Chapter 240: Survive...

Still on the ground, his broken hands clenched into a bloody fist, Moby was still finding it difficult to come to terms with exactly what had just happened, trying to suppress his inner emotions from exploding out of his body. 

He had of course considered Emilia's master to be a shalker but never in a million years did he think that Emilia herself was one as well considering that she had the use of an ability, which was unheard of for a shalker, maybe even 2 abilities in her case, fire and shapeshifting.

'Fuck my life! Whenever I think things are going my way I always get shit!' He inwardly cursed once more, smashing his rapidly regenerating hands on the ground. 

Part of him thought that it wasn't his fault, that there was no way for him to predict the Emilia was a shalker but a larger part of him kept nagging away at his conscience telling him that he was an idiot for not accounting for absolutely everything like he usually did. 

Moby was a martial arts master with impeccable knowledge of the human anatomy. To him, a sword to the heart was an assured, 100% victory, not to mention a draining, demon energy-infused blade. 

But what he overlooked was the fact that his opponent was not even human to begin with… He felt her beating heart being thrust through by his blade. 

However, it was a well-known fact that a shalkers heart was at the right side of their body and not the left like a human, which she was until her transformation that felt almost like Jayden's doppelganger powers only feeling even more real, which allowed her to meticulously move her heart away from his blade, allowing her to once again move...

If he had only reacted faster to Avilia's words or been on higher alert everything could have been averted… If only he had decided to kill her instead of suppressing her, things would not have gone this way… He had bit more than he could chew and had gotten too greedy in his pursuit for knowledge.

Moby stared up once more, his gaze fixed at Emilia, or who he should now call Villanova still in her previous position, noticing the deep wound in her chest rapidly healing with the white flames, almost like a true phoenix.

Despite her clear winning demeanour, the emotions coming from her only seemed to grow stronger and stronger, the energy from his sin mode flowing through his veins, his broken bones now rapidly regenerating, immense power like never before invigorating his body. 

His teeth gritted tightly and his sword grasping at his sword, he forced his body up with all his might as his bones snapped back into place, a deadly glint in his eyes staring daggers at the shalker up above who had a look of surprise, anger, annoyance, and embarrassment on her face seeing Moby being seemingly unharmed after her attack and everything he had gone through.

The power rushing into Moby's body from her emotions was unlike anything he had ever felt before in his life, he had fucked everything up, he had a chance to kill her and quickly head to his friends but he had lost it… But with the new power within himself and 1 last trick up his sleeve, he was not yet ready to surrender in face of such great power… 

He did still have his trump card, yet he hesitated on using it now… He had never tried it before, and from the description of the skill, not only did he not yet meet the conditions but he knew the risks associated with it as it had a high chance of causing irreversible damage, if not even killing him, so he had to hold off on using it as it was not yet worth the risk...

Moby's small, calm, black and purple aura continuously grew stronger and stronger, his hands firmly around his hilt as he flew up into the sky, the wings on his back now no longer filled with holes as that too was all regenerated, now Moby almost at full health. 

"Emilia! You did absolutely nothing! Don't think of yourself too highly! Did you really think you could beat me, the future king of all demons so easily? What really happened now!? You grew a horn and become pale as a ghost, you're ugly as fuck! I've never seen a shalker so ugly online! No wonder your lord wanted you gone! Or is he even uglier than you?" Moby mocked and laughed at her, a hint of seriousness in his confident voice.

The more Moby spoke, the more powerful he felt, the grunting coming from his opponent and her phoenix, bird-like cry and scream of anger on full display, with white, fiery glowing eyes, her body shaking like crazy, not from fear, no… far from it…

Emilia was usually very calm and collected, but anything that pertained to her lord made it a far different story… 

"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK LIKE THAT TO MY LORD! If it's the last thing I do, I will make you suffer! SUFFER! Both you and you're friends!"

Her voice was otherworldly, nothing like he had ever heard before, not just from her shalker vocal cords, but from her passionate expression as well as he was almost reminded by Abby's fanaticisms towards him...

Flapping her white phoenix wings, she dashed straight at Moby, her rapier drawn and aimed straight at his chest, still finding sense in herself to not immediately kill him for the sake of her lord's orders. 

Even with his eyes of sin activated and the immense amount of energy running through his veins, he only managed to barely block and parry her blade, slashing back at her with his superior skills only to be blocked by her sword as well. 

"Pathetic! A shalker with an ability and you're still so weak! No wonder you shalkers could not even defeat such a small, insignificant planet such as earth!" 

Moby mocked once more, a cloudy dust of ice emerging out of his hands as he tried to freeze his opponents, followed up by a blast of pure demon energy out of his palms.

"HA! SHUT UP YOU PUNY INSECT! I could not care less about those shalker fools! Just keep running your mouth you sorry excuse for a demon lord and see what happens!" 

Her response caught Moby off guard as she seemed to be not offended by his words, his power not increasing like his previous comments. 

With a small blast of fire, she flicked away Moby's demon energy and ice attacks like they were nothing, clashing her blade with him again, this time winning the exchange, sending him flying away once more, dashing right towards him at breakneck speed using her wings as she kicked at him from below with a fire in her boots that Moby barely managed to block by surrounding himself completely in a dome of thick purple ice, causing it to crack from her attack. 

"You call me a wanna be demon lord when it is your lord who is seeking me so hard? Maybe he is a fan? Who do you think is the real wanna be?" 

Like his first comment, Moby's words once again struck a nerve with Emilia, her anger growing even more as her white flames began to melt quickly through his thick ice until it was nearly gone, clear struggle on Moby's face, his body glowing with an ominous, black and purple void-like energy that Emilia paid no heed to as she continuously kicked at the ice. 

The extra power and moment of hesitation brought upon by Moby's words allowed him to roll in the air to dodge her attack, now putting his own palm on her exposed waist from underneath, a black and purple glow emerging from his hands as he began to drain Emilia's power. 

"Stop your useless attempts and perish! That tickles! It will do nothing to help you!" 

Emilia kicked down with all her might, Moby blocking the attack with his sword as soon as he finished what he was doing and saw the outline of her movements using his eyes of sin. Her attack so powerful that it made his entire body rattle and shake in pain, blood gushing out from various veins as he was thrust hurling at the ground, his sword now severely cracked, only for Villanova to follow him down, kicking him down to the ground even faster, causing a crater of massive proportions, rubble flying everywhere from all directions, Moby's eyes going white for a split second before turning back into their usual purple as he crashed and found himself stuck at the bottom of a massive hole. 

With blurry vision, he looked up only to see Villanova's amused yet angry face, a massive white flame surrounding her right hand… 

Moby's body still rapidly regenerating, he forced it to stand up, his bones still broken as he had no time to fully regenerate, heavily panting, blood falling from his eyes and various parts of his extremely wounded, dusty body as he used every fibre of his being to do what he wanted to do… 

Seeing his opponent charging up an attack, he charged an attack of his own, a purple ball of pure demon energy, using most of his reserves, an immense amount of energy forming and crackling around his fingers. 

"Don't worry… I'll hold myself back as to not kill you… But prepare yourself to sizzle and burn in my hellish flames until you are very, very, near-death… NOW SUFFER!" 

She blasted a massive stream of flames out of her right hand, the heat from at as if he was staring straight at the core of a white dwarf star, roaring and raging in his direction like a white, angelic phoenix. 

Yet, despite everything that happened, Moby stood firm in his place, no fear in his eyes as he shot out a stream of pure demon energy, absolute energy from the depths of hell, the essence of sin itself embedded into it. The two beams of equal size now clashing against each other in a beam struggle. 

The sound of the clash, struggling and ravaging against each other filled both of their ears sounding like a hurricane, and the light emitting from it was almost blinding, the previously orange ground and sky now a mixture of white and purple, no party seeming to gain an edge on one another.

Yet, one look at the faces of the two opponents and that statement would have been debunked without a doubt, a clear contrast between Villanova's amused, calm visage and Moby's shaky, sweaty struggle, his feet sinking deeply into the ground, his teeth cracking and regenerating over and over again from how hard he had been gritting his teeth, looking up above at the blast with wide, bloody eyes.

"USELESS! USELESS! USELESS! USELESS!" 

"Is that really all you've got!? I guess it wouldn't hurt if I added a little bit more energy…" 

She laughed heartily, a burst of white fire flowing from her hands, adding onto the main blast below, making it much larger, burning and crackling with far more energy than before as it began to eat up all the purple energy it was clashing against… 

Sinking in deeper into the ground, his teeth cracking even harder, Moby was already at his limit, no more energy left to add. The white fire in his vision growing more and more as it seemed like his doom, as it was all but inevitable, knowing Villanova only using a mere fraction of her true power. Yet, even still, Moby's will was unbreakable, no fear in his serious eyes, seemingly staring at death, as his purple fire became all but gone, now consumed by the hellish fire of the white flames below with a massive explosion, the fire continuing to burn.

"HAHAHHAHA! NOW THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR INSULTING MY LORD! SO MUCH TRASH TALK FOR SUCH LITTLE STRENGHT! SO MUCH FOR THE FUTURE KING OF ALL DEMONS!"

She laughed in hysteria like a madwoman, her wide eyes staring at Moby's figure, on his knees writhing in agony in the depths of the white fire below, the experience feeling refreshing, she had not felt so alive in many years, ignoring the ticklish part on her waist as she continued to laugh even more thinking about what this all meant for her.

She could not remember the last time she had felt this happy in many years. Living on earth for 17 years felt more like hell, and now with Moby's body, she was once again ready to ascend to heaven and meet God himself... The god who is her one and only lord...

She had completed her mission... Her lord will be so happy to learn about the news, imagining his face when she reports to him that his over 1000 year quest had been fulfilled made her unable to control her joy, her previously down and elevated mood now nowhere to be seen.

*Whoosh*

Suddenly, out of the corner of her ears, in between her own laughter and the cracking of the fire beneath her, she heard a subtle void-like whooshing sound, startling and catching her off guard, her amused expression of victory turning very serious in an instant, looking around only to see the tip of a cracked Katana hurling in her direction at eye level, an injured, shadowy figure behind such a blade. 

"H-how!" She yelled in panic and disbelief, her reactions delayed, immediately thrusting her rapier up to her face to block the slow katana headed to her face from the clearly injured figure ahead.

Her far superior strength and physique were immense, despite her slow reaction speed and being caught off guard, she still managed to get her sword up to her face mere centimetres before it was too late, a confident smile on her face, no time to question what had just happened.

"Hahaha! Insect! You're too sl-----" 

"Huh…What the..." 

A piercing pain struck her in the skull, something that she did not expect in a million years, nothing made sense to her… It was almost like his katana had completely gone through her rapier like it was not even there, his sword now deeply implanted into her skull, the look of pure, unfiltered horror disbelief on her now bloody face and wide-open eyes…

"H-how did you…"