Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

With a bright grin on his face, Hal let the energy from the Black lake water pass through his body and further increase the level of progress he had already made with his Devilish Bloodline and thus pushing it a tad bit closer to the next stage.

It was far from enough to push him over the threshold but it was enough for him to be sensing another Armament and by consequence, getting in touch with another set of Demonic ability and presence.

However, he had no interest in indulging it at the moment, mostly because the issue before him was far more pressing and one he could not put aside when his ladies and Beasts were looking unto him for leadership.

His skin turned crimson and he sprouted his Devil horns while he summoned Executioner and his large wings spread out of his back.

The mutated guards growled at this development but shook it off and looked on with confidence as they easily outnumbered their opponents.

With his grip on Executioner tightened, Hal pointed his weapon, and with it came the beasts leaping into the midst of the mutated guards for the start of a battle of a much larger scale than they had already been part of.

The semi-succubi ladies' eyes turned bright purple as they used their lust flames to imbue their bodies with abnormal strength and those among them who were already at the cosmic Armament realm like Camilla and Irina unleashed their Cosmic armaments and moved into battle as well.

They had practiced it so many times in the Harem space already and could curb their outburst of lust well enough to completely ignore it and focus on the task on hand.

Rita summoned her sky-blue long sword cosmic armament while also imbuing herself with lust flames for increased strength but as a full succubus, she went a step further and actually released the lust flames so that they coated her weapon and even created a very light layer over her body.

Hal had to admit that she looked incredibly sexy at the moment.

Marla beside her unleashed her Cosmic Armament which she had finally formed while she also released her Dark Avatar and condensed it to be a mere coat about her form.

Her glare at the enemy and the slight smile playing on her lips meant one thing: She meant business.

Lillian and Olivia shared a quick glance before their eyes turned Blood red and they released fiendish fogs while also summoning their Cosmic armaments for their first official action as Blood Knights and not as just any Blood knights, but ones who had been graced by the lord's favor.

"The Commander is really going to hate that she missed this" Olivia said and by commander, she obviously meant Karmen.

Lillian sighed, 

"Best not to tell her then" she said just as she smacked a mutated guard's crusted and heavy fist away from her face and kept it distracted enough for Olivia to attempt striking it down with her Armament.

Hal took a deep breath and with a Flap of his wings, he gave himself an impressive boost to dash into the midst of the mutated guards and strike one of them down immediately with a strike from Executioner.

However, that was not all as he twisted his body and sent a spear made of Devil energy to another a few distances away from him.

The beady eyes of the mutated guards widened and Hal saw them begin to coordinate while also noticing what a large threat Hal posed to their survival should this go on.

They needed to bring him down now.

Hal decided to try something as they began to converge around him. He flew up to the top of the dome and projected three different Runes, all of the explosive nature, and they expanded before slamming against the ground at locations where the mutated Gauds were most congregated.

He was careful to make sure no part of his force was in the vicinity to could be caught in the blast.

*Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!* *Boom!*

The consecutive blasts were earth-shaking and created tremors that were felt outside of the Dome.

When the dust settled, other than being disoriented and pushed back by the wind or impactful pressure, there was no sign of damage or injury on the mutated beasts.

"Just as I thought. They have enough semi-saint pressure in their encrusted shells to nullify my Astral attacks. It seems I will really have no choice but to resort to classic hack and slash." Hal mumbled.

He had the advantage of flight but he had no intentions of staying away from the battle by remaining in the air. It would only increase the burden of his forces.

He landed and with a spin of Executioner, he was back to lopping off mutated guard heads with nothing in his face to hint at a possible show of mercy.

He wanted them all dead.

Meanwhile, even with her heightened strength, Rita was feeling quite frustrated with the battle and it had nothing to do with Marla who was enjoying herself and letting loose but taking care to remain close to Rita.

The reason for her frustration was the same as the rest of the succubi which was that their preferred mode of attack was with lust flames and while punching and watching their hard-bodied opponents crumble was fun, it was not the same.

Unfortunately, they could not find a way to infiltrate their opponent's body and it was really starting to get on her nerves.

The mutated guard she was facing and had just punched a few steps back was moving closer when it was suddenly blindsided by a dark figure, 

"Ah-ha, Gotcha" Marla yelled and leaped on top of the guard's back and began to ride it somewhat.

Then she raised her Cosmic armament which was a spear-like weapon with a boulder-like ball at the top of it before it was capped with a long dagger blade. 

It looked incredibly heavy and it was. However, its impact was nothing to be scoffed at, which was why Marla had been so creative with it.

Anyway, she raised her weapon as effortlessly as though it weighed nothing, not because it was her armament but because she was that strong thanks to her physique, and pointed the sharp dagger head at the side of her opponent's face.

The guard was not worried about the dagger as he was sure it could not penetrate his hard-crusted exterior and he was right because the weapon remained a cosmic armament and not a Bloodline armament like Executioner.

It was why Rita was now contemplating using Essence stealer and resort to long-distance attacks.

Then suddenly, just when Rita planned to interfere and protect Marla, the guard flinched and moved his head to the side to evade the dagger only for Marla to laugh out loud and smack his head with the heavy boulder-like ball of her weapon.

*Bam!*

The guard slid away while struggling to remain on his feet.

Rita was suddenly at Marla's side but before she could ask if the younger girl was alright...

"Their eyes. It might be transformed and beady but it's not protected. Not by any hardening. That's your way to infiltrate their bodies with Lust flames"

...Marla yelled out loud.

Rita did not even ask if she was sure as she dashed towards her opponent and evaded a kick from him to stab the point of her blade into his eye and flood it with lust flames that ate him out from the inside out and drained all of his essence for her.

"Arrrrggghhh" he yelled before he fell to the ground with the hardening still on his body but his life extinguished.