Chapter 517: Duke Dantalion

"AS YOU WISH!"

A cold and heavy voice came out from nowhere in response to Damian’s challenge, and the entire world began trembling violently. The ground beneath the execution square shook as if something enormous was moving beneath the city, while the surrounding buildings warped and twisted, their shapes stretching unnaturally before snapping back into place.

The air itself seemed to distort, and for a moment the citizens could no longer tell whether they were standing beneath the sky or inside some enormous living creature.

Then the sunlight vanished.

The sun was suddenly replaced by a pale moon hanging within a pitch black sky, and the heavens above Velmora pressed downward, gradually taking the shape of an enormous human face.

Hundreds of smaller faces emerged around the massive one, each belonging to a different race, some demonic, some humanoid and some completely unfamiliar, their mouths stretching open as they erupted into bone chilling laughter that rolled across the city.

The sound was so unnatural that thousands of citizens instinctively covered their ears, while others simply froze where they stood, their faces turning pale as they stared upward in terror.

The silence of the citizens was immediately contrasted by tens of thousands of cloaked figures hidden throughout the crowd. They erupted into cheers, throwing weapons into the air as they finally abandoned their disguises.

Swords, spears and demonic weapons emerged from beneath robes as the Order of Demons revealed itself in the middle of the city square. Soldiers surrounding the execution site immediately raised their weapons, but the sheer number of enemies appearing among the civilians caused hesitation to spread through the ranks.

Amidst the crowd, Astaroth slowly raised his head, revealing part of his face beneath his cloak as he stared toward the monstrous face in the heavens. His expression became vicious, and his reptilian eyes narrowed with recognition.

"Dantalion... You scum, so you were the one behind all of this...." he hissed coldly, his fingers tightening beneath his cloak as the implications became clear.

Somewhere else within the crowd, a lone figure stood completely still, a tiny lion resting invisibly upon his shoulder where nobody else could perceive it. The figure lifted his head toward the heavens, revealing only a portion of his burning golden eyes, which shone brightly like a pair of suns.

"Duke Dantalion... That swine was actually the true face behind the order of demons..." he hissed coldly, while the tiny lion on his shoulder stared upward with a serious expression.

On the execution platform, the terror that had seized Duke Darbin and the other prisoners began to disappear. Their eyes widened with excitement as they looked toward the monstrous face in the sky.

If anyone could save them from Damian, surely it would be Duke Dantalion. Damian, however, paid little attention to their renewed confidence. His expression hardened as he felt the immense presence descending upon Velmora.

"This..." Damian frowned, immediately recognizing the pressure.

The last time he had experienced a presence of this magnitude had been when Belial attempted to invade Earth. He could tell immediately that Dantalion had not reached the God realm, but his strength was dangerously close to it. The sheer quality of his presence was enough to make Damian’s instincts warn him that this was an opponent unlike any he had faced since awakening.

’Duke Dantalion? Why is he here?!!!’ Rin’s panicked voice suddenly echoed inside Damian’s mind, and the sheer terror in it made Damian’s eyes narrow.

Never in his life had he heard his partner sound this frightened except when speaking about Sol.

’Who is he?’ Damian asked, unable to hide his concern.

Rin’s gaze remained fixed upon the heavens as he answered, ’Amongst the Council of Elders, Astaroth might stand at the top and has been elected the leader of all demons, but the oldest and most powerful has always been Dantalion. However, he is also the most feared as well.’

Damian’s expression became increasingly serious as Rin continued.

’How?’ Damian asked. ’What can be more terrifying than a dragon except for Sol?’

Rin hesitated before answering, ’An anomaly that possesses an affinity to all demon races in existence.’

"What?!" Damian blurted out in the open, causing several nearby soldiers to glance toward him in confusion.

Rin’s voice became quieter. ’He is everything and anything... He sees everything and anything.... He is all and nothing!’

Damian slowly raised his face again, and what he saw made even his confidence falter for a moment. The enormous face in the heavens was pressing closer toward the execution stand, while cracks spread across the darkened sky as though reality itself was beginning to fracture beneath Dantalion’s descent.

"Little fox, you have caused enough trouble and killed enough of my followers... Are you prepared to pay the ultimate price?" Dantalion’s voice boomed from the heavens, shaking the buildings around the square.

Every eye turned toward Damian. Millions of citizens, soldiers, hidden Order members and even the prisoners waited to see what the Prince of Velmora would do. The expectation was almost tangible.

If Damian backed down now, the fear surrounding the Order would become absolute, and everything he had built over the past several months could collapse in an instant.

Damian looked toward the five prisoners, then toward the enormous face hanging above him. His expression remained strangely calm. For several seconds he simply stood there, allowing the tension to spread through the square.

Then he moved.

Swish!

Pfft!

Everyone’s eyes dilated in shock as five heads suddenly flew through the air, spinning rapidly as blood erupted from the severed necks.

Duke Darbin, Lilith, Malakor, Sargathis and the false Amon collapsed almost simultaneously, their headless bodies crashing onto the execution platform as their heads rolled across the stone beside them.

Their eyes remained widened in disbelief even after death. None of them had expected Damian to actually execute them while facing a figure as powerful as Dantalion.

The crowd itself seemed to stop breathing. Damian slowly lowered his hand, blood dripping from his fingers as he stared directly toward the monstrous face in the sky.

"And now I have killed five more. Why don’t you come down here and show me what you’re going to do about it" Damian hissed coldly.

For a moment even Sol and Leo were overwhelmed by the sheer audacity of what they had witnessed, but the shock slowly twisted into a crazed smile across Sol’s face.

"That crazy bastard...." Sol grinned like a mad man, while Leo’s tiny cub face remained twisted with disbelief. "He actually went through with it."

Astaroth, meanwhile, could not stop the smile spreading across his face. A cold laugh escaped him as he covered the left side of his face with his palm, his wide grin revealing his fangs.

"This kid..." he gasped with ecstasy.

Kaja and Cain were completely tongue tied, as were Damian’s ministers and generals, all of whom stared toward the execution platform as though they were watching someone deliberately challenge death itself.

"HUMANNNN!!!!!!"

KRASH!

The heavens exploded.

A fifteen foot figure descended through the broken sky, dressed in black robes with pale white skin stretched tightly across an emaciated body. Its huge bald human face was completely disproportionate to its body, while hundreds of other faces resembling countless different races covered its form.

Behind it, the broken sky revealed the dark emptiness of the void, and a powerful suction force erupted from the rupture as reality struggled to pull itself back together.

The sight finally shattered whatever courage remained among the civilians.

Panic exploded throughout the square as people shoved one another aside, desperately trying to escape the city. Yet millions had been packed into the streets for the execution, and their sheer numbers made escape nearly impossible. People trampled over fallen bodies while soldiers attempted to maintain order, only for the chaos to spread even further.

From the broken void, a pair of megalithic lanky fingers tipped with long black claws reached outward and grabbed the edge of the rupture. Massive feet followed as the creature dragged itself completely into the world. Damian stared across the battlefield at the pale humanoid figure, which looked like an overgrown, emaciated child with pitch black eyes. It lowered its head toward him, and its grotesque mouth opened as saliva dripped between its teeth.

"Langi Kill... Langi feast!" it rasped before suddenly launching itself forward.

Bam!

Langi’s massive body shot through the air with terrifying speed, its claws reaching toward Damian. Yet Damian did not retreat.

He simply raised his right hand and struck outward with his fingers extended like a claw. The instant his attack connected, Langi’s enormous head twisted violently as though invisible razor sharp teeth had torn through its flesh.

Its neck ruptured in an instant, and its head was completely ripped from its body as blood sprayed across the air. The headless corpse continued flying forward from its momentum, passing Damian before crashing directly into the execution platform.

The massive impact destroyed the platform and sent the wreckage smashing into the enormous building behind it, causing stone and debris to collapse into the streets.

Damian stood motionless amid the destruction as the blood slowly evaporated from his hand. Behind him, the vague megalithic frame of a transparent fox began taking shape, its enormous body stretching toward the heavens as nine immense tails unfurled behind it. Its translucent face twisted into a monstrous expression before its roar erupted across Velmora.

ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!

"World Devouring Maw!"

The roar tore through the heavens with enough force to send shockwaves across the entire city. Even those who had been fleeing suddenly froze, their heads snapping toward Damian as their eyes widened.

They watched him raise his head toward Dantalion without the slightest trace of fear.

"BE IT MORTAL, DEMI GOD OR GOD. ALL ARE THE SAME IN THE PRESENCE OF THIS FOX. YOU ARE NO DIFFERENT!" His voice boomed across Velmora, carrying through the streets and reaching every citizen, every soldier and every hidden member of the Order.

For several seconds, nobody moved.

Then the square erupted.

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"

A deafening cheer exploded amongst the people below, their fear momentarily replaced by something far more intoxicating.

Even those who had been certain that the Prince would finally be crushed by the Order now stared at him with renewed conviction.