Solomon burst out laughing at Titan, "Hahaha What are you talking about?"

Titan, who was trying to stand on shaky legs, frowned, "What do you mean? You have to help me."

"Um... no."

Titan squinted in confusion, "How are you supposed to return to Hell if you don't kill the Progenitor?"

"Why would we need to kill the Progenitor to go back?" asked Solomon.

Now Titan looked even more confused, "Huh, Didn't the administrator tell all you demons that the only way to end this war was to kill the enemies' Leader?"

"What's an administrator?"

"The god who runs this 'Penance',"

"Oh... well, no, I didn't know that," Solomon turned to Hyde but he also shook his head. Clearly, he didn't know about this either.

When he saw this, Titan slapped his palm against his forehead in exasperation, "Why am I not surprised? Of course, War wouldn't explain everything properly."

Hyde was the next one to ask a question, "So are you saying that we have to kill the Progenitor to end this war?"

"Exactly!"

"Well... What does this Progenitor look like?"

Titan turned to the east where a massive explosion had just rocked the city. Buildings were being turned into confetti and dust and rubble was being raised into the sky.

If they squinted, they could make out the Figures of Drunken Sword and another humanoid creature.

"That guy is already fighting it," Said Titan as he pointed

Solomon whispered a prayer for Drunken Sword, "Did he just run away and leave his enemy to someone else again?" He wondered out loud

Titan deftly ignored this accusation by running back toward the explosions. He shouted back to them as he ran, "Try and destroy all of these Shrike corpses so that it can't absorb them and heal itself,"

Hyde looked at Solomon and spoke up with uncertainty, "So... I guess we should kill the Progenitor then,"

The four demons that were still there burst into motion. Solomon ran past Hyde towards the east, kicking him in the shins along the way. He was heading straight towards the Progenitor.

Hyde tried to follow him but was grabbed by Wisp. She pulled him back towards the Shrike corpses, "Cmon we need to get rid of these bodies," She told Hyde, who was looking dejected, as she pulled him by his furry ears.

Fike poked his head out of the tunnel he had been taking cover in. He had heard the conversation and was going to help them fight the Progenitor. He wouldn't be much help when it came to disposing of bodies.

Hyde quickly began breathing fire onto the corpses, along with Sol's help, any nearby Shrike would be burned to ash in a matter of seconds.

Wisp began Spewing fire out of her mouth as well. But the fire she breathed was different to Hyde's. It was more solid and sticky. Almost like she was breathing out molten gasoline, Her flames would hungrily latch onto the Shrike's wooden bodies and devoured them in an instant.

Fike ran past these two and off into the city. It wasn't hard to figure out where he had to go. All he had to do was follow the explosions.

...

Solomon ran across rooftops nimbly, jumping between ruined buildings, as he glided on the winds. Each time he jumped, gusts of wind would spring up to assist him, pushing him onwards.

Catena, who was still wrapped around his arm began talking to him, "Didn't you see that all your friends had elemental guardians like me?"

"Yeah, yeah I believe you now"

As Solomon and Catena talked, Drunken Sword was fighting for his life. Every time he managed to wound the Progenitor with his sword. A sharp tentacle-like branch would emerge from the wound. Thus it was getting harder and harder to fight it the more he managed to wound it.

While he was dodging the attacks, his movements looked stilted and strange. He lurched around like he was drunk, and yet somehow, he managed to step past the lashing attacks of the branches.

'This is thing is much stronger than any of the Lord ranked Shrike I've managed to kill before.' He remarked. The problem was that the Progenitor was much more mobile and could also dodge his attacks. Not that it needed to because even if he did manage to wound it, it would regenerate almost instantly.

Another two figures dashed out of a ruined street and joined him. It was Solomon and Titan.

Catena was wrapped around one of Solomon's arms and on Titan's shoulder was a small furry creature with massive claws that had a metallic gleam.

The second they arrived, They split up and ran towards the Progenitor.

Titan ran in close and began laying punches into the Progenitor. Every time he punched, his gauntlets would change shape and become spiked. Then, when he needed to block attacks, his gauntlets would become shields that could absorb any hit.

Solomon jumped and soared across the sky. He was using gusts of wind to carry him through the air. He landed on top of a nearby building and began swiping out with blades of wind. They sliced out in brilliant green arcs that cut through the numerous tentacles that were coming from the progenitor.

While Drunken Sword and Titan rushed in and dealt heavy strikes from close range, Solomon focused on restricting its movements as much as he could. Like this, they were able to temporarily pin it down.

Until, after being hit enough times, something changed about the progenitor. Its human facade peeled away and countless tentacle-like branches writhed together beneath it in a disgusting harmony.

They wrapped around each other gruesomely and then the Progenitor had taken form once again. It's true form.

The Progenitor had become a complete mess of tangled roots, branches and spiked appendages. Its figure was massive and vaguely humanoid. It towered over the nearby buildings and cracked the ground when it walked.

Its appearance was that of an enormous man with hundred of spiked tentacles protruding from his back. The man had no face. Where that should have been, was a mess of interwoven roots and branches.

It raised one of its enormous fists and swung out at Solomon who had been getting in its way for a while now.

A titanic fist rocketed through the air and flattened the building Solomon had been standing on a mere second ago.

Thankfully, he had managed to sense the danger and leapt up into the air right before the attack. He landed on the back of the hand that had just crushed the building and buried the tip of his tail within the wooden flesh.

Venom sprayed out into the Progenitors's arm and smoke began rising from inside its wooden body.

Right as it went to retaliate, A thin beam of water sliced through one of its ankles, bringing it to its knees.

The monster thrashed recklessly while on the ground, and hundreds of tentacles smashed all the nearby buildings into dust.

Solomon and Titan were forced to back off, leaving Drunken Sword by himself. Somehow, he was managing to dodge all of the attacks with seeming ease. Even if a tentacle lashed at him from behind, he seemed to sense it and step aside. It was almost like he had eyes on the back of his head.

Drunken Sword's Blade was white and fashioned from bone, it flashed in a hypnotic series of fluid slashes that ruined any tentacles that tried to get near him. His movements were impossible to follow and every step he took was unpredictable.

As he danced between the innumerable attacks, Fike arrived and fired his Harpoon into the Progenitor's faceless head. The metallic Harpoon was like a hook that had caught the Progenitor and when Fike pulled on the rope in his other hand, the Progenitors's head was slammed down to the ground.

A trench was formed in the stone pavement as Fike dragged the Progenitor towards him. From a distance, it might have looked like he was reeling in a monstrous fish.

Titan lept onto the Creatures back and began raining down hammer blows with his heavy metal gauntlets. Each blow would send splinters and shrapnel flying.

Solomon and Drunken Sword weren't lagging behind any, as they each laid into one of the creature's limbs.

One of the Progenitor's hands fell off after its wrist was dissolved by Solomon's venom. The stump beneath tried to grow back and reshape but was unable to because of the venom.

The progenitor let out an inhuman Scream and ripped Titan off its back, flinging him into the distance. He landed out of sight and didn't get up.

Solomon managed to use air currents to avoid the sweeping blow that the Progenitor levelled at him, but Drunken Sword had no such ability. A giant fist swept him off his feet and buried him in the side of a distant building.

Fike's arm was bulging as he held onto the rope that was taught. He wasn't sure what would give out first, the rope or his shoulder.

A metallic tail sliced through countless tentacles as Solomon became the sole focus of the Progenitor's attacks. He was forced to dodge and weave through a wall of twisting and writhing branches.

Right as he was about to be struck by one of the Progenitors's fists, something smashed into its torso at high speeds.

Solomon squinted and noticed that it was Hyde, who had barrelled into the Progenitors's torso, in a flurry of claws and fire.

On his shoulder, a small dragon breathed out scorching flames that charred the Progenitors wooden body. While Hyde used his claws to tear into the creature's chest. His claws were glowing red hot and every time they cut through a tentacle, it didn't grow back.

Behind Hyde, Wisp ran up and vomited a sticky liquid flame from her mouth. The flame flowed across the ground like water and up onto the Progenitors's legs. While Hyde's flames eventually went out, this one didn't. No matter what the monster did, it couldn't put it out.

A flailing fist almost hit Fike but was frozen in place by some invisible force. It hung there in stasis until Fike stepped out of the way, before eventually resuming motion and connecting with nothing.

Seeing that it was in danger from these flames, the progenitor searched around for any nearby creatures to absorb but found only ash and rubble. Not that it could escape even if it wanted to. The enormous harpoon that was lodged in its face stopped it from running away.

Titan, who had extracted himself from the crater he had landed in once again, began sprinting towards the Progenitor. As he ran, he picked up speed and the stone beneath him cracked from the force of his passing. The two golden gauntlets in his hands had transformed into an enormous spear, that he was carrying at his side as he ran.

He thundered into the Progenitor and impaled it with the golden Spear, pinning it down to the ground. Then, he shouted over the sounds of the battle, "I can cut off its limbs but someone needs to stop them from growing back."

"I can do that," Shouted both Solomon and Wisp in unison

"Good, then let's start with the legs," Titan yelled before pulling the spear from the creature's chest.

The golden spear warped and flowed like molten metal into a completely new shape. Titan was now holding a massive golden chainsaw that he put to work on one of the legs.

While he did that, Hyde kept off any of the tentacles that tried to stop Titan, by breathing out torrents of red flames or slashing them apart with his glowing claws.

The sound of wood being torn apart by the serrated teeth of the chainsaw was earsplitting as the golden weapon shredded the Progenitors left leg.

In a moment, that leg had been separated from the creature's body and the writing stump that was trying to regrow was bathed in sticky flames that refused to go out.

Drunken Sword rejoined the fight by sending out an enormous arc of water that sliced clean through the tentacles that covered the Progenitor's back.

The Tentacle stumps tried to grow back but were showered in acidic venom that smoke and sizzled as it put a stop to their actions.

In a matter of seconds, all that remained of the Progenitor was its ruined torso and inhuman face that had a giant silver harpoon sticking from it.

Titan, who was standing on its chest began tearing the torso apart with his chainsaw and Solomon sprayed venom on all of the wounds. Meanwhile, Wisp and Hyde bathed the Progenitor in flame.

Suddenly, Titan stopped cutting and plunged his hand into the creature's chest. He rummaged around inside the Progenitors's body until he finally found what he was looking for.

When he pulled his hand back out, he had a small piece of glowing black rock clutched in his fist. "Hah, finally I got it!" He shouted.

After this piece of rock was removed, the Progenitors struggles ceased completely and it slumped to the ground limply.

"Found What?" Solomon asked.

Without really thinking, Titan replied, "It's a fragment of an extremely precious metal from an ancient weapon."

"But how did it land on this planet?" Hyde asked.

"Probably as a meteorite or something I don't know. Wait why am I telling you any of this?"

Solomon looked thoughtful for a moment, He had just remembered reading that the Progenitor was created when a scientist combined a piece of a meteor with a plant.

"But how did you know it would be there?" Solomon asked, but received no answer. Titan was gone.

He felt his body twisting and shaking from some strange spatial forces. Like someone was messing with the gravity on him.

A deep voice sounded in everyone's heads, "Congratulation's on completing the second 'Penance'... Now Fuck Off."

With that, every demon that was on this ruined planet disappeared, leaving nothing but a flash of light and the smell of sulfur behind after they left.