Ubist arose from the darkness and bit a baby Mamonas's tail. Then, it ripped it off as if it were taking a huge bite from a hamburger.

Before the insatiable Abyss Predator, souls were nothing more than prey.

Kuheong!

The baby Mamonas opened its mouth and tried to consume Ubist instead. 'You're not the only one with a mouth!'

Ubist and the baby Mamonas tangled together. However, Ubist's ferocity and appetite had no equal.

It didn't even take 30 seconds for it to devour the baby Mamonas.

However...

Ubist wasn't satisfied. On the contrary, it felt hungrier, even though it had already consumed five baby Mamonas.

'I want to eat even more!'

Ubist's eyes glowed a fierce red.

Grr.

It snarled, melded with the darkness, and then sought its next prey in order to sate its appetite.

Ubist headed for the gigantic monster, the Mamonas.

* * *

If the Mamonas was a legendary monster, then the Soul Guardians were the legendary heroes that fought monsters like it.

The Great Hero, Javen!

The Legendary Knight, Grande Loxia!

The God of Fighting, Khan!

The Orc Revolutionist, Howlka!

The Triple Master, Kunta!

They each dealt with a Mamonas on their own, yet they had no problem taking care of them.

Loxia's blade radiated a shining silver aura that was dozens of meters long.

Holy Sword Excurion!

Only a Knight that had attained the rank of Grandmaster could use this unmatched secret move!

Before the legendary knight and this holy sword, the Mamonas was nothing more than a pathetic monster.

Tasha aided him with her blood red energy. Once Kang Oh mastered Devil Trigger, she was able to use her full power, the power that made her feared as the Great Forest's Demon.

Thus, she didn't hold him back.

The God of Fighting, Khan, increased the size of his body and pummeled the Mamonas. It looked like he was 4 meters tall. Plus, his body flickered with golden light.

Great King's Descent!

He had studied the Great King fighting style all his life, and Great King's Descent was one of its secret moves. It was only available to those who learned the style, so he couldn't teach it to Nile.

Boom!

There was so much force behind his fist that it went 'boom'. His fists left dozens of craters on the Mamonas's body; it was as if you were looking at the surface of the moon.

But the Mamonas didn't just sit idly by. It unleashed its explosive spheres at Khan.

Khan swung his arms, and softly repelled the explosives with the back of his hand.

Despite that, none of the explosives blew up. He had simply changed their direction.

His skill was unmatched.

Khan raised his foot vertically.

Rising Dragon!

Like an erupting volcano, gigantic energy rose from his foot and struck the Mamonas's lower stomach area.

Then, he thrust his fist.

Great King Style: Hit!

His fist unleashed gigantic energy like a meteor, piercing through the Mamonas's body.

It sure was a good sandbag.

The Orc Hero, Howlka, always had three secret moves active, which happened to be passive abilities.

Deep-Rooted Tree!

Eternal Fighting Spirit!

The Last Warrior!

All of these secret moves explosively increased Howlka's abilities. Most of Howlka's skills were passives, which augmented his physical abilities.

Strictly in terms of physical abilities, Howlka was the best among the Soul Guardians.

No, you couldn't find anyone who could match Howlka's stats in the entire underworld. His stats were higher than a dragon's!

Of course, that applied to the Mamonas too.

To put it simply, he was a stat monster.

The legendary axe, 'History of Battle', which was regarded by the orcs as a treasure, was swung again and again. That's it.

He just took most of the Mamonas's tentacles and bombs with his body.

The Mamonas was being ripped apart, but Howlka was completely unscathed.

Howlka was the very definition of 'simple is best!'.

On the contrary, Kunta was extremely talented. He was a master of swordsmanship, wizardry, and archery!

However, he was empty-handed. It was because he had no need for a weapon.

If he made a hand blade, a glimmering sword would shoot out of it, and if he pointed his finger at a target, then a magical arrow would go flying at them. Incantations were meaningless for him; he could cast whatever spell he wanted without delay.

Kunta's fighting style was basically an upgraded version of Bart's. He used the skill or spell that matched the situation.

He used Swordsman secret moves, cast grand magic, or filled the sky with glimmering magic arrows.

In Arth's history, a Triple Master was far rarer than a Grandmaster.

In terms of sheer 'talent', Kunta was the best amongst the Soul Guardians.

However...!

If Kang Oh were to pick the strongest Soul Guardian, he would, without hesitation, pick Javen.

Not only did he possess the world's most powerful sword, but his swordsmanship was also without equal!

If Kunta was a better version of Bart, then Javen was a better version of Valan.

He was also Kang Oh's ideal.

The Mamonas was no match for Javen.

Ultimately, the Mamonas were fated to either lose or die by their hands.

* * *

Demon Sword Chow!

This sword, which was crafted by the legendary swordsmith, Max, held no demon within it. In exchange, it possessed the demon's horn.

Have you heard of a Unicorn?

It was a snow-white horse with a horn on its head. Legends say that it was born from the light itself, and it was a mythological creature like Wukong or the Phoenix.

The Unicorn was also one of the four legendary beasts that Acasus had tamed.

Chow was also a Unicorn.

However, it was born from the darkness, not the light, and possessed hair darker than the deepest black.

Also, it was said that its horn radiated lightning that originated from the darkness.

These were just stories.

Although Acasus had proved that the Unicorn existed, there was no proof that the Chow did. Until Max had coincidentally found a Chow's horn, that is.

He had recreated the Chow's horn through memory, and used it as the core for Demon Sword Chow.

Whir!

Kang Oh's body was half emerald spirit, half black-furred beast!

He held a giant wing-shaped sword in one hand, and an ultra-large, triangular sword in the other.

Crackle!

The furred part of his body radiated fierce lightning.

However, the lightning traveled to the other side of his body and attacked it! The spirit side likewise unleashed mighty energy, which burned the fur.

[Demon Sword Homura and Demon Sword Chow's energy has come into conflict.]

[HP has been reduced.]

This was the first time this had happened to him.

The two demon swords refused each other. It was as if they were water and oil.

Kang Oh gritted his teeth.

Was there some sort of grudge between Chow and Homura that he wasn't aware of?

He soon shook his head.

Chow wasn't actually in there; only its horn was. So it wasn't two self-aware demons fighting against each other.

He suddenly remembered what Sun Lei had warned him about. 'Don't use it with another demon sword.'

'They did something to these swords!'

Sun Lei had definitely made it so that his demon sword was incompatible with any other demon sword.

However...!

Max Chow had struck first. Only after that did Homura fight back.

In other words...!

Sun Lei and Max had both set up their demon swords so that they'd be unable to be used with others!

'You idiots!'

Kang Oh was pissed.

What if he was in the thick of things, used both of the demon swords simultaneously, but found that they conflicted with each other?

It was like a soldier's gun malfunctioning in the heat of battle. But the reason he was pissed was because this was no accident; they had purposefully put in a design flaw into their blades.

Even so, he didn't want to use the swords as Max and Sun Lei wanted. Now that it has come to this...

'I'm doing whatever it takes to use them together.'

When he came back from this, he would stand in front of Max and Sun Lei and say, 'These demon swords are the worst!'.

He needed to live through this so he could see their shitty expressions.

'Yeah, let's do this!'

"Hoo." Kang Oh calmed himself down and quickly took a deep breath.

His companions were bombarding the Mamonas with long-range attacks.

Ubist consumed its tentacles like well-grilled squid. As it did, its body steadily grew larger and larger.

"Eder," Kang Oh said.

"Yes."

"I want you to protect me."

"Why?"

"I have something I need to do."

"Something you need to do?" Eder tilted his head.

Then, Kang Oh crossed his two demon swords.

"I accept the demon swords' trial!"

[You are the master of all demon swords. There is no need for you to accept the trial. Do you still wish to take part?]

"Yeah!"

[Demon Sword Homura and Demon Sword Chow's combined trial will now begin!]

The landscape in front of him changed.

* * *

He was greeted by the sight of a gray wasteland.

The sky was filled with dark clouds, and sharp winds that'd cut the flesh off one's bones blew.

Crackle!

The clap of thunder rang out, and lightning descended from the sky; it was so intense that it seemed like it'd rip the world in two.

In the midst of that...

Homura was there.

It was a giant bird that radiated emerald light. Like all spirits, its body was transparent. However, its eyes glowed with wicked light, and it let out sharp, shrill cries.

There was a giant black horse there too.

It was the Unicorn born of darkness, the Chow.

Why was that there?

Demon Sword Chow didn't have a demon sealed within it.

When he took a closer look at it, he noticed that only its horn was clearly visible; the rest of it was faint, almost like a ghost.

It wasn't the real thing; it was just a manifestation of the Chow's powers and memories.

Homura and Chow attacked each other. The Great Spirit unleashed an emerald whirlwind, while Chow shot black lightning from its horn.

Two 'demons' were fighting against each other!

Homura's power was obviously greater.

However, shining letters appeared on Chow's body. Then, Chow's lightning became thicker and even more powerful than before.

Max had told him that the sword would amplify Chow's power. It seemed like that was what he was talking about.

Homura and Chow were so busy fighting each other that they ignored Kang Oh entirely. Despite the fact that this was the Trial of the Demon Sword.

Kang Oh looked down at his hands. The wing-shaped sword and the triangular sword were in his hands, though he couldn't sense the power of darkness within them anymore.

Yeah, they were big and tough...

'Clubs!'

Kang Oh strode forward, dragging the two giant swords across the ground.

It's like his parents said, 'Disobedient children need to be punished!'.

* * *

Eder stared at Kang Oh.

His appearance was truly strange.

Half of his body looked like a beast, while the other half looked like a spirit. It wasn't like he was ordering half fried and half marinated chicken, which was popular in Arth right now.

Moreover, the two sides were attacking each other. Eder pulled out a health potion from his bag and poured it over Kang Oh's body.

'He'll take care of it.'

All he had to do was take on the Mamonas while protecting Kang Oh's body. He turned his head and stared at the Mamonas.

Ubist gnawed at the Mamonas's tail while Asu and Rudy unleashed gigantic flames. Meanwhile, Nile released powerful energy from his fist.

However, Sephiro's attacks were the most effective against it.

Shining Bombardment, which he'd learnt from Kunta, continuously hit the top of its head.

'Do I have about five uses left?' Eder stared at the Demon King's Staff.

This staff's unmatched power could only be used five more times, so he needed to be careful.

Eder readied himself to cast at a moment's notice, and waited patiently for his opportunity to strike.

How much time had passed?

'Now!'

The Mamonas turned its attention to Ubist. Eder immediately started his incantation.

"Through the power of great knowledge, death, reveal yourself to me. So..."

The incantation didn't go on for very long.

"...Soul, burn!"

Soul Burn!

Purple flames quickly spread out like fire through a dried field.

However, the Mamonas hadn't forgotten that Eder was there. It remembered the giant explosion that Eder had created previously.

The Mamonas opened its mouth and unleashed black energy.

The purple flames and the black beam violently crashed against each other, both sides vying for supremacy.

Each side would push the other side back and vice versa.

Then...

Kang Oh soared into the air from behind Eder. He was no longer half and half.

A horn protruded from the center of his forehead! Plus, there were black stars all across his body that radiated emerald light. His outstretched wings of light released powerful sparks that spread out in every direction.

Whir!

He slowly became larger and larger. The demon swords, which seemed too large to wield with a single hand, now looked small enough to be one-handed swords when compared to his increased size.

Great Spiritization!

It was an ability that allowed him to use Homura's power to its fullest.

"Hoo." Kang Oh slowly opened his eyes.

He'd come back after beating the crap out of Homura and Chow.

Yep. Disobedient children need to be punished.

Homura and Chow now obediently followed his commands.

'Now then, shall we?'

Whoosh!

His wings of light created a mighty gust of wind, and Kang Oh shot towards the Mamonas.

Lightning Veil!

The horn radiated lightning, which covered Kang Oh's body like armor.

Kang Oh crossed his arms. There were countless tentacles blocking his way.

Then, he extended his arms again, forming an X through the air.

Wind God and Lightning Emperor!

First came the raging whirlwind.

The raging winds cut through the tentacles like a weed cutter through grass, clearing a path towards the Mamonas.

Then, a deep black lightning bolt shot through the path.

Crackle!

It struck the top of its head.

Kuhaang!

The Mamonas writhed in agony. However, this was only the beginning.

Kang Oh passed through the open path and stood before the Mamonas.

An emerald blade shot out of his wing-shaped sword, while a zig-zag lightning blade came out of his triangular sword.

Mad Wind's Sword!

Thus began the frightening sword dance that heralded the Mamonas's end.