Chapter 1093: 1092: Rise

Rain fell over the open sea.

It came down in thick, heavy sheets, hissing as it struck the waves. Dark clouds rolled across the sky, swallowing the last of the light, and every few seconds, lightning split them apart.

BOOOOM!

Thunder rolled over the water.

The sea rose and fell in tall, grey swells. Far behind them, Vhal-Sar was only a thin golden curve on the horizon, its smoke blending into the storm.

The coral-jawed Daemon stared at Simon.

Then he laughed.

"Attack you at once?" He shook his head slowly, rain running down the coral growths along his jaw. "Do you even hear yourself?"

He pointed at Simon.

"I watched you struggle against her the entire time. You were bleeding from everywhere. You could barely keep up." His lip curled. "Your aura is stronger now, I’ll give you that. But a Greater Demon telling three of us to attack him at once?"

He snorted.

"That’s not courage. That’s foolishness."

Beside him, the ram-horned Daemon grinned.

Ilvara said nothing.

Then her expression changed.

She spun and swung her shadow blade behind her.

CLANG!

The sound rang out across the sea.

Both male Daemons turned toward her.

"What-"

The coral-jawed Daemon’s voice cut off.

As he turned, his head kept turning till it slid off his shoulders.

"Huh?"

The baffled sound came from his mouth as his head fell. His eyes were still wide open, still confused, as though he hadn’t yet understood what had happened.

Unfortunately, it was too late.

The ram-horned Daemon froze.

He stared at his companion’s headless body with disbelief and confusion written across his face.

"What… What the fuck?"

The coral-jawed Daemon’s head struck the sea with a small splash. It bobbed once, then slowly sank beneath the grey water.

His body swayed in the wind.

Then it toppled forward, struck the waves, and floated there for a few seconds before slowly sinking after his head.

Ilvara glanced at the corpse.

Her already cold face became even colder.

She looked at the Simon standing a few meters in front of them, still grinning, his third eye still open.

Then she shifted her gaze to where her shadow blade was held behind her in a defensive position.

"There’s no point trying to deceive me," she said quietly. "I’ve already seen through your illusion."

The ram-horned Daemon was baffled.

He looked at Ilvara.

And saw Simon standing right behind her, the Chaos Blade pressed against her shadow blade. Rain dripped from the black edge, mixed with fresh blood.

His eyes widened.

He whipped his head back toward the Simon in front of them.

That Simon smiled faintly.

Then he turned into fog.

It drifted apart in the rain and vanished.

"What the hell?!" The ram-horned Daemon’s voice rose. "When did you… How?!"

Simon didn’t answer.

He pushed off Ilvara’s blade and created distance between them, landing lightly on the surface of the sea several meters away.

Then he stretched out his hand.

His Seed of Pride stirred.

The water where the coral-jawed Daemon had sunk began to churn. A moment later, the headless body rose out of the sea, followed by the head, both dripping and limp. They floated toward Simon as if pulled by invisible hands.

Simon touched them.

They vanished into his spatial ring.

He would devour them later.

He had chosen to kill the coral-jawed Daemon first for a reason. He had perceived it earlier and he knew that the Daemon had affinities for earth and water.

And they were in the middle of the open sea.

Here, surrounded by water in every direction, the coral-jawed Daemon would have been in his domain. Even with the lowest heart rank of the three, he would have been far stronger and far more troublesome out here.

So he had to die first.

As for the ram-horned Daemon, Simon could feel that he had earth and wind affinities.

That was intriguing.

Both Daemons had an earth affinity. Simon wondered if there was a reason for that. Perhaps The Dominion had a plan that needed both of them, or somewhere earth would be important.

But he didn’t care.

That wasn’t his problem.

’Oh wait. Sonya said it’s not actually called the earth element but Terra element.’

Simon shook his head slightly.

’Would need some time to get used to that and to also understand why it’s actually called Terra and not Earth.’

After having this thought, he looked at the ram-horned Daemon.

If he was right, both of the ram-horned Daemon’s affinities were A grade. His wind was much weaker than Simon’s, but his earth was stronger. And out here, with nothing but sea beneath them, he would have to rely on the wind far more than the earth.

The ram-horned Daemon’s face twisted with rage when he saw Simon store his companion’s corpse.

"You bastard!"

He charged.

His fist came at Simon’s face, carrying the full force of a Prime Demon King. Simon leaned aside, and the fist passed so close that the air it displaced split the rain apart.

WHOOSH!

The Daemon spun and swept his arm outward.

The wind answered him. It gathered into a howling blade that was wide enough to cut a large ship in half, then it shot toward Simon.

Simon raised his hand.

The blade of wind stopped in front of his palm.

It trembled.

Then it turned around.

The ram-horned Daemon’s eyes widened as his own attack came back at him, faster than he had released it. He crossed his arms in front of his face.

BOOOM!

The wind blade struck him and threw him back across the sea, carving a long white trench through the waves. When he stopped, his forearms were bleeding, and his face was filled with shock.

"You took control of my wind?" he said slowly.

Simon looked at him calmly.

"It was never yours to begin with."

Then the shadows moved.

Ilvara’s own shadow peeled away from beneath her feet.

It stood up on the surface of the sea beside her, shaped exactly like her. Then it ran at Simon.

It moved like a person. It ducked, weaved, and struck at him with a blade of darkness in its hand, while Ilvara herself stood still and watched.

Simon blocked the shadow’s strike.

CLANG!

At the same time, Ilvara raised her hand, and the shadows of the waves rose around him.

They didn’t become thorns this time.

They became beasts.

Wolves of shadow leapt from the swells. Black serpents coiled out of the water. A flock of shadow birds burst from the dark undersides of the storm clouds and dove toward him like falling arrows.

Simon’s third eye flared.

The silver cross within it shone brighter.

And he saw it.

Every beast was held together by thin lines of power, crossing and knotting at specific points like the joints of a puppet. The wolves had knots at their throats. The serpents had them behind their heads. The birds had them at the base of their wings.

Simon raised his head.

Inside his four horns, crimson tribulation lightning compressed into tiny burning points.

They fired.

PSHHHT! PSHHHT! PSHHHT!

Thin needles of crimson light shot from his horns, one after another. They struck the knots with perfect precision, and the shadow beasts burst apart into black mist before they could reach him.

Ilvara’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Her shadow clone lunged at him again.

Simon caught its blade with his forearm. Inside his cube, the nine white flows rearranged. Earth and Ice surged into his right arm, and a faint crystalline sheen spread across his grey skin beneath the Chaos Wraps.

The shadow blade struck his arm.

CRACK!

The blade shattered.

Simon drove his claws through the clone’s chest and tore it apart.

But the ram-horned Daemon was already back.

He roared and slammed both hands down onto the sea.

Far beneath them, the seabed answered.

BOOOOOOM!

Pillars of stone erupted from the ocean floor, punching up through the water and bursting out of the waves around Simon. Each one was as thick as a tower, their tips jagged and sharp. Seawater cascaded down their sides in roaring waterfalls.

Simon’s earth affinity was weaker than his. Simon couldn’t take control of this.

So he moved instead.

The cube’s flows shifted again. Wind and Lightning poured into his legs, and Simon blurred between the rising pillars, so fast that the rain seemed to hang still around him.

A pillar rose beneath him.

He stepped on its tip and leapt higher.

Then he raised his right hand.

Black light gathered around his fingers. Beyond them, a much larger hand formed. It was broad, dark and translucent, glowing faintly at its edges, and was large enough to grip one of the stone pillars entirely.

Black Sky Incarnation

It copied his movement.

Simon closed his fist.

The giant hand closed around a pillar and ripped it out of the sea.

The ram-horned Daemon’s mouth fell open.

Simon swung.

The giant hand hurled the pillar straight at him.

The Daemon summoned a wall of wind to slow it, but Simon’s wind tore through his wind, and the pillar slammed into him with the force of a falling mountain.

BOOOOOOOM!

The pillar shattered. The Daemon was smashed down into the sea, disappearing beneath a geyser of white water.

Simon dismissed the giant hand.

A shadow fell over him.

He looked up.

Ilvara had appeared above him. Behind her, the shadows of the storm clouds had gathered into the shape of an enormous serpent with jaws that were wide enough to swallow at least three ships.

It struck.

Simon’s Seed of Pride flared.

The serpent stopped mid-strike, its jaws frozen a few meters above his head. It strained against the invisible pressure holding it in place, its massive body coiling and twisting in the air.

Simon’s third eye found the knot at the back of its head.

A single needle of lightning flashed from his horns.

PSHHHT!

The serpent burst apart.

Black mist rained down over the sea.

The ram-horned Daemon surged out of the water, bleeding from his head and chest, his eyes burning with fury. He threw his arms wide, and the wind around him began to spin, faster and faster, until a massive waterspout tore up from the sea, roaring toward Simon.

Simon reached for the wind again.

But this time, the Daemon was ready. He poured his earth affinity into it too, filling the waterspout with chunks of stone torn from the seabed. Simon could seize the wind, but not the rock inside it.

The waterspout crashed into him.

Stones battered his body from every side. One struck his ribs. Another split his forehead beside his third eye. Blood ran down his face and mixed with the rain.

Simon gritted his teeth and burst out of the waterspout in a blast of crimson lightning.

He landed on the sea, breathing hard.

Unholy Regeneration began closing his wounds.

Across from him, Ilvara stood calmly on her shadow, her black coat soaked through, her dark eyes fixed on him.

The ram-horned Daemon hovered beside her, chest heaving, blood running down his arms.

For a moment, none of them moved.

The storm howled around them.

Then Ilvara spoke.

"Enough."

Her voice was soft. But somehow, it carried over the thunder.

She lowered her shadow blade, and the darkness beneath her feet began to spread across the sea. Wider. And wider. The rain falling into it simply vanished.

"You’ve seen my shadow," she said.

Her eyes did not move from Simon.

"Now meet the ones who dwell within it."

The darkness trembled.

Something stirred beneath its surface. Many somethings.

Ilvara raised her hand.

"Rise."