Dozens of invisible spatial cuts formed across the open sky, each one sharp enough to carve through mountains and slice apart the very fabric of space. They converged upon her from every direction in the same instant, leaving no clear route of escape.

Zenith did not move, but the blood wings behind her did. One of the long crimson branches swept gently through the air.

Shing!

The spatial cuts shattered. Every single one of them.

The fractured lines of space dissolved into countless shimmering fragments around Zenith, fading harmlessly before they could touch her body.

Asmodeus’ eyes widened in shock. He barely had time to process what had happened before Zenith disappeared in a blur.

Boom!

Her fist struck his stomach. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

The impact folded Asmodeus’ body around her hand and blasted him through the air like a falling star. The shockwave erupted outward in a vast circular ring, shredding clouds across the horizon and flattening what little remained of the castle beneath them.

Asmodeus flew for miles.

Before his body could even begin to slow, Zenith appeared directly in the path of his momentum.

Her blood wings flared behind her. She raised one leg and drove her heel down into his back.

Boom!

His trajectory changed instantly.

The Demon King was sent hurtling downward, crashing through the earth with enough force to create a vast crater several kilometres wide. Stone, dust, and molten debris erupted from the impact point in a towering column.

Zenith appeared above the crater and raised one hand. A pulse of crimson energy gathered around her palm as she brought it down.

Boom!

The earth collapsed inward.

The crater deepened violently, spreading outward as an avalanche of cracks tore across the demon territory. Hills crumbled, black towers split apart, and entire stretches of land sank into the expanding fractures.

Asmodeus tore himself free from the destruction and shot upward through the dust cloud, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth as rage twisted his face.

"Zenith!"

He swung his arm, and a massive spatial blade tore across the horizon. Zenith tilted her head slightly and casually swept one hand through the air.

The attack changed direction. The spatial blade curved away from her and cut through a distant mountain instead.

For a fraction of a second, nothing happened. Then the entire upper half of the mountain slid away from the lower section with a deafening groan, collapsing into the land below as a vast landslide.

Zenith looked back at Asmodeus with a light smile curving her lips upward.

"You should pay attention, Father."

She disappeared again, and Asmodeus instinctively raised both arms, but he was too slow. Zenith’s knee struck his jaw.

Crack!

His head snapped backward as the impact threw him into the sky. Before he could regain control of his body, Zenith appeared above him and drove a fist into his chest.

Boom!

Asmodeus was thrown downward again. Zenith flickered into the path of his momentum and threw out another punch, striking his ribs.

Boom!

His body shot sideways. Zenith appeared ahead of him. A kick smashed into his spine.

Boom!

He flew upward.

Zenith appeared again.

Boom!

Then again.

Boom!

And again.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The impacts became too fast to follow as Asmodeus’ body vanished entirely from sight. Even Zenith disappeared.

Those watching from the ground could see nothing but expanding shockwaves erupting across the sky at impossible distances from one another, each one forming miles away from the last before another appeared somewhere else less than a fraction of a second later.

Dozens of booms became hundreds.

The thunderous impacts rolled over one another continuously until they became a deafening roar that shook the heavens and the earth beneath them.

Elion watched from within the barrier with wide eyes. He couldn’t see a damned thing.

Occasionally, his sharpened vision caught the faintest glimpse of blue and crimson light crossing the sky, followed by another vast shockwave. But before he could focus on it, the fight had already moved miles away.

Another mountain shattered in the distance.

A deep trench opened across the ground as Asmodeus’ body crashed into the land and tore through it for several kilometres before Zenith struck him upward again.

Elion slowly leaned back inside the floating barrier, crossing his arms behind his head. It was like Zenith had become a god.

He chuckled at the thought.

"Well," he muttered, smiling faintly, "it seems I have nothing to worry about anymore."

There was nothing wrong with lying back and letting his woman handle the difficult work for once.

Right?

A beam of crimson light suddenly tore across the world.

It burst from Zenith’s outstretched hand, thick and brilliant enough to stain the entire sky an even deeper shade of red as it cut through the demon territory below.

The beam carved a vast line across the land, splitting hills and mountains in its path. When the attack finally faded, a boiling crimson scar remained across the earth for miles, smoke and molten stone rising from the devastated landscape.

Asmodeus crashed into the scorched ground at the end of that ruined line. This time, he did not rise immediately.

Zenith descended slowly toward him.

Her feet touched the ground several metres away from him, and the torn black strips trailing from her waist drifted behind her as the blood wings spread menacingly across the sky.

Asmodeus tried to push himself upright.

His body was almost unrecognisable.

His robes had been torn away completely. His blue skin was split open in dozens of places, exposing shattered bone and torn flesh beneath. One of his horns had snapped near the base. Blood poured down his face, and one of his arms hung uselessly at his side. His regeneration continued to act, trying to repair the damage, but for the first time, it was failing to keep up with the damage.

Every time flesh began to close, a pulse of crimson energy beneath his wounds tore them open again.

Asmodeus coughed violently, and dark blood spilled from his mouth.

"Zenith..." he rasped.

She looked down at him silently without saying a thing.

"We can talk about this."

Zenith said nothing.

Asmodeus grit his teeth and tried again.

"You don’t understand the stone. I can show you how to use it." His eyes narrowed desperately. "We can reach an agreement. I can teach you how to control it, and can show you how to escape this place."

Zenith’s lips curved gently, "Too late for that, Father." Her voice was quiet and almost tender, but that only made it more terrifying.

"I am done with you now."

She stepped forward.

Asmodeus tried to move, but his body no longer responded well because of the bad damage. His regeneration had slowed almost completely, and the crimson energy crawling through his wounds pinned him in place like invisible chains.

Zenith looked down at him with cold eyes. He was in no condition to fight back anymore. Now, all that remained was to make him suffer.

Boom!

A cacophonous crack split across the sky.

Zenith turned sharply, a frown forming across her face as a ragged figure zoomed into view from the distant battlefield.

The newcomer barely looked alive. He was missing one hand, and nearly half of his torso had been torn away.

One eye was gone entirely, leaving behind a bloodied cavity. Thick blood poured from his remaining eye, his mouth, his nose, and countless wounds covering his body. His armour had been reduced to scraps hanging loosely from what remained of his frame.

Most frightening of all was the gaping hole through his chest. His heart was gone.

There was nothing where it should have been except a hollow, bloodied cavity large enough to see straight through.

Zenith’s brows furrowed.

’How is he still alive?’

It took Elion a second to recognise the figure. He stared on for a good five seconds, and when he finally realised who it was, his heart shuddered.

"King Melroy?"