In this world, there are two types of demons. One type is demons that have existed since ancient times. They have physical bodies and are considered to be a rare type of monster that managed to retain high intelligence.
But even though the origin of devils has been traced back thousands of years, this race is still considered one of the most mysterious and dangerous races of all. Despite how advanced the magic technology is, no one was able to find out how the first demon was born. Some say that the demons were made out of the magic and the negative emotions of humans in the early ages. But some also say that demons were former gods who are now corrupted by negative emotions. There are many more opinions, one being more absurd than the other. This is one of the seven mysteries in the whole magic world.
But no matter what in today's society, demons are able to reproduce by mating with their own species. There are countless small villages that are formed after a small group of demons has lived there for hundreds of years. These villages are said to be very friendly since they have lost the inherited bloodlust of their demonic ancestry.
For example, the village on Galuna Island is one such village. Even though the magic council or even the nearby cities knew about their existence, they didn't send any personnel to eradicate them.
On one hand, these demons are too weak, and they have already isolated themselves, so the magic council didn't want to bother with them. After all, there are far too many different races in this world, and they didn't want to provoke each of them by hastily eradicating one party when they didn't do anything.
And lastly, we come to the last type of demons. These demons are the ones that were created by Zeref in his quest to resurrect Natsu and find someone to end his life. These demons are the most terrifying, as they all caused damage and destruction everywhere they went.
And since these demons failed to meet his expectations and end his life, Zeref abandoned them mercilessly and started creating various other demons. And like that, the number of demons began to increase.
But even though they were abandoned by Zeref, they still were his creations. And how could a genius that is never seen in a million years make something that is useless? Even though these demons were weak and could not solve his immortality, he gave them the ability to evolve further by absorbing souls of the living.
Each of these demons knew their creator had abandoned them due to them not being strong enough. So each one of them killed and harvested many souls in an attempt to grow stronger. One could even say that the terror of demons that is amongst the general public is entirely because of them.
But even though this method allowed the demons to break their own limits, they still had an upper limit due to their origins. And this is when the hierarchy was formed. And when the demons realized this, they began finding ways to break this limit.
And miraculously, Etherious Form was found. Gradually, one by one, demons who had come across their limits were able to enter the Etherious Form. And in today's society, the demons who have been able to enter Etherious Form are considered nobility amongst demons.
And every one of them who was either able to enter Etherious Form or had already reached their racial limit is forced to join the dark guild Tartaros by the Underworld King Mard Geer Tartaros. He fooled these demons into obeying his command by using E.N.D., aka Natsu, as a figurehead.
And these demons, whom Zeref created, all knew E.N.D. was the perfect demon their creator had created, so they all joined in without hesitation. Like this, the oldest and most dangerous dark guild was born.
Strictly speaking, Deliora is also part of the dark guild Tartaros. But despite his strength, he didn't get a higher rank. Well, the reason for this is that, unlike the other nine demon gates, Deliora lacked something very crucial for them to recognize him. And that is the Etherious Form.
As mentioned earlier, Zeref's demons consider those who can enter this form as nobility amongst them. And Deliora, who couldn't even speak human language, wasn't acknowledged at all.
This led to a massive clash between everyone, and Deliora finally left Tartaros and came to the northern plain to vent his anger.
And as luck would have it, Akira's demon-slaying formation awakened Deliora's survival instincts that finally allowed him to awaken his Etherious Form.
….
" Ur fallback, " Akira shouted as he used the demon-slaying formation to its maximum capacity.
Dark Lightning surged and gathered towards Deliora, obstructing him and giving both Akira and Ur time to retreat.
But even though this formation had trapped and almost killed Deliora before, after he entered the Etherious Form, the sealing effect dropped sharply.
This is because the demon-sealing formation works on the principle of eliminating dark beings. Demons are beings who have 99% of dark mana inside their bodies. So this is why this formation is very deadly to demons. But when a demon enters Etherious Form, their whole body structure changes. The dark mana inside of them would transform into curse energy.
Curse energy has different properties than magic power, so the demon sealing formation is pretty much useless against Deliora, who has entered Etherious Form.
"Roooooorrr."
Deliora roared as a massive magic cannon was fired from his mouth. The magic blast shattered the formation and almost hit Akira and Ur.
BOOOOOM
Explosions that happened within a radius of 500 meters were thoroughly destroyed by Deliora's random attack.
"cough cough "
Akira coughed as he dug himself out from a pile of snow. Looking at the destruction that Deliora caused, his expression turned very ugly.
He never expected Deliora would get such a sudden power-up at the very end. For a moment, Akira even doubted whether Deliora was also reincarnated in this world like him. I mean, what are the chances?
Thankfully, the attack just now wasn't directed towards the town. Or else Akira would really feel very guilty for the rest of his life.
'Damn it, do I really need to use that form? ' Akira thought as sweat began to drip down his face. He could use Anos' form if things went really south, but that would leave him vulnerable for a while since, unlike last time, he would need to fight Deliora continuously.
And the maximum time he could use Anos' form is a maximum of 20 minutes. And Akira is not confident enough that he could completely annihilate Deliora during that time frame. If he couldn't defeat Deliora, then they would be like sitting ducks since none of them could escape.
Turning back, he saw Ur had also managed to get up. Although there are no visible injuries other than the missing leg, Akira knew that Ur was out of juice and could not help him either. That last battle must have made her use almost all the magic power she had.
'Tsk, this guy really lived up to his name as the Clamity Demon. ' Akira clicked his tongue in annoyance as he thought of a way to get out of this predicament.
His magic power is enough for him to use another demon sealing formation, but that wouldn't work on Deliora anymore, so that's a no-go. His illusion magic is also useless against this guy, and this also means that his usual attacks wouldn't have much effect on him either.
And Akira didn't know many large-scale destruction magic spells that would seriously injure this guy. And even if he knew, he didn't think his magic reserve would be able to maintain such a spell.
That demon-slaying formation took 30 of his clones to activate. Even for him, whose magic reserves are very absurd, that kind of consumption is not something he could do casually. After all, he isn't a dragon-slaying wizard who can eat whatever element and regenerate their magical reserves.
And just like his magical abilities, his physical abilities would also not work much against Deliora. No matter how much his dragon blood strengthens his physique, he is still a 9-year-old child. Even if he used Roger's form, his physical strength would definitely not be able to contend against Deliora, who has now awakened his Etherious Form.
So the only option is to hold on till reinforcements arrive. But that is easier said than done. He had used illusion magic to fool Wakaba and Ultea to help them evacuate the villagers, and even if they did come, what kind of help could they be when they are weaker than him?
And there is the guild master Makarov and others, by the time they all arrive here, his ashes must be buried under the snow.
'Sigh, it seems there is no other choice. ' Akira closed his eyes and sighed deeply.
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