The System Awakens: Rise of the Champion

The aftermath of the hundreds of lightning-elemental spells, [Rain of Arc Flash], and wind-flame elemental spells, [Flame Tempest], detonating on the battlefield was utterly ridiculous.

Hundreds of demons had been reduced to ashes, and dozens of craters had formed across the lifeless lands of this hellish territory.

The land of Hell was naturally dense and durable. It wouldn't break without significant power.

Yet, Damian's [Flame Tempest], which was as strong as an above-average 4th-circle spell, had managed to shatter the ground and even create small craters.

[Experience Limit Reached]

[You have Leveled up] x 12

Above these craters lay the remains of the hundreds of "surviving" demons.

When I say surviving, I mean the chunks of flesh that remained, which were already beginning to regenerate.

When the spells exploded, Damian had been right in the middle of it all.

He didn't care about what would happen to him.

Well, mostly.

In fact, he had kind of wanted the spells to explode on him so he could further enhance his [Fire Resistance] and [Lightning Resistance] traits.

But to his frustration, those traits had already been strengthened so much that these attacks weren't enough to do anything to him except for causing slight bruises, which healed instantly.

Damian glanced at the hundreds of demons that had been injured to a ridiculous degree but were already regenerating.

Then, his gaze shifted to the ruler of Hell, the one he was supposed to defeat to complete this Demon Dungeon mission.

Once again, just like what the system had done with [Thaerris], it had sent him to literal Hell when it was supposed to be just a dungeon.

Well, not that he cared as long as he got his rewards.

The ruler of Hell, Marquis Andras, narrowed his eyes at Damian, while the fallen angel beside him grinned from ear to ear, causing Damon to feel confused.

"So what if you have powerful attacks? You can't kill every single demon. How long can you keep up such strong attacks? Sooner or later, you're going to run out of energy, and when that happens, my demons will tear you apart," Marquis Andras sneered, his ugly grin exuding confidence as if he had everything under control.

But, of course, he didn't realize yet that he actually didn't.

Damian simply smiled and shook his head.

He didn't even want to waste words on Andras.

He just wanted to finish this battle and head to [Thaerris] to carve his own path.

The sensation of breaking through had been skyrocketing for hours now, and it was still increasing.

He suspected that this was one of the reasons his understanding of the elements had been growing so rapidly.

It was as if knowledge was flowing into him effortlessly, and all he had to do was accept it.

A bold idea had already taken shape in Damian's mind.

He wasn't sure if it would work.

It seemed impossible, but deep down, he had a feeling that it would.

His smile instantly snuffed out the fire of confidence in the fallen angel's red face.

"Don't believe I'm finished just yet."

A violet aura burst from Damian's figure as he ascended from the hellish land into the blood-red sky.

His irises glowed with an intimidating violet light, radiating power.

His right hand rose forward, pointing at the flesh of the rapidly regenerating demons as a single word escaped his mouth.

"Devour."

[Devourer: Unique Ability Activated]

A moment of silence persisted.

Then, an unbelievable, ridiculous amount of energy erupted from his palm.

The violet energy instantly covered the red, hellish sky, painting it in a luminous glow.

It transformed into a massive, sphere-like entity, a writhing, tar-like violet mass that spread instantly, engulfing the entire battlefield.

A terrifying noise echoed as it swallowed the demons alive, like a black hole consuming everything in its path.

In an instant, it all vanished, drawn back into his palm, disappearing into nothingness.

It was over.

In an instant, there had been no escape.

"W-What..."

The fallen angel's eyes widened to their limit.

In his millions of years of existence, he had never witnessed anything like this.

"W-What kind of bullshit ability is that?"

"How can a human possess such power?"

His mind raced, overworked with countless questions he couldn't comprehend.

He simply couldn't grasp what had just happened, how a mere human could wield such overwhelming might.

His demons, the ones who had survived the rain of spells, he could no longer sense their presence.

Demons were not meant to die permanently unless their souls were destroyed.

Otherwise, after a few hundred years, they would simply resurrect.

This was why demons never hesitated in battle.

They were practically unkillable as long as their souls remained intact.

Even if Damian had slain them just now, they should still be able to resurrect in a few hundred years.

As one of the 72 rulers of Hell, he knew this truth all too well.

In fact, with his authority as a ruler, he could sense when a demon in his legion perished and when they resurrected.

But right now, he couldn't.

He couldn't feel their presence at all.

His connection to his legion, the demons who had fallen victim to that terrifying attack, was completely severed.

Erased.

"What did he do?"

At that moment, the fallen angel began to feel a despair unlike anything he had ever experienced.

He didn't know what kind of ability this was, but it utterly terrified him.

The fear of the unknown seeped into his heart like maggots feasting on decaying flesh.

Damian, still reeling from the experience of devouring hundreds of demons alive, somehow became aware of his opponent's fear.

He didn't know how, but he could feel it.

[Experience Limit Reached]

[You have Leveled up] x 8

[You have devoured 480 lesser demons] Stay connected through My Virtual Library Empire

[The subskill [Refinement] is taking effect]

[The process of refining the devoured demons has begun]

[You have refined the physical bodies of the demons]

[You have refined the souls of the demons]

[You have refined the energy of the demons]

As soon as he devoured the 480 demons, his unique ability [Devourer] triggered its subskill [Refinement], which began processing them.

It separated the useful from the useless, stripping away their unique essences, impurities, imperfections, flaws, individual influences, and any possessions they carried.

Everything unnecessary was erased completely according to Damian's needs, keeping only what was good, useful, and beneficial to him.

[You have acquired the [Souls] of 480 lesser demons]

[You have acquired the [Memories] of 480 lesser demons]

[You have acquired the [Miasma] of 480 lesser demons]

[You have acquired the [Constitutions] of 480 lesser demons]

Within his other subskill [Spiritual Space], four orbs of different colors appeared:

A dark blue orb representing the [Souls].

A light blue orb representing the [Memories].

A brown orb representing the [Constitutions].

A golden-brown orb representing the [Miasma]

[You can assimilate them with yourself whenever you choose.]

Damian's figure gently descended into the land of Hell, his violet eyes narrowing at the ruler of the underworld.

"You see, I have so much to attend to. Why don't you just let yourself be killed? I can promise the process will be painless," Damian said.

But this time, he wasn't smiling.

He was serious.

He truly had too much to do, growing stronger by forging his own path, winning a war, making his faction the strongest, and countless other things.

The fallen angel's eyes suddenly locked in place, his teeth gritting as he thought about the position he had been reduced to.

To be asked by a human for a painless death, as if he had no other choice.

Looking at Damian, he felt as if he were standing before someone he couldn't rise against.

For a moment, he saw his father's image overlap with Damian's.

Back then, he had been at the mercy of his father.

And now, once again, he was at someone's mercy, but this time, it was a human.

The lowest-ranked race of them all.

Just that thought alone made his fury unbearable.

His energy erupted in waves, crackling through the air as a spear materialized in his hand.

Damian narrowed his eyes. "So you chose the painful way instead… so be it."

The fallen angel's wings spread wide before he blasted forward, his figure hurtling toward the human who dared to stand against him.

His intent was clear, to tear Damian into thousands of pieces before subjecting his soul to all seven levels of Hell for eternity.

Damian sighed.

The red pendant around his neck flickered, transforming into a jet-black spear with crimson accents before landing in his hand.

The fallen angel appeared before Damian in an instant, thrusting his spear, now cloaked in purplish-black energy.

Damian raised his own weapon, [Recna, the Spear of Torment], with casual ease, merely intending to assess his opponent's strength.

The fallen angel's spear, stuck in [Recna], released an intense wave of energy, bursting forth against Damian and pushing him back several meters.

The energy-covered spear, wielded by the ruler of Hell, burned with purplish-black flames, causing excruciating pain.

However, Damian endured the attack, taking it head-on.

Not giving Damian a moment to regain his footing, the fallen angel suddenly pointed his hand at him and opened his fingers before abruptly closing them.

In an instant, hundreds of weapons such as swords, spears, and other sharp objects that had once belonged to his demons and lay scattered across the battlefield began to move as if possessed by a will of their own.

At blinding speed, they shot toward Damian like bullets, stabbing him from all directions.

Countless blades pierced through his body, emerging from the other side, all while he continued to burn in the purplish-black flames of this unknown energy.