Azemo was pinned to the ground with a spear rammed through his shoulder, but he was not done struggling. If anything, he was in such such a state of desperation that he gained the bonus ferocity that a cornered animal would get before it is slain.
As his attackers rushed him, Azemo did a sort of handstand with his shoulder still pinned to the ground and unleashed a twirling kick.
The kick came at such an unexpected angle that its sheer speed was able to overcome the reactions of two assassins. The first to get hit was the woman who shoved the spear into Azemo and the heel infused with an incredible amount of grey fog, from (skill) Retaliate, completely obliterated her head leaving a headless corpse.
The second assassin to get hit did not feel a particularly powerful blow, but as Azemo's heel brushed against the killer's neck, Azemo used (skill) Degrade. The skill was not an immediate effect but Azemo knew if he kept it up the assassin would die.
The wind created from the ferocious kick pushed back the rest of the assassins back a step, giving Azemo time to get up. He yanked the spear out of his arm, jumping to his feet before hurling the spear at the governor. The second of reprieve was all he needed to help Ima and Bella.
The governor was not expecting an attack from Azemo at his weakest state. So the spear was barely deflected, but in the process the governor's club was knocked from his hand.
Ima made sure he could not regain his weapon so the governor just pulled the spear out of his forearm and used it as his new weapon.
He was not as proficient with it as his club, but the sharp tip was still a threat to the tigers. Azemo watched as Ima let the spear sink into her.
The governor expected some sort of resistance but Ima's shadowy form swallowed the attack and Bella quickly cut the tip off of the spear with her sharp claws. The governor was left with his fists and a wooden staff.
Azemo smiled before grimacing in pain, his wound was not healing. Azemo no longer had enough mana to heal such a grievous wound and as his left arm hung limply blood trickling down, the assassins gained some confidence. The demon could be injured.
It was demoralizing to see a green fire burn away any damage they managed to inflict on the slippery Azemo and seeing the flame peter out was a great boost in spirits.
Suddenly through the cheers, one of the assassins collapsed, seemingly from nothing. Azemo grinned as (skill) Degrade did its job. Again the momentum shifted but the assailants still saw victory in sight. At the rate they were going, if they sacrificed another two members there would be no way that Azemo would still be standing.
Azemo had long since stopped teleporting Ceravin, he needed to conserve mana, but the drive skill user was still tracking every move the dagger made.
Azemo needed to get rid of the bubble man and as he looked at Ceravin, Azemo had a plan.
He did have other knives besides Ceravin, using the last teleport his mana would allow him, Azemo quickly teleported one of the neon knives at the bubble man. At the same time he hurled the other holographic knife at the man before engaging the remaining three assassins.
When there were seven of them the attack would never work, but with only four left, the assassins could not cover as much ground and the bubble man was left out to dry.
Since he had been so focused on Ceravin the drive skill user was only able to stop one of the knives before the other sunk into his chest.
In his mind Azemo cheered, he was seriously injured, but he could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
'I can teleport Ceravin all I want!' Azemo did not have enough mana to even teleport the futuristic knives back to him.
Back in the governor's fight, he had discarded the spear stick already and was just going at it with his bare fists.
The governor's massive body moved surprisingly nimbly and his fists would be deadly to any person they hit. Of course, he was not fighting people, he was fighting two massive monsters and his blows were not nearly enough to end them.
That did not mean Ima and Bella could just shrug off the blows and the two of them were still getting pushed back. Be that as it may, blood was flying, as wounds all over the governor's body were bleeding profusely.
If one looked closely the wounds were all just an inch off of vital points. The governor had such control over his body that he could move just enough to avoid getting his achilles cut even if he could not fully dodge the strike.
As Bella leaped in the governor spartan kicked her away and gestured to the final assassin controlling Reginald.
"Take him down."
The assassin led the massive Reginald towards Azemo.
Azemo felt the danger approaching and desperately charged the last ranged assassin. The woman he was rushing had just started using her drive skill after her teammates were taken down and spinning saw blades were zipping through the wind.
The woman did not have the best control, so allies and enemies alike had to dodge, but after Azemo was sliced by an errant blade he felt the power of the attack.
The last two melee fighters tried to intercept him, but Azemo jumped towards them using them as launch pads as he kicked off of them.
The woman looked up to see the shadow of death looming above her as Azemo plunged towards her blade raised. In a last ditch attempt the woman summoned all her saw blades to her.
As he was falling towards the assassin, Azemo had to dodge whizzing saw blades and as he got closer more and more wounds began to open all over his body.
Finally two sunk deep into his chest, but Azemo did not stop and plunged his gauntlet's blade in between the woman's eyes.
As he struggled to his feet Azemo saw the massive form of Reginald above him and the three remaining assassins backing up the beast.
The assassins were still wary of Reginald, but they had somewhat trained him to wait to attack them after Reginald went after their target.
Reginald began his slow but measured pace towards Azemo while the remaining assassins charged Azemo.
He had expected them to attack with Reginald, so Azemo was unprepared. The trainer of Reginald gave his life to stab two daggers into Azemo's thighs and while Azemo killed him, the other two assassins were able to restrain him.
In his weakened state Azemo could not shake the two brawny melee fighters and all he could do was glare as Reginald approached.
Unknown to Azemo, Reginald had gained a little respect for him over his time as the royal walker. On top of that the prestige in Azemo's eyes was causing Reginald to pause.
Through his interactions with people, or robots, that he could easily control, Azemo had levelled up his demon lord prestige.
In Azemo's eyes, Reginald saw a true demon lord and that combined with the respect he had gained from Azemo's control over him on the walks was enough for Reginald to do something unexpected.
Azemo did not blink as Reginald lunged forward. He had already died before and death in Kclzan held no sway over him.
A spurt of blood appeared right next to Azemo's face as Reginald ate the assassin to Azemo's right, in one bite. The other assassin quickly followed suit turning into a blood stain.
A deep voice filled Azemo's mind.
"You are a true demon lord and I will pledge myself to you."
Azemo gradually realized that it was Reginald who was speaking to him. Apparently Reginald had not recognized him as a true demon lord before, but after seeing Azemo in battle he did. Meaning Azemo was worthy enough to talk to Reginald.
"Finish him off before you do any pledging." Azemo gestured towards the governor as he sat down to recuperate.
"It shall be done."
Reginald sprang into motion barreling past Bella and Ima.
The governor, to his credit, did not back down and unleashed a powerful punch. Azemo would not have been surprised if the punch could level a building but to Reginald it was nothing.
Reginald just opened his mouth and the momentum created from his fearsome blow carried the governor directly into Reginald's cavernous mouth.
Azemo expected the fight to be done with that noisy chomp but suddenly Reginald's mouth was forced open and the governor climbed out.
Reginald coughed out a mouthful of blood, but managed to bite down again before the governor could get his legs free.
The governor lay on the ground without legs, but when he forced his way out of Reginald he had caused some serious damage to the massive creature. The insides are not as protected as the outside and the governor had exploited that fact.
Azemo shook his head that Reginald would be injured like that and slowly got to his feet. (skill) Hover released his tome and Shining Starlight and Azemo used the spear as a walking stick as he hobbled towards the governor.
Bellania and Imagine covered in blood fell to his sides as Azemo approached the governor.
Without listening to a word the governor was saying, Azemo raised the blade on his gauntlet to the sky. As he swung down the blade grew to the size of a normal longsword and the governor's head rolled away from his body.