Chapter 527: Horrors Of Dantalion

"Hahahaha! Hahahahaha!" Damian’s cold laughter echoed through the darkness of Realm Zero, devoid of amusement and carrying only a chilling sense of defiance.

The sound twisted through the several tendrils surrounding him, and every face of Dantalion turned toward him with a deadly frown.

Damian’s battered body trembled from exhaustion, blood running down his pale skin, yet the coldness in his eyes remained unchanged. He slowly raised his fan before snapping it shut, and the ceremonial robes covering his body suddenly ignited in purple flames. The flames crawled over his body and consumed the robes in an instant, replacing them with a black hanfu adorned with intricate fox motifs that seemed to shift whenever the surrounding darkness moved.

His sleeves hung loosely around his arms while the hem of the garment drifted in the nonexistent wind of Realm Zero, giving him an appearance far removed from the exhausted figure who had been fighting moments earlier.

Demonic Armament!

Dreg Dantalion giggled sinisterly when he saw the transformation, his grin widening as he watched Damian prepare himself.

"I will take that as a no." Dantalion’s eyes narrowed.

"Of course. Just like you I have dedicated too much to my goal to turn back now. If you plan to take my inheritance. You must first take my life!" Damian hissed, his voice carrying through the darkness with absolute conviction.

Strangely, every one of Dantalion’s faces smiled at the same time, their expressions almost identical, as though they had been waiting for those exact words.

"With pleasure!" They chorused together before their bodies exploded into motion.

Swoosh! Dreg Dantalion shot forward like a black blur, his body phasing between the surrounding darkness as he attempted to reach Damian before the other manifestations could interfere.

Damian turned his body at the last possible moment, his black sleeves sweeping through the air as he swung his fan outward and released a torrent of azure blue flames.

"Soul Lantern!"

The flames erupted into a raging sea that spread across the darkness like a tidal wave, illuminating Realm Zero with brilliant blue light. Dreg Dantalion’s expression immediately changed as the flames raced toward him.

"Bastard!" he screamed in terror, hastily twisting his body and attempting to escape, but the sheer size of the attack made evasion impossible.

The azure flames swallowed him completely, and his pained screams rang through the darkness as the Soul Lantern devoured his form. Damian did not even spare him another glance before sensing movement behind him.

Swoosh!

He looked over his shoulder as a massive three faced energy avatar of himself manifested from his body, towering over the battlefield with six enormous arms. The Ashura construct moved with frightening speed, one pair of hands catching the Kosak ice spear before crushing it with sheer force while the remaining arms deflected attacks coming from the Blood Demon and Lycan manifestations.

The impact sent fragments of frozen energy scattering through the darkness as Damian continued moving without hesitation, forcing the Dantalion manifestations to retreat and regroup.

"Ashura!"

The Dantalions frowned, recognizing the technique, but their expressions soon changed when hundreds of rusted weapons silently emerged from the void around them, their battered blades, spears, axes and swords hovering in complete silence with their tips pointed directly toward Dantalion’s manifestations.

Damian’s eyes gleamed coldly as he raised his fan. "If you weren’t so busy terrorizing demons, you would have known my capabilities!" Damian hissed.

Swoosh!

The weapons suddenly swarmed from every direction, turning the darkness into a storm of rusted steel. Lycan Dantalion reacted immediately, pressing his claws forward while assuming a strange but remarkably composed stance.

Werewolf Martial Art: Brilliant Claw!

Pale moonlight escaped from his claws as he moved. His hands flowed through the air with such fluidity and precision that even Damian’s exhausted eyes sharpened with interest. Every movement seemed to anticipate the trajectory of the incoming weapons before they even reached him.

Peng! Peng!

Peng! Peng!

Each blade was parried, redirected or struck aside, and every movement of Lycan Dantalion left a trail of pale moonlight behind his claws.

Damian watched carefully, memorizing every motion despite the battle raging around him. The technique was beautiful in its simplicity, relying on perfect timing, body control and the ability to redirect an opponent’s force rather than meeting it directly.

Damian had no intention of wasting such an opportunity to learn. While Lycan Dantalion defended against the weapons, Blood Demon Dantalion raised one finger and pointed it toward Damian like the barrel of a gun.

"Blood Demon: Finger Bullet!" Bang! A single drop of blood shot forward with terrifying speed, cutting through the darkness like a crimson streak.

It struck the Ashura construct and punched through its energy before impacting Damian’s shoulder, but the Demonic Armament absorbed the attack before it could pierce his flesh.

Damian jerked backward, his expression twisting with genuine pain and surprise as the force pushed him several meters through the air. He looked down at the blood staining his black hanfu before narrowing his eyes.

Something as simple as a single drop of blood had nearly pierced through him. If not for his Demonic Armament, the attack would have gone straight through his body.

"Die then!" Damian hissed, extending his hand and ordering the Ashura construct to attack, but nothing happened.

His brow furrowed as he looked toward the massive avatar, only for his eyes to widen when he saw most of its body had become coated in thick layers of ice. Damian followed the frozen surface toward its source and immediately saw the hand that had previously held the shattered Kosak ice spear.

From that point, the ice had spread rapidly across the construct’s enormous body, freezing its movements one section at a time.

"You underestimate the power of demon clans simply because those who possess it are nowhere near your level, but in the hands of a true demon like myself you will find out just how powerful they are!" Kasok Dantalion sneered while standing atop the head of an enormous ice wyvern.

He jumped from its head and sent the creature flying toward Damian’s Ashura construct. The wyvern struck the frozen avatar with tremendous force, and the remaining body of the construct was instantly encased in ice, leaving it completely immobilized. Damian clicked his tongue as the three manifestations closed in on him.

"Let’s end this!" Blood Demon Dantalion thrust his palm forward, unleashing a massive blood palm that tore through the darkness toward Damian.

At the same time, Lycan Dantalion brandished his claws and released a pale moonlight attack shaped like enormous claws, while Kasok Dantalion summoned a massive rotating ice drill and launched it toward Damian with enough force to tear through the surrounding space.

"Vanish, young prince!" all three roared together.

"You would love that, wouldn’t you?" Damian’s cold voice suddenly rang from within the frozen Ashura construct.

A faint pink ripple spread across the surface of the ice, and before any of the three manifestations could react, Damian’s figure vanished from their sight.

Swish!

"Illusionary Domain!"

Pink light spread across the battlefield like a wave, and all three Dantalion manifestations froze in place as their eyes turned pink. Their bodies remained motionless while their minds were dragged into a fantasy created entirely by Damian, a world where every one of them believed they had successfully overwhelmed and defeated him.

BOOM!

The three attacks collided with the frozen Ashura construct regardless, erupting into a violent explosion that engulfed the surrounding darkness. Ice shattered, blood energy detonated and pale moonlight tore through the flames, but the destruction was not enough to kill Damian.

His battered body emerged from the chaos moments later, blood running from multiple wounds as he levitated toward the three motionless manifestations. Their bodies were still trapped inside the Illusionary Domain, completely unaware that their supposed victory existed only inside their own minds.

Damian lifted his fan and calmly waved it once.

Swish!

Three heads were severed and sent flying into the darkness, gray blood spraying from their necks as their bodies collapsed.

"Huff." Damian exhaled slowly, his entire body trembling from cold and exhaustion as he lowered his fan.

The fight had pushed him closer to his limits than he wanted to admit, and even standing upright was beginning to require conscious effort. He looked upward and immediately saw the Abyss surrounded by several hostile manifestations, countless tendrils converging upon the Black Knight while black arcs of energy tore through the darkness.

Every time one of the tendrils approached, a black arc sliced through it, destroying the manifestation before it could reach its target.

The sight was almost impossible to follow, the Abyss fighting against Dantalion’s manifestations while Damian struggled to reach the central entity. Then a furious roar shook Realm Zero.

"ROOOOOAAAAAAAAARRRRRR!" Abel emerged from the depths of the darkness like a black comet, his jaws clamped around the Draconian Dantalion manifestation.

The creature struggled violently between his teeth before Abel bit down, crushing its body as black energy consumed it and reduced the manifestation to dust. Abel immediately turned toward Damian.

"Get on!" he roared, and Damian nodded without hesitation.

Thud!

Damian landed on Abel’s head and immediately sat down in a cross legged position, forcing his trembling body to remain still as Abel surged upward through the darkness. The black dragon accelerated rapidly, weaving between enormous tendrils while Damian watched the battle below.

"You will not reach me!" Dantalion’s voice boomed from the massive gray eye at the center of his colossal form, the eye glowing intensely as an enormous amount of power gathered around it.

Abel’s expression hardened. "Here it comes!" he warned, and Damian’s eyes narrowed dangerously as he looked ahead.

He noticed several enormous tendrils changing direction and focusing entirely on the Abyss, their movements no longer aimed at killing him but at holding him back.

Damian immediately understood what Dantalion was attempting. "It’s power is finite. Once its tendrils are completely destroyed, we will be able to strike it down finally."

Damian hissed as he extended his hand fan. Purple flames erupted across its surface, followed by azure blue flames and darker energies twisting around one another as his power gathered. Abel opened his jaws, revealing thunder rolling violently within his mouth as electricity illuminated his sharp teeth. Damian looked toward the massive gray eye, his expression becoming increasingly malicious as he raised his fan.

"That’s the spirit!" Abel growled, his body accelerating toward the enemy. Damian’s lips curled into a cold smile as the flames around his fan surged wildly.

"COME!" Damian and Abel roared together, their voices echoing through the endless darkness as they charged directly toward Dantalion’s colossal form.