Nidhogg POV:
Entering back into the demon realm through Kumon, I take a look around to see where I came out of. Immediately, I feel a sense of unease, as my instincts alert me to danger. Without hesitation, I attempt to open another Kumon but find that I can't. Sighing at how often this has happened, I have no choice but to confront whatever has me trapped once again.
Before me, there is nothing but the familiar mountains and terrain that I've grown accustomed to here. With a glance, one would think they're alone, but I wasn't foolish enough to believe such a thing. However, as I was capable of sensing mana around me, I found that I could not do such at the moment. Whoever this was, came thoroughly prepared for me.
After a minute goes by, with no one taking action, I decide to break the ice.
"How long do you intend to hide? I know you're there." I say to anyone.
A chuckle echoes through the vast terrain before a demon flies out from behind the mountain he was hiding behind. I grimace as I recognize the form one of the Demon Lords I failed to deal with in my rampage. Did I lose my edge since arriving to this world? Although I did leave a lot of witnesses to my deeds back when I was a human, I was never one to fail at eliminating my targets. Since I got here, I was creating nothing but loose ends.
His taunting voice breaks me out of my thoughts, "Glad to see that you're better at talking now than you were last time. But unfortunately for you, there's no where you can run this time."
Obviously from his tone, he was happy to have me cornered. But what was his plan? Was he going to fight me solo? Even at the rank of Archdemon, I felt like I could hold my own against him, as I wasn't planning on underestimating him. From what he'd shown, his abilities were subpar, only granting him an edge against demons that were weaker than him and humans. There was a reason he was named Slasher after all.
"Well, you have me. What is it that you're planning? Surely you don't plan on fighting me. There were three of you last time and you're the only survivor. I think I'll amend that." I threaten him.
He laughs at my threat, making me raise an eyebrow if I had one. Had he gained some power from his master? "You're right. You embarrassed me before my mistress. For that, I'm going to get some payback before I bring your crippled body back to our King. Everyone, attack!"
Having said those words, hundreds of Archdemons begin crawling out of everywhere towards me, catching me off guard a bit. Ah, I see. He really did have time to ambush me.
Recovering from my shock, I prepare for their upcoming assault. If they think I was going down so easily, they were mistaken. As the first of the Archdemons reach me, I step out, crushing the ones slower to respond. The quicker ones, jump into the air, unless and multitude of abilities at me. My hand snakes out from under my shadowy cloak, blocking their attacks. With my other hand, I lash out at the ones caught unaware in the air.
The smarter one's retreat, allowing the next wave to attack while they readied their next attacks themselves. Unfortunately, my huge frame is still a bit slow, so I don't recover in time to meet their next attacks. Demons cling my legs, clawing and stabbing at whatever they can, while the flying ones launch their attacks at my mask. Prioritizing the protection of my mask, I do my best to block those attacks as the next wave of demons reaches me.
I decide to give up on defending and purely focus on attack. Each swing of my claws kills demons, but more take their place, filling in the gaps. Naturally, my passive regeneration allows me to negate any of their attacks. However, they are numerous, so the attacks are frequent, meaning it's a drain on my mana to keep up with their attacks.
Knowing that if I go berserk the situation will get worse, I suddenly snap at the demons in the air. Not expecting an attack like this, they fail to dodge it, getting consumed by me, replenishing my mana a bit.
A clearing in the attacks appears, and I look in time to see Slasher standing next to tiny blue fluffy demon. My mind works, as I try to understand the scope of my situation. Since he knew I was capable of just teleporting out of here, he would have to bring something to keep me from doing so. While the church has a device for that, how could a demon?
The answer was obvious, through another demon's power of course. He wasn't attacking me himself, due to the fact that he needed to protect the only anchor keeping me here. My only option was to catch them off guard with my Cero. But that would be for naught if he interfered at all while I charged it. Either way, if I didn't, was going to be captured at this rate, so what do I have to lose?
I begin gathering mana to charge for the Cero, and the demons respond immediately. They pause, as they stare in horror at the intense mana that was gathering at my mouth. As I prepared it, I couldn't help but notice that my Cero's that I perform here are more potent than the ones in the human world. Maybe because there's more violent mana here.
Slasher, if he can do anything about it, doesn't react it time as I finish my attack. The demons can only watch as my beam sweeps through their ranks, disintegrating any it touches. My Cero continues, as I path it towards the one who keeps me anchored here. Just before it reaches them, an intense pain comes from my left side, making me lose focus on my Cero as it slowly fizzes out.
My eyes dart to where I felt the pain, only to notice that my entire arm is missing. Looking around in anger, I try to find the culprit. No one here, besides Slasher, would be capable of inflicting such damage on me.
Turning behind me, I find a giant black curtain slowly coming down on me, as I get swallowed in a sea of void. As I sink into the depths of this curtain, I can hear from outside it, "Hah, we got him. Our King of Knowledge will reward us handsomely."
Ah, that's it. We got third partied. The other Demon King's minions got me. Well, this is what I get. In my last life, I allowed witnesses to my deeds, uncaring for the consequences. Old habits were going to be the death of me here. It's only a shame I was too late in realizing that. I continue falling into the void, with nothing but my thoughts to keep me company.