Explosions erupted on top of the previous ones. There weren’t any gaps in Eugene’s continuous barrage of attacks. In response to this assault, the Demon King of Incarceration directly opened up a new path forward. His fist blocked the stream of Levanteins, scattered the Empty Swords, extinguished the divine flames, and shattered the crystal blades.
With each step he took forward, the Demon King of Incarceration’s fists created multiple after-images. But even though he had broken apart everything in front of him, the attack had yet to end. The scattered Empty Swords reassembled themselves, the extinguished flames reignited, and the shattered blades were fully restored.
On a visual level, there were already dozens of Levanteins, but the actual density of the bombardment was dozens of times greater than what could be seen with the naked eye.
The Demon King of Incarceration felt a chilly sensation run down his spine. Goosebumps had appeared on his arms. It had been a very long time since he had last faced an attack of this level.
He was reminded of the first time that he could no longer bear the weight of his regrets and had rushed at the Demon King of Destruction. Except for those times when he had attempted to end himself by facing the Demon King of Destruction, the Demon King of Incarceration had never experienced attacks like this one.
Incarceration couldn’t afford to underestimate the danger he was currently in. If he had failed to react to this attack in time and were hit by it, even someone like him, who had never known death, would have come close to feeling what that might be like.
Of course, speculation like that would only matter if he had failed to respond to the attack and was hit by it.
The space they were in was a separate world that had been created through a miracle that Sienna had cast using the Demoneye of Fantasy, with the help of the residual thoughts of Noir Giabella. Within this miraculous world, Eugene and Sienna’s holy domains had merged to become one, working together to thoroughly identify the Demon King of Incarceration as an external enemy and driving out his influence. So, within the current confines of this world, the Demon King of Incarceration was left without any of his previous advantages.
But just as he was left without any advantages, he was also bare of any disadvantages. To put it simply, this meant that the situation for the Demon King was neither bad nor good. Although the Demon King of Incarceration might be seen as an invader in this altered reality he now found himself in, the Demon King’s domineering strength and superior level couldn’t be shaken even within the confines of this world.
Eugene and his comrades were the ones who had gained an overwhelming advantage thanks to these preparations. Still, in other words, this just meant that Eugene and his comrades had finally gained the qualifications needed to confront the Demon King of Incarceration on an equal level while they were in this world.Nothing had truly changed, and the Demon King of Incarceration wasn’t planning on doing anything differently.
Eugene’s growth during their battle may have ever so slightly adjusted how Incarceration believed things were supposed to go, but even that was ultimately just a minor disruption that wouldn’t change today’s outcome. Even if today’s events, no, even if this entire current era had given rise to the highest number of unusual happenings in all of the eternities that the Demon King of Incarceration had lived through, nothing had truly changed about what the Demon King of Incarceration needed to do.
That was why the Demon King of Incarceration kept advancing forward while destroying the dozens of Levanteins. He kept breaking the blades that were restored again and again each time he destroyed them, and with his hands, he snuffed out all of the divine flames that kept reigniting around him.
Eugene couldn’t help but feel an eerie discomfort at this sight. Within this holy domain that was created from a connection between dreams and reality, none of the advantages of this dream could be enjoyed by the Demon King of Incarceration. In the past, Noir Giabella had neutralized a similar bombardment of Levanteins by simply ending the dream and recreating a new dream instead of trying to challenge their power directly.
The Demon King of Incarceration might not be able to use such a method, but even so, who could have expected that Incarceration would recklessly choose to make a frontal breakthrough? Moreover, even as the Demon King of Incarceration continued his advance, destroying Levanteins with each step, he showed no signs of being in a rush.
The Demon King of Incarceration could calmly repel all of the incoming attacks as he slowly closed the distance between himself and Eugene.
“I’ve seen through your moves,” the Demon King of Incarceration’s muttered words pierced through the aftershocks of the repeated explosions.
As he said this, the Demon King of Incarceration shifted his stance. He twisted his body to the side and lifted his left hand into the air. Then he tightly clenched his right fist and pulled it back to his waist.
The Demon King’s widely splayed left hand was stretched forward. Something seemed to explode with a poing sound. Under Incarceration’s fine yet firm control, strands of dark power extended from his fingertips and fluttered through the cracks left by the explosions like a spider web. This web of dark power then split into thousands, even tens of thousands, of tiny strands that entered between the fragments of the Leveaneins as the blades were being shattered into pieces.
Finally, the Demon King of Incarceration simply clenched his left hand. The thin strands of spider web instantly thickened into chains.
Cracracrack!
Countless fragments and burning embers were all individually bound within these chains. The Demon King of Incarceration pulled back with his left hand. At this pull, the tens of thousands of chains all came flying back to him as if it was only natural for them to do so.
Then, the Demon King of Incarceration slowly leaned backward. The right fist held at his waist tilted back along with the rest of his body until it was low enough to almost touch the ground.
All these movements seemed to be playing out in infinite slowness to Eugene’s eyes. Within this world where dreams and reality overlapped, the Demon King of Incarceration gave off a distinct sense of alienation.
Soon, Eugene realized what his instincts had been trying to tell him. It wasn’t truly alienation that he was sensing. It was that the Demon King of Incarceration was using his strength and dark power, the weight of his very existence itself, to invade and conquer their holy domain through a frontal assault. Just like how the laws of their holy domain had been altered by the power of fantasy, the Demon King of Incarceration was altering reality once more through the force of his presence alone.
Booom.
The loud sound came from the Demon King clenching his fist. Eugene instinctively took a step back. But before his feet could move as far back as they wanted to, the Demon King of Incarceration thrust his fist forward.
Boom, boom, boom.
As his fist pushed forward, its advance was accompanied by a sequence of loud roars.
Soon, the Demon King’s fist had been extended to its full length. All Levanteins that had been arrested in the chains were instantly annihilated, and the divine flames that had been burning as fiercely as an inferno were fully extinguished.
“Haha,” the Demon King laughed softly as he lowered his left hand.
As for the fist he had thrown with all his might behind it, the hand collapsed into black ash. The power that the Demon King of Incarceration had sealed away within his inner abyss was a double-edged sword that would even cut into the Demon King himself. But it wasn’t a big problem for Incarceration. No matter how sharp this double-edged sword might be, it wasn’t sharp enough to take the life of the Demon King of Incarceration.
“But would it have been enough to take your lives,” the Demon King wondered.
Chains erupted from the stump of the arm that had collapsed into ash. These chains twisted around each other before forming back into a new arm.
Eugene could never have imagined that it would even be possible to crush his strongest attack through a frontal clash like the one that the Demon King of Incarceration had orchestrated just now. However, his confusion and shock were short-lived. Once again, Eugene pulled his mind back into gear.
‘His ability to read the flow of power is terrifying,’ Eugene thought to himself.
The Demon King had previously declared that he had seen through Eugene’s attack. It seemed that his words hadn’t been a bluff. Even as he was smashing apart all of the attacks with his fist during his advance, the Demon King of Incarceration had simultaneously been reading and calculating the flow of each of the attacks. Although Eugene hadn’t established any specific patterns during his barrage of Levanteins, the Demon King had still been able to instantly see through each random attack as it came.
Eugene had never once thought that he would fall behind his opponent when it came to his instinct for battle, but now it seemed that he was left with no choice but to admit his relative inferiority.
The Demon King of Incarceration was truly a monster beyond all known limits. At first, he had been a Hero, then he had become a Demon King in order to thwart Destruction, and now he was a Greater Demon King who had been alive for many eons and had seen the end of many worlds in his time.
So even after Eugene and his comrades were done stacking the board with so many advantages, it felt like they were still only barely managing to pull out equal.
In that case….
‘Just how much more can your miracle take?’ Eugene asked Sienna and Noir telepathically.
Sienna’s face paled at the idea that Eugene had conveyed along with his question, and Noir burst into laughter.
[Oh my god, Hamel, are you seriously considering that?] Noir asked in disbelief.
‘Are you insane?’ Sienna questioned harshly.
In response to these reactions, Eugene just grabbed his chest with one hand.
Fwoooosh.
Flames spouted from Eugene’s fingertips, engulfing his chest. Eugene then turned to look at Molon, who was standing right next to him. Molon had an unusually stiff expression on his face but smiled when his eyes met Eugene’s.
“Is there any way for us to overcome this challenge without trying something crazy?” Eugene asked.
“Battles against the Demon Kings have always been like that,” Molon agreed.
Eugene’s lips twisted in response.
Boom, boom, boom.
Having erased the inferno blocking his way forward, the Demon King was steadily approaching once more. The Saints, connected to Eugene’s thoughts, didn’t even consider trying to block his approach. They could also sense the danger that he posed.
The bombardment of Levanteins that they had just launched against the Demon King of Incarceration hadn’t been able to inflict any serious damage. Until now, the only effective way of causing any damage to the Demon King of Incarceration had proven to be a continuous, unrelenting assault. Since they had managed to figure out that much, they had to change the nature of their attacks to match.
[I’ve said this before, Hamel, but just because this is a dream, that doesn’t mean everything is possible. If a dream becomes too extreme… then it will inevitably be affected by reality. It’s already happening now, in fact,] Noir reminded him.
‘If… if that is truly the course of action you have decided on, then I will do my best to make the dream you desire come true, no matter how demanding of a miracle it requires. However… I’m honestly a bit afraid. Is something like this really possible?’ Sienna asked in a trembling voice.
Eugene just smirked as he tightened his grip on his chest and said, “By this point, it’s useless to ask whether or not it’s possible.”
Even if it did prove impossible, they would still have to try it. If they gave up their attempt and sought to avoid this clash, they wouldn’t be able to defeat this monster, the Greater Demon King, in front of them. So Eugene quickly took action without waiting for any further response from Sienna and Noir.
His fingers dug into his chest, tightening around his heart. At the same time, he reached out for his followers’ beliefs. This belief was what formed their faith, and their faith was what created miracles. And miracles could become whatever their god desired. Eugene’s divine power flared up like a bonfire.
This was Ignition.
They were still far from the deciding point of the battle. Eugene had no intention of forcing things to that point. But the current Ignition that he was using was one that was free of any time limits. This was thanks to Sienna’s miracle, which altered reality by using the power of fantasy.
As the universe within Eugene was suffused with divine power, there was a violent eruption. This eruption didn’t just end with the first explosion. One after another, explosions erupted continuously as the universe began to expand infinitely.
Eugene’s body was trembling from the force. Just like how the Demon King of Incarceration’s fist hadn’t been able to withstand his full power and had fallen away into ash, Eugene’s body also seemed unable to endure the powerful explosions erupting inside him. His skin had begun to crack open. The cracks spread down his chest, which began to swell and shrink as if it was on the verge of bursting open.
However, his body didn’t break apart. The Saints, who were still fused with Eugene, kept up their steady stream of prayers even as a fever, so hot that it felt like their souls were burning, ravaged their shared body. The widespread cracks slowly began to seal back together. Eugene’s body was gradually adjusting to the immense power unleashed by the eruptions.
It wasn’t just the Saints and Eugene who had to endure this pressure. As Eugene’s Greatest Warrior and Incarnation, Molon also had to bear part of the burden of these insane explosions. Blood began to flow from between Molon’s tightly clenched teeth as he almost fell to his knees.
[Ahaha! Ahahahaha!] Noir burst into laughter like a mad woman.
The Demoneye of Fantasy, which was pouring out streams of light, was shaking so fiercely it seemed like it was about to fall into pieces. Sienna also had to let out a groan as she barely managed to hold onto the rapidly vibrating Mary.
Even with their resonance, Sienna and Noir were struggling to keep the miracle active. But without such power, it would be impossible for them to defeat the Demon King of Incarceration.
The Demon King of Incarceration halted his stride mid-approach.
The power currently being built up in front of him was so impressive that he couldn’t help but stop and take a moment to just observe it.
“How impressive,” the Demon King said, his voice filled with sincerity.
In the Demon King of Incarceration’s eyes, this wasn’t just a simple mass of power. If his mission to preserve life despite having witnessed the destruction of the world several times over could be described as a kind of madness, the mass of power that was currently standing in his way was madness based on a desire for termination rather than preservation. It was a madness that sought to burn everything they had in their possession in order to illuminate the world. As he saw this, the Demon King of Incarceration also came to a realization that made him smile.
As if to combat the light in front of him, dark power engulfed his whole body. Just like how shadows grew darker the more intense the light that created them, the Demon King of Inaceration’s very existence currently seemed to have grown more distinct than it was before.
Clink, clink.
As the Demon King of Incarceration began to move once more, the sound of the chains he wore wherever he went accompanied him.
The Demon King stepped forward. Eugene also raised his bowed head to meet him.
“Aaaaaah!” Molon kicked off the ground with a loud roar.
The blade of the axe that he was holding in his hands had shattered. A radiantly burning flame now stood in place of the axe blade.
Whoooosh!
The axe swung through the air, leaving behind a trail of light. The Demon King of Incarceration just held up his left fist to block the path of the axe.
The flash of light that erupted when the two forces met left the whole world shaking. The outer edges of Babel, which had also sunken into this space between fantasy and reality, collapsed from the aftershocks.
Instead of pulling back the arm that had been sent flying from the recoil of the collision, the Demon King of Incarceration twisted his body to the side. A chain was wrapped around his right arm, his right hand also having been clenched into a fist. This chain wasn’t meant to defend against his opponent’s attack. It was meant to prevent his own arm from being damaged by the force of his own attack.
Booom!
As he met the Demon King’s next blow head-on, the entire left half of Molon’s body shattered as he was pushed backward.
As Molon staggered backward from the recoil, Eugene leaped over his head. The Divine Sword, which was held high in Eugene’s hands, was covered in flames. The flames bellowed outwards, creating dozens of small suns. These newly-created Eclipses then rained down like meteors.
The Demon King of Incarceration simply waved both his hands in front of him. In a single instant, he had read and redirected the flow of the Eclipses. So, the explosions that should have struck the Demon King of Incarceration failed to make any contact and were diverted elsewhere.
Eugene wasn’t flustered by this. He was still in the air, holding the Divine Sword. Blood was already beginning to flow from both Eugene’s eyes and lips. Instead of using his power to create dozens more Levanteins like before, Eugene had concentrated all of that power into his Divine Sword. And this was after having overlaid multiple uses of Ignition.
Power that was almost too excessive, even for a dream, fell from Eugene’s hands. The plunging Divine Sword pierced through the Demon King of Incarceration.
Cracracrack!
The Demon King of Incarceration fell to his knees. The countless chains wrapped around the Demon King’s body had provided a slight impediment to the path of Eugene’s divine sword, but even so, the remaining power behind the blow was extremely heavy. Even as blood burst out from the Demon King of Incarceration’s lips, he struggled to raise his head. The Demon King’s blood-soaked lips were twisted into a smile.
High above the Divine Sword, the previously scattered suns had gathered together once more. At some point, Sienna had also flown up into the sky. The galaxy that was spreading out behind her back was being materialized into reality. Meanwhile, Noir, who now looked like an angel, had erupted into peals of laughter that were far from angelic.
Boom, boom, boom!
The dozens of suns shrank in on themselves before exploding into hundreds of thousands of smaller stars.
It looked as if the night sky was pouring down onto the ground below. All the stars that had once illuminated that dark canvas were now crashing down directly onto the Demon King of Incarceration. The Demon King quickly realized that this wasn’t something that he could overcome by meeting it head-on. The Demon King’s sharp senses, which had previously allowed him to see through all kinds of chaotic flows of power, were unable to find a way to break free of this offensive.
Cliclink!
The Demon King’s hand grabbed hold of several thousands of his chains. He then swung all these chains like whips, shattering apart a slice of these falling stars. He then leaped through the small opening that this had created.
Of course, Eugene and Molon weren’t just going to watch as the Demon King of Incarceration fled. Holding an axe in each hand, Molon began swinging his weapons in a crazy flurry. The falling stars shattered as they met his axes, and all these fragments were shot out at the Demon King of Incarceration.
All the measures they had taken were meant to restrict the Demon King of Incarceration’s movements. Meanwhile, all of the possible measures that the Demon King of Incarceration might use to overcome this situation were flashing through Eugene’s head.
The Demon King of Incarceration wasn’t the only one who could see through his opponent and calculate their next move. As predicted, Eugene had truly grown over the course of this battle. And now, by fueling his Ignition with so many explosions that he had been about to kill himself, Eugene had broken through all of his previous limits and had unleashed his full potential.
Before the Demon King of Incarceration could make another move, Eugene preemptively burst into action. As the Demon King was about to use his fist and his swinging chains to open up another path of escape, Eugene arrived to block that path from forming. His Divine Sword appeared in front of the chains before they could even strike. When the Demon King of Incarceration instead tried to use his fist to intercept the Hero, Eugene had already managed to slice the chains into pieces, freeing his Divine Sword.
Eugene then dove into the Demon King’s reach. His hand was thrust toward the Demon King of Incarceration’s chest.
At this moment, the Demon King of Incarceration couldn’t see any way to escape this blow and couldn’t think of any possible means to defend himself. This was because anything that he could come up with would be blocked by Eugene.
Booooom.
The power transferred through Eugene’s palm drilled into the Demon King of Incarceration’s chest. Dark red blood poured out from between the Demon King’s lips as something burst within him.
The attacks continued unabated. A fist that Eugene swung with all his might behind it spun the Demon King's head to the side. Molon’s ae was slammed into the staggering Demon King’s waist. But even when part of his waist was chopped in half, the Demon King refused to collapse. Instead, finding a spare moment in between the continuous waves of attacks, the Demon King of Incarceration found a way to turn the tables once more.
Chains leaped out from the Demon King’s shadow, wrapped around Molon’s limbs, and tore them off. Instead of dodging the Divine Sword, which had closed in on him while he was distracted, the Demon King of Incarceration just bared his neck towards the blade. When the Divine Sword was swung into his neck, he took advantage of the close distance to slam his elbow into Eugene’s chest. As this impact forced Eugene to let go of the Divine Sword and fall backward, the Demon King was also sent rolling across the ground.
But he had been sentrolling. That was what was important to Eugene. This Greater Demon King, who had seemed like he would never be brought down, had been sent rolling across the ground, unable to control his body.
‘Just a little bit more,’ Eugene told himself.
Swallowing the blood that had surged up his throat, Eugene charged forward.