CHAPTER 432: CHAPTER 432 - JAHMORAS, THE PIT OF WILD FLAMES [LL]

The katana came down like the judgment of a dying star.

It should have cleaved Malphas in two.

It didn’t.

A deep, guttural laugh rolled out from the Tyrant’s chest as his skin began to crack, light and molten metal spilling from within like a volcano about to erupt.

"Bleed?" he rumbled, his voice now layered with something ancient and inhuman. "No... I burn"

The volcanic plain shook violently, the air warping under a sudden, suffocating heat. His armor began to fuse into his body, his frame swelling with muscle and molten stone until he towered even higher, eyes now twin furnaces that glared down at them.

Two great horns of obsidian jutted from his head, dripping magma like candlewax.

His greatsword twisted and warped, becoming a jagged cleaver wreathed in flames so hot they bent reality itself.

That was his true Form, Tyrant of the Ashen Conquest.

The roar that followed was not sound, it was a shockwave of wrath that tore through the battlefield.

Demons on both sides were thrown like ragdolls, rivers of molten rock spewing from newly opened fissures.

Lembuswana staggered, his armored hide sizzling from the heat. Basukhi dove beneath the ground, vanishing into the magma below, seeking an opening. While Kl’lara clutched her sycthe’s haft.

And then... Malphas moved.

Not a step.

Not a charge.

He was simply there in front of Taufik, cleaver swinging in an arc so vast it seemed to slice the entire sky.

Taufik blocked, but the force behind the blow was no longer that of a warrior.

It was a collapsing mountain, an erupting sun.

The impact hurled him back hundreds of meters, shadows trailing from his body as he slammed into the side of a jagged cliff, stone shattering like glass.

"You came here to conquer Hell?" Malphas thundered, his voice carrying over the roaring magma. "Do as you like, but on this battlefield... your wrath will never outshine mine"

From the cracks in the ground, molten pillars erupted, each one forming into the shapes of molten warriors, hundreds of them, their eyes blazing with the same furnace fire as their master.

Taufik rose from the rubble, katana trembling in his grip, not from fear, but from the sheer pressure pressing down on him.

And he smiled.

"Then I’ll just have to burn darker"

Black flames began to coil around him, swallowing the light from the battlefield.

Once again, Taufik emerges as the Ruler of The Shadow Realm.

--------

The instant Malphas’ molten warriors roared to life, the air tore apart behind Taufik.

From the cracks of his own shadow, dozens... hundreds... thousands of armored figures crawled out, faces hidden behind jagged helms, their eyes glowing the same unnatural void-light as their master.

The Shadow Legion was silent.

No war cry. No footsteps.

Only the sound of steel whispering as they drew their weapons in unison.

Above, the volcanic clouds split as Lembuswana emerged, massive, majestic, terrifying.

The flap of his wings thundered across the sky like a war drum, his lion’s head roaring while his snake-like tail lashed, sending tidal waves of molten rock crashing across the battlefield.

From below, Basukhi erupted from the lava, coils larger than city walls whipping molten demons into the air before dragging them screaming beneath the molten surface.

And then... Kl’lara raised her skeletal arm, whispering a curse older than the mountain itself.

The earth split behind her. From graves that had never existed before, an army of skeletal warriors clawed their way into the light, each gripping rusted spears, shields, or swords.

Their eye sockets burned with necrotic fire, and they moved like a single mind.

---

For a single breath, all four armies stood at the edges of the shattered volcanic plain.

Then everything collapsed into chaos.

Molten demons clashed with shadow soldiers, the heat of their bodies burning through the black armor, but the shadows reformed again and again, refusing to die.

Above, Lembuswana’s claws swiped through entire battalions, sending showers of lava and shattered obsidian raining down.

Basukhi’s coils tore across the battlefield like living siege engines, squeezing molten titans until they burst into rivers of fire.

Kl’lara’s skeletons fought without fear or pain, swarming larger demons like ants stripping meat from bone.

Taufik blurred through the chaos, his katana carving arcs of black flame that devoured anything they touched.

Every swing stole more light from the battlefield, the volcanic glow dimming until only the fires of war illuminated the carnage.

Malphas stood in the center of it all, cleaver in hand, magma dripping from his molten body as each step turned rock to ash.

The Tyrant didn’t need to command his army, they moved with the same wrath that burned in his soul. Every enemy cut down only fueled the heat radiating from him.

He lifted his weapon, pointed it at Taufik across the carnage, and bellowed: "... We end this here!"

Taufik’s reply was a whisper, yet every soldier, living or dead, shadow or flame, heard it. "Then burn with me"

The ground split again. This time, not to summon another army.

But to swallow the entire battlefield into a pit of roiling darkness and molten fire.

"... Eternal Night"

The pit swallowed armies, screams, and molten rivers alike, yet there was no end to its depth.

The sky above Jahmoras was gone, replaced by an obsidian dome cracked with veins of red lightning, each jagged flash illuminating the carnage below in violent snapshots.

Molten titans writhed as shadows coiled up their limbs, dragging them down into the abyss.

The lava rivers fought against the darkness, hissing and roaring, but each surge of molten fury only made the shadows burn blacker.

Malphas stood unmoved at the center of it all, his molten body glowing brighter, as if daring the void to consume him.

The cleaver in his hands pulsed with heat so intense that the air screamed.

"Your darkness is nothing here," he snarled, each word dripping with contempt. "I am the day that never ends, the sun that burns even the gods to ash"

Taufik’s silhouette loomed in the swirling dark, the shadows wrapping around him like a living mantle.

His voice cut through the molten wind. "Then I’ll snuff out your sun"

The battlefield collapsed toward the center, dragged by a gravity born of pure malice.

The Shadow Legion surged forward, not as individual soldiers but as a single tide, their weapons striking in perfect synchrony.

Each blow dimmed the flames, each step pushed the void further into Malphas’ dominion.

Lembuswana struck from above, wings folding as he plummeted like a meteor, his claws tearing into the volcanic plain and sending an avalanche of molten rock toward the Tyrant.

Basukhi rose from the blackened fissures, jaws wide, streams of blinding white fire clashing against Malphas’ molten waves, pure destruction meeting pure wrath.

Kl’lara’s voice wove through the chaos, her skeletal army igniting with ghostly blue flame.

They burned cold, their mere touch freezing molten warriors into brittle black glass.

Malphas roared, not in pain, but in rage, and the world answered.

The ground heaved upward, birthing jagged black spires wreathed in fire.

Rivers of magma surged higher than mountains, twisting into serpents of flame that dived into the Shadow Legion, consuming whole ranks in seconds.

Taufik moved through the slaughter, his katana now a singularity of black light, bending the molten glow around it.

He clashed with Malphas again, the sound of their strikes not mere steel, but the tearing of the world itself.

Every impact was apocalyptic, shockwaves flattening armies, rupturing lava seas, and ripping cracks into the sky.

And through the storm of flame and shadow, both combatants smiled.

This was not war.

This was annihilation.

---

Malphas drove forward, each strike of his cleaver like a falling star, blinding, molten, relentless.

Taufik met him step for step, shadows wrapping tighter, his every movement bending the battlefield’s reality.

Around them, armies clashed in a blur of screams, steel, and elemental fury, but neither combatant saw anything except the other.

The Tyrant’s molten veins flared brighter, his body now resembling a walking sun.

The air was so hot it warped the sight of his form, and even the ground beneath his feet liquefied into churning magma. Each swing of his weapon left trails of solar flame that burned through the shadows, forcing them to recoil.

Taufik’s eyes narrowed. "So, he can burn away Concept itself... Interesting"

He shifted his stance, and the darkness around him condensed, no longer a storm but a singular, crushing weight.

The battlefield dimmed, not merely in light, but in presence. The roars of the molten titans and the clash of the Shadow Legion dulled to a distant hum, as if the world was holding its breath.

Malphas struck again, cleaver raised high, but the blow slowed, as though moving through tar.

A shadowy hand the size of a fortress burst from the ground, fingers curling around the Tyrant’s leg, holding him in place. Then another gripped his arm, and another tore at his molten chest, steam hissing as the darkness forced its way in.

Malphas roared, heat exploding outward. The shadows burned, but they did not let go.

Taufik stepped forward, his katana an arc of black lightning. One strike, two, three, each one carving deeper, siphoning Malphas’ molten essence into the void.

The Tyrant laughed through gritted teeth.

"You think you can consume the sun?!" Flame erupted from every crack in his body, the pressure building to an unbearable crescendo. "Then drown in it!"

The world went white.

A detonation of molten light engulfed the pit, burning through stone, shadow, and even the black dome above.

Entire legions were vaporized in the blast, their screams cut short.

The molten titans broke free of their chains, howling in triumph as they were reborn in pure flame.

When the light finally dimmed, Taufik stood, cloak torn, skin scorched in places, but still gripping his blade.

The shadows around him were thinner, trembling like dying smoke.

Malphas staggered, his molten form flickering, cracks spiderwebbing across his chest where black light still seeped through. His grin was wide, defiant. "You bleed, shadow"

Taufik’s lips curved into a cold smile. "... You’re fun"

The next exchange would not be a battle.

It would be the deciding blow.

....

...

..

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