The sky was no longer gray with silence.
It burned.
A slow, steady blaze hung across the clouds like a dragon's breath. The air wavered, dense and distorted, as if reality itself gasped beneath the heat. Everything within Nebulous Lord's Essence Manifestation simmered under its touch—not instantly devoured, but caught in the endless process of consumption.
The Abysmal Belial howled like a tortured spirit.
But its wings sagged. Its movements dulled. Its four limbs, once precise and deadly, now dragged slightly—burdened by a heat it couldn't escape.
And Nebulous Lord moved.
Without warning.
Without flourish.
Just raw power.
He appeared behind the Abysmal Belial—just as the abomination had done to him.
Only this time, it wasn't speed. It was gravity.
The air split with a violent sound. Nebulous Lord's fist crashed into the side of the creature's skull.
Crack.
The sound rolled like thunder trapped in stone. The monster's neck twisted, the force hurling its massive form sideways, sliding across scorched earth, carving lines of fire in its wake.
Before it could rise—
Nebulous Lord loomed above it.
His knee dropped like an asteroid into the creature's abdomen.
The impact shattered the ground beneath them, the force rippling through every broken wall, every fractured beam in the ruins nearby. A new crater formed, deeper and wider than before. Molten rock bubbled up through cracks in the earth. The Abysmal Belial trembled—its body not just broken, but pinned down by the weight of the burning world around it.
Nebulous Lord pressed on.
A twisted smile formed on his charred face as he seized the Abysmal Belial by its wings.
And dragged.
Across sharp stone, over glowing metal, through pools of liquid earth. The black fluid it bled ignited instantly, trailing behind like a comet's tail. Each pull carved trenches in the ground, each movement fed the flames higher.
Then—
He threw it.
The Abysmal Belial tore through three ruined buildings. The first collapsed completely. The second bent sideways before crumbling in a cloud of steam. The third exploded as the monster smashed through its core, a fiery spiral marking its path.
The sky caught the monster—and flung it back down.
And Nebulous Lord waited below.
He leapt.
No grace.
Just vengeance.
His claws spread wide and tore across the creature's chest mid-fall, sinking deep.
Then he drove it downward.
Not thrown. Hammered.
Their impact cracked the very crust of the battlefield. Shockwaves spread in a perfect circle, flipping entire streets, uprooting blackened trees, and sending flocks of scorched birds fleeing from the sky.
And then—
He seized its head.
Northern watched.
And he flinched.
Because he knew what was coming.
Nebulous Lord's charred fingers locked around the skull of the Abysmal Belial. He smashed it into the molten floor.
Once.
A column of ash erupted skyward.
Twice.
A shock wave tore the air apart.
Thrice.
The earth wailed.
The Abysmal Belial's head cracked against the glowing rock, the protection of its own Essence Manifestation long vanished. Its wings quivered weakly. Dark fluid sprayed in long, curving arcs, hissing against the heated air.
Then Nebulous Lord hoisted it—
And launched it upward.
High.
So high it pierced through the final layer of ash-stained clouds.
For a moment, the monster vanished.
A dark silhouette against an even darker sky.
Nebulous Lord crouched, muscles tensing, black vapor rising from his limbs.
Then he sprang.
And pursued it.
As the Abysmal Belial began to plummet, pulled by gravity, Nebulous Lord intercepted it midair.
Two extra hands erupted beneath his usual pair, and all his claws extended, not to tear—but to capture.
He caught its wrists.
And snapped them.
All the Abysmal Belial's arms hung limp now—useless, broken things.
Then, with momentum still carrying him upward, he drove his knee into the creature's gut. Again. And again. And again.
Each blow shattered ribs, sent tremors through the still-burning sky. A brutal rhythm of vengeance, of balance restored.
Then came the descent.
The monster fell first.
Nebulous Lord followed like retribution itself.
Together, they plunged—
But only one controlled their path.
And when they crashed to earth, Nebulous Lord landed atop it.
Kneeling.
Dominant.
The Abysmal Belial lay motionless.
Its body smoldered, limbs twitching, its essence unraveling. Its manifestation had faded, overpowered by the relentless burn that now consumed the battlefield. Its mouth gaped to scream—
And Nebulous Lord reached down—
Clawed fingers wrapping around the creature's throat.
Then, without hesitation—
He crushed it.
Nebulous Lord radiated a sinister white light as he loomed over his prey.
The silence returned.
But it was not peace.
Nebulous Lord towered above the broken form of the Abysmal Belial, its crushed remains still quivering, dark fluid seeping from fractures across its body. Smoke coiled from his shoulders, rising like the breath of a slumbering volcano.
The air around them rippled—not from heat, but from something primordial, more ancient.
Northern squinted from where he stood. Then Chaos Eyes activated instinctively.
"...It's not over..."
He was right.
The Abysmal Belial's remains... stirred.
But not with life.
With something beyond physical grasp.
Though it felt substantial, it remained untouchable—a presence flooding the atmosphere with overwhelming pressure.
Northern's expression darkened as he struggled against the strain burning through his mind.
'What is this? It can't be... could it be the evolution beyond Essence Manifestation?!'
It was a Belial after all, equal to a Luminary in rank. Essence Manifestation should merely be the beginning of its capabilities.
There existed greater heights to its power, made unnaturally malevolent by its corrupted nature as an Abysmal evil.
Northern's frown deepened. Dangerously deep.
Something shattered inside the Belial—not physically, but metaphysically. A tear opened within its core, born not from damage but from desperation. Its essence—broken, humiliated, and cornered—sought escape beyond flesh.
Its body split with a sound like ancient gates opening to the an unnatural darkness.
And then—
The Abysmal Belial vanished.
Its flesh peeled away in ribbons of burning light, unraveling like the fabric of reality itself. A vortex of embers spiraled outward, driving Nebulous Lord back several steps.
The ground beneath where the corpse had lain began to darken—not burn, not char—but cease. Color drained from it. Form dissolved.
In its place rose... something else.
Something intangible yet profound.