Monsterization magic was once frequently used by multiple powerhouses of the hell universe for thousands of years.
That was until Diablo came into power and banned it, there was a serious crackdown as most of the users of this magic were caught.
Even some members of the leviathan grand duchy were apprehended too, of course, this was before Inglis and Diablo got married.
It caused a lot of problems between the royal family and the leviathan devils then.
Diablo's real reasons for banning this magic still remain unknown to date, however seeing Zach in front of him, Arthur felt he could partially understand why.
'His strength increased so much, if this was done to a being in the deity realm, I'm honestly scared of the consequences.'
In front of his eyes was Zach, who had completely turned into a monster. He seemed to be among the type that retained his humanoid form.
He was clad in an ominous magical power, a peculiar characteristic of monsterization victims. What had been the white portion of his eyes had turned deep red, and he stood still in place while gazing at empty space.
This scene was viewed by everyone who was in close proximity, and those who had never seen a monsterized devil before were completely flabbergasted. Well, of course, it was the first time they'd sighted a monsterized devil since it was an extremely rare case.
'Er, this is not the time to leisurely think about such things!'
"Clear out everyone!! That guy turned into a goddamn monsterized devil! You'll only become collateral damage if you continue to stay here!! Try to force the other monsters to steer clear to give the prince to deal with him."
Edwards's words were able to return some of the dumbfounded students to their senses.
"U-uwwwaaaaahhh!! Monsterized devil! Did he just say a monsterized devil!?"
"We have to run away! We have to run away! We have to run away! We have to run away!"
"He-he, someone please help meeee!!"
"KYAAAaaaaa!!"
While trying to escape, everyone was screaming in confusion. It was mostly the first years, most of which were gold and silver realms that were trying to run away, they could not even face any of the monsters summoned by Zach.
The guards moved to assist them to evacuate quickly, some nearby third years also came over to help.
Some tried to assist Arthur in facing Zach, however, they were blocked by Arthur himself
"That guy will probably not stop here, and as a monster who has lost most of his sanity, he might attack the other students, you guys should stop that from happening by clearing out the monsters he summoned and the weaker students"
"Then we will stay as well!!"
"As people who have never killed someone in an entire realm higher than you are before, what kind of idiotic things are you saying!!?"
The third years who arrived were merely inferior stage grandmasters, facing a superior stage was difficult for them. They were not sure of their survival.
However, they were even warier of Arthur who could send a superior stage flying with just the air pressure from his punch.
"Arthur… are we… a hindrance?"
"…Yeah, you guys are a hindrance."
"…Is that so…"
Layla bit her tightened lips, and turned around. Even though Arthur could not use his energies, even though they were both in the superior stage of the master realm, the gap in strength between the both of them was far too evident.
"Everyone, let's clear out the other monsters!"
She spread her wings and flew up while releasing magic power, she then rose her hand and launched multiple fireballs toward the monsters who were still increasing in number.
"No way! How can we leave his highness alone!!"
"I hate to break it to you seniors but Even if we stay here, we'll only be a burden!"
"But!"
"Just go deal with the other monsters already!!"
"Ye-yes!!"
Layla's sudden shout shocked them to the core, they reflexively replied to her words and moved to attack the intermediate-stage grandmaster wolves that were staring at a group of first years like they were dinner.
After turning into a monster completely, Zach, who had been standing still and staring at empty space, finally looked Arthur's way…
"GOWAAAaaaaah !!!!!"
Once he discharged his magic, he headed towards Arthur.
While Zach was on his way to where he was, Arthur pulled out a sword and a magic gun from his subspace ring and bombarded him with Fire Bullets.
When the Fire Bullets hit Zach, without confirming the outcome he circled around Zach's back, drew the Sword, and slashed horizontally.
** SLASH!
'There was some resistance! Where was it? Where did I cut him?'
When he moved away slightly, He saw that Zach had taken damage from the Fire Bullets all over his body, and his left arm appeared to have been severed from above his elbow.
"GYAAAaaaGYAA ARTHUR! YOU BASTARD! YOU BASSSSTAAARRRDdddddd!!!"
At this time Arthur felt a sense of discomfort.
'Arthur? He called out my name? Is there a part of his consciousness left in him?'
"I'LL KILL YOU! I'LL DEFINITELY KILL YOU! ARTHURRR!!"
At the same time he was yelling, he produced a cluster of Fireballs.
"Tsk!"
In order to obstruct the Fireballs, Arthur created a magic barrier with his defensive artifact.
"UWaaahh, HOT!"
'Dammit! Even if the barrier can protect against magic, it doesn't prevent the heat. My face is burning!'
"This—!"
Because it was excessively hot, he created a blade made out of water with his favourite sword creation artifact.
**SLASH, SLASH, SLASH!!
The water blade started slashing towards Zach.
"Why you… How dare You! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU! HOW DARE YOU!"
Arthur rushed towards Zach with both the Sword and the Water Blade at hand. Then, he sliced at Zach's remaining right arm.
"This is…"
'Is this the end of it?'
That's what he thought after looking at Zach's bloody appearance.
However this was a superior stage grandmaster, and a monsterized one at that, there was no way things were going to end so easily.
Although devils could regenerate, re-growing lost limbs still took time, especially if the limb in question was completely cut off from the body.
However, to a monsterized devil, such common sense clearly did not apply.
This was evidenced by the fact that the two arms Arthur cut off were regenerating right before his very eyes.
He watched the bone regrow, and the flesh and finally it was covered by skin, several runes appeared on the newly regrown skin.
Seeing this Arthur confirmed the theory he had in mind.
'As I thought, this guy was an experiment, they were trying to create a monsterized devil that retained his sanity, which explains why they needed the circlet of wisdom.'
He felt he was close enough to the truth but he was not completely sure yet.
'Also, this guy has been draining my physical strength for a while now.'
He realized that whenever he got too close to Zach, he felt his physical strength leaving him, resulting in weaker attacks.
Arthur clicked his tongue and moved to the still regenerating Zach, without caring for the strength decrease, he kicked Zach with an amount of force enough to pop a grown man's skull.
Zach flew back due to the force of the kick, Arthur didn't let up and continued kicking him away, pushing him further away from the courtyard and the dormitory premises, into the small estate with low-rise buildings in the area.
However Arthur noticed something strange, the more he kicked Zach, the greater resistance he felt and the lesser distance he moved.
Eventually, Zach caught Arthur's leg mid-air and flung him away, since he anticipated it, Arthur was able to regain his balance and landed on the ground perfectly.
'I expected a retaliation so I was prepared.'
Zach in front of him, began transforming into something else, strange marks began appearing all over his skin and some sort of thin sheet covered his face.
As he was staring at the transforming Zach after landing on the ground, he felt a presence behind him, turning around he saw a familiar face.
"Hello Lute, nice to see you. Are the others here too?"
"Of course your highness, we are your personal guards, we'd never leave your side."
It was a man dressed in all black from head to toe, he looked like a ninja. As he spoke, more figures dressed in black emerged from the shadows.
Looking at the guards who seemed to always follow him, Arthur chuckled and waved at them.
"Should we handle this for you, your highness?"
All of Arthur's guards were transcendents, with Lute being a demigod realm human, it would be very easy for them to wipe out Zach and his entourage of monsters.
Just one of them was enough to do the job.
Arthur frowned and shook his head.
"If I can't deal with a mere grandmaster, how will I be able to deal with the deities who are after my life in the future?"
"However, we would take action if you are in mortal danger."
Lute agreed with Arthur's wishes before disappearing back into the shadows, all the other guards did the same too.
Arthur then stared at Zach who had finished transforming with a wry smile.
He had gained an even more bizarre aura, as though the brilliance of a magic Rune was glowing from all over his body.
Magic runes as the name implied, were runes drawn with an ancient runic language in order to invoke magical effects of varying degrees of strength and intent.
However, it had drawbacks, one of which was the class of runes one could possess. It was impossible to possess two different classes of runes.
This meant it was impossible to possess both offensive and defensive runes on one's body. You could have hundreds of offensive runes but the moment you tried to inscribe a defensive rune, the energy in the runes might clash and you may suffer mana reflux.
However, Zach's current appearance with Runes all over his body was defying that rule.
Some sort of silver mask had also covered his face, making it impossible to find out his current profile.
'Did this guy turn into a rune eater? Was he fed those runes during the experiments?'
A Rune water was a monster that fed on the magical energy that dwelled in magic runes, eventually devouring the rune itself.
They were one of the few creatures that could hold various classes of runes on their bodies without repercussions.
For the current Zach, along with several Rune instances on his body, Arthur also could feel several different mana wavelengths from him.
From how he looked, the current Zach appeared to have several people's portions of Runes and Mana overlapping in himself.
And the total of all of those—made Arthur's mouth loosen up.
'Seems like I've finally run into a tough opponent after a while.'