Return of the Calamity-Class Death Knight

-----------------

Chapter 293: Theta (2)

***

A hand that had pierced Iota’s body was abruptly withdrawn.

Iota pressed a hand to the wound on his abdomen. Despite this, crimson blood gushed out between his fingers.

“Theta… what the Inferno are you doing…?” Iota\'s face was filled with disbelief. Theta’s expression twisted in anger.

“Why did you interfere with my battle? I’ve been waiting for this moment for so long! You’ve ruined everything!”

Her once flawless beauty was now taken over by a nightmarish visage.

“Theta! I saved you! Why are you angry with me? The one you need to be angry at is Damien Haksen, not me! ”

Iota’s eyes turned red with rage. But Theta ignored his words.

“Who asked you to save me? I don’t want to hear it anymore, so get lost! Or I’ll kill you right now!”

“Theta! We are siblings bound by our souls! How can you say such things to me!”

Their dark mana and killing intent rose as their emotions intensified.

“Ugh, Uaaa! The Demon Kings are clashing!”

“R-run away! Or we’ll be caught in the crossfire!”

The dark mages and dark knights inside the fortress recoiled in terror.

Then, a massive pressure surged from a different place.

This sudden pressure obliterated the killing intent and dark mana of the two undead.

Theta and Iota were caught off guard and hurriedly turned their gazes towards the source. There, they saw Damien emanating immense power.

“You dare look away from me? You worthless creatures have truly lost your minds.”

Damien\'s displeasure was evident.

His killing intent grew stronger, so intense that nearby dark mages and dark knights fainted.

Iota glared at Damien and furrowed his brows.

“Damien Haksen, I’ve been waiting to see you again. The place where you hit me has been aching ever since.”

Iota drew upon the power of the dragon. Muscles bulged beneath his thin frame.

“This is my chance for revenge! I’ll kill you right now!”

Iota lunged towards Damien.

Suddenly, Iota was thrown backward by something.

He crashed into the ground with a force that tore through the air.

“Cough!”

The impact had been severe causing Iota to cough up blood.

“Iota, I told you not to interfere.”

Theta said coldly.

A massive tail swayed behind her, large enough to wrap around the fortress.

The thing that had just struck Iota was that tail.

"Theta! Are you crazy? Or do you really want to fight me?"

"Why not? But not now. There\'s something more urgent. Shut up."

Theta turned to Damien and knelt on one knee.

"Theta! What are you doing? Kneeling to a human other than Mother!"

Iota was bewildered but Theta didn\'t even answer.

"Damien Haksen, I apologize. But please understand this. I truly wanted to die by your hand."

"Good. Then give me your head now."

"Originally, that was my intention. But an interruption ruined everything. Ending it like this isn\'t what I want."

"What, did you change your mind? You have no principles."

Damien mocked Theta leading her to quietly bite her lip.

Theta looked up at Damien. Her eyes didn\'t show acceptance of death.

"Let\'s settle our fate later."

"Who says? I have no intention of letting you two go."

"Damien Haksen, I understand your power is immense."

Theta lowered her eyes slightly and added.

"But if the two of us bring out our \'main bodies\', you\'ll be in trouble. So please retreat for now..."

"Hahaha."

Suddenly, Damien burst out laughing.

Damien\'s laughter cut off Theta\'s words. Theta looked at Damien with a questioning expression.

Then suddenly, the laughter stopped. Damien stared at Theta with burning eyes.

"Now I see you were looking down on me."

"That wasn\'t my intention..."

"What do you mean? Your words mean that if you bring out your main bodies, you can easily kill someone like me, right?"

To be pitied by a mere imitation.

I never imagined I would hear such a boring joke in my life.

"So, you were planning to die peacefully when you brought out your main bodies and could kill me? I didn\'t know you had such a noble heart."

"No, that\'s not what I meant..."

Suddenly, Damien swung the Dawn. A flash of light appeared and a single slash cut Theta\'s ear.

Blood flowed from her slightly split ear. Theta stared at her ear in surprise.

She couldn\'t see.

She couldn\'t see Damien swinging his sword or the flying slash.

What if the slash had aimed for her neck? Or her eyes?

"So there are still people in this world who look down on me."

Damien\'s lips twisted in mockery. Soon chilling killing intent started to emanate from his body.

The moment they were exposed to the killing intent, Theta and Iota instinctively took a fighting stance.

Their bodies moved before their minds could react.

"I\'ll cut off your heads right now and correct your delusional selfs."

Just as Damien was about to rush at the two undead,

A tremendous roar erupted from the central pit of the fortress.

At the same moment, a surge of dark energy erupted from the pit. It was as if a colossal waterfall were flowing in reverse.

Damien and Theta, along with Iota quilcky turned to look at the pit in astonishment.

“No way. The magic circle is malfunctioning. Mother’s magic circle was supposed to be perfect.”

Theta muttered in disbelief. Damien frowned at her words.

Just as he was about to demand an explanation.

“Cough...!”

“Ahh...!”

Screams erupted from behind them.

The elves Damien had brought with him were clutching their throats in agony.

While the dark mages and dark knights were unharmed only the elves were suffering.

“I can’t... I can’t breathe...!”

“The spirits... the spirits are leaving...!”

The elves collapsed to the ground and their cries filled the air.

Damien hesitated at the sight of the suffering elves.

If he continued fighting Theta and Iota, the elves would die. But if he saved the elves, he would lose Theta and Iota.

Theta quickly read Damien\'s hesitation.

"Iota, open the door."

"Theta! Why are you trying to escape? We should finish him with our own hands..."

Theta pointed her longsword at Iota\'s neck and repeated.

"Open it."

Iota immediately shut his mouth and did as Theta said and opened the dimensional portal.

Even seeing the portal, Damien couldn\'t pursue them. It was because of the elves.

"Damien Haksen, I’ll be going now."

Before the portal closed, Theta spoke to Damien.

"I look forward to seeing you again."

With those words, the portal closed. Damien sighed and rushed to the elves.

"Hold on a little longer, everyone!"

To save the elves, he had to seal the energy pouring out of the pit.

Damien jumped into the pit. No matter how deep he fell, he couldn’t see the bottom.

As he descended deeper, the energy grew stronger. Finally, Damien landed on the bottom.

Upon landing, Damien looked around. Despite the lack of light, it wasn’t a problem.

Master Class’s heightened senses allowed him to see even in the dark.

"A magic circle?"

A large magic circle was drawn on the floor. It wasn’t an ordinary one. It was made by drawing lines and pouring molten metal over them.

Several large glass tubes were placed around the perimeter of the magic circle. Unfortunately, they were empty, so he couldn’t tell what had been inside.

"That\'s..."

Damien looked at the center of the magic circle. There was a giant root.

The root had already burst through the wall and was embedded deep into the floor. The magic circle was drawn around it as its epicenter.

Damien instantly recognized the root.

It was a root of the World Tree, the central life force of Alfheim.

"What were they trying to do to the World Tree\'s root?"

Damien examined the magic circle more closely and finally understood its purpose.

"...They were trying to infuse something into the root."

What were they trying to infuse? And why the World Tree\'s root of all things?

Questions flooded his mind but he had no time to ponder.

Dark energy was still pouring out of the magic circle.

To save the elves, he had to stop this.

"I have to destroy the magic circle."

Damien raised the Dawn high. In that moment, his hand glowed.

"Huh?"

The energy emitted by the magic circle was being absorbed by the symbol on his hand.

He felt the authorities\' powers grow stronger as he absorbed the energy and even new authority started to show signs of awakening.

There was only one kind of energy that could strengthen the authorities and could awaken them.

"...Demonic power? Where did they get so much of it?"

It was nearly impossible to obtain such a vast amount of Demonic power anywhere but Inferno.

"Dorugo, what in the world are you up to?"

As Damien muttered with a hardened expression, a new symbol on his hand began to glow.

A new authority had been awakened after absorbing a great deal of Demonic power.

Pride.

It was the authority to manipulate space.

***