"Black Sin Hammer 37 passed the challenge," Senior Protector Bloodrought announced. The relief of not getting embarrassed outweighed her shock, making her voice a bit more energetic than usual.
The onlookers were pulled out of their stunned silence by her words and started to rapidly converse with each other via voice transmissions.
"By Ayuvar, what is he?" Overlord Cloudhorn asked General Regalia.
"Hope," General Regalia answered.
"Hope?" Overlord Cloudhorn asked as he felt his insides churn in discomfort.
Hope...
He had once felt hope, but it had been brutally crushed by the overwhelming power of the Demons. The only hope he had was keeping the status quo. As long as things didn't deteriorate further, he could die without regrets. After all, he had achieved everything he had set out to do.
He had been young and ambitious once. He had believed that he could change the world.
And then, reality had hit him hard.
Humanity didn't exist because it was fighting so hard.
No, Humanity only existed because the Demons allowed it to exist.
After realizing the true power of his enemies, Overlord Cloudhorn had developed a deep apprehension for hope. After all, hope was always followed by disappointment and helplessness.
Hopelessness always followed hope.
"Are you prepared for the next challenge?" Senior Protector Bloodrought asked Kyle.
"Yes," Kyle answered with a smile.
A moment later, another Demon appeared below Kyle, and when the onlookers saw it, they narrowed their eyes.
An Early Spirit Lord Fighter Demon. Its defense was almost comparable to the last Demon's sturdy shell, but its speed, adaptability, and offense were far greater.
Fewer than ten Medium Spirit Lords in all of Humanity could hope to defeat one.
Black Sin Hammer 37 was only a Legendary Sage, and yet...
The onlookers were no longer sure about the outcome. The limits they thought existed had been shattered, and they started to view the battle from a completely new perspective.
It was possible that Black Sin Hammer 37 could win, but it wouldn't be easy. He would need to launch a similarly powerful attack to his previous one, and this time, the enemy wouldn't remain stationary.
A single attack from the Fighter Demon would destroy Kyle.
The Fighter Demon was bipedal and had six arms. It held two shields in its middle arms while its remaining arms held long, thin swords. The Demon had a Wind and Darkness Affinity. It was extremely fast, and its offensive capabilities were considerable and favored focused attacks. It was essentially the polar opposite of the last opponent.
When Kyle saw the Fighter Demon, his heart rate increased. This opponent was an actual danger.
"Are you ready?" Senior Protector Bloodrought asked.
Kyle took a deep breath as he looked at the Fighter Demon with intensity.
"Yes," he spoke with conviction.
The onlookers watched with deep focus. At this point, they no longer felt shock, boredom, frustration, or annoyance. This was not a waste of time.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime event. They were witnessing the upheaval of the concept of what Battle-Strength meant.
In this moment, all of them shared one desire.
They wanted to see how far Kyle could go.
Like an audience cheering for their national team in a game, all of them cheered for Kyle. After all, he represented their team, Humanity.
"Begin!" Senior Protector Bloodrought announced.
The suppressing forces vanished, and the Fighter Demon locked onto Kyle. Its Domain expanded, but Kyle's Domain shoved it back into the Fighter Demon's body.
Yet, the Fighter Demon could still benefit from its Domain. Part of its Domain's abilities was an increase in speed, and this part was not weakened. The parts suppressing the surrounding Energy and manipulating the enemy's movements didn't work anymore, but the first part still did.
The Fighter Demon exploded forward, rushing through Kyle's Domain like an icebreaker breaking through ice. Its movements were inhibited, but due to its high base speed, it didn't even seem affected. Despite Kyle's powerful Domain, the Fighter Demon still charged at him at greater speeds than Kyle could reach.
Wind and darkness covered the Fighter Demon's swords as it slashed forward. Black streaks and green waves flew towards Kyle, a mix of focused and dispersed attacks.
Kyle exploded forward as well, using all of his powers to increase his speed. The waves of green reached him and cut his body; the sound of grinding metal reverberating across the world.
BANG! BANG!
Kyle performed two quick strikes with his hammer, hitting reality and creating black holes. The black streaks flew towards the black holes, their trajectories altered and their speeds changed.
BANG!
A black streak barely missed Kyle's body by two millimeters, its latent powers turning the skin of his left arm a shade darker.
Another streak passed by Kyle, barely missing him.
Kyle's mind was firmly in the calm pool, even though the outside emotions became more volatile. If he misjudged any of his movements just a tiny bit... if any insignificant distraction appeared in his mind... he would be hit. These attacks were fast, and their homing capabilities were advanced.
As the two opponents came closer, the Fighter Demon changed its approach. It launched more attacks, but they were not aimed at Kyle.
Green and black streaks spread across the surroundings, and moments later, they stopped.
Then, they all shot in Kyle's general direction. The Fighter Demon had seen that Kyle could manipulate the trajectories of its attacks, but it had also noticed that these manipulations couldn't differentiate between attacks. Every black hole that Kyle created affected all attacks. By creating slight variations, the addition of a black hole might turn a miss into a hit.
At the same time, the Fighter Demon reached Kyle's close proximity, readying its weapons. Kyle could only swing his hammer once, which meant he could only deal with one of the two things.
Kyle swung his hammer, his mind still calm and focused.
BANG!
A black hole appeared in the air, pulling the streaks towards it.
The hammer continued.
BANG!
Another black hole appeared, this one even stronger than the last.
The force acting upon the black streaks was significantly stronger than before, changing their trajectories even more.
Kyle's body stopped, his hammer in the process of getting ready again, but that would take a while.
The Fighter Demon reached Kyle, and its swords slashed forward.
The space and time in the surroundings changed, warping reality.
The black streaks became far faster and reached the black holes in an instant.
Then, they shot out of the other side.
Some of them directly shot towards the Fighter Demon.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Three black streaks hit the two shields, which shook under the force but remained stalwart. Yet, the Fighter Demon's forward momentum was halted, interrupting its prepared attack.
Then, Kyle appeared directly in front of it, his face changed into a vicious grimace, and his hammer readied.
The Fighter Demon shoved its shields towards Kyle's hammer as its swords thrust towards him. If Kyle decided to go through with his attack, the swords would surely kill him.
At that moment, a profound wave of foreign Energy surrounded Kyle. The Energy did not feel like it belonged to any Law. In fact, it almost felt alien.
Reality warped around Kyle's hammer as he activated his Law of Hammer at peak intensity.
50% of his Energy was infused.
60% of his Energy was infused.
70% of his Energy was infused.
The hammer left a streak of white behind.
Its speed surpassed its previous peak.
Finally, 80% of Kyle's maximum capacity of Energy was pushed into the hammer, emptying his Core.
The hammer shone with incandescent light, the alien Energy descending upon the world like the first rays of dawn.
It was like the shields let the pick of the hammer pass voluntarily as it broke through them.
The pick reached the Fighter Demon, but at the same time, the swords reached Kyle.
The pick touched the Fighter Demon's chest.
The swords touched Kyle's chest and abdomen.
BOOOM!
A clean hole appeared in the Fighter Demon's chest. Where its Beast Core had once been was now nothing.
DING!
The swords were deflected as Kyle's body vibrated like a powerful hammer that hit a sturdy wall.
The Fighter Demon died.
Kyle pulled his hammer back over his shoulders.
He was uninjured.
The author's patreon. If he gets more than 1000 per month, he will increase the number of words in the chapter.
/user?u=27791050