Child of Destiny

...…

A huge tide of darkness suddenly engulfed Diablo as he charged straight to Dragulia, who suddenly stomped into the ground and charged forward.

A ground burst beneath Dragulia's feet as he unleashed a devastating punch, which he had thrown forward. The compressed force rippled through the darkness and erased the giant tide of shadow with a single blow.

Boom!

Diablo, who was within the tide, suddenly dissolved into darkness before the powerful shockwave could even reach him.

Swoosh!

He then reappeared in the distance, silently staring at Dragulia. Then another shadowy figure appeared in another direction, followed by another dozen before revealing a hundred more.

They stood in different directions, surrounding Dragulia before they struck in perfect unison.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Dozens of shadow clones lunged at him from every direction, covering all the angles that he could take.

Unfortunately for them, Dragulia had taken a step forward instead of retreating. His fist ignited with a terrifying black draconic aura and a molten crimson demonic aura before crashing into the first shadow clone.

'Demonic Dragon Art: Destruction Fist'

Boom!

The punch detonated like a massive volcanic eruption, vaporizing the clone and sending a powerful shockwave that tore apart every nearby shadow. Even the portion of the domain at the point of impact was briefly destroyed due to how powerful it was.

Unfortunately, there were hundreds of shadow clones pouncing at him, which immediately resumed their attacks right after the first wave was destroyed.

Shing! Shing! Shing!

Each of these clones was wielding a blade coated in either the Ancient Shadow Powers or Sanctified Demonic Powers, making them incredibly threatening.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Unfortunately, their damage seemed to be a bit lackluster after clashing against the tough scales that surfaced throughout Dragulia's body. Blazing sparks flashed through the darkness, signifying the multiple clashes that the two sides had exchanged.

Dragulia ignored most of the attacks, only blocking the ones that were directed to the vital and vulnerable parts of his body.

At the same time, he was swinging his powerful fists that shattered one clone after another, where each punch produced explosions powerful enough to open the void itself.

'Demonic Dragon Art: Doomed Annihilation'

Boom! Boom! Boom!

But for every destroyed shadow, another would be reborn in the world of shadows. This was a battlefield created by the shadow dancer, so it had to obey the tune of its master.

Realizing that there was no end to these shadow clones, Dragulia took a different approach and focused all his powers at a single point before directing it toward the domain itself.

Roar!

'Demonic Dragon Art: Absolute Devastation'

Boom!

The obsidian ground was shattered by the powerful impact, sending a series of multiple and overlapping shockwaves in every direction, which was further augmented by the destructive nature of the mixture of demonic and draconic powers.

All the incoming shadow clones that were trying to approach him were ripped into shreds or shattered into pieces, leaving nothing behind.

The portion of this domain was also shattered by the devastating impact, seemingly returning to its original appearance.

Unfortunately, this 'reality' was instantly dissolved into an endless abyss, where the ground reflected nothing but darkness. Even the shattered 'sky' was swallowed once again, erasing every trace of light.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Then thousands of black tendrils erupted from beneath Dragulia, wrapping themselves around his limbs and preventing him from moving.

Dragulia tried his best to escape from them, but their numbers were a bit too overwhelming. Even if he managed to snap dozens, the rest would only pull him back in place and let the ones that had been destroyed reconnect themselves.

'Celestial Shadow Arts: Shadow Manipulation – Unrelentless Shadow'

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

At the same time, an array of enormous shadow spears appeared above him, hanging there for a brief moment before descending like a shadow rain.

'Celestial Shadow Arts: Shadow Manipulation – Shadow Judgement'

Dragulia squinted his eyes as he watched the descending shadow spears.

Badump! Badump!

Loud heartbeats could be heard while crimson veins spread beneath his scales, creating a series of molten patterns throughout his body.

BOOM!

His heartbeat erupted into a terrifying draconic aura, making his body blaze intensely and incinerating every tendril wrapped throughout his body.

'Demonic Dragon Innate Trait: Draconic Heartbeat'

The blazing shockwave continued to erupt from his body, further vaporizing the surrounding shadows and burning everything within dozens of meters around him.

Along with these draconic flames, he launched a series of punches toward the sky, sending a barrage of blazing fists in the process.

'Demonic Dragon Art: Blazing Calamity'

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Every single strike shattered a shadow spear into fragments of dark mana until the final uppercut split the rain of shadows apart, leaving a blazing path through the sky of darkness.

Right after finishing all these, Dragulia swiftly turned toward a certain direction while gathering all the residual energy in the air toward his fist.

Roar!

Not long after, the devastating roar of a demonic dragon suddenly shook the entire realm while Dragulia launched himself forward along with his fist wrapped in the roaring powers of a demonic dragon.

'Demonic Dragon Art: Killing Move – Fist of Terror'

Boom!

It was a blow that could split the horizon!

Diablo, who was hiding in that direction, quickly crossed his arms and swiftly retreated while manipulating the surrounding shadows.

Swoosh!

'Celestial Shadow Art: Shadow Manipulation – Shadow Veil'

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Layers upon layers of condensed shadows gathered before him and formed a huge black wall that blocked the incoming attack and absorbed all the impact.

Boom!

However, despite having the upper hand at first, the veil of shadows shattered one after another until the final barrier burst apart, sending Diablo skidding across the battlefield.

Drip!

There was also noticeable blood dripping from the corner of his lips, signifying that he had suffered quite serious damage. Even the HP Bar floating above his head indicated the damage due to the huge chunk missing on it.

However, despite all of this, his lips curved into a huge grin before mumbling. "The shadows have reached the deepest abyss!"

Dragulia frowned and sensed that there was something wrong. Unfortunately, it was already too late, especially after seeing that his own shadow no longer mirrored him.

Swoosh!

It stood, seemingly gaining a life of its own.

'Shadow Dancer Skill (Pseudo Tier 4): Ancient Shadow – Plundering Specter'

Before Dragulia could even react, black arms burst out from beneath his feet and locked his legs and arms in place. Every little wound that he had suffered from the previous exchanges began leaking shadow instead of blood.

They then turned into black chains, wrapping themselves around his limbs and other parts of his body.

Diablo was never planning for a prolonged battle, which was why he immediately entered his strongest state since the very beginning.

He was clearly aware that he would only lose due to the restriction placed upon him by the Demonic Curse of Betrayal, so he never tried to overpower the opposing party.

His earlier actions were only meant to deal small wounds throughout the latter's body, planting fragments of curses from the combined powers of his two shadow powers with every successful strike.

By relying on the information that his 'Demon Eyes' had collected previously about the latter, he had formulated a plan that had the highest level of success before executing it in this battle.

Dragulia's muscles bulged as he found the restraints of the shadow chains. The fractures beneath his feet fractured, but the shadow only tightened.

Swoosh!

Not long after, the living shadow stood before Dragulia and merged with him.

'Shadow Dancer Skill (Pseudo Tier 4): Ancient Shadow – Nightfall Dominion'

Boom!

The entire shadow realm collapsed inward following Diablo's command.

Every shadow in existence rushed into Dragulia, seemingly being attracted by the living shadow that merged with his body.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

They crushed him beneath the weight of an endless abyss.

Dragulia tried to fight back until the very end, trying to unleash the powers of 'Draconic Heartbeat' to the fullest extent, which then burned away layer after layer of shadows. Unfortunately, every flicker of light burthened even more darkness within the collapsing shadow realm.

He tried to struggle to raise his fists, but they felt extremely slow and incredibly heavy. They then stopped until Dragulia was brought to his knees.

It was at this moment that Diablo walked toward Dragulia, wanting to check on him. With all the restrictions that he had placed on the latter, he was confident that they would not be able to escape from them.

However, he had just taken a couple of steps when an ominous feeling suddenly overwhelmed him.

Swoosh!

He swiftly retreated, trying his best to distance himself away from the opposing party as much as possible.

Roar!

Immediately after, a terrifying roar of an almighty existence suddenly erupted and shook the entire shadow realm that was collapsing toward Dragulia.

BOOM!

The entire process of the collapse suddenly halted as a silhouette of a gigantic dragon suddenly manifested behind Dragulia and started pushing the shrinking shadow realm away from him.

Seeing this scene, Diablo understood that he might still have underestimated the power of an Arch Heretic of the Demonic Church of Terror.

...