Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

"Balor," I whispered, feeling an arm suddenly press over my shoulder.

"Looks like you're about to die," Chemosh uttered. He glanced at me and back to Balor, surrounded by his fellow brethren. "Shall we make a deal then?"

My eyes grew narrowed, but I had to disagree. " There isn't a need. Look around you. I'm sure you, a true fallen, can feel that rancid Serapic aura corrupting the hells. Tell me, Chemosh. What is worse, death or corruption?"

The carefree expression of Chemosh grew crossed for a second. " Death is quick, but it's universally feared. No one wants to die. Not even I. Corruption, however… is betrayal. The other might try to hide it, but my god, the shame we carried for so long. Plagued by the judgment of our family was the greatest torment for many of us. What's worse than a brother, sister, father, or mother telling you they hate you?"

The briefest smile flickered over my lips as I nodded before shifting my eye back to Balor, pulsing with a transcendent power pressing over my shoulders.

Albeit the devils or Demons from the Nines, all were on their knees, foaming a deep red at the mouth. Killing Low to High God with his foul seraphic aura, even I felt pressured as my body grew stiff. However, this wasn't going to be my end. I just needed time.

Activating the shard of Laevatein, I had fused into Noctem. A feral aura kissed the Nine Hells. It wasn't dark like I'd thought it would be, nor was it composed. No… There was only carnage. A hellish carnage that a supreme madness could only form.

"Arsene, listen up!" Lily hurriedly said. " Higher Beings like Lucifer and Mephisto usually fight by jumping power levels at precise moments. Don't just jump to any level. You need to trick your opponent. And be damn sure you do."

Feeling my entire body run cold, I shuttered uncontrollably as veins of scarlet light traveled up my arms, bleeding a ravenous aura. I drew power from the Shard of Laevatein, which seemed to saturate me in a coniferous Abyssal Qi.

Like a noose was around my neck, I struggled to breathe as space seemed to contract around me. Yet as I struggled to get a hold of my emotional state, the power I drew upon seemed only to swallow me deeper into a black void of carnage.

The Hells trembled.

"Iza and Ves madness," Lily whispered. "You good?"

Withering the Laws Of the Nine Hells surrounding this king to dust, Darkness billowed off my body like a raging flame as I snapped my eye to Balor, standing triumphantly.

"We meet again, boy." Said Balor, surrounded by the corrosive aura that seemed only to sink deeper into the hells.

"I thought you dead," I replied, soaring to his eye level.

Studying the robes over Balor's bulky body that had begun to turn into some strange organic matter caring dozens of ruby-colored eyes alongside strange mouths and strange-armed shape tentacles, I frowned, noticing the same thing happening to everything his aura touched.

It was tarnishing the Hells.

Balor arched his head, carrying a conceited grin. " Me? Boy, even if Pandora's box has been opened. There is nothing in this known universe that can stand against me. Nothing!"

Opening his palms, summoning a Golden Executioner Blade that held no tip but was thicker than most weapons. Along the surface of the blade, however, held strange emblems not even I could reed. They seemed Seraphic, but… the lettering was off. Odd, since my demonic bloodline allowed me to read every language in the known Myriad Heavens.

"They live outside the Abyss and the Myriad Heavens. They live in a void of sorts. That only beings like GOD and Abyss can walk." Said Lily, somehow understanding my confusion. "Remember, Teleth are practically immortal. Your Intent will not stop them from recovering."

I nodded, recalling my last battle with the Teleth.

"There are thirteen of us, boy. Just—"

'Shadow Blade,' I whispered, severing all twelve of the Teleth before any of them could speak a word. Noctem suddenly danced, cutting their bodies into mist, as I darted toward Balor, driving my spear toward his head.

Parring my blow, Avenos exploded into shards of debris as I blasted Balor through multiple mountains.

'Banish!" I shouted, scattering the blood of the gathering Teleth before it reformed.

"Hurry, he's—"

Snapping my eye to my rear, Noctem whipped through the air like a loose feather parrying the vicious blow from Balor. Time and space fractured into shards that swallowed us into the great void of Subspace.

Dreadful pain attacked our bones as a cold dance of blades flickering like mini erupting stars exploded, driving us out of Subspace and into another part of Avenos.

"Shadow Blade!" I howled, thrusting Noctem toward Balor, who suddenly faded from my eye to my surprise.

Taken back, I felt the hairs on my neck stand on end as nodes of Astral Force caught my eye.

"An Astral Plane Attack! Arsene! Dodge!"

"No Time!" I shouted, thrusting my fist consumed in Darkness towards the invisible stroke that was aimed at me, and a deafening sound rippled through the laws of space and faded into nothing as Balor reemerged in front of the Astral Plane.

"You absorbed it? The Darkness has such an ability?"

"Don't forget about your Forsaken Heritage. You can't let that blade cut you, or it'll affect Lily and the Twins." Lily warned." The fastest way to kill a Teleth is with their weapon, Atonement."

'I know. Now hush.' I snapped, trying to focus my mind.

Shadow Slash was already taxing my reserves. And I don't want to use any Concepts this early in our battle. I need to feel him out. I've seven battle styles I can switch to if he adapts to me.

And I still have Tenebrae.

"Good Boy! Good! You've grown in this short period of time." He praised through narrowed eyes. "A shame you were not born an Angel but rather a rancid mongrel that needs to be put down. You and that whore you dare call a wife will perish. To sleep with a demon, only death shall await her."

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