Chapter 520 – Game Over.

*BOOM* *BOOM* *CRASH* *ZIP* *WOOSH*

The sounds of battle rolled across the ruined landscape like an endless thunderstorm.

Far in the distance, the Black Sunrise met Hilare's blazing fists again and again. Each collision sent a shock wave racing through the illusory world, tearing open the ground and shaking the fractured sky. Black sparks scattered from Akagi's blade while divine lightning crawled across the Forge God's arms. Neither combatant showed any sign of slowing down. At least, not yet.

"That Hilare..." Esquire turned away from the distant spectacle and made her way toward the enormous trench Marret had carved into the battlefield when Akagi's kick sent her flying. The trench was deep enough that Esquire had to descend several meters before she finally spotted the Goddess of Emotions lying face down amid the rubble. Marret wasn't moving and, for a moment, Esquire simply stared at her before rolling her over onto her back.

The sight that greeted her was unpleasant even by divine standards. A substantial portion of Marret's skull had been caved in, and golden Ichor streamed from the wound, pooling beneath her head. Her face was swollen, and several fractures extended down her neck and across her shoulders. While this was not the first time she'd seen a member of the Pantheon put into such a pathetic state, it was no less unnerving.

Esquire clicked her tongue in frustration. "Honestly, if you were one of the lesser Gods, I'm not certain you would've survived that strike."

Under normal circumstances, an injury like that would have been fatal. Even an exceptionally powerful mortal would have been vaporized by the sheer force behind Akagi's strike. But a God's body was not quite the same as a mortal's. It was a vessel, a means of concentrating and directing the energy that constituted their existence. Damage to that vessel could be catastrophic, but it did not necessarily mean the God itself had been destroyed and thus Marret's body could be rebuilt. Provided, that was, that she remained conscious long enough to do it.

“Just don't blame me for the pain.” Esquire said as she placed a hand against Marret's chest. Purple light gathered around her palm and it flowed into Marret's damaged body, spreading through the fractures and reconnecting the broken pathways that carried her divine power. Esquire wasn't healing her in the conventional sense, the damage was too severe for that, and the Goddess of Death lacked the ability to restore another God's body completely anyway. What she could do was stabilize Marret's existence and force her back toward consciousness. That would have to be enough since then the Emotion Goddess' own healing factors could take over.

"Come on." Esquire muttered. "Wake up, idiot."

Marret's fingers twitched, and her eyelids fluttered for a moment before shooting open accompanied by a loud scream.

"Ahhhhhhhh!" Marrot yelled as she shot up. Her upper body jerked so violently that Esquire nearly lost her balance and toppled over as Golden ichor sprayed from the still-open wound in Marret's skull as the damaged flesh began knitting itself back together.

Bone shifted with a series of wet, unpleasant cracks and the depression in her skull gradually filled as new material formed beneath the damaged surface, while the fractures along her neck closed one by one.

"What happened?!? Where am I?!? What day is it?!?" Marret yelled as she looked wildly around, taking in the trench, the shattered landscape, and Esquire's unimpressed expression before finally spotting the battle in the distance.

Akagi and Hilare were moving so quickly that their figures blurred between impacts. The Black Sunrise flashed through the air, meeting Hilare's fists in a continuous series of collisions. Every time their attacks connected, the world seemed to bend around them; and it was only a matter of time before it fell apart completely.

Marret's mouth fell open. “Oh...” Her expression darkened as the memories returned. “Right... That fucking bitch.”

"Congratulations, you've officially made things worse thanks to that temper of yours. You took a nasty blow when you rushed in." Esquire said dryly as she offered the Emotion Goddess a hand, which was refused as she stood on her own. "The Demon Lord was hiding a significant portion of her power, so when you tried to attack.... Yeah... You're just lucky that she didn't follow up."

"I remember it now, dammit." Marret cursed her own failure and lack of foresight.

Marret said as she flexed her fingers, watching the last traces of damage disappear from her hand. She had known Akagi was powerful, they all had. But knowing something in theory and experiencing it firsthand were two very different things. Marret had been furious and that anger made her faster than ever before. She had poured enough power into her attack to obliterate most opponents, even other Gods. And yet Akagi had simply stepped into her path and kicked her unconscious. That humiliation stung almost as much as the injury.

Marret looked toward the distant battle. "Where's Korex? I don't sense him."

"He..." Esquire went quiet. It wasn't like she cared about Korex or thought that Marret would be upset with his death, it was just such an absolutely mind boggling thing for a God to die so easily that she found it hard to articulate.

"Died..." Marret clicked her tongue in irritation as she figured out what Esquire was hiding. "Great. Annoying as that bastard was, his power was useful."

There was no grief in her voice. Korex had never been someone she particularly liked either, but his death was difficult to comprehend even without any personal attachment to him. A God had been destroyed. Not defeated, banished. Not forced to retreat. Destroyed in their full form.

The implications of that fact were more disturbing than the loss itself. I'd happened before and she'd witnessed it during the battle with Vikes, but she knew only a few seconds had elapsed between Akagi's blow and her recovery. For Korex, a major God to have been eliminated in such a short time was.... disturbing.

Hearing a massive explosion Marret turned back toward Akagi and Hilare. The Forge God had the upper hand at the moment, hammering the Demon Lord with a relentless combination of punches and magical attacks. Every time Akagi tried to establish some distance, Hilare chased her down and forced her to defend again. Moments later the two of them vanished into a cloud of dust, only to emerge several hundred meters away amid another explosion.

"Looks like the old man finally decided to stop playing around." Marret whistled.

"We don't have much time. Hilare is burning his life force to keep her at bay." Esquire said. “We need to deal with her before anyone else dies.” She said, her attention briefly moving toward the distortions at the other end of the world, signaling that the battle between the other two Gods and the Twins had yet to conclude.

{And what are those two doing?!? How have they not handled those children yet?!?} (Esquire)

"I never thought he'd actually resort to something so stupid." Marret replied. She knew of Hilare's ability but thought it completely pointless given that it could easily kill him if used for any real length of time. "Guess that goes to show how strong that bitch is." She said as she cracked her neck. “Maybe she'll actually get the beat down she deserves now.”

Hilare's ability was not something other Gods could replicate, at least not in the same manner. The Forge God's technique was unique, as the ability to burn his very life essence for power was something that none of the other Gods had. It granted him incredible power, enough to genuinely put up fight against Akagi, but the downside is that it quite literally ate away at him. Under normal circumstances, Gods could not die, and as they had no soul, they had no in-built expiration date. However, they were made of a type of energy which, while not a soul, was essentially their true existence; Creation Energy. This meant that their potential energy output was incredibly high, and this energy in its purest form was the most potent form of power in all existence. Hilare's ability used that same energy as fuel. Thus, even if used in short bursts, the effects were as spectacular as they were debilitating, hence why he'd never used it in combat since the war with Vikes. At his present rate of consumption, it wouldn't be long until he consumed his entire existence, such was the rate needed to keep up with or overpower the Demon Lord. It was a gamble, one that Hilare understood he would lose no matter what, but the Forge God was hoping that it would be enough to turn the tide now that they were down a God, especially since he saw what he presumed to be Akagi's full strength and concluded that he could handle that power.

"With Korex gone, that leaves just the three of us to deal with the Demon Lord." Esquire said as she tried to contact Cheofla for a status update but got no reply. "She's far more powerful than any of us expected, and since Gale hasn't contacted us, we can only assume that Reheal has yet to finish up on Earth."

{How much longer could it possibly take? Rehael should have no competition in that world, and yet why has she not already used the device to establish a connection? Could she truly be having trouble finding the Spirits? Or perhaps she's come across a foe that she cannot defeat quickly?} (Esquire)

"That 'Angel' probably screwed things up." Marret said as she spat out some Ichor, speaking aloud that which the Goddess of Death feared. "I knew relying on her was a mistake."

"You may be right, but regardless, we still have a job to do. And by the looks of things we're going to have to go all out." Esquire said she raised one hand, and a weapon began to form above her palm. At first, it was little more than a thin black line. Then the line lengthened, widening into a curved blade of impossible darkness. A long haft appeared beneath it, followed by a second grip and a series of intricate markings that glowed with violet light as the weapon settled into Esquire's hands. It was a massive, two-handed scythe and its blade radiated power far beyond anything Esquire's own aura could account for. It was not merely a weapon she had summoned; it was an instrument through which she could channel the full extent of her authority over death. "I don't know if the three of us can actually defeat the Demon Lord, but we can't afford to hold back any longer. If Hilare is putting his existence on the line then I won't just stand back and watch!" She said before allowing divine power erupted from her body. Deep purple flames spiraled upward, engulfing her limbs and shoulders as black wings unfurled from her back, each feather appearing to absorb the light around it. Above her head, a great halo materialized, rotating slowly as symbols of death glimmered across its surface as the ground beneath her feet darkened.

Even the distant battle seemed to quiet for an instant as Esquire's full power emerged and then she moved sweeping the scythe in a broad horizontal arc. The blade never touched the ground, yet a tremendous crescent of dark energy tore free from it. The attack raced across the battlefield, cutting through the dust and rubble in its path.

Akagi sensed it just in time and twisted away from Hilare's next punch, letting his fist pass beside her head, and dropped beneath the incoming crescent, dodging her by a hair.

But Hilare was already prepared and took advantage of Esquire's attack. He stepped into the space Akagi had vacated and drove a fist into her chest. The impact launched her backward and Akagi's feet left the ground. She crossed her arms over her torso as she flew, but the force still sent her tumbling through the air before she struck the earth and carved a long furrow through the shattered terrain after which Hilare pursued without wasting a moment.

"Take all of your anger at your humiliation, at everything she's done to you, and let it explode.“ Esquire said, her lips curling into a wicked grin. “Collateral damage be dammed." She said to Marret she launched herself into the air and flew toward Hilare.

Marret watched her go and, for a moment, she remained motionless before laughing.

"Heh.. Heh... heh... HAHAHAHAHA!"

Marret laughter grew louder as the memory of Akagi's contempt returned to her. The Demon Lord's mocking smile. The casual way she had held Marret in place. The insult that she was nothing more than an arrogant child. Marret's fists clenched, a small amount of ichor dripping from her palms. "Collateral damage be damned, you say?" She grinned as white-hot flame erupted around her body.

The ground cracked beneath her feet, and the air shimmered as her power rose. This time, she did not attempt to restrain it. She allowed the anger to feed the flames, drawing on every ounce of humiliation and hatred she had accumulated since the battle began. As her hammer appeared in her hands the weapon's head glowed so brightly that its edges became difficult to distinguish from the surrounding light as Marret raised it over her shoulder. "I hope you don't regret those words."

__________________________________________________________________________

The three Gods finally stopped holding back.

For what seemed like hours, the battlefield became a storm of metal, flame, and divine energy as Akagi and the Gods clashed at speeds that would have been impossible for any ordinary observer to follow. One instant, the Demon Lord was deflecting Hilare's punches with the flat of the Black Sunrise; the next, she was twisting between Esquire's scythe strikes while Marret's hammer tore apart the ground behind her and each impact sent ripples through reality, seeping out from the illusory world and distorting the one beyond.

The illusory world had been under pressure for some time, but now its structure was being tested from every direction. The sky flickered between different shades of darkness. Mountains appeared and disappeared as the landscape struggled to maintain its form. Cracks spread across the horizon, exposing brief glimpses of the burning world beyond.

Akagi was no longer merely testing her opponents, she was fighting.

The Gods had forced her to increase her output to a level she'd never needed in combat since awakening as a Demon Lord. She had to watch every movement, every shift in momentum, every change in the pattern of their attacks.

Hilare's punches were the most direct threat as his temporary power allowed him to match her speed and challenge her strength, and he used his training to make every strike count. Rather than throwing himself at her blindly, he attacked her balance. He struck at her guard, forced her to turn, and used the resulting movement to open new angles.

Meanwhile Esquire controlled the battlefield. Her scythe could attack from long range, cut through defenses, or generate waves of dark energy that forced Akagi to abandon advantageous positions. At the same time she also began forming undead servants with her power, Dark Knights. These summoned knights filled the gaps between those attacks, preventing the Demon Lord from simply retreating and resetting the engagement.

And finally Marret was the hammer. Everywhere Akagi moved, the Goddess of Emotions tried to meet her with overwhelming force. Her rage made her faster and stronger, but it also made her more reckless. She committed to attacks that a calmer fighter would have abandoned, forcing Akagi to exploit openings that might otherwise never have existed.

Combined, they were formidable foes and Akagi loved every second of it.

Pain coursed through her body as a blade grazed her shoulder. A punch slammed into her ribs, and a moment later she had to throw herself sideways to avoid Marret's hammer before landing on one hand, pivoting, and kicking Hilare's knee.

The Forge God shifted his weight just enough to avoid a direct break, but the impact still forced him to stumble and Akagi used the opening to spin upright and slash at Esquire. The Death Goddess caught the Black Sunrise with the shaft of her scythe and the Demonic weapon screamed against divine metal.

Akagi leaned forward, pressing the advantage, but Marret's hammer came down from above. The Demon Lord released the pressure and rolled aside just before the weapon struck, allowing its momentum to carry Marret into a crater of her own making as Akagi sprang clear.

*SLICE*

"Its nice to see that everyone is taking things seriously now!" Akagi grinned as Esquire and Marret recovered. “I was starting to get bored.”

"Keep acting all smug, Demon Lord. Just give me a moment and I'll wipe that smirk off your face!" Esquire said as she fired hundreds of blasts of energy toward Akagi, each transforming into the shape of thin blades that homed in on the Demon Lord while simultaneously raising an army of thousands of dark knights which emerged from massive fissures in the earth. They emerged in ranks, armored figures wielding swords, spears, and shields. Their bodies were formed from condensed deathly energy, their faces hidden behind featureless helmets. They moved without hesitation, rushing toward Akagi as the flying blades converged on her position.

"I guess we'll just have to see!" Akagi laughed as she swung the Black Sunrise. The first line of knights disappeared beneath a sweeping arc of black energy. The next ranks attempted to close in, but Akagi pivoted and cut through them before they could surround her.

The Demon moved with brutal efficiency, never wasting a swing. When a knight raised its shield, she struck the ground beside it and let the resulting shock wave tear the formation apart. When another tried to thrust from her blind side, she turned her shoulder, caught the spear against her arm, and sliced through the construct before it could withdraw. The knights fell in waves but their purpose was not to defeat her individually; they were there to limit her movement.

Every time Akagi cut through a group, another formation moved to fill the gap. The surviving knights spread out, forcing her to choose between dodging the incoming blades and maintaining her position. In this instance she chose to dodge as the next wave of projectiles from Esquire closed in, allowing them to sweep past her head. She then leaned beneath the next, turned sideways to let the third pass her chest, then spun around a blade that had curved back toward her from behind as she cut through the final wave of attacks from the Death Goddess; just in time to see Marret descend from above.

The Goddess had both hands wrapped around her hammer. White-hot energy poured from the weapon, leaving a blazing trail as she brought it down toward Akagi's head.

"I'm going to make you pay for making a fool of me!" Marrot said Akagi's blocked her strike with the Black Sunrise, locking the Demon Lord in place as a massive shock wave of power erupted from the point of contact that caused the very air around them to not only crackle and spark but tear apart like tissue paper as Cheofla's magic buckled under the pressure.

*WOOSH*

"It's not over yet!" Esquire yelled as she swept her scythe across her body causing a tear of darkness to open beside Akagi.

Unlike the earlier crescent, this attack was not a simple wave of energy. It was a wound in space itself, a jagged opening that surged forward while swallowing everything in its path. More dark knights poured from its edges, their weapons raised as they rushed to pin the Demon Lord in place.

Akagi glanced at the approaching tear, her eyes lighting up in excitement ."You really have stepped up your game." She released one hand from the Black Sunrise and thrust it toward the incoming darkness. A barrier began to form around her palm, but the knights were already closing in and she noticed Hilare was nowhere in sight only to find him just below her.

{Well, shit.} (Akagi)

"Thanks for the distraction!" Hilare said as he grabbed Akagi by the ankle, swinging the Demon around directly into an oncoming blow from Marrot's hammer.

*BOOM*

Akagi's guard broke, and the force of the impact hurled her away from Marret before Hilare released her ankle. She spun through the air, struggling to reorient herself as the dark knights rushed to meet her upon landing. However, that wasn't the end of things as Esquire had positioned herself at the end of Akagi's trajectory where the Death Goddess thrust her scythe upward; Akagi struck the blade before she could correct her fall, the Death Goddess' weapon piercing Akagi's torso.

"Ack!" Akagi coughed up dark 'blood' as she was impaled on Esquire's weapon, the Goddess smirking in triumph as her blade burned the Demon Lord with divine power, chains wrapping around her to prevent the Demon from fleeing even if it would only buy precious seconds. And in this battle seconds could mean the difference between victory and defeat.

“Got you.” Esquire smiled as the three Gods exchanged a brief glance. No words were necessary as they all knew what they had to do next.

"Now! Hit her with everything you've got!" Hilare said as the three Gods regrouped, forming a line.

Esquire stood at the center, her scythe still pinning Akagi in place as Hilare planted his feet to her right, drawing the remaining strength from his burning life essence. Marret raised her hammer to her left, allowing the flames around her body to gather into a single, blinding mass. Then they extended their arms and Divine power poured from their bodies.

The dark knights surrounding them stopped moving. One by one, they turned toward Akagi and raised their weapons. Threads of energy stretched from their armor and blades, converging on the three Gods. The knights were not merely summoned soldiers. They were extensions of Esquire's authority, and she could direct the energy sustaining them back into herself. With thousands of constructs feeding power into the formation, the combined attack grew at a terrifying rate.

A low, metallic whine filled the air and the light around the Gods intensified. Violet darkness, white-hot flame, and brilliant golden energy spiraled together, forming a massive sphere that expanded as their powers merged.

Akagi's eyes widened slightly.

“That's a lot of power.” Akagi said to herself as she pulled against the chains, which only tightened as she struggled.

The scythe's blade continued to burn into her body, and the divine energy flooding through it interfered with her movements. She could break free, but doing so would take time and the Gods were not giving her any.

The air began to tremble as the amount of energy increased and then the illusory world started to come apart.

The ground rippled as though it were a sheet of fabric being shaken. Mountains bent at impossible angles, and the horizon flickered between different landscapes. Long tears spread across the sky, revealing the burning terrain beyond Cheofla's illusion. Through one opening, Akagi could see the Dumetorian knights racing across the battlefield on their modified motorcycles, cutting through their enemies beneath a storm of fire and dust.

The glimpse lasted only a moment as the tear widened and the illusion shuddered under the pressure of the power gathering inside it.

“Well, they are not fucking around this time, huh?” Akagi laughed.

The Gods had finally committed everything they could afford to spend. Even she had not expected them to gather this much energy so quickly. The sheer concentration of divine power was enough to threaten the structure of the entire illusory world and had Cheofla's spell not separated the battlefield from Enoris itself, the consequences might have been far worse.

Naturally, the Gods were aware of that danger, they simply didn't care anymore. They had lost Korex, Marret had been knocked unconscious once already, and Hilare was burning through his existence. Esquire had committed her full authority to the attack and they'd collectively decided that they could no longer afford to hold back.

The multi-color sphere between them collapsed inward and all three Gods thrust their hands forward as the stored energy erupted.

Violet darkness, golden brilliance, and white-hot flame merged into a single beam of blinding white. The blast struck Akagi before the chains could release her, swallowing the Demon Lord and the surrounding terrain in a torrent of divine power.

*KABOOOOOM!*

The explosion erased the battlefield and the ground vanished beneath the force of the blast. Mountains crumbled into dust, any remaining distant forests disappeared in a flash of white light, and the shock wave swept across the landscape with enough power to flatten everything in its path as the sky above split apart.

For an instant, the illusory world became a web of cracks surrounding an expanding sphere of destruction as Cheofla's magic strained to contain the blast, its boundaries glowing as the energy threatened to punch through them.

Had the illusion not been there to absorb the excess force, Enoris itself might have been torn asunder, their combined attack was almost certainly the most powerful strike the Gods had unleashed since their battle against Vikes four thousand years earlier. And it was the most powerful attack Akagi had faced since awakening as a Demon Lord.

The three Gods maintained their positions, continuing to pour energy into the beam until the last of their reserves had been expended before allowing the light to fade, and the silence that followed was almost as startling as the explosion.

Dust and ash drifted through the air and where the battlefield had once stood, there was now a smoking crater extending as far as the eye could see. Nothing remained. The ground had been blasted into a barren wasteland, and only a few charred trees stood amid the ruins.

Marret was the first to lower her weapon. She was breathing heavily, but her smile returned as she looked across the devastated landscape.

"See, the Demon Lord wasn't all that in the end." Marrot smirked as the light from the blast faded, debris falling all around them since the ground'd been obliterated as far as the eye could see. There was almost nothing remaining save the occasional charred tree, with the area being reduced to a smoking crater and a barren landscape.

"Don't celebrate so prematurely. I doubt that killed her." Esquire said as they scanned the area for Akagi. They couldn't sense her, but the death Goddess figured that she'd get some kind of indication if Akagi had actually died from their combined attack. They had to wait for visual confirmation once the dust and blast cloud cleared, and those seconds would be agonizing as they prepared for what came next.

"The moment we lay eyes on her, we should strike again." Hilare said as lightning criss-crossed his body, steam still rising up as his body temperature leveled out. He let off the proverbial gas somewhat but was more than ready to go full tilt once again if need be. "We cannot allow this chance to slip away. Even if we cannot kill her, driving the Demon Lord away would still be a victory."

{And that last attack. I'm surprised she was so easily deceived by Esquire's feint. Perhaps she isn't as perceptive as I feared given that she failed to detect my presence so close by.} (Hilare)

He replayed the exchange in his mind over and over again. Esquire's feint had drawn Akagi's attention. The knights had forced her to maintain her position. Hilare had slipped beneath her field of vision and caught her by the ankle, using her own momentum to throw her into Marret's hammer. Then Esquire had impaled her. Everything had happened exactly as intended. It was reassuring that things had gone so well, and it was also wrong.

"You're really going to let yourself die, huh, old man?" Marret asked as she slung her hammer over her shoulder. “Is that really necessary?”

"I am doing that which needs to be done." Hilare said as he swung his hand to blow away the dust cloud, revealing a heavily wounded Akagi using the Black Sunrise as a crutch. He was genuinely surprised for a moment, half expecting the Demon Lord to be standing unharmed amougst the ruins. But here she was, wounded, beaten, and seeming to be on her last leg. It was truly something, something that gave him a surge of hope, but after that brief moment of distraction he returned his full attention to the Demon. "There she is." He said as the three Gods teleported the short distance, appearing in front of Akagi, who'd just thrown up a bit of 'blood'.

"Look at you. Get it together man." Marret snickered as Akagi met her gaze. On the outside, it seemed like her wounds would be fatal as blood poured out from countless injuries, though the Gods knew better than to think a Demon Lord could actually bleed out. "Where did all that smarm go from a bit ago? Was it blasted away so easily?"

“Indeed. It would seem you wound up making the exact mistake you chided us for.” Esquire laughed, confident in their victory. “You underestimated our power, and this is what you get.”

"You..." Akagi spoke her voice was quieter than before. Not angry. Not frightened. It was almost indifferent and that unnerved the Gods more than anything else. "That was a nice little move you did there.” The Gods exchanged glances as Akagi straightened a little, though she still leaned against her sword. “Since my awakening as a Demon Lord, I've never really taken damage, at least not like that.” She looked down at her body, inspecting the wounds with detached curiosity that only further confused the Gods. “So this was a learning experience, if nothing else." Then she smiled. The expression was small, almost pleasant, and it was also deeply unsettling. For a moment Esquire's confidence faltered and Hilare's instincts screamed at him to move.

"We need to act now. Despite those injuries, I have a feeling that she is no less dangerous." Hilare said as he surged forward.

The remaining divine power in his body gathered into his right fist. Lightning wrapped around his arm, and the air distorted as he compressed the energy into a single, devastating strike. He intended to finish Akagi before she could recover and as his fist crossed the distance it struck her cheek with a loud crack.

*BOOM!*

The impact sent a shock wave racing across the crater. Dust erupted from the ground, loose stones shot outward, and the air behind Akagi rippled from the force of the blow; but Akagi did not move.

Her head remained exactly where it had been. Her body did not shift even a fraction of an inch. Hilare's fist was pressed firmly against her cheek, his knuckles surrounded by the fading remnants of his attack and for several seconds, nobody spoke.

"W-What?" Esquire's eyes went wide in shock.

Hilare stared at his own hand in disbelief. He had felt the impact. His punch had connected cleanly, and he had poured enough power into it to send an the Demon flying across the battlefield. Yet it was as though he had struck an immovable wall.

"Honestly, that really wasn't a bad attack. Really, it wasn't... You actually exceeded my expectations." Akagi said, her tone oddly conversational as the wounds on her body sizzled. Hilare's fist remained against her cheek, but he could no longer feel any meaningful resistance. Something about Akagi's presence had changed and the oppressive pressure that had surrounded her throughout the battle was no longer merely contained within her body; it was being controlled with a precision that made his instincts recoil. “But that's what I get for working with incomplete data and a cap on my output...” Akagi laughed though, unlike her earlier laughter, this sound carried no amusement. It was cold, measured, and it sent a chill through every God standing before her. “Yes...” The wounds on her face closed and the damage to her torso disappeared next, followed by the burns across her arms and shoulders. Torn flesh knitted itself together, and the blood coating her body evaporated into wisps of dark vapor as her clothing returned to its original condition. Her hair settled neatly around her face and within moments, the battered Demon Lord had become the same pristine figure the Gods had faced at the beginning of the battle. She looked completely fresh as though the combined attack had never touched her.

Watching this Hilare stood frozen. He had spent his existence trying to overcome her strength. He had pushed himself beyond the point of safety, believing that the difference between them was something he could bridge through determination and sacrifice, and yet she stood before him, unharmed. The attack had hurt her, she had admitted as much, but whatever damage the Gods had inflicted was no longer visible, and Hilare had no idea whether she had restored herself through regeneration, divine manipulation, or something far more frightening. But while he and the other Gods tried to understand what was happening Akagi's smile widened. "But, sadly for you, as good of a combination attack as that was, it was ultimately a futile endeavor..." She paused, her expression twisting slightly "But, if it's any consolation...” Her voice sharpened with unexpected venom. “That hurt like hell."

The words struck harder than any threat possibly could.

For the first time, the Gods understood that Akagi had not simply been pretending to suffer throughout the battle. Their attacks had genuinely hurt her and Their combined strike had forced her to experience something she'd never encountered since becoming a Demon Lord.

And she had enjoyed learning from it.

That was the worst part. Akagi had allowed them to push her into unfamiliar territory, watched their abilities, studied their coordination, and learned precisely how far they could go. Their greatest attack had been an experiment and they had volunteered to conduct it.

"H-How?" Hilare stammered as he tried to pull his hand away, but wasn't goint to let him get away and Akagi caught his wrist. Her fingers closed around it with a casual firmness that made his enhanced strength feel irrelevant. Hilare's body went rigid as he tried tp ull away, but nothing happened. He twisted his arm and tried to break her grip by changing the angle of his wrist, but Akagi adjusted with him, keeping his hand locked in place. "Where? What?" His thoughts scattered as he tried to comprehend what was happening. He had seen her injured. He had seen her struggle. He had even seen her use the Black Sunrise as a crutch to remain standing. How could the same Demon Lord now hold him so effortlessly? It defied all logic, even when talking about Demon Lords.

"And, unfortunately for you three... This little game of ours is over." Akagi leaned closer. Her razor-sharp teeth showed as her mouth curled into a nasty smile. The air around her darkened and the Gods felt the pressure settle over them, not as a sudden explosion of power but as the quiet, absolute certainty of something vastly stronger recognizing that it no longer needed to pretend. "And the prize... Is mine."