*bows multiple times* Please forgive my lateness. Procrastination and laziness caught up to me, I am ashamed of myself.

It had been a while since Lucifer had fought so seriously, and he tried to forget the fact that he would have to fight someone even more fearsome than all the Seraphim combined into one.

Think happy thoughts, Lucifer. Happy thoughts. Just focus on the battle now... don’t--don’t go to that dark place.

The Seraphim didn’t bother to lower itself from the sky, instead, it raised up its hands and activated multiple magic circles.

Golden rays rained down from the heavens, leaving Lucifer no room to dodge the belligerent attack.

The Prince of Hell spread out his arms as if to embrace the magic, it washed over him like the sun’s rays. “Magnificent!” he cried out joyously. “You are far better than these weaklings I’ve fought until now.”

The Seraphim did not respond it simply continued on with its relentless attacks.

Lucifer wasn’t affected by any of these. “Come on now, you and I both know that will do nothing,” he said with a heaving sigh as he danced out of the way of the incoming blast of magic.

With a flick of his sword, the magic was cleaved in half and dissipated into the air.

The noise of the trumpets blaring grew louder as the Seraphim descended from the air, its grandiose wings guiding it to land softly on the ground.

“How sweet, you’re coming down from so up high to deal with lil’ ole’ me?” Lucifer asked, shifting into an offensive stance. He smirked arrogantly at the Seraphim, having no worries of whether or not he would win their battle.

It didn’t respond, it pointed its staff towards Lucifer. The tip of the staff began to glow brightly and mana exploded out from it, colliding with the demon. Lucifer raised his sword just in time to block the brunt of the attack, but he still was sent backwards from the pure amount of force behind it.

Lucifer ground his teeth. The Seraphim didn’t know any special spells, hand-to-hand combat, or anything of the sort. But the amount of brute strength they had made up for that, if Lucifer wasn’t careful he could be gravely wounded by one of its attacks.

The Seraphim were similar to dragons in that they had an enormous amount of mana capacity and could churn out high power attacks without growing tired too quickly.

If one judged by a pure measure of strength, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that the Seraphim was technically stronger than Lucifer. But the demon had also existed for thousands of years and had his own arsenal of skills at his disposal. He wasn’t concerned about the Seraphim’s explosive power.

Lucifer quickly moved out of the way of the blasts the Seraphim sent at him. It was more or less a mindless creature, it only had one objective on its mind right now--to destroy Lucifer.

The two of them of them moved across the plains at a dizzying speed, even Vyne had to turn his eyes because watching began to hurt them.

Lucifer didn’t seem to be struggling, neither of them seemed to be entirely serious about the matter in actuality.

It was more like they were testing each other out. Vyne watched the scene play out before him carefully, his eyes picking up on every single one of their movements. This was also his chance to improve his understanding of how to fight; right now, his strength paled in comparison to the bloodline he belonged to.

Even Laufeia had been able to stand against an original dragon and last more than five minutes. Though, she did lose one of her horns as a proof of her loss which caused her seemingly endless shame and embarrassment.

And watching Lucifer now, Vyne had a feeling that he would be able to put up an even better fight than that.

Lucifer and the Seraphim were still going back and forth--the Seraphim sending a blast of mana and Lucifer either dodging or blocking the attack with barely any effort.

“This is getting old,” Lucifer grumbled as he deflected another beam of concentrated mana.

He changed from defending against attacks to charging at the Seraphim, he darted between the attacks it sent at him and sliced his sword. Lucifer aimed to cleave the Seraphim in half but the creature jerked its body out of the way and swung its staff at Lucifer.

Lucifer’s sword rose and blocked the blow, a dull clang rung throughout at the metals colliding.

“Shoot,” Lucifer muttered as the staff’s tips began glittering once more. He withdrew just as a beam was released if he had been a second too slow it would have taken his head off easily. “Tricky bastard.”

The Seraphim activated multiple magic circles and the ground began to rumble and shake, debris rising into the air. For a moment, all was silent.

The sound came back in the form of a loud roar that made the entire continent to tremble and Lucifer was assaulted from multiple directions. The explosion created a dome of light that engulfed the entire area, including where Vyne and Beta had been.

A high-pitched ringing ensued as multiple blasts continued to follow one after another, carving a deep crater into the earth.

The Seraphim raised its staff to the heavens, mana began being sucked towards it. Everything seemed to distort as it was pulled towards the staff, even light seemed to bend as it neared.

Strength nearly on par with Lost Magic.

「God’s Reckoning 」.

Before it could continue its onslaught of attacks, a blade pierced through the dust and buried itself deep into the Seraphim’s side. Golden blood leaked out when the sword was torn away, but the wound healed itself within a matter of moments.

“Guess it wasn’t deep enough,” Lucifer sighed the words, emerging from the plume of dust. He had received a few injuries from the blast, it had taken him by surprise. Still, he, too, was healing. He glanced over to where Beta had barely raised up a barrier in time to protect him and Vyne from the majority of the blast. “Aiming for my grandson,” Lucifer said, his voice low and rumbly. “Was taking one of my family members not enough to you?” he roared, a surge of power exploding from where he stood.

This time, when his sword was swung at the Seraphim, it was sliced cleanly in half.

The two halves fell to the floor, but the blood acted like strings and pulled them back together.

Lucifer wasn’t done yet, just as the Seraphim had done to him, he continued to attack it without taking a break in between. Every time it was cut, the Seraphim regenerated and Lucifer cut it down again.

His sword moved through the air in a gleam of light, it was impossible for Vyne and Beta to keep up with its movements.

Lucifer wasn’t daunted by its regenerative capabilities, he had hunted down quite a few Seraphim in his life. To kill one, he had to surpass what it could heal back.

His blade didn’t stop moving, lines appeared on the Seraphim’s body as its blood splurted out.

He was going to enjoy this fight. It was his warm-up to his fight with Erebus--but this ignorant beast had harmed his grandson and Lucifer couldn’t allow that to pass.

This idiotic creature had already taken his son, now it tried for his grandson? His blood boiled at the thought, he could taste his anger on his tongue as he swallowed bile.

Unforgivable!

His rage and killing intent seeped out from his pores. It coated his body and permeated through the air as his sword kept cutting through the Seraphim’s body. Multiple wounds appeared on its shining body and blood gushed out from multiple faucets as it continued to incur more injuries.

The trumpets almost sounded like they were crying out in pain, in agony, but Lucifer paid their music no mind.

All he could see was read, it blinded him.

“Die a million times over,” he growled.

Lucifer activated one of his strongest skills, using his sword and wind blades; he would slice his victim a million times--each a fatal blow.

It was rightfully named「 A Million Deaths」.

The wind whistled and within the blink of an eye, the Seraphim had been cut into pieces so small it was impossible to see.

Instead, golden sparkles glittered in the air then dispersed. The shimmering particles rose into the sky, almost like a dance as they rose and illuminated the sky.

Then the trumpets were silent forevermore. It almost seemed empty without their appearance.

Vyne was speechless, he didn’t think that anyone other than his Lord Erebus would be able to deal with a Seraphim with such minimal effort.

Just as Vyne rose to his feet, Lucifer came running and grabbed Vyne roughly by his arms. “Beta, start activating transportation magic, we’re getting out of here!”

The Demon Emperor nodded his head, he ran along with Vyne and Lucifer as he created a magic circle that appeared under their fast moving feet.

“What’s going on?” Vyne asked in surprise.

“If we stay any longer, the rest of the archangels and a legion of Seraphim will come,” Beta answered easily. “This is how we normally escape after coming to the Pure Continent.”

Vyne’s vein bulged. “Somehow, that pisses me off.”

They had come to the Pure Continent with their chests puffed up with a blend of confidence and arrogance... yet their final plan to leave was to run away quickly before reinforcements came to put an end to them.

A lot about that just rubbed Vyne the wrong way.

At the same time, he was amused by this. A small smile even hinted at the corners of his lips--his grandfather wasn’t as Vyne had painted him in his mind. His antics were similar to Lord Erebus’, perhaps that was why he found himself inexplicably loyal to his current master.

But Vyne preferred to believe that he was just thinking too far into it. It was better when he just put it this way:

His grandfather was an absolute, complete idiot.