"Come on."
"Stop holding back."
"I'm not holding back," said Captain Marvel.
She rubbed her fists, which were already beginning to ache from repeated collisions.
Then she charged forward again.
Now that Adrian fully understood Carol's strength, he stopped holding back as well.
With a powerful beat of his demonic wings, he rose into the air, lifting the massive blade high above his head before bringing it crashing down toward the ground.
BOOM!!!
Carol crossed her arms above her head and blocked the strike head-on.
A violent shockwave erupted outward.
In the distance, Hela stood beside the table with a cold expression.
Each time a shockwave spread toward the house, she casually waved a hand and erased it before the computer or furniture could be destroyed.
Being forced into the role of babysitter clearly irritated her.
If the two weren't deliberately fighting a fair duel—
She would have happily joined the battle and beaten Adrian senseless herself.
The battle continued.
Sky.
Ground.
Back to the sky again.
During the fight, Carol began to rediscover something she had almost forgotten.
Combat technique.
Ever since awakening her cosmic powers, most of her previous fighting skills had become irrelevant.
Why bother with technique when a single punch could destroy an enemy?
But now she realized something important.
The saying "one force can overcome ten techniques" only worked when your strength completely surpassed your opponent.
Against someone of equal power—
Technique suddenly mattered again.
A perfect example came to her mind.
During Avengers: Infinity War, Hulk had been overwhelmed by Thanos.
Did Thanos surpass Hulk in raw strength?
No.
He didn't even use the Power Stone.
He simply relied on superior combat skill to defeat someone who usually relied on brute force.
Carol was now experiencing that same lesson firsthand.
"Your sword is seriously annoying!"
Carol shouted.
She clasped both hands together and unleashed a concentrated burst of energy directly toward the descending blade.
Nearly an hour had passed since the fight began.
The demonic sword continued screaming in endless rage.
Yet despite the chaos—
Neither side had managed to win.
The demon within the blade constantly tried to corrupt Adrian's mind, attempting to seize control of his body.
So far it had only managed to corrupt half of Adrian's arm.
But the Demon Contract was about to expire.
Adrian suddenly flipped backward.
Then—
He threw the demonic sword directly toward Carol.
Midair, the blade transformed.
The weapon reshaped into the towering form of the Darkin warrior Aatrox, who grasped the sword and delivered one final devastating strike.
"Your lament…"
"…will sing my name!"
BOOM!
Carol punched forward.
When the shockwave cleared—
The demon was gone.
She looked toward Adrian in confusion.
"The sword just… vanished?"
Adrian ignored the question.
Instead, he activated the Demon Contract again.
"Let's see who shows up this time."
A second later—
Something changed.
Carol's eyes widened.
The entire left side of the battlefield suddenly turned blood red.
Even though Adrian had prepared himself—
Half his body was immediately seized.
A dark female voice echoed from the left side of his body.
"You resemble a human like Uldyssian."
"But you are not one of my children."
"Is this… another world?"
A slender, blood-covered hand—Adrian's own left hand—slowly reached up and touched his face.
The voice spoke again, fascinated.
"Your heart is even stronger than Uldyssian's."
"Perfect."
Adrian calmly grabbed the corrupted hand with his right hand and forced it away from his face.
"Are you done talking?"
He already knew who had appeared.
The demon inside him was none other than Lilith.
The Blood Mother.
Daughter of Mephisto, one of the Prime Evils of Hell.
She despised the eternal war between Heaven and Hell.
So she created Sanctuary.
And became the ancestor of the Nephalem.
Uldyssian—the human she had mentioned—was one of those Nephalem.
A man whose awakened power once shook both Heaven and Hell.
In the end, however, Uldyssian couldn't control the immense power within him.
Before his death, he sacrificed himself to give humanity time and hope.
"You summoned me…"
"…only for a test?"
Lilith looked through Adrian's eyes at Carol in the distance.
She sounded slightly disappointed.
But also intrigued.
After sensing Adrian's heart, she knew he wasn't the kind of person who would sell his soul out of desperation.
"Finished talking?" Adrian said flatly.
"Good."
"Then I'm taking control again."
He flipped his hair back and forced the demonic presence into submission.
Lilith's voice echoed softly.
"You felt no fear when I appeared."
"Diablo would hate you for that."
"Take my power."
Suddenly—
A cloud of crimson mist appeared across the battlefield.
It spread through the air like strands of blood-red silk.
Carol frowned slightly.
"What is this…?"
Adrian snapped his fingers.
The mist instantly condensed into hundreds of sharp crimson arrows.
"Should I call this…"
He grinned.
"Blood Gem Splash—twenty meter radius?"
With a flick of his hand—
The blood arrows shot toward Carol.
SSSSS—
One of the projectiles struck her shoulder and immediately evaporated.
But before it disappeared—
It produced a harsh sizzling sound.
Carol frowned.
"Is that… blood?"
"Or sulfuric acid?"
Her eyes narrowed as she looked toward Adrian.
And more importantly—
Toward the terrifying presence behind him.
Whatever that entity was…
It radiated a suffocating aura of blood and darkness.