"Uuuaaaggh!"
Hergler screamed in agony as his Demonic Heart Core was shattered into pieces, his powers and energy being devoured by thousands of agonizing, nightmarish specters.
His entire body too, began to rapidly wither away into a dry mummy, until he exploded into ashes, leaving nothing behind the graceful-looking demon.
The other High Demon Soldiers were left speechless.
"Your Generals and Dukes are power, but you? You're all pathetic bugs we could kill any day..." Zagreus said. "Don't get ahead of yourselves, trash."
"T-This bastard...!"
"He dares...?!"
"Hergler was the strongest among us though..."
"H-He killed him so easily?!"
"It won't be the same if we gang on him though!"
"But that's...!"
"Nah I'm getting out of here!"
Three of the soldiers flew away without even looking back, Zagreus didn't pursue them, he had no time to do that anyway.
However, eight of them remained there, glaring at Zagreus with frustrated, furious bloodshot eyes!
"KILL HIM!"
They rushed together towards Zagreus, unleashing their strongest techniques. Powerful piercing blows using their demonic spears, cleaving infernal axe strikes, bombardments of infernal meteors, freezing demonic black ice, and more.
"Zagreus!" Glimmerdust panicked. "We have to run!"
"I'm tired of running!" Zagreus screamed. "Even if for these bastards, I'm going to make them feel the pain that my father felt!"
Zagreus was filled with hatred, as his entire Aura shaped as countless sharp black spikes, rushing towards the demons.
Explosions engulfed him as countless techniques and magic covered his aura, killing dozens of the souls composing them.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
As the smoke dissipated, however, a scene the gods behind Zagreus didn't expect happened, the bodies of the demons were all impaled, bleeding, the pointy end of the spikes having perfectly reached their cores, shattering them into pieces.
The ghostly souls absorbed all lifeforce and energy from the demons, growing more monstrous and distorted, gaining... demonic aspects.
"Z-Zagreus...!" Sindarin glanced at the scene in disbelief. "Incredible...! Ah..."
However, although she wanted to congratulate him, she was slightly scared, the man she thought was gentle seemed different.
His face had yet to change, looking furious, his eyes red, bleeding. His entire pale skin seemed even paler than before, his black hair growing longer, waving like tentacles.
He was becoming his own hatred, consumed by hate.
Sindarin moved to his side, trying to calm him down.
However...
"This isn't enough, we need to kill more... they have to pay... they have to pay!"
Zagreus' aura grew stronger and larger, growing more and more furious, even his voice was becoming distorted, like how demons sounded.
Whatever new power he had gained, it was also responding to his hatred, becoming grander, but at the cost of his own sanity.
"Zagreus, please calm down!"
Sindarin flew to his side, slapping his face.
SLAP!
"Ugh?!"
Zagreus' face quickly went back to normal, his eyes, which looked unfocused, suddenly regained their light.
His appearance slowly went back to normal, as the moonlight dew that washed his face when Sindarin slapped him, made his mind clearer once more.
"S-Sin... Sindarin?"
"A-Are you okay? Oh thank goodness, you're back!"
Sindarin cried, as she hugged Zagreus. The young man calmed down, feeling the warmth of her hug, his cold heart slowly warmed up.
"I-I... I'm sorry... I didn't mean to...!"
"It's fine... I know exactly how you feel... but that isn't the way either... You mustn't let your hatred consume you, Zagreus. Or you'll end up becoming a demon yourself."
Zagreus felt moved by her words, as he shed a tear, this time not of blood. He glanced at Sindarin's tender eyes, as she held his hand.
"Thank you, Sindarin..."
Sindarin smiled gently, nodding.
"Let's go back, Zagreus, we're done here."
"Yes... let's go."
Zagreus nodded, as he and the gods flew away, disappearing from the cloud sea as they moved far away from the bloody battlefield above.
Meanwhile.
CLAAASH! CLAAASH! CLAAASH!
Explosions of demonic flames and shockwaves that created ripples in space spread through the sea of clouds, as Kralax was still trapped within the Dream Plane Inhabitant's tentacles.
"DAMMIT! BASTARD! LET GO OF ME ALREADY!"
He kicked it and then continued punching it, magic alone seemed ineffective, any spell dealt no damage. But it seemed that by infusing his demonic soul into his fists and kicks, he was dealing some damage.
Yes, his arms were destroyed, but he quickly regrew another pair of them! As a lizard-type demon, Kralax had incredible self-regeneration, and his Burst form allowed him to
regenerate even faster.
This was one of the reasons he had climbed the ladder of power between demons so quickly!
And yet, even with his strongest series of physical blows...
"It's useless..."
The Dream Plane Inhabitant had barely taken any damage. And Kralax noticed it was capable
of reshaping its own body to heal it instantly.
"I-Is this thing even killable?!"
Kralax, for the first time in his long life, was meeting an aberration beyond his own control
and that defined everything he had ever learned or fought for.
A being that didn't budge even against his strongest power, and that was rapidly draining his own sense of self, and everything he once was and is.
"I cannot die here...! I won't die here!"
Kralax screamed internally, gritting his sharp teeth as he opened his jaws a second later, and then, using his long necks, he used all three of his heads to tear apart his arms and legs.
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
"?"
The Dream Plane Inhabitant was confused, as he saw Kralax mutilating itself before escaping
his grasp by leaving behind all his limbs behind!
He used his raw demonic aura as a propulsors, flying away as quickly as he could!
"I did it...! I escaped!"
He looked into the skies.
"As long as I can get out of here, I'll come back even stronger! I swear you bastard! And then I'll
fucking kill you, Zagreus-"
CRAAASH!
"A-Ahh...?!"
Kralax's eyes widened, however, the moment he saw a gigantic, pink-colored tentacle pierce
his chest, he vomited blood, as he felt his demonic core shattering into pieces, its energy
being drained.
"Interesting... how amusing... your will to fight and live... I've learned.. so much... Admirable... pride... power... demonic strength..."
The Dream Plane Inhabitant continued speaking, their words becoming more and more solid over time, Kralax glanced back, realizing something even more horrifying than him about to
die.
"I think... I am beginning to understand... demons... yes... demonic energy is primarily composed of... negative emotions... scrumptious. I must secure more... for us all. Thank you." The Dream Plane Inhabitant was taking a more humanoid form and also reptilian, slightly resembling Kralax himself, a mockery of the Demon General as he was dying. "Y-You bastards...! T-This isn't over...!" Kralax continued vomiting blood. "You haven't even seen... what our Generals, Kings, and Princes can do...! Your entire Dimension shall BURN!"
CRASH! CRASH! CRASH! CRASH!
"U-Ugh...!"
Kralax's eyes widened, as his entire body was pierced by dozens of tentacles, and then drained
into a dry husk, leaving nothing behind but a dead, cold carcass that fell to the void beneath.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you."
The Dream Plane Inhabitant thanked Kralax five times, each time it was with a different voice, constantly changing, a being without a defined body and form...
Was slowly shaping into one, becoming more demonic, more humanoid.
"More..."
And then, with his new humanoid face, resembling a head made of pink and purple light, with
two red eyes and black horns above its head, it glanced into the war above.
"Hunger... never stops."