Above the Star Dou Forest, two figures streaked through the sky. One used gravity and wind manipulation to define new realms of speed in this world while the other one was slowly deforming into a monstrous existence. Three pair of wings— flesh, feathery and bone-like— boosted the Demon Lord's speed while his jaw healed at a breakneck pace and aside from his arms that had transformed into bestial claws, four more pair of infernal arms grew out of his sides, and seven different forms of tails flickered behind him. Two tusks grew out of his mouth, and another two pairs of spider-like eyes formed over the man's forehead.

"Phew~" Nik whistled while looking back. He really felt glad that he did not wait to rescue Ziyun, but now, he needed to think of how to get rid of this guy. Ray was on his way, and knowing that this fight might force him to escape, Nik had already sent the message to his current partners to prepare themselves mentally for leaving the world. He had limited energy, and he was already using two forms of elements to speed himself and slow the mad beast down.

But even when flying, Nik's fist was filled with inscription stones, and in front of Demon Lord's six eyes, an incomparable charming and complicated inscription burst out of thin air just behind Nik and crackled into a ray of lightning and water shooting towards Demon Lord in high speed. With six of his pupils shrinking, the Demon Lord opened its maws, revealing a set of sharp and pointed teeth before a ball of golden light flew out and impacted against the beam.

Bzzzt!

BOOOOM!

The air behind Nik.rumbled, and although the Demon Lord's speed faltered, Nik remained steady and taking the chance, he dived down. He couldn't simply keep on making the maddened man chase after him. After some time, he would naturally come out on his senses and would find a better way to deal with Nik— attacking his students again. That time, he might not be as lighthearted as he was with Ziyun. To truly stall for time, Nik had to battle the man head-on and also devise a way to trap him. Escaping was his last resort!

The moment he landed on the sparsely forested land, his heart screaming shrilly, and Nik ducked his body as a gleaming leg waved past the position where his neck was a moment ago. Without even thinking, Nik covered his surroundings with thick spikes, and as the Demon Lord landed a little further away from him, Nik observed his surroundings while furiously inscribing a pattern beneath his foot. While Demon Lord remained a sour to his sight, Nik also looked at the group led by a crystal-haired woman and three other robed individuals. 

Nik did not need further evidence to realize that these were the other hosts, to be peculiar, from the guild— Absolute. Seeing them, Nik wished to sneer and point out if their intended interns had been recruited or not, but the moment he exposed anything related to the system in front of Demon Lord, he would find his existence erased.

With a grim expression, Nik looked at the Demon Lord and incited him with words, "Oh, I forgot to ask your name." He spoke cheerfully as if he wasn't surrounded by people with ill thoughts, but strangers willing to introduce themselves.

"Demon Lord, you should leave him to us."

The woman spoke up. Her body was already tense as her limbs were covered in crystal. She had an outstanding physique, but she still fell short when compared to Nik, and honestly, Nik did not understand why she had such confidence. Sure, she had three other people with herself, but they all were Rank 1 hosts. Not to mention the fact that it was still a mystery how they apparently joined with the Dark Guild. 

"You are the Demon Lord?" Nik cocked his brows, and the monstrous youth finally sneered.

"Regretting your actions? No use. I will use your body to—"

"Hold up," Nik interjected and sighed deeply. The Demon Lord actually stopped his monologue and allowed Nik to snap his fingers as the inscription beneath his foot spread. Before the opposing party could react, the solid ground turned into a deadly swamp.

After a whole year of unending practice, to keep himself from losing his mind to loneliness, Nik started to come up with various variations of his elements. Right now, he wasn't merely a mainstream Elemental Bender but an extremely unorthodox one who relied on the imagination and the situation to control the elements and turn the situations.

"Move out!"

The woman spoke out, but the moment she turned back, she found three of her partners turned into earthen porcupines as a thick earthen spike pierced through their base and then turned into a tree of spikes, shredding them from the inside. Instantly, the woman's mind reeled in shock, and when she tried to move away, she realized that it wasn't the swamp that restricted her movement but a deep pull.

Gravity!

She realized in shock, feeling helpless. 

"Oh? Your asshole is surprisingly tough."

Nik commented and attracted the woman's attention as she looked towards Nik, who floated midair while the silently raging Demon Lord slowly struggled with a shattered spike in between his legs. Once again, many spirit rings burst from his back. Many of them were already in use to keep him in the transformed state, but the remaining ones were all for attacks, defense, and support. Even though the Demon Lord wished to roar for he had never faced such humiliation, a patch of the swamp had solidified in front of his face and restricted him from speaking.

Taking this time, Nik looked at the woman from the Absolute guild and then moved towards the three shredded corpses behind her and pocketed the Red Medals that floated above them and knocked the woman out with his [Pheromone Illusion].

While he might have some troubles with beings like Demon Lord or Ye Zong, whose very existence is higher than him, if Rank 1 hosts really targetted him due to this fact, then they are far away from the truth. 

He took a whole year and digested his gains. Right now, he had capabilities that may even surpass the Rank 1 version of Brian. 

At this point, the Demon Lord finally broke through his restraints and roared furiously.

"Nik Faran! I will kill you! I will tear you to shreds and then mend your body before occupying it. You hear me?

I WILL KILL YOU!"

The Demon Lord snarled with his saliva dripping down his chin, and his six pupils turned into an insect's compound pupils. His hair was physically hardened and turned into killer spikes.

"Man... I am the Succubus here, but why do you always attract fanatic men?"

A charming voice finally graced the field. The duo was not that far from the City, and Ray had finally caught up only to hear Demon Lord's pure proposal. 

"Don't sexualize threats... feel kind of weird..."

Nik mumbled. After all, Demon Lord had threatened to tear him to shreds. Through knife, Nik might not have minded, but the moment he sexualized the act, he shivered.

"Who are you?!"

Demon Lord howled and turned to face the newcomer. Seeing this, Nik frowned and waved his hand to instantly set-up three inscription patterns that would combine the mixture of fire-air and lightning-light into a single attack that only enhanced the attacking abilities of the four elements and targetted the Demon Lord's head. Instantly, a gargantuan phantom of a Golden Buddha to materialize behind the Demon Lord and clasp its arm to sniff out the attack.

Cackling, the Demon Lord turned his head and snarled, "I see, you want to die before your partner, right? Let me fulfill your wish!"

He roared and shot towards Nik while a short figure followed the Demon Lord's trail with another enchanting figure with flowing pink hair.

Needless to say, the newcomer was Ray and his Familiar!

Nik kicked his foot and raised a thick earthen wall only for the Demon Lord to crash into it. Alas, aside from his unconscious subordinate, he found no-one else.

The Demon Lord's heart suddenly trembled and he looked down only for a deadly crimson blade to slash at his face while Nik jumped down and grabbed Lilith's handle before waving it again and cutting off the Demon Lord's left ear!

This was one of the benefits of having living spirits. Lilith did not need active wielding, and she could attack by herself. At this time, Ray and his Familiar surrounded Demon Lord and chanted melodiously.

While the ravishing familiar winked at Nik, the Demon Lord felt his soul shiver and felt extremely lethargic. He even stopped feeling pain and instead found a wave of pleasure streaming through his body.

'Not good!' He raised his guard up. 'Roar of the Demon King!'

A crimson ring materialized above the Demon Lord as a deep howl swept everything away!

***

"What is going on, Aunt?"

Shen Yue inquired as Shen Xiu, and Xue Yin sat across each other with a somber expression. A deep sense of worry filled their hearts. But, they were mature enough to keep their emotions in check. It was Lanruo, who cried in her father's arms and Nik's younger apprentice that felt a deep sense of fear bubbling within their hearts.

Especially Ziyun!

She had already calmed down and, alongside the other three girls, sat within her room. Ye Zong had requested the other girls to stay with Ziyun so they could only accept the fact while Ye Zong hurriedly mobilized the methods to contact his father— Ye Mo!

But he wasn't the only one who was calling for his parents to take care of the trouble.

Ryu'er had long used her connection with Gojira to tell her of the situation, but the response made Ryu'er panic slightly.

'If Nik cannot even face his own troubles, what's the use of fucking him? I'll just be around to scrape off his corpse...

Phew~ Look at that handsome roar!'

Meanwhile, Asami couldn't help but stand still in shock right outside the gates of the Alchemist Association. The moment the Demon Lord's voice spread out, Nik did not even take another second and shot through the sky with an expression that made Asami shiver.

***

"He was... the Demon Lord?"

Nie Li muttered absent-mindedly. That power... that wasn't a mortal's power, and the moment he looked at so many spirit rings, his will was shaken. He had faced many enemies, but not even the Sage Emperor and his six diety beasts seemed so evil and cruel. 

The thought of Ziyun falling the harm's way made his chest clench as he raised his arm and smacked his cheek tightly!

"What strength? What experience? What revenge?!

I have nothing and yet proclaimed so much?

How am I different than the pretentious bastards that harmed any and everything?!"

He cried with emotions overwhelming him.

While Nie Li cried and Nik and Ray were pushed back, there were a few beasts that were interested in the wave of pressure that the Demon Lord flooded the forest with.

Currently, Nik and Ray were exchanging moves without an overbearing quantity of energy, but that wasn't the same for Demon Lord, and his move had long attracted overlord beasts such as Gojira. 

Beside Gojira stood another humanoid with pure white skin... she was a person with no facial features, and even the skirt-like loop over her foot was her flesh. Seeing the fight, the monster clutched the dual blood swords in its palms.

"Who do you think will win, eh?"

Gojira inquired as the monster stood silent before speaking up harshly.

"Do not talk to us, human."

The female beast stated calmly as Gojira shrugged, "All right, I will just blast your face off when I get my ninth ring."

The duo fell silent before they looked back silently.

More beasts were gathering.

While Gojira had turned human, her prestige made it hard for even the new 100000-year-old beasts to match her gaze. Only monsters like Blood Cardinal had the strength to stand beside Gojira.

The monsters treated each other rather honestly and rudely.

"We remember this spiritual essence. Isn't he the one who killed the Golden Statue?"

The Blood Cardinal inquired with her unpleasant voice before focusing on the crimson blade in Nik's hand and then Nik himself.