Recognizing the absolute threat emanating from the enemy blade, Beelzebub's expression turned grave.
His rapier wasn't common either, born in the deepest River of Hell, forged from the bones of seventy-seven Archdukes of the Plague and tempered in the despair of millions of living beings.
It was a weapon capable of rotting the flesh of a Monarch of the Underworld, or even an Archangel.
But facing the steel of the human's sword, the corruption found its natural predator.
The crimson aura hissed upon contact with the golden glow, being violently cast aside before even grazing the metal.
"HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!" He roared, feeling his own soul tremble before that light.
"Don't tell me this is all you've got…"
The smile appeared again on Lief's face and without breaking eye contact, he flexed his right wrist downward and, using the Tiger Talisman, flooding his muscles with a torrent of power, he multiplied his physical strength exponentially.
!
Beelzebub felt the change! It was as if a mountain suddenly collapsed onto the blade of his rapier.
His stance broke and he began to be forced down. His claws trembled violently, and the joints in his arms cracked, on the verge of fracture under the unbearable weight of his own sword being pushed against him.
'What kind of power is this!?'
Terror invaded his mind as he noticed the human's strength scaling without apparent limit.
He, Beelzebub, the Monarch of Gluttony, an entity feared in the hells, was being subdued, bent, and humiliated by a simple mortal in a duel of pure brute force!
"Raaahr!!!"
Refusing to accept his defeat, he channeled every last reserve of his vital force into his tense arms while his wings buzzed frantically at his back. Meanwhile, a red smoke, the essence of corruption, poured endlessly from the edge of the rapier.
His objective: to corrode the golden blade.
They reached the peak of the struggle at the precise instant Beelzebub committed his entire physical existence to a blind and absolute frontal push.
But...
Instead of pushing back, Lief withdrew all his strength at once.
The immense resistance Beelzebub was fighting against vanished.
Cruelly betrayed by his own inertia, the accumulated momentum launched his torso forward in a totally uncontrolled stumble.
His previously impenetrable guard crumbled on the spot and his arms flew open from the imbalance, leaving his broad and vulnerable chest totally exposed to Lief.
And without letting the moment escape, Lief grabbed the hilt of the Master Sword with both hands and, using a violent rotation of his waist, unleashed a devastating horizontal slash directly at Beelzebub's exposed abdomen.
'DAMN IT!'
Finding himself a prisoner of his own inertia and with evasion being impossible, he managed to pull back the blade of his rapier at the last microsecond, mounting a precarious defense.
BOOOM
With a roar that eclipsed all previous explosions, Beelzebub became a blurry projectile that shot out with brutal acceleration, surpassing the speed of his own initial charge.
His body cut through the air and crashed catastrophically into the ruins of the central stage.
The structure, which was already unstable, collapsed immediately from his fall.
The ground collapsed inward, cracking and sinking violently, forming a crater fifty meters in diameter. Meanwhile, a dense column of dust rose toward the sky in the shape of a mushroom cloud and ended up devouring the view of the crater.
On the periphery of ground zero, the survivors stood totally petrified, unable to process the destruction.
Swish
Reappearing over the devastation, Lief frowned at the curtain of debris.
With a snort of impatience, he projected a telekinetic wave with the force of a typhoon that slammed into the cloud and swept away the smoke and dust instantly.
Visibility returned all at once and exposed the bottom of the newly formed abyss, revealing... that it was empty.
At the same time, an icy sensation exploded behind his back.
Beelzebub had used the cover to flank him and was now approaching breaking the sound barrier in a charge aimed at the back of his neck.
"Die, insect!"
But facing the imminence of this mortal blow, Lief kept his gaze forward and a mocking smile curved his lips as he executed a blind backhand, driving his sword violently backward.
Boom
The Master Sword met the edge of Crimson Rose again, detonating a new radial shockwave, creating a perfect ring of compressed white air that exploded wildly in all directions, clearing the sky completely.
________
Time: If you're craving more (and I know you are!), I have just what you need. On my Patreon, you'll find exclusive chapters. Join our community and be the first to discover what happens next!
👉 [patreon.com/Athome790]
Your support fuels me. Thank you for the support! 💖