A guttural roar, part pain, part rage, burst from Soul Devourer’s throat. Behind the emerald glare lurked a wary heaviness, a realization that rattled even a being of his stature.
His gaze locked on Jared—more precisely on the unremarkable ancient sword in Jared’s grip and on the strange, pewter-colored domain swirling around the young man like a storm held in chains. Soul Devourer’s voice fell to a serpent’s hiss as the earlier thunder drained away, replaced by a lethal calm. “I must admit that you have surprised me. I’ve underestimated you, Jared…”
“Chaos fused with earthfire, a sword that masks its pedigree—you wield curiosities. But if you think such baubles can topple me now that I stand once more in the High Immortal Realm, you are sadly mistaken. My time in the Chthonic Abyss was for more than healing.”
Before the last syllable faded, both of his clawed hands wove a labyrinthine sigil, an ancient demon seal throbbing with ill omen. His jaws stretched unnaturally wide, spilling a shriek so shrill it knifed straight through Jared’s soul.
“Earthcore Demonic Flame, heed my command! Rise!”
A thunderous rumble rolled out of the depths, loud enough to shake stray stones free from the cliff face. Below, the once-sluggish crimson river of magma reared up like a prehistoric beast roused from slumber. It bellowed, churned, and hurled molten waves against the rock. From its depths shot columns of tar-thick flame, dark as clotted blood yet blazing with a heat that dwarfed ordinary lava. Those were Earthcore Demonic Flames, horrors that made even High Immortals blanch.
They carried extreme heat, venom-laden earth fire, and a will devoted to chaos and annihilation—fire that could corrode celestial energy, rot magical items, and burn a soul to ash. For the moment, however, that murderous sea of flame did not lash out at random. Under the silent command of the demonic seal branded upon Soul Devourer, the Earthcore Demonic Flames obeyed. Like a hundred rivers abandoning their beds, crimson fire rivers converged, racing toward his shattered, half-ruined body.
Sizzle!
A chorus of sizzling rose—sharp, metallic, and violent enough to set teeth on edge. The moment flame kissed his black-and-scarlet scales, ancient runes awoke across the armor, glowing a sinister violet beneath the firelight. Instead of burning him, the dark red blaze seemed relieved, as though it had finally come home. Thread by thread, it seeped between the scales, sinking deeper, blending with the demonic aura coiled inside. Power met power, and the fusion that followed was terrifying—a marriage of soul-devouring might and bottomless hellfire that made the air itself tremble.
“Ugh… Argh!”
The cry ripped from Soul Devourer’s lungs, raw and jagged, rolling through the cavern like thunder trapped in a coffin of stone. His body ballooned beyond control, twisting as the newly thickened scales jutted like obsidian blades. Black-red deepened to molten crimson, and rivers of magma-like patterns slithered across the armor’s surface. Tattered wings behind him swelled as the demonic flames filled the ruined flesh, mending, enlarging, and deforming them into greater horrors.
Meanwhile, their edges burned with tangible dark-crimson fire. Soul Devourer’s aura rocketed skyward. In the blink of an eye, he had gone from High Immortal Realm Level One to Level One middle phase, Level One advanced phase, and finally to the top of Level One. What made it even scarier was that he was just a step away from High Immortal Realm Level Two!
More dreadful still, a newborn miasma spread from him, a hybrid of Soul-Devouring venom and Earthcore Demonic Flame’s berserk chaos. The air reeked of ruin and prophecy. Far off, Lindsay and Vermilion Demon Lord flinched the instant they sensed it, pain tearing through their divine souls as the latter’s demonic techniques faltered.
“Hahaha… You feel it yet, Jared?” Soul Devourer asked, his voice hoarse and layered. “On the bedrock of my Soul-Devouring Technique, I have woven the Earthcore Demonic Flame, a blaze that brewed in the abyss for millions of years. Through relentless torment, I have birthed a technique that is mine alone: Soul-Devouring Demonic Flame!”
He lifted an arm now wholly dark crimson, the flames licking up to his elbow, claws clenched on empty air. Even the space in his palm warped beneath the heat. “This flame carries my demonic technique’s soul-corroding hunger and the Earthcore Demonic Flame’s world-scorching madness. It will corrode every shred of your celestial energy, incinerate your magical items, and roast your very soul!”
“You will writhe in endless torment and madness until you become nourishment for me, your rightful lord! Jared, do you still think that odd domain and your Earthfire True Flame can save you?!”
For the first time, Jared’s expression lost its unruffled calm. A shadow of gravity settled across his brow. He could sense the Soul-Devouring Demonic Flame now emanating from Soul Devourer. Its grade and uncanny texture eclipsed the simple demonic force and Earthcore Demonic Flame the fiend had shown earlier—a fusion that had undergone true evolution.
Daunting, yes. Deadly, perhaps. But only that. The fire glowing in Jared’s eyes burned higher, not lower. It was not fear, but the visceral thrill of meeting an opponent finally worthy of his sword. Jared rolled the words over his tongue. “Soul-Devouring Demonic Flame?”
Slowly, he lifted the Dragonslayer Sword, the blade gleaming as its tip aligned with the storm of aura around Soul Devourer. A quick flick of his tongue moistened dry lips, and a smile surfaced—equal parts hunger and ice.
“It does sound impressive, but let’s see if it pops as easily as every other boast you’ve made,” Jared said, his tone still carrying that infuriating, maddening mockery. “Show me the results of your little experiments in the magma, old geezer… Time to find out how much substance they really have. Oh, but you better not disappoint me. I despise nothing more than fools who are all show and no substance.”
“You’re courting death! I will tear you limb from limb!”
Jared’s taunts shattered the last filament of reason inside Soul Devourer. Already riled by the demonic flame, he now knew only the urge to shred the insolent youth.
“Soul-Devouring Demonic Flame! Myriad Souls Burn!”
With a furious beat of his six wings, he became a meteor, dragging a long, dark crimson trail of fire behind him. His speed more than doubled, erasing the distance in a breath. The moment Jared’s last word faded, Soul Devourer was already above and to the right, hundreds of feet bridged in an instant.
This time, however, brute force alone would not suffice. Instead of crashing into a reckless melee, Soul Devourer veered and thrust both palms forward with a fierce push.
