CLANG!
The sharp clash of metal echoed through the room.
A broad giant sword blocked in front of Barrett's chest, with Demiurge's iron fist slamming into the sword.
The one gripping the giant sword was none other than EeDechi! Behind her, the wall had a massive hole smashed through it—EeDechi had burst in from there, blocking Demiurge's deadly strike.
"Heh." Demiurge sneered, stepping back to the stairwell.
"Stand down, I'll take care of him." EeDechi shifted her feet slightly, then exploded forward with a burst from her soles, swinging her sword at Demiurge in a fierce slash. The floor tiles shattered, shards flying everywhere. The entire building's foundation crumbled under EeDechi's stomp, and the structure collapsed with a thunderous roar.
Barrett hurried out of the building, only to see Demiurge leap upward, his body crashing through the roof and soaring into the sky.
"Third form, activate!" Under the blinding sun, Demiurge spread his wings wide.
Demiurge's body swelled rapidly, transforming in an instant into a massive demon several meters tall. Twisted horns sprouted from his head, hideous scales covered his tail, his enormous wings blazed with fire behind him, and his clenched iron fists were bigger than warhammers.
"No one's ever pushed me to unleash my third form!" Demiurge hovered in mid-air, glaring down at EeDechi below, his massive golden slit pupils brimming with fury.
He had to sacrifice his body's functions for a time to release the third form. After using it once, he'd need an extremely long recovery period. Even Demiurge had to follow the rules of Equivalent Exchange.
"Come on, show me what you've got." EeDechi leaned on her giant sword, standing tall on the ground.
"EeDechi, I've discovered your weakness. You're going to die soon." Demiurge hovered in the sky, the blazing flames on his wings turning the heavens a fiery red.
"What weakness?" EeDechi's face was full of disdain.
"I watched you for a long time in the ruins just now, and it turns out... you can't fly!" Demiurge threw his head back and laughed, his smile utterly hideous.
Level 100 powerhouses were basically all-round warriors, and Demiurge had never imagined that EeDechi couldn't fly.
EeDechi's expression suddenly turned serious—this was indeed one of her weaknesses. She could leap into the air with her powerful legs, but she had no way to stay aloft for long.
The sky wasn't her domain.
"I'm going to kill you from up here!!" Demiurge roared. He opened his massive maw lined with sharp fangs, and countless violent bolts of pale blue lightning spewed from his mouth, hurtling fiercely toward EeDechi!
The dense web of lightning blades plowed through the earth, carving deep furrows into the ground like wounds on the world. The lightning bolts intertwined endlessly, each one as thick as two people could wrap their arms around!
EeDechi dashed desperately through the forest of lightning, using her giant sword to block the bolts striking down on her head. Demiurge was right—not being able to fly was indeed a major weakness for EeDechi.
"Ah! Damn it!" EeDechi looked up at Demiurge's enormous body in the sky, feeling utterly helpless for the moment.
EeDechi jumped toward the sky several times, each leap reaching nearly a thousand meters high, but Demiurge reacted faster. He locked onto EeDechi's figure firmly, then flew away even quicker and more agilely to dodge.
The sky was Demiurge's home turf.
"I can chant spells without a care in the world, and you... there's nothing you can do!" Demiurge laughed wildly, his massive laughter carrying far into the distance before echoing back.
Demiurge looked down at EeDechi on the ground and began chanting spells.
9th Tier Magic: Black Death Meteor!
9th Tier Magic: Vermilion Nova!
10th Tier Magic: Breath of Lament!
10th Tier Magic: Dimensional Lock!
10th Tier Magic: Thunder Purgatory!
10th Tier Magic: Falling Sun!!
...
World-shattering magic swept through every corner, making the entire world, the whole earth tremble and weep. The insane explosions were deafening, and blinding flames of white light filled the entire space.
The wild magical energy erupted like a mountain-crushing wave, smashing everything to dust. Unmatched waves of intense heat rolled across the land, devouring all fragile life.
The higher the tier of the spell, the longer the chanting time, but since Demiurge was hovering in the sky, EeDechi couldn't threaten him. He had plenty of time to chant his spells.
Finally, the smoke cleared, the explosions subsided, and the earth was left in ruins. Demiurge's mana was completely spent. He floated high in the air, spotting EeDechi sprawled on the ground, her clothes tattered and charred.
EeDechi lay face down, not moving a muscle, black smoke rising from her body. Her back was crisscrossed with wounds, deep enough to see bone, and even the blood in them had dried up. Clearly, in that terrifying barrage of high-tier magic, EeDechi had been gravely wounded, her life hanging by a thread.
Demiurge slowly descended to the ground. He pulled a metal signpost from his personal storage space and grinned viciously. "I'll use this to chop off EeDechi's head!"
Suddenly, EeDechi's body twitched. It startled Demiurge into freezing in place, ready to fly back into the sky at any moment.
But Demiurge stood there watching for a bit, then burst into laughter, "HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! EeDechi is dumb as a post—she's so stupid it's off the charts!"
EeDechi's body, sprawled on the ground, flipped over—but it wasn't EeDechi moving herself. Instead, from the earth beneath her, Barrett, Franco, Antilene, and Cheeko crawled out.
EeDechi had used her own body to shield them from Demiurge's magical bombardment.
"Captain!"
"Captain!"
"Divine Envoy!"
"Meow! Meow!"
Barrett's hands trembled as he stroked EeDechi's cheek. Franco knelt on the ground, wailing to the heavens. A single clear tear welled up in Antilene's eyes. Cheeko kept licking EeDechi's face, trying to wake her master.
"AH!" Demiurge sighed skyward, his voice brimming with endless satisfaction. "EeDechi is finally dead. I've removed the thorn in Lord Ainz's side. Next, I'll slaughter the companions EeDechi protected with her dying breath!"
"Captain..." Barrett knelt dejectedly on the ground, his heart overflowing with boundless rage and pain.
Franco burst into sobs, tears and snot dripping down in patterns. "Waaah, Captain, you died so horribly! Captain, please wake up! If you wake up, I'll never hit the brothels again, never snatch up innocent girls, never make another guy wear the horns, waaah, my Captain..."
"What are you mourning for?"
EeDechi sat bolt upright, staring at Franco with a blank expression.
"You're alive!"
Barrett, Franco, and Cheeko excitedly hugged EeDechi tight. Antilene was thrilled too, but realizing her slip, she wiped the tear from the corner of her eye with her sleeve and returned to her usual cold expression.
EeDechi shoved them away impatiently, saying helplessly, "I was planning to play dead, lure Demiurge over, and then hit him with a surprise attack. I didn't expect you guys to get so worked up."
"What a shame, but my mana has recovered a fair bit. Let's keep playing our magic bombardment game." Demiurge's face turned ashen as he kicked off the ground and flew back into the sky.