they paled in comparison to the slash from his stomach to his chest inflicted by Mephistopheles. To make matters worse, the black flames from that very cut continued to burn him relentlessly.

  The Beastman Prince began to heal. His burn marks disappeared one by one, astonishing Mephistopheles and Apollyn at the speed of his recovery.

  Meanwhile, the Dark Elf combined her twin blades into a single weapon. A black mist began emanating from the blade, swirling around her before sinking into her body.

  Her skin turned pitch black, and her power surged dramatically. Seeing this, the Beastman Prince decided to stop holding back.

  His body began to change. Orange fur spread across his face, then his back, and finally his legs. Claws extended from his hands, and his face took on the features of a tiger.

  Moments later, a tail sprouted from behind him. With the transformation complete, the Beastman Prince let out a deafening roar, kicking up dust around him and announcing his full strength.

  Lucifer and Kane were stunned at the sight of both transformations—the Dark Elf and the Beastman Prince.

  "My lord, my eyes are not deceiving me, right? That Dark Elf turned completely black, and that Beastman turned into a weretiger," asked Kane.

  "No, your eyes are working perfectly," replied Lucifer. "That Dark Elf has transformed into a legendary class among her race, and that Beastman… I didn’t think he had that ability. The power to transform into one’s spirit animal is a legendary ability that all races have, but it requires a certain level of power to reach. This means the Prince has been hiding his true strength this entire time."

  "I'm afraid Mephistopheles and Apollyn will meet their end in this fight," said Lucifer, his voice calm but grave.

  "My lord, you could always intervene and save them from death," Kane suggested.

  "No," said Lucifer firmly. "I told them I would no longer save them. It’s up to them to defeat their opponents."

  "But my lord, they might die this time," said Kane, worry evident in his voice.

  "If they die, then so be it," replied Lucifer calmly. "They would have died on the field of battle. It is a worthy death for any warrior."

  Kane had no response to that and chose to remain quiet. He turned his attention to Greed and immediately noticed him in a dire situation—stabbed by four spears wielded by the lizardmen. Greed had fallen to his knees, coughing up blood.

  In an instant, Kane disappeared from Lucifer’s side and reappeared in front of Greed. The lizardmen army froze, shocked at Kane’s sudden presence.

  Using his necromancer abilities, Kane raised the fallen lizardmen as undead zombies, creating a horde to keep the remaining lizardmen occupied.

  "So, Greed," Kane said sarcastically, "do you need any help?"

  "No, I don’t, I can still fight," said Greed, pain lacing his voice as blood poured from his stomach where the spears had struck him.

  "With such an injury, I doubt you’d even be able to get up," said Kane. "So, as our lord commanded, I shall assist you." He then turned to face the lizardmen.

  Summoning all his remaining strength, Greed lifted his arm and grabbed Kane’s leg. Kane looked down at him, locking eyes, and saw a seriousness in Greed he had never witnessed before.

  Kane turned back to face the lizardmen. "There are over five thousand of these lizards. You will die before even decreasing their number by half."

  "That doesn’t matter to me in the slightest," Greed replied through gritted teeth. "Dying on the battlefield is a worthy death—even for me. I’ll die with no regrets."

  Once again, Kane was left silent. "So, this is the pride of a warrior. Well then, since you want to carry on with this fight, I’ll leave you to it," he said.

  Kane snapped his fingers, and all the undead he had created collapsed to the ground. Then he disappeared.

  Before Kane vanished completely, Greed called out, "Tell the Demon King it was fun serving him."

  Greed struggled to rise, wincing at the pain from his injuries, but eventually he got back on his feet. He faced the lizardmen, already charging at him, ready to accept his death.

  Suddenly, his injuries healed, and he felt his power returning. A large grin spread across his face. With renewed vigour, he charged back into the lizardmen army, slicing off a few heads with his bare claws—and licking the blood off.

  Kane reappeared beside Lucifer. I’m sorry, Greed, but I can’t let you die. It might not look like it, but our lord would be in a foul mood if any of you perished, thought Kane to himself.

  He then turned his attention to Wrath and Pride, who were still fighting fiercely, but at this point, they were taking more hits than they were delivering.

  Without a word, Kane disappeared from Lucifer’s side and appeared next to Pride and Wrath, who were back-to-back against the beastmen.

  The beastmen army, noticing Kane’s sudden presence, halted their attack and stepped back a few paces.

  “Kane, what do you think you’re doing?” asked Pride, his voice tired but sharp.

  “By our Lord’s orders, I’ve come to assist you,” Kane replied calmly.

  “Tell the king that we don’t need any help. We can handle this ourselves,” said Wrath.