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CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
Jack and Lee kept fighting with intensity, their attacks clashing and generating several explosions of darkness and crimson-colored demonic energy.
Anna's brother constantly unleashed devastating and strong attacks with his Gram, while his shadow manipulation and wide skill arsenal from all the prey he had devoured allowed him to always have some small trick below his sleeve, surprising Lee.
However, Lee also had his tricks, such as his seemingly endless ability to summon Demonic Snake Spirits, his incredibly lightning-fast movements and reaction speed, his monstrous physical strength, and his dual Demon Swords, capable of shapeshifting into all matter forms.
While Jack had been weaker than him for a while, after all his training and leveling up so far, both of them seemed rather equal, a feat that Jack would have never been able to accomplish this early without Anna's incentivizing him to become even stronger as fast as he could.
"I'm going to fucking kill you right now, Jack!" Laughed Lee, his arms suddenly shapeshifting into dozens of snakes coiling against one another, rushing toward Anna's brother. "You don't know how long I've been waiting for this!"
"Likewise!" Jack roared. "I've never liked you one single bit, you fucking asshole! Knowing that you're that stupid snake's incarnation is the ideal justification I needed to cut you into pieces!" Jack harnessed the powers of his Abyssal Shadows, unleashing an endless wave of darkness in the shape of a gigantic black wolf!
"Let's see who eats who!" Lee laughed.
CRASH!
Their powerful abilities, which were both manifestations of their links with their almighty constellations, clashed against one another, generating a huge shockwave of darkness and crimson-red energies.
This wasn't just a battle between Jack and Lee, though; Fenrir and Uroboros had a score to settle too!
"You damn filthy snake! If it wasn't for you, I would have never become a Fallen Constellation!"
"Gyahahaha! I'll make sure to finish off what I started now, you stinky street dog!"
Among all Constellations, Fenrir had one of his greatest grudges against Uroboros, the one that stole the Archdemon of Gluttony's Throne from Beelzebub!
Of course, he had betrayed Fenrir before that, as he and several other Constellations once formed a Nebula known as the {Dark Abyss Cloud}, which desired to overtake the rules of the Future Scenarios and destroy the {Realm Beyond} to set themselves free from this "game"!
However, in one of their many battles against the ruling Constellations, especially against the Nebula of Asgard, Fenrir was betrayed by all his companions, who sealed his fate at the hands of Thor and the others.
He still could clearly remember how the damned snake bit his neck with a deadly poison, paralyzing him momentarily, enough for the other Constellations to gang on him and fragment him into pieces, sealing them and then throwing him from the Higher Realms.
Fenrir used to be strong enough to be compared with the strongest Constellations out there, such as Odin, but after his defeat, most of his powers were stolen, everyone took a piece of the cake, and Uroboros here was the one that took the biggest!
"The power you stole from me..." Fenrir roared furiously. "It was what allowed you to overthrow Beelzebub and turn you into an Archdemon of Gluttony, you damn beast! You used to be a mere Lesser Myth-Grade Constellation! All our friendship, everything… It was all a fucking lie to you?!"
"Of course it was! Are you getting emotional now, you stupid dog?! There's no such thing as friendship in the Realm Beyond! It is a dog-eat-dog world out there; as a dog, you should know that very well! Gyahahahah! Your family sure put up a fight too…!" Laughed Uroboros.
"My siblings?!" Asked Fenrir in shock. "Hel and Jormungandr…! Father too…!"
"They said it was time for some culling, that there were too many… unnecessary constellations out there." Uroboros laughed. "Your sister's rampage back then? It was all meticulously calculated! Now she has been weakened and sealed deep within Helheim! And your stupid worm of a brother will follow in his siblings and father's footsteps soon! He just swore he'd get his revenge! What an idiot!"
"DON'T YOU DARE HURT JORMUNGANDR!" Fenrir roared furiously.
Jack and Lee clashed, their enormous Auras Manifesting the two Constellations, as the claws of Fenrir clashed against the tail of Uroboros through their Auras, which constantly gained more and more Divine and Demonic Power!
CLASH! CLASH! CLASH!
"Fenrir, calm yourself!" Jack said. "If you go berserk, we won't be able to control your powers properly!" Jack swung his sword dozens of times against Lee, cutting through his legs and arms, only for them to explode into countless snakes coiling around his body.
"Hahahahah! Even your Constellation is a sore loser!" Lee couldn't contain his maniacal laughter. "Blow to bits, you useless bastards!"
Jack noticed all the snakes coiling around his body glowed bright red, exploding consecutively, engulfing his whole body in hundreds of explosions!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
"Hahahahaa! There's no way he'll survive that well!" Lee laughed.
"Don't underestimate him too much, idiot."
However, Uroboro's voice quickly made Lee realize that, amidst the smoke, a formless mass of countless eyes and monster arms and legs emerged.
Jack's body, which should have been torn to pieces in that explosion, simply distorted itself and fused back together, showing all the monstrous souls, flesh, and bones he had devoured from countless beings.
Including the Demonic Humans of many other Archdemons! And it showed! Several snake- and beast-like shapes emerged across his shadows.
Jack could not only devour and acquire abilities from what he ate, but he could even steal their energies, their secrets, and their techniques.
And then combine them all into an almighty technique!
"I might be an underdog, but you're less than that; you're a filthy worm!"
Jack's entire body shifted into a gigantic and muscular black werewolf, his aura exploding with the combined power of Demonic Energies stolen from Uroboros, Leviathan, and Lilith's Demonic Humans he had devoured, kicking Lee's face, and throwing him away with a tremendous shockwave!
BOOOM! BOOOM! BOOOM!
Lee's body went through dozens of walls at once, landing in several rooms, his body splattered with blood.
"Dammit! Does he not get tired at all?! I've been draining his health and mana since the beginning!" Lee thought, gritting his teeth. "Do I really have to go all out? Against this loser?!"
Lee quickly stood back up, his sleek body beginning to bulge with more and more muscles, dark red scales growing over his arms and legs, and even a bit of his neck and around his face. His eyes became completely snake-like as his tongue grew longer as well.
"SHHH…" He hissed like a snake. "You sure are an ugly chimera!"
He confronted Jack as he moved forward, yet Jack smiled.
"Have you ever seen yourself in the mirror, freak of nature?"
CRASH!
As their fists collided against one another once more, suddenly, a powerful shockwave of Demonic Power of a foreign enemy spread around, Jack and Lee's senses became alert as both stepped back seconds before a gigantic crow-like beast was to break through the walls and reach them!
"How long are you two bastards going to ignore me?! CRAAAHHH!!"
BAAAM!
A five-meter-tall humanoid crow demon emerged, with deep black feathers and a sharp golden beak, crushing through the wooden floor with its sharp bird-like talons and unleashing a shockwave of darkness and winds around him!
FLUOSH!
"W-What?! Who is this guy?!" Lee muttered, stepping back while gritting his teeth.
"I knew it," Jack said. "So you're from that altar over there."
"At long last, some idiot recognizes my greatness!" Laughed the crow-like demon. "I am Neberius, the Eleventh Apostle of Death, the King of Cunningness!"
As he proclaimed his name, thousands of black feathers flew in all directions, each one sharp enough to slice through anything with ease!
SLASH! SLASH! SLASH! SLASH!
Not only had Jack to fight the bastard of Lee, but he even had to deal with the Manifestation of an Apostle of Death!
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(Anna's POV)
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself inside a medium-sized, rather silent room. There was nobody else other than… Sara, sitting above the ground, just waking up in the same fashion as me.
It seems that the weird Demon named Jeremias has the power to manipulate the space inside of the Demon Castle. Instead of fighting us head-on with Heisenberg's group, it looks like Beelzebub simply decided to separate us and kill us one by one.
Those flames he used were a mere illusion, though; what he simply did was manipulate space itself to restrain us and then teleport us away. Whatever Jeremias is, he's a new addition to this timeline, not someone who has ever appeared within the novel's contents.
Now, I have to quickly get up and find everyone else. Good thing the watch that the chairman gave us is still working; it even has an auto-mapping function, and I can clearly see where everyone is, although it is incredibly far away from here.
This entire castle might be hundreds of times larger than it can be seen from the outside world. Truly a dimension of its own equal to a Dungeon...
"Sara! Are you alright?" I ran toward her.
"Y-Yes. I could swear I was being burned by flames, but my body's fine?" Sara wondered.
"It was an illusion from that Demon," I said, quickly helping her stand up. "We have to quickly get moving. Use your watch to map our surroundings; we'll meet with whoever is close to here; follow me!"
"A-Alright!" Sara quickly nodded as we started rushing through dozens of rooms, one after another.
However, it was strange!
"No matter how much we run, it feels like we're not even moving." I wondered, looking at the map. "Are we trapped in some sort of looping domain?"
"It looks like it," Sara said. "I have entered dungeons before, but this is sure new."
Creaaak…!
Suddenly, the door to our right opened, and from within, a huge, red-skinned claw emerged, along with countless eyes.
"Grugaah!"
Before we could even react, dozens of Imps wearing armor and weapons enchanted with Demonite and Curses jumped towards us!
Ding!
[You've been ambushed by a squadron of [Imp Warriors (B- Rank)] armed with strong weapons and armor!]
[Due to being inside a Demon Energy-rich environment, all their Stats have increased by +100%!]
"A Stat boost? Well, that's of little concern." I smiled. "Violet, Shiro, Snow! Come out!"
I quickly summoned all three of my Familiars, who were probably teleported elsewhere. Through the Privilege I had acquired; I could summon them from just anywhere!
FLASH! FLASH! FLASH!
"You're all here; excellent. Kill those imps and get yourselves some experience; you have to catch up with me after all!" I smiled.
"KRIEEEH!"
"Kyuuuh!"
"WOOF!"
All three of my familiars rushed forward, fiercely attacking the Imp Warriors.
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Meanwhile, not so far away from where Anna and Sara were, a large Demonic Altar was overflowing with Demonic Energy.
And the Statue in the shape of a dragon started to glow brightly with red light, its many eyes lighting up with a crimson gleam.
"It seems Beelzebub has given me a second chance." The demonic entity within the statue laughed.
Its figure slowly started to emerge from the statue. Born from a mere black mist, it quickly began taking on a much more solid form, absorbing the rich Demonic Energy and the many souls of the unfortunate people and demons that had died in the previous incident.
"I shall make sure to get my payback against that damn brat…!"
FLASH!
As his body fully materialized, he suddenly saw a message emerging in front of him…
Ding!
[The Cosmic Throne {Cursed Eight-Legged Maiden} is willing to set aside differences between the two to work for a common goal…]
[The Cosmic Throne {Black Jackal that Judges the Death} seems interested in what's going on in here as well.]
[Several other Constellations show some interest in helping you kill your target…]
"Hoh…" The draconic demon smiled, showing his sharp teeth. "Stupid brat… You shouldn't have made so many enemies…"
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