Chapter 393

Chapter 393
## Chapter 393

The Demon King Descends (2)

The Demon World was an isolated realm, possessing a total landmass that roughly equaled only a solitary continent within Auterica.

In stark contrast to the balanced and harmonious realm above, this place was saturated with malevolent currents, creating a brutal and merciless setting.

Due to the unrelenting severity of their environment,

…the demons who inhabited this domain had developed traits explicitly tailored for warfare, far surpassing the biological capabilities of typical entities.

They did not merely possess immense inherent might and durability; they could also exist indefinitely without consuming food provided they maintained a supply of mana, and they absorbed tactical instincts from birth without needing any instruction.

They were creatures designed from inception for conflict.

Fortunately for the neighboring populations of Auterica, an equalizing force existed in the form of strict universal constraints.

Crossing the threshold out of the Demon World and away from their secluded reality was an immense challenge, and even when successful, they were forced to concede a massive portion of their baseline capabilities.

‘Had those boundaries not existed, Auterica would be trapped in perpetual warfare against the demonic hordes. The celestial hosts of the Heavens would be similarly embroiled.’

Conversely, this dynamic ensured that within the borders of the Demon World, the potential of its inhabitants reached its absolute zenith.

Standing at the pinnacle of this hierarchy were the Dukes, the sovereign demons who wielded unrivaled authority.

[“Huu… Haa…”]

[“…Curse it…!”]

This environmental advantage was the sole reason Sipar, the Strange Duke who commanded the form of a Cerberus, had managed to survive his confrontation with Hella and Davidson up to this point.

His rightmost skull had been obliterated, his colossal frame was marred by gaping gashes that laid bare his skeletal structure, yet his monstrous tenacity and absolute refusal to perish kept his combat effectiveness from collapsing entirely.

“…Your endurance is remarkable. The tales claimed your physical might was unmatched across the entirety of the Demon World. It appears those assessments were accurate.”

“Khaha!”

Yet, the struggle was rapidly approaching its conclusion.

Though his physical attributes were staggering, the adversaries blocking his path were far more unnatural.

Hella gently adjusted her wings in the air, casting a haughty, downward glance at the remaining two heads of the Cerberus.

The ragged stump where the third skull had rested was attempting to knit itself back together…

…but the pace of the reconstruction was miserably sluggish.

At this current rate, achieving a full recovery would require several days of uninterrupted rest.

‘…And that is the lingering consequence of Davidson consuming its fundamental concept through “Gourmand”.’

His survival was primarily sustained by his internal nucleus, which still held the concentrated purity of his fiendish life force.

Rebuilding from such a catastrophic trauma within a handful of days was an incredible feat, but the absolute loss of power remained severe, given that Davidson had completely digested the abstract identity of that third head.

‘…I cannot permit him to retain that spark. It belongs to me.’

Hella ran her tongue along her lips, tightening her fingers around her scourge, causing its jagged barbs to catch the dim illumination of the realm.

Mirroring her anticipation, Davidson let fluid drip from his three distinct sets of jaws, his tongues darting greedily between his teeth.

It was an overt display of mockery aimed directly at their cornered target.

‘Curse them! Curse them both! From what corner of reality did these entities emerge?! L’rei’e perished during the prior incursion, did she not?! Yet here I am, being degraded by these…!’

Sipar ground his fangs together, unleashing a double bellow of unbridled rage from his remaining throats.

They were viewing him as mere game—a trapped beast waiting for the final blow.

For a tyrant who had occupied the apex of the Demon World for eras, such a degradation was entirely unacceptable.

Yet, it was shifting into an undeniable reality.

‘Never! My life will not end in this place! Not in this manner! Not executed by these… curs! Not after the heights I have climbed!’

He had not battled through centuries of political maneuvering and survived endless tribulations just to be slaughtered like vermin when the throne of the Demon King was finally within reach.

‘…Ugh, damn it all!’

He arrived at a desperate resolution.

He would force a breakthrough and flee, regardless of the permanent trauma it might inflict upon his foundation.

His previous hesitation stemmed from avarice, believing he could resolve the encounter without paying a devastating price.

‘…If I can merely breach this perimeter… ’

The intelligence regarding the assault on his primary stronghold would surely be circulating through Abnormal by now.

Utilizing their sheer manpower and the terrain advantages of their homeland, his forces could overwhelm these intruders, particularly if he summoned the elite demons currently deployed near the Dark Nest.

‘They presumed to breach my personal domain! They will suffer for this insolence!’

The fierce conflicts over sovereign borders within the Demon World existed for a reason.

An entity’s territorial control was directly tied to their standing and absolute might.

Risking a direct siege on an enemy leader’s primary fortress was an incredibly perilous maneuver.

Rumble—!

[“I shall reduce you all to ash!”]

[“Aooo—!”]

A predatory cry pierced the air, followed immediately by a surging sea of fire that burst from Sipar’s flesh, swallowing everything in the vicinity.

The resulting kinetic blast rippled outward, carrying a temperature so extreme it seemed capable of melting the fabric of the realm.

“…He managed to preserve this degree of output?”

Hella knit her brows, shifting her posture to launch an immediate counter-offensive.

She recognized the nature of the maneuver.

Sipar had discarded every shred of his personal preservation, channeling the entirety of his residual reserves into a singular, cataclysmic strike.

With his protective fields and defensive arts completely dissolved, his exposed, massive frame was instantly torn and mangled by the backdraft of his own energy.

Nevertheless, he was the Strange Duke, a Cerberus whose baseline physical endurance was reputed to dwarf even that of ancient dragons.

Relying on that raw, stubborn durability to withstand the self-inflicted trauma, the sea of fire he unleashed expanded exponentially, threatening to dissolve the structural integrity of the 「Heavenly Demon’s World」 itself.

Whoosh— Crackle!

Inevitably, Hella and Davidson found themselves trapped within the vortex of heat, which was warping and dissolving the surrounding coordinates.

The deep crimson waves lapped against Hella’s protective veil of mana, rapidly eroding her defenses.

‘…He is burning his own essence. A suicidal gambit… This will become problematic if allowed to persist.’

He was, after all, a demon who occupied the station of a Duke.

Clicking her tongue in irritation, she gathered her internal energy, channeling a dense concentration of mana directly into the whip.

Even her specialized, high-tier relic of the Demon World would degrade rapidly under this level of thermal stress.

Sizzle—

Davidson, operating purely on physical attributes, had no choice but to absorb the intense heat directly with his flesh, his skin continually charring and reforming in a perpetual cycle.

Yet his forward momentum never faltered; his three pairs of jaws snapped viciously, biting chunks out of the advancing flames as he lunged toward Sipar without a moment’s pause.

[“Ugh! This ceaseless parasite! How does he continue to advance through these flames?!”]

[“Gah!”]

Ultimately, Sipar’s leftmost head—the one bearing the scarred visage—was violently wrenched away, its throat torn open by Davidson’s clamping jaws.

The Duke had attempted to fight back by projecting concentrated fire, but the absence of his third skull left him structurally unbalanced.

Davidson’s unrelenting offense, with all three heads snapping in synchronized malice, presented a terrifying image reminiscent of a mythical hound keeping watch over the abyss.

Right then,

…the ruined skull currently trapped inside Davidson’s maw suddenly twisted its features into a grotesque, mocking smile.

It was as though this exact development had been intended from the start.

[“Khehehe—! I shall drag you down to the abyss ahead of me!”]

Simultaneously,

…Swish—

…the serpentine eyes embedded at the tip of Sipar’s tail flared with a deep, bloody radiance.

The massive inferno that had been ravaging the entire battlefield was instantly vacuumed into the serpent’s maw.

The transition occurred within a fraction of a second, mimicking a deliberate severance in the flow of time.

“K-huh?”

Davidson, who had been actively consuming the severed skull, ceased his movements, his three heads turning in unison toward the source of the sudden energetic shift.

A concentrated heat, rivaling the core of a star, began radiating directly from the serpent.

[“Khahaha! Perish!”]

The reptilian frame, unable to withstand the pressure of the compressed energy, began to crack and dissolve, its scales crumbling into drifting soot.

Immediately following, a blinding lance of illumination,

…erupted from its jaws,

…driving straight toward Davidson.

—

Kaboom—!

A catastrophic detonation occurred, accompanied by a blinding flash and a kinetic wave that vibrated through the core of the dimension.

“Gah! The temperature is unbearable…!”

“Fall back! Fall back immediately!”

“Deploy all barriers! We will be annihilated by the shockwave!”

A wave of heat so extreme that even native demons found it intolerable washed across the combat zone.

The 「Heavenly Demon’s World」, incapable of containing the sheer pressure of the detonation, fractured into fragments, letting its trapped energy spill wildly into the surrounding environment.

“Ugh, what just occurred?”

“What was the result? Where is the Duke?”

“Hella-nim! Has the conflict concluded?!”

The lesser demons who had been engaged in the wider melee froze, turning their gazes toward the origin point of the blast while shielding their vision.

Observing the epicenter through the thick shroud of residual mana was nearly impossible, yet they could not avert their eyes.

They were fully aware.

The resolution of this specific duel would dictate the path of the entire conflict.

*Gulp.*

As the turbulent currents of mana began to settle,

…the reality of the clearing smoke was unveiled…

Crack—

[“Ugh! How could this…!”]

…revealing a single, massive head with its throat tightly bound by a scourge, black blood spurting from its lips,

…while alongside it, another predatory entity used its three heads to greedily devour a smaller, severed skull.

“…That was closer than anticipated.”

Hella, maintaining her grip on the whip with one hand, ran her free hand across her brow.

The thermal energy behind Sipar’s final gambit had been so immense that it forced a bead of sweat from her, despite her inherent immunity to fire.

“An admirable effort, certainly. Unfortunately, your target was poorly chosen.”

She lifted her eyes toward the heavens,

…tracing the fading path of the energy beam, which had left a permanent scar across the twilight sky.

She had not foreseen him executing such a reckless tactic, discarding his own tail to facilitate a hidden attack.

It was a devastating strike that utilized the existing battlefield flames as an accelerant, triggering almost instantly and bypassing her ability to intercept it.

Fortunately, Davidson—or rather, Harley—possessed a specific countermeasure for such scenarios.

Crunch— Gulp!

One of his three skulls, its emerald irises losing their light, finished consuming the remnant of the severed head, its jaw movements appearing almost robotic, as though it were simply replacing expended energy.

This was the lingering manifestation of 「Gem Eye: Coercion」 x3, which had forcefully twisted the trajectory of the oncoming beam at the terminal second.

‘Had that strike connected cleanly… Hmm, it would not have claimed my life, but the resulting drain on my reserves would have been severe. It might have rendered the entire venture unprofitable.’

He could not permit himself to lose capital on a mercenary contract, particularly after traveling all the way to this harsh domain.

Fortunately, it was a trump card Harley rarely put on display, meaning it was unlikely to complicate future matters.

He doubted whether his adversary could discern the internal mechanics of the 「Heavenly Demon’s World」 during the chaos… but maintaining absolute caution was always paramount.

‘Tsk, I allowed myself to become careless. Regardless of my mathematical advantage in raw power, he remains an entity occupying the rank of a Duke, a survivor who has governed this abyssal landscape for over a thousand years.’

Even an ability like 「Gem Eye: Coercion」, which enhanced its output through repeated utilization, possessed definitive thresholds.

The stubborn resistance of the serpent, amplified by the ambient sea of fire, had proven remarkably fierce.

However, he commanded three heads simultaneously!

Three separate Gem Eyes, each containing its own specialized domain, duplicated and amplified by his innate Cerberus characteristics, had fired in unison at maximum output. This collective pressure managed to deflect the heading of the beam a fraction of a second before release, redirecting the threat harmlessly into the upper atmosphere.

Though the 「Heavenly Demon’s World」 had shattered under the resulting feedback, that loss was trivial now.

The final, desperate offensive had collapsed, and the engagement was effectively settled.

“Oh! Ooh! Wooo!”

“Hella-nim has triumphed! Long live Hella-nim!”

“Aaaagh! Strange Duke-nim!”

“This cannot be! How…? What is her true identity?!”

The witnessing demons scattered across the field could now see the landscape with absolute clarity.

The finality of the situation was undeniable.

Sipar, the Strange Duke, was brought low upon the earth, his physical form utterly broken, missing two of his primary heads along with his tail.

Hella stood directly over his prone form completely unscathed, casually retaining her hold on his leash, which manifested as a collar around his throat.

Beside her, the monstrous form of Davidson held the Duke pinned to the ground, idly chewing on a severed skull as if it were a simple treat.

Within the boundaries of the Demon World, where the law of the jungle reigned absolute, the concept of an unfair engagement did not exist.

Furthermore, that auxiliary beast was clearly not of demonic lineage.

Subjugating and directing powerful entities was recognized as a valid metric of personal strength, and suffering such a comprehensive defeat left no room for excuses.

‘…Ugh, another failure. Not again…!’

Sipar, pinned down and stripped of his dignity, felt the immediate transformation in the atmosphere of the crowd.

Their allegiance, their awe, their terror…

…was all draining away from him and flowing toward the conqueror who held his chain.

It was an exact repetition of the events that occurred during the transitions of the 14th and 15th Demon Kings.

[“…Ugh… The defeat is mine. I, Sipar, offer my submission to you as my Sovereign.”]

Lowering his eyelids, he muttered the traditional words of capitulation.

Abnormal, the faction he governed, existed solely because of his personal power as the Strange Duke.

Should his life end here, his vassals would instantly disband to seek a different authority figure.

And that position would naturally be assumed by the victor who was currently projecting an overwhelming aura of dominance.

‘…Offering submission early is the logical path. I have walked this road before. It matters not. As long as my core remains intact, future prospects will manifest… ’

Right then,

“Ah, my apologies. I am currently bound by a previous arrangement.”

[“…What… Gah!”]

The scourge wrapped around his throat constricted violently, its needle-like barbs piercing deep into his flesh.

Actuated by her will, the weapon began to saw through his neck with mechanical precision.

[“Ugh! W-why?! I hold the rank of a Duke! I can provide invaluable assistance against the Dark Duke and the Strange Duke! With my aid, your ascension to the position of the ‘true Demon King’ will be secured…!”]

“I entered an agreement to eliminate every single Duke. A verbal pact remains a binding obligation. It would be rather unseemly to violate the terms so quickly, would it not?”

Hella offered a gentle smile, casting a playful wink in his direction.

Her demeanor resembled an innocent child engaging in play rather than a cold-blooded executioner systematically severing his throat with a mana-infused weapon.

“Furthermore—”

Staring directly into the maw of death, Sipar attempted a final, frantic struggle.

However, his window of opportunity had closed.

With Davidson’s immense mass pinning his limbs to the earth, combined with the crushing metaphysical weight of 「Demon King」 and 「Eyes of Domination」, movement was impossible.

“…I already occupy the position of the true Demon King.”

The declaration was delivered with frigid indifference, her eyes studying his frantic movements as though he were a minor specimen pinned to a board.

She required no auxiliary forces to eliminate the remaining two Dukes.

His single remaining duty was to remain silent and relinquish his core.

This was his definitive end.

[“Ha… Haha… You…”]

Whoosh—! Thump!

A prominent figure that had radiated brilliance across the Demon World for centuries finally fell from the sky.

A massive impact vibrated through the terrain, a final echo of his historical power and reach.

The expression frozen on his face upon hearing Hella’s concluding words was beyond description.

Hella kicked the newly severed head over to Davidson, who maintained his pinning hold on the carcass like a well-trained beast, and reached in to extract the internal nucleus.

Had his central essence been permitted to remain within the physical shell, he might have managed to piece himself back together over a vast span of time… but with the extraction of the core, that avenue was permanently sealed.

Consequently,

Whoosh—

…a polished, multi-faceted jewel containing a swirling internal fire of deep crimson materialized within her fingers.

A core of Duke-level quality, rivaling the magical signature of the Succubus Queen’s personal stone.

An item of extraordinary rarity within the ecosystem of the Demon World, its raw power sending ripples through the immediate atmosphere.

Swish— Thud— Thud!

The surrounding combatants—the Dream Walkers, her dedicated zealots, and even the surviving Abnormal legionnaires who had been actively defending the fortress moments prior—

…began dropping to their knees in successive waves.

In a synchronized display of absolute subservience, they offered up their allegiance and their primal fear to the figure standing at the center.

《Your authority as a Demon King has expanded. Your conceptual presence has grown more defined.》

…Welcoming the arrival of their undisputed Demon King.