Monarch of Darkness, Arsene

He nodded. " Then why are you leading the charge?"

I smiled at that; he was right. His physical and spiritual power did put him leagues ahead of me and, in a way, Lilith and her people. The Abyssal Fiends held a myriad of hax but… I wasn't too sure who'd win this fight. And I didn't care to find out.

The Abyssal Children's lives were too valuable to be lost to someone like Zantar and these Kings and Princes of Hell.

My feet grew parted, and the darkness around me grew wet with misty nodes. "I lead because I've got the best defense," I uttered aloud, swaying my eyes left and right towards Beleth and archduke Bune, who both held cruel thin smiles.

Zantar's lifeless eyes seemed to dim. " Then I bid you farewell."

He lunged towards me. Through time, space, and laws, Zantar materialized and struck his ethereal spear toward my chest. Death latched itself to my neck as life and death flashed through my mind. Fear reeled, and my heart dipped.

But without fear, I took a big risk and placed my fate in my comprehension and attunement to Tenebrae. I'd always wanted to do this. But with how complex everyone else's Dao was and how it affected other laws, I wasn't able to.

Zantar's spear of Seraphic and Nectoric qi pierced through my chest. But instead of cutting through flesh and bones, ligaments, and tissue, a small vortex of darkness materialized the moment Zantars spear landed, leading to the back of his head. ????????????re????d. ????????????

But with a quick reaction and senses that surpassed future sight, Zantar leaned to the side and pulled back, pivoting off his feet as Lilith appeared flickering her sword in a myriad of laws and qi I'd never seen before.

Time, Karma, Fire, Wind, Vibration, Illusion, Spacial, Life, Death, Nectroic, Seraphic—

It was never-ending. All of the various laws and qi were at a level that seemed to rival my darkness. Kinda making me look bad.

Reality splintered into shards of dust to Lilith's sword, immediately putting Zantar on the defenses as his spear danced to parry Lilith's endless strikes.

At the same time, Ava lunged towards Beleth as a ghastly apparition of the pale rider shadowed her. The laws of death spiraled out of control, withering the land and skies. Her black scythed bleeding a scarlet light shuttered with divine light. She swung in a horizontal arc, cutting a path into subspace.

DING~

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM~

Chanting a protective spell, I darted through the cataclysm of a shock wave that rivaled a cosmic event capable of shattering stars and shadowed step towards Zantar cleaving my foot down over his head as he tried to defend himself against Lilith.

Abyssal Flames sprang over the heel of my boot, devouring and annihilating the laws around me.

BOOOOOOOOOOM!"

"ARSENE!!!" Victoria howled as Archduke Bune appeared like an apparition with his finger pointed right at my head.

Hairs on end, he smiled. " Bang!"

Blood exploded as my skin began to be peeled away as a blast carrying the strength of a millions of exploding stars struck me.

Unable to transfer the force to another realm in time, I could only take the damage and shadow step with Lilith right behind me, who had managed to defend herself in time.

However, just as I appeared, my eyes went wide as Bune howled in pain as his right arm gushed a river of blood. Victoria's eyes were so red I could feel the very laws of the abyss shrouding her in a ball of flames. In her left hand held the Duke's arm that appeared to have been torn off.

"You bitch!" the Duke howled, and to my surprise, the blood gushing out around his arm began to take form. Soon hundreds of clones began to appear, all carrying the same level of power as Arch-Duke Bune.

"Impossible! Blood Laws can do that?"

"There's a reason blood lords are so feared." Said Lily. " Your blood is you. All a Blood Lord needs to do is give power to it, and a clone will form. Although it's rare to find a Blood Lord who can make a clone with equal power to the Master. He must have Ishar's blessing or---"

"DIE!!!!!"

Million-spiraling black stars suddenly appeared as all the clones howled at the same time, all of them bleeding a demonic light that made my heart tremble.

"Oh shit!"

"PILLAR OF LEVATUS!!"

"LILITH!" I shouted, and she placed her hands on me, transferring her power, and without hesitation, a tarnishing aura exploded out of me, swallowing the millions of stars that suddenly began to explode one after the other in a pillar that made my heart dip with fear.

'Why the fuck does everyone have such broken spells!" I cried, shelling out as much qi as possible to defend us. "And how the hell do you have so much Qi?"

"It regenerates super quickly for me." she joked, kissing my cheek with a shell of laughter.

Sensing the pillars of Levatus fading, leaving me hind a wasteland stretching over a hundred parsecs, I couldn't help but stare at the damned souls rising into the air.

Howling at the top of their lungs as they began to fade in and out before completely vanishing. leaving this level of Hell.

"This… this is madness!" I couldn't help but say. "Is this the level of destruction of Paragons?"

Taking quick note of Victoria and Ava with light burns over their arms, I couldn't help but be even more surprised they lived. They must have managed to make it into the area I tarnished.

The clones of Bune turned to face us, smiling with blood lust as Beleth stepped forth, looking down at Zantar standing with a sliver of blood racing down his chin.

'Can you make clones as well?"

'Of course… although mine are much better." Said Lilith as a matter of fact. "But this is a good opportunity for you, Sene. For me, too, as well." She paused and added. " While it might seem like we will die in a single hit. All of us have hax's to keep us alive. This battle will be one of attrition and could last for a hundred years or cycles. Get ready to keep adapting both physically and in terms of technique because your enemies are just as much of a genius as you are. The better you get, the better they get."

A knot formed in the back of my throat as I glanced at Zantar, wiping away the blood on his chin. He blinked and slid his icy gaze to me.

"... he seems mad."