Demon Bible

Chapter 115: Betrayal

Buke led Fass's family away, but he quickly realized they could no longer run.

Being commoners from the slums meant they lacked everything.

Their bodies were frail and malnourished.

At this moment, the group was panting heavily, completely out of breath.

If they kept running like this, they might literally drop dead from exhaustion.

Buke could carry one on his back and hold another in his arms, but Fass had multiple younger siblings; there was no way he could carry them all.

"This way. We need to call for help," Buke said, slapping his forehead in frustration. He shouldn't have been so hasty.

While he hadn't needed his newly recruited subordinates to infiltrate and rescue them, he definitely needed them now for the extraction.

With that in mind, Buke guided Fass's family toward the warehouse.

They navigated the dim warehouse and slipped into the narrow alleyway behind it.Buke walked in front, with Fass's family trailing closely behind.

His footsteps were uneven as he trudged forward.

His mind raced, plotting their next moves.

In his distracted state, he suddenly caught a faint sound.

The moment he looked up toward the noise, Buke saw a Holy Knight clad in signature light armor leaping down from above. The sword in the knight's hand gleamed with a holy, ethereal light.

Before Buke could even react, one of his arms was severed, flying into the air.

In that instant, the entire world seemed to fall dead silent, leaving only a high-pitched ringing in his ears.

The magic array on his body activated instantly, flooding his entire being with demonic power.

He didn't even have time to wonder why a Holy Knight was here or why he was being attacked.

Agonizing pain drove Buke to counterattack on pure instinct.

However, Gabriel was a Holy Knight with an attribute value of six, having practiced sword arts since childhood.

To him, a one-armed Buke was nothing more than a slightly mobile target.

Gabriel swung his sword again, completely disregarding the wooden walls of the alleyway.

Powered by an attribute value of six, the blade easily sliced through the timber and struck Buke directly.

Dark aura swirled around the wound as the blade tore open a gash, sending blood flying. Yet, unlike the previous strike, it failed to sever another limb; it could only be considered a minor flesh wound.

"Argh!" Buke let out a beast-like roar, charging straight at Gabriel while bearing the brunt of the blade.

Gabriel paused in surprise before executing a practiced backward step.

He pulled his arm back, twisting his blade as a tactical assessment formed in his mind.

'He is not a true demon. He lacks their immortal traits.'

'There is no need to use a secret breathing technique. Continuous sword strikes will be enough to kill him.' Gabriel deflected with his blade, created distance, and then accelerated his swings, utilizing the momentum to increase his striking power.

The wooden and stone houses lining both sides of the alleyway offered no resistance against his blade.

One strike, two strikes, three strikes!

The first thing to give way was not Buke's body, but the surrounding structures.

The houses rapidly collapsed. Fass's family, failing to react in time, was crushed beneath the falling debris.

The timber that Gabriel could easily slice through, and the collapsing rubble that Buke could withstand with his current defenses, became the fatal instruments that claimed the lives of Fass's family.

The agonizing screams of Fass's family jolted Buke out of his bloodlust.

"No!" Buke had never anticipated this.

He had already led them safely away from the Rope Gang! Why was a Holy Knight suddenly here?!

"Wicked fiend, cease your resistance!" Gabriel declared self-righteously upon seeing Buke freeze in shock.

As for the dozen or so people crushed to death by the collapsing houses, Gabriel paid them no mind.

They were just insignificant slum dwellers.

"Everything that happened here is the result of your evil deeds," Gabriel proclaimed.

"If you had simply accepted your poverty and submitted to the bindings of the Precepts, none of this would have occurred!" Amidst the ruined houses, Buke's heart turned ice-cold. Then, an intense anger—something truly beyond words—surged from the depths of his soul.

Whatever guilt he had felt moments ago was instantly cast aside.

"You say this is my fault?"

"You are nothing but a piece of holy shit!" Buke spat, his voice carrying a fury so absolute it had wrapped back around to a chilling calm.

Following his curse, massive waves of dark aura erupted from his body.

Thick scales began to gradually surface across his skin.

'As expected, an unexpected harvest,' Nemus observed from the shadows, his eyes keenly locked onto the unfolding scene.

He was highly satisfied with Buke's current transformation.

Merely using demonic power for temporary self-enhancement was only the most basic stage.

At this stage, the demonic power and the physical body were incompatible, leading to massive energy loss.

It was just like with Downs and Krog; when Krog actively wielded the demonic power, Downs could gain complete immortal traits.

However, Buke did not naturally possess such synergy.

The reason was simple: the demonic power itself lacked a subjective will.

But now, Buke's mental fluctuations carried the absolute will to become a demon.

This fierce intent resonated with the demonic energy, drastically improving his compatibility with it.

Under these circumstances, Buke officially unlocked true demonic power.

His attribute value spiked from five to six, and he finally acquired genuine immortal traits.

Witnessing this transformation, Gabriel frowned. Things had just become troublesome.

He vaulted over the collapsed ruins and charged at Buke.

His blade swung in a spinning arc, the tip slashing viciously into Buke's flesh.

But what met his sword was the newly manifested layer of scales.

These scales possessed incredible strength and resilience. The blade scraped across them, shattering a few, but failed to inflict any deeper damage.

'Not good. He's reached a level where I need to use a secret breathing technique!' Gabriel thought. Unaware that Buke's power had its limits, he instinctively judged the situation as a full demonic possession.

Gabriel swung his sword at Buke's reaching arm, then violently twisted his body to deliver a heavy kick, knocking Buke away.

Exhaling a puff of white mist, Gabriel prepared to activate his secret breathing technique.

Right at that moment, Buke's heightened demonic hearing picked up the sound of several people rapidly approaching from a short distance away.

Among those approaching footsteps was a voice, speaking between heavy pants.

"My lords, it is right over there!"

It was a voice Buke was quite familiar with.

It belonged to Al, the boy he had brought to the warehouse along with Fass earlier today.

After pointing Gabriel in the right direction, Gabriel had ordered Al to find Brent and Galen to guide them as well.

In an instant, Buke understood exactly what had happened.

The burning fury of betrayal erupted within him.

However, Buke also knew that his demonic power could not withstand a coordinated siege.

Thus, he unleashed a wrathful roar before abruptly pivoting and sprinting off in the opposite direction.

Gabriel, along with the newly arrived Brent and Galen, gave chase without hesitation.

This left only Al, gasping for breath, standing alone before the ruined buildings.

After taking a moment to catch his breath, he scrambled over the debris to follow the Holy Knights.

He paid no mind to the pools of blood seeping out from beneath the collapsed timber.