Northern frowned at what he saw. The devil clearly held Night Terror's hand, crushing it with an iron grip. But the troubling aspect of this beholden sight was that the devil's hands remained merged together against its chest.
The whole thing had happened so fast that Northern just assumed it blocked Night Terror's fist. But something was amiss.
Night Terror had four arms.
'Four…'
But studying the terrifying Terror of the Night, Northern could no longer count four hands.
And Night Terror, the Night Terror he knew so well should have been winding back for another attack with another arm. But couldn't.
Instead, the creature clutched Night Terror's only arm and still had three left to spare.
The three that immediately lunged forward, smashing holes into Night Terror's black lustrous body like spears through obsidian.
Northern's face drained of color, his expression frozen in horror at the impossible scene unfolding before him. With widened eyes, Night Terror vanished, retreating back to the embrace of Limitless Void.
The creature froze mid-motion, tilting its head, its pool of bloody eyes dilating slightly at the empty space. Then the creature turned with deliberate slowness, its gaze somehow finding Northern.
As the devil's eyes shifted to him, Northern felt a glacial sensation invade his entire body. Something unnatural lurked behind the way it turned to him.
Behind the eerie movement lingered something that resembled reason, intent... a kind of knowing that should not exist in such a being.
Then, a line broke across the creature's face, starting at the jaw, curving upward to reveal a row of razor-sharp teeth glinting like daggers in the darkness.
A dark, malevolent chill crawled up Northern's spine as horror etched itself across his face.
'Is it... smiling?'
A monster... smiling. He had never witnessed or heard of such a thing.
Of course, strangeness often accompanied monsters, especially those that fell into the Catastrophic Level. Moving up the danger level, finding intelligent monsters wasn't unusual.
But this was nothing like that. This was wrong. Fundamentally wrong.
A monster battling you and learning from your attacks showed intelligence. Using the environment against you displayed intelligence. Knowing when to retreat, hide, and strike again demonstrated intelligence.
But this—this was an unsettling smile that festered with something beyond mere cognition. It was purpose incarnate.
Northern forced out a grin, teeth clenched tight as stone.
'Okay, you bastard. You want to have a go at it? Let's have a go at it.'
He tensed to move when Paragon Raizel placed a firm hand on his shoulder once more.
Northern looked at the Paragon, who in turn shook his head, eyes steeled with determination.
"Let me take care of this."
Northern frowned.
"Huh? You want to? Are you sure you'll be able to handle that?"
The Paragon smacked the back of his head immediately, causing Northern to yelp in surprise.
"Oww!"
"Did you forget I am the Paragon here? The strongest Drifter in this blockade."
Northern folded his arms and fixed Raizel with a stern gaze, unwavering as stone.
"I wouldn't be so sure."
Paragon Raizel opened his mouth to retaliate but instead released a weary sigh and shook his head.
"This is not exactly the time for bickering. Step back, let me take care of this. Do not worry about me, I will survive. I am curious about that Dark Continent thing you mentioned."
Northern regarded the man with pitiful eyes.
"Shouldn't you be surviving for the sake of your wife and unborn child?"
"There's that too."
The Paragon flashed him a confident smile and slowly flowed forward as if carried by invisible currents.
Yet again, there was something distinctive about how his flight power worked. Northern observed with keen eyes, his mind cataloging every detail.
'It looks like what he did with those monsters.'
As though he had trapped himself in a stationary point—this explained why he could float. Yet he could also speak and move freely despite being anchored to this fixed position. The destroyers too could turn their heads; one had even managed to move completely.
Although Northern suspected the Paragon had released his hold on that particular one.
Either way, he was certain it was the same principle that the Paragon was using to fly. The only thing that piqued his curiosity was how Raizel managed to move with such fluid grace.
Paragon Raizel glided to a halt before the creature, which still hovered in the air with that malevolent grin stretched across its face like a wound.
"First and foremost."
The Paragon commanded, his voice carrying the weight of authority.
"Wipe that annoying smirk off your face and go down."
Immediately, a frightening wind-tearing shockwave erupted in the air, compressed like a vise before unleashing its full fury upon the Devilish Belial.
As the shockwave resounded, a vibration assaulted everyone to their very souls. The place trembled as that thunderous burst roared through the night like a primeval beast.
Beneath the raw power of the shockwave, the creature hurled downward, crashing into the ground with bone-shattering force.
Paragon Raizel glared down with satisfaction etched across his face. Then he descended with blistering speed, making the ground groan and spew a fountain of debris as he landed.
The Paragon's jade green eyes fixated on the monster. In an instant, he vanished, materializing next to the creature as it struggled to its feet.
Paragon Raizel's fist sliced through the air, aiming to crush the creature's charred skin... well, at least that was what was supposed to happen.
Instead, a disturbing frown settled on the Paragon's face. As the creature moved, he quickly vanished, reappearing at a distance from the creature. It appeared as though he had merely blinked in and out of existence.
But he was just that fast in that moment—so blindingly quick that the path he traveled showed its reaction only after he reached his destination: cracks spiderwebbing across the ground, subtle debris lifting into the air.
Following the rise of the debris, the wind itself carved a long gash in the ground where he had been, as if a colossal invisible blade had sliced through the earth.
The gash opened a chasm in the middle of the city that stretched all the way to the fountain, crushing it and causing water to splash viciously skyward like liquid shrapnel.
The people being evacuated suddenly faced immediate disaster. Some were flung away by the diminishing yet still formidable force. Many staggered backward, falling upon each other, shattering the delicate queue they had formed.
Northern, watching from the sky, felt the blood drain from his face.
"Isn't that...?"