Chapter 40: But mafia pulls out a rocket launcher

Going deeper into Overlord theme for a while.

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"Oh nononono, I looked for that for like, half a year, don't take it away!"

The foe didn't relent, and pushed its blade against the man's chest, taking a life away and robbing him of his precious item, letting the body fall to the ground.

"Uugh." The man let a controller fall from limp hands as he flopped back on his couch, feeling more depressed than ever.

"Who's this again? Oh, yeah, I did send him to catch Kokabiel... " A ring echoed in a flat he had appropriated in Kyoto for some negotiations with a certain fox lady, and the man put his finger to his ear, causing a magical circle to form around the appendage like if it was a phone. "Moshi moshi, Azazel-sama here."

"What?" He focused his eyes a bit more as a voice came from the circle and invaded his brains, making them shift from groggy nerd mode to more situationally appropriate 'Leader of the Fallen Angels' mode. "You sure?"

"Well, that sounds like a big wad of monopoly money in the cash register." Azazel commented as the voice continued. "You sure?"

An affirmative noise came from the circle.

"Fine, I'll go there myself."

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"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" A feminine voice belonging to a cross-dressing boy screamed, utterly devoid of 'his' usual shyness and instead full of fright and anger- both borne from concern about certain someone.

Fright because Momon had been separated from him, leaving him to fight a monstrous undead creature alone.

Anger because the undead in front of 'her' was blocking 'her' from joining Momon's company.

Gasper had no doubts that Momon couldn't deal with the undead creature that had pushed him away from Gasper, after all 'she' had seen the man do deeds that seemed to defy logic, influencing actions with subtle but soothing actions, like an inescapable night flowing across the surface of the world.

But, 'she' couldn't quite keep the instinctive fear from coming to 'her' about Momon's safety.

However, Gasper knew that 'her' master was alive because the seal he had placed on 'her' abilities still held- which posed another problem.

"GRAAH!" Gasper gathered what strength 'she' could leverage from the frail body 'she' had, punching the undead Knight's face after it missed with its slow, over-telegraphed swing.

The punch did more damage to Gasper than the undead, causing 'her' to slink back to nurture 'her' hand that had started to bleed from the knuckles. "Oww…"

The Undead Knight let out a roar, causing Gasper to flinch instinctively as fear overpowered 'her' anger, causing 'her' to return to 'her' frail persona against 'her' will.

A second roar joined the first, except that it came from the undergrowth from where a second Undead Knight joined the fray, turning the battle even more unfair than it had been previously.

'That- That one fought Momon!' Gasper couldn't quite keep dread from rising in 'her' heart as she was forced to dodge a swing that came from the side and almost cut a few strands of her hair as 'she' dodged.

"LET ME GO!" Gasper dodged again, diving into the gross yet somehow homely mud-water of the swamp, staining 'her' school uniform which in retrospect made a poor combawear.

'She' spotted an opportunity to disengage, running for the undergrowth and diving in, and landing on top of a massive undead spider that had apparently been spying on the fight from the undergrowth. "AAAH!"

Gasper dove out of the way as the spider lifted itself upright on four legs and lifted the four others up threateningly, forcing the half-vampire to flee back to the tender mercies of the two undead Knights.

The back-and-forth 'fight' continued for a while with Gasper trying to disengage to no avail, and unable to hurt the Undead due to 'her' powers being sealed.

'She' drew confidence from the Seal, as it's existence meant that Momon would be alright, and everything would end well.

'She' held to her confidence even as the skies above the canopy of leaves covering the swamp turned dark and foreboding, and even when a downpour of rain accompanied the sunlight snuffing out due to the dark clouds above.

In truth, Gasper was getting positively invigorated by the mood that had fallen over the swamp, which seemingly imbued energy into the part of 'her' that was the Vampire, as well as seeping into the Seal and through it to feed 'her' uncontrollable darkness.

Yet, Gasper had acquired a degree of understanding of 'her' powers through seeing the memories of Balor, even to point of slightly, minutely, identifying with the dark god- The power it wielded was positively horrifying, yet with the power came self-confidence and indomitability that Gasper so desired.

For Gasper had, secretly to all but 'herself', found something for which 'she' desperately needed self-confidence.

However it all came to a crashing, toppling end as 'she' felt the Seal on her powers crumble, and at the same time, something happened to her Bishop Piece, causing it to mutate.

Gasper knew Momon couldn't undo the spell remotely, as otherwise he'd have done so already.

'She' also knew that it would take a constant stream of energy from the man to maintain the bizarre, odd seal that she didn't quite understand fully.

In addition, the Piece had mutated suddenly, signifying that the Piece system had suffered an unforeseen malfunction- one that the creator of the system, Beelzebub, had never thought of. Rias had explained the system's intricacies to Gasper back when 'she' had been in her Peerage, so 'she' believed to have a decent degree of knowledge on the matter.

However, since Momon was far from a standard Devil from what Gasper knew, the Piece's corruption was expected- but for it to happen at the same time as the Seal broke without him breaking it...

Indeed, Gasper felt her world come tumbling down as the two events happened at the same time, causing 'her' to come to a conclusion of what had likely happened:

That Momon had perished.

Which meant that Rias and the rest of the Peerage would have lost their master.

Which meant that once again Gasper had become a Stray.

Which meant that 'she' had lost 'her' place in the Peerage that would have been disbanded the moment Momon died. That meant 'she had lost 'her' place beside Rias, and beside 'her' only friends.

Which meant that 'she' would never get a chance to tell what 'she' had slowly started to feel towards a certain someone.

"AAAAHH!"

The swamp flooded with negative energy that exploded from the creature that stood where Gasper had stood mere second ago, the very land corrupting itself to a ridiculous degree when plants, animals and creatures within the swamp that were already either fully saturated with negative energy or undead, were now forced to absorb more than their physical presence would normally allow.

The trees tore themselves off the ground, vines and roots lashing at the undead Knights who had tormented the now-corrupted flora's master, piercing the undead flesh and absorbing the creatures into the 'living' tree's roots, revealing their entirely magical nature.

The corrupted swamp-forest woke up to the dark creature's pain, turning the stillness into a deathly march.

The blob of negative energy swung its dark, bat-like wings wide, the wingspan exceeding thirty feet, and a vaguely dragonic ever-shifting blob of eyes, black stake-like spikes, tentacles and sheer negative energy took flight, dragging the now-walking sentient trees with it like some sort of demented parody of a comet arching through the sky with blaze in its tail.

"GHRIAAAA! MOHMAAANN SAMMAAAA" The creature let a bird-like incomprehensible wail that pierced the sky before the creature disappeared from the sky, like if the world had blinked and it was gone by the time it opened its eyes…

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"Well then." Souji Okita landed on top of what would have been waist-deep water, using his [Power of Imagination] to create a small sigil under his feet to allow him to stand on top of the surface instead of sinking. He created a wide-brimmed straw hat around his head to block the downpour of rain from staining his ronin-like clothes. "Hey, kids!"

"Sensei!" Yuuto greeted, or rather screamed as he sliced a tentacle in two before it could stab the boy. At the same time the blonde boy had to hobble backwards and stab his sword, seemingly an Excalibur fragment, down to water and hitting a tentacle that had tied itself around the boy's ankle below the water's surface.

"Whoa, have you let go of your anger towards Holy Swords? I'm so proud, my angry, moody, badly behaving pupil!" Souji felt a bit touched as he noticed that Yuuto was wielding a blade the kind of which he had sworn to destroy. "Speaking of which, where'd you get that one? As far as I know, those are property of the Church..."

"We borrowed it to him! It's only temporary! Stop talking and help us!" A blue-haired girl screamed from the side, just barely managing to get her voice above a twin-tailed brunette's that was screaming her lungs out after getting grabbed by a tentacle from the waist and had been almost tossed into a huge squid-like creature's head, which had parted to show a open beak where the squid's eye was supposed to be.

Luckily the blue-haired girl had pulled out a massive Kris-like blade and had swung it at respectable speed at the tentacle, managing to cut it before it could drag the brunette to her doom.

"Momon's got Church to help him? Wha? Right, tentacles… Fine, fine… sheesh, young people these days…" Souji adjusted an ever-present blade of grass that he had in his mouth, lowered his hand to the sheath of his katana, and popped the blade an inch out of its sheath with thumb.

The air was instantly filled by thin straight lines of light, and the tentacles covering the battlefield seemed to become still.

Then the appendages split into thin slices and fell to the water.

"Anyone want sashimi?" Souji asked the Peerage as he squatted on the surface of the water to poke at one of the sliced, still twitching tentacles. "Actually, do you think this is even edible?"

A series of explosions followed by a sound of a lance of fire flying through the air entered Souji's ears and he glanced at the other end of now-open battlefield.

In there Lady Phenix was fighting a ranged duel with Riser Phenix, and Diehauser Belial was 'fighting', or rather play-fighting some sort of vaguely troll-like and Lord Phenix-like meat golem roughly the size of a small building.

There was a stout line of shields and swords between the Peerage and the two 'heavy hitters' dueling, making Souji sigh as he recognized the undead Knights that had apparently almost managed to kill Grayfia.

He lowered his hand on the hilt of his katana, keeping an eye out on the formation and Riser Phenix while he turned partially to address the Devils around him.

The Peerage, plus a hapless female security-devil, regrouped as the limp squid-like being submerged under the water, which was seemingly impossible as the water was barely waist-deep and the creature way too large to fit below the surface. Yet reality didn't seem to prove an obstacle to the odd squid-like thing.

"Well, it looks like I was too hasty. You guys totally got this." Souji noted to Yuuto.

"I wouldn't agree to that." Yuuto sighed, clearly exhausted after the brief but intense combat- Yet it was still nowhere near over even if there was a brief lull in the battle. "We still need to get through the line of Death Knights and help Lady Phenix-sama and Belial-sama. Thank you for helping us, sensei. How did you get here?"

"Souji-sama!" Rias waded through the muddy water to the cloth-clad samurai, and Souji had to do a double-take as he noticed the red-head was caked in mud from head to toe. "This is bad! Riser told us just before the fight broke out that the Supreme Being is here!"

Souji's attention went from trying to come up with a joke regarding Rias's muddy condition to far more serious affairs. "What? Where? Don't tell me that squid was it? It was so weak!"

"No, it's in Riser's base, somewhere at the center of the swamp! Momon and Gasper are heading there separately from us to rescue Ravel who was kidnapped, they're going to run straight to it!" Rias screamed, desperate to get her message through the downpouring rain. "Please! You have to do something! Please! We need to kill that 'Supreme Being' before… before..."

Souji noted that it seemed that Rias's scream had caught Riser's attention as the dessicated husk of a man glanced to the side. The husk-man ate a fireball to the side of its face that lit its hood on fire and caused half of its face to melt, courtesy of Lady Phenix, but ignored the damage and pulled a Scroll from its burlap bag while turning towards Souji who placed his hand on the hilt of his blade.

A large magical circle formed around Riser, but nothing seemed to happen so Souji focused on Rias's words while still keeping an eye on the husk of a man.

"Got it, got it I'll tell Sir-kun… sheesh, you have a phone as well don't you, Rias-chan?" Souji pulled a phone from his robes, causing Rias to blush deeply as she showed her phone which was thoroughly fried from getting touched by the unnatural swamp-water. "Sirzechs-kun? Rias says the Su-guy is here. Apparently there's a base or something at the center of the swamp, he's there, and Momon's heading there as well. And that loli trap vampire is apparently going as well. What? It's a perfectly fitting description, don't groan that hard. Anyway I'll stay here and keep the kids safe, happy hunting and so on."

Rias groaned and Souji sighed. "Like brother, like sister. Anyway, I'll go take care of those… whoa?"

The water's surface bubbled and turned black like ink, followed by starting to bubble like broth.

"Yghi-Shag-Bgahr! Ymgril faqc-Bur!" A groan that felt as old as time echoed from the ink-like water, and the entire Peerage sunk into the water that suddenly felt as if it had lost both its high viscosity and ground beneath it.

The small sigil on top of which Souji was standing broke as well as the ink splashed on it, causing the samurai to fall into the ink-like blackness below that sprung a swarm of tentacles that seemed to regrow themselves back together before the ronin-like samurai managed to cut them down

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The squad of six undead Knights dove in after the group, and the blotch of ink seemed to become still upon 'devouring' the undead creatures.

At the same time a flood of negative energy exploded from a spot in the swamp, and a blob of darkness rose above the treeline.

A scream of something vaguely bird-like echoed across the whole swamp, followed by a massive vaguely draconic black creature materializing above the clearing where the Peerage had fought, having stopped time to move as soon as it saw the humanoid creatures sink into the inky water in the distance.

The creature had never seen nor known the creature that had caused the ink splotch, but instinctively it knew what it was. After all, the madness within the creature, its source of power, was well-familiar with what lies behind the stars.

It knew that if it didn't intervene then the creatures of rudimentary flesh, bone and energy would be consumed by the deep. It was not a battlefield where strength of arms mattered, only will, sanity and lack thereof.

A part of the pained, crying creature remembered that the creatures of flesh were somethings it held dear, dearer than it held itself, even if the madness disagreed.

And so, it dove into the black water.

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"Well then." Belial noted as he had seen Sirzechs Lucifer's Knight, Souji Okita, teleport to the other side of the battlefield and take care of the tentacle-monster bugging Momon's Peerage.

He had no clue what the black inky substance spreading on top of the water was, but since it had apparently eaten the entire Peerage and Souji in one go, Belial figured it'd be better to play safe than sorry, specifically when he had absolutely no clue as to how the ink worked, rendering his [Wortlessness] useless for the moment.

Not to mention a dark dragon of some sort had suddenly materialized to the sky and dove into the ink as well.

The whole affair had been almost enough for Belial to pause and gawk at it, if it wasn't for his fine-tuned combat instincts telling him to focus on the enemy he was 'fighting'.

The massive creature of muscle and sinew in front of Belial let a roar, charging at him again.

"I think it's time we wrapped up, if this 'Supreme Being' is lurking somewhere in the swamp and if Momon's Peerage is in danger." Belial called to Lady Phenix who just nodded in turn, although Belial guessed that the woman had been fighting at full strength for a while now.

After all, she had retired from Rating Games before giving birth to her first child, meaning that her strength had been more or less idle for a hundred years or so. Granted, she had fought in the civil war against Maous, so she wasn't an absolute pushover, but she was nowhere as strong as she could have been. And nowhere near as Belial.

Belial, however, had been fighting for a long time in Rating Games to the point of becoming the number one Champion, so he had been holding back quite a bit to keep himself from ending the play-fight with the flesh golem too early, and with the need to hold back now lifted, he merely kicked the charging flesh golem's shin.

The flesh imploded inwards from the blow and exploded from the other side, accompanied by a showere of blood, bone shards and mangled flesh.

The creature fell forwards like a tree, allowing Belial to run up its back and come to a stop near its neck, stomping down and snapping the golem's spine.

The impact forced the resulting bone shards to explode inwards like a shotgun blast aimed directly at the creature's heart from the inside.

The massive golem let out a groan of pain and turned still, crashing its front and head underneath the waist-deep muddy swamp-water.

"Well then. Your turn, Riser." Belial materialized his wings, taking to the sky and setting course towards Riser while Lady Phenix closed her eyes in pain, clearly unwilling to see another of her family's 'corpses' get butchered in front of her. Thus, instead of attacking she focused a shield around herself to protect herself from Riser's attacks while Belial would take care of the wayward son.

Belial's charge came to a sudden stop, however, as the flesh golem reached up from the swamp-water, grabbing his leg before he could charge its master.

The creature slam Belial down to the water, clearly intending on grappling him if its blunt attacks had failed to deal damage to the Champion.

"Persistent bugger, aren't you?" Belial ground out, annoyed that he'd need to use his signature ability against such a foe. "Your regeneration is [Worthless], your strength is [Worthless], your existence is [Worthless]! Now get out of my way!"

Belial grabbed the hand holding his leg and snapped the bones, forcing the now-limply grasping fingers to let him go… until the bones seemed to lurch back together, and the grasp around Belial's leg returned. 'Huh? It can regenerate even though I nullified it? No, it isn't regenerating, something else is happening… And that strength isn't his, those muscles are mostly for show… The strength comes from somewhere else. Is this thing somehow undead but still alive? And It's actually not a golem?'

Unfortunately Belial's delay allowed the dessicated black-clad man to pull another skin-coloured parchment from his bag, tossing it in the air and causing Belial's movements to halt.

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The Elder Lich was ecstatic as the [Scroll of Hold Species] activated causing a 'devil' named 'Belial', if Kokabiel's information was correct, to stop in his tracks.

It knew its time was running short with the Supreme Being waiting in its stronghold, but everything was proceeding exactly according to the Elder Lich's plans, meaning that he'd be done gathering sacrifices soon.

"Ahahaha! Truly, your daughter is a superb specimen! I could have never imagined the materials found here could hold spells this well! And with this world so saturated with weaklings bursting with mana, creating Scrolls of power is child's play!" The Lich turned towards the woman who was cowering behind her wards, causing her eyes to shoot open from the words and likely from realizing that the Elder Lich 'lived' still.

The woman's eyes then widened in despair from seeing Belial freeze mid-charge, then from seeing Belial get pressed into the swamp-water by the amalgamation Undead that the Elder Lich had created with [Stitch]es, imbuing it with Lord Phenix's body's original, if muted powers as well as that of a Troll the Lich had found in the swamp and turned Undead.

"Not only was a Scroll made from your daughter's skin capable of holding a summoning spell of the ninth tier, it also provided the perfect material for my ultimate success! Truly, I must applaud you for giving birth to such a fine creature, it pains me greatly to be forced to kill you in order to finish my work." The Elder Lich continued to the Phenix woman. "Imagine what wonders I could have wrought if I had you breed a few more of your daughter's kind. Unfortunately she's denied to me, because my Lord has plans for your daughter... Although, I imagine I'd need to use both you and your husband to breed more skin-factories, which in turn makes you somewhat useless now that I've used your husband's soul to craft my ultimate creation!"

The Phenix woman's mouth opened to let out a scream of despair, but Elder Lich was pressed for time so he had no desire to soften up the woman any more than what was necessary for Instant Death spells, so he reached for his Scrolls again, pulling a [Scroll of Death]...

And was flung back as a fist impacted against its face with enough force to slay a mortal man.

"What?!" The Elder Lich floated back upright after nearly toppling over to the muddy water almost twenty feet away from his previous location. "You dare!"

"Enough. Your arrogance betrays you." 'Belial' growled, positively enraged after somehow brute-forcing his way through the [Hold Species] and after kicking the amalgamated Troll off him. The Elder Lich glanced at the creature and noted that it'd be out of action for a while its automatically self-casting [Stitch] restored its chest that seemed to have been imploded utterly. "I've seen through your tricks- Your Scrolls are [Worthless]!"

"Very well, if you wish to be the first to join my Ascension…" The Elder Lich scoffed at the devil, casting a [Scroll of Grasp Heart] at him.

Only, nothing happened.

Elder Lich, once again, felt something that an Undead normally couldn't feel.

Panic.

And after that, he felt something that caused his panic to turn to something else.

Indeed, he had an array of wards guarding his most precious and valuable possession, warding it off against all possible intrusions or attempts at thievery.

But there was one Being who could pass through them, for the wards would never attempt to hinder Him.

Indeed, the Elder Lich felt as its wards ignored the hand that took the Scroll, then felt as the hand flooded the Scroll with mana, and…

Activated it.

The Elder Lich's panic was replaced by confusion, then with realization, then with shame… and finally, uncontrollable joy.

"Ah... " A soft voice escaped the Elder Lich's shriveled mouth which had been partially melted by Phoenix flame, and which's skin was starting to flake.

'My Master… You found it, my attempt to right what I saw wrong in myself, a blemish from my weakness for your Grand Design… What I failed to be, a piece that didn't fit… And You accepted it… You accepted me as who I am…'

If the Elder Lich could cry with its husk of a body, then at that moment it would have done so.

Instead, it wiped its dry eyes with its sleeve, feeling the multi-layered plans of its Master creak open just the tiniest bit, allowing the Lich to peer inside just the tiniest bit- A privilege no living beings could archive.

The motion caused Belial to, for once, pause in confusion.

'He… He knew from the start, but he allowed me to try nevertheless…' The Elder Lich's 'soul' was serene. 'He knew I'd always think of myself as a failure if he accepted me without letting me try to amend my mistake… My failure to become a Undead Phoenix… And at the same time, he always planned to complete my research that he knew I wouldn't be able to complete by myself. He knew that if I'd try, I'd die… My fighting power, as I am, came from my Scrolls and with this opponent, they are useless… My arrogance, He knew, He knew I'd fall prey to 'Belial's tricks if I fought like I had… And he set me free from the obligation, removed the restraints I had been forced to hold, to gather souls to fuel the Scroll...'

The presence of the Supreme Being's Undead and their unwillingness to slay the sacrifices themselves had baffled the Elder Lich for a moment, but now it became clear. 'He… Never meant to slay these sacrifices. Instead, he gave them for me to test my mettle, to allow me to meet my match, and grow stronger for it… And at the same time, He allowed me to realize that my self-destructive drive to right my wrongs would only end in my final death!'

The Elder Lich knew it was but a slave of the Supreme Being's, but unlike a human slave to human master, its affection to its Master was endless, and deepened even more when it realized how much its Master cared even for mere slaves like it.

'Indeed, and by using the Scroll, he has absolved me of my sins, and at the same time absorbed the power of the Phenix family's head, allowing him to take the lead of the Pillar family and gather a seat of power in this world, all the while forming a web of shadows that drives this pathetic world deeper and deeper under his grasp- And they will welcome their conqueror with open arms, gates wide open, waiting for the slaughter to visit their homes.' The Elder Lich realized that the woman in front of him would be instrumental to the Supreme One's plans. 'Ah, and by seeing me, and the dead body of her husband, and later the state of her daughter, the Phenix woman would have become insane, allowing Him to take the reins of the family with no resistance…'

The sudden appearance of the transformed undead vampire-servant of the Supreme Being and the fact it had dived into the Deep that had been by-proxy conjured by the Elder Lich's Scroll-bound eight-tier spell, [Awaken the Dreamer], further solidified the fact that the 'devils' had never truly been meant as sacrifices to fuel the Elder Lich's research, but rather to test his powers and to further advance the Supreme Being's plans in other ways.

The spell [Awaken the Dreamer] was a eight-tier spell that would allow the Elder Lich's previously- summoned Deepkin to regenerate and Awaken from its dream-like state to full consciousness in proportion to the damage it received, as long as it hadn't died. Fortunately the suddenly appearing swordsman's attacks had only cut the creature's tentacles, allowing it to retreat safely if at low health.

Indeed, the Deepkin had dragged the devils straight into its lair alongside the Death Knight-observers, with the exception of the Death Cavaliers that had been sent by the Supreme Being and still observed the fight from distance, allowing Him to be informed of what happened both within the deep as well as in the swamp.

The presence of the non-lethal observers and the 'rescue' attempt made it clear to the Elder Lich that the Supreme Being had plans for the devils still, which likely meant that He intended to 'rescue' the red-headed devil, whom the Elder Lich knew to be Rias Gremory from Kokbiel's description.

Indeed, rescuing the sister of Sirzechs Lucifer would cause the Maou to become eternally grateful to the hidden Supreme Being, allowing Him to spread His influence under the Maou's very eyes.

The layers and layers of plans that were laid on top of eachother, with each actor unaware that their actions were carefully calculated far in advance by a hidden mastermind caused the Elder Lich to almost blank out, but was saved by the Undead's immunity to stunning effects.

The Elder Lich thus realized that his true purpose in the fight, outside improving itself, was to destroy this 'Belial'- after all, the Lich now knew that the man would likely be one of the most dangerous opponents to the Supreme Being's power, with its ability to seemingly disable his enemy's abilities by realizing what was the method of their execution. It didn't matter if the Elder Lich managed to kill the man now, or later, all it needed to do now was to measure the man's abilities and come up with a way to kill him later.

Fortunately, or rather, as was expected of the Supreme Being to know beforehand the Lich would carry it, the Elder Lich was carrying something else than Scrolls in his burlap bag, allowing it to fight Belial even without his Scrolls.

The Lich pulled a long fleshy item that looked vaguely like garlic braid from the burlap bag before Belial could shake off his confusion from seeing the Elder Lich attempt to cry, and continue his chain of attacks.

The fleshy item was the brain-stems of tens of Devils the Lich and Kokabiel had ambushed and killed in preparation to complete the [Scroll of Dark Wisdom: Phenix], which would contain the condensed power of the devils, as well as the creature's souls that the Elder Lich had sealed within their cursed flesh upon the moment of their death.

Moreover Kokabiel had turned over the brain-stems of the devils his subordinate called 'Freed Sellzen' had slain in the Human World, as well as a few from Fallen Angels who had joined Kokabiel but had gotten cold feet when the Lieutenant had explained his plan to assault the Underworld.

Indeed, with the Elder Lich's sins absolved and the Scroll no longer a priority, the sacrifice would no longer serve the meaning it had been constructed for… but would now serve another purpose.

To allow it to reach a level where it could fight with Belial without relying on a single gimmick, that being Scrolls.

'Indeed… For Him to arrange a chance for me to grow my powers, gather experience, and to absolve me of my sins, and get rid of a powerful enemy, all at the same time…' The Elder Lich blinked non-existent tears off his dry, dessicated eyes. 'I can't wait for the end of the week when He contacts me and I can tell Him that I've reached 'level' fifty-nine… No, wait… If my calculations are correct, then…I can go further...'

Indeed, the Elder Lich had already reached his 'maximum potential' as mid-tier Elder Lich, and had turned to higher-tier Elder Lich, 'Black Counterfeiter', specialized in Summoning and Crafting, which had allowed it to create so many high-tier Scrolls in such short time, even if the sheer amount of Mana in the world had been the main reason he had managed to push the spells past tier six that his tier-kind would naturally be able to cast, and summon such a grand army, even if it had been all but wiped out.

The Lich crushed the chain of brain-stems, releasing the power within to fuel his transformation. The experience from destroying so many high-tier souls imbued itself to the Elder Lich, fueling his Ascension to 'level' sixty-five and flooding his dessicated body with new strength.

[Aura of Despair] flooded the clearing in the swamp as the Elder Lich stepped forwards, feeling the skin around its head flake and scatter like dust to the wind and revealing a crooked skull underneath.

'Please watch me, Master, I shall not disappoint you!'

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