(AN: You can listen to this: Two Steps From Hell - Protectors of the Earth → https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASj81daun5Q or Bleach Vasto Lorde OST https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wg1JH4lcHUo )
On the uninhabited island, as Xezbeth watched the body of his foe touch the ground, lifeless and defeated by his own hands, a small smile of pure satisfaction covered his lips.
"Oh, mighty sovereign! You have finally put down the miscreant who dared to oppose our glorious purpose."
The smile of satisfaction covering his lips immediately vanished when he heard Kang Ho's words and growled at him, "Do not speak of him with your vile mouth, worthless worm. He was a proud warrior and a worthless human like you can not come even close to a millionth of his worth. So, keep that mouth of yours shut before I seal it forever with my own hands."
Xezbeth snorted out loud and ignored Kang Ho who kneeled with an expression of fear etched on his face at his words. Seeing that worthless being soured his mind so he turned and started to walk away from the altar.
In Hell, there were two things demons had to pay attention to when judging another being's worth in their eyes.
How strong that being was.
How good at lying that being was.
Unlike stupid demons who were all brawls and no brains, Devils, higher up in the hierarchy of the order of Hell, put emphasis on both might and intelligence and usually liked people who were strong in both departments.
Those who were lacking in both were simply worthless. Those who were worthy of their notice were to be given their utmost respect, no matter friend or foe. This was a reality that cared not for race, age, or gender. All that mattered to them was what one was capable of and if they met certain conditions then they would be highly respected by all the devils.
"You were a strong warrior. Had we met a few years later I would have surely been forced to use my Domain against you. Such a shame that someone like you has to meet their end at my hands."
He shook his head in regret, "Your corpse will be used to bring forth a new age. So be proud of that."
While eating Adam's body right now would bring him enough energy to sustain his existence and bring forth more of his abilities out in the open, he could make do with the little amount he had until he had a good meal later on. The best option for him now was to use his foe's body as a sacrifice and try to bring another demon inside of the strong body of Adam…
'I will have to do something about the obliterated head part but we can work on it later.'
A powerful hunter's dead body, even after retaining a staggering amount of damage, was still a treasure trove that was priceless…
"Take his body and make sure to keep it from rotting. We will use it to further our goals."
Xezbeth moved away after uttering those words. Now all he needed to do was to wait for the fight between his Lord and the Angel of Death to end.
Once the fight was finished, the invisible boundaries that had separated this island from the rest of the world would surely vanish and he would be free to roam the world as he wished and devour as many prey as he wanted to to keep up with the energy demand.
He did not doubt the victory of his Lord. After all, he was sure that the Angel of Death— Azrael, would not fight to the bitter end with his Lord right now, not over the body of this boy. The end of times was still far away and the final war between Heaven and Hell would not happen till then and the angels would surely not sacrifice themselves and bet it all on one last fight until that time comes.
"Let's —!!!!"
Oooom~!!
An abrupt overarching pressure covered the entirety of the island completely out of the blue.
The earth started to rumble and wave far in the distance moving erratically.
"What is happening!?"
A pressure of the likes of which he had never thought he would be able to feel in this backwater world made him nearly kneel in one knee and a pillar of golden light shot directly to the sky, causing the very space itself to tremble and distort at the might of that power. It felt like the light would have pierced the cloud and become visible to the whole world had it not been stopped by the barrier placed by Azrael to stop the devil from escaping the island.
Turning around, Xezbeth's eyes widened as he watched the blinding light coming from the body of the warrior he had previously slain. He could see the obliterated head of Adam slowly mend itself progressively till he was able to see that his whole head was slowly being finished reconstructing with all of its features intact. It was as if the obliteration of his head didn't happen to begin with.
Alarm bells filled his mind at the scene.
Something was coming.
His instincts were screaming at him that something dangerous was descending.
Run or fight for his life. Those were the only two options available to him at the moment.
The answer was evident from the get-go.
Rushing at Adam using his full speed, he reached the corpse with his fist shining in a crimson light of malevolent energies as he struck down at the body mercilessly, fully intent on obliterating all of it in one go and removing the warrior's existence altogether.
BOOM~!
The ground caved in due to the immense pressure of the devil's power. The pressure was so intense that a two-meter large hole immediately appeared on the ground as dust and dirt were scattered all over.
Despite this powerful display of his might, Xezbeth showed no happiness on his face and only a deep frown settled in.
Bzzzz~!
Lightning sparkles shone and electricity trailed all over in the air. Black clouds formed in the skies above and the low roar of rumbling thunder echoed out in the distance, covering this whole plain inside of the barrier created by the Angel of Death…
Xezbeth looked up at his side, a few meters away from him, with wariness and trepidation in his mind.
There, Adam was standing with his back to him, and in his arms was the corpse of the woman who had been sacrificed earlier to summon his Lord to this world. Something akin to steam leaked out of his body as he stood upright in that place.
"How are you still alive?
Xezbeth had no care about the woman.
"How did you manage to move so fast?"
Xezbeth was baffled. It had only been an instant. In just an instant, Adam had managed to repel his fist and come close to the body of the woman before taking her and landing several meters away from him.
This level of speed was something he had yet to show previously. But there was no change in the quantity of Adam's Prana nor the strength inside of his body from his analysis.
Even as he spoke, he realized that Adam was ignoring him and covering the body of the woman with a psychic shield to preserve it from being swept away by their fight.
A vein throbbed on his forehead. Adam was disregarding him and devoting a part of his energy to protecting the corpse of a woman when he should be using all of it to fight him.
"Just how much disregard do you have for me!!??"
As his scream rang out, Xezbeth began to let out more of his true might. He realized at that moment that he could not go on like this and Adam was just too dangerous for him to not fight with his all anymore…
"I am going to kill you!!"
"Shut up."
No sooner did he hear those words that Xezbeth immediately moved away but not fast enough for him to avoid his arm from being cut off by a near-light speed attack from his foe.
When he realized what was happening, a groan leaked out of his mouth as he felt a burning sensation covering the place where one of his hands was supposed to be.
'Holy power?'
He looked up at Adam and could now see him holding a dagger that was emanating a surprisingly powerful holy aura.
'He had hidden this all along?'
His opponent was much more cunning than he previously thought him to be and had means that he could not identify.
"How utterly magnificent!"
He had underestimated the boy a bit too much and had taken him for nothing more than a rash young man. However, this experience told him that he had clearly been wrong. Even so… he did not fear him…
"A holy weapon can only slow down my regeneration, nothing more."
He took the fallen arm, expecting it to start fusing back even if slowly. But…
'What? How?'
No matter how much he waited, the regeneration process did not start.
'This is impossible!'
Not even the strongest holy weapons could permanently stop the power of regeneration of a true devil like himself. Not to mention he was high up the ladder…
This made utterly no sense.
"You know…You really talk too much."
"Ah…"
Finally, Adam turned toward him. The corpse had already flown far away from them by now. But Xezbeth could only leak out a small voice as Adam faced him.
His whole body could not help but shiver when his gaze crossed with that of Adam's. In both of those eyes… shone two black stars filled with ominous energy…
"Those eyes..."
Those were the same eyes of the man who had faced entire legions of the Dukes from Hell all alone in a wrath-fueled desire for the destruction of all that constituted the infernal realms.
"He" was the first Evil on earth.
"He" was the first Murderer.
The immortal cursed to wander the earth for all eternity.
The one who brought Death to all.
For the second time in all his nearly eternal life— Xezbeth felt true fear from the deepest part of his soul. The fear of Death…
For he now understood… That he was facing the Grim Reaper himself…
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel