Free Web NovelChapter 316: Check Mate
Swoosh!
Without hesitation, Bachi unleashed the demonic spear. The massive weapon tore through the air with terrifying speed, leaving a trail of distorted space behind it as it raced toward Damian.
The force contained within that attack was enough to pierce through mountains, tear apart divine barriers, and reduce lesser demigods into nothing more than scattered ash. Bachi had expected a direct clash. He expected Damian to meet the attack with his Devil Lance and allow their powers to collide in a battle of brute force.
Instead, Damian’s eyes turned cold.
Bathin: Space Control!
The space beneath Damian’s feet suddenly twisted.
It felt as though the ground itself had been pulled away from him, dragging his body through a narrow fold in reality.
To everyone watching, Damian simply vanished. One moment he stood directly in the path of the demonic spear, and the next he appeared far beyond its range, hovering above the battlefield with the dark purple vortex of his Devil Lance still spinning violently around him.
The demonic spear continued forward.
Its target had disappeared.
However, Damian’s divine avatar remained behind.
The six-armed Asura construct had been struggling against Mudhhib’s colossal sand avatar, its arms holding back the massive palms that threatened to crush it. Yet the moment Damian shifted positions, the divine avatar vanished abruptly.
The sand avatar was left completely exposed.
BOOOOM!
The demonic spear crashed directly into Mudhhib’s massive construct.
The realm trembled violently as the attack exploded. Dark red energy erupted across the battlefield, swallowing the lower half of the sand avatar in a devastating blast. The construct let out a distorted roar as its body was torn apart, its lower half erased completely by the force of Bachi’s own weapon.
Gaaaaaah!
Mudhhib’s scream echoed through the desert realm as the upper half of his sand avatar began falling from the sky. It descended slowly at first, like a massive tower collapsing from heaven, before the remaining sand lost cohesion and crashed into the desert below.
Damian did not spare the destruction a second glance.
The moment he gained the higher ground, he swung his Devil Lance forward.
The dark purple vortex surged toward the twenty Bachi clones who had created the demonic spear. They had been too focused on watching their attack race toward Damian. None of them expected him to evade so effortlessly, and none of them expected the spear to be redirected toward Mudhhib’s own construct.
By the time they realized what had happened, it was already too late.
The violent vortex crashed into them.
Loud cries erupted across the battlefield as the Bachi clones were dragged into the spinning storm. Limbs, weapons, and pieces of shattered demonic armor were flung through the air as the vortex tore through their formation. Their bodies were twisted apart by the violent current, and their attempts to escape only pulled them deeper into the dark purple storm.
Meanwhile, Damian clasped his hands together.
His gaze turned cold and his body vanished in a burst of violet flame. He appeared directly in front of one of the chanting Bachi clones.
Bam!
Damian’s hand pierced through the clone’s chest.
His fingers emerged from the other side holding the demon’s still-beating heart. The clone’s eyes widened in disbelief as Damian raised the heart before him, watching the blood drip slowly from his fingers.
The surrounding clones immediately tried to retreat.
They had finally begun to understand that Damian was not fighting them like a normal demigod. He was not trading attacks, testing their limits, or looking for an opening.
He was hunting them.
Several clones managed to leap away and Damian’s seven tails shot outward.
Each tail pierced through a different Bachi clone, impaling them through the chest, stomach, neck, and limbs. Their bodies were lifted high above Damian, suspended in the air as blood poured down from their wounds.
It rained over him.
Damian slowly turned toward the retreating Bachi clones, his pupils narrowing into reptilian slits.
"Scared?" he asked calmly.
The Bachi clones froze and the desert beneath Damian exploded.
"YOOOOOUUUUUUU!!!"
Mudhhib’s roar thundered across the realm.
The ground beneath Damian burst upward as an enormous body of sand surged toward the sky. The sand moved like a living ocean, twisting into claws and waves as it tried to swallow Damian whole. At the same time, dark clouds gathered above the battlefield. Crimson lightning rumbled within them, flashing across the sky like the rage of an ancient god.
The remaining Bachi clones continued chanting.
"We will end you, no matter what!" Bachi growled viciously.
"End me?" Damian’s voice boomed across the battlefield as he looked down at them. "I find that hard to believe."
[Six-Armed War Form]
Bang!
A bolt of purple lightning tore through the dark crimson clouds and struck Damian directly.
His body twisted violently.
Pfft!
Blood sprayed from his sides as two pairs of arms burst from beneath his original pair. His body expanded, then compressed, becoming leaner and more terrifying than before. Every muscle across his frame became sharply defined, the fibers visible beneath his skin as though his body had been carved from living stone.
His skin darkened, gaining a faint purple undertone.
Violent markings spread across his body.
The symbols moved like living creatures, crawling across his chest, shoulders, arms, and neck. New markings formed around his throat like a cursed necklace. A pair of black horns emerged from his skull, curving backward as his long black hair turned ghastly, fading at the edges as though it did not fully belong to the physical world.
Damian raised his head.
The man standing in the sky no longer resembled a human.
"Nowwwww..." Damian’s voice deepened, carrying a cold and ancient weight that made the battlefield tremble.
One of his six hands casually pressed toward the ground.
BOOOOM!
An enormous amount of demonic force erupted from his body.
The force crashed into Mudhhib’s rising sand body and forced it downward with unimaginable power. It was like watching a meteor strike the earth. The sand construct was slammed back into the desert, its body collapsing beneath Damian’s overwhelming pressure.
Mudhhib screamed from below yet the danger above continued growing.
Demonic Spell: Crimson Requiem!
The crimson lightning within the clouds became increasingly violent. The sky shook as countless bolts gathered together, their destructive force building until the entire realm was covered in blood-red light.
Damian lifted his dull gaze toward the clouds.
Bang!
The first bolt descended and it engulfed Damian completely.
Crimson lightning swallowed his body, tearing through the sky with enough force to erase anything caught within it. The battlefield fell silent for a brief moment as the Bachi clones waited to see whether the attack had finally harmed him.
Then the lightning faded.
Damian remained in the exact same position. His expression had not changed.
His eyes even remained dull and his body did not show a single wound.
"Have you ever used this thing to kill an Asura before?" Damian asked calmly.
His gaze shifted toward one of the Bachi clones.
The clone flinched.
"No?" Damian continued. "Then why waste my time with this?"
As if enraged by his words, more bolts of crimson lightning descended.
They struck Damian one after another.
The sky became a storm of red destruction as lightning bombarded him relentlessly. Every strike shook the realm. Every strike tore apart the air around him. Yet Damian remained standing within the storm, his six arms relaxed at his sides.
"There is no way he is truly one of them now," Bachi muttered, terror hidden beneath his voice.
"Exactly," Damian replied with a cold harrumph.
A massive ancient black shield spiraled into existence above him.
Purple aura oozed from its surface.
The shield was covered in countless scars and markings, each one carrying the weight of ancient wars. It expanded above Damian, blocking the descending lightning as though it were nothing more than rain.
Asura Weaponry: Infinite Vault!
As the crimson lightning continued striking the shield, hundreds of weapons began appearing around Damian.
Swords.
Spears.
Scimitars.
Halberds.
Axes.
Chains.
Blades of every shape and size.
Every weapon forged in the history of existence seemed to emerge from the void around him. They floated silently in the air, their edges glowing with dark purple energy as they pointed toward the Bachi clones below.
"And I know this spell can be maintained constantly because of your numbers," Damian’s cold voice boomed across the battlefield. "It would have been a good way to break me over time."
His six eyes narrowed.
"Unfortunately for you, I have a way to kill all of you instantly."
Die!
Swoosh!
The weapons shot forward and the realm became a storm of steel and purple light.
The Bachi clones tried to retreat, but there was nowhere to run. Weapons attacked them from every direction, piercing through their bodies, severing limbs, and knocking them from the sky. One clone was impaled through the chest by three spears. Another was split apart by a massive halberd. Several were pinned to the desert floor by swords that continued vibrating with demonic force.
The chanting stopped.
The moment their focus broke, the Demonic Spell: Crimson Requiem collapsed.
The dark clouds above Damian dispersed and the crimson lightning vanished. Only one Bachi clone remained floating in the sky.
Its body was riddled with weapons. Blood poured from countless wounds. It swayed back and forth, barely able to remain in the air.
However, Damian’s expression did not relax.
Something was wrong.
He had pierced the clone yet its presence remained at ten percent of the original Bachi’s power.
Even now, it was still only a clone.
Damian slowly nodded.
"I see now."
The real Bachi had never been among the hundred clones!
Damian had been searching in the wrong place from the beginning.
"Truly, you are something," Bachi’s voice echoed across the battlefield.
The wounded clone did not speak. Instead, its shadow on the ground thickened. The darkness expanded and then the real Bachi emerged from within it.
He slid out of the shadow as though the darkness itself had opened a door for him. His expression was cold and indifferent as he stared directly at Damian.
At the same time, Mudhhib emerged from the desert below. His body reformed from the sand, his face dark and tense.
If their brothers had been present, they would have been shocked by what they were witnessing.
Beyond any reasonable doubt, Damian needed to die.
They could not take the risk of merely weakening him as their master had demanded. The human before them had awakened an Asura bloodline, stolen Bathin’s inheritance, possessed the power of Lust, and continued growing stronger during battle.
If they allowed him to survive, he would become a disaster none of them could control. They could explain their decision to Lord Gluttony later.
For now, Damian had to die.
A vicious smile bloomed across Damian’s face.
His eyes revealed a wicked gleam.
Slowly, he clasped his hands together as though preparing to pray. Then he spoke the words he had been waiting to say since the battle began.
"Now I can smell your desire. I can finally use this."
[Fox Domain: Illusion of Perfect Desire!]
[Fox Domain Summoned Successfully!]
The reason Damian’s domain had failed earlier was simple. The four demigods had possessed no desire beyond completing their mission. Their loyalty to Lord Gluttony had been absolute. Their hearts had carried no greed, no fear, no ambition, and no desire powerful enough for Damian’s illusion to seize.
But now everything had changed. They no longer viewed Damian as a target to capture. They viewed him as a threat that needed to be erased.
Their desire to kill him had surpassed their desire to follow instructions. Their desire to protect their master had become stronger than their loyalty to his command.
And that was enough.
It was finally time to end this battle.
