601. The Strongest
There they were. Two behemoths of the Netherworld. Colossal creatures that towered over mountains, standing at the pinnacle of power in all the Nexeus.
The first was [The Great Agarus]. It was shaped like an island— rotund, bloated body carried by four legs. It was like a turtle without a shell, except it had a face full of eyes, and a beard of even more tendrils.
It was a wild Primordial Demon that… wasn’t so wild? I wasn’t sure if it was actually completely mindless, since it was targeting me out of all the swathes of other possible Demons it could attack. It didn’t like me because of my partial corruption. Or at least, that was what I thought.
I didn’t actually know why it hated me. I just knew that it wanted me dead, and if not for using all my Grand Skills, I wouldn’t have survived my encounters with it.
The second Primordial Demon was the Primordial Demon. It was the highest-leveled being in all of the Nexeus— even my dad feared it for its immense strength. And my dad was the Devil!
The Beast had the body of a wolf, and the heads of seven serpents. Except… after it was struck by a vortex from [The Great Agarus], its heads had multiplied.
And both Primordial Demons were massive. It was like watching a pair of mountains facing off each other. In the valley between them, there were innumerable wild Demons gathered, swarming mindlessly for an invisible beacon. Little did they know that they were going to be ripped apart by the Beast and [The Great Agarus] soon enough.
I narrowed my eyes as [The Great Agarus] foolishly turned away from the Beast, sweeping its gaze over the landscape in search of me.
“You shouldn’t have done that…”
I murmured to myself, and Haec approached me from behind. He looked out through the glass-like panels, staring at the Beast as it let out a ferocious roar. But thanks to [The World Of My Mind], the sound was muffled.
“Should we even be watching this?”
Haec asked apprehensively as I shook my head.
“We’ll be fine. Just sit back and watch.”
I gave my companion a reassuring nod before looking back towards the Beast. One of its mouths opened as colorful embers gathered there, creating an iridescent fireball. My eyes flickered.
“Is that divinity?”
I wondered aloud. And all at once, the Beast unleashed the blazing sphere at [The Great Agarus].
The iridescent fireball was the size of a small hill. It had to have been hundreds of feet wide. But despite its size, the other Primordial Demon hadn’t even been expecting the attack. Its gaze had been turned to the side as it scanned the sea of Demons at its feet for me.
[The Great Agarus] only realized something was amiss when the iridescent fireball was about to strike. Its many eyes darted to the side, and it raised its head right in time to be engulfed in a pillar of blinding flames.
We had to have been over a dozen miles away from the battlefield, but the blast nearly reached us. Even though I was safe in [The World Of My Mind], I reeled back from the explosion. The wild Demons gathered closest to the blast evaporated in an instant, and even more that tried to flee the scene were ripped apart from the shockwave. It was so powerful, my pocket space trembled for a brief moment, before the light dissipated.
I looked back up towards where [The Great Agarus] had been standing. The landscape had been ravaged. Hundreds of thousands of wild Demons were killed in an instant— their charred remains littering the ground. Many of them were even incinerated, their ashen remains staining the ground where they had stood. A colossal curtain of smoke rose from the earth, and a shadowed figure moved within.
[The Great Agarus] emerged from a massive crater, ripping through the smoke with a terrible screech. Its tendrils were burning, and a chunk of its back was missing. But it didn’t look hurt. It just looked at the Beast in anger.
“So they’ve both got in one free hit on each other. That even things out… I think?”
I crossed my arms as I looked back towards the Beast. Even after being struck by the vortex earlier, it was completely unscathed. It drew forward as it raised its ten heads, roaring back at [The Great Agarus].
The sky crackled with dozens of black lightning. Each lightning bolt was powerful enough to strike me down if I was in its path. They ripped apart the shifting landscape of Reconstruction, before shooting out straight at the Level 225 Primordial Demon.
In response, [The Great Agarus] just raised its tendrils. Somehow, it redirected the black lightning, and the bolts crashed against the rock ground, shredding open an entire canyon before my eyes.
The Beast watched as its black lightning was easily deflected, and it raised three heads. Each one began to conjure another iridescent fireball. And [The Great Agarus] screech, sprinting forward.
Despite being such a bulky creature, the Level 225 Primordial Demon was incredibly fast. I had seen its speed firsthand when it crossed a hundred miles to reach me in such a short span of time. The ground collapsed in its wake, and it reached the Beast a moment later.
But right as [The Great Agarus] was about to swing down with one of its claws, the Beast unleashed its iridescent fireballs. All three of the attacks struck [The Great Agarus] at once. An even more powerful explosion rocked the Netherworld as I stumbled back from the impact.
Taburas, Bertrugil, and Aemula recoiled, turning away from the blast. But Haec stood steadfast, narrowing his eyes at the blast. I blinked a few times, expecting to see [The Great Agarus] scorched and dead. But instead, a purple glow cut through the flames.
My eyes went wide, and I gasped.
“It created… a barrier?”
[The Great Agarus] stepped out from the explosion protected by a purple aura. It coalesced around the Primordial Demon like a kind of shell, and it took the brunt of the attack. The Beast snarled when it saw this, striking out with one of its many heads.
But [The Great Agarus] was faster. With a screech, it lashed out first, grabbing the serpent-like head of the Beast. I watched with wide eyes as the jaws of [The Great Agarus] latched onto the Beast’s neck, overpowering the serpent-like head.
“Huh.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. And neither could Haec. He stepped forward, looking on as [The Great Agarus] wrestled the serpent-like head to the ground. A second head lashed out, but the attack only bounced off the Primordial Demon’s purple shell.
“[The Great Agarus] is winning…”
Haec whispered softly. We looked on as [The Great Agarus] unclamped its jaw from the first head, before looking up. Its mouth glowed with a purple aura, and I knew what was coming next.
A powerful beam of light shot straight out of the Primordial Demon’s mouth. It struck the Beast head-on. A direct impact that completely engulfed the highest-leveled being in all of the Nexeus. I was at a loss for words. It wasn’t a direct explosion— the beam itself was so massive, it expanded as wide as a mountain and shot out over a hundred miles into the horizon.
In the distance, I saw an explosion erupt from the blast. It rose up dozens and dozens of miles, wiping out hundreds of thousands more wild Demons. Maybe even millions were gone, just from the radius of the explosion.
I stared in awe of the Level 225 Primordial Demon’s might. But a figure approached me from behind. Bertrugil shook his head as he sighed.
“[The Great Agarus] isn’t winning, you idiots.”
Haec and I blinked. We turned around to face the [Abraxas] as he gestured past us. We looked back to the front, watching as the purple beam of light began to fade.
“The Beast hasn’t even used a single real Skill just yet.”
“What are you talking about?”
Haec frowned, and I squinted. The purple beam dissipated as [The Great Agarus] backed up. And from the smoke, there stood the Beast, completely unscathed. Its number of heads now multiplied to twelve, and every single one of their eyes blazed with anger.
“I am saying that the Beast hardly even considers [The Great Agarus] a threat. The moment it does, this battle shall reach its conclusion.”
Bertrugil shrugged simply as the Beast roared. It dashed forward, unleashing fireball after fireball at the other Primordial Demon. In response, [The Great Agarus] just stood its ground, tanking the blasts with its magical shell.
Blast after blast rocked the Netherworld. But [The Great Agarus] withstood the barrage of attacks, before bracing itself for the Beast. A serpent-like head reached [The Great Agarus], and it once again moved to chomp down on the neck.
But this time, the Beast was prepared. The moment the other Primordial Demon grabbed its serpent-like neck, it brought four other heads together and created a combined fireball. The sphere grew larger and larger, before seemingly losing its form and blasting out.
A cone of iridescent flames shot forward, blasting the back of [The Great Agarus]. The sweeping attack was so overwhelming, it shredded the protective shell apart. [The Great Agarus] screeched in pain and released its grip on the serpent-like head it was chewing on.
The instant [The Great Agarus] let go of the head, the Beast stopped its onslaught of flames and struck the other Primordial Demon where it was vulnerable. It was a quick flurry of attacks. The Beast first struck from below with the head that had just been released. And a quick instant after, the second and third head struck [The Great Agarus] from the side.
[The Great Agarus] reeled as its shell was completely ripped off its back. The layer of protection gone, it was now vulnerable to direct attacks from the Beast. It backed away, but the Beast’s many heads were faster. They clamped onto [The Great Agarus], keeping it from escaping.
With seven of its heads, the Beast flipped [The Great Agarus] onto the ground. I looked on as the tide of battle quickly shifted, and the biting heads of the Beast ripped apart the hard skin of the Level 225 Primordial Demon.
To its credit, [The Great Agarus] didn’t give up, even on the ground. Its tendrils moved as dozens of black lightning bolts crashed from the sky. But the attempt at a counter attack was completely pointless. The Beast completely ignored the dark lightning striking its back, continuing to tear into its opponent.
“So you’re saying the black lightning… the iridescent flames… those aren’t the Beast’s real Skills?”
Haec asked, completely baffled as he watched the Beast rip into [The Great Agarus]. Bertrugil sighed.
“I guess they could be considered Skills. But I’d consider them Skills in the same way you’d consider punching with your enhanced strength a Skill.”
“That’s—”
The former Heir of the Netherworld opened his mouth, before catching himself. He was at a loss for words. But I wasn’t. I placed a hand on the wall of my pocket space.
“Amazing… that is why it’s the strongest, huh?”
And [The Great Agarus] screeched as one of its limbs was torn from its body. It lay there, its body almost growing limp as its many eyes began to bleed. For a moment, I thought the battle was over. But then I sensed a surge of magic pouring out.
The Beast itself paused, sensing the same thing coming from its enemy. Eight of its heads were already pinning down [The Great Agarus], but the remaining four moved to stop whatever was happening.
However, the Beast was too slow. [The Great Agarus] raised its head as its bleeding eyes focused on the Beast. And one of the thirteen serpent-like heads twisted, spilling a deluge of black blood. Another bent broken, and another.
Haec blinked a few times, and even Bertrugil was confused.
“What is going on?”
The [Abraxas] asked as I bit my lower lip. I saw it, even if no one else did— the fabric of reality bending before my very eyes.
“Space magic. Like nothing I have ever seen before.”
And that wasn’t a lie. Even the strength of a Corrupted Rift was incomparable to what I was witnessing. [The Great Agarus] broke another of the Beast’s many heads, slowly rising from the ground. It looked like the Level 225 Primordial Demon could actually have a chance at winning.
“But that was a mistake, wasn’t it?”
I asked, not even looking at Bertrugil. He nodded behind me.
“Indeed.”
The Beast stumbled back as [The Great Agarus] stood on its three remaining legs. It focused its attack on another head, and I saw space twisting where the serpent-like neck. And that was when the Beast had enough.
A thirteenth head sprouted from the Beast, and it ignored the continued attack from [The Great Agarus]. Even as another of the first twelve heads was snapped, the thirteenth head just rose to the sky.
The crimson dome overhead began to glow bright. I watched as a spell circle took shape there, spreading out a dozen miles wide. [The Great Agarus] ignored this, opening its mouth once again. Another black hole took shape there as it broke another one of the Beast’s few remaining heads.
And I saw the pentagram take shape in the sky. The Beast let out a final roar, and that was when I heard the blaring of [Angelic Premonition] in my head. I spun around, cursing to myself as I reached for my pocket space.
“Shit—”
A pillar of white light shot down from the sky a second later. And in an instant, everything in hundreds of miles— the mountains, [The Great Agarus], the wild Demons… and even my pocket space— was engulfed in a fiery explosion.
MelasD
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601. The Strongest
There they were. Two behemoths of the Netherworld. Colossal creatures that towered over mountains, standing at the pinnacle of power in all the Nexeus.
The first was [The Great Agarus]. It was shaped like an island— rotund, bloated body carried by four legs. It was like a turtle without a shell, except it had a face full of eyes, and a beard of even more tendrils.
It was a wild Primordial Demon that… wasn’t so wild? I wasn’t sure if it was actually completely mindless, since it was targeting me out of all the swathes of other possible Demons it could attack. It didn’t like me because of my partial corruption. Or at least, that was what I thought.
I didn’t actually know why it hated me. I just knew that it wanted me dead, and if not for using all my Grand Skills, I wouldn’t have survived my encounters with it.
The second Primordial Demon was the Primordial Demon. It was the highest-leveled being in all of the Nexeus— even my dad feared it for its immense strength. And my dad was the Devil!
The Beast had the body of a wolf, and the heads of seven serpents. Except… after it was struck by a vortex from [The Great Agarus], its heads had multiplied.
And both Primordial Demons were massive. It was like watching a pair of mountains facing off each other. In the valley between them, there were innumerable wild Demons gathered, swarming mindlessly for an invisible beacon. Little did they know that they were going to be ripped apart by the Beast and [The Great Agarus] soon enough.
I narrowed my eyes as [The Great Agarus] foolishly turned away from the Beast, sweeping its gaze over the landscape in search of me.
“You shouldn’t have done that…”
I murmured to myself, and Haec approached me from behind. He looked out through the glass-like panels, staring at the Beast as it let out a ferocious roar. But thanks to [The World Of My Mind], the sound was muffled.
“Should we even be watching this?”
Haec asked apprehensively as I shook my head.
“We’ll be fine. Just sit back and watch.”
I gave my companion a reassuring nod before looking back towards the Beast. One of its mouths opened as colorful embers gathered there, creating an iridescent fireball. My eyes flickered.
“Is that divinity?”
I wondered aloud. And all at once, the Beast unleashed the blazing sphere at [The Great Agarus].
The iridescent fireball was the size of a small hill. It had to have been hundreds of feet wide. But despite its size, the other Primordial Demon hadn’t even been expecting the attack. Its gaze had been turned to the side as it scanned the sea of Demons at its feet for me.
[The Great Agarus] only realized something was amiss when the iridescent fireball was about to strike. Its many eyes darted to the side, and it raised its head right in time to be engulfed in a pillar of blinding flames.
We had to have been over a dozen miles away from the battlefield, but the blast nearly reached us. Even though I was safe in [The World Of My Mind], I reeled back from the explosion. The wild Demons gathered closest to the blast evaporated in an instant, and even more that tried to flee the scene were ripped apart from the shockwave. It was so powerful, my pocket space trembled for a brief moment, before the light dissipated.
I looked back up towards where [The Great Agarus] had been standing. The landscape had been ravaged. Hundreds of thousands of wild Demons were killed in an instant— their charred remains littering the ground. Many of them were even incinerated, their ashen remains staining the ground where they had stood. A colossal curtain of smoke rose from the earth, and a shadowed figure moved within.
[The Great Agarus] emerged from a massive crater, ripping through the smoke with a terrible screech. Its tendrils were burning, and a chunk of its back was missing. But it didn’t look hurt. It just looked at the Beast in anger.
“So they’ve both got in one free hit on each other. That even things out… I think?”
I crossed my arms as I looked back towards the Beast. Even after being struck by the vortex earlier, it was completely unscathed. It drew forward as it raised its ten heads, roaring back at [The Great Agarus].
The sky crackled with dozens of black lightning. Each lightning bolt was powerful enough to strike me down if I was in its path. They ripped apart the shifting landscape of Reconstruction, before shooting out straight at the Level 225 Primordial Demon.
In response, [The Great Agarus] just raised its tendrils. Somehow, it redirected the black lightning, and the bolts crashed against the rock ground, shredding open an entire canyon before my eyes.
The Beast watched as its black lightning was easily deflected, and it raised three heads. Each one began to conjure another iridescent fireball. And [The Great Agarus] screech, sprinting forward.
Despite being such a bulky creature, the Level 225 Primordial Demon was incredibly fast. I had seen its speed firsthand when it crossed a hundred miles to reach me in such a short span of time. The ground collapsed in its wake, and it reached the Beast a moment later.
But right as [The Great Agarus] was about to swing down with one of its claws, the Beast unleashed its iridescent fireballs. All three of the attacks struck [The Great Agarus] at once. An even more powerful explosion rocked the Netherworld as I stumbled back from the impact.
Taburas, Bertrugil, and Aemula recoiled, turning away from the blast. But Haec stood steadfast, narrowing his eyes at the blast. I blinked a few times, expecting to see [The Great Agarus] scorched and dead. But instead, a purple glow cut through the flames.
My eyes went wide, and I gasped.
“It created… a barrier?”
[The Great Agarus] stepped out from the explosion protected by a purple aura. It coalesced around the Primordial Demon like a kind of shell, and it took the brunt of the attack. The Beast snarled when it saw this, striking out with one of its many heads.
But [The Great Agarus] was faster. With a screech, it lashed out first, grabbing the serpent-like head of the Beast. I watched with wide eyes as the jaws of [The Great Agarus] latched onto the Beast’s neck, overpowering the serpent-like head.
“Huh.”
I couldn’t believe my eyes. And neither could Haec. He stepped forward, looking on as [The Great Agarus] wrestled the serpent-like head to the ground. A second head lashed out, but the attack only bounced off the Primordial Demon’s purple shell.
“[The Great Agarus] is winning…”
Haec whispered softly. We looked on as [The Great Agarus] unclamped its jaw from the first head, before looking up. Its mouth glowed with a purple aura, and I knew what was coming next.
A powerful beam of light shot straight out of the Primordial Demon’s mouth. It struck the Beast head-on. A direct impact that completely engulfed the highest-leveled being in all of the Nexeus. I was at a loss for words. It wasn’t a direct explosion— the beam itself was so massive, it expanded as wide as a mountain and shot out over a hundred miles into the horizon.
In the distance, I saw an explosion erupt from the blast. It rose up dozens and dozens of miles, wiping out hundreds of thousands more wild Demons. Maybe even millions were gone, just from the radius of the explosion.
I stared in awe of the Level 225 Primordial Demon’s might. But a figure approached me from behind. Bertrugil shook his head as he sighed.
“[The Great Agarus] isn’t winning, you idiots.”
Haec and I blinked. We turned around to face the [Abraxas] as he gestured past us. We looked back to the front, watching as the purple beam of light began to fade.
“The Beast hasn’t even used a single real Skill just yet.”
“What are you talking about?”
Haec frowned, and I squinted. The purple beam dissipated as [The Great Agarus] backed up. And from the smoke, there stood the Beast, completely unscathed. Its number of heads now multiplied to twelve, and every single one of their eyes blazed with anger.
“I am saying that the Beast hardly even considers [The Great Agarus] a threat. The moment it does, this battle shall reach its conclusion.”
Bertrugil shrugged simply as the Beast roared. It dashed forward, unleashing fireball after fireball at the other Primordial Demon. In response, [The Great Agarus] just stood its ground, tanking the blasts with its magical shell.
Blast after blast rocked the Netherworld. But [The Great Agarus] withstood the barrage of attacks, before bracing itself for the Beast. A serpent-like head reached [The Great Agarus], and it once again moved to chomp down on the neck.
But this time, the Beast was prepared. The moment the other Primordial Demon grabbed its serpent-like neck, it brought four other heads together and created a combined fireball. The sphere grew larger and larger, before seemingly losing its form and blasting out.
A cone of iridescent flames shot forward, blasting the back of [The Great Agarus]. The sweeping attack was so overwhelming, it shredded the protective shell apart. [The Great Agarus] screeched in pain and released its grip on the serpent-like head it was chewing on.
The instant [The Great Agarus] let go of the head, the Beast stopped its onslaught of flames and struck the other Primordial Demon where it was vulnerable. It was a quick flurry of attacks. The Beast first struck from below with the head that had just been released. And a quick instant after, the second and third head struck [The Great Agarus] from the side.
[The Great Agarus] reeled as its shell was completely ripped off its back. The layer of protection gone, it was now vulnerable to direct attacks from the Beast. It backed away, but the Beast’s many heads were faster. They clamped onto [The Great Agarus], keeping it from escaping.
With seven of its heads, the Beast flipped [The Great Agarus] onto the ground. I looked on as the tide of battle quickly shifted, and the biting heads of the Beast ripped apart the hard skin of the Level 225 Primordial Demon.
To its credit, [The Great Agarus] didn’t give up, even on the ground. Its tendrils moved as dozens of black lightning bolts crashed from the sky. But the attempt at a counter attack was completely pointless. The Beast completely ignored the dark lightning striking its back, continuing to tear into its opponent.
“So you’re saying the black lightning… the iridescent flames… those aren’t the Beast’s real Skills?”
Haec asked, completely baffled as he watched the Beast rip into [The Great Agarus]. Bertrugil sighed.
“I guess they could be considered Skills. But I’d consider them Skills in the same way you’d consider punching with your enhanced strength a Skill.”
“That’s—”
The former Heir of the Netherworld opened his mouth, before catching himself. He was at a loss for words. But I wasn’t. I placed a hand on the wall of my pocket space.
“Amazing… that is why it’s the strongest, huh?”
And [The Great Agarus] screeched as one of its limbs was torn from its body. It lay there, its body almost growing limp as its many eyes began to bleed. For a moment, I thought the battle was over. But then I sensed a surge of magic pouring out.
The Beast itself paused, sensing the same thing coming from its enemy. Eight of its heads were already pinning down [The Great Agarus], but the remaining four moved to stop whatever was happening.
However, the Beast was too slow. [The Great Agarus] raised its head as its bleeding eyes focused on the Beast. And one of the thirteen serpent-like heads twisted, spilling a deluge of black blood. Another bent broken, and another.
Haec blinked a few times, and even Bertrugil was confused.
“What is going on?”
The [Abraxas] asked as I bit my lower lip. I saw it, even if no one else did— the fabric of reality bending before my very eyes.
“Space magic. Like nothing I have ever seen before.”
And that wasn’t a lie. Even the strength of a Corrupted Rift was incomparable to what I was witnessing. [The Great Agarus] broke another of the Beast’s many heads, slowly rising from the ground. It looked like the Level 225 Primordial Demon could actually have a chance at winning.
“But that was a mistake, wasn’t it?”
I asked, not even looking at Bertrugil. He nodded behind me.
“Indeed.”
The Beast stumbled back as [The Great Agarus] stood on its three remaining legs. It focused its attack on another head, and I saw space twisting where the serpent-like neck. And that was when the Beast had enough.
A thirteenth head sprouted from the Beast, and it ignored the continued attack from [The Great Agarus]. Even as another of the first twelve heads was snapped, the thirteenth head just rose to the sky.
The crimson dome overhead began to glow bright. I watched as a spell circle took shape there, spreading out a dozen miles wide. [The Great Agarus] ignored this, opening its mouth once again. Another black hole took shape there as it broke another one of the Beast’s few remaining heads.
And I saw the pentagram take shape in the sky. The Beast let out a final roar, and that was when I heard the blaring of [Angelic Premonition] in my head. I spun around, cursing to myself as I reached for my pocket space.
“Shit—”
A pillar of white light shot down from the sky a second later. And in an instant, everything in hundreds of miles— the mountains, [The Great Agarus], the wild Demons… and even my pocket space— was engulfed in a fiery explosion.
MelasD
You can now read up to 30 chapters ahead on my patreon and support the webcomic.
Join my discord or subreddit.
Follow me on twitter or instagram.
