Chapter 61: Verities of Janus The Prince in Question Is Not Stable

Chapter 61: Verities of Janus

"Raum Marbas," Janus repeated.

"I never knew demons had named themselves," he said.

Selene and Jose retreated along with the cadets that were rescued from the debris, and Raum did not even pay attention to them.

The demons that were still alive were frozen in fear. They had halted all of their activities.

"These creatures..." Raum looked around him, "Are not worth the title of Demon Kin."

"They are utterly disappointed. No elegance, no honour, no truth in their violence," he said.

"I agree. They lack verity," Janus replied.

"Verity? A mortal word for a mortal failing. Speak plainly, mortal," Raum said.

"Very well."

<<>>

*Ba-Bump*

Raum heard his demonic heart beat intensely.

The world flickered around them as his demonic energy was being drained into the soil of the earth below him, rotting the gravel and cobblestone ground.

Flowers in the nearby stores that had fallen in the war of survival died the moment his demonic energy touched the surface of the earth, and the effect was significant across a mile’s radius.

Knights, mages, and cadets were finding it hard to breathe, while civilians were already on the ground, choking on the pressure of pure demonic force.

Raum’s eyes flashed with excitement as he smiled and stood up, despite the force of the ground sucking his demonic energy at a tremendous rate.

<<>>

A wave of dense black aura draped, forming a massive dome that separated the Townsquare, the whole centre of Crescenda, from the people who had retreated far away.

The barrier was pitch black, with a faint hum of demonic energy seeping through its walls as it suppressed the power of Raum within it.

Raum took one step forward, and with that one step, he covered the distance between Janus and him.

An intense amount of demonic energy focused on its right arm, draping it in the bright hue of red as he swung it.

Janus tapped his cane on the ground, and a magic circuit on it changed the appearance of the cane into a long black metal shaft with golden runic designs on it.

He brought it up horizontally as Raum’s fist made an impact with the metal pole.

*TUNG

The impact made the pole reverberate with a sound that shivered the pitch-black barrier, sending ripples and cracks all around a mile.

The impact staggered Janus back on his footing, and the glasses in his spectacles cracked.

Raum moved again...he blurred in Janus’s sight with a kick almost touching the heart of his chest.

<<>>

But his attack didn’t connect.

Janus wasn’t anywhere near him.

An enormous magic circle appeared beneath his feet, and hundreds of chains leapt and coiled around his body like snakes.

Raum observed them, but there was not a single speck of fear or competitiveness in his eyes.

The chains coiled all over him, covering every inch of his body, trying to restrict his movements.

Everything turned silent, eerily silent as Janus looked at the chains sealing the demon.

He brought his finger forward to construct another circuit.

But then he felt it...demonic energy was seeping into the chains, rotting and corrupting his magic circle.

The intensity was stronger than ever. Raum was deliberately releasing that amount.

Cracks appeared on the chains that were capable of holding massive beasts into submission.

<<>>

"Silence. Mortal." Janus heard from behind.

His eyes widened for the first time.

And then only did he notice that the scene of chains shattering was an afterimage.

Raum was already standing behind Janus.

"Your trickery no longer amuses me," Raum said, and even Janus was feeling the pressure of his demonic presence now.

Red flames draped Raum’s eyelids as the texture of his coat darkened with the rotting presence of his own demonic energy.

"Now let me show you what the power of a Marbas’s Bloodline is," he said, spreading his arms out wide as a display of power and honour.

Janus’s barrier began to crack, and the demons that were near the rift had already lost their lives in the presence of this level of demonic energy. Their cores couldn’t handle the density of Raum.

Raum moved, and the shivers of his power were exploding the ground beneath the dome upward in a geyser of shattered stones.

This time, Janus couldn’t even spot him, he just brought his pole in front of him in hopes of defence.

The fist came straight for his chest, his staff spun in a desperate arc, and runes glowed with every ounce of power they could manage.

The impact was deafening, so that it made the very sound itself disappear. The golden runes on the black metal shaft couldn’t hold, and the pole shattered like glass.

The shockwave hurled Janus backwards through the air.

His boots scraped across the broken ground as the force slammed him into a half-collapsed wall hard enough to leave a crater.

Raum didn’t wait for him to recover.

He disappeared again, his arms turned into fine blades aiming for Janus’s throat.

<<>>

And just as he stabbed Janus’s throat, the reality around Raum shattered as cobweb cracks appeared, breaking the world around him like a mirror.

"..." Raum looked ahead, and Janus was not in front of him; he was standing far to his right.

"Petty Tricks," he growled.

"Is this what you amount to? Trickery, running, cowardice," he said.

Janus did not say anything.

He quietly knelt on the ground and placed one of his palms on the trembling ground.

"What’s this? Submitting already...?" Raum tilted his head and smirked.

Janus ignored him and closed his eyes.

A second passed, and the chaos around him started to still.

<<>>

He said, and mana that rivalled the demonic force of Raum surged from within his body.

<<>>

The world inside the dome barrier shifted.

Hundreds and thousands of black threads appeared, penetrating the dome and leading into the endless sky.

Raum furrowed his brows upon the sudden shift.

The threads were burning of silent black fire, that etched a massive circuit of magic on the ground, draining a significant amount of mana from Janus.

<<>>

Raum felt the world’s silence on those words. Even the flames in his eyes dared not to flicker for a moment.

Clouds draped the sky in complete darkness, and the demonic energy was distilled in a moment.

>>
A massive beam of dark black flames surged from within the circuit and shot up into the endless sky.
It’s area not only caught Raum in it, but every single body of demons, flesh, debris of houses and every living being within a mile, except Janus, was annihilated by the dreadful force of the beam.
Outside the dome, people were silent.
The pitch-black barrier that had risen over, draping the centre of Crescenda, was cracking from the extreme clash of powers within.
Even the duke of Amavelle was standing on the frontlines of the people.
Knights who had retreated beyond range were all left frozen.
"What is that?" One of the cadets whispered.
Everyone noticed as the ground trembled from within.
The sky above the dome darkened.
And then...followed by the eerie silence was the chaotic reaction of the world.
The air ruptured, a column of darkness erupted from within the barrier, cracks spread like spider webs and then...it exploded with a merciless beam that shot upward in the sky.
The force was so intense that even the barrier that knights, mages, and the duke himself created to protect everyone fractured and shattered in an instant.
The darkness of the flame beam was spreading like a wildfire, and the beam was broadening by each passing fraction of a second.
If that beam touches them, there would be nothing left.
There was no one among the crowd, the knights, or the mages capable enough to protect themselves from the power of a clearance six mage.
The darkness of the fire was spreading faster than they could process anything.
The knights raised shields, and mages tried to cast, but every single one of them closed their eyes, because death was inevitable.
There was nothing they could do against a force like that.
*Shiiiing-ksh*
Jose’s breath held the moment he heard that faint sound and looked ahead.
A dark katana just appeared and stabbed itself on the ground.
The sharp edges of its blade faced the massive storm of black fire and cut it, negating the effects of the surging beam.
The blade not only cut the beam, but absorbed all of its power into the snake design of the hilt, compressing every ounce of it within the form of a katana, without leaving a single trace for the people beyond it.
"What?" Someone whispered.
Nothing happened to anyone. The violent surge of energy was divided in half and absorbed.
"Seriously?" Jose heard a voice from beside him.
He turned to look on his left and saw a man with slightly tanned skin, needle earrings and a long coat that fluttered with the wind.
"I was just gone for a while, and a whole county was almost burned out of existence," he said.
Everyone looked in his direction, but not a single one uttered a word.
"Professor...Marcus?" Jose mumbled.

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