The Demon Lord's soul was intact, but his body lost all ability to fight, so victory went to Zatiel.
Ancestral Root's eyes narrowed. He was able to figure out what happened with the Demon Lord within seconds.
'He used an illusion-type soul invasion spell to affect the Demon Lord's senses. The ability must be a very high-level one if it can affect a Rank 6 life form to such a level. According to the instructions given by the World Tree, I must limit myself to regenerate the wounded parts and unleash the next level of his cultivation, meaning that the power affecting the fiend's soul will remain.'
Although Zatiel's tactics could be considered a form of cheating, Ancestral Root performed an approving nod after seeing what he did.
Schemes, traps, and tactics are part of an individual's power. Only a fool would not use them to preserve a foolish sense of honor.
After Ancestral Root waved his hand, a force entered the Demon Lord, healing all the wounds on his chest but leaving his soul intact.
The Demon Lord's power grew three times, almost reaching the Hollow Sun Domain Stage. He released a roar and was ready to attack the enemy but calmed down after finding no one.
Five seconds later, his body trembled. Although he felt no pain and saw nothing wrong with him, he lost the ability to fight.
Zatiel moved back after finishing the Demon Lord for the second time and felt how the fiend's power rose again.
This time, the Demon Lord's cultivation entered the Early Hollow Sun Domain Stage. He released the full power of his soul, and a sun formed by the Essence of Fire and Earth materialized around him.
Unlike the previous two times, Zatiel did not approach the Demon Lord immediately.
Beyond Reality could trick the enemy's sense and even his consciousness. Nevertheless, the Law Domain formed around the Demon Lord's could be considered the physical manifestation of his Inner Law Dimension, a place where he is omnipresent.
Zatield knew there was a chance that if he entered the domain, the Demon Lord could detect him.
He could fire spells from a distance, but that would drain his energy and weaken him for the next fight. There was also a possibility that the Demon Lord would use his attacks to track his location and flash toward him.
The moment a single part of him entered the Law Domain, a great battle would start.
Ancestral Root also knew all that, and he waited to see what Zatiel would do.
"ROAR!" The Demon Lord roared and fired a cannon of magma behind him.
He then began to fly through the sky and unleash all kinds of spells with immense destructive power.
Ancestral Root looked back toward Zatiel and saw how his right eye was glowing. He smiled after understanding what happened.
'Smart, he tricked the Demon Lord's senses, making the fiend fight a fake enemy. The creature is too wild, and there is no way he could realize that everything is just an illusion.'
After two hours, the Demon Lord exhausted all his energy and Soul Origin, making his Law Domain vanish. The next second, his body trembled after a beam of chaotic energy destroyed his chest.
Zatiel moved away from the Demon Lord as a force regenerated his missing organs and increased his cultivation to the Middle Hollow Sun Domain Stage.
Just like before, the Demon Lord roared and began to fight an illusion. When his Soul Origin depleted, Zatiel killed him.
This process continued until the Demon Lord's cultivation reached the Peak Hollow Sun Domain Stage.
Once Ancestral Root regenerated his body and unleashed more of his true power, the Demon Lord finally reached the Primary Sun Domain Stage.
It was at that second that the Rebirth Eye trembled, and a trail of blood leaked from the Neo-Demon's right eye. The Demon Lord's soul grew powerful enough to break free of Beyond Reality's power.
There was a qualitative improvement in the soul force when someone's cultivation passed from the Hollow Sun Domain Stage to the Primary Sun Domain Stage.
The Demon Lord's Law Domain was no longer just a mass of wild energy and Law Essence. There were now phantoms of phoenixes and black turtles inside it.
The word primary in the Primary Sun Domain Stage meant that the life form's Inner Law Dimension grew to the level it would show the first signs of life.
Wild energies flooded the atmosphere for hundreds of thousands of kilometers around the Demon Lord, releasing heat and a gravitational force that could kill any life form beneath Rank 5.
Zatiel sighed as he felt the immense power the Demon Lord released. His knowledge was boundless, and he knew that never in history had a life form at the 1st Engraving Stage defeated someone at the Early Primary Sun Domain Stage.
'Even the talent of the Incarnation of Death and Destruction would be insufficient for that feat. Ezequiel's Entropy Elemental Collapser Fist could at most severely harm someone at this level, but killing him would be impossible.'
As that thought crossed his mind, a monstrous fighting spirit emerged in Zatiel's eyes.
'It is time to display the result of combining absolute talent and absolute cultivation knowledge!'
Zatiel smiled as the bone daggers left the Dream Dimension and assembled above him before Genesis Drive and four droops of Rebirth Blood fused with them.
Myriad Rebirth Doomsday Avatar appeared once again on the battlefield, but this time instead of taking the form of a mighty behemoth, he was a giant Rebirth Eye.
The Neo-Demon flashed toward Myriad and fused with him, taking the position of the pupil.
The gargantuan Rebirth Eye now had a black hole as a nucleus, and its power grew to an immense level.
"ROOOOOAAAAARRRRRR!" The Demon Lord roared, this time with a power that cracked space and time. Like a wild beast, he flashed toward the giant eye in the sky, ready to fight to the end.
"Rebirth Nightmare!"
The enormous Rebirth Eye in the sky transformed in the portal to a nightmarish dimension where a monster with a power equal to the universe existed.
The incredible existence's arm emerged from the Rebirth Eye and clashed against the Demon Lord's Law Domain, stopping the fiend's advance.
A sense of awe appeared in Ancestral Root's soul when he saw that arm. Although it was just an illusion, the aura it carried was too overwhelming.
'To be able to display such a perfect illusion, that arm could not have been something external. It must have belonged to this man in his previous life. This attack is marvelous, but it still falls short.'
Ancestral Root saw how the Demon Lord was pushing the monster's arm back, and it was just a matter of time before Zatiel lost.
It was then that the Artifact Spirit created by the mighty World Tree saw something that defied all logic.
"From Death to Life, from Destruction to Creation, with Soul as the bridge, may Rebirth change falsehood to reality!" Zatiel spoke those majestic words as Life Essence entered the All-Devouring Domain and inscribed a rune.
When a rune with a power that was the antithesis of death appeared, the All-Devouring Domain froze.
Zatiel felt immense pain as cracks formed in his vital organs and soul, but a bloody smile appeared on his face as the domain inverted its rotation and changed its color from black to white.
An unbelievable output of power emerged from the white hole, channeling an immense amount of World Strength into the monster's hand, along with every energy inside Zatiel, including the Neo-Demon's life force and soul force.
Zatiel's appearance became that of an old man about to die, but his smile only grew wider after seeing how that energy and power transformed the dark hand from an illusion into something real!
The monster's arm reached a power that defied logic and pierced into the Law Domain, grasping the fiend's body.
The Demon Lord roared and attempted to break free, but the arm was too powerful.
"HAHAHAHAHA. Be happy, demon, as you are the first to experience the power that will one day dominate this universe!" Zatiel knew the Demon Lord could not understand him, but the excitement filling his heart was too great.
The next second, the Eye of Death and Destruction infused Antimatter into the monster's arm, allowing the finger to pierce the Demon Lord's defenses and destroy his body and soul.
