The white flash lasted for a disparagingly long time. Everyone in the city and the surrounding area were blinded thinking it to be the work of the divine. But soon enough, the light faded.

The two combatants, the cause of this phenomenon, were floating in the air still looking at one another.

Belial was a scorched mess, every inch of his skin was blistered and cracked. His face was so heavily mutilated, that it was unrecognizable from his recent bout of attractiveness. Every inch of hair on his body was singed off. He looked more like a corpse than a living man.

The pain shooting throughout his entire body made him wish he was dead, but he held strong, the power of the pill still coursing across his essence circuits. It was the only thing keeping him standing but it was enough, the damage he suffered was all very repairable if excruciating.

He looked at his opponent who stood across him.

Samuel was still standing in the air... Even though his left arm along with a massive chunk of his left shoulder was simply no longer there. No blood oozed out of the wound, though Belial could see it flow all across the bright red flesh. 

Belial let out a coughing laugh, his face in pain from using its muscles to laugh. This was perfect, such a massive blow to the body meant his essence circuits were heavily damaged if not permanently crippled.

"Why are you laughing?"

That brought his amusement short.

"This bout is over!"

"How so?"

"I have destroyed your essence circuits! Even if you want to fight, the flow of your essence to use techniques will be heavily impaired! Give up and accept your fate!"

It hurt to speak but Belial kept strong, he had a plethora of magical contracts he could subject Samuel to after the man gave up. He simply needed to get him to agree and put a geas on him. Then he could rest for a week or two.

"Oh. You mean this."

The eccentric man pointed to a missing chunk of flesh as he said.

"I admit that attack was crippling, it will take me a while to fix this damage and I am probably going to operate at a reduced capacity. Not to mention, whatever the spear took a chunk of my soul essence with it. To be frank, I am under quite a bit of strain right now."

Samuel was terrifyingly calm throughout all of this, and only the fact that Belial could see the disrupted flow of essence was why he was so confident.

"However, one thing one should always remember. Mythic destinies do not make sense. Second rise."

Belial could not even blink as the two enormous orbs of fire and ice came into existence right next to him. Then before he could react, both orbs collided with him.

"Wha...?!"

And so the demonic cultivator was engulfed in a sea of fire and ice.

"A shame. Next time be more prepared and as a lesson, never let your guard even against an injured opponent."

His attention now turned to Elizabeth and Eishath. Elizabeth's face was a horrifying mask, her breathing rapid and her eyes wild.

But more curious was Eishath, who was finally out of her stupor. She was looking at him in reverence, the remaining demons charred to ashes or reduced to ice sculptures, none by his hand.

"Let us go home."

Was all that came out of his mouth.

"What a frightening ability..."

Up in the pagoda far above the clouds, two men were gazing down, both drinking a cup of tea.

The man in gold said.

"Mythic destinies are always a sight to behold."

The man in green snorted his hand petting the entity that was feeding on him like a babe. 

"I am more interested in the fact, that the demonic ant managed to escape."

The gold man languidly took a sip of his tea as he said.

"Escape was always a possibility given the arsenal of treasures and artifacts he kept on hand. He was beyond even our reach."

"Well, it does not matter. How many demons are left in the sect?"

"About 26 succubi that were not a part of the escape, most of whom were summoned very recently to create a smokescreen."

"Well... At least the child was kind enough to give me a few more tools."

The gold man shook his head.

"I thought our motto was to be as hidden and lazy as possible."

"Yes. And having half a dozen, perfectly loyal and subservient soul-bound slaves that match my power will be perfect for that end. Besides they are only demons, nobody will miss them."

"...I guess I should get some of mine as well..."

"Why did you let the demonic cultivator get away?"

In a luxurious room in the very heart of the mountain, a world-endingly beautiful woman asked an equally handsome man.

"Ah. Noticed that have you?"

The grin the man had was downright feral as he said.

"I need an excuse when I invade my next demonic sect. Which reminds me! Have to tag our little elder, it would be a shame if he is lost in this chaos."

The woman put one delicate hand on his cheek as she said.

"You are evil."

"And you love me."

"That is without question."

"Aww. I love you too!"

Simonx69

I am little sick at the moment so uploads will be a bit slow while I get my bug sorted. I have extra TMG chapters stored so that will not be a problem but I like LOC to be more spontaneous so it is going to be a little slow. Sorry, but hope you will still enjoy.