Roy suddenly felt the shadow of death looming over him. He immediately spun around, using Mapa's body as a shield.
It was the right call. A huge mouth clamped down on half of Mapa's body, tearing it apart. To make sure his hard-earned head didn't get snatched, Roy didn't hesitate to swing his Hellfire Chainsaw Greatsword and chop off Mapa's head.
[Ding! Obtained Mapa's Fate Box! Open it now?]
Mapa's massive corpse split in two, revealing the attacker's true form to Roy.
Standing not far away was a magnificent and imposing lion, as big as an Asian elephant. It had sharp, spear-like horns growing from its head, a mane as red as burning coals, and claws and teeth as sharp as steel blades.
The horned lion's eyes glowed with an eerie green light, radiating a terrifying aura.
The Key of Solomon reacted again, allowing Roy to recognize the crimson lion before him.
Marbas, the 5th of the 72 Pillars of Solomon!
This guy was on a whole different level compared to that trash Mapa, who was number 39. In fact, the top ten demons of the 72 Pillars were all incredibly powerful.
Still, Roy was a little confused about where this guy had been hiding.
He glanced around. The only human corpse left on the ground was Drew, who had been stabbed to death. Could Marbas have been hiding inside Max's burnt-up body the whole time?
What a sneaky bastard!
Marbas crunched and chewed on the Mapa in his mouth, his eerie green eyes glaring fiercely at Roy.
This guy was a fast eater. He swallowed half of Mapa in just a few minutes.
"Is the King of Sloth going to interfere in this matter?"
Flames as red as blood erupted from Marbas's mane, his voice booming like thunder, filled with immense pressure.
"This has nothing to do with Belial. Is there a problem with me wanting to handle this myself?"
Marbas's gaze shifted. He knew that a demon's name held power, so directly calling out a Demon Lord's name would cause a reaction.
That's why most demons only directly addressed a Demon Lord by name when asking for help or offering praise. At other times, they used titles of respect.
To be able to directly call out a Demon Lord's name without anything happening could only mean that the speaker had an unusual relationship with that Demon Lord.
This made Marbas a little suspicious, and the imposing aura around him lessened slightly.
"My master has always kept to himself and never interfered with the King of Sloth. How about we just call it even here? I'll act like nothing happened."
Roy could sense the subtle fear emanating from Marbas's body. This guy was a little scared!
Licking his lips, there was no way Roy was going to let Marbas off the hook so easily. A demon with a name like that probably had a really valuable Fate Box, right?
After entering his Demon Child state, Roy's emotions would be somewhat affected, becoming more extreme.
If his Willpower stat wasn't high enough, he might even lose his mind like he did during the wax museum incident.
Luckily, his Willpower was now his second-highest stat after Constitution, which basically allowed him to stay rational in his Demon Child form.
But his behavior becoming a bit more extreme was still normal.
Rolling his eyes, Roy quickly came up with a line to deal with Marbas.
"Then tell me your plan. If there's something good in it for me, I might want in."
Marbas naturally wouldn't easily believe Roy's words, but his tone had softened a lot.
"You know that's impossible! My master won't allow any unexpected events to happen to this plan. If you don't want to face my master's wrath, then you should leave Los Angeles as soon as possible!"
Judging by this, Marbas and Jack's master were planning to go after the entire city of Los Angeles. Were they really playing on such a massive scale?
"You've gotta at least tell me who your master is, right? Otherwise, how am I supposed to explain this when I get back?"
Marbas looked deeply at Roy for a moment, then softly uttered a title of respect.
"The King of Greed."
So it was Mammon, not Beelzebub?
Okay, there were definitely some details that indicated the power behind Jack Deal wasn't the same as the mysterious cult behind the Midnight Cannibal Train. But Roy still hadn't expected that little old Los Angeles would have attracted the attention of both Beelzebub and Mammon.
Ugh, I'm tired of this. Maybe I should just burn this whole damn place down!
"In that case, I'll be going then."
Roy slung the Hellfire Chainsaw Greatsword over his shoulder and turned to walk towards the door. However, he didn't revert out of his Demon Child form, and at the same time, he silently counted to three.
One, two, three!
He whipped around, raised his Hellfire Shotgun, and pulled the trigger. Just at that moment, Marbas also opened his huge mouth and lunged forward.
It turned out that neither Roy nor Marbas had any intention of letting the other go. All the words and actions just now were to lower the other's guard.
Marbas's face turned green. The flaming skull exploded right inside his vulnerable mouth, causing him so much pain that tears streamed down his face.
"Awooo—!"
Roy quickly closed the distance, flipped the switch on his chainsaw greatsword, and the serrated chain started spinning wildly again, the hellfire blazing like a giant torch.
"What are you howling about?! Just die already!"
Marbas's strength was indeed much greater than Mapa's. Even with such a severe injury to his mouth, a vulnerable spot, he still had the strength to fight.
Unlike Mapa, who could only be slaughtered after Roy shot him down.
This guy's massive body had surprisingly high agility. He jumped backward, dodging the downward slash of the chainsaw sword.
But Roy had already reloaded the Hellfire Shotgun with one hand. He raised the muzzle again, aimed at Marbas, and pulled the trigger.
Marbas's expression changed drastically!
The power of the Hellfire Shotgun was considerable. It was infused with Roy's fear energy, and even demons found it difficult to resist such damage.
That last shot had already seriously injured Marbas. If he took another one point-blank…
The problem was that Marbas was just too big. Even with high agility, dodging melee weapons might be possible, but trying to dodge bullets was just wishful thinking.
Bang!
The flaming skull had already left the barrel. Marbas didn't have time to think. All he could do was open his mouth and spew out a stream of crimson flames, colliding with Roy's flaming skull.
Boom!
The flaming skull and the crimson flames collided in mid-air, causing a huge explosion. The shockwave from the blast sent everything around them flying.
The noise was so loud that probably half of Hollywood could hear it.
This had to be quick, or things could get really out of hand!
Taking advantage of the smoke from the explosion, Roy reverted out of his Demon Child form and then shifted into his Angelic Blood form.
To deal with a demon, an angel was still the more reliable option.
The smoke cleared, and Roy suddenly froze. It turned out that Marbas on the other side had also changed form, transforming into a humanoid demon over three meters tall with the head of a lion.
His body was covered in metal armor, and his arms were huge metal gauntlets. He looked incredibly punk rock.
Roy: ???
Marbas: ???
Had he entered a second phase?
Marbas transforming was actually quite normal. The 72 Pillars of Solomon all had two forms, and they could switch between human and demonic forms.
But Marbas had completely not expected that the Demon Child he had just faced would turn into an angel.
This was too outrageous. It completely went against everything Marbas had known in his thousands of years as a demon.
For a moment, the atmosphere inside Stage 13 became somewhat silent.
However, Roy still took action first. After all, his Justice Points were limited. Even though he had just replenished a lot by killing Mapa, it still wouldn't be enough to support him in a prolonged fight.
"Prepare to die!"
Roy flew into the air, and with a flick of his wrists, he conjured a spear of holy light and hurled it at Marbas.
There was no way Marbas would dare to take a holy light spear head-on. The power of Heaven naturally countered Hell, even if he was wearing thick metal armor.
Fortunately, after changing into his humanoid form, Marbas's reaction speed had increased significantly. He dodged several of Roy's holy light spear attacks in a row.
This wasn't going to work. He had to control the opponent's movements!
In that case, he had no choice but to use that move.
Fear Domain, expand!
Marbas had actually been preparing to counterattack Roy, but after Roy transformed into his Angelic Blood form, he could fly in the air and was very agile.
But in reality, Roy's flying height was also limited by the ceiling of Stage 13. Marbas could still potentially hit Roy if he jumped high enough.
The main reason he hadn't counterattacked earlier was because it was difficult to change direction while jumping in the air.
Now that Roy had suddenly stopped in mid-air, Marbas thought his chance to counterattack had arrived. So, he immediately launched himself forward, his two exaggerated metal gauntlets starting to vibrate violently, even causing the air to distort.
It was also at this moment that Marbas suddenly noticed Roy's originally silver eyes had turned gray, and then an indescribable terror appeared before his eyes.
In Marbas's vision, Roy had suddenly transformed into an archangel with twelve pairs of wings of light, holding the Sword of Judgment representing God's authority, with holy light from Heaven shining down upon his head.
So majestic, so holy, so noble!
Almost instantly, Marbas lost the desire to fight. At that moment, all he wanted to do was tear open the ground and burrow back into Hell.
Screw the master's mission!
"Receive the judgment of justice!"
Marbas had also suspected that he was under some kind of illusion, but the scene before him was just too real, including the voices coming from all directions.
But the next moment, Marbas successfully broke free from the Fear Domain. He saw that Roy still only had one pair of wings of light, and there was no Sword of Judgment in his hand. It was actually just the same chainsaw sword from before.
However, Marbas had already missed his best chance to counterattack, and at this moment, the holy light extending from the chainsaw sword was about to strike down.
"No—!"
Marbas used his metal gauntlets to protect his body, but this action couldn't stop the holy light in the slightest. Obvious cracks appeared on his body.
The holy light continued its descent, leaving cracks on the wall behind Marbas as well.
"You... you'll regret this! Lord Mammon will not let you get away with this!"
After uttering his final words, Marbas completely split in two and was then burned to ashes by the white flames of holy light.
[Ding! Obtained Marbas's Fate Box! Open it now?]
Roy let out a sigh of relief and landed, reverting out of his Angelic Blood form.
This battle might have looked like he didn't take much damage, but it was no easier than the fight with the Slender Man.
Just now, if Marbas's metal gauntlets had hit Roy, with the fragile body of his Angelic Blood form, he would definitely have been severely injured at the very least.
Fortunately, the effect of Fear Domain was even stronger than Roy had anticipated, hard-controlling Marbas for several seconds.
Looking at the chaotic state of Stage 13, Roy took a moment to catch his breath.
Just as he was about to pull out his phone to contact Saltana outside, the door to the soundstage was suddenly kicked open.
A squad of fully armed soldiers entered the soundstage and spotted Roy. Their tactical vests had "F.E.A.R." written on them.
It seemed Saltana had notified FEAR for backup in advance. They had arrived at just the right time. If they had come even a few minutes earlier, these guys would have witnessed Roy's secret.
"Roy Black?"
A FEAR officer who looked like a captain was confirming Roy's identity.
Roy had worked with the Los Angeles FEA several times, and many of them recognized him.
"That's me."
After the FEAR captain confirmed his identity, he began to check if the scene was safe. Once he confirmed it was, he notified the agents outside to officially enter.
"Roy, are you alright?!"
Saltana rushed into Stage 13. She knew Roy's injuries hadn't fully healed yet and was very worried about him.
"I'm okay, just a little drained."
This time, the drain was indeed significant. The energy consumption of Fear Domain was greater than Roy had imagined. Fortunately, Roy's range for harvesting fear emotions had also increased a lot.
He could now directly harvest all fear emotions within a few kilometers, and he would soon be able to replenish the consumed fear energy.
It was the Justice Points that were a bit troublesome. Roy's Justice Points had been consistently in deficit these past few days. Even killing Marbas wasn't enough to make up for the consumption.
Sigh, if only another evil organization like the Dark Web would show up for Roy to go on a killing spree.
The people in the Dark Web had low combat power, but each one was utterly wicked, with a level of sinfulness greater than that of ordinary demons. It would be easy to harvest a large amount of Justice Points from them.
Should he ask Keller to check if there were any Dark Web strongholds in California?
Texas had a Dark Web, and Roy didn't believe that a state as wealthy as California wouldn't have one.
Just as he was thinking this, a middle-aged man with an unfriendly expression walked in. Judging by his aura, he seemed to be the person in charge of this operation.
Saltana had been sidelined. Although she was trusted by Gerald, she was still just a regular agent and didn't have the authority to mobilize FEAR units.
So, Big Sister must have contacted someone else, most likely her current superior.
"The fight's over?"
The middle-aged man frowned as he looked around the scene.
Marbas's physical body had been burned to ashes by the holy light. As for Mapa, half of his body had been eaten, and his head was gone.
There was also Drew, who had been stabbed to death by Max, lying on the ground.
A subordinate answered the middle-aged man, "Yes, Director Kaufman!"
"Then what are you waiting for? Seal off the area, take back anything valuable, and then let's pack it up! Fuck, they had to call me out in the middle of the night!"
This operation stunned both Roy and Saltana. Were they not even going to pretend?
"Excuse me, sir, please wait a moment!"
Roy directly stopped FEAR's actions, which made the middle-aged man very unhappy.
"Are you trying to obstruct official business?"
Roy narrowed his eyes, a dangerous smile appearing on his face.
"Officer, I don't believe I caught your name?"
"Terrence Kaufman, FEA Senior Agent."
Senior Agent was the same rank Saltana had before she was suspended, only slightly lower than the department head. Within the FEA, it was the highest rank a frontline agent could reach.
"Mr. Kaufman, these are all my spoils of war. It wouldn't be very appropriate for you to just take them away, would it?"
Marbas's Symbol