Debuff Master - Chapter 1121
Chapter 1121
The Touch of Death unleashed by Siegfried while in the Divine Demonic Vessel Fusion form carried the destructive power equivalent to countless nuclear warheads detonating all at once.
The aftermath of the explosion was so devastating that Siegfried had to rapidly expand the World of Despair and get as far away as possible from ground zero.
He could have dispelled the World of Despair entirely, but he decided against it. If he were to do that, the aftermath of the blast would ravage everything in a radius of several hundred kilometers.
Thus, Siegfried expanded his domain to allow the shockwave to disperse through it instead. Then, wrapping his body with his dual-colored wings, he shielded himself from the blast.
“Arghhh!”
Even with all of the countermeasures in place, the force of the blast was so immense that seventy percent of his HP was wiped out in an instant.
Once the storm finally disappeared, the World of Despair dissolved and—
Thud!
—Lucifer collapsed, dropping to his knees.
There was a gaping hole in his chest.
[Chief Archangel Lucifer]
[HP: □□□□□□□□□□]
He was barely clinging to life, just barely breathing.
“So this is how you’ve chosen to punish me, Father… such a coward… until the very end…” Lucifer muttered in bitterness while staring blankly into the sky with lifeless eyes.
Even in his final moments, he couldn’t stop blaming and hating his Father, the Creator.
“Tsk, tsk…” Siegfried clicked his tongue and shook his head.
“Is this… your way of punishing me without facing me yourself? Sending a proxy instead? Is that it… Father…?”
It seemed Lucifer believed that Siegfried was some kind of divine champion sent by the Creator to punish him.
Kwachik!
A vein bulged on Siegfried’s forehead.
“Hey, who are you calling a proxy?” he grumbled. In Siegfried’s ears, that sounded no different than being called a puppet or some glorified errand boy.
Was Siegfried really here on behalf of the Creator?
Absolutely not.
He crushed Lucifer to protect the Middle Realm, and no one had ordered him to do it.
Even the overwhelming power he now wielded was gifted by Deus and honed through his own growth, so he had no ties to the Creator at all.
On top of that, he was an Adventurer, a being summoned from another world, so it was impossible that he was somehow a divine errand boy of the Creator.
Siegfried stood in front of Lucifer and grumbled, “Hey, just cut the bullshit and die, will you?”
Without another word, he swung the +16 Vanquisher’s Grasp downward.
Bam!
With a grotesque crunch, Lucifer’s skull shattered.
Thud!
And just like that, the mighty Chief Archangel met his demise.
His hatred for the Creator and thirst for vengeance upon the mortals of the Middle Realm had caused him to fall into corruption, yet he died without ever achieving his twisted goals.
“All that mess he made, and he had the nerve to keep running his damn mouth,” Siegfried grumbled.
He felt nothing but disgust for Lucifer.
Lucifer had turned the Celestial Realm, Middle Realm, and Demon Realm upside down for the sake of his own spite, but in the end, he showed not a hint of regret until the very end.
‘Tsk… What a useless piece of shit. He didn’t even give a single experience point.’
Apparently, he couldn’t gain any experience points while in his Divine Demonic Vessel Fusion.
‘Ah, whatever. First things first, let’s wrap this battle up.’
Siegfried picked up Lucifer’s corpse and took flight, heading back to the battlefield.
It was time to put an end to this tedious and long war.
***
“Excellent work, Your Majesty.”
“Thank you for your hard work, my lord!”
On the way back to the battlefield, Belial and Metatron approached Siegfried and greeted him with respect.
It seemed the two had recovered to some extent while Siegfried was locked in battle with Lucifer.
“Great job, you two,” Siegfried replied sincerely.
Had Belial and Metatron not bought him time, he would not have been able to achieve the Divine Demonic Vessel Fusion.
However, he couldn’t smile and celebrate his victory. His head dropped solemnly the moment he saw Michael resting in Metatron’s arms.
“Ah… Michael…” he muttered.
“It was an honorable death, my lord,” Metatron replied, his voice trembling with emotion.
Having once fought side by side with Michael, Metatron’s grief ran especially deep, and it was only natural that he would feel such pain over Michael’s passing, even though he was a demon.
“Though he was our enemy, he was truly worthy of the title of Chief Archangel.”
Even Belial offered words to honor Michael’s death.
Born in the dawn of creation and once the Chief Archangel, Michael’s noble personality and righteousness commanded respect even from the demons who once feared him.
“Metatron.”
“Yes, my lord?”
“Take care of his remains. Wrap him in the flag of the Proatine Empire. We will hold an empire-wide funeral for him.”
“As you command, my lord.”
Siegfried turned to look one last time at Michael’s face.
He looked peaceful, and his eyes were gently shut as if he were fast asleep. On the contrary, Lucifer had his eyes wide open in madness and resentment.
‘I won’t forget your sacrifice, Michael. Your noble sacrifice for everyone… I will carry it forward. I’ll protect what you gave your life to defend.’
With those thoughts weighing on his chest, Siegfried headed back to the battlefield.
At long last, it was time to bring this long war to an end.
***
In truth, the battle ended the moment Belial and Metatron took down Gabriel and Seraphiel. Without those powerful archangels, the balance of power collapsed.
However, the Celestial Forces didn’t retreat and stood their ground to the bitter end.
‘Our brother will come.’
‘We just have to hold on a little longer.’
‘Victory will be ours in the end.’
The fallen angels clung to their faith in Lucifer. They believed that he would return with the head of the Demon King—Siegfried—and bring this war to its close.
Unfortunately, their faith shattered into pieces the moment Siegfried appeared on the battlefield.
“Hear me, angels! Open your eyes wide and see the truth!”
Siegfried’s voice rang out as he floated high in the center of the battlefield.
He lifted Lucifer’s corpse high up for everyone to see.
“A-Aaah!”
“N-No way…!”
“This… can’t be real…!”
The fallen angels recoiled in horror, and some denied what they saw, but it didn’t last long. Soon, the truth became undeniable. One by one, they lowered the weapons with trembling hands.
Their morale, which skyrocketed at Lucifer’s appearance, plummeted to the abyss at the sight of his remains.
Lucifer, their brother, whom they trusted deeply, had died in battle against the Demon King.
Without him, they lost all the will to fight.
“Bwahahaha!”
“Die!”
“Time to go to hell, you disgusting pieces of trash!”
“I’ll avenge my brother!”
“Die! Dieeee!”
“Gimme that juicy experience points!”
The mortals of the Middle Realm, the demons, and the Adventurers… every last one of them rushed at the demoralized fallen angels.
Just like that, a massacre began.
The Allied Forces began to slaughter the fallen angels one-sidedly, as if they were nothing more than ordinary mobs.
Just then, Belial leaned in and whispered, “Do you intend to seize control of the Middle Realm now, Your Majesty?”
“Hm?”
“There is no one left to stop you, sire. Why not rule over the Celestial Realm, the Middle Realm, and the Demon Realm all at once?”
Belial’s words sounded persuasive, but there was something the demon was unaware of.
Siegfried had achieved Divine Demonic Vessel Fusion at the cost of losing his ability to transform in the Middle Realm. An hour later, he would no longer be able to exert his demonic powers in this realm.
More importantly, Siegfried had never planned to conquer the world in the first place.
His goal had always been to defend the Middle Realm and the Demon Realm from the Celestial Realm.
After all, blood would only beget more blood.
How would he be any different from the fallen angels if he suddenly declared his ambition to conquer the world?
Even worse, he would have no way to keep Belial in check if the demons were to go rogue in the Middle Realm while he was in the Demon Realm.
It wouldn’t be strange if Belial somehow trapped him in the Demon Realm while the demons conquered the world.
From Siegfried’s perspective, the demons staying in their own realm was for the best.
“Hey, Belial,” Siegfried called out.
“Yes, Your Majesty!” Belial replied in an elated voice.
“Go back to the Demon Realm.”
“…What?! B-But this is a golden opportunity! We could rule all of the realms right now!”
“Are you disobeying me?” Siegfried asked, glaring at Belial.
The intensity of his gaze alone nearly made Belial wet himself.
Siegfried in his Divine Demonic Vessel Fusion form was so overwhelmingly powerful that he could dominate even the second most powerful demon in the Demon Realm with just a glare.
“N-No, Your Majesty! Not at all!” Belial exclaimed, frantically waving his trembling hands.
“Then gather the demons and go back. Return quietly and…” Siegfried trailed off as he looked at the battlefield.
The fallen angels were being mercilessly butchered on the battlefield.
‘Do I have to see this to the end…?’ Siegfried hesitated.
Judging by his personality, it wouldn’t be weird if he decided to wipe out the fallen angels. After all, there was always a chance that they would nurse a grudge and attempt another invasion in the future.
‘Yeah, I guess it’s best to clean them up—’
Ding!
A notification suddenly popped up in front of his eyes.
[Alert: Do you wish to perform a miracle using the power of the Divine Demonic Vessel Fusion?]
[Yes/No]
The notification made no sense.
‘What? Perform a miracle?’
He had no idea what kind of miracle the system was talking about, as the notification didn’t provide any explanation.
***
‘A miracle…’
Siegfried looked at the notification window and pondered over it.
What kind of miracle could this be talking about?
Unfortunately, he had no way of knowing, as there were no other details provided.
‘Ah, screw it.’
It was highly unlikely that a miracle would be a bad thing. If anything, it was highly likely that it implied something good was about to happen.
Thus, Siegfried made up his mind and agreed to perform this so-called miracle.
[Input: Yes!]
The moment he made his decision—
[Alert: Divine Demonic Vessel Fusion is enacting a Miracle!]
A burst of radiant energy exploded from Siegfried’s wings, soaking the battlefield.
‘What kind of miracle is this supposed to be, though?’ he wondered while watching the scene.
And that was when the blackened wings of the fallen angels, symbolizing the corruption that took hold of them, began to shine white again.
Shockingly, their tainted wings were returning to their original, pure form.
But that was not all…
“Huh?”
“T-They’re alive again!”
Those who had perished in battle were coming back to life, one after another.
“T-The dead are coming back to life!”
Even Siegfried, who performed the miracle, could hardly believe what he was witnessing.
This was truly a miracle.
It was not just purifying the fallen angels and restoring their wings to their original form. It was resurrecting the dead.
If bringing the dead back to life weren’t a miracle, then what would be?
But that was not even the end of it…
“Hello, Siegfried.”
Siegfried nearly fainted on the spot when he saw an angel appear before him. This angel had twelve brilliant and majestic wings, but it was not Lucifer, who was still dangling limply from Siegfried’s arms.
If the twelve-winged angel wasn’t Lucifer, then it could only be…
“M-Michael?!”
The angel standing before Siegfried was none other than Michael.
Michael, the former Chief Archangel, who met a noble end at the hands of Lucifer, had come back to life. All twelve of his wings were restored, and he was standing there, smiling brightly at Siegfried.
