There was a hole the size of a fist where Blood Child's heart should be, and flames capable of challenging the heat of a High World's sun had invaded his body.
Nonetheless, Blood Child was still able to perform a kick powerful enough to send the Neo-Demon flying away.
Of course, Blood Child's condition was not good. The damage was enough to reduce his power a level, or else that kick would have cut Zatiel's body in two instead of just destroying his pelvis, liver, kidney, and most of his stomach.
Blood Child did not chase after the Neo-Demon or descended to kill the Rebirth Incarnations. He needed to expel the blue fire that was destroying his brain and the rest of his organs.
The white sword produced the blue fire filled with Baator's Law of Destruction after draining Zatiel's many energy sources and even a part of his life force. The power in it could incinerate an individual at the 4th Engraving Stage in a second.
It took Blood Child almost five minutes until he managed to purge the blue fire. Initially, he did not have eyes nor ears, but the fire had carved burning holes where these organs should have been.
The first thing Blood Child did after regaining control over his body was flashing to the runic formation in the ground.
He exuded an immense killing intent, and if it weren't because it may harm the formation, he would have sent a spell to annihilate the incarnations.
Both Rebirth Incarnations were moving their hands at an incredible speed as they modified the runic formation. Seeing Blood Child approach them, one of them flew to intercept him.
Blood Child showed nothing but disdain for the Rebirth Incarnation's actions. He was going to destroy him with a single punch and continue his path without losing momentum.
Unfortunately for Blood Child, when they were right next to each other, the Rebirth Incarnation self-destructed.
The explosion could not truly harm Blood Child but was able to push him back a few meters.
The incarnation that was still alive made his wings cover the runic formation as he continued to modify it.
Blood Child's face began to show anxiety when he felt the changes in the runic formation, and he continued pushing forward.
The Rebirth Incarnation raised one of his hands and fired a chaotic energy beam so powerful that the recoil made his arm explode and almost emptied his energy pool.
At the beginning of the battle, Blood Child could have pierced the attack. However, now he was forced to respond to it, which delayed him even more.
Blood Child nullified the beam with a simple palm strike and flashed forward once again, but he was too late.
The Rebirth Incarnation added the last rune and changed the core of the runic formation beneath him. The moment that happened, Blood Child lost consciousness, and his aura disappeared.
Even though he could not perform an attack, Blood Child's body was harder than a star and was descending very fast.
The Rebirth Incarnation jumped and collided with Blood Child's body.
The incarnation exploded but managed to change Blood Child's path and stopped him from crashing in the runic formation.
Finally, after putting two Rank 5 life forms at death's door with nothing but a few punches and a kick and forcing two Rebirth Incarnation to destroy themselves, Blood Child was defeated.
Silence reigned in the tower for the next few minutes until finally movements were heard from the hole that Dior had made after Blood Child's attack.
Dior slowly approached the exit. His Law Avatar was deactivated since he needed to channel his energy into stabilizing his condition. Blood Child's double punch pulverized his lungs, shattered his heart, and burned most of his blood.
He detected Blood Child's defeat and the destruction of the incarnations thanks to his nose.
After a moment, he focused on Zatiel, who was lying unconscious buried in a wall, and hunger appeared in his eyes.
'If I devour him and the other Devil Count in his ring, I may be able to heal my injuries before it is too late.' Now that the greatest threat was gone, the Devil Count immediately thought of devouring Zatiel to heal himself.
That was the nature of devils. They may experience life and death battles with someone, but at the end of the day, they would still kill him without a second thought if it benefits them.
The Devil Count knew it was a matter of time before Zatiel woke up, so he channeled what little energy he had left and rushed to him.
He grabbed the Neo-Demon's unconscious body and put the upper side of this one in his mouth. The next moment, he began to chew.
An ecstatic smile appeared on Dior's face as he felt flesh and blood running down his throat. However, it lasted little since three seconds later, his entire body froze.
A blue fire had invaded Dior's soul dimension, and due to the weakened state of his True Soul and consciousness, he was not able to resist its power.
As he faded into the darkness, Dior saw the world around him change. The broken body in his hand vanished, as did the blood and flesh in his mouth.
What he saw next was a white sword piercing his eye and burying itself in his head.
Zatiel was grabbing the weapon, and his eyes were empty as he saw the Devil Lord dying.
Dior had been under the influence of Beyond Reality from the moment Zatiel detected him spying his battle against the Helltoxin Minotaur.
The Neo-Demon tricked the Devil Lord's sense of smell to make him think he went down the tunnel first when he had remained behind.
Zatiel remained at a safe distance and used his Mind Force to explore the underground.
He was surprised by the appearance of Blood Child and was only after many calculations and developing a plan with a high chance of success that he entered the tower.
The Neo-Demon made the tunnel to the outside world disappear from Dior's sight to make him think the only chance he had to survive was fighting, and a few moments ago, he tricked the Devil Lord again and killed him.
Although capturing him alive would have been the best scenario, Zatiel's condition was truly horrible. Other than his brain, Blood Child's attack had severely damaged all of his vital organs and harmed his consciousness.
The Neo-Demon could not even maintain his body in the air and began to fall along with Dior.
The duo crashed into the ground the next moment. Zatiel did not let go of his sword buried in Dior's head and began to use the weapon's ability to absorb blood and vitality.
As he drained what little life remained in the Fiend Dragonborn's body, Zatiel used his Mind Force to activate the runic formation close to him, blocking the entrance to the tower.
Only after making sure this place was relatively safe did Zatiel analyze his condition.
'I cannot move and am having a hard time keeping myself awake. If it weren't for the vitality and blood of this Devil Lord, I would suffocate since my lungs are not functioning, and I don't have enough energy to replace the oxygen that my body needs. My liver and stomach will heal faster since they have an Apocalyptic Star helping them, and the damage in my hearts is not overwhelming. Blood Child's physical attacks carried the Law of Blood and Law of Metal and affected my consciousness. Even with my bloodline, it will take me several months to fully heal. It has been a very long time since I came so close to dying.'
Zatiel had the World Mirage Rune in him that could teleport him away, but he did not know how the alterations in this dimension would affect it.
One of the reasons he chose to face Blood Child despite the immense difference in power between the two was the words he told Dior.
The Neo-Demon understood that all the people that entered this place were sacrifices meant to help Blood Duke's resurrection, and both his Duke and the Pit Fiend were working with him.
That meant that even if Zatiel managed to survive this place, he would have to handle the Rank 6 Devil Lords on the outside.
The easiest path to survival was to find a way out of this dimension, and then before the Devil Dukes could get hold of him, escape Baator. That would mean he would have to forgo Kenner's identity and lost almost a year of work.
However, Zatiel being Zatiel, he had already begun to formulate another plan that would not only grant him significant gains but also show a painful lesson to those Devil Dukes that dared to think of him as a pawn.
'This plan could result in the continent outside of this dimension destroyed and most of the millions of devils living in it dying.' As he thought of the consequences, a smile appeared on Zatiel's face.
'Fuck them.' If it weren't for how severe his condition was, the Neo-Demon would have started to laugh.
