CHAPTER 147: A RIGHTEOUS DEMON VS AN EVIL ANGEL (3/3)

The fight went on for forty minutes straight, and Azazel was only becoming weaker while Kael’s strength was not only growing each time he was heavily injured, but his condition was kept at peak state, thereby dominating the battle.

In the end, Azazel’s shriek echoed like a dirge as one of his wings fell from his back, cut off by Kael’s daggers.

His body hit the earth, dust billowing around him, and he growled, his face twisted with disbelief and rage. "You’ve made me bleed enough, human," Azazel spat, staggering to his feet. "But I’ve had enough."

His eyes, once radiant with angelic light, burned a deep violet, unnatural and angry. "You leave me no choice."

He raised his arm toward the broken statue behind him. His blood dripped onto the runes beneath the graveyard altar.

A sudden pulse erupted from Azazel’s body, spreading like a dome.

"Domain Expansion: Sanctuary of Absolute Law."

The world inside the domain warped. The sky turned a dull silver, the ground reflected like broken glass, and everything within began to shimmer with oppressive light.

Kael remained still, watching his surroundings calmly. It wasn’t affecting him the least.

Azazel raised his head, grinning as blood trickled down his chin. "You must be wondering since you don’t have mana, what I am doing."

Kael tilted his head slightly. "Yes." He admitted right away.

Azazel, however, pointed toward the others, especially the person Kael had forgotten all this time. "But she does."

Kael’s gaze snapped sideways. Alice still lay unconscious, her breaths slow but steady, until they weren’t. Her chest stopped rising. Her lips turned pale.

Shiera, further away, began to claw at her throat, her body spasming violently.

"G—guh—ha...ah..."

She gasped, each attempt to draw breath failing her. Her fingers scraped at her neck. Her back arched against the dirt as her lungs fought a war they were losing.

Azazel’s voice echoed through the domain: "This is the Law of Breathe. I’ve removed the concept of ’breathing’ from any being possessing mana within this domain."

Kael’s pupils contracted. Suddenly, as if his human emotions and his righteousness overpowered his demonic nature, influenced by the demon’s heart, a worry crept into his mind, and he said. "You coward."

Azazel sneered, stepping back. "Yes, I’m a coward, indeed. But my survival is more important to me right now. So, what will you do now, human? Protect your wife... or kill me before she dies?" After a brief pause, he added. "You might be strong, but you still didn’t have mana, and you cannot ever launch a domain expansion. Had I known that you could draw out 13% of the demon heart’s power, I would have done this a long time ago."

While he was speaking such brave words, Azazel was sweating bullets inside. He cannot let Kael draw out that 15% threshold. Hence, he can only do this.

Kael didn’t move for a couple of moments.

The wind carried the sounds of Shiera’s strangled gasps, the tremor of her limbs against stone, and the eerie silence of Alice, unconscious and inching toward death.

And in the end, Kael whispered. "You bastard."

His wings flared.

The ground cracked from Kael’s last step as he surged forward to grab Shiera, and without wasting another second, he flew high into the sky, trying to escape away from the Domain where the laws were applied.

The instant they breached the edge...

SHHH—AAAH!

Shiera gasped sharply, the air rushing into her lungs like a flood. Her body convulsed once, then steadied against Kael’s chest.

She blinked up at him, dazed, weak, but alive. And to Kael’s surprise, she didn’t fall unconscious. Instead, her hand trembled as she lifted it and gently pressed her palm to his cheek, "Kael..." she whispered. "This is not real, right? Tell me this is a dream."

Her fingers curled slightly against his skin, as though trying to convince herself he was real.

Kael didn’t answer immediately. The wind rushed past them as he hovered high above the land, the silver light of Azazel’s domain flickering far below like a dying flame.

He finally said in a low, restrained tone: "It’s a long story. I will tell you... soon enough. Let’s finish this battle once and..."

His eyes flicked downward, scanning the battlefield. "Hmm?"

But there was no one left. Neither Azazel nor Alice.

Kael’s expression darkened. "Damn it, They escaped."

Shiera stirred weakly in his arms. "A diversion?"

Kael nodded slowly. "It seems so. When Azazel triggered the domain, it was a diversion... to save Alice and run away. I fell into his trap... I should have known that he wouldn’t have risked his sister’s life... but..." He glanced at the woman, "It’s fine. I beat him up badly. He will surely come for revenge. When he does, I’ll be ready."

Shiera tilted her head up, looking into his glowing crimson eyes. "Kael... are you still... you?"

He turned his gaze to her, silent for a moment, then softened as he let out a sigh. "You look fine for some reason. Alright, let’s talk."

A while later;

Shiera sat on the edge of a broken marble platform near the gravesite.

Kael stood nearby, arms crossed, wings folded behind him. His demonic form was gone, but not completely. A partial demonic form, just the wings, scarlet eyes, and the horns are visible at the moment.

"Okay, so, where should I begin?" As Kael asked, Shiera replied right away. "The fact that you are K..."

Kael nodded, sitting down. "Alright. Let’s start from there."

Watching the stars, he spoke. "I can’t tell you the circumstances of how I became K, but I can tell you that for the past decade, I worked under your mother, the Queen, as her shadow assassin, punishing the criminals who escape the law using their influence. Who the Queen cannot punish even with her authority, she will punish them through me. No one knows this secret, not even my sister. I kept it that way for the past decade, putting the facade of a person who needs protection during the day while assassinating the evil ones in the dark. And then, I went to Clowns of Ark HQ to save my sister. I fought them and I died in that battle."

Kael turned slightly toward her. "And someone, a powerful Necromancer, resurrected me... with a demon’s heart. But I lost my mana core in the process. So, with that, K is retired officially, and that is the main reason there is martial law in the capital because the Queen needs a new K to be her shadow."

Shiera’s breath caught in realization. "So, that’s what it was..."

"And after all that," she whispered, "you chose to be... a tamer?"

Kael chuckled faintly, curling his feet closer to his body and wrapping his arms around himself. "What else could I choose? If people saw wings and horns and knew I had no mana core, they’d brand me a monster. Hence, I needed a disguise that made sense, and I truly thought being a tamer would be a way to start my new life."

He stirred the fire, watching sparks, and then continued. "Tamers rely on their beasts, not mana. It gave me a way to be still useful... and someone your sisters can be relied upon, and so that they don’t have to be stressed because of me."

Shiera leaned forward slightly, looking at his face. "Honestly, I don’t care if you had a demonic transformation."

"Hmm?"