The Skull Dragon was a Peak Rank 5 life form with a Sacred Body of Laws and Death Essence, so despite Zatiel's incredible speed, he should have been able to react and not be left in such a dangerous position with a giant flaming sword about to sever his neck.
The other did not know that right now, in the Devil Marquess' soul dimension, there was a purple portal from where a monstrous arm had emerged.
He fought with all his might to stop his True Soul from being captured, severely slowing his reaction speed. However, he managed to activate his unique ability in the last second and transform his body into black fog.
While the other Devil Marquises did not understand the Skull Dragon's ability, Zatiel deciphered it immediately, and disdain appeared in his right eye.
'A Sacred Body of Law that allows you to be as untouchable and ephemeral as death. Stupid devil, you just made the worst mistake possible.' Zatiel's made his Astral Origin explode and pushed his physical might to the limit as he swung the death sword down.
The Skull Dragon received the greatest shock of his life when the bluish-purple fire touched his body made of fog. Instead of going through it like the Infernal Rage Titan's fists did, the sword began to sever the fog and transform it back to its natural form.
"AWWWWWW!" The Skull Dragon's screamed in pain as the death sword cut deeper and deeper into his neck.
Death may be untouchable for many forces in the universe, but the Rebirth Force could sever it like a burning knife cutting snow.
Zatiel used every ounce of strength he had as he pushed the death sword down and sought to split the Skull Dragon's head from the rest of his body.
The Neo-Demon used his full power and aimed at the soft spot in the Devil Marquess' neck, but he still had a tough time cutting deeper.
The Skull Dragon's eyes glowed with killing intent and determination as he felt half of his neck already cut down. His body shone, and the next instant, it detonated, unleashing a blast of grey energy that consumed Zatiel and extended into every direction.
Some of the Devil Counts were too close to the duo, and their bodies evaporated. The rest of the Devil Marquises were surprised by this turn of events, and a second after the blast, they saw a red ball of blood covered by a blue halo flash into the distance.
That was the Skull Dragon's True Soul that used a life-saving card to preserve his Devil Bloodline and escape with a speed that no one could catch up.
No one saw the winged man emerge from the explosion and those in the Skull Dragon's side hoped he had been destroyed or at least critically injured, or else they would have a severe problem.
Their leader had run away, and while the Infernal Rage Titan was hurt, he could still fight. If the winged man supported them, they had no other choice than to make a hasty escape.
The Stone Fiend had part of his focus on Severian while he waited to see the state of the winged man when out of nowhere, he felt an invisible force struck his True Soul with such a strength that he lost awareness of his surroundings for an instant.
Before the Stone Fiend could understand what happened, a sword pierced his head, and bluish-purple fire invaded his soul dimension, wounding even more his True Soul.
Cracks covered the Death Armor, but that did not matter to the Neo-Demon. He pushed his flames into the Devil Marquess' head, and the enhanced Rebirth Eye unleashed Soul Annihilators as fast as he could.
The Stone Fiend's allies did not think for a second in coming to his rescue. Now that they were at a numerical disadvantage and their overall battle power was highly inferior, they did not hesitate and run away.
The Devil Marquises escaping marked the end of this battle. Seeing their superiors fleeing, the rest of the devils under the Darkness Poison Duke did the same.
Zatiel's entire focus was on the enemy in front of him, and he only stopped attacking when the Stone Fiend's True Soul ended up in a coma due to the massive damage.
The Stone Fiend's size diminished to five thousand meters after his Law Avatar vanished and Zatiel stored him into a space ring.
The Neo-Demon's killing intent did not diminish after forcing the Skull Dragon to detonate his body and disabling the Stone Fiend. He was ready to flash after the fleeing Devil Lords when someone materialized in front of him.
"STOP!" Severian roared those words as he focused on the winged man in front of him. All the other Devil Marquises on Duke Krior's side did the same, including the wounded Infernal Rage Titan.
Although armor covered his body, now that they have time, they could perceive his soul aura and recognized the winged man as the newest Devil Marquess, Kenner.
"Kenner, before you do anything else, we need to inspect the Stone Fiend and his belongings. We have made a deal that we would share the spoils of war, and you must respect that."
Instead of thanking him for the assistance, the moment the enemies left, the Devil Marquises showed their ugly and greedy nature.
Severian displayed a cocky attitude as he saw the rest of the Devil Marquises giving their tactical approval. He was about to yell and demand Zatiel to hand the Stone Fiend over when all of a sudden, his instincts screamed.
Despite the surprise that feeling caused, Severian was not afraid. He knew that it must have been very taxing to take care of the two Devil Marquises and was sure Zatiel did not have much energy left on him.
The Shadow Frog immediately mobilized his energy and was ready to fight, but Zatiel did not move.
Confusion appeared in his face, and it only increased when he saw the shock in the rest of the Devil Marquises' faces.
A few seconds later, the Shadow Frog observed the world around him change. The Zatiel in front of him vanished, and his consciousness showed a dark flash fly after the fleeing Devil Lords.
"This time, I will only take your arm and ring. The next time you get in my way, I will cut your head and consume your soul." Severian heard those words in his mind, and with utter shock, he realized that he had lost his right arm.
Severian could not believe what just happened. Even now, he still felt no pain or any signal telling him there was damage on his body.
The rest of the Devil Marquises adopted a solemn expression when this happened. An enemy whose power and abilities you did not understand was terrifying.
Zatiel's battle power was far from being able to defeat a Devil Marquess with such ease. Still, Severian was under the influence of Beyond Reality, so he could trick his senses, making him believe everything was fine.
The Neo-Demon flew at full speed after the escaping devils. His target was not the Devil Marquises since he no longer had the strength to face them and emerge triumphantly.
The continuous use of Shooting Star End consumed most of his energy pool, there was not much Soul Origin left in him, and his Rebirth Eye could not resist the stress of firing another Rebirth Nightmare.
Zatiel's target was those one level beneath the Devil Marquises. In less than a minute, he caught up with the Devil Counts.
Those Rank 5 Devil Lords saw with horror how the man responsible for their side's loss chased them.
A Devil Count felt a force struck his True Soul, paralyzing him. The next second, a hand grabbed the back of his head and inundated his soul dimension with purple fire before throwing him into a space ring.
One by one, the Devil Counts fell under the combined might of Soul Eradicators and purple fire.
Zatiel captured seven Devil Counts before his Soul Origin dried up, and his Law Avatar vanished. His face was pale, and he did not keep advancing since it would be too dangerous in his current condition.
'My Darkness Constitution is replenishing my energy pool, and it should be as good as new in a few hours, but my Rebirth Force and Soul Origin will need more time. The only thing I have left is Mind Force.'
The Neo-Demon used the Rebirth Eye to locate all the Rank 4 Devil close to him. The next second, he formed invisible whips of Mind Force that extended for hundreds of kilometers and invaded those devils' soul dimensions.
Those Soul Forging devils could not resist the Neo-Demon's power. They lost control over their bodies and soul after a short struggle. They came to Zatiel, and he stored all of them in his space ring along with the Devil Marquess and the multiple Devil Counts.
'A good harvest.' Zatiel smiled after focusing on his ring and tossed high-quality origin stones into his mouth before flying back to the mountain range.
