Rise of the Rejected Deity from Chaos-Chapter 136 - 135: Seventh Demon Down | On To The Next Demon

A low, grating growl sounded from the back of the demon's throat as he prepared to speak but Seiya immediately wrapped his face with woven vines in a suffocating grip.

"Come," Seiya called and the demon's four hearts ripped out his chest like they had earlier when Seiya had called to them.

Feeling his hearts tear from his chest, and unable to break free from the sealing vines, the demon howled loud in agony and desperate despair, the woven walls he had constructed around him collapsing.

The demon's hair flared wildly, fierce wind howling through the cold air. A low, guttural growl rumbled from his throat as jagged vines and towering pillars of woven rattan burst forth from the ground, twisting skyward in a relentless surge. With every breath and growl, the barrier grew, leaving Seiya with no ground to land beneath him.

Unbothered by his desperate grief and actions, Seiya wrapped the hearts with woven vines and constructed a thick plank of woven rattan strands atop the demon's spiky strands and landed atop it.

Blood trailed down the demon's face as the vines Seiya had used to bind his face, constricted tightly around his eyes.

Standing tall atop the vines, Seiya squeezed one of the hearts with a vine till it burst. The demon felt this and his loud howl abruptly ceased.

"No, stop!" He demanded in his harsh, grating voice.

Paying him no heed, Seiya summoned two towering pillars of woven rattan and brought them crashing together, crushing the second heart between them.

The demon twisted violently, thrashing against his bindings with such desperation that his own bones splintered under the strain. His spikes, vines, and pillars of rattan surged outward in a frenzied cascade, the very air trembling with his grief. They shot forward, spiraling toward Seiya like a storm given form.

In agony, the demon wove his shattered bones into the binding vines, twisting them into a desperate path toward Seiya, clawing for what remained of his hearts. But before the demon and his woven rattan could reach him, Seiya struck. With a single, decisive motion, he crushed the remaining two hearts.

The demon froze. His wild woven rattan onslaught crumbled, falling to the ground in ruin. A breath later, he followed, collapsing with a resounding thud.

"In the end…" His voice trembled, his lips quivering as he struggled to speak. "I wasn't the king."

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Seiya watched calmly as the demon's eyes fluttered shut, lifeless.

The woven rattan that had crumbled to the ground, withered in an instant, turning to dust and scattering into the wind, vanishing as though it had never been

Seiya undid his woven rattan plate and landed gracefully on the ground. His gaze peered down at the lifeless body of the demon, lingering for several moments.

You might have been a king in some other way," Seiya murmured. "After all, you were the first to stir an emotion within me that I never knew existed."

He threw his head back, drawing a slow breath as the cool wind caressed his face. It howled through the countless wounds marring his body and limbs, a sharp, stinging whisper against torn flesh.

His gaze shifted to a particular spot on the ground, and there, a thick round ball of woven rattan vines, housed a thick splatter of blood. Seiya extended his palm forward and all his woven rattan withered like the demon's, blown away by the wind.

"Ibyu," Seiya called softly, gaze glued toward the splatter of blood on the floor. The blood transformed, solidifying into a tiny doll-like creature.

Ibyu pattered across the ground, finding its way toward Seiya in haste. It climbed from Seiya's foot, crawling its way up to Seiya's face and perching against his forehead. Its tiny limbs spread wide as it laid flat on Seiya's forehead—height nearing Seiya's nose with his tiny hands stretched across his brows.

{Waaa! Why did you leave me out there to die?!!!} Ibyu cried, shaking his face against Seiya.

Exasperated at Ibyu's dramatic reaction, Seiya replied. "You must've been blind then," he said. "Because I had made sure I deflected every attack from you and shielded you."

Ibyu's sobs quieted, its breath still unsteady, sniffing as it nuzzled against Seiya. {I miss the times when you would apologize for every little thing you did,} it murmured, resting its face against Seiya's forehead with a soft exhale.

Seiya sighed, offering no response, unbothered by Ibyu's antics.

Even after it had calmed, Ibyu did not move away. It merely lifted its head, lingering close.

{So, what will you do now?} Ibyu asked, holding tight onto Seiya to prevent slipping down. {Will you fight with all these wounds on you? You look like skewered barbecue.}

Seiya paid no mind to Ibyu's attempt at humor, merely crouching to retrieve his staff. "Well, it's not like Kaeliyus is here," he muttered.

{True. And you can't call him back either,} Ibyu said, sighing.

Ibyu hesitated, no longer willing to accompany Seiya into any more battles. From the moment the fight had begun, a deep unease had settled within it—fear for its own life. Unlike previous confrontations where Seiya had always held the upper hand, this one felt perilous, threatening both parties involved in the battle.

Though Seiya had found ways to always secure victory, each came at an immense cost, pushing them both to the brink of death. Ibyu understood this was no ordinary battle like the previous ones they'd fought, and the weight of that realization pressed heavily on it.

Sighing once more, Ibyu questioned. {What's in your pocket though?}

Seiya tilted his head in question, puzzled.

{I had felt something hard and bumpy in your pants' pocket while climbing up, so I was wondering.}

Seiya put his hand into his tattered pockets, his hand grazing against his wounds as he took out whatever was hiding in there. As he brought his hand out, a soft glow illuminated around his palm, bubbling around two transparent phials.

Ibyu tilted its head to get a proper look while Seiya merely stared at the vials in silence.

{That Kaeliyus, he must've slipped it into your pocket, feeling unworthy to hand it directly to his 'young Lord,} Ibyu emphasized the last part dramatically. {He even put a protective barrier around it to prevent it from breaking.}

Clasping the vials in his hand, Seiya scanned his body, noting that only two bottles of the vials wouldn't be enough to heal the wounds that had covered him entirely.

"Should I just drink it?" He questioned.

{I don't know, he has never used it like that,} Ibyu replied. {And you don't even know what it's made of.}

"…."

Wordlessly, Seiya opened the first vial, poured its content into his hands bit by bit and sprinkled it all over his wounds. He did the same with the other, mending his wounds in no time.

"Alright, let's move on to the remaining demons," Seiya declared.

{I wonder if he's as strong as this one—or perhaps weaker,} Ibyu mused.

"He smells," Seiya blurted flatly.

{Huh?!}

"He smells," he repeated.

{Instead of assessing his strategies or strength, you focus on his scent?}

"…."

{….}

"He smells," Seiya affirmed with finality.