Demon Bible

Chapter 196: I Will Come Back For You

Although Demon Warlocks practiced some spells, their primary combat strength lay in the demons themselves.

However, demons were notoriously difficult to control.

Therefore, most Demon Warlocks would try every possible method to completely subjugate a demon.

As for Ben, this Demon Warlock had chosen the Shadow Demon, an exceptionally functional entity.

Through various methods, he had suppressed the Shadow Demon's personal will, using it like a puppet tool.

However, Nemus's strike seemed to have hit a critical spot. The Shadow Demon was heavily damaged. Driven by the agony of the injury and the sudden fracture of the control methods binding it, the Shadow Demon teetered on the edge of losing control, ready to bite back at its master at any moment.

This was one of the inherent flaws of a Demon Warlock. They were undeniably powerful, but the constant threat of a horrific backlash could never be underestimated.

'But why? How is Nels's luck so good that he managed to precisely strike the Shadow Demon's vital point?!' the Demon Warlock thought, still completely baffled by how Nemus had achieved this.

The Shadow Demon used shadows as its vessel, its entire body a mass of pitch-black darkness. Ordinary perception could hardly pinpoint the location of its core.

The Church indeed possessed rather deep research on demons, but could their knowledge possibly surpass that of a Warlock who specialized exclusively in studying them?Yet Nemus had accomplished exactly that with a single swing of his sword.

The same went for his previous disruption of the shadows. He had struck precisely at the crucial node, causing the Warlock's escape attempt to completely fail.

It was almost as if Nemus had been studying him for quite some time.

"Ahriman, if I die, you won't have it easy either!" the Demon Warlock shouted, frantically trying to stabilize the Shadow Demon while calling out to Ahriman.

In this dire situation, only Ahriman could save him.

With fear ballooning in his heart, the Demon Warlock was forced to abandon his former poise and arrogance.

Previously, relying on the advantages of the Shadow Demon before it was disrupted, he could fight or retreat at will.

None of the individuals publicly known to be capable of matching him had shown up.

Naturally, he had felt no fear, maintaining immense confidence in controlling the entire situation.

But now, all of that confidence had evaporated.

Nemus's sudden appearance had delivered a devastatingly precise strike.

Sensing the Demon Warlock's panic, Ahriman did not take the opportunity to lower the price and squeeze more Sin Souls out of him, as the demon had previously planned.

Ahriman stared at Nemus, its gaze gradually turning solemn.

This was an expression the demon hadn't even shown when facing that old geezer from the Judgment Squad.

To Ahriman, Nemus's Number was not considered high, only about a third of its own.

However, that recent strike completely defied its expectations. Faintly, Ahriman could sense another peculiar power lingering around Nemus.

Under the influence of that strange force, the opponent's actual combat prowess might be significantly higher than imagined.

More importantly, Ahriman felt that it might be able to obtain what it desperately desired from that very power.

For a Mutant, the most difficult hurdle was Advancement.

Their Numbers vastly exceeded the Peak Limit of the same rank, but the difficulty of their Advancement increased proportionally.

The entire reason Ahriman had formed a Covenant with the Demon Warlock was to seek an opportunity for Advancement.

Now, looking at Nemus, Ahriman faintly sensed a glimmer of that opportunity.

And the more it sensed this, the more seriously it treated the situation.

The Golden Elixir refined by the Demon Warlock was garbage in its eyes. If Nemus possessed an item for Advancement that surpassed the Golden Elixir, then he could not be underestimated under any circumstances. Moreover, judging from those few previous attacks, Nemus was indeed far from ordinary.

"I would like to save you, but it seems it's already too late," Ahriman said, pausing its movements. It couldn't help but feel a stroke of bad luck, sighing in lament.

It had finally found a worthy target, yet its ability to move freely was about to be restricted once again.

In the very next moment, Nemus appeared directly in front of the Demon Warlock. Massive amounts of shadows wrapped around Nemus's body, a phenomenon the Warlock was intimately familiar with, a short-range Shadow Leap!

Meanwhile, a mass of pitch-black matter clung tightly to Nemus's blade.

The mental energy within it was exceptionally erratic, it was the Shadow Demon itself.

Nemus's previous strike hadn't just shattered his control over the Shadow Demon; it had also severed a portion of the demon's will.

That severed portion of will had become the ultimate mole.

"No!" he screamed. The shadows, once his most convenient asset, had now become the very chains binding him.

"Shadow Demon, you can't do this! If I am killed, you will also be weakened! You won't survive in the Abyss!" The Demon Warlock frantically transmitted his Mental Power, desperately trying to persuade the Shadow Demon using their mutual interests.

But this time, the Shadow Demon's will was unusually resolute.

With a single sweeping slash of the sword, a thin line of blood appeared straight down the middle of the Demon Warlock.

The Bone Mask on his face shattered to pieces, revealing the true visage of Jacquard Ben.

He stared at Nemus in sheer disbelief, never expecting to suffer such a miserable defeat.

In terms of raw combat power between him and Nemus, he firmly believed he alone could take on three of Nemus.

Yet the reality was that Nemus had completely dismantled him using only three sword strikes.

The first strike: the Forest Treasure Sword summoned trees and vines to temporarily restrict his Shadow Leaps.

The second strike: a slash that cleaved through the darkness, shattering his control over the Shadow Demon and, in turn, extracting a sliver of its mental will.

The third strike: utilizing the Shadow Demon to execute a short-range Shadow Leap, Nemus appeared right beside him, effortlessly slicing through all of his defenses and life-saving measures, ultimately claiming his life.

It sounded simple enough, but doing so was akin to asking an ordinary person how to kill a tiger and receiving the answer: "Just slide tackle it with a knife."

Every single step in the process was riddled with absurdities.

For instance, how did Nemus discover that violently shifting shadows would disrupt a Shadow Leap? How did Nemus locate the Shadow Demon's core so flawlessly? And more importantly, how did Nemus convince the Shadow Demon to cooperate in completing that Shadow Leap, completely bypassing the Demon Warlock's ultimate defense, Ahriman?

The Demon Warlock's unwilling eyes gradually dimmed to a dull gray. With both sides of his body losing the shadowy support, he instantly collapsed, falling to the ground in two halves.

On the other side, the formal demon let out a helpless roar. As the Covenant evaporated, it was forcibly banished back into the Abyss.

Right at that moment, however, a bizarre power surged from Ahriman's entire body.

This power forcefully enveloped Ahriman, allowing it to temporarily remain on the Material Plane.

It didn't attack Nemus. At this moment, it clearly understood that this brief window of time wouldn't be nearly enough to take Nemus down.

"I will come back for you!" Ahriman declared, its body already darting toward the perimeter. The Clerics blocking the path were fundamentally unable to stop it.

Moreover, under the current circumstances, it likely couldn't stay on the Material Plane for much longer anyway. Risking its life just to stall for a single fleeting moment simply wasn't worth it.

In the next instant, Ahriman's androgynous face became covered in a thick network of bulging, black veins.

Then, its mouth inexplicably gaped wide and rapidly expanded, regurgitating a massive, white egg the size of a human head from within.