Alastor’s POV

“Now the real fight begins!” proclaimed Maria.

She took on five elemental spells and a direct hit in her heart. Yet she was still standing like nothing. Healing magic? No, there was no way for these kinds of injuries to heal that quick.

She did say about I was not the only one with a freak body. Did that mean she had an immortal body? Mine only allowed me to evade physical attacks but I would still take full damage from magic and such. But hers was completely on a whole different level. Her body couldn't be human. Was she one of the subjects who received demon blood too?

“May the world be covered by darkness: ” Maria raised her sword to the sky.

A dark shroud enveloped the entire area, trapping both me and the woman inside. I tried to touch it but it repulsed me back. It seemed I could not get out easily.

“Don’t even think about running away! Show me what you are really capable of! ” shouted Maria as she extended her sword to a side.

Suddenly all of blood tainting the ground from the crimson geyser earlier started to float and converged to her, engulfing her sword. That bloody sword was bad. I could feel it even from here.

I manifested a few stones spears soaring around me. I should avoid coming near her as my melee and defensive capabilities were not as good as my range attack.

Maria started swinging her swords from all sides. She did not even try to approach me. There was no need to. Instead her blood sword would do the job. It had massive range. Luckily I was able to crouch down in time, only letting it grazing me a bit. But when I looked behind me, seeing all the trees cut down like paper, I was glad to avoid it. Wouldn’t want to be cut into two even in this body!

I fired the spears at her. To my surprise, it did hit her. However it was because she didn’t even try to dodge. She just took it head on. More blood gushed out of her wounds, pushing the spear out before her wounds closed again. How could her body produce this much blood? It was beyond my imagination. These kinds of attacks wouldn’t work I guessed. I needed to do something else.

For an instant I lost my focus and let one the blade hit me, cutting my left arm right off the bat. However I could easily heal since I was now in Slime mode. At least it should. But nothing happened. I lost my left arm and it didn’t heal.

“I figured your body would work in a similar fashion to the slime. As expected from the lord of monsters. But my tainted blood is special. It can stop all healing effect just from being in contact with the target. You shouldn’t rely on that body anymore if you want to live! Now come at me! Show me that you can kill me!” challenged Maria.

“What are you talking about? Why do you want me to kill you?” I asked her.

“Can’t you see that the children you freed are beyond saving? If they are lucky they would in a few hours. If not they will spend the rest of their lives suffering the pain this accursed blood causes. To both demons and the prime races, we are abominations who are not meant to exist. And they will hunt us down till we die. For what reason do you want to extend our suffering?” Maria shouted in anger. Her eyes were filled with hatred and rage. She paused to take a deep breath before continuing.

“But I am not like the others. I can’t even die because of this cursed body. Ever since that day. However when I learnt of the existence of the demon lords and their unique abilities, I thought perhaps they would have something. Something to free me from this curse.

That’s why I assisted you in your journey from the shadows. That’s why I killed all those bandits at your village to make sure no one would find out about you, to give you time to grow. So that one day you will end my condemned existence.

But enough talk! Show me that you can kill me! Or else you will be the one to die here!”

Maria plunged her sword to the ground. Following her movement, the blood soaked in the ground. It now took on a reddish colour like rust.

“”

I immediately jumped up, dodging a red spike coming out of the ground. Then the silver haired woman took a stance and pointed the sword toward me.

“”

From her sword, a stream of blood surged toward me. I cast an instant barrier, blocking most of it. A few drops fell on my cloth, disintegrated it and making a few holes. So it could melt everything it touched. If I had not raised the barrier, I would be dead by now. But her attacks were not finished yet.

Since earlier all of the blood related attacks came from her left sword. Now her right arm sword was engulfed in a dark purple aura. Was that darkness element?

“”

Maris swung her dark sword and created a dark wave toward me. Thankfully I could absorb it since it was just mana. But would not work against that blood sword since it still counted as a physical attack. And I would not want to lose another arm just for the sake of testing.

I have spent too long on the defensive. I should start attacking now. But how should I approach this? It didn’t seem like I had a choice. I should use it now.

A magical circle appeared in front of me. The outlet of the circle was written in an ancient language which was lost a long time ago, even long before Ceadric or any current country even existed. This came from a demon lord named Sullivan whom I met in the Abyss. His ability was not useful in combat as it allowed me to store things inside a special dimension and took it out whenever I wanted. It was similar to the pocket dimension that many adventurers used nowadays. But there were a few major differences.

First of all not everything could be put inside a dimensional pocket. You could not put something in that was too large for the pocket’s mouth. So you couldn’t put a caravan inside for example. Also living beings were off limits.

Secondly you had a limited space depending on the price of the pocket but at most you would only be able to fill the same quantity you would put inside an average size cabin.

However these limits did not apply to Sullivan’s . If I needed to store something, I just needed to adapt the size of the magic circle and bam! It would be gone. Secondly I could put a living being inside. I once captured a horned wolf and put it inside the circle for a week. When I freed it, it was still healthy so I deduced that time also flew differently inside that dimension.

But back to my status, to prepare for a critical situation like this one, I stored something very special inside, or rather a few things.

I put my hand inside and pulled out a black sword, as pure black as it could be. From a normal perspective it was hard to even think it was a sword as it was too dark to even figure out the details of the object.

As I plunged the sword to the ground with the magic circle moved to my back and expanded greatly. It was impossible to look inside as the surface inside the runes outlet was something like a black liquid moving like the surface of the sea.

“Another one of your tricks? Show me how you will fight me with it!” Maria grinned.

“No I won’t be fighting you!” as I said the liquid surface of the magic circle started vibrating violently as if something was trying to get out. “They will!”

From the magic circle, a hand reached out. It was cladded in black armor. Then another one and another followed it. Now ten identical knights in black armor were between me and Maria.

“Legion of the Abyss! Listen to my command: Destroy our enemy!” I roared as I pointed my sword toward Maria.

The knights rushed to Maria with their greatswords. Even though she quickly dispatched her blood and dark swords, they managed to dodge them all skilfully. Of course they would since I created these guys in the image of the mysterious knight in the Abyss. Their armor looked slightly different as I did not remember all the details but they all wore similar attire. Some were equipped with shields a long sword while others had a lance or a great sword.

I made them thanks to Devas’ . I just had to create a copy of myself, change their appearance and transfer the skills I wanted to them. Of course they were nowhere near as powerful as the original but in numbers they would get the jobs done. After that, I stored the knights inside the magic circle and just needed to pull them out when I wanted. Still I tried to avoid using them in public as it could reveal my identity or at the very least made me suspicious. But in this case, Maria seemed to already be aware so there was no need to hold back.

Perhaps she thought that if I died, the knights would to. Maria sent a few blood spears toward me, only to be blocked by three knights holding a great shield.

During the time, the other knights surrounded Maria, keeping her inside their circle. She whirled her sword in a circular motion, blasting away one of the knights. From behind the knight with the spear pierced her, making her scream in pain. Her body may heal but the pain would still be there. From the front, two knights rushed and impaled her with their swords, restraining her movement even more. Two others from both sides cut off her arms. The last one standing rushed toward her and chopped off her head.

With her head fell off, her body stopped moving and collapsed on her knees. It was regrettable but I would not take any chance. Too bad that I had so many questions for you Maria.

I approached her corpse, now packed with wounds with the spear and swords still sticking to them. In a way I pitied her. She was used as an experiment and went mad. For someone who has suffered so much pain, this was the least I could do for her. But I would not give up Shana. She could still be saved. She had to.

I picked up her decapitated head and posed it next to her body. I swiped my hands to close her eyes. I should return to Shana.

With a hand gesture, I made the knights vanishing in the shadows below. I stood up and turned away. As I walked, I realized something: the barrier was still here. Can’t be!!!

“Too bad you failed!” a voice echoed from behind me.

I looked back, only to see all the chopped up arms from earlier started melting into blood and flew back to her original position before taking on the form of an arm again. As the arms were now again attached, the body began to move again. It picked up the head and put it back on like putting a helmet. In an instant the scars healed as if they were never there.

“It’s not enough to kill me unfortunately!” said Maria calmly.

In an instant she vanished and reappeared in front of me.

“Now it’s your turn!” using her hand Maria perforated my chest. How could I be so careless to cancel my slime mode? I could feel her hand around my beating heart. Would this be where I died?

* * *

Inside the Abyss

The dark world was shaking heavily. Asmodeus and the other demons were stunned by what was happening to their world.

“What the hell is going on?” yelled Asmodeus as she struggled to stand still because of the trembling earth.

“I don’t know but it’s bad. Something must have happened to Alastor.” Answered Belz.

“Damn it kid! You didn’t even use my power yet. You can’t die here!” roared the dragon Xenes.

Above on the sky, a black orb with a red eye manifested itself.

“Magnus! Do something! Save the kid!” shouted Lucifer.

“Argghhh! That woman’s blood is special. We can’t interfere with it!” said Magnus.

“Then what are you good for? Do something!!!” fumed the woman elf.

Suddenly the earth stopped shaking. Things calmed again.

“Did it stop?” asked Belphegor.

The demons looked around, confused by what just happened. Did Alastor escape? Just how did this happen? However they were so absorbed in their thoughts they overlooked one thing. Except for the slime demon Devas.

“Hum guys! When was the last time you see the sun?” said the slime.

“What are you talking about Devas? Stop spouting nonsense….WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?” screamed Lucifer as he spotted the huge thing in the far horizon. His shouts made everyone else look back, only to be stunned by what they saw.

A gigantic sphere made its appearance from afar. It looked almost like a sunrise, except for the fact that this sun was crystal blue. Then the sun kept get rising until it reached its peak.

“RUN!” shouted Magnus to the demon lords below. They didn’t understand why they should run away from it. Sure it was weird but it seemed harmless. That was what they thought until from the sun, from afar, a small blue beam shot down the dark world below, turning every to crystal and making even more crystal appearing. And it kept growing in size.

All the shadows started flying away in the opposite direction of the crystal field. As it started to reach where Asmodeus and the other demon lords, Magnus appeared in front of them, creating a dark barrier, stopping the advance of the crystal field.

Seeing that, the other demon lords joined force and raised their hands to send power toward the barrier. After struggling for a while, the crystal beam disappeared and so did the crystal invasion.

“ *heavy breathing* Is everyone alright?” asked Beelzebub as he sat down on the ground and breathed heavily.

“Just what is that? This is the first time I have seen something like this.” Sullivan joined the fray. He was one the few demon lords who was originally a dwarf. For some reasons dwarf was the race with the least chance to turn into demon. Perhaps it was due to their natural magic resistance as they were rumoured to be descendants of the giants a long time ago. But whether that was a myth or not was another story.

“Hahahaha!” laughed out loud an old man with a staff.

“What is so funny, Nyx?” asked Asmodeus.

“So he did inherit something from her. I was wondering when it would show up.” Nyx grinned.

“Yes he did! But for it to be able to reform the Abyss to this extent…as expected of the Hero’s bloodline.” Said the floating black orb.

“What you can’t mean….”

“Lakyus’ bloodline has been awakened!”

* * *

Back in the real world, Maria has found herself in predicament. Just as she thought she had killed Alastor, the boy still lived and managed to push her away. But that was not what surprised her. It was her hand.

Her entire hand has been frozen in crystal. Now many how she tried to use the blood to break it, it didn’t work. And the boy’s eyes. Normally both were red but now his left eye changed into a blue crystal colour.

Even Alastor himself was amazed by what just happened to him. He thought he died when Maria reached his heart but then her hand was frozen in place and the wound on his chest quickly closed as if it was never there. It couldn’t be because of the slime body. He also deactivated it. Then what could trigger this regeneration? And that crystal magic. He remembered from one of Noroeth’s lessons that crystal magic was rare. While most masters of magic could cast crystal magic, only a few in the world could control it and his mother was one of them. Could this be her final gift to him? Whatever the case it saved him.

The crystal on Maria’s arm continued to spread to her body. Now she was rendered useless as crystal magic actually consumed all the mana it found on the target, making them unable to cast magic. And Maria’s unusual body was no exception. This healing power came from the unconscious flow of mana inside her that continued to heal itself. But since now the mana source was depleted she could no longer heal or use her abilities anymore.

At first the woman resisted, trying to get the crystal off. But then when she realized what it did, she gave in. Perhaps now she could finally die. She closed her eyes and expected the inevitable end. Yet it didn’t come.

She reopened her eyes, only to see that the crystal has receded and disappeared completely. Now in front of her stood the boy she tried to kill earlier.

“Why? WHY? Why don’t you let me die? How long do you want to torture me any longer?” tears fell on her beautiful face as she shouted in anger. Why did he let her live? She just couldn’t understand it.

“Do you really want to die like that? To die with that hatred inside you? To die before you could have justice?”

“For what? Justice won’t bring me back all the years I suffered. Justice won’t save all the people I lost. Only in death would I find peace! So give it to me!”

“No!” Alastor bent down and gave the woman a hug.

“What are you doing?”

“I…I don’t know. My sister does this to me whenever I am sad. Seeing you like this, I just kind of think you need one!” smiled Alastor at the crying woman, only to be slapped in the face. But it was not an attack or anything like that. It was a normal reaction from a woman who was not used to physical contact with the opposite sex and wanted to hide her shyness and embarrassment.

“You…idiot!” Maria turned away to hide her red cheeks.

“Come with me Maria! I will show you the happiness you deserve.” Said Alastor. Sadly for the boy, he did not really understand what he just said. For him, it was simply because he wanted to learn about the information Maria got and because he pitied her for all the suffering she has endured, he wanted to make her happy.

And of course the other party took the sentence in a whole different meaning.

“…..Alright! If you hurt me again I will kill you!”

"I just chopped off your head. Before that burning, drowning, burying alive. What could possibly be worse than that?" Alastor jested.