WHOOSH!

Rey moved swiftly through the devastated Sanctuary, his Divine-grade armor allowing him to navigate collapsed structures and environmental hazards that would have killed him without its protection.

The battle between Valdris and the Prince of Darkness continued in the distance, their mystical signatures creating tremors that shook the Labyrinth’s foundations.

But Rey focused on escape rather than observation, his enhanced perception mapping the fastest route toward passages leading deeper into uncharted territory.

’Just a bit more,’ Rey thought, approaching the boundary between the Sanctuary and the territories beyond. ’Once I’m past the Prince’s domain, I can navigate to Aether border without—’

A figure materialized directly in his path.

Valdris Morgath stood blocking the exit, his appearance showing catastrophic damage from the recent combat.

His wings were torn and bleeding, his formal attire shredded to reveal wounds that would have killed ordinary practitioners instantly. Blood flowed from dozens of injuries, and his mystical pressure—while still immense—had diminished noticeably from earlier levels.

But most striking was what he held in his right hand.

A massive serpentine head, severed cleanly from the Prince of Darkness’s body. The head’s eyes were still open, frozen in expression of shock and fury, its scales still radiating residual Chaos Energy.

The Prince of Darkness was dead.

"You," Valdris stated, his multiple-toned voice carrying exhaustion mixed with cold fury. "The Nephilim who orchestrated this entire catastrophe. You’re the one who displaced the Divine-grade artifact, who drew the Prince to the Sanctuary, who created conditions that forced me into combat against a Tier 4 entity."

Rey stopped, his enhanced perception analyzing Valdris’s condition with desperate hope.

The Devil was severely injured, his Ether reserves depleted to perhaps twenty percent, his defensive Artifacts shattered or depleted from the Prince’s assault.

But he was still a Devil.

He still possessed capabilities that exceeded Rey’s even in this compromised state.

"The Prince of Darkness required everything I had to defeat," Valdris continued, discarding the severed head casually. "Every of my Artifact has been expended, every trump card deployed. My Ether reserves have reduced to dangerous levels. But it’s dead now, and you—"

His expression hardened with lethal intent.

"—It’s time for you to die. At most, you can be considered Category S in your current state. Even in my current condition, eliminating you will be trivial."

Rey’s mind raced through options.

Fighting was suicide against a Devil, even an injured one.

Fleeing would fail because Valdris could simply teleport ahead using his remaining mystical capabilities. Surrendering meant interrogation that would expose everything Rey had done.

No good options remained.

Only desperate gambles.

"I don’t suppose we could negotiate?" Rey asked, buying time while his hands moved subtly toward combat Artifacts.

"No," Valdris replied simply. "You’ve caused too much damage, triggered too many complications. Amara died seeking you, the Prince of Darkness is destroyed, an entire Nephilim civilization has been devastated. Your existence represents liabilities I cannot permit."

He raised one hand, mystical energy gathering despite his depleted reserves.

"I’ll make it quick. Consider that mercy for the capabilities you’ve demonstrated."

Rey activated the Divine-grade armor’s full combat potential and moved.

Not toward Valdris, but laterally, creating distance while launching his opening assault.

"Chaos Art, Entropy Technique, Sequence #1: Final Decay!"

The technique detonated toward Valdris’s position, entropy operating at Forbidden Sequence attempting to consume the Devil despite his defensive capabilities.

Valdris countered with a technique that demonstrated why even injured Devils remained deadly.

"Chaos Art, Reversal Technique, Sequence #1: Absolute Reversal!"

The entropy inverted, time flowing backward within the affected space and negating the decay before it could establish effect. But the technique’s execution showed strain—Valdris was operating at his limits, his depleted Ether reserves making even High-Sequence Techniques costly.

Rey pressed the advantage immediately, using the Divine-grade armor’s mystical amplification to enhance his next attack.

"Spirit Art, Inferno Technique, Sequence #1: Eternal Conflagration!"

Primordial flames erupted across the battlefield, their heat intense enough to warp reality itself. The Divine-grade armor channeled additional Ether into the technique, multiplying its power beyond what Rey could normally achieve.

Valdris weathered the assault through sheer Devil-tier durability, his body regenerating damage faster than the flames could inflict it. But Rey could see the cost—each regeneration consumed Ether that Valdris couldn’t afford to waste.

"Impressive utilization of the Divine-grade armor," Valdris admitted, his voice showing grudging respect. "But insufficient to threaten me meaningfully."

He counterattacked with precision that transcended Rey’s defensive capabilities.

"Soul Art, Dominion Technique, Sequence #1: Consciousness Severance!"

Rey’s consciousness experienced an attack operating at levels his defenses couldn’t adequately counter. The Divine-grade armor provided some protection, its enchantments resisting the technique partially, but fragments of Rey’s consciousness still separated and dispersed.

He screamed as parts of his awareness simply ceased existing, the Soul Art attack operating on principles that physical armor couldn’t fully defend against.

Then Valdris followed up with physical assault enhanced by his remaining mystical capabilities.

The Devil moved faster than Rey could track despite injuries, his fist connecting with Rey’s armored torso with force that sent him flying backward through multiple collapsed buildings.

The Divine-grade armor absorbed most of the impact, its enchantments converting kinetic force into dispersed mystical energy. Without it, Rey would have been obliterated instantly.

But even with the armor’s protection, the damage was catastrophic. Rey felt ribs cracking, internal organs rupturing, his enhanced body failing under assault it simply couldn’t withstand.

He crashed into the Labyrinth’s outer wall with force that cracked the ancient stone, then collapsed to the ground in a heap of broken limbs and failing consciousness.

’I’m going to die,’ Rey realized with cold clarity, his vision blurring as blood filled his lungs. ’The armor kept me alive, but I can’t survive another assault like that. I need to buy time for my escape! I need—’

The answer came with desperate finality.

—The army.

Ten thousand Chaos Dwellers, positioned throughout the Labyrinth in stasis, waiting for Rey’s command through Hollow Technique’s mystical connection.

’To think I’d have to use them so early...’ He couldn’t help but sigh very deeply.

His expression was very grave, too.

Rey had planned to keep them hidden, to avoid revealing the full extent of his capabilities. But survival took precedence over secrecy now.

Rey activated the Hollow Technique’s control mechanisms with the last of his conscious will.

Throughout the Labyrinth, in passages ranging from explored territories to uncharted depths, ten thousand undead Chaos Dwellers emerged from stasis simultaneously.

Tier 9 to Tier 6 specimens, all preserved through Hollow Technique’s anti-life principles, all bound to Rey’s consciousness through mystical connections that transcended death.

They converged on Valdris’s position with coordinated precision that suggested single controlling intelligence rather than individual awareness.

Valdris paused his advance as the mystical signatures appeared throughout his perception, thousands of Chaos Dwellers approaching from every direction.

"An army," he stated, his tone shifting from dismissive to wary. "You’ve been controlling an undead army throughout the Labyrinth. Impressive strategic preparation."

But his expression showed determination rather than fear.

"However, quantity doesn’t overcome quality at this level. Your army will delay me, but not stop me."

He began systematically destroying the approaching Dwellers with techniques that demonstrated devastating efficiency despite his depleted condition.

"Null Art, Erasure Technique, Sequence #1: Mass Deletion!"