Xie Qing was stunned. He felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured on his head.
He felt a shiver and looked fearfully at the demon in front of him and jumped back.
"А? Don't worry, Guardian of the Abyss, I don't plan to kill you. Not yet." The demon shook his head and smiled.
"Trusting the words of a demon is not the smartest decision." Xie Qing narrowed his eyes.
The demon laughed and looked at Xie Qing as if he had found a curious toy. Obviously, Xie Qing did not like that look.
Soon they were silent and continued to stare at each other. Fortunately for Xie Qing, however, an angel in the flesh came. Literally.
"Lucifer, you old dog, how dare you interrogate our ally!"
Xie Qing shifted his gaze to the sky and saw the space illuminated with a bright divine light.
Though the light made it difficult to see the speaker's identity, Xie Qing knew from his voice that it was Alfred!
"Oh? It's Alfred. How do you do?" The demon, who turned out to be Lucifer, looked cheerfully at Alfred and waved.
Wait a minute...
"Lucifer?!" Xie Qing mentally exclaimed, then felt his whole being go cold.
He was a legendary figure from mythology! Someone who is one of the strongest demons! The legendary Lucifer!
Xie Qing frowned heavily and his handsome face became hard as stone. When he realized that Lucifer could have killed him immediately upon landing, he felt disgusted.
Even if he had died, it made him little sad. As he had long been to the point where he would someday die at the hands of a powerful enemy.
With him, however, Aria would likely die as well. And from the realization of this fact, Xie Qing's face distorted with rage.
Lucifer, however, paid no attention to Xie Qing and stood across from Alfred with a cheerful smile.
Alfred turned to Xie Qing and smiled good-naturedly and nodded consolingly.
"You've been a terrific, boy. And now you can go back with Aria. You will be met."
"Be careful, sir." Xie Qing nodded and activated the system's Gate function.
Lucifer looked at Xie Qing with a cheerful smile and suddenly opened his mouth.
"Did I ever let you go?"
Suddenly Xie Qing felt tremendous pressure on himself and gritted his teeth. He raised his head to the heavens and roared.
The pressure decreased, but a second later it increased again. However, Alfred came to his rescue.
"Lucifer! How dare you act so insolent when I'm here!" Alfred opened his wings and pushed Lucifer's pressure away.
The latter wasn't even angry, he just smiled and raised his hands in surrender.
Xie Qing quickly took Aria in his arms and stepped into the portal. Soon he was gone.
Alfred shifted his gaze to Lucifer and frowned.
"Now we have to deal with this problem somehow."
***
Xie Qing emerged from the gate and found himself in the Palace of Light. He was met by the First Seraphim.
"It's good to have you back." The Seraphim spoke in a monotone, but you could hear the relief in his voice.
Xie Qing nodded, then adopted a concerned expression on his face.
"Yes, but Sir Alfred..."
"He'll be fine." First Seraphim interrupted him. "My comrades came to his aid, so nothing will happen to him.
Xie Qing sighed in relief and felt as if a huge mountain had fallen from his shoulders.
He handed over Aria's care to the female angels who came with the stretcher.
Turning his gaze, Xie Qing looked at the system message, which he ignored because of the danger.
[Mission Accomplished. Reward: +60,000 points, Great Achievement "Killing the Fallen Angel", improvement of the "Devouring" ability].
Xie Qing smiled when he saw this message. The danger was worth it. After a second, however, his expression changed.
"KH-!"
Xie Qing vomited blood and fell to his knees, holding his chest. The boy was breathing heavily, and his black eyes returned to their original color
[System restrictions have been enabled.]
[Attention! The user's body suffered from overload!]
Xie Qing greedily gulped for air and smiled bitterly when he saw the last notification. Against Ralph, he really had to go to a lot of trouble.
"Child of the Abyss?!" First Seraphim noticed that Xie Qing was injured and channeled healing magic.
Suddenly, however, he turned pale and furiously spread his four wings and his soul entered into a confrontation with the black gas.
This black gas was not caused by Xie Qing's ability, but by something foreign. But Seraphim knew very clearly its origin.
"LUCIFER!" Seraphim's angry voice spread throughout the worlds.
"Kha-!" Xie Qing spat out more blood and felt fear. He inwardly asked himself: "When did he...?"
[Warning! Attention! A strong curse has been detected in the user's soul. Danger level: Deadly.]
Seraphim furrowed his eyebrows and moved Xie Qing into a bright space with only light.
He placed Xie Qing on the floor and waved his hand, enveloping him in a barrier of light. Xie Qing frowned slightly at the stabbing sensation, but he soon got used to it.
He entered his spiritual space and was stunned to see the state of his soul.
There was a claw-like imprint on his soul. And these imprints reached to the core of his soul¹! Xie Qing frowned.
He could see that his soul was in chaos. Because of the recoil after the overload, he was already in a heavy state.
"Child of the Abyss, it will take me several months to lift the curse. Until then, do not resist and open your soul." Suddenly Seraphim's voice sounded and Xie Qing hesitantly froze.
Then he sighed and nodded, but before he did, Xie Qing said: "If you can't save me, take care of Aria."
Xie Qing closed his eyes and fell into a comatose state. Seraphim nodded and began to fight the curse.
()
A few minutes before that...
"LUCIFER!"
Alfred and the three Seraphim looked back in surprise when they heard the First Seraphim's angry voice.
The First Seraphim was considered the oldest and strongest of all the Seraphim. He was one of the strongest beings in the world.
He had a calm and patient character. No one had ever seen him angry.
But now he was so angry?Alfred and the trio turned to Lucifer, who was smiling brightly. They frowned.
"Lucifer, what have you done?" Alfred roared furiously and pointed his spear at the former angel.
The seraphim also pointed their weapons in Lucifer's direction. Seeing all this action, Lucifer's smile widened to the point where it reached his eyes.
"Я? Hehe..." He smiled and licked the blood that dripped from the corners of his mouth. "I was just punished the naughty boy."
Alfred suddenly opened his eyes and lunged his spear toward Lucifer. Space began to shake violently and the ground crackled.
But Lucifer wasn't frightened and merely raised his black two-handed sword and parried the lunge, reversing its trajectory.
"Alfred, your power has dropped so much..." Lucifer sighed sorrowfully, then grinned. "So don't screw me if you accidentally die."
"Don't forget oneself, Lucifer! You're only a novice compared to us!" The Second Seraphim swung his staff furiously and summoned the Book of Light, but compared to the First Seraphim, he looked less majestic.
The Book of Light opened and released golden chains from its pages, which pinned Lucifer to the ground.
Even in this situation, however, Lucifer was smiling. His smile grew wider and wider as he saw the chains grow stronger and suppress his magical power.
"Ah, what familiar chains. I remember God chained me like that once, too." Lucifer looked melancholy, but then he smiled predatorily. "And then I broke free and killed him."
The atmosphere instantly turned cold. The seraphs emitted a murderous intent that caused space to warp and turn and time to slow down.
Lucifer grinned and clenched his hands. Afterwards, a crackling sound was heard and the chains began to crackle. The seraphs opened their eyes.
And finally...
Crack!
The chains were broken by Lucifer in seconds! The second Seraphim felt pain all over his body from the recoil, but he paid no attention to it.
"Third, Fourth! Activate Armageddon!"
Third and Fourth nodded and put their palms out in front of them, launching a light from their hands. It turned into a light rune that looked like a spear that pierced the planet.
Lucifer, seeing this, grinned mockingly and shrugged cynically. He took a step forward and disappeared.
The second Seraphim, noticing this, opened his eyes and shouted: "Look out!"
The Third and Fourth were stunned and quickly stopped the spell by recoiling. The next second...
"Kha..." The Fourth Seraphim snorted and looked fearfully at Lucifer, who was holding him by the neck.
"I may not be able to kill you all, but at least I can kill some of you." He smiled mockingly and squeezed hand.
"'LUCIFER!!!"
The Third and Second exclaimed furiously, and Alfred moved sharply and made a swift and powerful lunge with his spear.
Lucifer frowned and space warped, absorbing the lance's blow and releasing it ten inches away.
Alfred wrinkled his forehead and gritted his teeth. He flapped his wings and attacked Lucifer again.
"Alfred, please don't hurt yourself. You're too weak to stand up to me." Lucifer shook his head and sighed.
"Shut up!" Alfred became angry and struck Lucifer's body with his spear, then tried to restrain the demon.
The Third Seraphim furiously attacked Lucifer, and the Second cast a spell. But Lucifer just grinned.
He looked at the attacking angels and... crushed the throat of the Fourth Seraphim. He went instantly pale.
Suddenly a round orb emerged from the Fourth's body and tried to escape. However, Lucifer caught it.
"LUCIFER! YOU WILL REGRET IT!" The Fourth Seraphim shouted furiously.
"Yes, yes." Lucifer nodded with a serious expression, but everyone sensed his sarcasm.
He suddenly stomped on the ground and a beam of light burst from his body. The beam was black, and it headed toward the sky.
Ordinary beings could not see what was happening, but Alfred and the two Seraphim saw it clearly.
They turned pale and launched a furious attack. This time, Lucifer didn't defend himself, as he was busy destroying some object.
Namely the Fourth Seraphim's Soul Star.
****
A/N: In my story, the soul has four layers: The first layer is the Protective layer, the second layer is the Magical layer, the third layer is the Spiritual layer, and the fourth layer is the Core.
In order to kill an enemy, it is enough to hack up to the magical layer and then inject your magical power there, as if to disrupt the flow. Eventually the victim will explode and die. (He will, however, be able to come back to life after time, such as ten thousand years later).
And, as you have already realized, by breaking the fourth layer and destroying the core, rebirth will be impossible. Even with the Soul Star.
You may ask: Why didn't Lucifer destroy the core of the Fourth Seraphim at once? The answer is simple: it is much more difficult.