The atmosphere seemed to grow dimmer as one walked deeper into the palace. Many strange antiques adorned the walls, displaying the strange taste of the ruler of this place.
As Zick followed Nheriff, many demon servants bowed their heads before moving on. The air was filled with a kind of tension that made Zick's face harden.
'Those servants...No all the servants are leaving the palace and going away.' Zick's eyes sharpened. His eyes glazed over to Nheriff, there was no visible change in his expression.
'I see, so the outcome of our meeting is already set in stone...' Zick looked forward, feeling the atmosphere grow heavier.
Could Zick defeat the demon lord with his strength alone?
He didn't know this question's answer himself either. Only by fighting with the demon lord can the clear difference between them can be measured.
'I have Yuriel and the other two to shield me and the fortress will attack in ten minutes If I don't contact unit three within this time.' Zick felt everything to be in place for now.
The barrier around the palace blocked all of Zick's attempts to contact the fortress. This didn't surprise him at all, he had already expected this. Therefore, he came prepared.
"Sir Zick...Please consider your safety above anything else." Yuriel spoke with a frown, she had noticed something out of place too.
Zick nodded his head: 'I will do so even without any reminder.'
Arriving before a huge black door, Nheriff silently stood in his position.
Slowly the door before them opened with a rumbling sound. The sight on the other side of the door was exposed to everyone — A huge throne with other 14 demonic generals beside it.
And upon the throne, sat a man with hallowed black eyes — the demon lord. He had blazing red hair and did not have any characteristics of a demon, he looked more like a human.
The last boss of the novel, the demon lord — Reikel. Also known as the immortal God among the demon species. He single-handedly brought prosperity to them, allowing them to live on such a god-forsaken continent.
Zick and the others walked forward. Reaching a certain distance, Nheriff moved beside the throne alongside the others.
Zick and Reikel looked at each other blankly. Oddly they appeared similar in expression wise, it was like they could tell what the other was thinking even without exchanging a single word.
Zick's eyes twitched, with his dragon eyes he could see Reikel's potential. And it was the first time he had seen anything like this.
It was like a pillar, or more specifically similar to a shooting star heading to the sky, moving into space. It gave a feeling of awe to anyone who saw it.
Reikel was the first one to open his mouth with a dry chuckle: "That some ominous thing you have in your right eye." His voice was eerie and gave a feeling of absolute authority.
Saying this, Reikel got up the throne leisurely, he extended his hand to Zick from a distance.
"Why don't you rethink your decision again? If you accept my offer, there will be no pointless fighting." The solemnity in Reikel's voice was clearly transmitted to Zick.
The mockery in Reikel's eyes did not go unnoticed too.
Zick smiled back at him: "Why don't you tell me my fate then? I will decide after that."
This question did not make Reikel hesitate at all, the answer was instantaneous.
"Of course, it's death. What I was trying to say is — why are you uselessly resisting?" Reikel and the other demon generals did not suppress their presence anymore. Zick's next words would decide their action.
'As I thought...For some reason, both the demonic race and the gods have enmity toward me.' Zick was troubled by this aspect from a long time ago. The God was always getting in his way and now, even the demon lord was oddly inclined towards killing him.
"I refuse." Zick's answer was firm. Even if it meant that he would die today, he would still give it his all till the end. It wasn't for others, Zick fought himself and himself alone.
"Protect me." Zick planned on going all out from the very beginning. His body began morphing immediately.
Three purple barriers in layers manifested around Zick and the biological golems. This barrier was their strongest ability, created directly from the core.
At the same time, Reikel clashed with the barrier in the form of a red flash. The barrier made a cracking sound, which made Yuriel stare blankly.
The first barrier broke the very next second, The other two did not seem to be able to hold on for long either.
'So he was holding back in the novel....'
While Zick who had turned into his dragon form did not stay silent and roared. A shockwave traveled to every corner of the palace, shaking it to the core.
"Take care of the others, I will fight him." Zick dashed out of the barrier instantly.
Zick was truthfully not worried about the biological golem not being able to defeat the demon general. In Yuriel's space ring, there were dozens of quasi-grandmaster and grand master rank golems.
The advantage of numbers was negligence.
Both Zick and Reikel clashed at once.
Instantly, a huge shockwave spread to the surrounding area, destroying the whole palace in seconds.
The clash between them stayed in a stalemate for a second, before Zick was pushed back. The scales on his head started cracking, not being able to take the pressure put upon them.
At the same time, Zick activated the regretful necklace on his neck, but as expected there was no effect. The same happened with the ancient dragon too.
Luckily it was usable on other dragons, thus Zick was able to eat their hearts. That was the main reason he climbed up to his current strength so quickly.
Everyone broke above the palace that came crashing down.
Zick and Reikel on the other hand moved into the sky and clashed with each other.
"Such a trick won't work against me!" Reikel said while kicking Zick away. He noticed him using his demonic arts very easily and erased them using his divinity too.
Taking some distance, Zick breathed out dark flames, the flames were majestic and appeared dense and ferocious.
But such an attack was not able to damage Reikel in the slightest.
A red barrier formed around Reikel, easily enduring the breath attack.
Three nuclear orbs floated around Zick at once, the energy within them appeared even denser than when he fought against the ancient dragon. He was fully serious right now, and it was thanks to his stronger higher form of energy too.
At that moment, seven crimson shards formed around Reikel. The presence emanated by these shards made Zick involuntarily feel terror.
'There is no way I can block that, I can only use warp. But I will consume too much of my 'will' as I am in my dragon form....' Zick chose to dodge using Warp anyway in the end.
To use the origin ability of the dragon, 'will' is a very important factor. Just creating the three orbs around him was very strenuous.
Zick shot the three orbs around him to Reikel not caring about the people below.
Reikel launched all the seven shards around him at once.
The moment the Zick's black orb came in contact with the red shard, a strange sight unfolded.
The red shard melted and flowed into the black orb, causing them to turn red too.
Zick's eyes shrank rapidly as this sight unfolded. Immediately, he tried using warp magic. However, it was not working, he could not turn his body into mana particles!
This made Zick start escaping at once, but the four shards and three orbs followed him like homed bombs.
Zick did not dare attack them as they were just too unfathomable, they would absorb his attack instantly!
Zick flew at a speed that was not even visible to most of the people here. The speed of a dragon was not to be looked down upon.
At that instant, Reilkel who was in the far vanished in thin air. This sight caused Zick to involuntarily move to the side, but it was still too late. A punch covered in red particles was delivered to his face by Reikel, sending Zick right at the attack behind him.
A huge explosion occurred right in the middle of the sky, this explosion turned into a round shape and did not spread to the surrounding. Reikel evidently did something to limit them from damaging anything else.
As the red explosion slowly disappeared, a figure fell towards the ground from within it.
.....
At the ground at the same time, it was a messed up sight, dozens of golems wreaked havoc everywhere.
All the demon generals right at this instant had an ugly face. The reason behind it was very simple, they just received messages from all their tribes — They were being raided by golems.
The fortress executed Zick's order the moment the fight began.
Surprisingly, three demon generals began retreating at once; they went against the demon lord's order.
They knew this, but in their heart, the members of their family held the higher priority. Some others also had intentions to go back right this instant, but they resisted the urge.
The demon lord, Reikel, would punish them for such an act no doubt. For such a reason, the other stayed back. They attack more ferociously trying to kill Yuriel and the other golems quickly.
But these demon generals were not a match for Yuriel and the others. And unit three had also joined, making the result of this fight very clear.
At that moment, the sound of the huge explosion in the sky attracted their attention. At once, the demon general began cheering.
"Haha! Your end is nearing, his highness will take revenge for our lost tribesman."
As the demon generals gloated, they suddenly froze.
Zick, who was nothing more than some charred piece of flesh suddenly gave a bad feeling to them all.
Suddenly, Zick's falling trajectory changed towards them.