Morcant was surprised that his arm suddenly lost all of its vitality, he felt like it was about to fall off.
He looked at Verc with a surprised, glaring eyes.
But Verc was just looking at him with calm, angry eyes.
For a second there, he really thought that Verc was just going to silently submit to him. But in the end, he did launched a surprise attack and tried to take his whole arm.
"Haha..."
Morcant laughed a little, but an intense, ominous aura was erupting from his body.
"You seem awfully confident now just because you successfully landed a surprise attack."
He mumbled, staring at Verc’s calm face.
"You think this will help you win against me?"
Morcant asked, looking at his dried up arm. He grabbed it with his other hand, and with a crazed smile on his face—
"YOU THINK TOO LITTLE OF ME!!!"
PHUCK—SPLASH!
He exclaimed that and pulled out his own arm! He kept a straight face while doing that as well.
He threw his arm away, and after a few seconds of focusing mana on his wounds where his arm was severed—FWOOSH~
A new, red arm grew!
He regenerated it that fast!
Though, Verc wasn’t really impressed or scared seeing him do that. His regeneration was much faster than that—it’s automatic too as long as he have enough stored blood in his system.
But Morcant doesn’t know this.
"What? Surprised?"
He asked, looking at Verc with a devious smile on his face. Then, with a playful expression—
SWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!
The aura around him suddenly changed!
It became heavier, thicker, and stronger! It covered the whole lobby of the castle, if anyone were to enter—they would’ve suffocated just from this.
"Don’t worry, I won’t kill you—I still want you as my subordinate after all."
Morcant said ominously as he stared at Verc. He can’t see his face, but he assumes that he just froze up after feeling his aura.
Though, just then—
SWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!—!!!
A strong wave of mana suddenly erupted from Verc as well, and it rivaled his own!
"...!"
It was so strong that Morcant’s face froze and the smile disappeared on him. His eyes widened as he looked at Verc.
And in the next moment—PSSSHH!
Their mana collided and cancelled each other out!
"..."
Morcant was speechless.
And seeing that—
"What? Surprised?"
Verc asked that with a straight face, his eyes locked onto the crimson demon.
FWIP!
Morcant flexed his newly grown red fingers, testing the grip of his fresh limb. The skin was smooth, unblemished, and pulsing with fresh mana, but deep down, he could still feel the slight drain from losing that much vital blood so abruptly.
He glared at Verc, his black eyes twitching with genuine irritation now. The carefree demeanor he had maintained since stepping foot inside the castle was completely gone.
"You’re quite cheeky for a fledgling, aren’t you?"
Morcant growled, his voice echoing off the stone walls.
"You think matching my passive aura means you stand on the same level as me? I don’t know why your mana suddenly rose, but it’s all cheap tricks!"
Verc didn’t bother to move an inch. He simply stood his ground, the dark crimson mana swirling around his feet like a miniature vortex.
"It doesn’t matter where it came from."
Verc replied coldly, his tone devoid of any excitement or fear.
"Haha..."
Bam-
Morcant let out a dry, raspy chuckle, his tail flicking violently behind him, shattering a loose piece of stone on the floor.
"I gave you a chance out of courtesy between demon kings... I thought I could spare myself the trouble of breaking your spirit, but it seems you need a proper lesson in hierarchy after all."
’He really talks too much.’
Verc thought to himself, his hand resting on the hilt of his weapon.
’Every second he spends talking is another second my body fully processes the demon king blood I just absorbed. His arrogance is literally giving me time to adapt.’
Verc could feel the stolen blood settling deep into his body, reinforcing his muscles and refining his mana pathways. The raw output he could produce now was significantly higher than what he was capable of just minutes ago.
And also--a new skill was being written in his system.
Morcant lowered his stance, his red wings spreading wide, casting a massive, sinister shadow over the ruined lobby.
"I’m going to tear off those limbs of yours, one by one."
Morcant threatened, a cruel grin slowly spreading across his face again.
"Stop barking and make your move."
Verc responded, provoking the crimson demon.
*****
Outside the castle—
"...!"
Diyael’s breath hitched as he felt the collision between Morcant’s and Verc’s mana. Sweats gathered on his forehead.
The sheer pressure that leaked through the heavy wooden doors made the ground beneath his hooves vibrate softly. It felt as if two massive, invisible storms were clashing right inside the hall, threatening to tear the entire stone structure apart from the inside out.
He looked to his side, and there—Nara, Onyx, Pwyll, Bernia, and Rick. Those are the only ones he could rescue when Verc suddenly attacked Morcant.
They were the nearest, and he prioritized them based on the order he received from his lord—Verc.
He had moved with incredible speed the moment Verc’s fangs sank deep into the demon king’s arm, slipping into the shadows of the hall and scooping up the unconscious bodies before Morcant even realized what was happening. Now, he had them laid out safely behind a thick stone wall outside the main entrance.
Nara and Onyx were still completely still, their small bodies covered in dried blood, but their shallow breathing indicated they were barely holding on. Pwyll, Bernia, and Rick were in a similar state, their life signals extremely faint, surviving only on pure resilience.
Diyael looked at the remaining people inside the castle; it was Groo, Mamon, Kuma, and the other orc family heads. Diyael could feel a sense of kinship from them even though they’re obviously not from the same race.
They were still pinned to those massive stone stakes driven through their torsos, hanging helplessly off the ground. Their blood was still dripping slowly onto the stone floor, but unlike the five he managed to pull outside, their breathing wasn’t fading.
In fact, their wounds were faintly twitching, red energy subtly knitting their torn flesh around the spikes.
So he figured that just like him—they were turned into vampires by Verc as well.
Because of this deduction; he figured that they would be able to survive because of their high regeneration abilities from being vampires.
Compared to them; the five he prioritized saving were already on the verge of death.
’Lord Verc made the right call.’
Diyael thought, wiping a bead of sweat from his temple.
’If I had tried to pull the orc leaders off those stakes during the confusion, the noise would have alerted the demon immediately. And these five would have died from the shock wave alone if they stayed inside.’
He reached down, gently checking the pulse on Nara’s tiny neck. It was dangerously weak.
"Hang in there..."
Diyael whispered softly, placing his heavy hand over them to protect them from any stray debris that might fly out from the castle.
"..."
Diyael peeked inside the castle again.
He saw the two standing paces away from each other—Verc and Morcant.
The atmosphere between them was so dense that the air itself seemed to distort around their bodies. Red lightning-like sparks of pure, unrefined mana occasionally snapped through the space separating them, scorching the stone tiles beneath their feet.
’I’m about to see a fight between monsters.’
He thought to himself. He instinctively know already that he’s nowhere near the strength of the two being standing inside the castle.
Even with his massive physical build, his chief status, and the incredible power boost he received after being turned into a vampire by Verc, Diyael knew with absolute certainty that stepping into that lobby right now would mean instant death.
This wasn’t a battle where numbers or tactical support from subordinates mattered. This was a direct, brutal clash between two absolute apex beings.
So all he could do was watch and wait—the winner will basically decide his future as well.