Zatiel's cold eye never stop focusing on the Devil Marchioness, and he could see how her appearance changed after she circulated Soul Origin through her body.
Micra became fifteen meters tall, almost three times greater than the Neo-Demon in his Winged Immortal Knight of Death and Destruction form.
The Devil Marchiones' hair became long snakes, all of them releasing different kinds of energies from their mouths. Her arms grew more prominent, with her hands transforming into vicious claws and her tail split apart into seven giant tentacles. A grey aura coated all of her extremities.
The Devil Lord's strength obtained a massive boost, now that she was unleashing the full might of her Sacred Body of Laws.
However, her battle power was far from being at its peak due to her heart being nothing but ashes and death energy overflowing her body. Zatiel also noticed how one of her tentacles' skin was rotten. That happened due to the attack that landed in the Death Armor.
The Neo-Demon and the Devil Marchioness stared at each other with nothing but killing intent. The duo burned with energy as they launched themself at the other, unleashing sonic booms that could be heard throughout the entire continent.
They moved so fast that the Rank 4 Devils beneath them only saw dark and grey flash clash continuously and provoke explosions that covered the sky with bluish-purple flames and grey aura.
The bluish-purple flames were so hot that they seemed able to melt space, and the grey aura petrified the air around it.
Zatiel and Micra exchanged dozens of attacks every second, all of them with more than enough power to kill a weak Rank 5 life form.
In less than a minute, severe wounds appeared in the duo.
The Devil Marchioness's body was full of deep cuts, all of them infested by deathly energy that rotted everything around them. The tentacles' skin had thoroughly decomposed, and the toxic energy was making its way to the muscle and bone.
Still, the most significant wounds were not on her body but her soul. Zatiel's Soul Eradicator had shattered most of her consciousness, almost driving her mad due to the pain, and her True Soul's had cracks in it.
The Neo-Demon's condition was not better. A claw mark could be seen in his left shoulder, so deep that it reached the bone and with the flesh around it petrified.
Several attacks carrying petrification force had also landed in his chest and extremities. Luckily, the Death Armor was the one affected, and this one could discard the infected pieces before reconstructing itself.
Of course, that did not mean the Neo-Demon was not hurt. The force in the attacks had broken his bones on several occasions and wounded his vital organs. If it weren't for Death Armor's defensive power, Life Overlord constantly drawing vitality, and his bloodline's regeneration abilities, he would have succumbed to his wounds a long time ago.
Despite all that, neither Zatiel nor Micra slowed down since they hadn't much time left. One had his Soul Origin diminishing at an alarming rate, while the other would not be able to maintain her wounds at bay once the energy that she obtained by burning a piece of her soul was gone.
The Neo-Demon appeared in front of the Devil Marchioness and fired another Soul Eradicator from his enhanced Rebirth Eye, slowing down her reaction time. He used that opportunity to attack her tentacles with the death sword and managed to sever one of them.
He did not have time to celebrate as a claw full of grey aura struck his left arm. Just as the attack was landing, most of Zatiel's body became pure darkness.
Although the claw still sent him flying away while puking blood, Darkness Constitution reduced the damage he received.
The Devil Marchioness did not stop with a single claw attack, and the snakes in her two heads unleashed a barrage of energy beams.
Just as the beams were about to hit him, Zatiel's body transformed into several streams of darkness and dodged all of them before reconstructing himself a few meters away from the Devil Marchioness.
Once again, Soul Eradicator struck Micra's soul dimension, but this time the Neo-Demon unleashed an arc of bluish-purple fire that landed right in her chest.
A blast of flames pushed the Devil Marchioness back, but not before using her tentacles as spears and attacking the Neo-Demon.
Zatiel neglected his defense and took the opportunity to cut yet another rotten tentacle before the five remaining struck him. He felt all the organs other than his heart, brain, and the ones containing an Apocalyptic Star collapsing.
The silver lining of all that damage was the monstrous amount of death aura the Death Armor generated. If Zatiel used Rebirth Cycle to transform it into a stream life force, he could heal most of his wounds, but he sent all of it to his death sword and left arm.
The Neo-Demon took back control of his body before flashing at the Devil Marchioness.
Micra was able to stabilize herself when Zatiel was less than twenty meters away from her. The last attack blasted open her chest and incinerated her lungs, but her eyes shone with determination as she prepared herself to unleash every ounce of power left in her.
Zatiel waved the death sword toward the Devil Marchioness' left head when he felt half of her life force burned and filling her with power.
The Devil Marchioness used her two claws to stop the death sword and grabbed it, before redirecting all of her energy into her tentacles. They twisted behind Zatiel's back, forming a single giant whip overflowing with a grey aura.
The Neo-Demon felt a deadly strike about to land on him, but there was no fear nor panic in his eyes. There was no way to dodge the tentacles, and there was no much point in trying to block it, so he chose to generate a tremendous amount of damage now that Micra was full of openings.
The strongest Soul Eradicator yet was fired from the enhanced Rebirth Eye, while the death sword detonated all the bluish-purple fire in it, and finally, he shot his left fist to one of Micra's heads that unleashed an explosion of death aura.
The Neo-Demon had just landed that devastating combination when an unbelievable force struck his head and back and pushed him down. Despite the Death Armor's protection, the tentacles' force fractured his skull, damaged his brain, and broke his spine in several parts.
This time Zatiel did not hesitate to use his Rebirth Cycle to transform all the death aura into life force since his body was about to shut down due to the damage.
Unfortunately, the attack not only damaged his body. The tentacles' grey aura managed to overcome the Death Armor, and this one was different from the one Micra used before since it did not target the flesh but the soul.
The Neo-Demon could see how the grey aura began to petrify the soul dimension's walls and went for the True Soul.
Micra knew her attack's power and how vulnerable Zatiel must be now, but she did not go after him. That last combination was the straw that broke the camel's back.
The bluish-purple fire melted her arms, and it was now consuming her shoulders. The left fist managed to destroy one of her heads while wounding the other with the blast of death aura, and that last Soul Eradicator expanded the cracks in her True Soul, paralyzing it.
'I can not move my body and can barely think, but the moment my Petrifying Soul Venom entered him, I already won.'
The Petrifying Soul Venom was Micra's ultimate attack and a perfect representation of a Peak Rank 5 Devil Lord's might.
Despite the strength of Zatiel's body and laws, his True Soul was still that of a Rank 4 life form, and its spirit defenses were nothing impressive.
His eye was already losing its light. It would only take a second for the Petrifying Soul Venom to consume the True Soul, and since it contained Zatiel's consciousness, it would mean his death.
Luckily for him, there is a reason why Neo-Demons are the greatest race of the universe. They have no flaws, and while the True Soul may provide weak spirit defenses, the True Will was different.
The golden humanoid that was always at the top of the pyramid formed by the three entities created by Zatiel's Primordial Essence opened his eyes.
He looked with disdain at the grey aura that attempted to enter his domains.
"Will Supernova!" The golden humanoid roared those words and unleashed a stellar explosion of multicolored light that purged all the grey aura and healed the soul dimension's petrification.
Life returned to the Neo-Demon's enhanced Rebirth Eye, and his white wings expanded, slowing down his falling.
Zatiel's Soul Origin was about to be depleted, but his existence burned with killing intent as he focused on the paralyzed Devil Marchioness.
Micra saw the Neo-Demon's vitality and could not believe he defeated her Petrifying Soul Venom. Terror invaded her heart since she could not even escape now.
Luckily for her, just when she thought this was her end, a powerful consciousness manifested itself and spoke two words.
"Stop now." It did not scream or yell, but the authority and might in it would make most Devil Counts tremble.
The Devil Marchioness smiled when she heard Duke Krior's voice. She was sure that her opponent would not dare continue the fight now that the Rank 6 Devil Lord spoke.
Unfortunately for her, she was dealing with someone who thought Devil Dukes were cunning pieces of shit.
Zatiel did not hesitate even for a second before activating Shooting Star End and unleashed three Soul Eradicators in a row, completely depleting his Mind Force.
He fired them so fast that they landed almost simultaneously, improving their destructive power even more.
Micra's smile froze before starting to bleed from every orifice of her head, and her eyes lost their light.
That last attack consumed all the strength Zatiel had left in him. His Law Avatar and his Doomsday Incarnation were deactivated. He did not even have the energy to float, and if it weren't for his wings, he would have fallen to the ground.
The Neo-Demon was utterly exhausted. Fighting a Rank 3 life form would be a challenge right now, and the one he pissed off was much more powerful than that.
Despite that, Zatiel looked at the sky with emotionless eyes as the enraged consciousness spoke again.
"YOU DARE TO DEFY ME!"
