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Path to Prosperity - B3 Chapter 58
🕑 Added 2025-01-03 11:00:02 +0000 UTCA resounding pulse swept across the Moonlight Forest, almost like it tried filling dying nature with a final burst of life. But that wasn’t what happened. The towering trees crumbled and collapsed, and even the most resilient plant life withered.
As the resounding pulse filled the Moonlight Forest, it was like a final struggle. It lasted only a few seconds but was a beautiful sight. The dying Moonlight Forest’s retaliation was magnificent. However, it was also saddening.
No matter how much it had struggled to overcome the demons’ corruption, all life succumbed to the overbearing pulse. The monsters collapsed to the ground, writhing weakly in pain until the life in their eyes dimmed, the shrubs caved in, and even the oldest trees with the deepest roots fell apart.
The Moonlight Forest was dead. The beautiful yet dangerous place was no more.
Dark motes, black sparkles shimmering in the vibrant afternoon sun, oozed from the dead across the Moonlight Forest and pulled to its center, where the Devil was already waiting for them.
The Devil engulfed in dark motes, pulled the black sparkles closer until they reached the mass of darkness wreathing his body. More and more dark motes, formed from the lifeforce of the creatures all over the Moonlight Forest, gathered and connected. They formed layers atop the Devil’s blood-soaked hide, mended his wounds, and fueled him with power.
The dark motes pulsed weakly and transformed as the mass expanded. They formed a cocoon around the Devil, forcing him into a short slumber. The Devil’s eyes were weary, his body crushed from his exchange with the Beast King.
“Just a little. A little bit more time,” The Devil rumbled, his head flicking toward the Kainesh Kingdom’s capital, “My only mistake was to mark one of your kin. If not for that infant annexing…”
Since the rise of the Devils, there had never been a case like this. The Devil’s power was supposed to be unparalleled. Their Essence was not supposed to retaliate against their master, let alone allow someone to annex it.
Something like that was not supposed to happen. It was not within the laws of the possible.
Percy shouldn’t have been able to resist, nor should it have been possible for the Abomination to grow this strong in a human body. Or to change like this.
The Devil could still sense the power residing within Percy’s Abomination. Its perception increased drastically when the Abomination crossed its natural limit by annexing more of the power the Devil had granted other Demons. But the worst was that the Devil could also sense what the Abomination felt. He could sense the Abomination’s excitement, its hunger, and…its fear.
The fear struck the Devil square in the chest. It confused the Devil and reminded him of the two times it had felt fear since the rise of the Devil.
“The child…What is it doing?”
The Abomination shrieked in fear. It was desperate and wanted nothing more than to escape Pecy’s body. The desperation stunned the Devil. However, the sudden silence was truly shocking. Something was changing again, but the Devil couldn’t perceive anything. The Abomination calmed down. It accepted its fate.
Then. Then, there was nothing.
The Devil couldn’t sense the Abomination anymore.
At last, their connection had been severed.
“What is strong enough to…”
The Devil ground his teeth, a deep growl escaping his lips.
Darkness gushed out of his body. It pierced through the cocoon of dark motes, tapped into the power accumulated within it, and made one last move.
“Since you’re rushing me…what do you think about that?!” The Devil rumbled, and his power, amplified through the dark motes cocoon, surged into the Infernal Lairs.
The Infernal Lairs expanded rapidly for a good minute until the Devil removed his power again. A third of the dark motes were now dim and dispersed into the surroundings, but the Devil didn’t care. He was not satisfied with the situation, but it was good enough.
I will get my power back. Just you wait, cretin! I am coming for you!!
The Devil closed his eyes one last time, gathering the last bits of power to mend his old and new wounds, and waited patiently for the beginning of the end. The final battle.
“Fight,” His will flooded the masses of demons emerging through the Infernal Lair, “Defeat them. Swallow them in your masses until no one is left. Kill them all!”
Endless streams of Demons – Lesser, Elite, Greater, and Lords – stepped out of the Infernal Lairs; they shoved each other aside and surged out in massive waves.
The Demons were on their way. They charged through the remains of the Moonlight Forest, ready to face the living forces of the mortal realm. Hungry. Excited. Thirsty for blood.
The Great Flood was coming.
***
The initial phase of the demon flood wasn’t too bad. It was manageable as the powerhouses on the kingdom’s side combined their forces to take out the Demon Lords before they reached the first line of defense.
The Beast King opened a path for the Imperial Head and King Phillip to block the first Demon Lord and take advantage of the momentary numerical advantage to eliminate the threat.
The Beast King, Imperial Head, and King Phillip retreated after their first kill and prepared for the second attack. They located the next Demon Lord, attacked again, and killed him on the spot.
There weren’t many Demon Lords in the flood of demons. Of course, there weren’t many. Demon Lords didn’t grow on trees, after all. That is if there were any trees in the Seven Hells in the first place.
But while the threat of the Demon Lords was manageable so long the Devil stayed far away from the battlefield, the same couldn’t be said about the rest. The number of Lesser Demons and Elite Demons emerging from the Moonlight Forest was terrifying, to say the least.
Even the Greater Demons easily reached three digits.
And that was just the beginning. It was merely the start of an endless flood of demonic creatures.
Thousands of Monsters were summoned to fight on their Cardist’s side, both Augmentations and Egos were unleashed to decimate as many Lesser Demons in the shortest possible time, and Ancient Powers were hurled around, crushing Elite Demons’ skulls and mending allies’ wounds.
Once Monster Cards, Augmentations, and Ancient Powers were unleashed to the fullest, it looked like the situation would improve. That was until the second wave of demons surged forward.
The common soldiers showed signs of exhaustion as the second wave commenced. Most of them hadn’t been present during the last war. Even if they had been active during the Beast War, nobody could prepare anyone for the terrors of an all-out war with the Seven Hells.
Demonic creatures were born predators. Demonic Essence oozed from their bodies naturally, spreading a presence akin to fear into the surroundings. Only those with a strong mind could ignore the presence hanging heavily in the air. Even then, it wasn’t possible to be immune to it. Ignoring the presence didn’t mean it disappeared. It was still present, informing you of its presence like a whisper in one’s ears.
If that had been all, many Gifted Ones wouldn’t be struggling with mental exhaustion this soon into the battle. However, the constant fighting, the death rattles of their colleagues…their friends, their death eyes staring at them blamingly, and the demons’ screeches resounding in their eyes, reminding them that their struggle to survive wasn’t over yet.
Body parts of their allies spread across the black, blood-soaked soil, and the carcasses of demons started to pile up, yet the number of demonic creatures charging forward never seemed to cease.
It was no surprise when the first soldiers bawled their eyes out. Their weapons fell to the ground as the will to fight left their bodies. Only moments later, the soldiers spun around to run away, to flee as long as they could still move, but it was too late. They turned their back to the enemies, who pounced on them without hesitation.
The Archyeas smashed to the ground, their fangs digging into the necks of the defenseless soldiers. They couldn’t even scream as razor-sharp claws sliced across their throats.
The Lesser Demons ripped the soldiers’ heads from their shoulders and hurled them at the other soldiers, crushing their confidence in one go.
“Don’t hesitate!” Someone roared from the back, “Either we kill them today, or they will kill everyone tomorrow. Defeat them! Crush them! Tear them apart!!”
A young man covered in a thin metal brigandine armor charged past a squad of crushed soldiers. His ears perked up, and his tail twitched violently as he pushed forward. He grasped his spear tightly and hurled it across the remaining distance to the closest Archyeas. The spear pierced neatly through the Lesser Demon’s skull and emerged on the other side.
However, instead of continuing its trajectory, the spear stopped mid-air and pulled back until it returned to the young Demi. The spear returned just in time. Louis spun around, caught the spear, and twisted his body to impale a diving Archyeas before it could strike him.
“Good job,” A man engulfed in purple blood said, “But next time, don’t run away from us.”
Erik hurled the Bloodriver Axes into a pair of Byals, killing them on the spot, and clicked his tongue in annoyance when the axes didn’t return to him on command. He had to activate [Bloodweaver] to pull the axe blades out of the Elite Demons’ skulls. Only then did they return to Erik.
“And you need to work on this,” Tarlek chuckled, shooting past Louis and Erik to cleave cleanly through a Doombringer.
The Elite Demon split in half, its intestines gushing out, littering the battlefield.
“Nice kill!” Louis exclaimed, which Erik cursed softly.
“Whatever. Let’s keep going.”
