Alaric somehow survived.

  He pulled himself out of the crater in the wall, his armor dented and his breathing ragged. The hastened regeneration was working overtime, knitting his bones back together but the pain was still huge.

  He stared at the monster floating in the center of the hall. He knew, with terrifying clarity, that this opponent was way stronger than he had imagined a Demon Lord would be.

  "I have to give it my all," Alaric whispered, blood dripping from his chin. "Or everyone dies."

  He closed his eyes and poured all of his mana.

  "Confirma: Supreme x3." "Null Magic: Physical and Magical Barrier x20." "Creo Aqua: Gale Boost." "Creo Aqua: Vacuum Sphere." "Creo Terra: Light Weight."

  Alaric’s body started glowing with a volatile green aura. The sheer amount of strengthening magic was too much for the human body as it was burning down his cells as fast as he cast it. But his regeneration runes kept rebuilding them instantly. Steam hissed from his armor as his body temperature spiked, turning him into a living engine.

  Demon Lord Asteroth looked at him, his red eyes narrowing. "Interesting."

  Asteroth bolted towards him again.

  To the naked eye, the Demon Lord vanished. But Alaric didn't rely on sight anymore. He activated his Mana Sonar.

  Unlike physical vision, which relied on light bouncing off an object, Mana Sonar worked based on mana particles. The waves created by mana didn't follow the standard laws of physics, they were instantaneous. The waves bounced back and forth from Asteroth to Alaric with infinite speed.

  Even though he couldn't see the monster visually, he felt the monster coming.

  He is on the left.

  Alaric dodged by a millisecond.

  Asteroth’s claw swiped through the empty air where Alaric’s neck had been a fraction of a second ago.

  Asteroth paused, genuinely amused. "You actually dodged me."

  Alaric didn't stand still to chat. He bolted.

  With the Gale Boost and Light Weight active, he moved faster than any human he knew, tearing across the floor at almost three times the speed of sound. He ran circles around the Demon Lord, a blur of green light, raining down hundreds of bullets from his dual guns.

  BANG-BANG-BANG!

  But the Demon Lord didn't shield against them. To show the absolute gap between Alaric and himself, Asteroth simply dodged. He weaved through the hypersonic hail of bullets with sheer speed.

  The shockwaves generated by the Demon Lord’s movements alone would have thrown Alaric off his feet, but the Vacuum Sphere surrounding him nullified the air resistance, keeping him stable.

  Alaric dodged another swipe, rolling across the ceiling and landing on a pillar.

  Asteroth stopped moving. He looked at the panting human.

  "What are you, human?" Asteroth asked. "I have seen strong humans before, but they were heavily reliant on teams, gear, and potions. You seem to have a mana reserve close to some Demon Lords."

  He shrugged. "Well, whatever. You are still a human. A body so fragile will never be strong enough, no matter how much mana you have."

  Asteroth flared his aura. "Confirma."

  Alaric felt the dread wash over him. Wait... that speed before... that was just his natural biological speed? He wasn't even using magic?

  Asteroth moved.

  Even though Alaric perceived the attack through his Mana Sonar, his body simply couldn't react fast enough to the magical enhancement.

  CRACK.

  Alaric got punched.

  He somehow managed to activate the 20 layers of barrier from his gloves at the point of impact. They shattered instantly, but they dampened the force just enough to keep him from exploding.

  Alaric was launched backward, crashing through the stone walls of the castle and slamming into a noble’s house in the city below. The building instantly collapsed into rubble, burying him.

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  Alaric clawed his way out of the debris, coughing up blood. He tapped his bracelet, signaling the SKYHAMMER.

  High above, the airship, which was hovering further away from the center, targeted all of its barrels toward the Demon Lord standing in the open castle hall.

  THOOM-THOOM-THOOM!

  The airship started unloading all of its remaining artillery shells. Explosions blossomed around the Demon Lord, shrouding the castle in smoke and fire.

  Asteroth looked up at the flying ship and got curious. He didn't dodge a single strike. He just stood there, letting the high-explosive shells wash over his skin. They left no scratch.

  "Woah... that ship is flying?" Asteroth said curiously, tilting his head.

  While he was distracted, Alaric stood up.

  He reached behind his back and unlatched the heavy, long-barreled weapon he had been saving. The Railgun.

  He pointed it towards the Demon Lord. The coils hummed with a high-pitched whine as Alaric poured his lightning magic into the capacitors.

  ZAP.

  The projectile left the barrel at ten kilometers per second.

  The Demon Lord realized something was wrong, his instincts screaming danger, but at that range and speed, he was too late to react.

  SPLAT.

  Asteroth’s entire right shoulder and arm were blown off in a mist of black blood.

  Asteroth looked down at the stump, stunned. It was the first time he had taken the human seriously. His face twisted into disgust.

  "You harmed me? You!!"

  Alaric knew the danger was coming. He didn't stop.

  "Die!"

  His Railgun had four more bullets in the chamber. He unloaded them all at Asteroth before the monster could even begin to heal.

  BOOM. His right hand, gone. BOOM. His waist shattered. BOOM. His left leg, severed. BOOM. His head, vaporized.

  The massive body of the Demon Lord stood there, a ruined wreck of meat and bone. Alaric lowered the gun, his chest heaving, his vision blurry. He was breathless.

  But the body didn't fall.

  Even without a head, Asteroth stood firm.

  Black tendrils of flesh shot out from the stumps. Bone knitted together with a wet, sickening crunch. Muscle re-wove itself. In seconds, the head reformed.

  Asteroth’s eyes opened. Rage was filmed in them, replacing the curiosity. He looked at Alaric with pure, unadulterated disgust.

  "Nah," Asteroth growled, his voice vibrating the air. "I will never forgive you. How dare you destroy my perfect body? I will punish you and this whole city for your grave crime."

  Alaric looked horrified. "No..."

  Before he could even speak, Asteroth was there.

  WHAM.

  The punch was so hard Alaric felt his body refusing to stand up before he even hit the ground. He crashed through wall after wall, destroying every building in his path, piercing through stone and timber like a bullet until he finally skid to a halt in the market district, half a kilometer away.

  Alaric lay in the dirt, losing consciousness. So many magic spells working on his body at once were taking a toll; blood dripped down his face, blinding one eye.

  As he was losing his sight, he saw Asteroth fly up into the sky again.

  This time, the Demon Lord didn't look at Alaric. He pointed his open palm towards the main gate of Shersalon, where the Royal Army and Thorne’s soldiers were still fighting, a mass of thousands of men.

  Asteroth looked at Alaric one last time, giving a grin that sent a chill down his broken body.

  Alaric tried to stand up. He tried to scream. But his body wouldn't listen to him.

  "Stop..." Alaric wheezed, helpless.

  His eyes got wet with tears of frustration.

  A condensed ball of red and black energy formed at Asteroth's hand. It was no bigger than a fist, but it felt heavier than a mountain.

  Asteroth flicked his wrist.

  The ball of energy flew towards the mass of soldiers. It hovered for a split second over their heads, and then expanded.

  VOOOM.

  A shockwave of pure disintegration expanded in a one-kilometer radius.

  There was no sound of screaming. There was no fire. Just erasure. The walls, the gates, and thousands of soldiers Royalists and Coalition alike were instantly vaporized.

  Alaric watched the mushroom cloud rise as he lost his senses.

  "Huh. You look miserable."

  Alaric looked up.

  He was no longer in the ruins of the capital. He was inside an endless dark room. The floor was black water, the sky a void.

  There was one other person inside.

  It was none other than Alaric himself. Or rather, a version of him wearing a sharp, modern suit, sitting on a throne of shadows.

  He thought he had stopped seeing him for a while now in those horrifying dreams.

  That person spoke, his voice echoing in the emptiness. "Honestly, you have entertained me for a while now. Seeing you struggle and not give up was amusing. You have grown stronger, Alaric. I will give you that."

  The figure stood up and walked across the water. "But it seems this world hates you, just like my world hated me."

  Alaric didn't understand. He tried to speak, but no words came out.

  The other Alaric came near him, leaning down until their foreheads almost touched.

  "Enough struggling," the voice whispered, surprisingly gentle. "Let me clear everything that causes you pain."

  He reached out and tapped Alaric’s forehead.

  In the real world, the dust was settling over the crater where the city gate used to be.

  Asteroth floated down, satisfied with the silence.

  Suddenly, rubble shifted in the distance.

  Alaric stood up from the ruins of the market district, even though his body had just lost consciousness seconds ago.

  The Demon Lord Asteroth looked at him and got surprised. "You!!! You still survived?"

  Alaric lifted his head.

  His eyes were no longer the determined hazel of the young Viscount. They were pitch black, devoid of light, filled with an ancient, terrifying calm.

  It felt like a different person entirely.