Demon-kind, while powerful, possessed their weaknesses. One of such weaknesses is their extreme vulnerability to Holy type magic.

Anything imbued with Holy energy was a poison to demons.

Strong demons might be able to resist it, but even they would be weakened and would quickly succumb to the power of Holy Magic.

When a demon awakens demon eyes, he or she gains a single power that is unique to that demon.

In Zirc’s case, he developed an unprecedented power within his demon eyes.

The power to use Holy type magic.

Because he was a demon, with each usage of his demon eyes, Zirc took damage as well, but due to his powerful Phoenix demon physique and regeneration, Zirc could afford to take the damage.

Even then, he had to train his body hard in order to be able to handle this kind of magic without passing out on the spot.

It took Zirc becoming a Demon Lord level demon to truly master this power, but even then it takes its toll upon him.

His father, Jaulon, saw Zirc possessing such power in his demon eyes as a proof that Zirc was destined to become a ruler. In a sense, Zirc possessed a power that could forcefully suppress or destroy any demon within his sight.

Even someone as powerful as Jaulon was not immune to the power of Zirc’s demon eyes. Within five seconds, a Demon Lord level demon was on his knees, unable to bear the prolonged exposure to the Holy magic.

While a Demon Lord level demon might be able to survive the exposure to Holy magic, it would severely weaken him to the point of being unable to move.

As for weaker demons….many were scorched and scattered to dust by the power of his demon eyes.

It was a fearsome ability, and one of the strongest skills Zirc possessed at the moment.

His opponent, the heir of Tengu clan, had proved to be a genius just like him.

That is why Zirc chose to use one of his trump cards.

When the light faded away, Zirc expected to see the crow demon lying on the ground, begging for mercy.

But instead, he was gone.

‘That can’t be. I disabled his demon eye. He should not be able to teleport…’

“Wow, so your own attack blinds you as well? Pretty stupid from where I stand”

Much to Zirc’s horror, he heard the Tengu’s voice behind him.

Before Zirc could react, Shengyn chopped off Zirc’s wings with his silver sword, before slashing him once across the back.

“Aaagh!” Zirc jumped away, his eyes focused on his opponent.

‘The Holy Magic should have weakened him. Why did it not work?’ after using his demon eyes, Zirc’s eyes reverted to their normal golden state.

Damage done by silver slowed down his regeneration.

It would take at least ten minutes before his wings would grow back, and due to using his demon eyes, Zirc suffered its damaging side effects.

The fact that Zirc was weakened after using his own Holy Magic was not surprising. Even if a demon has access to such magic, it would not make him immune to it. In a sense, it was a double edged sword.

What was alarming was the fact that Holy Magic had no effect on Shengyn.

‘How can it be…all demons are vulnerable to this kind of magic…Only humans are immune…’

As Shengyn advanced forward, Zirc brandished yet another sword, swinging it down on Shengyn’s head, intending to cut him vertically in half.

Much to Zirc’s horror, Shengyn’s head, or more precisely, his entire body, split into two identical selves, and both of them proceeded to simultaneously give Zirc an uppercut.

“What the hell?” Witnessing his opponent double himself was alarming.

Bumping fists, the two Shengyns recombined into one.

After one masters Spiritual form, it could be taken a step further, granting the user a single unique ability. And in Shengyn’s case, it was the ability to split himself into two identical duplicates.

Each one would only possess half of the original’s powers and abilities, but it was extremely handy when Shengyn needed to be in two places at once.

“Enough of your tricks!”

Using light magic, Zirc manifested countless spear-like projectiles and launched them at Shengyn. Since it was a high level magic, their destructive power and the amount of mana they consumed was simply staggering.

“Oh, but I do love to put up a show”

Solidifying the black fire into concrete shapes of dart-like knives, Shengyn fired them at Zirc.

Strangely enough, neither one’s projectiles hit the mark, because both had the exact same idea how to defend against the oncoming onslaught.

Using their willpower, they stopped the magic projectiles from hitting them, suspending them in midair.

Now it was sort of a tug of war situation.

Each one tried to push their magic projectile to breach the enemy’s defenses while at the same time trying their best to stop the enemy’s magic attack.

Attacking and defending at the same time.

Zirc and Shengyn had both of their hands extended forward as each one tried to best the other with willpower alone.

Since both now used level 8 magic, it was safe to say that they pretty much depleted their mana pools.

Now, the only factor that could decide who would win was whose willpower was stronger, the crow or the phoenix?

But no matter how much they pushed against each other, they found themselves at a stalemate.

Their drives, their personality, and their thirst for power were exactly the same.

Reluctantly, both had to acknowledge that in many senses they were equals.

However, Jaulon, who managed to regenerate by now, proceeded to aid his son, by shooting golden fire in Shengyn’s direction.

“Father, do not interfere. That crow is mine to defeat”

“If I do not erase him here and now, Korgan’s line will continue!”

Now that that he had to defend against both Zirc and Jaulon’s magic coming at him, Shengyn could no longer focus on the attack, making his magic projectiles dissipate into nothingness.

Then, the other Phoenix demons joined in, combining their magic and shooting it at Shengyn.

Using his willpower, Shengyn made something akin to a force-field around himself, but with so much magic power directed against him, he knew he could not hold on for much longer.

For half a minute, he held back the magic of Altyn clan with his sheer force of will.

When his barrier finally burst, Shengyn found himself forcefully whisked away as his ring involuntarily activated.

As the dust cleared away, Zirc saw that Shengyn was gone.

“Elder brother, is he dead?” Jang Altyn asked.

“No. He got away. Damn it!” Zirc stomped on a rock hard enough to make it crack into two.

“Korgan Karatengu’s last offspring. If he is not defeated, he could become a dire threat to our clan.” Jaulon muttered.

“He is powerful” Zirc admitted.

“Yes. His willpower alone is dangerous, being able to hold back the magic of the entire Altyn clan alone, even if just for half a minute.”

Zirc clenched his fist.

“I kept tabs on him with my spies, but I never imagined that he was this powerful. My territory is protected by my barrier, yet he snuck into it effortlessly. Such a dangerous and powerful demon is still on the loose…it is like some sick joke” Jaulon could not help but find the situation to be rather absurd.

Within a single day, the crow exploded the Altyn clan’s castle, beat the hell out of their patriarch and fought to a standstill with the strongest Phoenix demon.

And after taking on the entire Altyn clan alone, he escaped.

‘Was it because Kin’s assassin failed to kill him?’ Jaulon’s paranoia at the moment was undeniable, yet justified.

“So this is how he is sending his message, huh? If you send another assassin, I will take life for life, is that it? He has the advantage in term of power, with two Demon Lords and his own strength…”

If the two clans fought, Jaulon was not confident that his clan would emerge victorious.

“Father, let us march and burn the Tengu clan to the ground” Kin Altyn suggested.

“We cannot. If it was just Korgan in his declining clan, it would have been easy. But now their side has three Demon Lord level demons. We cannot take them on in a fair battle.”

Two Demon Lords were already powerful…And with the power that ‘Ren Karatengu’ had shown today, Jaulon knew that declaring war on Tengu clan right now would be same as suicide.

Jaulon could take on Korgan, and Zirc was ‘Ren’s’ equal, but Tengu clan had another Demon Lord, which would completely shift the battle to their advantage.

Just a single Demon Lord level Tengu did this much damage. Having to fight three such powerful individuals was not a risk Jaulon was willing to take.

“But father, you told us that you could easily break the Tengu clan’s barrier!” Kin cried out.

“When it was just Korgan, yes. But when enforced by more Demon Lords, the barrier can only be broken by someone with a higher level of power. I cannot do that”

Even if he could, he wouldn’t. Such was the true nature of the cowardly Jaulon.

To this day, he was still afraid of Korgan Karatengu, the one demon who stood up and fought back against him during the time when they took the trials.

And now, Korgan’s offspring had just proven how dangerous he was.

Crow demons truly were the natural enemies of Phoenix demons.

“But if one of our own becomes the next Demon King, Ren Karatengu will no longer be a match for us!”

In the past, Jaulon and his clan were responsible for killing Korgan’s siblings, leaving only his branch to continue on his clan. And then, they made sure to kill Omir and make Ymit ‘disappear’.

Now, only Korgan and Ren remained.

Phoenix demons were long lived, even though he was same age as Korgan, Jaulon still retained his youth and power.

“If this was your last ditch attempt at beating us, you have failed, brat! I will kill you and will have your father see your lifeless corpse! The power of the Demon King shall belong to my clan.”

“Only our clan deserves to remain and prosper, for we are the Phoenix demons, the Supreme of all the demon clans. Every other demon shall become our slaves and food to consume!”

In a sense, the grand plan of the Altyn clan was a mass genocide of all the other clans, creating a kingdom where only the ones with Phoenix demon blood prospered.

With the power the young crow displayed, Jaulon knew that they could not take the Tengu clan on as they were now…

…But that did not mean they could not conquer the other clans.