"BOOM!!!"
Within the dilapidated castle, an explosion of fire surged upward like a pillar of light, piercing through the ceiling and igniting the very atmosphere.
In the royal hall, which had transformed into a sea of fire, Stella—wielding her massive sword of flames—looked like Surtr, the fire giant of Norse mythology who brought about Ragnarok to slaughter the gods and destroy the world. The "Lævateinn" in her hand at this moment was the demonic blade of blazing heat capable of incinerating everything. A single strike shattered the earth and whipped up a colossal wave of fire.
This sword cut through everything in its path—the ceiling, the floor, the walls—as if slicing through butter, before finally unleashing a wave of destructive fire that bloomed like an explosion.
This level of destructive power had faintly surpassed the realm of an Ultimate-class Devil and reached the level of a Maou.
Fortunately, this royal hall was specially reinforced. Not only was it vast enough to accommodate the free movement of giant dragons, but even after such a massive disturbance that caused the rest of the castle to collapse, this area remained undamaged, showing its impressive durability.
Thus, Stella's strike, which originally should have been enough to blow up the entire castle, was ultimately confined within this royal hall and did not burst outside.
Even so, Kanna, who was waiting anxiously outside, was blown away by the heatwave along with the soap bubble trapping her. The explosive flames also spewed through the open doors into the outer corridor, igniting the entire top floor of the castle.
Facing such an attack, Leon couldn't dodge even if he wanted to.
Consequently, he unhesitatingly used "Natural Hope" to transform into flames, merging with the surrounding sea of fire to evade this stunningly powerful blow.
By the time he reappeared from the flames and took human form, Stella had actually raised her flaming sword once again to strike him.
"Katharterio Salamandra" was an incorporeal sword of scorching heat. It allowed Stella's attack range to leap from less than two meters to over a hundred meters in length, yet it didn't feel heavy at all. On the contrary, she could swing it as freely as her original blade.
In other words, if one strike failed, Stella could swing a second, a third, even a hundredth, a thousandth, or a ten-thousandth time. As long as the dragon power within her body was not exhausted, she could keep swinging until her strength gave out.
Now that she had been reincarnated as a Devil and gained demonic power, "Katharterio Salamandra" could naturally be maintained for much longer. While she might not literally swing it ten thousand times, hundreds of strikes were no problem.
Thus, just as Leon regained human form, Stella's massive sword of fire came crashing down again, carrying a terrifying heat that melted everything.
"BOOM!!!"
Another earth-shattering roar and an overwhelming wave of fire erupted. Another section of the royal hall was blasted apart, turning into a molten pit that emitted a scorched, burning smell.
This time, Leon had folded his Devil wings at his side, blocking the direction of the explosive flames to avoid a direct hit. However, the flames still engulfed him, causing him to be shot out of the high-heat zone like a man on fire, smashing through a pillar.
Stella was relentless. She swung a third time at Leon as he was being knocked back through the air, sending the massive sword of fire chasing after his afterimage, trailing waves of flame and phosphorescence.
Faced with this strike, Leon could finally no longer maintain a calm defensive posture.
"BANG!!!"
Just as the massive sword of fire was about to hit Leon, a thick bolt of lightning suddenly shot out from his body to meet the incoming blade, clashing violently with the edge of the sword.
A dull explosion rang out. The thick lightning and the massive sword of fire clashed fiercely, causing sparks and electric arcs to fly in all directions.
Leon's momentum stopped mid-air, and he immediately released another thick bolt of lightning, booming against the massive sword.
"BANG!!!"
The direct hit from the second bolt of lightning became the straw that broke the camel's back, forcing the massive sword of fire to be repelled by an irresistible force.
Stella was also forced to throw her sword arm wide due to the recoil, leaving her front completely exposed.
Swish!
With a flap of his Devil wings, Leon erupted with staggering speed and charged right in front of Stella.
With the increase in the number of his wings, Leon had discovered that his flight speed was becoming faster and faster. Even without the reinforcement of demonic power, he could burst forth with terrifying speed. This level of speed was not inferior even when compared to close-combat experts of the same rank; those without a speed advantage might find themselves far outmatched by him.
Therefore, Leon unhesitatingly showcased this extreme speed, closing the distance to Stella and throwing a punch.
He intended to knock Stella unconscious. After all, if he could avoid hurting her, it was best not to.
But facts proved that his thinking was too naive; he had underestimated this princess.
"Dragon Stomp."
The beautiful, completely unclothed girl suddenly raised a long, slender leg and stomped violently against the ground.
"RUMBLE!"
Instantly, the ground beneath Stella's feet shook. Centered on her body, it shattered into a spiderweb pattern in a split second.
The vibration reflecting from the ground transformed into a shockwave in an unconventional manner, actually blasting the approaching Leon away on the spot.
The terrifying force of the impact made Leon feel as if he had been uprooted, tossed into the air like a toy, nearly hitting the ceiling.
Then, Stella swung the flaming sword fiercely, striking Leon and seemingly blowing his body apart.
Psch!
Leon's body was severed in two at the waist. The edges of the cut glowed red, looking exactly like melted steel.
Against anyone else, this strike would have been enough to decide the match.
However, Leon's severed halves gradually turned into lightning and soon welded back together, returning to his original state.
"Well now, it seems holding back really isn't going to work."
There was both surprise and joy in Leon's eyes as he looked at Stella.
If the opponent were his enemy and he found he had underestimated them, Leon certainly wouldn't be joyful. He wasn't a battle maniac like Vali or Cao Cao; why would he be happy instead of alarmed by an enemy's strength?
But the opponent was not his enemy, but rather his Peerage servant. That was a different story.
"To be able to control dragon flames so freely and burst out with that degree of immense strength, combined with that sword that reinforces dragon bloodlines and dragon power... even if she were fighting a Maou, Stella shouldn't feel any pressure at all."
This was another combatant comparable to a Maou!
Leon never expected that while being trapped in the Dimensional Gap—though he suffered from the inability to escape—he would consecutively gain two servants with Maou-class (Dragon King-class) combat power. Truly, a great crisis brings a great reward.
Unfortunately, Stella herself couldn't feel Leon's joy.
She was currently left with nothing but defensive instincts derived from her dragon bloodline, so she would only continuously attack the enemy until they fell.
"Tear the enemy apart and consume them—"
The girl raised the dragon sword once more, releasing raging flames.
"Hell Dragon's Maw."
Stella pointed the flame sword at Leon. The flames on the blade immediately writhed, transforming in an instant into crimson flame dragons that roared across the battlefield.
Seven flame dragons flew out in a crisscross pattern, opening their massive jaws to bite at Leon. The heat they carried was perhaps even more terrifying than the sword of fire from before.
In response, Leon simply flicked his fingers, snapping out seven bolts of lightning in an instant. The lightning transformed into threads of electricity, meeting the incoming flame dragons head-on.
"BANG!" "BANG!" "BANG!" "BANG!" "BANG!" "BANG!" "BANG!"
Following seven explosive sounds, the seven menacing flame dragons were easily crushed by the lightning, dispersing into a mist of fire and vanishing without a trace.
Leon's movements did not stop. He flicked his finger again, snapping out an even thicker bolt of lightning.
The lightning instantly tore through the atmosphere, pierced the sea of fire, and struck Stella's body.
"BOOM!"
Struck by the lightning, Stella was sent flying backward, her feet carving massive furrows into the ground.
The flames enveloping her body dispersed significantly, and scorched smoke rose from her skin, proving that the previous strike had indeed wounded her.
Leon did not hold back. He continued to snap out lightning, unleashing several bolts in succession, looking as if he intended to overwhelm Stella.
Since he no longer intended to pull his punches, Leon naturally wouldn't worry about whether he might hurt Stella; he only had to make sure he didn't deal a fatal blow.
And with Leon using his true abilities, his strength was naturally not something Stella could handle.
With the reinforcement of "Lævateinn," Stella was at most comparable to a Maou-class. Meanwhile, Leon was already a highest-tier twelve-winged Devil; his base state was equivalent to a Maou-class. Not to mention he had obtained the demonic power traits of both lightning and fire. Using these two traits to reinforce the lightning and fire powers of "Zenith Tempest," the result was a multi-fold increase in power, already far exceeding the scope of the Maou-class.
Yes.
The current Leon, even without using Balance Breaker, possessed Super Maou-class strength.
Although this was limited to his lightning and fire attributes being in the Super Maou-class range, the lightning power he was currently using was enough to crush the present Stella.
"Dragon's Roar!"
Stella also seemed to sense the crisis, and her entire body released a stunning amount of light and heat.
The light and heat surged from Stella's body like jetting plumes of flame, scattering in all directions and expanding until the entire royal hall was engulfed in a wave of light and heat.
This heatwave naturally swallowed the lightning released by Leon, crashing into it with a roar.
The lightning dispersed one layer of the heatwave, but another layer immediately followed. The heatwaves met the lightning continuously, causing the lightning's power to diminish by a fraction with every layer it broke. By the time it reached Stella, its power was greatly reduced and was neutralized by the flames burning on her body.
"Dragon's Nest!"
Stella lightly spun the dragon sword in her hand, reversed her grip, and stabbed it forcefully into the ground, burying the blade deep into the earth.
"BOOM!!!"
In the next second, from the countless cracks crawling across the entire floor, beams of light so intense they were impossible to look at erupted like geysers of blood.
The intense light tore through the earth, causing crimson lava to gush out.
Seeing this, Leon flapped the Devil wings on his back and shot toward the sky. He even flew out of the royal hall and the castle itself, barely evading the countless spurting geysers of lava.
Hovering in mid-air, he looked down at the castle below. What met his eyes was the sight of the entire castle being swallowed by lava, sinking into a sea of fire as it burned.
"Truly exaggerated power," Leon praised helplessly.
Dragons were essentially the crystallization of power, excelling most at destruction. Stella, who possessed a high-purity dragon bloodline, seemed to have inherited this trait, displaying inhuman destructive capabilities.
In terms of pure destructive power alone, Stella might already be stronger than dragons of the same rank.
If Stella's opponent weren't himself, but a human with a fragile body like Cao Cao, then if Cao Cao didn't use Truth Idea to gamble on his luck, he might actually fall to this terrifying destructive force.
Of course, if Cao Cao had formulated a relevant strategy or had a policy to restrict this destruction, that would be a different matter.
And if the opponent were Vali, Stella would likely be suppressed quite miserably.
It couldn't be helped; Vali's "Divine Dividing" was a specialized counter to this type of power-based warrior. The ability to halve power was a natural nemesis to a being like Stella; it would be hard for her not to lose.
Leon, however, did not belong to either of the specialized categories above. He didn't have any flashy abilities, so there was no counter-relationship between him and Stella.
This was also because Stella controlled dragon flames. Although it was a fire-attribute ability, the flames mostly contained dragon power. Otherwise, Leon could have completely used "Zenith Tempest" to dominate the fire attribute, taking control of Stella's flames.
This was the same reason why, when Kanna used her electric breath earlier, Leon likewise didn't use "Zenith Tempest" to dominate that electricity. Because the core of their power was ultimately dragon power, if Leon wanted to control their fire and lightning through attribute domination, he would at least be unable to do so as easily as moving his own limbs.
Therefore—
"I can only win through pure strength."
Seeing Stella unfurl massive dragon wings behind her back and fly out from the burning castle, charging toward him, Leon's entire body erupted with a terrifying pure white aura.
He reached out his hand, gathering an immense amount of lightning power in his palm.
The lightning was rampaging, turning into endless flashes of light that he gripped tightly in his hand.
"This move shall be called Chidori."
Once again plagiarizing a familiar move from his memories, Leon flapped his Devil wings and shot toward Stella.
Stella raised the dragon sword, burning with raging flames, and slashed at Leon.
However, in the blink of an eye, Leon transformed into a bolt of lightning, instantly flashing in front of Stella.
Psch!
His palm, flickering with dazzling lightning, sliced across Stella's body, causing her form to freeze in mid-air.
Only then did Leon's figure reappear behind Stella, the lightning in his hand gradually fading.
Shortly after, the flames on Stella's body extinguished, and she began to plummet toward the ground.
Leon turned and caught her, flying toward the castle before vanishing in the air.
-----------------------------------------------
I handpick only the finest and most captivating novels for you. Don't forget to check out my other novels!
p@treon HongMengZi