"Uh?" Aliken looked at the human who had spoken, his gaze curious.
He didn't have time to respond before Bevrel, the grumpier of the duo, spoke up. "Who do you think you are, human? Just because you've got a bit of strength, you think you're on our level?"
The air grew heavy—heavier than before.
"Are you planning to fight or not? Stop blabbering and let's get started already!" Jeremy was trembling with excitement. He wanted to test his power—or rather, the power of his undead.
Would they be able to stand up to beings like these? He was genuinely curious.
Aliken kept his eyes on him, but didn't move. He seemed to be thinking… his attitude could be described as cautious. He hadn't noticed it at first, but now that he was observing more closely, this human seemed... strange.
Yet, he couldn't pinpoint exactly what made him so different.
Bevrel, unlike Aliken, wasn't so meticulous.
With a laugh, he lunged at the human. "You're right, little guy."
Bevrel's charge made Rose flinch.
She couldn't find the strength to react. She was terrified.
She clenched her teeth. She wanted to help Jeremy, but her body wouldn't move. She, who had been praised as a genius since childhood, now stood helpless before this being.
Bevrel's presence was overwhelming. He didn't look too different from a human, except for the two curved horns covering his head and his towering height of around 2.5 meters.
His torso was bare, rippling with muscle; he wore loose-fitting amber pants that covered his lower body down to his two bare feet. Even his hair was amber.
His skin was a light brown, unlike the other demon, who appeared milk-white.
"Let's see if you can survive this."
In a flash, Bevrel closed the distance to just a few meters from Jeremy—but the boy didn't even blink.
He already knew someone else would take on the muscle-bound demon.
Of course, it was Leo'sol.
"Better get down from here. I'd rather not explode," Jeremy muttered as he climbed down from the Aberration's head. "I've still got a long life ahead of me."
The former skeleton—or rather, the heap of rotting flesh—intercepted the demon's punch with one of its own.
The air exploded from the impact. The two were perfectly matched.
"Oh? You're strong—" the demon remarked, eyeing the creature. "Whatever you are."
"Graw raw row."
The Aberration's response was clear. It meant: You're not bad yourself… more or less.
Jeremy had reached Rose by now, offering a reassuring presence.
"They'll handle it. Don't worry too much."
The battle between the two raged on. Hundreds of blows were exchanged in mere moments, tearing apart the battlefield. Fortunately, the city was already in ruins, and all nearby beings had fled.
Even the Bone Legion was useless here, so Jeremy absorbed it directly into his world of bones—the Bone Cathedral.
The clash left both sides astonished.
Sure, it was a purely physical clash—no skills, no laws involved—but even that was enough to make Leo'sol's power abundantly clear.
"Maybe it's finally time to check their status. I can't take them lightly like I did with the previous Rank S opponents."
And with that, a panel appeared in the boy's vision.
---
NAME: Bevrel
RANK: EX
LEVEL: 212
RACE: Devil
CLASS: Berserker
POTENTIAL: BEYOND
CONCEPT: Annihilation
Main Skills:
[Total Annihilation], [Fury of the Devil], [True Incarnation]
---
Yeah, he was strong. No doubt about that. But only because of his level. In truth, he wasn't someone truly troublesome.
Level was just a number, after all. What really mattered was quality. And Jeremy's potential had already been BEYOND before his fusion with his other self, Okoron.
His potential now existed in an entirely different league, but what did that have to do with Leo'sol's battle?
Simple. The definition of an Aberration was to possess a higher potential than its master. In this case, Leo'sol's potential was something unknown.
---
NAME: Leo'sol
RANK: S
LEVEL: 103
RACE: Aberration
CLASS: Immortal Colossus
POTENTIAL: PRIMORDIAL
LAW: FLESH and BONE
Main Skills:
[Regeneration], [Adaptive], [Concept Rejection], [Core Collapse]
---
[Regeneration]
Your flesh and bones can regenerate endlessly.
---
[Adaptive]
Your body adapts to enemy abilities, taking reduced damage from repeated attacks of the same type. Minimum damage taken is 10%.
---
[Concept Rejection]
Negates the effects of a concept.
---
[Core Collapse]
The core inside your chest explodes, collapsing reality upon itself. Within this collapsed space, all skills, laws, and concepts cease to exist.
---
After seeing that, Jeremy's doubts vanished. Not that he really had any, anyway.
"Well, what can I say…" Jeremy was speechless. A part of him felt bad for the devils—or whatever enemy was in front of them. "Let's just hope this battle doesn't end too quickly."
He was far too curious about the ability [Core Collapse], but he couldn't use it at the start. That would be counterintuitive. Final abilities were called that for a reason… they were meant to be used last.
Meanwhile, the exchange of blows continued—but the devil was starting to lose ground.
"How is this possible?!" Bevrel roared in fury after taking a punch to the face. "How can a mere summon land a hit on me?!"
At first, they were evenly matched. Now, he was taking hits from that mass of flesh.
Yet the battle didn't stop. The devil tried everything, but he could no longer overpower Leo'sol.
"He's adapting!" Aliken thought, his eyes wide with shock. Something like this was impressive. It's not like beings capable of adaptation didn't exist—devils themselves were considered the demons of adaptability.
But the difference between the two was like heaven and earth.
"Fine then," Bevrel muttered after missing yet another punch and pulling away from the Aberration. He was done playing. "No more games. I didn't think I'd need to use my real power in a world of this level."
"Graw!"
"Looks like they feel the same." Jeremy chuckled.
Leo'sol stood still beside his master. Unlike the devil, he didn't appear angry or emotional. He was indifferent. The fight seemed incredibly boring to him.
That look only enraged Bevrel further.
"Don't die too quickly—"
"Fury of the Devil."
Then—
A terrifying aura erupted from the devil. His entire being seemed to change, though not in a literal sense. His body swelled with power.
Next—
He dashed toward Leo'sol with incredible speed, far greater than before.
The massive flesh construct couldn't react in time, taking the devil's punch straight to the face.
Boom—
"Eh? You died from a single punch?" Bevrel grinned shamelessly. His [Annihilation] concept had obliterated the upper half of Leo'sol's body.
"Oh boy, this is going to be fun," Jeremy muttered, eyes wide.
Beside him, Rose's eyes were frozen in shock. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. That flesh colossus had just fought on equal footing with an EX Rank devil, and now it had been blown away by a single punch?
She didn't know how to respond. Should she be worried—or not, seeing how calm Jeremy appeared?
"Hey, stop thinking and enjoy the fight," Jeremy said, locking eyes with her. "Who knows, maybe you'll learn something. Or maybe not, those two are monsters, after all."
"I'd die too if I took that many hits."
"I'm not a monster, after all," he added with a small, innocent smile.
After a brief silence, Rose simply nodded at Jeremy, who had already turned his head back to observe the scene.
She decided to follow his advice, pushing aside her worries.
But how could she not think about it… Leo'sol had just…
Died?
"What the hell—" Rose was stunned. She had never expected such a thing.
The colossus, despite having no head, punched the devil, forcing him back a step.
Then—
Another head emerged from Leo'sol's shoulders. His furious eyes locked onto the devil. He hadn't expected this, but he wasn't afraid.
He wanted revenge.
"Wow," Bevrel muttered, arms crossed over his chest. "Didn't expect that. You're full of surprises."
"GRAAAAWWW!"
A single roar shattered the air around them.
The colossus charged once more toward the grinning devil.
But the scene was the same as before. A single punch from the devil shattered the colossus' head—again.
"Let's see how many times you can regenerate." The devil stared at the colossus without moving a muscle. He wasn't taking the fight seriously. After all, the difference in power was clear.
That was what he thought.
But only two people noticed that the destruction caused by the devil's [Annihilation] law was less than before. One was Jeremy, who, of course, understood his Aberration's abilities.
The other was Aliken. His sharp gaze had never stopped observing the battle. He was intrigued by the colossus. How could it adapt to battle so quickly?
"I must capture it. It would make an excellent subject for some experiments…" Aliken thought. He wasn't too keen on fighting anyway—he didn't excel in that field.
Meanwhile, the clash continued, with Leo'sol taking hit after hit…