All eyes were fixated on the scene of the explosion, curiosities peaked on whether the Primordial earth shattering blast was effective or not. As the dust settled, everything within the vicinity including the enormous earth walls were reduced to mere particles of dust.
"Did I get him?" Gaianox uttered.
"Not quite." The Demon General announced, levitating in the air directly behind the earth beast.
"Tsk.." Gaianox narrowed his eyes in frustration. Back in the days, the Primordial Demon mode was the very ability that led to the capturing of seven of the Primordial Essenbeasts back in the divine realm. It took the sacrifices of several Essenbeasts in order to ensure the others could escape.
As it stood, only few Essenbeasts were powerful enough to go toe to toe with a demon general in their Primordial Demon Mode. As fate would have it, Gaianox was not one of those beasts.
"You were never that strong to take me on Gaianox, even back then. You're coming with me." Malphas said, recalling the history between him and Primordial Essenbeasts when he became one of the fallen.
"And this time, I'll make sure there's little to no resistance." He lifted his right index finger slowly above his head as he spoke.
"Primordial Demon Art: Hellius Fury.." He chanted softly as a massive fireball materialized out of thin air above his finger. The demon general smirked maniacally as the fireball grew larger and larger till eventually it became far bigger than the Essenbeast itself.
The ground below trembled as it couldn't bear the intensity of the fireball. Gaianox eyes widened in terror as he came to a realization, the power Malphas displayed was far beyond him.
At the very next second, Malphas launched the ball of flames at him. It engulfed everything within it's path including Gaianox with a relentless fury, the trees were incinerated and the air cracked with heat as the ball of flame raged on leaving behind a trail of black smoke.
The flames died out and what was left was the scorched body of Gaianox that laid half dead on the burnt ground. Malphas brought himself down to the ground and slowly approached the beast who struggled desperately to recover from the ball of flames. "Don't worry, I made sure you wouldn't die from that. After all we need you alive." With a sinister laughter, the demon general said.
From afar, the three mages Li, Michael and Abigail watched with dismay the power of a Primordial Demon General. "Tsk you bastard!" Michael exclaimed as both him and Li dashed forward to confront the general.
"Huh? Oh that's right, those creatures are still around." Recalling the humans that were still around, Malphas sighed heavily in annoyance at the persistence of their race.
Both mages arrived behind Malphas, Li infused essence into his legs and aimed a swift round house kick in the air at the head of Malphas while Micheal utilized his ability [Lions Pride], and aimed to impale the hardened body of the demon with his claws.
"Don't make me laugh." Malphas said softly as everything within a five meter range including the two mages went up in flames. Both mages screamed out loud in pain and agony as the flames seared into their skins slowly. He stretched out his palms swiftly and sent them into the abdomen of the two mages.
Forcefully ejecting blood from their mouths, both boys were blown backwards and sliced through the wind. The force at which they were blown backwards blew out the flames that burned their bodies. They crashed into the ground unconscious as their bodies couldn't handle the force that overwhelmed them.
"Two down." Malphas said softly as he turned his attention to Abigail who only just got to her feet after attempting to recover from his previous assault.
Malphas appeared in front of her, moving so fast that it was proper to assume that he used teleportation. He grabbed her by the neck swiftly, not permitting her time to react. She gasped heavily for air as her oxygen supply was cut off by the tight grip of the demon.
He thrusted his right hand swiftly into her abdomen, her body vibrated softly in response to the shock that befell her. Her eyes widened for a few seconds before slowly closing, blood seeped out of her mouth and the hole in her midsection as she slowly lost consciousness.
"That's three." The demon general said launching Abigail towards the ground as he was done with her.
Rai from afar witnessed everything that had transpired since Malphas 's transformation. His eyes wavered in disbelief and he grinned his teeth in anger on watching the fall of his comrades. "You bastard!" He exclaimed in rage, plummeting forward with a great speed at the demon general.
He utilized his ability [Raisen] and built up another spiraling ball of energy in his right palm and without thinking straight, he aimed it at the back of Malphas 's head. "Raisen!" With an angered voice, he proclaimed.
Malphas extended his left hand backwards and grabbed the Raisen which exploded on contact instantly. Malphas chuckled softly as the air cleared, a dumbfounded Rai attempted falling back but unfortunately his hand was caught by the demonic palms of Malphas who received no damage after holding the Raisen directly.
"You pose a threat more than any of them, it would wise to kill you once and for all." Malphas said before sending a right cross at his face, he immediately followed up with a series of punches which rattled his brain. Rai slumped to his knees, unable to hold on to his conscious any much longer.
"Any last words?" Malphas asked in courtesy to his strength.
He raised up his right palm and built up a miniature size ball of flames, with a final look at the beaten down assassin; He sent the ball of flames downwards at his head.
Before the ball of flame could connect with the head of Rai, darkness engulfed him for the second time again. This time he saw the strange eyes from earlier staring deep into his soul from the start.
"Humans...what a weak race to ever exist. You were beaten down by this level of power?" The dark ominous voice addressed him.
Rai attempted to understand what it was saying but he slipped too far into the darkness to grasp a single word.
"However, it'll be a huge problem for me if you get killed. So I'll help you out this once." The voice spoke out as the darkness completely swallowed Rai in.
Returning back to reality, at the last second before the ball of flame could incinerate its target, Rai disappeared.
"What!?" Malphas bellowed in disbelief.
With a head full of fear and confusion, he turned around instantly as he sensed a dark ominous presence which made his skin crawl. "What..is this?" He stammered as he tried to comprehend what he laid his eyes upon.
Rai who disappeared for unknown reasons stood behind Malphas with his right palm raised towards his face, a chilling aura enveloped him, shrouding him in darkness. His once-vibrant presence dims as a trail of shadow coils around him, distorting his features into an eerie silhouette.
[You have gained a new ability!]
[Level Up!]
His eyes shone a bright reminiscent white as several notifications bombared him in several HUD windows.
[Ability (Necromancer Of The Shadows) has been activated].