The Devil of Secrets had created an isidious form of magic during his lifetime.

Soul Puppetry.

It was a magic born of secrets, allowing the caster to implant an arcane parasite directly into the target’s soul.

The victim often remained unaware, believing every action was their own until it was too late. The parasite would subtly influence them, making them act without ever realizing they no longer had free will.

That was one of the two ways the soul parasite could operate.

The other was far more ruthless.

The soul parasite would infiltrate the target’s spirit sea, slowly devour their soul without the target knowing, and then permanently replace them.

Just like how Adam’s soul parasite had replaced Marden Benton...

Toward the end of the Battle of Ravenfell, Adam had taken a desperate gamble. He split off a fragment of his own soul and paracitized Marden.

For the longest time, Marden remained completely unaware that a soul parasite had secretly infiltrated his spirit sea. Slowly but surely, Adam’s parasite chipped away at Marden’s soul until it finally devoured it completely.

And once that happened, it took full control of the host — Marden’s body.

The soul parasite was, in essence, a part of Adam. Naturally, it possessed Adam’s memories, knowledge, and way of thinking.

That was why "Marden" had been able to carry out Operation Constantine in places where Adam himself could not be present.

While the world believed they were two separate individuals working toward the same goal, the truth was far more horrifying...

They had always been the same person.

As for the real Marden Benton... his soul had long since been devoured, erased so quietly that the world would never even realize he was gone.

No one remembered him. No one suspected anything. To everyone else, Marden had continued living exactly as before.

In truth, he had died a long time ago.

He died without ever gaining true freedom, killed by the very shackles he had tried to break.

A pitiful end for a pitiful man.

And now, for the very first time, upon this great battlefield that would decide the future of the world...

Adam had finally come face-to-face with his first avatar.

The two stood across from one another amidst the burning battlefield, like reflections cast from the same soul.

One carried the body of the Dark King, while the other wore the face of the Heavenly Demon.

And yet, beneath those different appearances, they were ultimately the same existence.

"Impossible!" The Cult Leader had never been so shocked before.

He had personally pulled Adam into the depths of the Underworld and left him out there to rot. There should have been no escaping the realm of the dead. It should have been completely out of the question.

And yet...

Here he was in the flesh.

For the first time in a very long while, the Cult Leader felt something close to unease.

The raven-haired youth standing before him had once again survived something that should never have been survivable.

It was as though fate itself refused to let him die.

That was the frightening thing about men like Adam. They carried a great destiny upon their shoulders. They had the ability to overturn situations in the most unexpected ways.

If there were ninety-nine paths leading to death and one leading to survival, people like him would somehow seize that single chance and force their way through it. Even in the cruelest life-and-death situation, those marked by fate would always find a way to grasp victory.

But such a thing was only possible if they refused to give up. Great destiny meant nothing without the perseverance to keep moving forward.

Adam Constantine was exactly that kind of person.

"How can this be..." he muttered in pure disbelief, the flames in his sockets dancing erratically.

The Cult Leader had planned for countless possibilities. He had even prepared for betrayal and failure.

But never, not even once, had he considered the possibility that someone could return alive from the Underworld. That realm was supposed to be absolute. No living soul could return from there. It was a place where even hope went to die.

And yet, the raven-haired youth standing before him had overturned that absolute truth.

"Heh." The Heavenly Demon couldn’t help but sneer. "Shall we show him?"

"Aye."

The Dark King’s aura exploded outward in waves, distorting the air and shattering the ground beneath him.

He got into a combat stance as tyrannical mana wrapped around his fists. Then his lips parted, and he coldly declared:

"When you come for the Dark King..."

His figure blurred, and he shot toward the Cult Leader.

At the very same time, the Heavenly Demon also burst forward, his hands coated in crimson blood mana. Then he finished Adam’s sentence:

"You best not miss!"

BOOM!

The Dark King threw a vicious punch, while the Heavenly Demon struck savagely with the Blades of Fulgrim.

But the lich was a powerful and experienced fighter in his own right. He quickly regained his senses after the initial shock and retrieved a bone sword.

Crossing his arms, he blocked the Heavenly Demon’s attack with the ivory blade and Adam’s punch with his bare hand. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Shockwaves exploded in every direction, and the earth beneath them violently caved in. However, the Cult Leader still managed to hold his ground.

"Now that I think about it," Adam said with a taunting smirk. "Compared to that lich over there, you’re nothing but a mere insect. No... not even an insect. You’re a pathetic germ."

The flames in the Cult Leader’s eyes roared violently. "You—"

But at that exact moment, the Heavenly Demon seized the opening. With a sharp twist of his blades, he knocked the bone sword out of the lich’s grasp.

And right on cue, Adam stepped forward. He pivoted smoothly, grabbed the lich’s arm, and viciously hurled him over his shoulder.

With a thunderous sound that split the air, a small crater was instantly formed beneath the lich’s back. But he was given no moment to recover.

In the very next instant, the Heavenly Demon came crashing down with a brutal axe kick.

The Cult Leader swiftly rolled to the side and nimbly sprang back to his feet, rapidly widening the distance between them.

At the same time, he rapidly formed hand seals.

But a moment later, the space around him shuddered violently, and the gravity increased severalfold. His body grew unbearably heavy, his hand seals were disrupted, and his knees nearly buckled beneath the pressure.

Then, just as suddenly as it had appeared, the gravity spell vanished.

However, that brief interruption had already done its job. The lich’s momentum had been broken. And that split second was more than enough time for Adam and his avatar to unleash hell.

The Heavenly Demon materialized before the lich like a ghost, the lantern concealing his presence until the very last moment. He pressed his fingers on the lich’s breastplate and then...

Hand of Doom: Blood Style.

One Hit!

The Cult Leader’s armor cracked apart, and he was blasted into the distance... straight toward where the Dark King was already waiting.

With a ferocious look on his face, Adam gritted his teeth and viciously struck with his hand.

Hand of Doom: Spectral Palm Strike!

BOOM!!