Hidden within the mist, Kaelan watched Lucas through countless drifting shadows.
The Demon Lord floated at the centre of the grey world, his fur rippling beneath the violent winds surrounding him.
Mist Reflection Avatars emerged one after another.
Shadowy figures materialised from the fog and rushed toward Lucas from every direction.
Lucas did not even bother dodging.
His claws swept through the air.
Wind blades erupted outward.
Slash.
Slash.
Slash.
Each avatar exploded into mist the moment it was struck.
The attacks accomplished nothing.
Lucas laughed coldly.
“So this is all you’ve got?”
Another avatar charged.
Lucas casually tore it apart.
The remains dissolved into fog.
Inside the mist, Kaelan remained expressionless.
His attention was elsewhere.
Dark violet Demon Energy continuously gathered before him.
Layer after layer compressed together.
The Energy Missile Spell slowly took shape.
The mist concealed him completely.
Shadow Energy distorted the surrounding Spiritual Energy.
Spiritual Perception became unreliable.
Even a Demon Lord could only perceive a few meters through the dense fog.
Lucas continued destroying avatars.
One after another.
His confidence grew.
The Crow Demon was weaker than he expected.
Annoying.
Difficult to locate.
But ultimately weak.
“I’ll give you one last chance.”
His voice echoed through the mist.
“Surrender.”
“No matter how talented you are, you’re still only a Demon General.”
“I don’t want to kill you.”
“After this, whatever happens will be your own fault.”
No answer came.
Only silence.
Lucas frowned.
Something felt wrong.
The mist remained unnaturally calm.
Then his instincts screamed.
Danger.
A gigantic spear suddenly appeared directly before him.
Dark violet patterns covered its surface.
Dense energy fluctuations distorted the surrounding air.
For a brief moment, Lucas froze.
A spear?
Why a spear?
The shape made no sense.
Instinct took over.
His arms crossed before his chest.
Wind Energy condensed around them.
The spear touched his defence.
Then—
BOOM!!!
The world exploded.
A pillar of fire and energy erupted into the sky.
The shockwave blasted away enormous sections of mist.
The surrounding clouds shattered.
Forests below bent beneath the pressure.
Mountaintops trembled.
Far beneath the battlefield, Denver and Francis stared upward in shock.
The explosion illuminated the sky.
Neither could understand what was happening.
“Why is a Demon Lord attacking Senior?” Denver asked.
Francis shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
During the days they spent together, Kaelan had done almost nothing besides cultivate.
He stayed inside the inn.
Visited the obelisk.
Bought spells.
Then returned to cultivate.
He never provoked anyone.
Never caused trouble.
Neither could he imagine how he had offended a Demon Lord.
Several kilometres away, hidden among the trees, Lany and her father watched the battle unfold.
Hope burned in their eyes.
For fifty years they had waited.
Fifty years.
Now revenge seemed within reach.
The explosion finally faded.
A figure shot backwards from the centre of the blast.
The figure tumbled through the air before stabilising.
Lucas.
His arms were covered in burns.
Several wounds marked his body.
Blood dripped from torn flesh.
The injuries were not fatal.
But they were real.
Very real.
For the first time, genuine fury appeared in his eyes.
“You have completely annoyed me.”
His voice rumbled across the mountains.
“And now you’ll face the consequences.”
Spiritual Energy surged toward him from every direction.
The surrounding atmosphere began rotating.
Faster.
And faster.
Soon, a gigantic hurricane surrounded the Demon Lord.
The pressure alone made the air tremble.
Lucas raised one claw.
Countless streams of wind gathered above him.
One spear formed.
Then another.
Then another.
The number rapidly increased.
Ten.
Fifty.
One hundred.
Two hundred.
The formation continued.
Above the hurricane, a vast field of compressed wind spears filled the sky.
Each spear shimmered with deadly power.
Each possessed enough force to pierce city walls.
Lucas’s voice echoed through the heavens.
“Thousand Wind Spears.”
The enormous formation expanded further.
Hundreds of wind spears floated above the battlefield.
Their tips pointed toward the sea of mist below.
Inside the fog, Kaelan’s eyes narrowed.
The danger was obvious.
He was no match for Lucas in a direct confrontation.
Not yet.
The Energy Missile had injured the Demon Lord.
But it had not seriously weakened him.
More importantly, Kaelan still refused to use his Spirit.
The Spirit was his greatest advantage.
His hidden blade.
If he revealed it too early, Lucas would become cautious.
The next attack had to count.
For now, survival came first.
Shadow Energy surged through the mist.
The fog rapidly expanded.
One kilometre.
Two kilometres.
Three kilometres.
Grey clouds swallowed the surrounding mountains.
Visibility vanished entirely.
Kaelan continuously shifted positions through the shadows.
Never stopping.
Never remaining still.
High above, Lucas finally completed the spell.
Hundreds upon hundreds of wind spears filled the sky.
The scene resembled a divine army preparing for war.
Lucas pointed downward.
The hurricane roared.
The countless spears trembled.
Then they descended.
Like a meteor shower.
Like divine punishment.
Like the wrath of the heavens itself.
Chapter 25
The sky disappeared beneath a storm of wind.
Hundreds of compressed wind spears descended like divine punishment.
The mist-covered mountains vanished beneath their assault.
Boom!
Boom!
Boom!
Explosions echoed continuously.
Entire forests were shredded apart.
Mountaintops collapsed.
Valleys split open.
The mist that had dominated the battlefield moments earlier was torn apart.
Large sections vanished instantly.
Only scattered patches remained.
When the destruction finally subsided, Kaelan’s figure was revealed.
Lucas hovered high above the battlefield.
The hurricane surrounding him slowly rotated.
His eyes burned with killing intent.
“For the last time.”
“Surrender.”
His voice carried across the mountains.
Until now, he had still wanted to capture the Crow Demon alive.
A spell creator.
A pill refiner.
A talented Shadow cultivator.
Such a subordinate would be valuable.
But his patience had limits.
If he could not obtain Kaelan, then nobody would.
Below, Denver and Francis watched in confusion.
Neither understood why Kaelan continued hiding his true strength.
A Demon Lord had already appeared.
If Kaelan truly possessed Demon Lord cultivation, now was the time to reveal it.
Yet he still fought like a Demon General.
Far away, Lany and her father watched with grim expressions.
The destruction of the mist had shattered their hopes.
Lucas remained overwhelmingly powerful.
Their revenge seemed as distant as ever.
High above, Kaelan ignored Lucas’s ultimatum.
Dark violet Demon Energy gathered before him once more.
The Energy Missile Spell began taking shape.
Lucas’s eyes narrowed.
Again?
The giant projectile rapidly condensed.
Its surface gleamed with dense energy patterns.
Then Kaelan fired.
Boom!
The missile shot toward Lucas.
This time, Lucas did not bother defending.
Wind gathered around his claw.
The surrounding air compressed.
Compressed further.
And further.
Until a thin crescent of nearly invisible wind appeared before him.
“Heaven-Splitting Wind Blade.”
Lucas swung his arm.
The crescent vanished.
For a moment, nothing seemed to happen.
Then the Energy Missile split apart.
Silently.
Effortlessly.
The blade cut through the centre of the spell.
The internal energy structure collapsed before the detonation sequence could activate.
The missile never exploded.
Its energy dispersed harmlessly into the sky.
The invisible blade continued forward.
It reached Kaelan.
Then passed through him.
Poof.
The Crow Demon dissolved into mist.
Lucas froze.
His expression darkened.
An illusion.
Another illusion.
His gaze swept across the battlefield.
The remaining patches of mist drifted between the mountains.
Inside each patch stood a crow.
One.
Two.
Five.
Ten.
Dozens.
Every figure looked identical.
Every aura felt real.
Every shadow appeared genuine.
Lucas’s frustration finally erupted.
Wind blades filled the sky.
Slash!
Slash!
Slash!
The attacks carved through mountains.
Forests vanished.
Cliffs collapsed.
Patch after patch of mist was destroyed.
Yet new patches remained.
More crows appeared.
More illusions emerged.
The battlefield became an endless maze of shadows and reflections.
Lucas’s attacks became increasingly violent.
The destruction spread for kilometres.
Still, he failed to find the real Kaelan.
Meanwhile, Kaelan remained hidden.
His Mist Reflection Avatar was incapable of harming Lucas.
Lucas was too powerful.
But Lucas could not harm him either.
The battle had reached a stalemate.
Eventually, Lucas stopped attacking.
The wind around him gradually calmed.
The mountains below had been devastated.
Yet the crow remained alive.
Lucas clenched his fists.
This was absurd.
A Demon Lord was being toyed with by a Demon General.
Not because the crow was stronger.
But because he refused to fight directly.
Lucas stared into the drifting mist.
“Let’s stop.”
No answer came.
The silence only deepened his irritation.
Hidden within the shadows, Kaelan remained motionless.
His Spiritual Perception had already detected something.
Two figures.
Several kilometres away.
A rabbit demon.
And another rabbit demon beside him.
More importantly, they possessed a weapon.
A giant ballista.
The weapon was aimed directly at Lucas.
On the ground, Lany looked toward her father.
“Now?”
Her father nodded.
“Lucas can’t catch the Crow Demon.”
“He may decide to retreat.”
“If the Crow Demon escapes, our opportunity disappears.”
His mechanical arm tightened around the ballista mechanism.
“I need the Crow Demon alive.”
“I need his help to kill Lucas.”
The giant weapon released.
Boom!
The ballista bolt shot into the sky.
Lucas sensed danger.
Too late.
The enormous bolt pierced through his back.
Blood exploded from his chest as the projectile emerged from the front.
Lucas roared.
The injury would not kill a Demon Lord.
But it was severe.
Very severe.
At that exact moment, Kaelan moved.
His Spirit erupted.
An invisible attack slammed directly into Lucas’s consciousness.
Lucas’s body froze.
His eyes widened.
His mind instantly shifted inward.
A spiritual battlefield unfolded within his consciousness.
Rage replaced confusion.
The Crow Demon had been hiding this all along.
Spirit.
Overwhelming Spirit.
Lucas fought back immediately.
His spiritual defences surged.
Yet his body remained motionless in the sky.
That single moment proved fatal.
A second ballista bolt shot upward.
Boom!
The projectile pierced through his side.
Blood sprayed across the sky.
Lucas’s injuries worsened.
His concentration faltered.
Inside his consciousness, Kaelan pressed the advantage.
His Spirit repeatedly crashed into Lucas’s mind.
Not a soul search.
Not an attempt to seize memories.
That would be too dangerous.
A wounded Demon Lord could still kill him.
Instead, Kaelan attacked only one thing.
Consciousness.
Again.
And again.
And again.
He shattered thoughts.
Destroyed concentration.
Scrambled awareness.
Lucas’s resistance gradually weakened.
His injuries affected his mind.
His damaged mind affected his resistance.
The two compounded one another.
Then the third ballista bolt arrived.
Boom!
The projectile pierced through the back of Lucas’s head.
The impact snapped his neck forward.
For a brief moment, silence descended.
The hurricane vanished.
The wind calmed.
The Spiritual Energy dispersed.
Lucas’s eyes lost focus.
Inside his consciousness, Kaelan delivered one final spiritual strike.
The last remnants of organised resistance collapsed.
Lucas’s body went limp.
The Demon Lord’s life force rapidly faded.
Then he began falling.
Slowly at first.
Then faster.
And faster.
The mighty Wolf Demon plummeted from the sky.
Toward the shattered mountains below.
Toward death.
Kaelan descended from the sky and landed beside Lucas’s corpse.
The shattered mountains stretched around him.
Broken forests.
Collapsed cliffs.
Deep craters.
The battlefield looked as though a natural disaster had swept through it.
Lucas lay motionless among the rubble.
The Demon Lord’s eyes remained open.
The arrogance and fury that had filled them earlier had completely vanished.
Only death remained.
Several moments later, two figures arrived.
Francis landed first.
Denver jumped from his back.
Both stared at the corpse.
Then their gazes shifted toward the distant horizon.
The two rabbit demons had already disappeared.
“They escaped,” Denver said.
Kaelan nodded.
He had noticed their departure.
Yet he made no attempt to pursue them.
The rabbit demons had helped kill Lucas.
More importantly, remaining here any longer would be foolish.
A battle between a Demon Lord and a Demon General was already enough to attract attention.
The death of a Demon Lord would attract even more.
Sooner or later, other experts would come to investigate.
Kaelan lowered his head and grasped Lucas’s corpse with his claws.
“Let’s go.”
Denver blinked.
“Just leave like this?”
Kaelan spread his wings.
“The longer we stay, the more trouble we’ll attract.”
Neither Denver nor Francis argued.
The battle had taken place relatively close to Moonflow City.
If another Demon Lord arrived, the situation could become troublesome.
With a powerful flap of his wings, Kaelan rose into the sky.
Lucas’s corpse hung beneath him.
Francis immediately followed.
Denver climbed onto his back once more.
As they flew northward, confusion lingered in both demons’ minds.
Neither knew what to think anymore.
Kaelan possessed the cultivation of a Demon General.
That much was obvious.
Yet he had just participated in the death of a Demon Lord.
More importantly, the final spiritual attack still haunted them.
Neither had sensed it clearly.
But they had both felt the terrifying pressure that erupted at the end of the battle.
The pressure did not belong to an ordinary Demon General.
The more they thought about it, the more confused they became.
Hours passed.
Eventually, a familiar landscape appeared ahead.
A broken hill.
A barren region scarred by old battles.
It was the place where Kaelan had first established his residence after arriving in this world.
Kaelan slowly descended.
After landing atop the hill, he released Lucas’s corpse onto the ground.
The massive body struck the earth with a heavy thud.
He turned toward Francis and Denver.
“I need to deal with the corpse.”
Denver immediately understood.
Refining resources from a powerful corpse was not something outsiders should witness.
Francis nodded.
“We’ll wait for you at the Silver Fox Clan’s residence.”
Kaelan gave a small nod.
Without another word, Francis spread his wings.
Moments later, he disappeared into the distance with Denver riding on his back.
Silence returned.
Only Kaelan and Lucas’s corpse remained.
The wind swept across the barren hill.
Kaelan studied the body for several moments.
A Demon Lord.
The strongest corpse he had ever refined.
The value contained within it far exceeded the humans and demons he had used previously.
Its flesh.
Its blood.
Its bones.
Its vitality.
Even its Demon Energy.
Everything possessed immense value.
A faint anticipation appeared in Kaelan’s eyes.
Then he began preparing the refinement.
Dark violet Demon Energy spread across the ground.
Complex patterns formed beneath the corpse.
One pattern after another appeared.
Soon, an enormous alchemical formation covered the entire hilltop.
The surrounding Spiritual Energy immediately began gathering toward it.
Lucas’s corpse rested at the centre.
Kaelan stepped back.
Then he activated the formation.
The patterns illuminated.
Dark crimson light spread across the body.
The refinement had begun.