CHAPTER 76: DEMON KING ANGELUS

"I never really liked that nickname. I’m not even a king!"

Angelus stepped on one corpse and then dug his boots deeper, causing the flesh and blood to overflow from the dead soldier’s armor.

"Now, it’s your turn. Tell me your names so that I can remember you even after you’re dead."

Zarria knew there was no point in idle chat and that they should kill this monster as soon as they could.

She turned to Augros and then said:

"Cover me while I recite a prayer."

He nodded firmly.

Augros then dashed towards the Demon King despite not knowing what it was capable of. And naturally, he paid the price.

With nothing else but a snap of his fingers, Angelus launched the warrior back in the direction where he came from. Augros’ body crashed against a boulder where he got buried under the rubble and debris.

But Zarria had already finished her prayer.

Suddenly, blood started to drip from her eye sockets and nose.

This was the heaviest prayer she had recited yet.

Despite the stinging sensation in her head caused by her melting brain, Zarria forcefully uttered:

"Divine Retribution."

She saw the shock in the Demon King’s face when he realized he couldn’t move. Then, the color of the sky changed.

The once-clear sky suddenly darkened, and a storm was formed by the peculiarly thick clouds. Its eye was directly over the Demon King.

Winds howled and the oceans roared. After using up so much celestial energy to summon a powerful divine skill, it almost seemed like Zarria brought the apocalypse itself.

And after a few more seconds, a purging light was released from the sky. Thunderclap crashed in the clouds and the winds blew more violently. An intense, blinding beam of raw celestial energy crushed the Demon King while everything around him got burned and decimated.

Zarria had to shield her face and plant her feet firmly to the ground to avoid being blown away. The rumbling caused by the sheer force of the Divine Retribution persisted for a few more moments before everything went silent.

The world returned to normal as the wrath of the divine drew back up to Celestia. The aftermath were smoldering embers and a giant circular gaping hole in the ground where the Demon King stood.

While all of that was happening, Zarria had already recited a healing prayer to erase the damage in her brain. She observed the hole and searched for the Demon King’s corpse...

...and there it was. The charred figure that looked like a child’s lay motionless in the burnt ground.

But what she saw next made her eyes widen like saucers and send shivers to her spine.

The body blackened by the intense heat twitched. The first part that the Demon King moved were his fingers. And by the time Zarria realized what he was about to do with them, it was too late. Angelus had already made the snap.

..

....

....

Zarria opened her eyes only to see her world spinning. When her vision was finally reliable enough, she saw the trail her body left on the ground as she was violently sent flying by some mysterious force. Broken trees and crushed boulders seemed to have slowed her momentum down before she came to a stop.

She pushed herself up, still not able to believe that the Demon King survived the Divine Retribution.

His body, even his clothes and armor had already rapidly regenerated and he stood there like nothing happened.

"That bloody hurt, you know?" he said with a monotone.

He held his hand up and grabbed nothing but air, but Zarria felt someone’s hand wrapping around her neck. Then, from several meters away, she was pulled towards Angelus by some unseen force.

She immediately used elemental magic to shoot a concentrated fireball at the Demon King. As he parried it with his barehand, Zarria’s neck was released.

She fell to her knees and stroked her neck while she coughed. Then, a blurred image of Augros dashed past her.

Zarria wanted to stop him. She couldn’t imagine how he could win against an enemy even the gods can’t kill.

She anxiously watched only to be surprised by Augros’ intelligence and skills.

He took a sword that belonged to one of the fallen soldiers — not to slash the Demon King with it, but to launch it towards his wrist before he could snap his fingers.

Even though the tip hit the wrist perfectly, as expected, it regenerated instantly. But it was enough time for Augros to close the distance.

He beat the living crap out of Angelus using unbelievably fast combinations of punches and kicks. The poor Demon King couldn’t even snap. He really looked like a mere child as Augros continuously rocked his head with devastating blows that Zarria felt wrong watching.

’So the Demon King is an immortal...’ Zarria thought to herself.

If the Divine Retribution wasn’t able to kill him, then nothing will ever be. Their only choice was to seal him somehow.

There were only a few ways to do this, and it had never been tried on a demon, let alone the immortal Demon King. No physical containment would do, they had to resort to the power of spirits.

Unfortunately, none of the members of the Spirit Clan were present at the scene. Maybe that was why Angelus used the teleportation spell. He knew that only they could pose a threat to him.

’We need to buy more time!’

Angelus began to dash away, making it harder for Augros to be in a position where he could strike efficiently. He would lose in a battle of strength, so he couldn’t grapple with the demon either.

So, Zarria stunned Angelus with a lightning bolt. Simultaneously, Augros struck him with an axe kick to the face, burying the child demon’s head in the sand.

She was about to use the highest tier of the magic spell: Sea of Death. But within this short pause, Angelus was able to explosively push himself away and make a snap.

Augros disappeared from her side only to reappear several meters away with a disfigured body.

Zarria watched this, horrified.

When she looked back at the Demon King, he was gone from where he lay. He was already standing in front of her with his fist punching a hole through her stomach.