Chapter 63: Light and Darkness (II)

“What’s the matter? Volmon Krast? Keep attacking me! Is that all you can do?” Belial provoked relentlessly with a mad expression, yet his magic attacks continued without pause.
He kept casting a technique called [Mirage Flower]. Under the catalyst of his magic, deadly blue flowers kept blooming, each bloom accompanied by a terrifying beam of light that imposed an indescribable pressure on Thos.
It was too fast—Belial’s speed was astonishingly rapid, with almost no signs of preparation. Every area around Thos was marked by those eerie triangular magic arrays, resembling a sea of flowers that left no place for Thos to hide.
“Swish!” The moment Thos dodged, a huge boulder three or four yards behind him was struck. Several beams of light instantly penetrated it. Strangely, the moment those beams hit it, the boulder began to decompose rapidly, breaking down into countless regular cubes at a speed visible to the eye. Then those cubes further fragmented into even smaller ones, repeating this process until they turned into the tiniest particles.
What a terrifying technique—directly targeting the most fundamental units that make up matter and completely destroying it. No magic could reach such a level; even the demonic incarnations of the Apostles couldn’t withstand such power.
Whether it was the ground, rocks, humans, Gussavos warriors, or undead, anyone struck by Belial’s [Mirage Flower], even if just grazed, would be decomposed or destroyed within seconds. The undead armies used as cannon fodder by the Immortal Kings were utterly useless against [Mirage Flower] and could only suffer in vain.
Gradually, a small no-man’s land formed around Belial and Thos—no one could stay within Belial’s attack range for even a second.
“What’s the problem? Weren’t you going to stop me? Do you think running away will defeat me? Stop joking! Since that’s all you can do, just die quietly! Tch, scurrying around like a rat!”
“Damn it…” Hearing Belial’s mocking voice, Thos grew furious. He cast several teleportation spells in a row, then glanced at where Belial stood and snapped his fingers.

“Hey!” Belial sneered before vanishing from his spot with premonitory speed. The moment he disappeared, a glowing sphere appeared on the ground. After a blinding flash, a circular hole formed there—the large patch of soil covering it had vanished without a trace.

“Don’t get too proud, Belial!”

Amidtho Sos’s furious growls, snapping sounds continued incessantly. Terrifying white flames appeared out of nowhere, relentlessly targeting Belial.

With attacks in his Origin Power mode, even Belial wouldn’t take risks. He quickly used teleportation to escape Sos’s attack range.

“Boom! Boom!”

The white flames kept appearing. Combined with the decomposing effect of Origin Power, any substance touched by them would instantly evaporate into the smallest particles.

“Boom!” The moment Belial used teleportation to dodge, a strange glowing sphere appeared on a boulder behind him. When the light faded, the center of the boulder had been decomposed, leaving a smooth, flawless circular hole.

“Hey! Impressive control!” Belial commented indifferently before pointing at Sos with his right hand. Behind him, Sos’s massive, hazy yet tangible projection of Sloth suddenly let out a thunderous roar. Even Sos, facing it up close, was momentarily stunned by the sound wave.

“Roar!” The Dark Bear raised its right paw and, with the support of its other paw, slammed it down at Sos.

Though it was merely a shadow formed from dark energy, under Belial’s power, this Dark Bear had taken on a tangible form. If struck, the consequences were obvious.

“Clang!” At the last moment, Raphael, the Archangel behind Sos, raised his Sword of Holy Flame and desperately blocked the Dark Bear’s terrifying paw.

“Interesting!” A faint smile appeared on Belial’s lips. He clenched his right fist suddenly. Once again, the Dark Bear let out a thunderous roar, this time with even greater force. Raphael couldn’t help but bend his right leg, kneeling on the ground as he struggled to withstand the Dark Bear’s brute strength with both hands.

“Raphael!” A hint of shock appeared on Thors’s face, and soon he too knelt down involuntarily. After all, the relationship between the Seraphim and Thors was akin to that between an apostle and the projection of its ancient will—the phantom was merely an external manifestation of the master’s power. In other words, the force acting on Raphael would also affect him.

“…” The silent Seraphim Raphael struggled to resist the mighty strength of the Dark Bear. Suddenly, the wings covering his face moved aside, revealing eyes burning with holy flames. As his gaze swept across the Dark Bear, a strange white smoke appeared on its body, as if burned by his stare.

“Roar!” The Dark Bear seemed to detest this sacred aura and instinctively stepped back, reducing the pressure it exerted on Raphael. At that moment, Raphael gripped his Sword of Holy Flame tightly and swung it upward, slicing across the Dark Bear’s forehead and even cutting off one of its curved horns.

“Roar!” Accompanied by violent tremors in the ground, the Dark Bear howled in pain as it held its broken horn. Below it, Belial also showed a trickle of blood on his forehead. He reached out to touch it, then glanced at the blood in his hand, his expression turning serious as he looked at Thors. “Sacred power? Hah, just a fabricated divine force by humans, yet it can wound Sloth’s projection…”

“It is the power of light, Belial!” Thors stood up, meeting Raphael’s gaze, and said solemnly, “Though you have taken away the dark power within me, you have unleashed another powerful force—the Seraphim Raphael, the one I hope to use to defeat you: the [Divine Warrior] created by combining the three Holy Marks!”

“Divine Warrior?” Belial sneered. As he spoke, the wound on his forehead began to heal rapidly. By the time he uttered the last word, it was completely gone. He gave Raphael a casual glance and said arrogantly, “My power has already surpassed your so-called gods. A Divine Warrior? Heh, let me destroy it!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the dark giant bear behind him let out another furious roar, staring intently at the Archangel Raphael as if facing an enemy. At the same time, a strong dark aura began to seep from its body. This dark aura, like mist, gradually swallowed the light around it. In an instant, aside from the small area beside Raphael that remained illuminated, everything else turned into utter darkness.

“Hm?” Not understanding Beelzebub’s trick, Thors instinctively became wary.

Suddenly, several shadows surged out of the darkness and attacked the Archangel Raphael. Before Raphael could react, he was tightly bound.

Upon closer inspection, Thors saw that they were actual forms of dark energy.

These dark forces, like shackles, wrapped around Raphael’s wings and the Holy Flame Sword in his hands. To Thors’ shock, Raphael, bound by these dark forces, lost the ability to move. Even more bizarrely, signs of corruption by darkness appeared on his radiant armor.

“Raphael?!” Thors was shocked.

At that moment, Beelzebub’s arrogant laughter came from the endless darkness.

“Hehehe, light? Do you really think it’s light that dispels darkness? That’s just a self-deceiving myth created by humans! Hmph, what ignorance. Volmon Kleist, I thought I could see something special in you, but you’ve disappointed me greatly… Let me tell you! Darkness is the true ruler of the world’s forces. Light? Light can never dispel darkness! Because in this world, darkness existed first, and only afterward did light appear. Light always comes after darkness!”

“Hm…” Along with Beelzebub’s mocking laughter, the three pairs of white wings behind the Archangel Raphael turned gray. He knelt on the ground, holding his sword, with a pained expression on his face.

“Is this the power you rely on? How ridiculous! Watch as I devour light, using darkness to swallow it all!”

“…” Glancing at Raphael, who appeared in pain, Thors surprisingly calmed down. He crossed his arms over his chest and, as if praying, murmured, “It’s you who doesn’t understand, Beelzebub! It’s because the world was born filled with the power of darkness that light is needed to balance it… You’re right, darkness can devour light, but the light that’s devoured doesn’t disappear. It merely lies hidden in darkness, silently gathering strength. Once that strength erupts, even the deepest darkness will be dispelled in an instant!”

As soon as the words left his mouth, the left sleeve of his clothes suddenly exploded with a loud bang. On his exposed left arm, three sacred and holy hexagram magic arrays emitted a dazzling light. At the same time, the archangel Raphael’s body was engulfed in sacred flames, dispelling all the dark forces that bound him.

“Snap!”

The archangel clad in radiant armor stood up, gazing at the endless darkness with his sacred eyes. Then, he raised his right hand and pointed at the darkness, saying solemnly, “God said, ‘Let there be light!’”

In an instant, it seemed as though sacred light shone down from the sky, dispelling all darkness. Under this sacred force, the dark bear curled up, letting out a roar of discomfort.

“Salonia’s Great Prophecy Art?” Belial’s eyes showed shock.

The so-called Great Prophecy Art is not the same as astrology-based prophecy; there is a difference between the two.

Simply put, the Great Prophecy Art is also a magic that intrudes upon the realm of the gods. This is because it shares similarities with the power of the ancient wills—namely, deceiving the world and distorting laws.

For example, imagine a person walking on a road. If astrology predicts that he will fall, then there will be two possible futures: he falls or he doesn’t. What astrology predicts might just be one of them, deduced from various signs. That is the essence of astrology. Prophecy Art works in a similar way, just with a different name.

But the Great Prophecy Art is different. Even if the person won’t fall on that road, as long as the Great Prophecy Art determines that he will, a future in which he falls will inevitably occur. However, the success rate is directly related to the caster’s mastery of magic.

First, it deceives the world to arrive at a [conclusion], then forces the world to change its original path to conform to this [conclusion].

In other words, the sacred light that shone from the sky earlier actually didn’t exist originally. But the archangel Raphael subjectively “determined” its existence, using his will to “deceive” the world, thus arriving at the conclusion that “there should be light.” Therefore, to conform to this conclusion, the laws of the world caused this sacred light to appear.

This is the Great Prophecy Art—one of Salonia’s proud and closely guarded divine arts!

“Ah!” To Belial’s surprise, Sos didn’t hide it. With a light laugh, he whispered, “I said it before—Raphael is a warrior created by combining three sacred marks. Though his primary role is to spread the concept of God’s love for humanity and His glory as a Seraphim, he also possesses the combat skills of a Cherubim, the magic of an Ophanim, and a sacred domain of a Throne Angel…” As he spoke, he casually tore off his mostly torn shirt and raised his left arm. On his left arm, the three hexagram magic arrays continued to emit a dazzling light. Along with this light, sacred thorn patterns gradually spread, covering his entire left chest up to his heart.

Belial slightly opened his mouth, staring dazedly at the three hexagram magic arrays on Sos’s left arm. With self-mockery, he said, “It seems you have a good relationship with Salonia, huh? Not bad… Our paths are completely different; no wonder we can’t understand each other, heh!” His gaze turned cold, as if looking at a stranger, as he said in a deep voice, “But that’s fine too. At least I don’t have to worry about the guilt of killing the ‘me’ in this world anymore…”

“What do you mean?” Sos frowned, sensing some deeper meaning in Belial’s words.

Belial smiled faintly, revealing a cruel hint, and whispered, “It means I don’t want to play any more games with you!”

“You…”

Before Sos could finish speaking, an astonishing aura burst from Belial.

Under Sos’s horrified gaze, dark tattoos unique to apostles gradually appeared on Belial’s face and arms. Belial had finally unleashed the dark power belonging to Sloth.

Now, Belial was at least twice as strong as before. After all, for someone like Belial, what did doubling his strength even mean?

Feeling that overwhelming aura, Sos could only sense an indescribable emotion rising within him—despair? Frustration? Fear?

“That strong, a demi-god…” Sos swallowed hard, feeling his throat dry.

Belial clenched his right fist, staring at it for a long time. Suddenly, he raised his head, looking at Sos with a smirk, then abruptly opened his right hand.

In an instant, Sos felt as if he had been struck by an unstoppable force, his body flying backward. Fortunately, Seraphim Raphael noticed immediately and caught the falling Sos with his left hand.

“Ah, it’s been so long since I’ve used such powerful forces; I’m not sure how to handle them…” Belial clenched his right fist and smiled scornfully.
“…” Thors remained silent, striving to summon all the holy power within him. He was well aware that Belial’s current strength was no joke—even if he were protected by the Sacred Thorns, he wouldn’t be able to withstand a few of Belial’s attacks.
To Thors’s surprise, however, Belial didn’t attack. Instead, he looked at Thors with a smirk… no, at someone beside him.
Thors instinctively turned and was stunned to see Allen, Scott, and the five Immortal Kings had arrived beside him at some point, along with the two cardinals from the Church. Indeed, without the spells of the Fourth Demon Lord Simachimo, no matter how strong and brave the hundreds of Gushavos warriors were, they couldn’t alone resist the tens of thousands of human and undead troops. Aside from a few exceptional Gushavos warriors, such as the “Dragon Knight” Isido and the “Dragon Slaying Warrior” Isodar, most of the battlefield had already fallen under the control of the Allied forces.
Glancing at the two cardinals standing not far in front of him, Belial turned to look at the cross statue sealing Simachimo, shook his head, and chuckled, “I didn’t expect you to use such a method to deal with Simachimo. Not bad strategy!”
“Regrettably, we don’t want to accept your praise!” The Immortal King Utherd Baines, the Emperor of Corpse, sneered at Belial, raised his right hand, and said firmly, “Stop being stubborn, Belial! Hand over the Holy Spirit Stone—there’s still time to salvage this!”
“Hand it over now!” the other four Immortal Kings said in unison.
“Are you ordering me?” Belial’s gaze turned colder as he looked down on the crowd before him with disdain, sneering, “I hate it the most when people speak to me in this tone!”
“…” Though there was no threat in Belial’s words, the Immortal Kings still felt a shiver in their hearts.
After a few seconds of silence, the Immortal King Eynser Kravts, the Emperor of Bones, spoke in a deep voice, “It’s time to end this farce… You’re alone, while we here…” He glanced at the armies continuing to gather behind him, his meaning clear.
“Oh?” Belial smiled indifferently, neither praising nor criticizing, then turned to look at the battlefield.

The First Demon God, ‘Tyrant’ Baal, was tightly held by Nina; the Third Demon God, ‘Prophet’ Vashak, still kept Lilith from leaving; the Fourth Demon God, ‘Servant of Death’ Simachimo, was sealed; the Sixth Demon God, ‘Duke of Shadows’ Waliver, was busy dealing with a group of human archmages led by the old dean Gret Kaines and Professor Hode; the Eighth Demon God, Death Archer Babatos, and the Twelfth Demon God, ‘Archer of Doom’ Lelajin, continued their rivalry for the title of greatest archer; the Fifteenth Demon God, Berserker ‘Eliog’, had yet to determine a winner against the Sixty-sixth Demon God, ‘Dark Knight’ Simonley; the Thirty-eighth Demon God, ‘Seducer’ Hampa… well, his weak abilities meant he was already overwhelmed by a group of demons and couldn’t do much; as for the puppet demon ‘Dark King’ Cain, he was still engaged in a life-or-death struggle with ‘Governor of Light’ Besup.
In other words, Belial was now completely alone…
“It’s all over, Belial!”
“Over?” Looking at the Immortal King Edmund Pankhes, the Bone Emperor, who spoke those words, Belial laughed heartily and sneered, “I, Belial, am still alive. How can it be over?”
The Immortal Kings fell silent. They knew that as long as Belial was alive, the battle wasn’t over.
But Vandor’s black magicians didn’t understand Belial’s strength. The vast gap in power made it impossible for them to realize just how terrifying this man really was. One of the black magicians even said with mockery, “Do you really think you can take on all of us alone?”
“Why not?” Belial chuckled lightly, suddenly raising his right hand and opening it. Instantly, a trident-shaped magic array appeared before everyone present without any warning.
[Mirror Flower]!
Oh no! Thos thought to himself, panicking, and instinctively shouted, “Danger! Get away from here!” He grabbed Allen by the collar and vanished from the spot, as Allen didn’t know how to use teleportation.
“Huh?” Some of the black magicians stared in surprise at Thos disappearing, then looked at the countless trident-shaped magic arrays in confusion. Suddenly, they saw a brilliant beam of light shoot out from those arrays, and then their consciousnesses vanished…

“Hey…” When Allen reappeared in the same spot, he was stunned. Just moments ago, there had been countless skeletons and hundreds of black magicians here, but now they were all gone…
“What’s going on?” Scott, who had managed to avoid all the beams thanks to Thors’ warning, also stared in shock at the empty surroundings, swallowing hard.
Including the skeletons, there must have been at least several thousand people here, but in an instant, less than a hundred remained…
Suddenly, he spotted the Immortal King Edmund Pankhes, the Bone Emperor. His arm had been touched by the beams from the mirage, causing it to start disintegrating. Fortunately, the Immortal King acted quickly and severed his own arm with his weapon.
Staring at the arm that fell to the ground and quickly disintegrated, Scott was too shocked to speak.
“This is the terrifying power displayed by those who master the Source Energy!” The Immortal King, having lost an arm, showed no signs of discomfort. He looked at Belial and said gravely, “Against someone like this, having more people might not help, but it can at least drain his energy…” As he spoke, he glanced around and asked in surprise, “Where’s Belial?”
Scott pushed his glasses up with his trembling right hand and pointed behind the Immortal King…
“What?” The Immortal King Edmund Pankhes, the Bone Emperor,’s expression changed instantly as he turned around—only to see a hand pressed against his forehead…
“Boom!”
Bones scattered everywhere…
“Pankhes?!” The other four Immortal Kings’ expressions shifted dramatically as they glared angrily at Belial, only to find that he had already vanished from that spot.
“Boom!”
Another Immortal King’s massive body collapsed suddenly…
“Boom!”
The third one…
“Boom!”
The fourth one…
It was impossible to track Belial’s movements. In just over ten seconds, he had killed four Immortal Kings, leaving only Eirwen Krautz, the Bone Emperor. After all, these Immortal Kings no longer had the protection of the Death Realm. Once lost, that meant true death—unless they could retrieve the Holy Spirit Stone to restore balance to the Death Realm.
“Belial!” Amid Thors’ shouts, Belial appeared in front of Eirwen Krautz, the Bone Emperor. As soon as Thors finished speaking, the head of this last Immortal King also fell, rolling a few times before landing about four or five yards in front of Thors…

“That’s bad!” Turning around, Beryll glanced at Sos with a light laugh, speaking with a hint of schadenfreude, “Not only can’t you take back the Holy Spirit Stone from me, but even if you did, you don’t know how to restore the Land of Death… Hehe!”
“Damn it…”
Yet, Eynser Kravts, the Emperor of Bones, was not yet dead. Hearing Beryll’s words, he hurriedly said, “Humans, take back the Holy Spirit Stone and release its energy in a place filled with the aura of death to…” His voice suddenly stopped.
For with a crackling sound, the head of this immortal king was crushed under Beryll’s foot.
“Stop talking nonsense, you dead guy!”
When the last immortal king died, a series of crackling sounds suddenly filled the battlefield—the sound of the undead army collapsing. All the skeletons shattered in an instant, leaving only the souls of human magicians like the old dean and some liches. After all, these skeletons were creatures born in the Land of Death, created by the power of death. Once the last immortal king died, it meant the complete destruction of the Land of Death, and naturally, these creatures dependent on it also disappeared.
In the end, only the human army remained on the battlefield—thousands of humans who had been devastated by Beryll’s power…
“Beryll!”
Sos was enraged by Beryll’s actions, for Beryll had not only ended the lives of the immortal kings but also all the creatures in this world. As he said, without the immortal kings, Sos and the others had no idea how to use the Holy Spirit Stone to restore the ruined Land of Death.
“Don’t be impulsive, Sos!” Allen and Scott quickly pulled back the angry Sos, staring at Beryll, who continued to laugh maniacally.
“Hahaha! You can’t stop this anymore!” Beryll laughed wildly, fully utilizing [Mirage] to kill all humans within its range.
Under the power of the Source Energy, nothing could withstand Beryll’s force—rocks, barriers, puppets, summoned beasts—anything touched by the beam of [Mirage] would gradually disintegrate and vanish.
“Beryll!”

“Angry? Volmon Klaest?” Belial sneered at Thors, whose shoulders were firmly pressed down by Allen and Scott. “Who to blame? Blame your own weakness—weakness is also a crime!” With that, he raised his right hand and pointed vaguely at Thors and the others, saying calmly, “I remember you saying you wanted to end this game, right? I’d be happy to fulfill your wish!”
As he spoke, Belial’s face suddenly turned pale and bloodless. His body swayed, and he staggered, nearly falling to the ground.
“…”
Under the puzzled gazes of Thors and the others, Belial knelt on the ground, one hand tightly pressed against his forehead, emitting pained cries.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Allen asked in a strange tone, speaking softly.
“I don’t know,” Thors said, shaking his head and frowning. “But I can sense Belial’s energy is in chaos…”
“Could it be…” Scott pushed up his glasses and gave Allen and Thors a glance.
Could it be…
Has he finally reached his limit?
This man, unrecognized by the world, can no longer bear the pain of his increasingly weakened soul—has he finally reached his limit?
As Thors and the others guessed, the dark bear behind Belial vanished like bubbles. He seemed to be suffering unbearable pain.
Perhaps due to the extreme pain, Belial began to wildly unleash magic, attacking everything around him indiscriminately. In an instant, the entire battlefield was covered with glowing marks, dense as a sea of flowers.
“Ah! Ah!”
Thors, along with Allen and Scott, quickly retreated far away, watching as Belial frantically used magic to vent his pain.
“Lord Belial?”
“Lord Belial?!”
“Lord Belial?”
“Master! It’s me, Cain!”
The demons loyal to Belial seemed to notice something was wrong with him and quickly approached him. If not for Cain stopping Belial’s frenzied attacks in time, most of those demons would have died at his hands.
“What’s going on, Thors?” Nina appeared beside Thors using a teleportation spell, asking anxiously.
“I don’t know. Maybe Belial has reached his limit. He’s been in this world for almost a year. Even an ordinary magician couldn’t last three days, let alone Belial—his soul probably can’t take it anymore.”

“…” Looking at Belial, who was emitting pained sounds in the distance, Nina let out a soft sigh. She then examined Thors’s body for a long time, relieved to see that he only had minor injuries. With concern, she touched his wounds, making Thors feel extremely uncomfortable.
“What do we do now?” Allen asked in a strange tone.
“Do you still need to ask? Of course we should take this opportunity to retrieve that stone, idiot!” Lilith, who had arrived shortly after, snapped angrily. It wasn’t surprising her tone was so harsh—after all, she was filled with anger toward the Third Demon Lord Vashak.
Her own strength was far greater than his, yet she couldn’t even land a hit on him. One could imagine how frustrated Lilith must be.
“But it seems a bit wrong to do this under these circumstances…” Ulric, the upright vampire, hesitated. “It feels like taking advantage of them when they’re vulnerable…”
“Are we supposed to wait until that guy recovers before acting?” Connel, the werewolf, sneered. “Didn’t you see the attack just now? One Belial could kill us all!”
“Anyway, we must retrieve the Holy Spirit Stone first!” The steady old dean thought for a moment before saying to Thors, “I believe Belial is now unable to fight. We can declare a truce with them—provided they hand over the Holy Spirit Stone, we’ll let them go!”
“Let them go?” Professor Hode was bewildered. “We’ve sacrificed so many warriors for this battle. We can’t just let them leave like that!”
“But Belial still possesses immense power. You saw the strength of those spells just now. If things go wrong, we won’t even need the Eye of Chaos—just Belial alone might destroy this world…” The necromancer Puhl expressed his concern.
“Hmph!” As soon as those words were spoken, Neomi Metment, the cardinal of the Church, snorted angrily. “To sacrifice for the world, for justice, for my Lord—his followers never fear!—We must not let these dark pagans go. Darkness must be eradicated, and all pagans should be nailed to crosses!”
Yet his extreme remarks offended Connel, Lilith, and the nearby necromancers and dark magicians greatly.

“Alright, alright,” seemingly noticing the expressions of those waiting around, Cardinal Alma Bird coughed and said to Thors, “Lord Klaest, the Supreme Council has appointed you as the leader of this operation. It’s up to you to make the decision! We… we don’t have time…” As he spoke, he looked up at the sky, toward the Eye of Chaos, which was getting closer and closer to this world.

Yet at that moment, hurried footsteps were heard in the distance, followed by a mocking voice laced with sarcasm.

“No time? Huh? Does that mean it’s almost over? Oh no, that won’t do! I just arrived!”

“Hm?” Thors instinctively turned his head and was shocked to see a group of people appear out of nowhere in the distance. Judging from their attire…

“Royal magicians?” Scott was stunned.

Suddenly, Lilith’s expression became very strange as she stared at one of the royal magicians and exclaimed in surprise, “You… what are you doing here? Vincent Flores!”

“Oh my, is that the tone one should use toward one’s husband? My dear wife!” Under Lilith’s astonished gaze, the man—Vincent Flores—removed the hood from his cloak and said mockingly, “What am I doing? Of course, I’m here to clean up the battlefield! Right, Lord Belfort?”

Amidst everyone’s stunned looks, Jerry Belfort had somehow already stood next to Vincent Flores and said in a low voice, “Yes, that’s right, Lord Flores!”

“You…”

Watching the other party’s clearly malicious smile, Thors and the others furrowed their brows deeply.