As William locked eyes with the demon, the creature stared back, its silvery-grey eyes gleaming from its dark, shadowy form. For a moment, there was only silence between them. Then, with a guttural intensity, the demon unleashed a bone-chilling roar.
"Rooooaaaarrr!"
The sand demon lunged at William, its whip-like tail snapping forward with deadly precision, aiming to tear through his flesh. But William, sensing its movement through his Calamitous Soul Emperor powers, smoothly sidestepped. His eyes gleamed with a chilling grey light as death energy swirled around him. Pivoting effortlessly, he raised his hand.
"Soul Chains."
Dark, ethereal chains erupted from the ground, glowing with spectral energy, wrapping tightly around the sand demon's limbs. The creature thrashed violently, trying to break free, but the soul-infused chains drained its strength, sapping its essence with each passing second.
The demon let out a furious roar, summoning the desert itself. The black sand under William's feet churned, forming jagged spikes that shot toward him. Remaining calm, William extended his hand, summoning a dark barrier of death energy. The spikes disintegrated upon contact, turned to dust before they could even reach him.
With a flick of his wrist, William summoned Soul Flame. Black flames ignited in his palm, their eerie glow flickering with a soul-consuming power. He hurled the flames at the demon, watching as they slammed into its crystalline armor. But the flames didn't merely burn—they devoured, cracking the armor and feeding on the demon's very life force.
In a desperate move, the demon dissolved into the sand, disappearing from sight. The ground rumbled, the sand shifting beneath William's feet in an attempt to engulf him. A massive wave of black sand rose, towering above him, ready to crash down.
Unfazed, William closed his eyes and concentrated. His Death Aspect surged, the air around him growing cold. He stomped the ground, sending a pulse of death energy outward, freezing the wave of sand mid-air. It crumbled into harmless dust before it could strike.
Suddenly, the sand demon reappeared behind him, attacking with the speed of a serpent, its claws aimed at his back. But William was prepared.
"Soul Sever."
Without even turning, William swung his grey energy blade. It didn't need to touch the demon; the Soul Sever technique cut through its very essence. The demon shrieked in agony as its soul was severed from its body, leaving it flickering and unstable, struggling to remain tethered to the physical realm.
Now weakened and vulnerable, the once fearsome sand demon was at William's mercy.
He turned to face it, his gaze cold and unyielding. "You were never a match for me."
William said calmly before , killing him by destroying his core.
"another good thing from sacrifice" William mumbled, as he et the Cleansing device devour its body too, and mark this deserted territory too.
"now, whom should I target next?" he thought rubbing his chin as he pondered whom to target next.
"Hmm, I should head for the barren lands," William muttered as he stood up, unfurling his wings before taking flight toward the cracked, desolate terrain below.
As he soared through the air, his eyes scanned the barren landscape. "What kind of demons could be lurking here?" he pondered. Unlike the swamp or desert, the barren lands could harbor various types of demons—pigs, snakes, and other twisted creatures born from the desolation.
Gently landing on the cracked earth, William took a moment to observe his surroundings. He began walking aimlessly, his steps cautious, yet confident.
Unbeknownst to him, a pair of eyes tracked his every move. His feat of slaying two demons hadn't gone unnoticed, and the demonic rulers of the region—Mountain Demon, Red Forest Demon, and Barren Earth Demonic leaders—were now in communication, plotting against the newcomer.
"Who is he?" grumbled a burly figure, its entire body composed of decaying stone and dead trees.
"How should I know?" replied another voice, feminine in tone, belonging to a creature resembling a blackened, bark-skinned walking tree.
"We should focus on him, instead of squabbling amongst ourselves," hissed the grotesque worm-like demon, its round face dominated by two eyes and a gaping, circular mouth lined with jagged, chainsaw-like teeth.
This demon had been the one to summon the others using its earth senses, detecting the presence of a "pure soul" after the deaths of the swamp and desert demons.
"If we don't unite and fight him together, we'll fall one by one like the others," the barren earth demon warned, its voice low and gravelly.
The corrupted treant and the death mountain demon exchanged glances, nodding as they understood the gravity of the situation. The swamp and desert demons had been equal in strength to them, maintaining a delicate balance between the five rulers from the beginning. But now, two of their own were dead, revealing that a new predator had emerged to disrupt the balance.
"Either we hunt him together, or he hunts us one by one," the treant said, its bark-like voice filled with grim determination.
"Very well, a temporary alliance, then," the mountain demon rumbled in agreement.
"But what about the black sand and swamp desert territories?" the worm-like demon asked with a sly smile, its devious mind already at work.
The mountain demon opened its mouth to respond, but hesitated, unsure of what to say.
"I have a way to divide it equally, without any bloodshed between us," the worm offered, the sly smile spreading wider, almost as if it grinned at its own cunning.
The other two demons, already disgusted by the worm's nature, didn't question the deceit lurking behind its words.
"We'll divide the spoils based on the contributions each of us makes in defeating the Pure Soul," the worm-like demon proposed.
The other two, confident in their strength, nodded in agreement. It seemed like a fair method to them.
'Fools,' the worm thought slyly, glancing back at its lair where it had already been subtly harassing the Pure Soul through its territory. 'Even small contributions will be noticed by our demon god as valuable, and I've already started collecting points.'
Not to mention, the worm mused, it had been the one to discover the deaths of the swamp and desert demons, which would surely count in its favor.
'I'll just claim that I'm too heavy to move quickly,' the mountain demon planned. 'When they're worn out from fighting the Pure Soul, I'll kill the both of them and consume the soul for myself.'
'Hehehe, with my miasma, I'll trap them in illusions,' the treant schemed silently. 'After I absorb the Pure Soul's power, I'll finish them off and claim everything.'
Each of the demons had their own twisted plans, their thoughts just as sinister as one would expect from creatures of their nature. Trust was non-existent, as each secretly plotted to betray the others.
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