Hela’s arrival came with earth-shaking force. Its presence was overwhelming, and across the entire sea, everything but Hela seemed to have been frozen in place.
The moment Bexia saw Hela appear, he leapt straight onto its head. For Hela, which had only just awakened and was still dazed, this was nothing short of an attempt to get himself killed.
“Sssraaagh—!” A roar rang out across heaven and earth. Its terrifying force failed to shake Bexia, though. He crouched down and reached out to stroke Hela’s scales. Lines of red markings surfaced, like a dense web of circuits, and the raging Hela gradually grew calm.
Of course, Hela’s eyes were slowly opening, too.
As a colossal creature of the Abyss, Hela’s enormous body brought not only terrifying strength, but plenty of drawbacks as well. Its power wasn’t matched by its ability to control that power, which made it difficult to handle such a massive body. It couldn’t wake up all at once like an ordinary person.
In the past, Bexia had kept Hela’s power under perfect control. But so much time had passed, and even though Hela had only absorbed power passively, it still couldn’t control such an enormous amount of it.
Why were Abyssal Behemoths so violent? Because they had too much power inside them. It built up until they had to let it out—and there was only one obvious way to do that.
The Behemoths living in the Abyssal Sea were its darlings, and they cultivated at an incredibly fast pace. Ordinary Behemoths usually reached the Demon God level by adulthood, let alone one like Hela. Hela hadn’t even reached maturity yet; it was still only in the second stage, the growth phase.
Bexia had once placed a special contract on Hela. The two shared a natural affinity, so once the contract was activated, Hela wouldn’t attack him even on instinct—and it could also solve the problem of its “bulk.”
Of course, with Hela in its current state, that process would take quite a while!
“Woooo—!” Hela let out a strange sound, and invisible ripples spread in every direction. Every creature in the Abyssal Sea trembled beneath the waves, because Hela stood at the very top of the food chain.
Such a huge disturbance in the Abyssal Sea was bound to catch the attention of certain beings. And with a presence like Hela’s, countless demons would be watching this place. Even the slightest disturbance would draw their notice.
But those watchful gazes couldn’t reach this place. Lucifer had sealed off everything around them. Unless someone was far stronger than her, they couldn’t peer in from afar. Still, she couldn’t completely conceal Hela’s aura, so someone was bound to come and investigate.
Sure enough, a moment later, Lucifer furrowed her brow. Her wings beat once, sending countless conjured feathers flying. Every scout who’d been hiding was killed, and the beings much farther away grew wary.
But the more that happened, the more their curiosity refused to be quenched. Soon, even stronger demons arrived. They were so fast that Lucifer couldn’t hold them back with simple measures. She had no choice but to stop them herself.
“Who are you?” asked a demon with five dragon heads, eyeing Lucifer as she blocked its way. Her wings were half black and half white, radiating two different powers—darkness and light. The dragon-headed demon couldn’t tell that she was the same Lucifer as before.
“Lucifer, First Demon King under the Demon Lord.” Lucifer smiled faintly. Bexia had basically forced that title on her; it was all name and no substance. This was the first time she’d ever said it aloud—and the first time she’d claimed it for herself.
“Hahaha! Are you trying to be funny, demon?” All five of the dragon-headed demon’s heads laughed at once, but its hand was already moving. Its dragon claw reached for Lucifer.
Shing—!
But Lucifer was faster. She swung her sword, cutting off the dragon-headed demon’s entire claw, then swung again, slashing at it.
“Aaaagh—!” The dragon-headed demon’s body split in two, and it let out a scream. White flames consumed its powerful body, turning it to ash. There was no chance of regeneration.
But the dragon-headed demon still had a trick up its sleeve. Its soul fled its body and bolted without the slightest hesitation, its heart filled with terror. That female demon was terrifying. The sword strike had looked so slow, and it had thought of countless ways to dodge it—but its body hadn’t responded at all. It could only watch as it was cut in half.
That woman was terrifying!
So its first instinct was to run!
But it hadn’t gotten far before it discovered something even more terrifying. No matter how fast it flew, the next instant it would be back where it started, as if it had never moved at all.
“This is… the Power of Law-Severing!” The dragon-headed demon’s already shaken expression turned to sheer terror. The Power of Law-Severing shut off the laws within an area, leaving it in a state much like stillness. Only a handful of demons in the entire Abyss could wield this power!
And every one of them stood at the very top of the Abyss, a supreme demon ruling over its own territory!
“My lady, I…” The dragon-headed demon tried to call on the backing it had, hoping to escape with its life. But Lucifer gave it no such chance. She erased it from existence on the spot.
And yet the dragon-headed demon hadn’t truly died. Under normal circumstances, it should’ve been impossible for it to survive. But it possessed a unique talent: it could separate off part of its soul, and when its main body perished, the other part of its soul would awaken.
The price, however, was steep. And this talent could only be used once in a lifetime!
