Chapter 343: Hopeless

Regis paid his respects to Elysia silently before turning around.

A few meters above him was the portal to the Evil Realm, a tremendous amount of demonic power continuously leaking through it.

"For now... let’s close this portal..."

He muttered under his breath as he got ready to leap up.

Swoosh!

Regis’s figure flew through the air as he instantly arrived in front of the portal to the Realm of Evil.

His mana and aura stars connected with each other, turning purple in the process.

He took a longsword from his storage artifact as a devastating amount of energy enveloped its blade, while his free hand emitted mana fluctuations belonging to Grand Magic.

Regis sucked in a cold breath as mist slowly escaped his parted lips.

[Grand Magi—]

"Huh?"

Before Regis could even finish chanting, he felt something cold grasp his ankle.

He then felt an irresistible force pulling him back as he was suddenly slammed into the ground.

BOOM—!!!

A huge cloud of dust rose as he fell into a fit of coughing.

"Wha—"

BOOM—!!! BOOM—!!! BOOM—!!!

Regis tried his best to break free from the mysterious grasp, but it was all for naught.

"Hehehe..."

A grating giggle from a somewhat familiar voice resounded in the area.

’Don’t tell me—’

As the dust settled, Regis’s pupils constricted. "Y-You!? How—!?"

"Hmm, to think that you even got naked. Are you getting ready to have fun with me?"

The Demon Lord of Lust’s voice permeated the area.

Her voice was like the soft chiming of bells—enchanting and addicting.

However, Regis could only feel sick to his stomach.

It did not take long before Aziza’s alluring figure reappeared in his sight.

She was still as tempting and beautiful as before, with her naked body fully revealed.

There were just two differences from earlier.

First was the gaping hole in her chest where demonic power continuously poured into her body, turning into squirming strands of black flesh that resembled wriggling maggots.

And second...

...were the large black tentacles originating from the portal of the Realm of Evil and attaching themselves to her back.

"Ah~ Ahh~ Ugh~!"

Aziza moaned in ecstasy as she caressed her own face. "I can feel your love inside, oh Great Devil of Sin and Darkness~!"

"What the hell’s this perverted woman on now?" Regis could not help but muse.

His eyes darted down and saw a black tentacle gripping his ankle.

He swung his aether-coated sword to cut through it, but...

THWANG—

...only a loud metallic sound rang out.

Regis frowned as he gritted his teeth and delivered a few more full-powered strikes.

THWANG! THWANG! THWANG!

Unfortunately, no matter how hard he swung his sword, he could not leave even a single scratch on the black tentacle.

"Don’t bother, boy. Just stay there and wait for me, so you can feel my love—"

Just as Aziza was speaking, a chant resounded in the area.

[Lux Aeterna]

The world was stripped of all its colors as everything slowed down until it seemed like time itself had stopped.

Gripping the iridescent blade in his hand, he slashed once again with all his might.

THWANG—!!

However, the result made Regis’s pupils constrict.

"..."

For the first time since he acquired this light-type aura art, he finally faced a situation that it could not resolve.

That was right.

The world returned to its normal state once again, and the black tentacle only had a surface wound.

But even that surface wound healed in less than a second.

"There you go with your strange power again~."

In an instant, Aziza’s face was mere inches away from his as she caressed his cheek. "You’re really a strange human. It makes me wanna enter you to know all your secrets~."

’I can’t move...!’

Regis’s eyes trembled as he found himself helpless before the Demon Lord of Lust’s grasp.

At this moment—

[Grand Magic: Devastatio Vorago]

A chant echoed from above, prompting him to look up.

’Pandora... N-No!’

The Demon Lord of Lust did not even bother looking up as she licked his face.

Seeing this, Pandora gritted her teeth as a pure white sphere of compressed mana gathered in front of her staff before it turned into a huge white pillar.

However, what she did not notice was a black tentacle that swam through the white beam.

It was only when it had arrived right in front of her face that her ruby-red eyes constricted.

’No...’

Pandora instinctively shut her eyes as the fear of death gripped her heart tightly, making it hard for her to breathe.

But before the tentacle could hit her, she felt her body being pulled backward.

She opened her eyes slightly and saw a familiar figure standing where she had been moments earlier, the black tentacle piercing straight through her body.

"L-Lesfera!"

The muscular woman only gave her a smile before her body exploded into pieces of flesh.

"Ah!"

Pandora could not regain her composure enough to cast a magic spell as her body rapidly fell from the sky.

However, while her mind was still reeling from Lesfera’s death...

Tens of black tentacles manifested around her, shooting towards her at the same time.

’No! Pandora!’

Regis desperately wanted to scream, yet no words came out of his mouth.

Instead, Aziza merely grabbed his face and forced him to look at her. "Don’t look at her. I get jealous pretty easily, ya’know~?"

’Fuck!’

Regis’s eyes turned bloodshot, making his blood-red irises even more prominent.

He used all his strength to move, gritting his teeth until his gums bled.

Yet, no matter how he tried—even when every vein in his body bulged—he was not able to move an inch.

And for the first time in his life, he felt hopeless.

Utterly so.

All Regis could hear were the screams of his comrades throughout the battlefield.

"That despair... Ugh, it makes you so appetizing!"

Aziza shivered in delight as she slowly moved her lips closer to his.

But before she could plant a kiss on Regis...

[Lightning God’s Descent]

BZZZTTTT—

Yellow sparks appeared behind her as Killian’s figure materialized with his lightning sword already in full swing.

"Annoying. How dare these insects ruin our honeymoon, right, darling~?"

Aziza squinted slightly as she looked Regis in the eye and waved her free hand.

In an instant, countless black tentacles converged and drowned the yellow lightning within their darkness.