Year 2720, Earth.
Two figures stood opposite to each other in what seemed to be a city that had already been reduced to dust, but no, it wasn’t only this city anymore, the entire country and even the world itself had already reached its end, with both figures standing in the middle of the destruction while blood covered their bodies. One of them was a Human, while the other was an entirely different species that humanity had come to know as Demons, and this specific Demon was none other than the... Demon King.
The Demon King’s appearance had already been heavily damaged, his two horns growing from his forehead had been reduced to one because his right horn had been cut off during the battle, while the five spherical Blue Flames that had originally been rotating behind him had also been reduced to only two, with the other three already gone. His red skin was covered in wounds as red and purple blood continued flowing down his body.
On the other side, the Human figure standing opposite him wore a long Black coat that was now covered in blood, with blood continuously dripping from several parts of his body. In his grip was a sword made from a completely black material, and anyone who looked at it closely would immediately recognize it as a Katana, a completely sleek and thin black Katana with blood covering its edges, showing that there was more to this sword than simply its appearance.
The Human figure continued standing while panting slightly, his eyes never leaving the Demon King’s figure as if he was waiting for another attack from him that would finally bring an end to this endless battle, but instead of attacking, the Demon King suddenly started laughing.
"Hah...Hahahahaha!"
The Human figure known as Neolan Ashburn, the Shadow Sword, frowned at the sudden laughter and narrowed his eyes slightly.
As the Demon King’s laughter slowly faded away, he looked directly at Neolan before speaking, "I am surprised that someone as strong as you had gone unnoticed until this moment, you are a strong Human, I will give you that, and to think you even know Cultivation? Hahahah! This is truly a surprise, you even managed to cut off one of my Horns, I acknowledge your strength Human, and now..."
"...Our final attacks will decide this battle."
With that, the Demon King finished his sentence and took his stance.
Both of his hands opened wide on either side of his body while the two remaining spherical Blue Flames behind him started rotating at an incredible speed, and the moment they did, the Demon King’s body slowly lifted from the ground as if Gravity itself no longer applied to him. He floated in the air while looking down at Neolan with a grin on his face.
"Now, the final moments of every Human in this world will come to an end, as we Demons will finally be taking over this world completely!"
The moment he finished speaking, both of his widened hands started compressing enormous amounts of energy, with the Blue Flames behind him also mixing into the energy as it continued gathering around his hands.
On the other hand, Neolan gritted his teeth and took his own stance, both of his hands gripping the Katana as energy started gathering at the very tip of its blade, but the energy gathering around his Katana was completely different from the energy being used by the Demon King.
This was Qi, the energy that allowed one to cultivate their body, mind and soul, while the Demon King was using Demonic Energy. Both energies carried an enormous amount of power and could destroy almost everything around them, but compared to Qi, Demonic Energy was slightly inferior in terms of purity.
Both the Demon King and Neolan looked at each other one last time before they suddenly vanished.
Neolan’s figure blurred while the Demon King’s body became an almost invisible streak of light to the naked eye, and in the next moment, both of them appeared in mid-air. Neolan’s Katana moved with blinding speed from behind him in a horizontal arc as he shouted, "Heavenly Sword Arts—Chapter Seven—Heavenly Slash!"
At almost the same moment, the Demon King also shouted, "Demonic Emperor Fists—Fist of Destruction!"
His Blue-Flamed right fist moved forward with unbelievable speed that seemed to defy all reason, and even though the movements of both figures appeared slightly slower from Neolan’s perspective, their actual speed was still so great that it seemed as if even time itself couldn’t hold them back.
The next moment, the Demon King’s fist struck the edge of Neolan’s Katana.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An enormous explosion erupted from their clash, sweeping away all the remaining debris, stones and dust from the entire city, while a massive dome of pure annihilating energy covered the area as if it was swallowing everything within it. The already-destroyed buildings were completely erased, while the massive chunks of stone scattered throughout the city also disappeared without any resistance against the explosion.
Several moments passed before the enormous dome of energy finally started dispersing, and when it did, both Neolan and the Demon King could still be seen standing at the centre of the destruction, their positions almost unchanged from before, with the Demon King’s fist and Neolan’s Katana still clashing against each other while waves of energy continued dispersing in every direction.
’My Qi is already at its bottom limit...’
Neolan thought one last time before his eyes suddenly widened in horror as he felt something piercing through his back.
Before he could even understand what had happened, time itself suddenly stopped around him.
The Demon King, the waves of energy...all of it stopped.
Everything around him stopped completely.
Neolan coughed blood as his eyes slowly lowered.
"Cough! Khgg!"
His eyes widened even further when he saw what was happening.
A red-skinned hand had pierced directly through his chest, and within that hand was something that made his mind go blank for a moment.
His heart.
Neolan’s breathing slowed while the strength in both of his hands gradually disappeared, causing his grip around the Katana to loosen, and although he tried to turn around to look at whoever had attacked him, his body could no longer respond properly.
He already knew one thing from the red-skinned hand.
It was a Demon.
But that didn’t make any sense. He had killed every last Demon that had appeared on Earth, and at this point, the Demon King was the only one who remained.
So where had this Demon come from?
And most importantly, how had he stopped time?
Neolan didn’t know the answer to any of those questions, and at this point, he didn’t even have enough strength remaining to search for them, because he already knew that he was at the end of his life.
Regret slowly started filling his consciousness as the Demon behind him finally spoke, "Couldn’t even properly do the job and he calls himself a Demon King? Tsk! Well, now I see why he wasn’t able to conquer this planet within the given time..."
The Demon continued speaking while keeping Neolan’s heart inside his hand, "What a surprise to see that a Cultivator was here and a strong one at that, heh, but oh well, I have finished the job, so it’s time to harvest this planet and report to the Higher-Ups, hehe..."
Those words caused even the last remaining consciousness inside Neolan to tremble.
’H-Higher-Ups...?’
His blurry vision slowly shifted toward the Demon King’s body as he tried to understand what he had just heard, but there was simply no time left for him to think about it.
’I see...’
The red-skinned hand suddenly tightened around his heart.
PSSHHK!
Blood burst out from Neolan’s chest as his heart was crushed inside the Demon’s hand, and at the same time, his remaining strength completely disappeared.
Neolan slowly closed his eyes.
He had never considered himself a hero or a villain, but he had fought until this point because there were people he wanted to protect, and now he had failed to protect them. The regret and disgust he felt toward himself for failing to reach the end of his struggle remained inside his fading consciousness as even his final thoughts slowly disappeared.
A small drop of tear left Neolan’s left eye.
Then all of his remaining consciousness faded away.