Chapter 185: A Demon’s True Form

Tyler felt strangely satisfied after beating the living daylight out of his opponent, completely destroying the so-called divine armament but this was still not enough.

He moved forward to the lump of meat on the ground that called himself a primordial behemoth. A large magic bullet slowly gathered above his hand as he approached the center of the crater. He would finish him off quickly so he could focus on other more important issues.

The other two generals of greed were being watched by the malicious Dark Garuda who seemed to be enjoying watching their faces go pale in fear as they trembled before him. It could've killed them at any time but hadn't, perhaps gaining pleasure from their despair or perhaps waiting for permission from his current summoner.

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Serene Vyle, one of the only two generals of Mammon stood fearfully in place as she trembled before the overwhelming presence of the imposing figure of the Dark Garuda even though she could not sense its aura. She knew there was a massive difference between this monster's strength and hers. It was a creature at a level even beyond that of her current master.

While she was the strongest member of the original five demon generals of greed. That was due to her deadly curses that could bypass most defenses and attack on a spiritual level. Her physique was not the best but she could still keep up with Nessi in a fight— who was the second-fastest amongst them, next to Badgil.

Being one of the original generals of the first Behemoth of Greed just like Ovil, she had encountered celestials before, and while not all of them were strong. She knew a majority of them could easily kill her with a single move.

Although she was originally a behemoth herself, one that was known by the nickname 'Queen of Curses'. She had been defeated by the first/original Primordial Behemoth of Greed and thus, was forced to become his general. She felt no need to resist such a fate as her original goal in being a behemoth and seeking power was her own safety as she was quite lazy and didn't have the constant energy for any grand ambitions that most behemoths seem to possess.

And after finding out from that Mammon that becoming a general for a Primordial meant she would be feared and respected by other behemoths while not having to constantly defend her title and life, she happily jumped at the offer. Although she would later find out that she had definitely been tricked and had to do more work as a general than when she was her own master.

Her lack of interest and motivation in doing anything troublesome had led her to remain a general with Hemei even after her original master was killed by him. However, right now, as she stared in the eyes of the Dark creature that seems to relish in their fears, she really regretted her decision and resented herself for being so lazy.

Unlike Ovil who was the oldest amongst them and was constantly intrigued by everything, wanting to go everywhere and do everything. She had only wanted to be able to sleep in peace. However, it would seem like that was too much of a lofty dream at the moment as death didn't seem far from them.

She watched the behemoth they had so foolishly underestimated rapidly beat up her master in the blink of an eye without so much as an inkling of resistance from him even though he had used one of his strongest skills as almost all his bones had been crushed by the force of those blows. His current state barely resembled the Mammon she knew as he now looked like a shapeless bag of broken bones and bleeding flesh.

The nameless behemoth then slowly walked forth and a ball of mana appeared above his hand. He was clearly about to finish him off and surely once he was done, they would be next. It would be a miracle if their deaths were quick and painless.

However, something unexpected had happened before the behemoth could finish him off.

"Y-you... Yu... Basdahd!... How Der yol!... I'll Kiey yuo... I'll Ket, youf all!"

The bag of bones on the ground that was half buried at the center of the crater squirmed around weirdly as it morphed into something inhuman as cracking of bones was audible in the ward. What was formally Mammon stood up as each of its steps shattered the ground? Its muscles wrapping and a rapidly healing process started as it put itself back to gather in a vaguely humanoid form.

The fresh continuously squirmed as it returned to the form of Mammon but slowly became something else. His skin grew darker, his muscles budged and two pitch-black curved horns grew out of the sides of his head as he grew in size by about a foot, looking like the earth's depiction of a demon.

The moment his new form stabilized, an unrestrained and absurd amount of energy exploded out of its body, dominating the ward in a stifling amount of bloodlust as it seems his strength had increased several folds.

"I'll KILL YOU... ILL KILL YOU!... I'll KILL YOU ALL!"

He kept repeating those words in a maddening loop as it seemed he had been driven mad with rage. His transformation was not exactly unique as it was a demon's true form. In this form, a demon's strength, energy, and aura were greatly multiplied but such a thing constantly consumes their life energy and puts a strain on their soul. 

It was why demons rarely ever resort to such a thing as doing it meant one had admitted defeat and their demons' pride generally didn't allow such a kamikaze attack. However, there were always exceptions to the norm.

Serene saw the behemoth take a step back as Mammon's roar reverberated in the entire castle and his energy increased even more. If it could quickly kill his opponent then there was a chance he could null the transformation but if this went on for too long, he might end up going on a rampage, drunk on his own aura.

Her eyes were focused on the pair but suddenly, they disappeared. Both of them. She hastily tried to locate them and boosted her perception with a skill as she saw the huge form of Mammon lunging forward and before the behemoth could react, Mammon grabbed his head with his left palm and slammed him into the ground in an hour impact that shattered the ground under the behemoth's head.

Exerting his revenge, a flurry of devastating punches came storming down at the helpless behemoth and the ground constantly shifted under the barrage. Mammon laughed madly at his sudden superiority in this fight as he dragged the behemoth across the ground like trash and continued to pummel him.

This should've meant their inevitable victory but she couldn't feel relaxed for some reason as the Dark Garuda had not moved to save its conjurer which should've been a clause in the contract. Of course, there was no way she could've guessed that Tyler had not discussed the contract with the Garuda and such a clause was not in the standard one they were currently bound with.

"Mmm... so after all that he just ended up becoming a savage beast huh. Disappointing."

Those casual words were spoken from the person next to her but the only person that should've been standing there was Ovil. So why would he say something so out of character? Her mind told her not to turn around and just pretend like she hadn't heard it, perhaps things would go their way if she just didn't look but her head had already turned to face the person before her mind had even completed that thought.

Her eyes went wide.

The behemoth that was being pummeled by Mammon stood next to her without even so much as a scratch on him as he coldly stared at the beast-like Mammon that was still in the midst of this roughly giving him a beating. Or what should be him at the very least?

Her head turned hesitantly at the figure on the ground that Mammon was happily raining down his fist upon. Her eyes glowed as she used a spell, 'Eyes of the Arcane Witch.' Her eyes then easily broke through the illusion as she now saw Ovil there, already dead after receiving countless punches from a full-powered Mammon whose strength way surpassed the limits of his defenses.

'When did he?'

She had no idea how or when the behemoth had switched places with Ovil while also using an illusion to make him appear as himself. That was something someone like Mammon should've noticed but because he had been driven mad by rage, he had ended up quite literally beating his own general to death. She almost threw up in her mouth but struggled to remain calm.

The behemoth next to her just quietly watched the scene unfold for a while before reaching into space and pulling out a weapon. It was a ones sided blade that radiated insanely dense mana that instantly calmed her mind which only served to terrify her even more.

His cold gaze was then directed at her and a thrill of terror assaulted her very being. Her mind instantly went blank and she could no longer control her bladder.

"I'll ask you to run but..."

His gaze then drifted to the Dark Garuda and then back to her as he finished his thoughts.

"...I doubt you'll get very far."

With those words that seemed to pronounce her doom, he walked away and just by the excited glaze of the Garuda. Her mind could no longer handle so much at once as she immediately passed out.

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Tyler headed back into the battle after using spatial Manipulation to switch places with the child general the moment Mammon had charged at him. He now moved to end this fight once and for all as his opponent had already lost most of his senses and thus was worse than trash.

"Gwahahaha... Die! Die! Die! I am the strongest! The rightful king! Don't you dare look down on me!"

The demon known formerly as Mammon spouted such nonsense as he kept pummeling his own general— who by the way was already dead. Tyler had already dispelled his illusion but Mammon had failed to notice it. He hadn't even used spatial manipulation to distort the perception of his illusion in order to make it stronger and yet Mammon had still fallen for it. This shows his lack of control and intellect in this form.

A demon's true form was hard to control. It was easy to get drunk on the raw power and chaos of one's own mana flow and thus was not suitable for actual combat unless one wanted to cause as much carnage as one could in their death. Although there were those that had mastered the form and may be able to use it in a fight for a few seconds before their lifeforce ran out.

However, it would seem like this demon had never had to use this form in its entire life. He must've had quite the overpowered ability that had fed its ego till this day.

Tyler stopped only a few feet from Mammon and called out to him.

"Hey, vermin. What's wrong? Were you so weak that you lost yourself to your own power? Pathetic."

Mammon who was about to completely crush Ovil's head under his fist suddenly halted. It turned around and its eyes widened in disbelief as it turned to look at what he had been beating all this time only to grit his teeth.

"How? Why? Why the FUCK won't YOU JUST DIE! I'm the one with the power. I deserve to rule. I'm the strongest! He assured me I was. Why do you even exist? This is not fair. YOU BASTARD! WHY THE FUCK WON'T YOU JUST LET ME KILL YOU."

Like a volcano, his rage erupted from the depths of his heart as he cried in both frustrations and pain. He gathered all its remaining energy into his palm and in a desperate attempt at the victory that kept eluding him, he shot a massive beam of corrupted energy at Tyler.

Wielding his sword in his right, Tyler stretched forth his left hand to stop the beam. However, the beam was mixed with chaos energy and negative energy, and thus, since his left arm had been so badly corrupted. The massive beam had easily destroyed it.