Morpheus, also known as the Lord of Nightmares, had a long-standing hatred for Arthur Mariette. It all started long ago when Arthur was a world-famous criminal. He had once invaded the demon realm by changing his appearance and managed to make two demon lords fall in love with him.
Slowly, he manipulated them into fighting each other. While they were busy with their battle, Arthur robbed them of their weapons, essence stones, and many secrets, then fled. The fight only stopped when one of the demon lords died. The survivor was none other than Morpheus.
Later, Morpheus found out that Arthur had made a fool out of both of them in front of the whole world. This filled him with a burning rage. Even Lortell and the entire Mariette family knew that it wouldn't be much of a surprise if he attacked them for revenge. And now, that day had finally come.
Even though Arthur was dead, Morpheus decided to use this opportunity to take his revenge on the Mariette family. He even invited the Lord of Anomaly, Horax, to help him.
Dealing with two demon lords was tough, but no one could have predicted that angels would suddenly descend and become a major obstacle in his plan.
***
Down below, Emma used her earth affinity to cut open an exit. She, Ethan, Cassandra, Violet, and Sylvania immediately tried to escape through it. But just before they could get outside, Verdes slammed his hand on the ground again. Vines shot up and sealed the exit, trapping them inside.
At the same time, Lortell created a thick ceiling made of pure blood to defend them from any attacks from Raguel or Morpheus.
BAM!
BAM!
The shockwaves from the battle between the two powerful beings slammed into the blood ceiling again and again. Each time, Lortell reinforced it, it just cracks again.
"Selene, give me my weapon!" Esdeath shouted as she ran toward her.
"Here!" Selene yelled back, tossing a small, jelly-like ball through the air. It instantly morphed into a deadly scythe, which Esdeath caught smoothly. Maruti followed quietly behind her, and behind her, Ravenna came too.
"Take Selene and get out of here!" Esdeath ordered, looking at Maruti.
"What? No! I want to fight the demon lords!" Maruti immediately rejected the idea, her face twisting in disappointment.
"Yes, I don't want to leave you either!" Selene said, hugging esdeath tightly.
"You've already done more than enough. Now just be a good girl and agree!" Esdeath snapped, her voice sharp with impatience. Every single second was precious right now.
"O-okay," Selene mumbled, looking down at the ground.
A complete chaos was already erupting inside, and it was hard to even tell who was fighting who anymore.
"At least let me stay—" Maruti started to say, but before she could finish, Kailith grabbed her by the collar. "You are coming with me," she said, not even giving Maruti a chance to speak. With a powerful heave, she hoisted Maruti over her shoulder.
"Ravenna, follow us!" Kailith commanded, then took off running, leading the way.
Ravenna nodded and followed, with Alice right behind her. Brenna grabbed Selene's hand and ran with them as well. Brenna was the weakest one there, and she was already feeling dizzy from Morpheus's earlier attack. But knowing she was with Kailith and the others, she held onto her courage and hid her panic deep inside.
As they ran toward the main entrance, they saw Maddie and Scarlet fighting the octopus-headed creature, Horax. Scarlet slammed her spear directly into Horax's chest. The moment it landed, Horax was sent flying backward, smashing through the stone walls behind him. The group didn't give him a second thought and used the distraction as their chance to escape through the main exit.
"My lady, you should go and help Lortell. I'll keep him in check!" Scarlet said, her voice full of confidence.
"You sure?" Maddie asked, a hint of worry in her eyes.
Scarlet nodded firmly. "Yes!" she said, then turned and ran toward the spot where Horax had disappeared into the rubble.
---
"Meldia, forget about killing! Just protect Esdeath. I'll go and take care of those two!" Lortell shouted. She realized she was just wasting her time by defending, and decided it was time to change her strategy.
At the same time, in the middle of the chaos, Ethan spotted a weak point in the vines. With a powerful slash of his sword, he tore a huge opening in the wall of plants. "Everyone, run!" he yelled, leading his team through the gap. Verdes couldn't close it in time, and because of this, Ethan and his team successfully managed to escape outside to different room.
"Meldia, come with me! I won't let them escape alive!" Esdeath snarled, running toward the exit Ethan had just created.
Unlike before, when Esdeath needed Ethan and his team for her own purposes, they were now useless to her. She decided it was better to get rid of them now. Meldia nodded and ran behind Esdeath, ready to both protect her and attack Ethan's team.
"Shadow armor!" Meldia whispered. The next second, a black, foggy layer appeared on Esdeath's body, covering her like a second skin.
---
At the same time, high in the air, Raguel and Morpheus exchanged multiple blows. They were evenly matched, but Raguel's expression was grim.
Unlike Morpheus, she only had a few minutes left before she had to return to her realm. "Wait a moment," she said, panting slightly. "Aren't we just wasting each other's time? How about we team up instead? You can do whatever you want afterward, just let us kill Esdeath!" she proposed.
"Esdeath? Who's that?" Morpheus asked, confused.
"It doesn't matter. Do you accept or not?" Raguel pressed.
"Okay," Morpheus agreed. He also knew that if they kept fighting, Lortell would be the only one to benefit in the end.
"Angels, forget about the demons! Find and attack Esdeath instead!" Raguel commanded her forces.
"You are not attacking anyone!" Maddie's voice boomed. She flew up into the air with incredible speed, and in just a few seconds, she was floating above both Raguel and Morpheus.
She conjured a fist of fire. "Phoenix punch!" she shouted, throwing her fist forward. A massive wave of red fire erupted from her, heading straight for both of them.
"I'll block it!" Raguel shouted, flying forward. She formed a large, golden shield that blocked the main force of Maddie's attack. But the shield only covered a small area. The rest of the blazing fire flew past it and burned a path two hundred meters long across the landscape, turning everything to ash.
Before they could even catch their breath, "Blood Sea!" Lortell's voice echoed from below. Hundreds, if not thousands, of weapons made of blood—spears, swords, and arrows—shot toward them like a rising tide.
"MARIETTE!" Morpheus roared in fury. He opened a huge vortex of purple fog that spread rapidly. The moment all the blood weapons touched the fog, they slowed down, as if falling asleep. The next second, they all melted back into liquid blood and rained down toward the ground.
"It made my weapons fall asleep?" Lortell thought to herself, slightly amazed.
But before the blood could hit the soil and be lost, she took control of it again. She gathered it all, merging it into a single, condensed ball that floated directly into her hand. She quietly took the ball of blood and swallowed it in one gulp.
"Yawn! You better go back to where you came from!" Maddie said, letting out a huge yawn. Her energy seemed to be draining quickly. Lortell immediately flew to her side and smacked her firmly on the back of the head. "Don't fall asleep! It'll be very hard to wake you up!" she warned.
Maddie shook her head, trying to shake off the dizziness. "I can't even detect when he uses these kinds of tricks," she muttered.
Although Lortell had an advantage, as a vampire, she rarely needed sleep. Morpheus's secret attacks had very little effect on her. Not only that, but she could make slight changes to her own blood to shake off the dizziness completely.
"Let's attack with our combined strength," Raguel suggested. Morpheus nodded and moved beside her, placing his hand on her spear.
"Combined Killer Move—The Slumber Strike!" they shouted in unison.
Splash... Splash... Splash...
A huge burst of energy shot forth from the spear, so powerful it looked like it was piercing the very sky. The energy glowed with a mix of golden and dark purple light.
Normally, using a combined killer move was incredibly difficult. Both people had to practice it for a long time, and they needed complimenting essence stones and similar mastery levels. But Raguel and Morpheus were not ordinary people who could be defined by common logic. Both were over a thousand years old, with immense mastery and knowledge. They pulled it off perfectly on their first try.
The Slumber Strike was a highly offensive killer move, very similar to Cassandra's Eternal Slumber. If Lortell or Maddie were hit directly, they would definitely be asleep for the next six months.
Both Eternal Slumber and Slumber Strike had their own advantages and disadvantages. For example, defending against or dodging Eternal Slumber was quite easy for powerful people, or for people like Esdeath with an insane mind.
They couldn't be trapped by it for more than a few seconds. But the Slumber Strike had immense offensive power. Dodging or defending against it was incredibly hard, even for someone as strong as Lortell or Maddie.
---
"Chase them! Don't hesitate to kill whoever gets in your way!" Esdeath shouted, running with all her might. Because of this new body, her speed had decreased drastically, but using her affinity with wind, she pushed herself to go as fast as she possibly could.
BAM!
Meldia, who had now taken the lead, smashed through one wall after another to chase down Ethan and his team.
"There they are!" Meldia shouted, spotting Ethan and his team running desperately through the hallways. But she hesitated, knowing she also had a duty to protect Esdeath.
"Don't worry about me! I can defend myself, Kill them at any cost!" Esdeath panted, her stamina much lower than before. She had also drained almost all of her mana and had only regained a small portion of it.
Meldia stopped breaking through walls and turned directly into the hallway to chase Ethan and the others.
"She's here, she's here... should we fight?" Emma said, her voice trembling with panic.
"We don't have any chance of winning. Just run!" Cassandra said, cutting off Emma's words. Ethan, who was running at the very front, saw that the hallway split into two paths.
"Let's split up! At least some of us should escape!" Ethan said, slightly out of breath.
"Yes, that's a good idea. Me and Emma will go right, you all go left!" Cassandra ordered quickly.