Chapter 652: Kagluk
"PURGATORY!!"
The cry echoed like thunder, splitting the air and shaking the earth.
In an instant, a torrent of searing, violet flames erupted from his form, spreading outwards in a colossal wave that devoured everything within sight.
The inferno stretched across hundreds of kilometres, its scorching tendrils incinerating all in its path—even his fellow devils fell to the unstoppable blaze. Trees, rocks, and the soil beneath them turned to ash, leaving only charred earth in the wake of his power.
At the epicentre of the inferno stood the towering figure of an Archdevil. His body stretched three, perhaps four meters high, his long, powerful limbs dominating his frame so that his legs alone accounted for most of his height.
He was clad in full, black armour that concealed every inch of his skin beneath plates of metal.
Massive black wings unfurled from his back, their span casting a shadow across the glow of his consuming flames.
And yet, one incongruous detail defied this Archdevil’s image: a single delicate flower grew from the top of his head, nestled between his two horns.
The bloom swayed gently in the residual heat, untouched by the destruction surrounding it.
The sight of this bloom was all the confirmation he needed to know who he was faced with.
Infernal Archdevil Kagluk—Vonun’s Right-hand man!
’Even his right-hand man is under his skill’s power, huh?’
A parasitising flower that ensured complete control of whoever it was that it had been planted on. A result of Vonun’s Infernal Verdancy.
Floating in the air and looking right at Kagluk, Arthur shook his head and activated the new technique he had learnt.
"Attribute Resonance."
This was a support technique.
Arthur was in a situation where his base power could not increase anymore until he became Transcendent, so he had to find a way to acquire the extra power required to face Existences stronger than him.
For example, Superior Stage Transcendents, the likes of which the current Arthur could not deal with on his own.
As such, one of the ways he found to boost his attack potency so he wouldn’t be helpless against such power was this ’Attribute Resonance’ technique.
It allowed Arthur to harmonize with his universal law attributes, amplifying their effects in his techniques.
It increased the damage output of techniques related to the resonated law, temporarily enhanced his control over the laws and temporarily boosted his physical and magical attributes related to the resonated law.
For example, speed for time, and power for destruction.
Each ’Resonance’ lasted for about five minutes, with the possibility of extending the duration at the cost of increased energy consumption.
As for the Attribute Arthur had selected just now, it was naturally Destruction.
|¬Pseudo-Authority of Destruction¬|
"HELLFIRE CAGE!"
In an instant, flames erupted from all directions, forming a burning sphere around Arthur. The surging fire burned through space itself, sealing every escape route, making even teleportation impossible—a smouldering prison with no way out.
Faced with this, Arthur was unnaturally calm.
|¬Everything shall return to Nothing: Destruction SUPER Nova¬|
By his command, the sky above them split open and from there descended a giant orb of crimson-silver energy.
The moment it collided with the surrounding flames, an explosion of blinding light engulfed everything in its path.
Far across the continent, thousands of kilometres away, three young women gazed at the radiant explosion on the horizon.
The shockwaves of power rippled even at this distance, stirring the air around them and tugging at their hair.
Silence followed the blinding light’s departure, and after a moment, the Prophetess of the Iohodis Continent’s Order of Spirits spoke.
"He is victorious."
Her words held no doubt.
Back on the battlefield, Arthur hovered in the sky, his breaths ragged as he stared down at the half-dead below him.
"This guy isn’t even a Superior Stage, and yet... this much of a tough time..."
Arthur’s eyes shifted to his left arm, where not even a single lick of skin remained.
On the left side of his chest, three smouldering holes punctured his torso, dangerously close to his lungs. Anyone looking directly at him could see right through his body, and silver blood oozed from the wounds, staining the charred remains of his clothing.
Arthur ignored the blood, shutting off his pain as he descended and stepped on the Archdevil’s chest.
Reaching out with his hand coated in destruction law energy, he grabbed the flower on the Archdevil’s head.
The moment he touched it, the flower emitted a piercing, unnatural screech, twisting and writhing like a parasite sensing its impending death. Tendrils extended desperately from its stem, thrashing to latch onto Arthur’s hand, but his Destruction energy burned each attempt away.
Finally, as the last of its life force withered, the flower shrank, its vibrant colours fading as it curled into itself, crumbling and dissolving into dust.
"And another one bites the dust..."
Muttering those words, he summoned Celestia and sank the blade into the Archdevil’s chest, ending his life.
Arthur left the corpse where it lay, took a step forward, and waved his hands to open a Cosmic Gate before him.
Stepping through, he emerged in front of the Prophetess, who had already turned toward his arrival. She inclined her head and greeted him.
"Congratulations on your victory."
"Why, thank you."
Arthur replied, a faint smile touching his lips. He was about to extend his left arm but paused as he heard the two startled voices.
"Your arm... it’s hurt!"
"You need healing!!"
He turned his gaze to Hibiki and Crim, shrugging lightly as he spoke.
"I was fighting someone unmatched below the Superior Stage of Transcendence. I expected at least this much."
Arthur wasn’t lying. He’d gone to that fight with the resolve to at least have an arm burned off, but he’d taken a lot less damage than he expected.
Sighing, he plopped down on the reclining chair nearby and looked at the crimson sky.
’Eight weeks, huh?’
Eight Weeks spent hunting down Devils, recruiting other cultivators from Denerth Prime to join them and killing Cultivators who sided with the Infernal Devils.
Arthur’s schedule had been packed.
The Spirits tried their best to assist in every way they could, pouring a lot more effort due to Charisse’s pressure on the Council of Elders that ruled them.
Charisse had taught him the Attribute Resonance technique he just used, along with two others, ’Force Amplification’ and ’Law Resonance’.
The former enhanced the power of Arthur’s normal techniques by infusing them with additional energy, while the latter amplified the power of his Law Pseudo-Authority techniques, giving him temporary access to advanced manipulations of the law.
Just like the Destruction ’Supernova’ he just used.
On a side note, these were techniques the Spirits protected carefully and only taught to a handful of their own, yet Charisse ignored all those laws and taught Arthur anyway.
She was also teaching him how to use ’Soul Power’, to harness the power of one’s soul and turn it into tangible energy.
If he succeeded in learning it, then Arthur would possess a method to inflict Soul Attacks without having to use Destruction Energy which would instead ’destroy’ the target’s soul.
As Arthur sat down, Charisse took a seat beside him and immediately began chanting in a low voice. Ambient light magic power surged into her palms, and she used it to expel the residual fire in his wounds.
"So, how’s that Chasm?"
"I don’t think you can call it that anymore. With how small it is now, I can cross it in a single jump."
Hibiki responded to Arthur’s question and hearing this, Charisse turned to her with narrowed eyes.
"I do certainly hope you are merely jesting."
"I am. Even if I can jump the distance, the law energy wall would still turn me to dust. I’m not suicidal."
The Succubus responded and Charisse nodded in satisfaction before refocusing on accelerating Arthur’s healing.
But her words were true to an extent. The vast chasm had now shrunk considerably, to the point where they could see the other end.
However, the wall of law energies within it had not reduced in intensity by one bit. Crossing it was still impossible, both for the Spirits and for the Infernal Devils whose other forces were on the other side.
Arthur glanced at the two young women, analysing their current power and comparing it to how strong they were when they first ended up in this dimension.
’The circumstances changed so rapidly that I barely have the mind to pay attention to Crim like I initially planned to...’
With everything going off track since their shipwreck, Arthur was considering pushing his plans for this special Vampire he’d found back until he returned from Hell.
’Unless another Progenitor comes here in the meantime, no one would notice anyway.’
While he was thinking that, Crim couldn’t help but marvel at her rapid growth over the past eight weeks.
"Gaining this many levels in such a short time feels unreal..."
She murmured as she stared at her status board, still processing it and Hibiki gave her a sidelong glance.
"Do you have any idea how many Infernal Devils you’ve killed so far? It’s only natural you have this many levels."
Crim tilted her head thoughtfully, hand resting on her chin for a few seconds before she responded.
"I don’t know how many I killed, but I do know how many I stuck their tails into their eyes. Exactly 948"
"...where did you even pick up that habit?"
Hibiki’s deadpan stare spoke volumes and seeing it, Crim’s brow twitched. Before Hibiki could pull away, Crim seized the Succubus by her tail, eliciting a yelp of surprise.
"Excuse me? You’re the one who started it! You used your tail to stab their eyes, but since I don’t have one, I improvised with theirs. Fair’s fair."
"Alright, alright, you’ve made your point! Just let go already!"
Hibiki quickly agreed with Crim to get her to let go of the sensitive appendage, but her reaction only served to awaken Crim’s inner sadist.
The Vampire’s grip tightened, and she leaned closer, her tone turning deeper.
"Oh? I don’t think you really mean that. You seem like you’re enjoying this just a little bit..."
Hibiki’s eyes went wide, her voice reduced to a sputtering protest as Crim’s hold grew gentler yet more teasing, brushing just enough to keep the Succubus squirming.
Arthur, watching the scene unfold, chuckled and shook his head. His focus turned to Charisse who was dealing with his wounds and he asked.
"How’s the plan to find the rest of the Cultivators going?"
"We have found a great majority of the outsiders and explained the situation to them. A great majority are after the rewards we offer, so they have joined our cause."
He wasn’t surprised by her response. Cultivators would definitely stick their noses in if benefits were on the table.
"Unfortunately, there are some unsavoury sorts. We have lost some of our scouts to Cultivators who mistook them for enemies, or those who refused to listen and killed them for no justifiable reason."
Arthur looked at Charisse when she said this, not detecting any fluctuations in her emotions. She seemed as impassive as ever, and just when Arthur was about to mention this, she spoke up.
"I made sure to track down and condemn those sorts to a life of eternal suffering. Unfortunately, the Elders found out and prohibited my movements."
"..."
Cleary, she wasn’t as unaffected as Arthur had initially thought. As for the life of eternal suffering she spoke about, Arthur didn’t even want to think about it.
’Probably something Causality related.’
Speaking of Causality...
"Are you okay? Spending so much time around me, I mean."
Arthur was a singularity whose existence bent balancing laws around him. Causality was one of such laws, so there was bound to be interference with Charisse’s powers if she was close to him.
