The Dullahan was no ordinary undead. As one of the core commanders of the Demon King’s vanguard, he stood a definitive tier above the Succubus Queen. Feared by humans and demi-humans alike, he had led thousands of demonic legions across bloody battlefields. To many cities and continents, he was known as Death itself. His pride was absolute, and he feared nothing because you cannot fear the grave when you are already in it.
Yet, right now... something primordial was whispering directly into his soul.
A terrifying, ancient instinct commanded his bones to run. It commanded his bones to fear. It commanded his bones to submit. 'Death? I thought I was Death itself,' his mind raced, his armor trembling as the blue fire of his skeletal horse began to dim. 'But somehow, he brings mine.'
His blue eye flames glowed and dimmed repeatedly. For the first time in his existence, he dismounted his steed willingly not because he was thrown off by an enemy's strike, not because his horse was dead, and not because the opponent was physically stronger, but out of a pure, primal instinct to avoid making this entity his enemy. He dropped his weapon, his soul screaming internally, 'Oh, I was blind! I was blind to this greatness!'
In a sweeping, definitive motion, the terrifying Dullahan dropped to both knees, lowering his headless torso in a posture of absolute submission right in front of Vhal’Zar.
Vhal’Zar looked down at the kneeling commander, his handsome human face twisting into a dark, satisfied smirk. "Oh? Look at that. Finally, someone actually recognizes his place."
Vespera’s jaw dropped instantly, her shock contorting into pure, unbridled wrath. She pointed a trembling, clawed finger at her comrade, screaming at the top of her lungs, "YOU!!! Are you committing treason against our supreme Lord, the Demon King?! DULLAHAN!!!"
The Dullahan ignored her completely. Keeping his gaze firmly locked onto the dirt before Vhal'Zar's boots, his echoing voice resonated with deep, desperate reverence. "Oh, mighty Lord... my eyes were blind. I failed to sense your supreme greatness and blindly followed a fake master. Please... I offer you my eternal allegiance. Accept my life, oh Absolute Dark One!"
Vespera grew absolutely furious upon hearing this. Vhal'Zar simply smiled mockingly at her. "See your companion? He knows his worth. But are you still blind?"
"YOU MERE MORTAL!!!" Vespera hissed, her sanity snapping completely.
She completely ignored all of Vhal'Zar's warning signs. Raising both of her hands high into the air, she forced every single drop of her demonic mana to erupt. The air around her hands warped violently, creating a terrifying vacuum that sucked the oxygen right out of the highway. A colossal orb of swirling, pitch-black fire materialized above her head, crackling with catastrophic energy.
[Abyssal Nova]
"I will make you regret this treason, Dullahan!" Vespera shrieked, her eyes bloodshot as she locked her gaze onto Vhal'Zar. "And you... you think you're better than me?! Perish along with this entire wasteland! Hahahahaha!"
With a manic laugh, she hurled the apocalyptic orb straight down at Vhal’Zar's coordinates, instantly flapping her wings to fly straight up into the stratosphere to escape her own blast.
Rael clicked his tongue in annoyance. "Ugh, that’s pretty annoying."
Deciding it was finally time to intervene, Rael subtly extended his hand. In a split second, his massive, hidden mana reserve gathered. With a casual flick of his fingers, he touched the concepts of the Saint, the carriage, and the five royal guards. He reinforced the local space a million-fold, smoothly shearing a perfect, microscopic cut through the fabric of reality.
[Dimensional Partition]
An invisible, absolute barrier sealed them safely inside a pocket dimension. Saint Solenne and the dazed Royal Guards were so focused on the falling black orb that they didn't even notice the reality-bending magic protecting them.
Then, the [Abyssal Nova] hit the earth.
Because the magical payload was so immense, there was a brief, eerie moment of absolute silence before a delayed, deafening sonic boom tore through the landscape. The sheer destructive force was cataclysmic. The lush green meadows were instantly vaporized, leaving a massive, smoking crater stretching hundreds of meters across the highway.
High up in the sky, Vespera watched the apocalyptic explosion with a breathless, triumphant grin. "KHAHAHAHA!!! Swallow that, you lowly creatures! Khah-"
Her laughter caught in her throat. She stumbled mid-air, her wings flapping awkwardly as she lost her balance. She had poured every single ounce of her reserves into that final attack, leaving her magically bankrupt and physically exhausted. Hovering weakly, she peered through the rising curtain of dust, eagerly waiting to see the charred remains of her enemies.
But as the smoke finally cleared, the smirk completely died on her face. Her skin turned a ghostly, deathly pale.
Standing perfectly in the center of the molten crater, the royal carriage and its pristine white wood were completely fine, without a single speck of dust. The Pegasus steeds remained calm, and the guards and the Saint were entirely unharmed. As for Vhal'Zar, the moment his human knight armor had vanished, his original black obsidian armor had popped out to cover his body completely, meaning he barely felt any damage. Only the Dullahan looked battered, appearing half-skeletal from the blast.
Vespera’s heart began to hammer violently inside her chest, an explosive rush of adrenaline surging through her veins. Not because of exertion, and not because of anger, but from absolute, raw FEAR.
Vhal’Zar slowly tilted his head upward, looking at the exhausted demon hovering in the sky. He let out a highly arrogant, mocking scoff. "Hmph! Is that the absolute extent of your power? This catastrophic little fire of yours is absolutely nothing compared to the single punch my Master once delivered to my stomach!"
Vespera, still reeling from the shock of her ultimate spell being effortlessly dismantled, completely snapped the moment she heard Vhal'Zar's terrifyingly calm declaration.
"Wait! Wait! Wait, please!"
Folding her wings in a desperate panic, she plummeted straight down to the earth, landing hard on her knees. All her former pride as a Succubus Queen evaporated into nothingness. She began to beg like a pathetic, cornered dog. "Please, I beg of you! Spare my life! I I will willingly become your personal toy! You can do whatever you want with my body! Use me to satisfy your deepest lust, I swear I can make you feel divine bliss for all eternity!"
Vhal’Zar merely raised a single hand, his handsome face twisted into an expression of absolute, freezing disgust. He wasn't interested in the slightest.
Seeing his cold reaction, Vespera’s panic reached an unprecedented peak. "N-No! Wait! If you don't want my body for that, you can use me as a literal sandbag for your combat practice! Or or you can use my flesh for magical experiments! Anything!"
Never in her wildest nightmares had she envisioned herself begging like this. Not even the supreme Demon King had ever subjected her to this level of absolute, soul-crushing submission. But the entity standing before her right now was an unparalleled, cosmic deity of death.
Suddenly, the air grew deathly cold. Around Vhal’Zar, the very fabric of the sky began to crack and shatter like a brittle, breaking mirror.
Looking up at the fracturing reality, Vespera's eyes dilated into pinpricks of pure horror. She was looking at the literal end of existence. From the weeping, shattered void of the sky, a colossal, mountain-sized skull fueled by pure, unadulterated primordial darkness manifested, its massive jaws slowly creaking open to swallow the world.
[Void Gaze: Monarch's Feast]
For a high-and-mighty Succubus Queen who had spent centuries looking down on every other race, the sheer, suffocating pressure was too much to bear. She completely lost control of her bladder. Right there, in front of everyone, a warm puddle rapidly spread beneath her, soaking her clothes and staining the shattered dirt in absolute, weeping humiliation.
She had been sent here on a glorious mission to assassinate the Saint. Instead, she had just run into the unluckiest, most catastrophic anomaly on the planet.
From inside the carriage perimeter, Rael’s eyes widened as he instantly recognized the catastrophic, high-tier necromancy spell Vhal'Zar was winding up. He yelled out at the top of his lungs, "Hey! You absolute moron, do not use that spell out here!!!"
Rael’s commanding roar forcefully shattered Vhal'Zar's concentration, instantly grinding the apocalyptic, wide-area-of-effect spell to a sudden halt. Vhal'Zar immediately canceled the invocation, unwilling to disobey his master's orders. The colossal skull retreated back into the void, and the cracks in the sky slowly repaired themselves until reality was perfectly stitched back together.
Rael rubbed his temples, his gamer brain screaming in pure irritation. 'Is he insane?! This isn't a video game where the environment automatically resets or gets patched after a raid! There's no map regeneration here this massive crater is already going to be a nightmare to explain to the Saint!'
Hearing Rael’s voice interrupt the god of death, a sudden, desperate spark of hope flared within Vespera’s eyes. Recognizing him as her absolute savior, she scrambled to her feet and flew with incredible, manic speed toward the source of the voice.
Thud!
Her face slammed hard against the invisible wall of Rael's [Dimensional Partition].
Sprawled against the unseen barrier, with tears and mascara flowing wildly down her pale, terrified face, she frantically banged her fists against the empty air, begging Rael repeatedly, "Please! Please! Please, make him stop! Please, save me! I'll do anything! Please!"
Rael winced slightly, thoroughly shocked by the chaotic turn of events. He rested his hand against his chin, his mind rapidly analyzing the situation. 'Hmm... what should I do with her now? I wonder if I can force her into a master-servant summon contract? Wait, no... her original mission was to assassinate the Saint.'
Stepping out from the pocket dimension's edge, Rael turned his head slightly, his golden eyes locking onto the frozen, wide-eyed form of the Holy Maiden.
"Well... she's all yours now," Rael noted calmly, tossing the problem away. "What choice do you want to make here, Saint?"
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