Azragoth looked at the altar made of white bones with a calm gaze, but behind that look, there was a restlessness that could not be hidden in any way.
The Bone Altar measured about fifteen meters in diameter, with pillars made from vertebral columns supporting the entire structure. Flaming skulls burned with black fire at six different points, creating a hexagonal pattern.
The people within the altar were piled up in small mounds, one on top of the other, all of them, without exception, unconscious.
From time to time, Azragoth glanced upward, trying to spot any winged figures. He knew that the Seventh Angelic Legion would come; that was an undeniable fact. The only questions were when and how.
Letting out a sigh, he looked at the hundreds of unconscious humans atop the altar. The ceremony was ready; the only thing missing was the sacrifice.
Once the sacrifice was successfully completed, the Infernal Duke would send his legion through the tear in the Veil, bringing them into the human world.
Azragoth could only pray to Lucifer that Belial would also send a bit of his power; otherwise, the entire frontline wouldn't last long.
Glancing at the sky once more, he heaved a heavy sigh, then noticed a red dot approaching in the sky. Because of the dark night, the red dot was particularly striking against the gloomy backdrop.
The closer the red dot got, the more Azragoth could discern its true appearance, and what he saw made his eyes widen in utter disbelief. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him with something that couldn't be possible.
But seeing the figure floating in the air with the pale moon behind him, Azragoth felt a shiver run down his spine. Those red eyes fixed on him made him freeze for a moment. A feeling of reverence and respect bubbled up in his chest, and he almost knelt down if not for his willpower.
Then, he heard a feminine voice reaching him.
"I, Amara, Daughter of Lilith, command you to stop performing the sacrificial ritual."
The Daughter of the Mother of All Monsters and Abominations!?
Azragoth looked at the girl in the young man's arms and immediately recognized the Apostle of War.
There was no way not to recognize her. Amara was extremely famous; she was not only the daughter of Lilith, the current ruler of Hell, but also a disciple of the Infernal Duchess—Abaddon, Lady of the Endless Abyss.
With these two identities, there were few in Hell who would dare harm Amara, and Azragoth was certainly not one of those figures. However, even knowing that the one before him was Amara, Azragoth did not stop what he was doing.
"Sorry, princess, but I have orders from Duke Belial to continue with the sacrificial ritual," Azragoth responded, shaking his head with a determined and calm tone.
But inside, in his mind, he was constantly thinking about how to use Amara to get out of the suicidal situation he found himself in at the moment.
"You think I'm asking? Leave or die." Amara's face turned cold upon hearing Azragoth's refusal, and she was particularly displeased that her prestige failed in front of Daemom.
She let go of Daemom and dropped straight from the sky toward the ground. In her hands, a long scythe materialized. She skillfully and swiftly spun the long handle of the scythe in her hands.
Azragoth was already prepared. A water dome fully formed in front of him, rising around the Sacrificial Altar. Unlike normal water, the water the demon manipulated was dark and viscous, similar to tar.
Seeing this, Amara's eyes glowed with a cold and violent light. She spun the scythe in her hand and slashed horizontally with the full 20% of the power she could use.
Boom!!!
A massive gash appeared in the water dome, causing furious winds to spread across the surroundings. The entire water dome rippled violently, as if it would burst in the next moment.
Azragoth's face couldn't help but change drastically. He didn't understand how the daughter of Lilith could exert such immense power in the human world.
It was completely different from anything he had ever heard of before. According to the Iron Law, the stronger the demon, the greater the suppression by the Veil. But Amara had completely shattered this iron law.
Azragoth raised his hands and reinforced the dome, infusing even more demonic energy, causing the Water Dome to return to its normal state, completely intact.
"Tsk." Seeing this, Amara's face showed clear displeasure. If she had access to all her power, she could have killed Azragoth as easily as squashing a bug. But being limited to only 20% of her full strength, it was difficult to kill Azragoth in such a short time.
"Since you're hiding behind that turtle shell, I'll break it into a thousand pieces," Amara whispered, taking a deep breath. She looked up, her eyes gleaming with a penetrating gaze.
Her small body vanished from where she stood, leaving a crater in the ground with some pieces of debris still hanging in the air.
"Aspect of War – Malicious Slashes." Appearing in front of the Water Dome, Amara murmured and used all her strength to swing the long scythe in a crescent motion.
The crescent-shaped blade emitted a red light as it struck the Water Dome.
Splessssshhhhhhh!
A long gash appeared in the dome, spraying black water in all directions. In the next second, another cut appeared, and then another.
Amara began to attack relentlessly, the strong winds generated by each strike shook the trees, and dust was thrown aside.
By now, the entire city of Portland had probably awakened; there was no way around it—the noise was deafening.
Azragoth wasn't surprised by what was happening; on the contrary, he had expected this. Even though the daughter of Lilith was being suppressed by the Veil, it wasn't something he, a mere mid-tier demon, could withstand.
For this reason, Azragoth intended to be injured on purpose and retreat, distancing himself from this mess, which had started as a hunt and was about to turn into a full-scale war between the two main factions of the supernatural world.
Even so, he couldn't make it too obvious; he needed to retreat calmly without being accused of fleeing. Glancing at the hundreds of people on the altar, Azragoth's eyes turned indifferent.
Azragoth whispered in an ancient tongue, his voice sounding hoarse and powerful, matching the language he was speaking.
"Krash'vol morth'nya drak'zuul eklath."
(Note: The darkness consumes all lost souls.)
The bone altar began to glow, and all the hundreds of people awoke at the same moment.
"ARRHHHHGGGG!!!!"
"ARFGGHHHHHHHHH!"
"ARGGGGUUUHG!!!"
The bodies of the people contorted unnaturally; they couldn't move, only let out inhuman screams!
Something unusual was happening to all the hundreds of human lives—the blood under their skin seemed to come alive, taking the form of serpents and slithering out of every orifice.
With the work done, Azragoth prepared to be struck intentionally by the Princess of Hell and retreat back to the Inferno. But what happened in the next second was completely outside of his expectations.
The entire Water Dome scattered in an instant, revealing a young man with blonde hair and eyes glowing with crimson energy.
"How in the name of Satan is this possible!?" Azragoth muttered to himself, staring at the young man. Forty years ago, he had the pleasure of witnessing the King of Hell giving a speech to the lower population of Hell, and the one standing before him was none other than the young version of the King of Hell himself.
But that was the last thing he saw in his life, for without the water dome protecting him, Amara's scythe sliced through him as if cutting through butter, cleaving him in two.
One half of his body fell to the ground, while the lower half remained standing, spewing blood like a fountain, staining everything around it with blood and organs.
Amara was also drenched in blood from head to toe, her once cute and adorable face now tinged with a sinister aura. Her clothes were soaked with demonic blood.
Then, Azragoth's body turned to ashes, completely disappearing from the world.
"It's too late, the mid-tier demon has already started the sacrificial process," Amara said in a helpless tone, looking at the bone altar. Realistic-looking serpents made of blood flew around the altar. They seemed alive, hissing and gliding gracefully through the air, their eyes blinking and mouths opening and closing.
The victims, however, were the opposite. The hundreds of humans could no longer even be called human at this point. It was as if there was no more blood left in the bodies of these innocent lives, making them resemble true mummies.
As they writhed in agony, their inhuman screams put Daemom in a trance for a few seconds. All he could hear were the screams of horror and pain, along with pleas for mercy.
These people died because of him, making him realize that anyone who gets involved with him could face countless dangers in the future.
Daemom finally snapped out of it when he felt a warm embrace envelop him, pushing away the coldness that was tainting his soul.
"I know this is hard for you, but stay focused, Daemom," Amara whispered in his ear. Daemom didn't respond immediately, holding her a little longer before finally letting go.
Taking a deep breath, his eyes became determined again. He looked at Amara with an apologetic gaze and said, "Thank you."
Amara nodded. "Let's focus on this," she said, pointing to the bone altar.
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40k words in total.