“Have a taste of my wizardry,” Val said.
As he spoke, Val thrust his hand forward, and two waves of soul power burst out, combining into one massive, invisible wave as it surged towards Gruul’s main body.
Gruul, in its suppressed state, couldn’t see through the invisibility. It only found it odd to see Val thrusting his hand forward with nothing seemingly happening and wonder what he was up to. Was he putting up an act to fool it? Or was there some meaning behind his action?
Bam!
The massive wave of soul power unleashed by Val smashed into it. It felt as if it had been kicked in the chest by the Devil God himself!
The force of the impact sent Gruul shooting backwards like a broken kite in a storm.
Val watched with satisfaction as Gruul was manhandled by his attack. He then turned his attention to Gruul’s clone. It was slower and weaker than Gruul, but Val knew better than to let his guard down. The clone lunged at him, continuously swinging its claws. Although he was pushed backward, Val parried each of its attacks with minimal movements of his sword.
The clone was taken aback. Its attacks were swift, not something someone of Val’s power level should be able to block and parry so easily. It realized then that there was something special about Val. Something that made him a formidable opponent, even for a clone of Gruul.
While parrying the clone’s swift strikes, Val created an opportunity for himself by using his Blood Manipulation Bloodline skill. He willed, and tentacles of blood immediately surged out of his back, winding around the clone’s limbs and effectively immobilizing it.
Seeing it trapped, he curled his free hand into a fist and punched out. Seemingly out of thin air, an ethereal gray fire sparked to life around it, enveloping the fist in a terrifying blaze of an unnatural color. The sight of the hellish fire instinctively stirred up fear inside the clone. The fear was noticeable as it was vividly reflected in its black beady eyes.
‘So even a living statue fears hellish fire,’ Val discovered.
The clone struggled with all its might to break free from the iron grasp of Val’s crimson tentacles and dodge the incoming fist. However, its efforts were all in vain. Obeying Val’s command, the tentacles tightened around Gruul the more it struggled, keeping it immobilized as Val’s fist, shrouded in hellish fire, crashed into it.
Bam!
In an instant, Gruul turned to ashes. The gray particles slipped through the grip of the crimson tentacles, scattering across the skeleton-strewn floor of the Shrine of Evil. The clone of the ancient guardian of the shrine, who had stood against countless challengers for time immemorial, was defeated. All that remained of its formidable form was a scattering of ashes on the floor of the shrine it had guarded for so long!
A system notification rang out in Val’s mind. [Congratulations, Host! You have defeated the shadow clone of Gruul. Gained a Fragment of Darkness. Can only be used ]
The Fragment of Darkness was an incredibly powerful artifact, capable of unleashing a profound strength.
This shard, forged from the very essence of darkness, held the power to grant one the ability to manipulate darkness to an unfathomable extent. It could be used to create shadows that would obey the user’s command, create a connection between the user and the world of darkness, and provide an offensive spell made of pure darkness. It was said that those who had fully mastered the Fragment of Darkness could even manipulate shadows to warp space, traversing vast distances in an instant. However, the shard chose its own master. Unless he was deemed worthy, he won’t be able to wield it. And Val had no idea what he needed to do to be deemed worthy by the shard.
Finding out what it could do, Val realized how lucky he was to not have Gruul as his enemy. The clone hadn’t used it to its fullest extent as the purpose of this battle was to test if Val was worthy of becoming the Devil God, not kill him. If Gruul had any ill intentions, Val would be minced cake!
Meanwhile, Gruul, having recovered from the impact of Val’s soul power, speechlessly watched the scene of Val killing its clone unfold.
Realizing what had just happened, Gruul felt so shocked that its eyes widened in shock and its stony jaw dropped as if it was about to touch the ground.
“How the hell did he do that?”
Gruul was utterly shocked by the death of its clone. After all, its clone was made from the purest and strongest material in the universe, darkness itself, and thus, even if it was injured, it would gradually recover as long as it was in the dark.
However, Its existence was tied to a small fraction of Gruul’s soul, and there was a way to truly destroy it, which was to bypass its body of darkness and directly attack that hint of a soul that Gruul jad imbued with the body of darkness to create it. Never had Gruul thought that Val would possess such power to annihilate its clone.
“May I ask… what move you just used?” Gruul questioned, his voice laced with disbelief and a hint of respect.
It had finally started to look at Val in a different light!
“It’s Hellish Fire,” Val replied nonchalantly.
Upon hearing this, Gruul’s eyes narrowed. It had found the power familiar, and now it made sense.
Hellish Fire!
This was a force to be reckoned with. 𝑜𝑣𝓛xt.𝗇𝓔t
It was said that once ignited, this fire would ceaselessly consume its target until it was reduced to ashes if the target was a carbon-based body.
But its true horror lay elsewhere.
If its target was non-carbon, the Hellish Fire would bypass all defenses and directly burn the soul!
No wonder he killed the clone.
Gruul silently mused to itself, “No wonder he managed to kill my clone. Judging by his response, it seems he doesn’t realize the full potential of Hellish Fire. It must’ve been an unintentional outcome.”
“Have I passed your test, or do you need more proof that I am worthy of being the Devil God?” Val asked, an unfazed expression on his face.
There’s more?!
Hearing Val’s words, Gruul’s eyes widened slightly, a hint of shock washing over it.
However, it was an extremely ancient and powerful being. It had an image to upkeep so it recovered from its shock quickly and replied to Val, “No, your performance has been extremely satisfactory. You’ve passed my test!”