Dante carved a path of destruction through the demon horde.
He grabbed two demons by their skulls and smashed them together. Their bodies burst into nothing. He didn’t even slow down.
Another demon lunged at him. He caught it mid-air, leaped skyward, and drove it into the ground so hard the earth cratered beneath them.
He rose from the dust, cracking his neck.
More demons swarmed toward him. He grinned.
"Perfect."
He activated his new ability, and his body began to grow. Muscles swelled. Bones cracked and reformed. In seconds, he stood twice his original size, towering over the demons like a giant among children.
This was the form he had learned from Wen Rouyan after she was unable to fix his berserker. It took most of the benefits - the raw power, the enhanced durability - but it wasn’t an end-all solution.
It had its own disadvantages.
And another thing...
There was no real fix to berserker.
Because when he got agitated...
A demon clawed across his back. The wound was shallow. Insignificant.
But the pain sparked something.
Suddenly, a red aura began flaring around him. His eyes lost focus. His muscles tensed beyond what the form had already provided.
He roared.
Then he rushed toward the monsters, all sanity gone, tearing through them in a frenzy of blood and carnage. Limbs flew. Bodies were ripped apart. He didn’t distinguish between targets - everything in his path was destroyed.
...
Maya watched from above.
"Will he be alright?" she wondered aloud.
She stared at the massacre below for a moment longer. Then she sighed and turned away.
She had her own role to play.
She faced the demons swarming beneath her position and raised both hands. Magic circles manifested around her - one, two, five, a dozen - each one glowing with accumulated power.
"Meteor Shower."
The sky lit up.
Dozens of flaming projectiles rained down on the demon horde, each impact creating an explosion that sent bodies flying. Craters formed across the battlefield.
Before the dust could settle, she was already casting again.
"Annihilation."
Dark, blue, and purple lights formed before her, swirling into each other as they moved outward.
They twisted through the air, intertwining and accelerating as they moved forward. The three streams of light then converged, merging into a huge beam of pure destructive energy that lanced downward, carving a trench through the earth and everything standing on it.
Demons caught in its path didn’t even have time to scream - they simply ceased to exist.
When the spell ended, the area below her was completely deformed. Scorched earth and smoking craters stretched in every direction.
Not a single demon remained.
Maya lowered her hands and scanned the battlefield, already looking for her next target.
Another crowd of demons gathered in the distance.
She flew toward them.
...
Ryker’s sword sang through the air.
His movements were as smooth as always. Each strike flowing into the next without pause. It looked more like an elegant dance than a sword battle.
A demon lunged; he sidestepped and bisected it in one clean motion. Another swung at his back; he spun and cut it down mid-swing.
But swordwork alone wasn’t enough against these numbers.
He extended his free hand over his sword. Lightning crackled between his fingers.
Using aura and mana manipulation, he forced electricity onto his blade, extending its reach threefold. He swept it in a wide arc, and the lightning-infused slash tore through an entire row of demons at once.
He pressed forward, incorporating magic into every attack for greater reach and damage.
...
Selene moved through the battlefield like a storm.
A demon swung at her head. She ducked under it without looking, her fist already driving into its stomach. The creature folded around her knuckles before being launched backward into three of its allies.
Two more came from behind.
She didn’t turn around.
Thanks to the battle instinct skill Cipher had given her, she could easily see through the demons’ attacks. She twisted, letting one attack pass by her ear while catching the other demon’s wrist. A sharp pull, a pivot, and she used its own momentum to slam it into the ground.
The first demon recovered and lunged again.
She met it with a spinning kick that caved in its chest.
More demons surrounded her. Ten. Twenty. It didn’t matter.
She could feel their killing intent, sense their movements before they happened, predict exactly where each attack would land.
She smiled.
And then she was among them, her fists and feet spun in all directions, leaving destruction in their wake.
...
Li Chen cut through another demon and flicked the blood from his blade.
This was almost too easy.
He glanced to the left side of the battle where Maya was spamming high level magic, then at the middle where Lyra was easily destroying the demon lords.
Then again, with monsters like those two here...
He sighed and was about to engage the next wave when a massive shadow passed over him. He looked up.
A huge dragon descended from the sky, flames still dripping from its jaws as it turned toward the Evil God.
Li Chen watched in awe for a moment.
Then he looked around at the demons closing in on his position.
"Maybe I should try it too," he thought.
He sheathed his sword.
Instantly, his body began to change. Scales erupted across his skin - deep blue, almost black. His muscles expanded. His fingers elongated into claws. A tail burst from his lower back, and two small horns pushed through his forehead.
When the transformation completed, he stood as a dragonoid creature - not a full dragon like Zhao Long, but something caught between human and beast.
He looked down at himself.
With his level of bloodline, this was all he could do.
A demon charged at him from behind.
Without looking, he reached back and grabbed its face. His clawed hand closed around its skull.
Crack.
He looked at his bloodied palm.
Not bad.
Then he rushed toward the demons, claws tearing through everything in his path.