[UGH, AGH!!] Mamon shouted.
He summoned as much demonic energy as he could to attack KangWoo.
A giant hail of fire was created, the floor was split, and red magma poured out.
A vortex of hot air covered the surroundings.
But…
Kurr. Kurr-.
KangWoo’s burning body melted into a black liquid, and numerous mouths started to appear within it.
[H=-hiic!]
Mamon trembled.
A trauma that was deeply written in his mind returned.
A fear that hadn't even disappeared after a thousand years.
CRACK-!
KangWoo didn't look like a human anymore.
No, it didn't even look like a biological being.
[D-don't come!!]
Mamon took a step backward.
He knew what those 'mouths' meant.
[W-wait! I… I was wrong!]
He shook his head.
He knew better than anyone that it was already too late.
The nightmare returned to him.
Crack-
His flesh was being chewed away.
The flames covering him and the wall of demonic energy had no meaning.
Mamon looked at his arm being covered with a black liquid.
The small mouths were chewing him.
They were nightmarish mouths that chewed everything away without leaving a trace.
Considering how much effort he'd made to restore his body, it was understandable he'd be afraid.
There was only one way to separate the mouths from the rest of his body…
He frowned and burned away his own arm.
FWOOSH-
[Damn! Damn! Damn!]
Not even his characteristic smile was anywhere to be seen.
Aggressive curses left Mamon's mouth.
The black liquid started to move toward him again.
He fell backward and rolled away. His body, which was closer to being a ball of fat, rolled like a ball.
It was a somewhat funny scene, but something unexpected like, ‘oh, he's faster than he seems’, didn't happen.
In terms of strength, he was among the strongest archdukes, but because of his fat body, his agility was below an average demon’s.
The black liquid instantly caught up to him.
[G-get off!]
Mamon, who was rolling backward, grabbed an object that had fallen to the ground.
It was a yellow sphere about 1.5 meters in diameter.
It was Mamon's Hell Equipment, 'Greed.'
After KangWoo had broken out of it, a part of it was completely destroyed, but its overwhelming strength hadn't disappeared.
He grabbed 'Greed' and extended a wall of flames.
TSSS-!
[H-hihihi!]
The black liquid pouring toward him was blocked by the wall.
Mamon laughed out loud.
'I blocked him.'
Hell's Equipment…
The weapon that could be called the peak of the Hell of Nine Skies still had its overwhelming strength.
[H-hihihi!]
A laughter full of madness flowed out of his mouth.
'He definitely became weaker.'
In the past, after the battle with Balrog, he'd faced that aspect of the Demon King before.
Back then, the black liquid had been voluminous enough to cover the entire sky, but if it was only that big, he thought he should be able to face it.
Hope appeared in Mamon's eyes.
Tss-! Tss!
[Hihihi! It's useless!]
He laughed out loud like a villain that was protected behind bulletproof glass.
The black liquid stopped pouring toward the wall.
'D-did it work?'
Mamon took a glimpse at KangWoo.
[Huh…?]
Kurr, Kurrr-
The black liquid was starting to gather in one place.
10 meters…
5 meters…
3 meters…
1 meter…
The black liquid was shrinking.
A chilling fear began spreading down Mamon's back.
He couldn't help but feel that something was wrong.
[Wh-what's going on?]
It was something he hadn't seen even when he fought against the Demon King in Hell.
The black liquid was compressing to a single point.
Compared to its size, the demonic energy was unbelievably strong.
It looked like a fissure for making demonic energy explode. A huge amount of demonic energy started to run amok.
[I-Iic!]
* * *
He swung 'Greed', and the fire spread as if he'd swung a fan. The flames covered the black liquid, which disappeared without leaving a trace.
[Huh?]
Mamon looked around in confusion.
[Wh-what? Did it disappear?]
He took a step forward and flinched.
He couldn't see the black liquid. It was as if it'd been burned away by the flames of 'Greed.'
[H-hihihi?]
Mamon looked around in confusion.
Then…
[Mr. Mamon!]
[Oh! Archduke!]
[You finally woke up!]
A group of about 30 demons approached him.
[Hihi. Who are you?] Mamon asked while frowning.
[We're demons of the 8th hell. After being summoned here, we were waiting for you to be reborn!]
[…]
[R-right now we're at a disadvantage in the fight against the humans… So we came here to ask for the strength of an archduke.]
[Puhihi.]
Mamon turned his head.
He waved his hands as if he wasn't interested.
[Fuck off. That isn't important right now.]
He lowered his body and looked at the ground.
'D-did he really die?'
It wasn't impossible.
He was clearly attacked by the flames that came out of a piece of Hell's Equipment.
Hell's Equipment were created by the gathering of the essence of the Hell of Nine Skies. If they received a frontal attack, even an archduke could be destroyed—including his soul.
If it was a weakened Demon King, there was a chance he had been extinguished after receiving such an attack.
[Hi-hihihi!]
The tips of his mouth went up.
[PUHIHIHIHI!!]
A laughter filled with madness flowed out of his mouth.
Mamon lowered his body while grabbing his huge belly.
His shoulders moved excitedly.
[HIHIHI! You tried to act cool, but you ended up like this! Hihi! Why did I fight against you? Because you became weak!]
Mamon laughed as if he'd forgotten the fear he felt of the Demon King.
The happiness of overcoming the risk of death was hard to compare with anything else.
'Should I kill some humans in celebration?'
He'd ignored them because it was too bothersome, but he felt he could handle that.
[M-Mr. Mamon?]
The mouths of the demons looking at him widened in astonished expressions.
Mamon titled his head.
[Puhi, what?]
[Y-you see…]
[Mr. Mamon's face…]
[Huh?]
He touched his face as if he were asking what they were talking about.
Black blood was pouring out from his fat-covered nose.
It wasn't just the nose…
Black blood poured out from his ears, eyes, and mouth.
[Wh-what?]
Mamon anxiously started to touch his body.
Crack-! Crunch!
[AAGGHH!!]
A huge pain covered his body.
Black blood leaked through his fat-covered body and started to pour out.
His shoulders, chest, arms, waist, groin, thigh, legs, and feet…
Black blood poured out like a waterfall.
[H-hiic!]
His body started to tremble from the pain.
[N-no…] he mumbled.
What was on the floor wasn't his blood.
No, it wasn't blood in the first place.
That's…
[AAGGHH!]
The pain was enough to make him go crazy.
The blood that poured off Mamon started to expand over the floor.
There weren’t just 10 or 20 meters of it…
About 500 meters were covered by the black liquid.
[Wh-what's this?!]
[Aagh! M-my legs!!]
[E-escape…!]
Panic ensued.
It looked as if the night sky had covered the ground, and mouths appeared from the darkness that began to chew every demon in range.
A horrible scream rang out with the sound of flesh being chewed and bones being broken.
[AAGGHH!] Mamon screamed.
[Wh-why don't you die?! Why!!]
He remembered the face of the monster laughing at him.
Mamon raised 'Greed' while looking as if he was about to have a seizure. A wall of yellow flames covered his body.
[H-hihihi! This is a Hell's Equipment, you motherfucker!!]
The only thing he could rely on was the Transcendent weapon called Hell's Equipment.
Crack-
The darkness on the floor began moving and spread out like tentacles.
The darkness covered with the Authority of Divine Power punched through the flames.
The darkness covered with the Authority of Waves overpowered the flames.
The darkness covered with the Authority of Slaughter went through the flames.
Blade, Speed, Sky, Blind, Fear, Observation, Range, Wave, Iron Wall, Dark Spear, Earthquake, Iron, Slaughter, Insight, Protection, Vigilant, Translation, Subordination, Temptation, Regeneration, Explosion, Doll, Thunder, Spallation, Energy, Corruption…
Authorities a single being couldn't have and mustn't have…
All of the simultaneously used Authorities flickered around him.
BOOM-!
The earth shook, and the entire mountain started to sink.
A natural disaster…
Plague…
Something that went beyond the bounds of a living being…
Hundreds of Authorities activated simultaneously in the 500 meters where the darkness was spread.
The ground melted, lightning struck, invisible waves sliced demons apart, and a blade decapitated them.
A nightmare that made the Hell of Nine Skies look like peaceful Heaven ensued.
[A-aah.]
Mamon opened his mouth.
He couldn’t even form a sentence.
The flame walls created with 'Greed' had already been torn away.
He just stood still without being able to do anything. The other demons were in the same state.
[A-aah.]
It was at that moment when the demons remembered the fear of being ruled by the Demon King and the humiliation of staying quiet in a corner of Hell.
[H-hihihi.]
Mamon began to laugh as if he'd lost his mind.
[HIHIHIHIHI!!]
- Why did you do that?
He remembered what the Demon King had asked him.
- Why did you fight against me?
He couldn't answer that. There was no way he could answer that.
[Satan…]
Mamon's oversized body trembled pitifully.
He thought about Satan, who was under the frozen land of ice.
[We were mistaken.]
The thousand years they'd spent on Earth…
All the time they had before the Demon King appeared…
They'd forgotten about something in all that time.
No, even while knowing, they'd tried to ignore it.
[That monster is…]
The demon of demons.
The Hell of Hell.
The predator of predators.
[Indomitable.]
CRACK-!
The darkness compressed instantly and devoured Mamon's giant body.
It was Mamon's second defeat.
As for the next round…
It didn't exist.
