The breath of battle was chaos.

He couldn’t escape it. He didn’t want to escape it. Not because of his tendency to throw himself into dangerous situations. No, there was something far greater than a good fight driving him right now.

Desperation.

He wanted to go back to where his Emma was.

"Void..." he breathed. A swirling orb appeared above his index finger.

The five remaining monsters were instantly alerted. They halted their assaults and leapt back in alarm.

However, the void had already begun pulling everything within range, and that included one of the devils that had slithered away from William, trying to escape with all its might.

William narrowed his eyes, feeding Nyx into the spell continuously, focusing, condensing it until fragments of earth began to tear free and get sucked into the void.

He clicked his tongue and vanished from the spot.

The slithering devil instantly shot its long tongue forward.

William flipped over it and hurled the void at another devil that hadn’t anticipated the sudden change of target.

Mid-air, still airborne and upside down just above the slithering beast, William summoned a Droplet. Two seconds.

Arm extended, the droplet connected right at the center of its back.

BOOOOM

The explosion thundered, carving a massive crater beneath the monster and tearing apart its scales, exposing raw muscle.

William’s arm was burned too, but he didn’t care.

Cleave.

Targeting the exposed flesh, he launched thirty-six cleaves at once.

SLASH SLASH SLASH

"Khaaaahhh!" The monster hissed in pain as its back was shredded with cuts.

"GHAAAUUUU!" Meanwhile, the ape-like devil struggled to keep the void away, running from it and hurling anything it could to disrupt the vortex.

William was about to charge at the ape and finish it with another void—but then,

TING

A bell-like sound resonated. William’s eyes rolled back for a couple of seconds. A soothing sensation spread through his mind, tempting him to collapse and fall asleep.

He shocked himself back to awareness.

But those few seconds were vital.

"Fuck!" he cursed, raising his mental barrier, but his lack of focus cost him.

Too late.

DHAK

A kick landed from the side, and the single strike felt like it snapped his arm.

William cried out as he was sent flying to the left, crashing into a tree.

"Guh..."

TNG

The moment he landed, another devil lunged at him. William raised a barrier in time and blocked the incoming hammer aimed at his head.

From the other side, a frog-like creature puffed up its throat.

William clicked his tongue.

Cradling his arm, he tried to get up and levitate away before the attack could land. But suddenly, the soil beneath him hardened and trapped him in place.

Panic surged.

He turned to his left, and in the next instant—

BRWAAAAAAGGH

Everything in its path was torn apart by the violent resonance, rupturing his left eardrum despite his protection and leaving his head ringing.

And if that wasn’t enough—

"HUHUHUHU!"

The ape that had been cornered earlier began to lift the entire chunk of earth he stood on.

William was too dazed to move, but he could see the intent in its eyes.

It was going to smash him to death.

And not just that one. Every creature around him, he could see them all.

They were all hungry for his flesh and blood.

They wanted him dead.

Under normal circumstances, a person, regardless of experience or strength, would have felt panic, fear, or perhaps a surge of adrenaline to wipe everything out.

But he didn’t know why... just why exactly... William felt—

Nothing.

"AGHU?!" The devil lifting the slab froze, its eyes widening instinctively.

The being it meant to devour was the only thing it could see.

DHAK

The slab crashed into the ground, yet William was already there, levitating in place, still and unfocused, as if he wasn’t bleeding from multiple wounds. As if he wasn’t surrounded by death.

The ape tilted its head, first to the left, then to the right. Its eyes flickered. The burning black shifted into a bleeding crimson.

In the next instant, the ape slowly extended its left arm.

William tilted his head.

It felt like a command.

And the ape had no will to refuse.

SQUELCH

The ape’s massive hand plunged into its own chest, tearing through flesh before pulling out a violet sac, drenched in foul blood and still twitching.

Its eyes rolled back.

A moment later, the ape collapsed to the ground.

Dead and gone.

Suddenly, the air on the battlefield shifted. Until now, the Devils had been charging at William with pure aggression and bloodlust. But something about him forced them to hesitate.

Then something cracked.

It was the sound of bones snapping and reforming.

It came from William. His back twisted, breaking and reshaping.

Nyx began to grow denser. It was no longer just an energy they could feel, but a wave they could see.

Dark flames coiled around William, forming a barrier that protected and burned at the same time.

The devils instinctively stepped back. The presence he radiated was too overwhelming to endure.

The same energy that once terrified humans had grown so dense and powerful that even ranked Devils could not withstand it.

CREAK

A bony structure tore through his back. Blood spilled, yet William did not cry out. He remained suspended in the air, emotionless and completely detached.

The structure began to take form.

Nyx wrapped around it.

It solidified.

A wing.

Darker than the abyss.

More ominous than anything they had ever witnessed.

A curse had been born.

William slowly opened his eyes.

They had changed. The usual ferocity was gone. In its place was something calmer, and far more terrifying.

William slowly lowered himself to the ground and turned to his left.

The frog had already taken a few cautious steps back, its body tense and ready to strike.

But how could one fight something that refused to die?

"Stop resisting. You have fulfilled your role in awakening me. You can rest now."

The monster’s red eyes widened. Its body began to swell, expanding in a grotesque and unnatural way. It tried to lunge, to escape, to do anything at all, but its own flesh betrayed it. Muscles locked, veins bulged, and its form continued to bloat as if it no longer belonged to itself.

Its skin stretched thin.

Then thinner.

Cracks spread across its surface.

BOOOOOM

The explosion tore through the battlefield.

A violent burst of flesh and bone erupted outward, chunks of its body flung in every direction with brutal force. Blood sprayed like a storm, splattering across the ground, the air, and everything in its reach. Shattered fragments of muscle and shattered bone rained down, some still twitching, others reduced to unrecognizable pulp.

The shockwave rippled through the surroundings, carrying the stench of iron and burnt flesh.

Where the creature once stood, nothing remained but scattered remains.

William sighed and turned toward the remaining three.

Two of them were wolves, and they had already decided it was better to strike first than wait to be hunted.

William shook his head as he watched them move, each trying to slip into his blind spots.

"Appreciate your efforts. But it’s meaningless now."

He raised both his hands.

Void.

Droplet.

One pulls.

One explodes.

"I wonder..." He tilted his head, completely unbothered as the wolves closed in, their maws wide, ready to tear him apart.

William hummed, then brought both orbs together.

Conclusion.

The world was dyed in white.

°°°°°°°°°°°

A/N:- I...have no words about this Chapter. Lucifer is finally being introduced.