Volume One: The Nature of the Devil Does Not Change, and the Heart of the Dead Devil Regrets Nothing
Ikalat stared at Lin Yuan, cold anger burning in his chest.
"Are you trying to start trouble, you idiot?"
In the next instant, Ikalat lifted his hand toward Lin Yuan—
Black chains erupted from the ground and wrapped around Lin Yuan, binding him tight. Lin Yuan roared as he strained against them:
"Move, you moron!! Behind you!!"
Ikalat's instincts screamed: Move!
He reacted immediately—darting away at terrifying speed, narrowly evading the strike that would've erased him.
A gigantic dagger, large enough to rival several houses, swept through the air and shaved the space in front of him clean, as if the world itself had been wiped.
It was a black dagger with a silver sheen, chains hanging from it…
Then it was yanked backward, as if an unseen hand had recalled it.
Lin Yuan, Ikalat, and Scarlet King turned at the same time.
A colossal blue space-time gate stood there, as wide as the entire village.
And from within it…
Eleven massive golems stepped out.
The smaller ones wore armor and carried weapons—daggers, swords, spears, and more. Each was around two hundred meters tall.
But the largest among them wore a stone crown and stood twice the size of the others. No weapon—only his fists.
A mocking smile sat on his face as he spoke in a deep, cold voice:
"Ikalat… you filthy traitor who fled from the Sect of Chaos Beings… hehehe. What a distant, delusional dream—stealing the sect's treasures and selling them to enemies. The punishment is execution."
Ikalat raised his hand, calm as ever. Chains reshaped into razor-edged dagger forms. He hurled them at one of the golems and pulled hard—dragging it violently, smashing it into another golem.
Then Ikalat spoke, pressing each word like a blade:
"I didn't steal anything. It was all slander from that whore… the daughter of the Eleventh Sect Leader."
The commander's voice snapped into furious rage:
"How dare you insult the young lady?!"
He lunged toward Ikalat—
But Scarlet King appeared beside him like a ghost.
A savage punch slammed into the commander's face and shattered the left side of it like cracking glass, sending the giant crashing to the ground.
Scarlet King moved again—snapping a spear in half with his elbow, then driving a fist into the spear-wielding golem's face.
A sword-bearing golem rushed Scarlet King—
Chains wrapped around it and locked its movement.
Ikalat.
Then—
A red beam punched straight through the sword golem's head.
Lin Yuan.
Scarlet King leapt with monstrous force and crushed the golem's body into fragments, then returned to Ikalat and Lin Yuan's side.
And in a blink—
The commander was behind the three, striking all of them at once and blasting them into the air.
He moved again and drove a crushing hit into Scarlet King, launching him toward the mountain.
Scarlet King spat a mouthful of blood.
Lin Yuan slammed into the trees.
Ikalat fell…
into the commander's hand.
The commander laughed loudly, dripping with contempt:
"Praise the heavens… if not for the Law that locks dimensional power—and the narrative restriction binding this story—this entire dimension would've been destroyed by that blow. I'm not even using a single speck of my real strength… as a mere servant of the Chaos Beings."
Scarlet King thought with icy calm:
(What a shame… those golems were full of primal stones… and I failed.)
Lin Yuan coughed violently after the brutal fall, blood splattering onto the ground as he thought:
(Damn it… what is happening? I came to investigate why the villagers disappeared—so what the hell is this?)
Ikalat, crushed inside the commander's grip, thought with bitterness and frustration:
(Five hundred years of running… and I get caught this easily. Looks like I have to accept defeat.)
Then—
Scarlet King burst from the mountain and drove a fist into the commander's face with overwhelming power, crushing the right side of it and forcing him backward.
That single recoil gave Ikalat the opening he needed to rip free.
Scarlet King shouted at Lin Yuan and Ikalat:
"Handle the smaller golems! I'll deal with the commander alone!"
Lin Yuan reappeared and fired a red beam at one of the golems.
At the same time, Ikalat grabbed a golem with ease and hurled it into another—destroying them both.
And Scarlet King…
He rained blows like thunder onto the commander, forcing him back again and again, leaving him barely able to parry.
The commander finally threw a punch at Scarlet King that should've crushed him into the earth—
But Scarlet King caught it at the last second, blocking it with one hand.
Suddenly—
The shadow appeared behind the commander and smashed his head with a heavy strike, knocking him down.
Scarlet King sprang high into the air and dropped like a projectile toward the commander's head—
CRACK.
The head shattered on impact.
But the commander's arms moved with terrifying speed and clapped Scarlet King between his palms—
Only for the commander's hands to shatter instead.
Scarlet King shouted at the shadow:
"Devour him!!"
The shadow expanded, seized the commander, and dragged him into the Sealed World of Shadows.
Scarlet King turned back to Lin Yuan and Ikalat—
They had already finished off the last golem, walking toward him with satisfied smiles… except Scarlet King, whose face remained completely expressionless.
Nothing remained but the sound of cold wind—
Until Lin Yuan broke the silence:
"I think… we've become a pretty great team now."
Ikalat dropped to the ground, exhausted, breathing hard.
"I should thank you… hah… without your help… I would've died today."
Scarlet King answered in a flat voice as the shadow slipped back beneath his feet:
"You're welcome. Now… give me all the primal stones in your spatial ring."
End of the chapter.