“Hahahaha! Looks like everyone is really going at it.”

Ryker was flying through the skies looking down on the various battles that were happening in the country. He wasn’t using his Zodiac Parasitic Suit, so his personality had reverted to its wild self.

“Now, who should I pick to be my next prey? That kid earlier wasn’t too bad but he was a bit lacking. I want to fully test the limitations of this suit. The more I know about it the easier it will be to use.”

He didn’t realize it but some effects of the suit lingered. For example, he occasionally switched between being wild and calm on random.

“Maybe I should try and aim for Miko? I mean if I beat him won’t the others praise me?”

He burst out laughing.

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

He grinned.

“The next target is-”

“Next target? You dare to think about another opponent when you haven’t finished this one?”

Ryker stopped and looked around. He heard a voice but he couldn’t tell where it was coming.

“Was that-”

*Bam!*

Something flew down from above and hit him out of the sky. He crashed through a building and landed on a road.

“What the hell?!”

He looked up and saw someone floating in the air. They were surrounded by a fiery aura while looking down on the world like an enraged god of war. Ryker recognized this person.

“Didn’t I killed you hours ago?”

“Kill me?”

Kristen laughed. He then disappeared and reappeared in front of Ryker.

“A maggot killing a demon king? Dream on.”

Ryker immediately threw a punch but he was the one who got punched. Before his arm could fully extend Kristen had slammed his fist in his face. Ryker stumbled back before getting kicked in the face. His body flew back and bounced off the ground. He quickly got to his feet and gathered flames in his hands.

“You son of a-”

His face was grabbed before he could finish speaking.

“Oi, what were you going to say just now? You were going to call me a son of what?”

Kristen strengthened his grip on his face.

“Were you going to call my mother a bitch? Well?”

Ryker hit him with the flames and they exploded on his body. However, the grip on his face didn’t loosen in the least. Another hand came out of the flames and forced his mouth open.

“In case you didn’t know, let me make it clear.”

The flames disappeared and Kristen was seen unharmed.

“Disrespecting a king’s mother is a severe offense.”

Kristen forced his hand deeper into Ryker’s mouth and grabbed onto something.

“Consider this mercy.”

He pulled his hand out and ripped something out of Ryker’s mouth.

“Ahhhhh!”

Ryker’s made an incomprehensible scream as blood flowed out of his mouth. Kristen released him and he stumbled back with hands over his mouth. He glared at Kristen who was holding his severed tongue in his hand.

“You’re not using it to do anything productive, so I took it.”

The tongue was quickly reduced to ashes in front of Ryker. His eyes widened and his pupils quivered.

“You’ll grow a new one. What’s the big deal?”

Kristen laughed. Ryker moved his hands from his mouth.

“I’ll kill you!”

“See? It’s already good as new thanks to that suit you’re wearing.”

Flames started dancing around Ryker in the shape of hawks.

“I must’ve been too soft earlier.”

The flames intensified and the air became scorching hot.

“This time I’ll make sure that there aren’t even ashes left when I’m done!”

An image of a giant flaming hawk appeared behind him.

“You dare think about burning me, a Great Demon King, to nothing?”

A sinister smile appeared on his face.

“Not even the devil will want your soul once I’m done with you.”

The two moved at the same time. Ryker turned into a burning hawk and rushed at Kristen, who was coming at him. Kristen clenched his fist and it was engulfed in a crimson flame. He threw a punch and clashed with the hawk. The clash caused an explosion and flames spread throughout the area.

“Ahhh!”

Ryker was blown back with his body scorched.

“A mere pet bird dares to pick a fight with a king. If that isn’t amusing then I don’t know what is.”

Kristen walked towards him with a devilish smile. The flames on his hand looked like they had mourning faces in them; it was a sight that could make anyone shiver.

“You….Just how did you get so strong? You’re like a different person!”

“How? Well, my brother’s a satan isn’t he?”

Ryker saw Kristen's teeth turned into shark-like fangs as his smile grew bigger.

“So doesn’t it make sense that the brother of Satan would be the devil?”

Ryker saw the space become distorted behind Kristen. He could’ve sworn he saw a world akin to hell open up behind him. One with burning skeletons torturing the living. Demons feasting on human flesh and drinking their blood like wine. He saw a throne made out of skulls with a terrifying crimson-haired demon sitting on it. He didn’t know why but the image of that demon overlapped with Kristen’s.

“Don’t you think?”

Ryker felt like ice invaded his heart. He had never felt such terror in his life. He couldn’t even begin to think straight, which led to him doing what he did.

“Zodiac Parasite Suit- Sagittarius!”

The black substance suddenly ignited and spread across Ryker’s entire body. The flames solidified and formed a red bodysuit with black highlights. There were a bow and arrow symbol on his chest with the Roman Numeral “II” on his back. He had flaming arrows on his gloves and his red and black helmet. He sprung to his feet. All the fear that he felt before had disappeared and his mind became calm.

“There it is. That disgusting suit.”

Kristen smirked.

“I’m looking forward to paying it back for its insolence earlier.”

“Come. We’ll defeat you again.”

Kristen laughed and accelerated toward him. Dozens of giant fire arrows formed behind Ryker. They flew towards Kristen who moved to avoid them.

*BAM!*

They exploded and he was swallowed up a storm of flames. Ryker moved forward and formed a fire bow in his hand. Kristen emerged from the flames with a laugh. Ryker leaped towards him and pluck the bowstring. Hundreds of arrows flew from the bow and turned into a giant dragon that crashed into Kristen. The dragon forced him through buildings, setting them ablaze in the process. It then carried him into the sky where it exploded. The explosion made it look like a sun suddenly appeared in the sky. It blew away all the clouds and removed all of the moisture from the night air.

“Tough bastard.”

Ryker cursed. Kristen flew out of the explosion and crashed into the earth sending flames through the ground. The ground lit up and exploded with Ryker. His legs were blown off but they quickly regenerated. He spread his arms and an explosion erupted from his body and blew Kristen back. Ryker flew out of the flames with flame wings and snapped his fingers. A flock of over 100 fire hawks appeared behind him. The hawks all had crossbows attached to them.

“Bomb the shit out of him.”

The hawks all dove firing arrows from their crossbows. The arrows exploded when they made contact causing a huge chain of explosions through the town. It was like war jets were bombing the town. Kristen felt the full force of this bombing. Buildings collapsed around him and craters opened up in the ground. He had nowhere to run because the hawks were making sure of that with their bombing.

“I don’t like this.”

He frowned while looking up at Ryker flying above him.

“I’m a king and I’m being looked down upon by a mere parasite? How the hell can I let this slide?”

“?!”

Ryker’s eyes widened before reclaiming its calm a few seconds earlier.

“This guy….”

A pillar of flames erupted and blew away half the hawks.

“Just where is he getting this much power?”

He formed a crossbow on his arm and threw a punch. Kristen appeared in front of him and had to move his head out of the path of an arrow. He then blocked a kick with his arm. His eyes widened when he saw that a crossbow was attached to the foot. He ripped the leg off in a second.

“I knew that you’d do that.”

The leg exploded and propelled Kristen back with burns over his body.

“You have incredible power but I have the mind and insight of the trainer of heroes.”

Kristen suddenly found himself surrounded by a flock of hawks.

“If I can’t out-gun you then I’ll just use tactics to slowly chip away at you until you’ve fallen.”

Ryker’s severed leg regenerated after nearly 30 seconds. His body stiffened but soon relaxed again.

“Chip away huh?”

A crimson light spread out and devoured the fire hawks leaving Kristen alone.

“Don’t make me laugh.”

Several giant balls of crimson energy appeared behind him.

“What makes you think that you have that luxury?”

The crimson balls rushed towards Ryker who flew through the air to avoid them. They crashed into the town causing mass destruction everywhere.

“Again, what’s with this insane amount of power?!”

Ryker evaded attack after attack with his speed. He suddenly halted and flew back. Kristen appeared swung down a crimson sword.

“Clairvoyance is pretty handy in this situation, huh?”

He gathered flames at his feet rushed towards him. He slashed at him from all angles but Ryker managed to avoid them by thin margins. That’s when Kristen suddenly increased his speed.

“?!”

The only thing Ryker saw was a crimson flash. The next thing he knew he was looking up at his lower body floating in the air. He quickly understood that his upper body was severed from the waist.

“You….!”

“Oh, it looks like you can be angered.”

Kristen appeared above him with a grin.

“Let’s dice you up.”

His sword moved with blinding speed but Ryker’s upper body turned into liquid and raced back to his lower and fused together.

“You bas-Ahhh?!”

His body tensed up and a painful shout came from his mouth. His face was drenched in cold sweat and he started breathing heavily.

“What’s wrong? Is the strain finally getting to you?”

Kristen spoke with a mocking tone.

“I don’t know anything about that suit but I’m certain that it has its drawbacks. After all, those abilities and ultra regeneration can’t come without a price.”

“You bastard…You were aiming for this!”

“Of course. Did you think I was just blasting away at you without thinking?”

Kristen pointed at his head.

“I admit that I overthink too much but that doesn’t mean that I’ll stop thinking completely. A king must be both smart and ferocious at the same time. He must know when to be crafty like a human and savage like a beast.”

He spread his arms.

“So what’s the plan now? Will you die by my hands or will you be devoured by your suit? It’s your choice.”

(Damn him!)

Kristen was enraged to point his body was shivering.

“If that’s how you wanna play then you’re on.”

His suit started glowing an ominous red.

“Parasite, I give you my everything! In return, grant me the power to kill all my enemies!”

Kristen saw the suit turn into a liquid monster and swallow Ryker whole. Crunching sounds reached his ears and he saw a new being appear in the air. It had a horse’s lower body but it was bloody-red and had black spikes coming out its legs. It’s naked upper body was pitch-black and muscular with red arrow markings all over it. Its eyes were black with red demonic irises. Its hair was a literal fire that looked like it had a mind of its own and it had a demonic face. The Ryker in front of him looked like a monster from the underworld.

“Interesting.”

In the face of this monster, Kristen showed a huge grin. Crimson flames danced around his body as his skin darkened, his muscles grew, and crimson tattoos covered his body.

“A mere low-grade monster wants to challenges a Demon King?”

His hair grew out and turned a burning crimson.

“You’ll be reward greatly for your insolence.”

Ryker dove down and a sinister lance in his hand.

“I thought you were an archer? When did you change your class to lancer? Lancers always die you know!”

Kristen blast off the ground like a rocket and formed a flame sword with a bone hilt in his hand. He swung the sword up and Ryker thrust the lance down. The two clashed and flames spread through the sky and set the town ablaze. Ryker pulled back his lance before thrusting it at Kristen’s chest. Kristen evaded the thrust and a hole opened up in the ground. He slashed at Ryker’s side and a wave of flames rushed from the sword and blast him away. Ryker emerged from the flames with a roar and Kristen saw an army of demonic horses appear behind him. He pointed his lance at Kristen and roared before charging towards him. The army of demonic horses was close behind him. They covered the sky with their numbers in the thousands.

“Hahaha! Bring it on!”

Kristen charged at the army without fear. He clashed with them a few seconds later. With an explosive sound, he cut through ten beasts with a swing of his sword. The rest quickly surrounded him and fired flames from their mouth. Caught in a death trap of flames Kristen grinned and welcomed them with literal open arms. The flames hit him and swallowed him whole.

“Cold! Too cold!”

A powerful explosion of crimson extinguished all the flames and Kristen emerged with burns over his body.

“These flames are too cold!”

He lifted his sword and it grew 16 meters tall. He swung it with a spin and crimson flames spread across the sky engulfing the horses.

“The flames of hell are far hotter!”

Ryker rush through the flames with his lance. He accelerated and shot through the sky like a comet. Kristen turned around and was hit in the chest and forced out of the sky. They crashed into the earth where Kristen’s body was being forced to rip open the ground under the pressure of the lance. He slashed at Ryker’s head but he bit into the flame sword and slurped up all of its flames leaving the hilt alone.

“What the-?!”

Kristen was forced underground by Ryker’s lance. Cracks appeared in the ground and flames poured from these cracks. The ground exploded and a deep crater filled with molten rocks was left behind. Ryker flew into the air and looked down on this lake of flames with contempt. He then saw a hand emerge from the lake. A flaming Kristen climbed out of the lake with severe burns all over his body.

“…..So that’s how you want to do it? You gave up everything to your instincts and expect to win?”

He showed a savage grin.

“Two can play that game.”

His body shook and he slouched over.

“Heh.”

His body flickered and he popped up in front of Ryker. He punched him across the sky and chased after him with a creepy posture. Ryker thrust his lance in front of him and it stabbed Kristen in the chest the moment he popped up in front of him. Kristen grinned and broke the lance in the two. He slammed his fist in the center of Ryker’s face and forced him back. He chased after him and avoided the piece of the lance that was thrown at him. Ryker timed him and hit him with a flaming fist. Kristen’s head blew back and Ryker moved to follow up with another punch.

“Rah!”

Kristen growled and sunk his fangs in Ryker’s arm before ripping it off. Ryker hit him a fire breath engulfing his upper body.

*Swoosh!*

Something flew into Ryker’s chest. It was the piece of the lance that was stuck in Kristen earlier. He roared in anger and punched Kristen with his regenerated fist. Kristen kicked him under his chin with a laugh and grabbed him by the face. Ryker started raining punches on his head but Kristen didn’t let go. Ryker was forced to look into his crimson eyes that seemed like hell itself was captured in them.

*Bam!*

Kristen headbutt his face and burst open his nose. He hit him with another headbutt and burst open his mouth. He then dug his fingers into Ryker’s eye sockets. Ryker roared in agony and started kicking, punching, and even scratching Kristen to make him let go; but he didn’t.

“Kahahahaha!”

He laughed ignoring the damage that was being inflicted on him. He used his fingers to explore Ryker’s eye sockets, crashing his eyes every time they tried to regenerate. That’s when he suddenly stopped. Unfortunately for Ryker…Or rather fortunately for him, he couldn’t see the deranged smile on Kristen’s face. Because it would surely give him nightmares even in death.

“Feel the flames of hell!”

Fire burst inside Ryker’s eye sockets causing him to scream in agony. The flames entered his skull and started roasting everything in his head. He started screaming and kicking more frantically than before.

“Kahahaha! Burn baby burn! Kahahaha!”

Kristen laughed while his crimson hair danced in the wind like flames. With Ryker at his mercy wiggling in agony, he looked like the devil punishing a damned soul for his sins.

“Rahhhh!”

Soon, Ryker wasn’t the only screaming. A scream came from within his body. When he heard this Kristen released him and Ryker’s monster form disappeared. He saw the suit moving like it was trying to rip itself away from its host. After some struggle it was successful. Ryker fell to the ground unconscious while a red blob floating in the above him. The blob moved frantically before pouncing at Kristen.

“Burn!”

Kristen fired flames from his hand at the blob but it swallowed it in an instant. It rushed towards him almost like a snake.

“Trying to take over my body? You’ll be reduced to ashes first!”

Kristen faced the blob ready to fight it. That’s when it flew into the sky. Or rather, it looked like it was sucked in the sky against its will.

“……..What just happened?”

He stared at the sky for a bit.

“?!”

That’s when his vision became blurry and he felt weak. His body returned to its original form and he collapsed onto the ground.

(Looks like this is our limit, My Vessel.)

He heard a voice in his head. A voice that he kept hearing from his birth. A voice that belongs to a different him.

(It’s a shame that we couldn’t rampage more, but there will be other opportunities.)

Kristen's consciousness started to fade.

(We fought a battle worthy of a king.)

All sounds around became distant and he couldn’t stop his eyelids from closing. He heard the voice one more time before his consciousness faded into darkness.

(Rest, Brother of Satan. Rest until it’s time to show the world the power of Beleth once again.)