Woooong!
A brilliant light burst forth from Roland, embedded in Nightgon's body.
But in that instant, Nightgon's form dissipated like smoke.
'How?'
The Soul Confinement Technique seized the soul itself.
That was why no enemy had ever escaped the chains of the Soul Confinement Technique before.
Yet, as if mocking Zeke's thoughts, Nightgon reappeared on the original altar.
Nightgon drew out his scythe and began chanting an incantation.
A red portal began to open in front of him.
'He's trying to escape!'
Zeke plunged the Sacred Radiance Technique down toward Nightgon's position.
Kwarung!
The Mace of Light poured down over Nightgon's head.
But once again, Nightgon turned to smoke and scattered, reappearing elsewhere.
Zeke steadied his breathing and glared at Nightgon, who held the scythe.
'To break free from the Soul Confinement Technique... there must be something to it.' He had assumed the rolling orbs' division was an illusion-based trick.
But when the orbs exploded, he realized it was all real.
Nightgon, empowered by The Endlessly Devouring One, was undoubtedly using some bizarre method.
'Arataso, do you know anything?'
At Zeke's question, Arataso pondered before speaking.
'There's almost no known information about The Endlessly Devouring One's authority.
Their vassals are all strange sorts, so I never got close to them myself.'
Then, as if recalling something, Arataso added,
'Come to think of it... the vassals of The Endlessly Devouring One never hesitated to pay any price, no matter how high, to get what they wanted.'
'Pay a price?'
'Yes, in the Demon Realm, human souls are used like currency. They paid them out without a second thought whenever they desired something.' Hearing Arataso, Zeke suddenly remembered something.
'No way...'
Arataso was even more surprised by Zeke's reaction.
'Did you figure something out?'
Zeke gripped his sword and glared at Nightgon, then charged again, unleashing the Mace of Light.
As before, Nightgon's body was engulfed in light and vanished, reappearing elsewhere.
Zeke captured the moment Nightgon reemerged with his Dragon Eye.
'It's not vanishing. He's... dividing in an instant.'
The original body clearly disappeared.
But in a flash, an identical clone body was created.
Seeing this, Zeke realized The Endlessly Devouring One's ability.
'Their power is proliferation by division.'
Having grasped Nightgon's ability, Zeke gripped his sword and charged straight at him again.
Chwararak!
The chains wrapped around Nightgon's body.
Zeke swiftly thrust Roland into Nightgon's form.
This time, instead of purification power, he invoked a different force.
Woooong!
Zeke infused the Full Power Technique's Will of Break ("Pa") into Nightgon's body.
Unlike before, Nightgon showed signs of panic.
"Threat detected. Eliminating target."
Nightgon's eyes flashed, and black energy erupted from his body.
Suddenly, another arm sprouted from Nightgon's body, gripping a second scythe and swinging it at Zeke.
Just like with Viper, an eerie energy flowed from the scythe Nightgon wielded.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Zeke's presence vanished without a trace.
He had activated the spiritualization authority within the scabbard.
Slash!
The scythe sliced through the space where Zeke had stood, carving a long line there.
Nightgon turned his head, searching for Zeke, who had vanished without a trace.
But Zeke's presence was nowhere to be felt.
"Initiating target detection."
As Nightgon scanned the surroundings to track Zeke, he had slipped into the boundary of dimensions to observe the situation.
He approached the spatial rift Nightgon had created earlier.
Surprisingly, even from the dimensional boundary, the rift was visible.
'As I thought.'
Arataso, watching this, asked Zeke curiously.
'What do you mean, "as I thought"? Is it related to The Endlessly Devouring One's ability?'
Zeke nodded at Arataso's question.
'Yes, their power is division and proliferation. If my guess is right, The Endlessly
Devouring One seems to have the ability to divide and proliferate anything.' Arataso was startled by Zeke's words.
'Divide and proliferate anything?'
'Yes, you mentioned earlier that they easily offered souls for trades. Those are probably souls multiplied through repeated division and proliferation.' Arataso responded as if piecing it together.
'Now that you mention it, I remember a guy I traded with saying something like that. He said they were definitely souls, but something felt off about them.'
'Since they treat souls as currency, as long as the number matches, they consider it a fair payment.'
Zeke pointed to the spatial rift Viper had created with his scythe.
'This rift wasn't made by The Endlessly Devouring One's power. It's likely a power borrowed from another constellation by paying a price.'
Arataso examined the energy from the rift at Zeke's words.
'Huh? You're right. The energy is different. I can feel the aura of the "Irreparable Rift."'
'Their abilities are twofold. First, regeneration through division. Second, borrowed powers via counterfeit prices.'
As Zeke organized his thoughts, he sensed his time in the dimensional crevice was nearly up.
Zeke steadied his breathing and said to Arataso,
'Arataso. I need your help.'
*
"Hmm, where'd he go?"
Viper floated in the air, perched on his long scythe handle, searching for Zeke's vanished position.
The wizards of Narak quickly located Zeke and reported it to him.
Viper, who had been about to toy with Zeke, grew intrigued by how he handled Nightgon and decided to watch for now.
Thanks to that, the wizards could only quietly observe the confrontation between Zeke and Nightgon.
Viper was certain Zeke hadn't simply fled.
"There's no way he'd just leave like that."
But then.
Kwang!
Arataso, in his half-man half-demon form wielding a green spear, burst out from the dimensional crevice.
Viper, lounging lazily as he watched, was startled.
"Who's that? Isn't that the shaman Arataso?"
As a fellow high-rank demonkind, Viper recognized Arataso immediately.
Arataso, summoned by Zeke, slammed his spear into the ground.
Woooong!
A green power spread out, forming a barrier.
Tssst—
The green barrier Arataso created held far greater power than the one Zeke had formed with the Resonance of Strong Waves and Empty Vibration.
Nightgon, caught in Arataso's green barrier, panicked and tried to break free.
But then.
Zeke appeared behind him, raising his hammer toward Nightgon.
Since the battle with the emperor, his Colossus-Hunting Art had evolved into the Demon-Hunting Art, allowing direct strikes against demonkind souls more effectively than before.
Zeke swung the hammer at Nightgon while deploying the Chamber of Metal Power.
Kwang!
With that single blow, Nightgon's body shattered completely.
The components making up his form scattered in all directions.
As Nightgon's body began to dissolve into black smoke once more, Zeke extended the Curse Reflection with an Area Buff across the entire domain.
Tssst—
Nightgon, attempting to divide and proliferate again, was caught by Zeke's Curse Reflection and couldn't revert.
Zeke searched among Nightgon's scattered parts for the head and the hand holding the scythe.
He cracked open Nightgon's mask, confirmed the natural Blood Tear Stone inside, and immediately reached in to extract it.
At that moment, Nightgon ceased functioning.
Zeke then picked up the scythe Nightgon had wielded.
'Incredible demonic energy. Just holding it makes me dizzy.'
Just like with the Harbinger of Blood and Madness, Nightgon's sacred relic was infused with a fallen constellation's power.
Zeke promptly tossed Nightgon's scythe into the shadows to absorb it.
[Absorbing a sacred relic infused with the power of 'The Endlessly Devouring One.']
[Depleted stamina, mental strength, and mana are replenished.]
[Acquiring the skill 'Clone (Grade A)' derived from the power of 'The Endlessly Devouring One.']
[The proficiency of the skill 'Curse Reflection (Grade A)' has increased, evolving it into the skill 'Curse-Lifting Treatment (Grade S)'.]
[The proficiency of the skill 'Demon-Hunting Art (Grade S)' has increased.]
Absorbing the scythe granted him the new skill 'Clone' and boosted the proficiency of his other skills.
'The power of The Endlessly Devouring One seems to be curse-related. It's hard to raise proficiency for curse skills, so this is good. It'll help against shamans from now on.' As Zeke disposed of Nightgon, the gate hovering above the altar began to close slowly.
With Nightgon, who had sustained the fallen constellation's power, gone, the gate powered by that force sealed shut.
'With the gate closed, no more monsters should come through.'
The current monster numbers were still high, but holding the walls until reinforcements arrived would allow them to manage.
Zeke summoned The Tyrant to disrupt the monsters from the rear.
But then Arataso shouted at him.
[Damn it, Viper's coming!]
Right after Arataso's warning, applause and laughter echoed from the sky.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
Kakakakaka!
Viper descended, riding his scythe.
He looked at Zeke and said,
"That was surprising! I didn't expect you to take out that puppet!" Viper waved at Arataso, who was maintaining the barrier.
"Long time no see, shaman Arataso! I wondered where you'd gone after leaving your castle, but to think you'd become a dirty human's pet. It suits you well. If I become this guy's owner, you'll be my pet's pet! Nice, right?"
Zeke sensed the power of a high-rank demonkind in Viper, who moved freely even within Arataso's barrier domain.
Arataso shook his head at Viper.
[I'd rather perish than serve a mad demon like you.]
Viper clutched his stomach and laughed at Arataso's words, as if it were hilarious.
Then, abruptly stopping his laughter, he straightened up and looked at Zeke.
"Hmm, I sense dragon aura on you, so you must be connected to that dragon putting up the shield on the walls."
With those words, Viper suddenly soared into the air.
He swung his scythe grandly toward the walls.
A massive scythe shadow formed in the sky and crashed directly into Hades's shield.
Kwajijijik!
The enormous scythe shadow cracked Hades's shield.
The aerial beasts seized the opportunity and charged toward the shield's fissures.
Kwarung! Kwarung!
As before, the beasts self-detonated against the shield, creating even more cracks.
Zeke watched the scene and realized Viper's power was stronger than anticipated.
'Reinforcements need more time to arrive.'
Viper descended toward Zeke's position, grinning as if amused.
"How's that? More fun now, right?"
Zeke drew Bahamut and aimed it at Viper.
"No time. Come on."
Viper burst into laughter at the sight.
"Humans are so amusing! Seeing a bug like you squirm is just too funny!" As Viper laughed uproariously, something emerged from the forest.
Shockingly, it was a grotesque abomination assembled from stitched-together monster and wizard bodies.
The wizard heads attached to the monster torsos wept blood tears, endlessly chanting incantations.
Tssst— Kwaaaah!
The abominations howled and charged at Zeke.
Zeke raised his hammer and unleashed the Sacred Radiance Technique.
Pajijijik!
Intense lightning of light crackled along the hammer, and Zeke leaped into the air, swinging it at the abominations.
Kwang!
One strike scattered the abomination's body in all directions.
Kwaaaah!
Zeke relentlessly swung his hammer at the charging abominations, raining down the Mace of Light.
Soon, the abominations were reduced to pulp under Zeke's hands.
Viper, floating in the air astride his scythe and watching, eyed Zeke with interest. "Indeed, entertaining!"
As Viper watched Zeke and the abominations' fight absentmindedly, something appeared behind him without a presence.
It was Zeke, raising Bahamut.
Viper flinched and tried to dodge, but Zeke's attack was faster.
Slash!
Bahamut struck down at Viper like lightning.