From that raven light rose countless shrieks, each one a thread of agony. Slowly, the formless shadow of Soul Devourer coalesced, no longer the muscular tyrant of old, but a rolling mass of ink-dark soul flame.
“Hahaha… I am free again!” The voice vibrated like broken bells-exultant, half-mad. Fire Demon Lord tipped his head, smile twisting wickedly. “Long time no see…”
Soul Devourer’s void-lit eyes widened. “Fire Demon Lord? How in the nine hells are you here?!”
“To save you, of course,” Fire Demon Lord crowed. “Had they not chained me in the Flame Prison, you’d never have suffered this indignity.”
“Your rescue is a debt beyond words,” Soul Devourer answered, voice trembling with zealous devotion. “From this moment on, I will walk through fire and ruin at your command!”
Fire Demon Lord nodded, satisfied. “Then together we will rule all nine levels.”
“Yes, let every sky tremble beneath our shadow!” Soul Devourer cried, hunger blazing. The two demons shared a grin, twin crescents of greed and cruelty gleaming in the gloom.
The explosion that followed hurled ash against every wall. From that storm Fire Spirit Lord surged upright, golden flames spiraling off his body like solar flares.
Those gilded fires roared higher, his aura expanding until the very air seemed to buckle beneath the heat and fury now reborn in him.
Fire Demon Lord’s grin faltered. He had not expected his fallen foe to rise again, and certainly not burning brighter than before.
He waded through curling embers, his pupils blazing like twin suns. Each heartbeat pumped raw fury into the air. “Fire Demon Lord, you dared unchain the Soul Devourer. You have chosen your own death!”
Laughter burst from the Fire Demon Lord, wild, jagged, unstoppable flames in sound. “Chosen death? Fire Spirit Lord, you are no longer my equal. Get out of my sight or I will burn you where you stand.”
The Fire Spirit Lord’s reply slid out, icily precise. “Drive me away? Only over my dead body.”
He inhaled once, fingertips racing through intricate seals while forgotten syllables rolled from his tongue. A solemn hum boomed across the void. Golden fire burst from his flesh and speared toward the sky, his presence swelling with every pulse.
From the heavens rained hundreds of gilded beams, pure dawnlight pouring straight into his frame, each strand thrumming with sacred might.
The Fire Demon Lord’s grin stuttered. He tasted holiness on that glow and felt his own flames recoil. A voice rang out, ceremonial and vast. “Watch, Fire Demon Lord. Witness the true sovereignty of flame.”
His aura detonated. The fire shed its warm hue, turning into an imperial gold that brooked no blasphemy. In a single breath, crossed into an entirely new realm of strength.
The Fire Demon Lord rocked backward. “What… This is impossible! Your power now eclipses mine. How can you still harbor such strength?”
“I awakened the Flame Truth long ago,” the Fire Spirit Lord said, voice colder than space. “Its purity scours filth like you from creation.”
He vanished, reappearing as a golden comet that punched clean through his foe’s breastplate.
A detonation slammed through the battlefield; the Fire Demon Lord coughed a scarlet spray while careening across shattered earth. He hit the ground like fallen masonry, skin ghost-pale and eyes wide with disbelief.
He had never imagined the Fire Spirit Lord could still hide a trump card so terrifying.
