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Dante looked up at the dragon with his barely opened eyes.
'Lucifero....what is that thing?' asked Dante.
'That's a dragon, an ancient one at that.....get out of here in any way possible.'
'Is he that strong?'
'We might have a chance if you can unlock 100% of my power, or if I come up to this world, but right now we stand no chance...' told the devil in a grim tone.
The appearance of the dragon has thwarted their plans a lot now. Lucifero had fought dragons before, and all his experiences regarding that were bad ones.
Dragons were beings who were mostly described as prideful lizards, but there is a reason why dragons were so prideful. He had known that first-hand and was not willing to experience that again, and that too when their plans were almost complete.
Dante's body magic activated, and he visibly started healing.
"Phew, he is alive," said Vritra in relief.
"...Great, another one of those cockroach, reviving devils," said Sekke in annoyance.
"Oh yeah, he is regenerating like the devil we fought in the shadow palace," noted Vritra, remembering the time when he first got to transform back to his body.
'What about Yami Sukehiro's dark magic?' asked Dante.
'It's regrettable, but we will have to wait for another chance, when that man is away from the dragon. For now, getting away from here is our priority.' replied Lucifero.
Dante nodded, and the moment he got healed, he flew away from Sekke and the rest of the black bulls.
"I will come back for you, Yami Suk-" declared Dante before he crashed into an invisible wall.
"Huh? You were saying something?" asked Yami, busy arranging the money that his squad bet on.
Dante looked at the invisible wall and punched it with all his might to shatter it and get out of there, but the wall didn't budge.
[Gravity Magic: Evil God's Pressure Craft]
Earth and stone flew up in the air before they got compressed by the gravity magic and were moulded into giant swords.
Once multiple swords were formed, Dante used his gravity magic to make them even heavier and fired them towards the barrier.
The moment the swords struck the barrier, they broke apart, making the devil host look at the scene with disbelief.
"You done?" asked Vritra, waiting for the devil to get back so that he could make it regret its existence.
Dante looked at the dragon with an expression filled with hate.
"You!!! Don't you dare look down on me!!!! I am Dante of the Dark Triad!!!! The devil host of the strongest devil, Lucifero!!!! I will show you my might!!!"
[Gravity Magic: Gravity Singularity]
A black hole formed in front of Dante, which he fired immediately at the dragon in front of him.
Vritra's expression brightened at the sight of the attack.
"Finally!!! A worthy attack for the Prison Dragon King!!!" exclaimed Vritra.
"You do know that's a black hole, right?"
"Doesn't matter!!!" replied Vritra as a large amount of tentacles shot out of his body.
The world's mana began to surge, drawn toward Vritra. His scales glowed brighter and brighter as power flooded him.
The tentacles gathered together, forming massive dragon mouths, all of which were aimed at Dante.
The Black Hole was coming towards Vritra and was growing in size as it came closer. Anything that came in its path was sucked inside it and was destroyed.
Despite that, Vritra remained unfazed. Right now, he was busy gathering energy for his attack.
Ominous power gathered in Vritra's and the tentacle dragon's mouth. A dreadful feeling was oozing out from that power.
The beams of mana were fired towards the black hole, and immediately, the black hole started to absorb the attack.
Danter smirked at that; however, his smile vanished when he saw his black hole shrinking rapidly.
'What's that attack?' asked Sekke.
"That is the amalgamation of my killing curses and my flames. A flame so hot and so cursed that anything it touches starts to die out. Right now, that black hole is dying as we talk," answered Vritra.
However, before the attack could finish 'killing' the black hole.
Vritra's body glowed before transforming back into Sekke's.
[Mana Zone: Bronze Age]
The surrounding lit up as the black hole and Vritra's attack was disintegrated into pure mana.
'MY OTHER HALF? WHY?!' asked Vritra.
'Your attack was not 'killing' the black hole. It was 'killing' then mana.' replied Sekke.
'So? What difference does it make?'
'The mana was screeching in pain and begging me for mercy. How could I let it die when I am the Mana King? Don't use such attacks on mana Vritra.'
'Hmph, some mana dying won't cause a big issue.'
'It won't, but they are technically my subjects. Don't kill them. You are my other half; don't do things that might be displeasing to me.If the mana has sworn its loyalty to me, it's my responsibility to protect it,' replied Sekke calmly.
'...I understand,' muttered the Dragon King. He couldn't sense the mana's feelings, but he knew the pain of watching loyal followers die before him. The memory of his fellow dragons being slain by the gods flashed in his mind, and it silenced his rage.
"Good. Then let's finish this and capture him. It will have more benefit than killing him anyway," replied Sekke as his sacred gears appeared on his body.
In a flash of light, Sekke appeared in front of Dante, who was still surprised by the events that had happened just now.
A mana bullet formed in Sekke's hand as he fired it at Dante.
[Debuff Magic: Sleep]
The mana bullet struck Dante as he started to feel lethargic.
"Wh-What did yo...." muttered Dante before his body fell lifelessly.
"Nighty night," muttered Sekke as two absorption lines shot forward and wrapped around Dante.
Mana started to get drained by Dante, and after a while, all the mana in his body was absorbed by Sekke.
"Well, one of these devil hosts is down."
"Yay!!! I won!!!!" yelled Asta.
Sekke looked at his friends, where Asta was celebrating winning the bet that Yami set up.
Yami, on the other hand, was accusing Asta of cheating and started crushing his skull.
Seeing them like that, Sekke sighed and shook his head. He then dispelled the barriers that he had set up and dragged the unconscious Dante to the other black bulls.
"If you are done with your antics, then tell me what I should do with this?" asked Sekke before tossing Dante towards Yami.
"Oi brat, could you not have messed with this asshole a bit longer? *Sigh*, you made me lose quite a bit of money," muttered Yami in annoyance before he focused on Dante.
"Should we kill him?" asked Yami.
"I don't know. Do we need to extract information from him?" asked Sekke back.
"Information will be helpful, but letting a threat of this level being set free is dangerous," replied Yami.
The rest of the Black Bulls remained silent. Even Asta didn't put forward his thoughts.
They were weak when compared to the man who lay unconscious in front of them, so they couldn't confidently say that they would hold him back if he gained consciousness and caused havoc among other people and the kingdom.
"For now, let's restrain him and ask the Wizard King to store him somewhere safe and isolated," suggested Sekke.
"Seems the best plan of action. Having the old man's opinion here might be better," replied Yami and nodded.
Their Grimoires started flipping.
[Dark Restraining Magic: Dark Bind]
[Bronze Restraining Magic: Bronze Shackle]
The two magics restrained the Devil Host.
Yami and Sekke looked at him for a while, and then Yami turned towards Finral.
"Finral, suspend his head and limbs in space portals. If he tries anything, cut off his head," ordered Yami seriously. At the moment, only Sekke was able to subdue the devil host. If he awakens when Sekke is not nearby, there is a chance that he can cause some serious trouble.
Finral widened his eyes in surprise. This was quite a brutal order that he received.
"I am lacking mana right now. And even when I gain some, suspending him through portals will take quite a bit of mana," replied Finral.
"We could do it if Charmy were here..." muttered Vanessa.
"I will take care of your mana problem," said Sekke and walked toward Finral.
[Sun Spirit Magic: Ra's Blessing]
A small bird made of divine light appeared above Sekke's hand and flew towards Finral.
It touched Finral's forehead and vanished in a burst of golden light, leaving behind a glowing bird-shaped mark.
"Wh-What is this? My mana..." muttered Finral in surprise.
"This is one of my sun magic spells. As long as you don't betray the bird, you won't be falling short on mana. The first spell that you use after this will be treated as your trust. For the whole day, you can only use that spell. If you use another spell, the trust is broken and the blessing disappears. It will last for about a day, after which I will have to bless you again," explained Sekke.
"Such an amazing spell exists!!!!" yelled Finral.
The others looked at Sekke in shock as well. This spell was something that could literally change the situation on a battlefield.
"...If I can use Rouge without falling short on mana..." muttered Vanessa.
Even Sekke blinked at that. The continuous manipulation of fate in their favour? That was absurdly OP.
"....Wait, the only reason I could not use [Mirror Brigade] on Sekke is because his mana is vastly greater than mine...if we use this spell...." muttered Gauche.
All of them looked at Gauche...a whole army of Dark Lords wrecking havoc on the battlefield...this made all of them shiver.
"That does sound amazing, but it doesn't work like that. Your mana won't fall below zero, but you can't cast spells that require more mana than you have. You still can't make clones of me," replied Sekke, breaking them out of their shock.
All of them unconsciously sighed. There was some semblance of balance left in this spell.
"However, you can make copies of all the other black bulls....endlessly at that," replied Sekke with a smirk.
"..."
The semblance of balance was shattered once again.
"...A whole army of black bulls, powered by an army of Charmy that will continuously make food and keep the army recharged," muttered Yami as a smirk appeared on his face.
"That, coupled with an army of me and Rouge, too...." added Vanessa.
"An army that is not hurt by anyone and keeps on refilling on mana..." muttered Gauche.
"...An extremely outrageous spell," muttered Grey.
All of them nodded and looked at the Dark Lord.
"How many outrageous spells do you have?" asked Yami.
"Too many. Some are even more dangerous than this," replied Sekke nonchalantly.
"...I am so glad that Sekke is on our side," said Asta.
Suddenly Sekke's communicator started ringing again.
"Dark Lord, this side," answered Sekke.
"Sekke. One of the Dark Triad and her Dark Disciples are attacking the Heart Kingdom," informed Secre, whose voice came from the communicator.
At her words, the Black Bulls turned serious.
"They are attacking there too...I am coming," replied Sekke in a serious tone.
"Let's go!!! We need to save the Heart Kingdom!!!" declared Asta.
Sekke shook his head.
"You all stay here. Finral can't use the [Fallen Angel's Gate] right now. You all will cause more delay. I will go and settle the situation there," replied Sekke.
"Will you be able to arrive on time?" asked Finral.
"I have a personal ripoff teleportation as well. Thankfully, the sun hasn't set yet," muttered Sekke.
[Sun Spirit Magic: Glorious Arrival]
A radiant glow enveloped Sekke as his body blurred in golden light.
Moments later, Sekke appeared high above the Heart Kingdom.
A brilliant, divine radiance burst from him, illuminating the sky.
"Do not worry anymore!!! You ask why?!?!" asked Sekke with a huge smile on his face before his figure blurred once again.
Another moment later, he appeared in the training area where Noelle trained.
"It's because I am here!!!!" yelled Sekke as he sliced off the Devil lady's head.
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[Sun Spirit Magic: Glorious Arrival]: The spell teleports the user to any place of his choice where sunlight is falling creating a grand, radiant entrance befitting a king by enveloping the surroundings in a bright light.