Episode 226: The Realm (3)
The moment Hemeira unleashed its shockwave, Barche vanished without a sound.
All that remained where Barche had stood was a long trail of blood and fragments of his armor.
Damian watched the scene with an indifferent expression.
It was no surprise. After absorbing Barche’s ultimate technique and releasing it back, the outcome was inevitable.
“Hmm?”
From the armor fragments, a black smoke-like substance began to seep out.
“Is that… demon essence?”
In some cases, armor crafted with a demon’s utmost effort contained their essence.
Damian reached out towards the essence. It was absorbed entirely into the markings on the back of his hand.
A new symbol emerged. Damian examined it closely.
“This time, the power of Envy has been unlocked.”
The power of Gluttony absorbs abilities. The power of Wrath can amplify anything. And the power of Envy can alter properties.
For instance, applying the power of Envy to magic could transform it into dark magic or holy power.
It could also imbue magic with elemental properties like fire or ice.
However, there was a downside. The power of Envy wasn’t very efficient, consuming a large amount of magic during conversion.
“I’ll need to increase my magic reserves.”
Despite its drawbacks, the power’s versatility was too valuable to ignore.
Moreover, some of the techniques Damian knew required a special mana manipulation method.
Techniques like moving through the sky like lightning or freezing the sea with a sword.
To use such techniques, the power of Envy was essential.
At that moment, Hemeira’s voice echoed. It seemed to be famished from expending energy.
Damian reached out towards the armor fragments. They floated into the air and adhered to his palm.
“Eat.”
He brought the fragments closer to Hemeira. Its surface turned fluid, absorbing all the pieces.
This was another function Hemeira possessed. It could absorb any metal to strengthen itself.
Rare metals were more effective than ordinary ones, and armor remnants were even better.
Once it had consumed all the fragments, Hemeira expressed its satisfaction.
With Hemeira’s meal complete, Damian turned to face Salik.
Salik stared at Damian with wide eyes.
“What… what did you just do? How did you kill Barche? And what did you just absorb…?”
“You don’t need to know.”
Damian replied coldly, raising his sword, Dawn, high. A blue aura blade enveloped it.
Salik’s eyes trembled as he gazed at Dawn. Yet, as if accepting his fate, his expression grew calm.
”…I have a last request. Just hear me out.”
“No.”
Damian refused bluntly. He had no intention of wasting time listening to the last words of someone he considered trash.
“Please… I have something to say to Sla…”
Salik pleaded desperately. It seemed he had a deep connection with Sla, enough to beg his enemy.
“Don’t worry. I’ll send her to join you soon enough.”
Damian’s voice was emotionless. Salik’s face hardened at his words.
“Send… her? You don’t mean… you’re going to kill Sla?”
Rage began to ignite in Salik’s dying eyes.
“You think you can kill Sla? That’s impossible! She’s incredibly strong! And she’s surrounded by people even stronger than me! You think you can kill them?”
A sneer appeared on Salik’s lips.
“Stop dreaming. You’ll never kill Sla…”
Damian snapped his fingers. The aura blades piercing Salik’s body vanished.
Freed, Salik slumped to the ground, looking up at Damian with a face full of confusion.
“Why…?”
In the next moment, Damian kicked Salik in the abdomen.
It was an attack imbued with magic. Salik, already gravely wounded by the aura blades, coughed up blood as he lay on the ground.
“Sorry. I can’t stand listening to nonsense from trash like you.”
Despite his apology, Damian lifted his foot and pressed it against Salik’s head.
“You think I can’t kill Sla? I don’t understand why you’d think that.”
Damian removed his foot from Salik’s head and grabbed her hair, lifting her up.
“You bastard…”
Salik tried to curse, but when she met Damian’s eyes, she fell silent.
Damian’s eyes were filled with a murderous intent so intense it was terrifying.
Salik, who had once risen to the rank of a great villain, had never felt such a chilling aura.
“Go to the afterlife and watch closely. See how pathetically and miserably I kill Sla. Witness her disgraceful end.”
Salik swallowed dryly.
For Sla’s sake, she needed to refute his words. She needed to shout that he was talking nonsense.
But she couldn’t. The man before her was too terrifying.
“Not just Sla. The Weapon Master, the Lord of Flames, all the scum from Pandemonium, and the bastard hiding behind them—I’ll kill them all.”
Damian gathered the dark magic scattered around him.
The space was filled with dark magic from the deaths of the Four Calamities’ Banexia and Barche. Damian quickly amassed a vast amount of it.
“You… you…”
As the dark magic gathered in Damian’s hand, Salik was too shocked to speak.
Of all the skills Damian had shown, this was the most astonishing.
“How… how can a knight… use dark magic…?”
Damian didn’t answer Salik’s question. Instead, he used the dark magic to shatter her soul.
”…!”
As her soul was destroyed, Salik experienced the most excruciating pain imaginable.
Damian paid no attention to her suffering. He delved into her soul and absorbed her memories.
“Ah, there are two more left.”
Damian used the dark magic to capture the souls of Banexia and Barche.
Both had died recently, so their souls still lingered in the space.
Aaaah!
Aaaah!
Damian shattered their souls as well, extracting and absorbing their memories.
He closed his eyes for a moment, sifting through the memories of the three.
How much time passed like that?
“Damn it.”
A curse escaped Damian’s lips. Even after scouring their memories, he couldn’t find Dorgo’s location.
“I had high hopes for Banexia, being a great villain.”
Even Banexia had no idea where Dorgo was. It seemed he wasn’t deemed worthy enough to approach Dorgo.
“At least I found out where the other two are.”
He had succeeded in discovering the locations of Sla and the Weapon Master.
The two were in completely opposite places.
“To think they were there…!”
A look of delight spread across Damian’s face. An uncontrollable smile appeared on his lips.
Now that he knew their locations, all that was left was to find and kill them.
Finally, he could avenge his sister and father. He could drag the bastards who had tormented them into the gutter.
Moreover, through this ordeal, Damian had gained the trust of the Demon Slayer Order. He could now leverage the power of the most knowledgeable faction about Pandemonium within the empire.
“Just wait a little longer. I’ll be there soon.”
In the dark space, a dry laugh echoed.
“Ugh… Ugh!”
Rainy Bell groaned and suddenly sat up.
As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked around. She saw Wilhelm and Roger lying beside her.
Thankfully, both were unharmed. Rainy sighed in relief as she looked at them.
“How are you feeling?”
But her peace was shattered by the voice that followed.
Right in front of her, Damian Haxen was watching her.
Seeing Damian Haxen’s face, she immediately recalled what he had done before she lost consciousness.
He had knocked them out by striking their necks.
“You! Why did you attack us… Agh!”
Rainy tried to get up but clutched her abdomen. The wound from her duel with Banexia throbbed with intense pain.
“You shouldn’t move. Your injuries haven’t healed yet.”
“Never mind that, explain yourself.”
“There’s nothing to explain. You wouldn’t believe me, so I had no choice.”
“How could I believe you! The opponent was a great villain! You weren’t supposed to face him!”
As she spoke, Rainy felt a sense of unease.
Before she lost consciousness, Sla’s lover and the Weapon Master’s top disciple had been there.
So how were they still alive?
Rainy looked at Damian with a face full of questions. He silently gestured to one side.
There lay three bodies.
One was the Four Calamities’ Banexia, his dismembered body carelessly piled like trash.
And the other two…
”…It’s the Power of Destruction’s Salik and Barche?”
Two formidable warriors, each as powerful as a great evil, lay lifeless on the ground.
Wondering if she was dreaming, Rainie pinched her cheek. No matter how hard she pinched, she didn’t wake up.
“Th-those… how are they d-dead…?”
“I killed them.”
“Y-you’re lying.”
“I’m not lying. If it wasn’t me, who else could have killed them?”
Rainie was at a loss for words. Damien was right. Of the four people present, he was the only one still conscious.
If it wasn’t Damien, there was no one else who could have taken them down.
“I told you I could do it.”
Unlike the shocked Rainie, Damien spoke as if it were no big deal, as if killing those two was nothing extraordinary.
“H-how… how did you do it?”
“How else? I’m strong, so I killed them.”
“S-strong? How did you become stronger than them?”
Faced with a reality she couldn’t accept, Rainie could only stammer.
Damien looked at her calmly and said, “Because I’m a genius.”
At that moment, a chill ran through Rainie.
She stared at Damien Haxen, thinking to herself.
What an insufferable guy.
But no matter how annoying he was, she had to say it.
“Damien Haxen.”
“Still don’t believe me?”
“Thank you for saving us.”
At that moment, Damien flinched. He looked at Rainie in silence for a while.
”…I was just repaying a debt.”
His eyes, as he spoke, were filled with a myriad of emotions.