Soul of Searing Steel

Morlaix Palace, King’s Chamber.

Israel who was using a strong spiritual energy to monitor the battle on the sacrificial land let out a sigh. His facial expression turned serious. “The summoning was completed? It was the double of a Supreme-tier demon. Currently a perfect Gold-tier monster.”

After finishing his sentence, there was special distortion surrounding both of his fists. The light of Chaos shone and numerous collapsed structures that turned into debris circulated around. The emperor was preparing a strong force to give some pain to this demon from the abyss.

“Hold on a moment, Israel.”

Nostradamus extended his arm to stop the motion of the fist. This old mage was filled with interest to observe the happenings beyond the summoning. “Let us observe the northern count who had given us quite a surprise. Let us see what he has under his sleeve against this monster.”

Joshua had no special ways to deal with it anyway.

In the outskirts of the Empire, the small wooden house that was used for the summoning was completely overturned. A strong wind bringing numerous shards and fragments scattered around. With the dust of destruction, there were two beings fighting against each other.

They had battled for a moment. When the citizens surrounding them let out screams of fear, a red light shone and slammed the big shadow towards the sky. Before anyone could clearly see the big shadow, a humanoid covered in red light flew up in the sky and hit the big shadow back to the ground.

When the large shadow hit the ground, the sturdy infrastructures and pathway was shattered into pieces. Numerous cracks were formed on the ground. Buildings collapsed and the debris raised into the skies, covering everything within the vicinity.

After that, a painful scream could be heard from the dust. It contained a strong spiritual energy of despair which causes the knights who were rushing from the city to halt their advances.

“What’s happening?” They were in shock. Yet, no one dared to advance.

“This is…” Following the city guards was Brandon who had reached a place near the wooden house. “Was it the scream of a demon?”

“What is going on here?”

No one could answer this question. The painful scream within the debris could no longer be heard as if it was forcefully silenced by choking its throat. As the Combat Aura exploded from within, the dust surrounding the battle completely blasted off.

There were a man and a beast, one big and one small revealed from the dust. Joshua’s body was covered in dark red Combat Aura. The aura released attracted numerous sand and rock to circulate around his body. Under his hand was a dual-horned single-eyed demon which was five meters tall kneeling on the ground, struggling to release himself from Joshua’s grip.

The demon had a form of a human. The big difference was the bat wings behind its back and huge limbs. Its body was filled with black scales and a single purplish eye which shone with strange light.

Its throat was held firmly by the warrior’s hand. Due to the difference between their heights, it could not stand up straight. It could only kneel before Joshua. No matter how hard the demon tried to flutter its wings or use its claws to attack Joshua, none of it were effective against the Combat Aura that was protecting Joshua.

All the city guards and Brandon were rendered speechless by the scene before them. The happenings were too shocking. The golden-hair swordsman could identify that the demon was a Perfect Gold-tier being. The shock that he suffered was greater than the other people within the vicinity.

When did Joshua’s strength reach such a degree?

The demon within the battleground had noticed the great difference between their physical strength. He had stopped the attempt to struggle. Numerous illusionary and real runes formed on his forehead. An eerie aura could be felt proliferating on the eye of the demon.

[Heart Devouring Illusion]

The demon that had traveled to a different realm and the supreme great demon [Heart Devourer Raldan Asth] were true to their names. Their specialty was not their super strong physical body. The power that they excelled at was the power of souls.

Snooping souls, controlling lust, utilizing despair, fear, and sadness to create their virtual illusionary world in order to devour a human’s heart. To go against the warrior that had suppressed him with brute force, the demon utilized all the power to activate its natural talent to temporarily plunge his enemy into the world of illusions. Within hundred and thousands of years, numerous demons and otherworldly beings had fallen prey to this attack. It believed that Joshua would face the same fate.

A formless mind attack spread across the region. In that instant, this attack had caused all the guards who were leading the civilians away from the danger zone to faint. Even Brandon was caught in this attack. He felt that his spirit and focus was attacked by a strong force. He was so close to succumbing to the attack.

“Such strong spiritual energy!”

He then shook his head to prevent himself from fainting. Brandon uses his right hand to hold his forehead. He frowned and tried to focused on the situation at the ruins of the same house. Although the swordsman was not ready and suffered from the sudden ambush, the true target of the attack was Joshua. The attack he suffered was just the aftershock of it.

Within the illusionary world, it does not have any border or any destination. It was a world of complete darkness. Everything seemed to be falling straight down to the depths of the abyss.

The heart-devouring demon laughed and spread its wings. It enjoyed the freedom it gained and recover the bruises it got from the previous inflicted damage.

[Heart Devouring Illusion] was the world belonged to itself, belonged to the great demon Raldan Asth. Other than itself, all of the mind which was pulled into that world would suffer from the most painful and sad memories hidden deep within the hearts. Then they would be brought further into the realm, repeating the terrifying events until their mind and soul were completely broken into fear and despair.

Nobody could release themselves from the endless loop of fear and despair. For the past hundreds and thousands of years, none had succeeded.

Ignoring all the mind of mortals which had accidentally pulled into the depths of darkness, the demon went directly towards the position where the greatest light resided. It was different from the firefly-like flames, this soul was like a molten metal, releasing a golden red radiance.

He did not hesitate and prepare to look at the despair felt by this warrior.

However, there was nothing.

Deep within the light, Raldan Asth could not see any scene or events. The spirit of the warrior was the same from inside out. It was only a strong golden-red light.

At that moment, the demon suddenly felt something looking at him. It turned behind and saw two red eyes.

These two red eyes were looking at him from above, just like looking at the insects lying on the floor. Both of the eyes seemed to be combusting the world into flame, giving anyone a sense of bone-chilling fear. There was no emotion within the eyes. There was only the urge of battle and destruction.

“Fear and despair?”

With a cold laugh, the voice replied, “The heck is that?”

“A coward who toyed with the hearts of others, do you dare to face me directly?”

The sound of glass cracking spread throughout the realm. All the illusions were disintegrated and the dark world shattered into nothingness.

Coming back to the reality, the single-eyed demon looked at the warrior who was still holding on its throat, unable to understand what had just happened.

He… wasn’t he already pulled into the realm of illusions?

“Raldan Asth, don’t waste your breath.”

After going through the battle of curse against the Aragami, how would the warrior be afraid of a mere spiritual attack from a demon? After breaking through the illusion, Joshua’s expression did not change and he spoke to the demon he was holding in a calm manner, “Your spiritual attack was nothing but a breeze to me. Can you try something else?”

Who is he?

How could he escape from the illusion?

How does he know my name?

The last trump card of the demon had already been easily dealt with. The single-eyed demon finally snapped itself back to reality and tried to respond to the imminent danger he was facing. It utilized all his strength from his body to forcefully escape from Joshua, even if it would cost its throat to be ripped off by the warrior. Raldan Asth immediately tried to gain some distance by flying backward. Under its rage, it released numerous abyssal magic spells.

[Abyssal Inferno], [Evil Gaze], [Petrification Beam], [Sulfuric Flame Assault], and [Corrosive Light]. Using his Supreme-tier combat experience and the might of a Perfect Gold tier, it utilized all its bloodline power to the limit, release countless of devasting Gold-tier spells. The ruins of the small house was completely disintegrated by the strong demonic magic, turning into a flat land. Numerous explosion had land onto the warrior, trying to turn him into ash.

Yet, Joshua did not really care about the attacks from his enemy. He slowly walked towards it. Occasionally he would raise his hand to block off any attacks which were directed towards his vital points. The power and force which could annihilate the city’s gate were easily blocked off by the defensive combat aura surrounding his body. It could only force the Combat Aura to release a slightly visible red wave once in a while.

Noticing this scene, Raldan Asth did not stop his attack. It tried to utilize its endless attacks to suppress Joshua. However, the more he battled, the more confused he was. No matter what spell it cast, no matter what technique he used, even if it used the trump cards only known to the special ones in the abyss, the human in front of his could counter all of them perfectly.

There were times that the heart-devouring monster noticed there was spell which it did not know how to counter itself was easily handled by the warrior, as if he had dealt with it hundreds and thousands of times. Joshua had utilized the weak point of each attack and easily neutralized them.

“Shit! Great flame of the abyss, what on earth is happening?!” Vulgarities were spewed in the abyssal language. The demon could no longer stay calm.

What sort of monster am I battling with? How could he know me more than I know myself?

Even if it tried its best to attack, the warrior with reddish-black eyes had already become his worst nightmare. His fear towards Joshua had already surpassed his fear of the ruler of the abyss. When each and every spell it cast was seen through, it was the worst feeling ever.

Joshua slowly approached it.

The enemy was someone he knew from the past.

The Heart-Devouring Demon Raldan Asth was the first wave of demons who had infiltrated Mycroft continent during the Abyssal Invasion. This demon utilizes its spiritual power to enslave a large portion of the lower-tier demons. It had conquered numerous cities and had bread humans like live stocks. It had prepared to use the fear and despair in humans as a source of energy to boost himself into a Legendary-tier demon lord.

It was different from some brainless demon. Raldan Asth’s plan was very wholesome and very close to perfection. If it followed through that plan, it would succeed. At the same time, the human race had tried numerous attempt to stop its progression. They also came up with plans specifically targeting the combat style of this demon. Due to the fact that Joshua had received the quest against it, he had remembered every way of battling this demon during their mission during their journey to reclaim the human cities.

At this point, he was more familiar with the battle capability of the demon more than itself. Disregarding the double, even if the main Raldan Asth from the abyss was to come, Joshua had full confidence in completely dismantling it.

A silver light passed through. The greatsword which was plunged into the ground was struck by the magic attacks and flew up. Joshua then extended his arm to hold onto the sword firmly within his grasp.

“This is getting boring,” he spoke softly. At that moment, the warrior’s body turned into a shadow and disappeared. At the time, Raldan Asth felt that its arm was a bit light. When it looked towards his right arm, it found out that it no longer possessed it. There was no fresh blood gushing out from the wound at that moment, as if it was not aware that the arm was cut off.

The single-eyed demon roared in fear and anger. When it prepared to counter-attack, Joshua instantly approached its body and landed an attack on its chest. Raldan Asth’s body instantly flew backward. A clear sound of bones cracking and the black scales were crumbling from its chest.

Boom!

After landing on the ground, the single-eyed demon was completely pissed off. Its horn was snapped in half during the collision. The damage on its horn was the greatest humiliation for the demon.

At this moment, it does not have any thoughts on revenge. Raldan Asth took a decision to spread its wings to return back to its world from the dimensional gap. Due to the fact that the dark heart was destroyed during their confrontation, the dimensional crack was getting weak. It no longer cared about any business here.

This was a frightening world. It would not come here again! No matter who summoned him again!

Before Raldan Asth could escape, it felt that its left leg was gripped by a strong force. The bones of its leg seemed to be cracking. Before it could react, its whole body was lifted up and swung in midair.

“AAAHHHHHHH!!”

It could not defeat him or run away. Raldan Asth roared in despair. It was the symbol of despair, the Heart Devourer which devours the souls of living beings. Yet, it tasted despair for the first time under the hands of a human.

While activating his bloodline strength, the dark scales started to move and visible dark red blood streams surfaced on its whole body. Gathering all the ferocious power within its body, it tried to launch its final attack.

[Incinerating Self-Destruction]

This spell was known by all demons. Using their bloodline and life force as the price to release a terrifying force of destruction to anything it touched.

However, the silver greatsword flew towards it, bring forth the violent wind which sliced the demon’s body in half.

Although their physical strength was stronger than most of the living beings, their bodies were natural, like elemental life forms. Under the Divine Armament power and the might of Joshua, even the strongest body would turn into meat paste.

Bones, flesh, and scales were completely destroyed. The self-destruction spell was stopped. Yet, Raldan Asth did not give up. Even if it was cut in half from its waist down, it seemed to have reduced some of its burdens and was free from Joshua’s control. The demon then released a strong desire to live.

Flapping both of its wings while it was still bleeding from its waist and innards, Raldan Asth rushed its deformed body with the speed multiple times faster than usual towards the dimensional crack.

I have finally escaped!

These were the words within its heart. Its double was heavily damaged this time. It had cost a great loss to the main in the abyss. It will have to nurture itself for several years before regaining its combat strength again.

Unfortunately, just went it approached the dimensional gate, both its wings were pulled by a strong force back towards the world he feared.

“AAAHHHH!!!”

The single-eyed demon looked at the dimensional crack which was not one meter further from him. It roared in anger and discontentment, trying to anchor its hand on the ground. However, this could not stop the great force behind him from pulling it away from paradise. It could only look towards the dimensional gap which was getting further and further away from it.

“I hate your scream.”

A calm statement was spoken from behind. Joshua kicked it and forced the demon’s head into the earth. “However, you may not die. After all, it is hard to get a demon which can speak.”