Chapter 324 323. The Demon King.

Introducing himself, the demon king Tchort descended, floated down into the coliseum, and glanced around, trying to find something or somebody.

'Tha-that's the demon king from Earth?' Grace thought, trembling in fear.

'Why is "it" so strong? "It" is stronger than the gods I have faced, no, killed...'

The strong recognise the strong. Was the thought Grace had, but in that thought she didn't dare to call herself strong. She had fought against the fallen together with an army of millions for three times, and she had survived all three of them and even had the chance to kill a fallen, maybe due to the system, but she had gotten strong, strong enough to finally be able to "feel" and "assume" the strength of the fallen by a glance, and now that she saw Tchort, she had a guy feeling that he was stronger than the fallen she had ever seen.

'Thi-this "thing" is a monster even among the fallen...' She thought, even though her thoughts were slightly incomprehensible even for her, but she thought that was the correct way to describe the demon king's, Tchort's, strength.

"The Earth had to face such strong beings?" Reynolds mumble sounded.

And after a few seconds of eerie silence,

'But.... why are they so we-'

"But why were they so weak?" Neal mumbled, stealing Grace's thoughts.

"Because they never had to face "stronger" beings." Unexpectedly, Tchort replied to their mumbles.

"... Why?" Reynolds asked, daring to open his mouth.

"Because the "strong" were killed by the "stronger."" Tchort said with a smirk.

"Without even having the chance to display their full strength." Tchort continued.

'Wha.... Why? How? Who?" Grace half-thought, half-mumbled out loud, involuntarily.

"Why? Because the "stronger" was bored that they took too much time to reveal their full strength. How? Because "he" is stronger. Who? ..." Tchort answered Grace's mumbled-out questions with a strange sense of mystery and suspense.

'He who?'

"Eshwar." Tchort replied, revealing the name of the "strong."

"Eshwar?" This time, it was Charlie who mumbled out loud, involuntarily.

"Enough Q & A. Where is he?" Tchort asked as his irises slightly glimmered red. At his question, they understood who Tchort wanted even without him mentioning the name of the person.

"He... is dead." Charlie replied in a sorrow-filled voice.

"Pfft, hahahaha. HAhahahahaha!!!" Tchort laughed out loud, holding his stomach as if he just heard the funniest joke in his lifetime.

"You dare hide him from me? He is someone who made me shudder in fear! And you dare claim he is dead? In this humongous yet insignificant world!" Tchort roared at the outrageous claim he had just heard.

'B-ba-but wha-what char-Charlie sa-said is true.' Grace muttered inwardly, not daring to voice the truth she, too, had witnessed.

"Do you think he'll back away from a life-and-death situation just because he has become weaker now?" Tchort yelled as if he had known Eshwar for a long time.

"No, he is a being, whom I, the great demon king Tchort, acknowledged! I have observed him for a long time; I know him! He is the type of person who would jump into a death match exactly because he had become weaker; he is the type of person who loves his battle gore, so gory that even his own stomach would churn!" Tchort roared in rage.

"Hell's sword." Tchort mumbled.

WHOOOOMMM

A strong surge of demonic power exploded out of Tchort, pushing off the piled-up debris beneath him that shot out in all directions and stuck in the walls of the coliseum, killing many that were in the projectiles' way.

SPLATTER-!!!!

With a widespread wave of splatters, the bodies of those that remained in the coliseum exploded just by coming into contact with the strong gusts of wind trails, that followed after the shot-out projectiles. Within a matter of seconds after the demon king's descent, the entire coliseum had turned gory, forcing those alive to puke their guts out.

The most unfortunate thing for those that remained alive was the fact that Tchort's skill, technique, or whatever it was had yet to really be activated. Grace, who dodged the projectiles, thought she was the first to predict that the real thing had yet to be unleashed, and

"DUCK!!!!" She yelled; she didn't know why, but ducking seemed to be the optimum solution to dodge the incoming attack.

"Disc of destruction." Tchort's mumble, which sounded like a death's requiem, resounded throughout the entire coliseum.

Before they could even realise what was happening, they saw Tchort bow his head slightly, and in that instance, a blazing, bright red, double-edged sword materialised behind his neck and swung itself horizontally before dematerializing entirely.

With a brief second of eerie silence, a horizontal, blood-red disc that seemed to have cut through the entire coliseum appeared out of thin air, and soon after, everything that was "cut" was seen thrown into the air, as if the lid of a pot had been removed.

WHOOOOMMM-!!!

It was only then that the very few that unfortunately survived noticed that the entire academy was cut at Tchort's shoulder level, as they could see the cloudless night sky through the gap. And it wasn't long until the "lid" turned into finely grinded dust that was forcibly blown away by the strong gust of wind produced by a wave of Tchort's hand.

The loud chaos ensured the cut academy as those that unfortunately survived screamed at the top of their lungs, running around like ants.

"How annoying." Tchort mumbled, not even glancing at the five that survived his attack in the coliseum. Grace, Neal, Reynolds, Hannah, and Charlie were the only ones that survived and were absolutely terrified of that very unfortunate fact.

"Blood Demon Domain." Tchort mumbled, and Grace, Neal, and Reynolds shuddered in fear. Never once in their miniature lives had they thought that they would enter a domain that could only be initiated by the high-ranking fallen, or the major gods, that were in countable numbers.

Biting a chip off of his index finger, Tchort extended out his right arm as a smoky, pitch-black-coloured blood droplet gathered in his index finger and dripped soon after. Instead of falling to the ground, the pitch-black droplet dripped upward, in reverse gravity, and after reaching a certain height, the droplet splattered mid-air as a razor-sharp-ended mouth expanded wide, devouring the entire floating island in a pitch-black dome that had a strong ironic scent of blood.

In the domain, everything stayed the same; even the moonlight falling on the island stayed the same, except for the entire island being covered in a pitch-black dome. Though it was supposed to be a surprise that such a thing was possible, none had the leisure to be surprised about it.

Tchort extended his right arm out, brought all his fingers close, and opened them up. "Puff!" he mumbled with a smirk, and with a wave of splattering sounds, everybody except for the five in front of him were ripped to shreds.

"HA, HAHAHA, HAHAHAhahahaha!!!" Tchort began to laugh hysterically without stopping for a second. Even though the entire domain was resounding with his laughter, there was another sound that Grace was hearing continuously.

BA-THUMP-!!!

Inevitably, Grace glanced in the direction the heartbeat sounded and saw Charlie sitting down on the ground with a slouched back and a dead expression on his face. He was bleeding profusely from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. There was also a small puddle of blood formed in between his crossed legs, but that wasn't what drew Grace's attention; it was his unnaturally pounding heartbeat, which nearly sounded like the sounds of the war drums.

BA-THUMP-!!!!

"Grr..." A low, hollow growl escaped Charlie's mouth, that was heard even amid Tchort's hysterical laughter.

"!!!!" Grace's fear was subconsciously subdued for a split second when she saw "them" on Charlie's body.

"Scales!!?" She exclaimed involuntarily as she gazed at Charlie, who was growing scales on his body.

'Don't tell me he is one of "those"!!!' Grace's fear was almost completely subdued by the shocking revelation, and she almost yelled, glancing at Neal and Reynolds, but was stopped due to Tchort's ominous laughter slowly coming to an end, and just a glance at his maddened gaze was enough to bring back the fear she lost in full force.

"Dragon scales? There was someone else intriguing except for Eshwar? Well, he doesn't seem to match Eshwar's level." Tchort mumbled.

'Dragon scales!!!? He... Charlie is really one of "them"!? They haven't stopped yet?' Grace thought, trying her best to suppress her fear.

"Grrr...." With another subtle growl, Charlie's body began to twitch uncontrollably as the red dragon scales materialized above his body, forcibly.

"GRAAAAA...!!!" With a loud, pained roar, Charlie writhed in agony on the ground.

"!!!!" Though unintentionally, Charlie's roar instilled fear in Grace, Neal, and Reynolds, who flinched and shuddered, writhing in the middle of two ominous, fearful beings.

A tail, a right horn, claws, and huge clawed, scale-filled legs, that were unfit for Charlie's humanly upper body, manifested on him. The scales covered his vitals, joints, and also the areas used for defences in close-range, hand-to-hand combat.

BOOOMMM-!

With a loud enough explosion, Charlie's dragonized body disappeared from the spot where he writhed and appeared in front of Tchort in a flash, as Tchort gazed at Charlie with a slightly amused expression on his face.

"Exterminate monsters."