Dozens of replicas had to die before Lucifer finally understood Ryan's tricks… at the very moment of the activation of the skills he used, he used Energy Control to convert stamina into mana. Using the rest of his stamina, he increased the Power oF Concentrated Strike and killed hundreds of demons.
"Against opponents of this level, he can fight them without a bow," Lucifer thought. "I didn't think Chronus' power would increase his power so much."
When the replicas tried to steal Ryan's stamina and mana, Ryan used his health to convert into energy in the activation of his attacks, and when Lucifer tried to steal that was well, again, he didn't have enough replicas to prevent Ryan from attacking. Just absorbing the replicas would give the chance to overpower Ryan though and through, but that wouldn't satisfy Lucifer. He knew that Ryan wasn't someone who would give in to despair that easily. After all, he came to challenge him alone.
With his new tactic, Ryan managed to stop the growth of Lucifer's copies. Lucifer's condition wouldn't let him mass produce copies of himself for a while, so he decided to use another trick…
Several copies of Lucifer flew toward Ryan, and when he prepared to attack, they suddenly transformed and assumed Femradiel's form. Ryan was caught off guard for a second, and then the demons used that chance to punch him with all their might. The sound and pain caused by his muscles cracking made Ryan wake up and then in the next moment. The heads of the demons exploded.
"Oh… you didn't hesitate," Lucifer said, looking visibly amused. "Did you really love her?"
"What a boring demon you are…" Ryan said and then sighed. "Still, you gave me an idea. So, let me thank you properly."
Before the next demons could dash toward him, Ryan summoned a certain crossbow, and using Time Skip, he pulled the trigger. The creatures protected themselves as they waited for a powerful attack, but nothing really happened. However, when they proceeded to attack again, something hit the interior of their mouths, and their heads exploded. Lucifer showed a baffled expression when he suddenly saw Magma Golems around… Ryan had fired bolts at the demon's mouths and summoned the Golems.
"My nastiness is returning at full throttle, this might be helpful," Ryan smiled.
Lucifer grew tired of Ryan. He gave the order for the demons to fuse themselves again. In the blink of an eye, the eight hundred became eighty, and each one of those had almost the same power level as when the original caused the supernova. Despite looking at those, Ryan didn't show any worry in his expression. If anything, he was grateful for the fact that all his mana wouldn't be stolen again.
All those demons, with the exception of one, flew around and surrounded Ryan. Thanks to that, Ryan noticed that the original could withstand seeing the replicas being killed. Still, he didn't want to let his main body suffer the same fate under any circumstances. Before Ryan could think of a way to use that in his favor. The demons dashed to attack him at the same time. When the first one lashed his claws, Ryan saw them distorting the fabric of space again. Ryan used his bow and repelled the claws with his bolts.
For some reason, Ryan focused only on repelling the attacks and the replicas when they got too close. It seemed that was everything Ryan could do since he was against so many enemies. However, Lucifer could feel that Ryan could do more.
When one of the demons finally managed to scratch Ryan's back and open a large wound, his expression broke into a one of pain. Still, despite that, he didn't use Temporal healing, and that confirmed Lucifer's suspicion that he was plotting something…
With Ymir and Chronus out of the picture, Lucifer didn't have to rush. Still, it would be better to attack and destroy Earth before the people there can prepare and cause any problems. Instead of creating new replicas, Lucifer raised his arms, and a vast concentration of mana began to take the shape of a sphere of dark flames.
"Ah… this might be bad, Ryan," Merlin said. "Lucifer is preparing to use a spell that will definitely kill you if it touches you."
"How do you know that? I survived a supernova, I am sure I can survive that," Ryan said. "Rather, don't talk to me, I am busy."
"Well, I know because I developed that spell. It is called Dark Sun," Merlin replied. "Aside from fire, it also has darkness, and that can eat everything, even your mana and stamina. Your own energy will fuel the attack that will kill you making you unable to use any spell or skill."
That seemed like a problem. Still, why the hell did Merlin create such a scary spell? Ryan was right in not asking for his help, a guy who creates something like that can't be trusted.
Before Lucifer could make that attack grow too strong, Ryan fired Draconic Bow towards it. Three of the replicas didn't manage to dodge the attack and were pushed forward. The Dark Sun and Lucifer didn't even try to dodge it. Thanks to it, the replicas were obliterated by both attacks… but the Dark Sun didn't suffer anything. It didn't even tremble. Just like Merlin said, it seemed the attack ate away the energy of Draconic Bow.
Although the situation seemed quite troublesome, Ryan didn't give up. If that attack had the darkness element, then he just had to use the opposite. Soon enough, Ryan recovered his mana, and to make sure that he wouldn't fail, he converted even his health and stamina into mana when he fired an enhanced to the limit, Draconic Bow alongside Angelic Arrow.
When the two vast concentrations of energy collided, the whole area trembled, and a powerful shockwave sent Ryan, Lucifer, and the replicas flying toward the opposite direction. The energy made him spin and fly away for several minutes while his whole body was hurting like hell, but in the end, Ryan was thankful for that because, in the place which he had been previously, he couldn't see anything in it, not even the reflection of the stars in the opposite direction… it seemed like a black hole, but Ryan knew that the normal ones couldn't be seen with eyes alone....