- [True Name Liberation]

The 15,000 soldiers who were at a far distance were tense and silent while watching the whole battle.

They first witnessed an assassination of one of their heroes, then a massacre of 5,000, followed by another hero falling. Currently, 2 of the strongest heroes in the kingdom are giving their all to fight a single opponent.

Their throats were dry and some were even clenching their weapons until their hands bled inside their gloves.

These heroes, especially the two who were fighting right now, were not only the kingdom's strongest, but they were also the driving force of most of these soldiers' dreams back when they were young. Normal soldiers like them frequently die in war but these heroes, time and time again, picked up their weapons for their kingdom, despite being battered, bloodied, and injured. The scars from grave wounds that these heroes wore reminded them of the times they felt that the difference between them was like heaven and earth.

Despite all these, when they were not at war, these heroes would converse and drink with them like equals.

These heroes were their idols… and right now, all they could do was watch.

So they prayed to any god they knew that these two heroes would come back home safe. They were not arrogant enough to think lightly of an opponent who could do what he had done earlier, not to mention how desperate the two remaining heroes are fighting right now.

…

As the dust settled. 2 figures were beginning to be visible inside a huge crater with a bit of a distance between them.

Drago was panting heavily as his right hand was clenching Avegar… shaking and bleeding. Scorch marks and cracks could be seen all over his armor and burns here and there were visible on his skin. His Etherguard was still emitting a dim red glow but was weaker than before. Testament to the power of the spell he had to endure.

Arissef, who was turning visible farther away from the expiry of his concealment spells, was sweating heavily as he kept downing mana potion after mana potion. However, due to the various spells, he cast in this battle, and the snap analysis and decisions he had to make in such a high-speed battle, mana was not his biggest problem. His concentration was getting dangerously low which in turn made his conversion of mana sluggish. Yet all this time, his eyes were serious as if he was looking at an obstacle he could not overcome.

After all, he not only cast a Tier 5 Holy and Lightning Combination Spell [Lightning Exorcism] but he doubled its output by creating 2 giant magic circles into a two-pronged formation instead of only 1. With this, the output should have tripled but the explosion resulting after the collision of two extremely destructive spells would multiply the damage to those caught within by at least tenfold. Aside from that, he added space restriction spells within the formation so that the target would not be able to move fast enough or use spatial skills to dodge it.

Even Drago who he also bombarded with the spell would not come out unscathed despite his dragon blood, his protective skills, and the magic warding properties of his armor, sword, and shield. Arissef even decided to use only offensive spells and deny Drago of any supportive or healing spells as he trusted that the dragon knight would endure. Instead, he opted to empty his mana casting the best spells he could just to ensure that their opponent would not survive. Even Drago put all his strength into an offensive skill as insurance, not caring if he would be heavily injured in the process. They risked it all in this combination attack.

…

Inside the Castle, Alzeius was on his feet, preparing to jump out at any moment to save his general once death was imminent. He was genuinely nervous when the two heroes delivered such a strong ace in the hole. It even made him question if he could have survived taking it. After all, he was able to see almost every essence that was mixed into the spell alone, not to mention that Drago also dealt a terrifying blow himself. He would have to give it his all just to survive such a devastating combo.

...

Yet why? In the minds of the three, was the question:

'WHY IS HE STILL ALIVE?'

Facing Drago directly was a man standing straight, sweating buckets, bloody, missing a shoulder and an arm, burn marks all over, no longer maintaining a human form but that of a demon with two horns jutting out of the corners of his forehead.

Zex was barely standing. In truth, he used up most of his concentration already when he turned [Evil Eye] on as soon as Drago got his shield and sword. This was while he manifested his [Black Flame Armor] time and time again to meet Drago's blows or else he would have been cut in half many strikes ago.

The two monsters were ruthless in their attacks that he had to give it his all to survive.

The moment Zex saw Drago equipped with his two weapons and judging his power level, he knew he would not last long in his current state. Therefore, he spent all his free attributes and divided them between Intelligence and Wisdom to increase his overall mana capacity, magical defense, mana regeneration, concentration, and concentration recovery. Although Drago could kill him with a decisive blow, he was still able to dodge some of them while blocking the rest with [Black Flame Armor] which needed both Mana and Concentration to produce and maintain.

However, the two were monsters for a reason.

Not even his [Black Flame Armor] could withstand every bit of damage, especially the last spell that hit him. Drago was also not simply waving Avegar around. Aside from the enchantment that Arissef gave it from the start, Drago kept using sword skills paired with shield skills offensively AND defensively.

The explosion blasted through his armor midway so he decided to sacrifice his right torso and focus the armor on the rest of his body and when that failed, he used his remaining experience to recover his body parts, especially his left arm and legs which were blasted off time and time again within the explosion itself. He lessened the actual mana and concentration consumption by including experience into the mix, using continuous regeneration to mitigate some of the damage.

He read in a novel before that a man has three hearts: one in the chest, and one on each calf muscle. [1] Therefore, to resist being blown away and mitigating the damage from the explosion, he planted his feet and transferred as much force as possible to the ground. This is why he gave priority to regenerating his legs every time they were blasted away.

Arissef was not the only one who had a mind that processed things quickly. Although Zex could not reach Arissef's level, he was always a multitasker in his previous life. He would sacrifice sleep just to finish a few more game levels or more rounds. He would get a cab or use public transportation so he could read comics or novels in transit. He would watch films and videos while working. Even when he worked, he frequently juggled tasks to finish early so he could spend more time doing other things, or procrastinate and only complete tasks at the last minute. When he was on his deathbed, he was still watching V-tubers and online theories. He even spent the last of his years in Immersive VRMMOs. The two passives he got at the beginning were not given to him for no reason. They were EARNED.

In such a dangerous situation, faced with imminent death, and despite the excruciating pain, he was able to keep a clear mind and focus on his priorities: Protect his vitals; reduce consumption, and mitigate damage.

To Arissef and Drago, this may be a 'Dungeons and Dragons' game but to Zex, this was Chess and he was both the player and his pieces.

Essentially, he was able to pull off a Cell [2] in the end but the amount of experience he had to sacrifice was causing more pain to him than the damage he went through. Moreover, he was always at the receiving end and never was able to land any clean damage on the two the moment Drago got hold of Avegar and Etherguard.

Alzeius was right when he doubted his survival if he was in Zex's place. His newfound general exploited the regeneration system through experience. Otherwise, even he would not have been able to save Zex's life or even any speck of him amidst the blast.

Zex's mana and concentration were dangerously low that he could not use any of his skills right now, much less conjure his [Black Flames Armor]. Meanwhile, the shameful Arissef was still downing mana potions as if he had an unlimited supply in his personal pocket space. If things continued like this, Zex would not have enough resources to survive, much less win.

Seeing the condition of his opponent, Drago roared and charged towards his 'dying' enemy.

Just as Drago was about to deliver a killing blow on Zex, the latter voiced a chant that caused extreme danger signals penetrating the former's soul.

Black flames lit up violently from the ground as a huge arm with menacing claws grasped Avegar, lifting Drago in the process.

The black flames abruptly extinguished as a horrifying creature stood in its place, breathing out turbid air, raising Avegar even higher so that Drago would be on its eye level.

The next moment, he threw Avegar and Drago far away like throwing a football.

This creature had two imperious black horns at the corners of its forehead curving upward. Its eyes were red with pupils in the shape of black slits resembling a snake's. It had a short snout fitted with sharp fangs like that of a wolf. Black bat-like wings extended from its back. Its skin was dark gray and its arms were extremely bulky ending with menacing claws. Its tail was like a whip but with a jagged end as its legs resemble that of the hind legs of a giant bull with paws like that of a crocodile.

[True Name Liberation]

It was vastly different from when he used it in front of Edge. Back then, he turned into a LVL 40 True Demon with the 30 added levels from the transformation. Now that he was at LVL 148, even he was surprised at the power bursting out of his own body. 'I must have broken through a threshold or 2.' He mused to himself as he explored the changes in his body.

This time, his body was naturally oozing a pseudo domain of its own. However, he had no way to gauge its effects. All he knew was that the two heroes who were like monsters before him earlier now felt like simple leaders of common beast packs.

Seeing the demonic figure, Arissef and Drago, who just barely managed to get up, wore grave expressions. Their minds, especially Arissef's, were on overdrive. However...

'RUN!'

Every plan he came up with within his mind crumbled one after another. He was at least confident that the two of them could escape but there was no way for the 15,000 soldiers who were a distance away from them would survive.

"Dra---" Arissef was about to tell his partner that they should flee from this battle when suddenly an uncomfortable feeling burst from within him as if he was being burned from inside. He looked up and saw the demon looking into his eyes and at that exact moment, the uncomfortable feeling turned into excruciating pain as black flames erupted from each of his orifices.

"ARISSEF!" Drago rushed towards Arissef's side but before he could reach him, a huge arm appeared in his sights and the next moment, he was flying backward like a cannonball once again before he could feel the intense pain from the strike.

He only stopped after tumbling down many times on the ground. This time, however, he finally lost grip of his equipment not long after being swatted away like a fly.

Meanwhile, Arissef was kneeling on the ground, buckling his body and screaming from the pain as his eyes were burnt and black flames jetted out from their sockets. Half of his organs were already burnt to ash when finally the hands which were clawing at his skin, fell to the sides of his now lifeless body. Arissef, the Archmage, was now resembling a coal statue.

At this moment, Drago was struggling to get up, his nose broken and one of his eyes was starting to swell up. What he saw next shook him to the core.

The demon pointed one of his fingers on Arissef's forehead, imitating what the silhouette of Death did to Falna. When he did this, the black flames in Arissef's body surged towards him as if they were eager to come back home after doing overtime. While the flames were burning Arissef, Zex felt them calling to him as if they wanted to give something to their master. He was surprised to find out that it was Arissef's remaining mana and the unconverted mana from the potions he drank rapidly being turned into black flames. This was a pretty good gift if he could say so himself.

When the tail of the last surge of flame left the Archmage's body, ashes began to get swept away by the wind… until the body of the one known as the Demon Slayer no longer had a single trace left.

All this happened right before Drago's eyes.

An hour ago, they were confident in their quest to slay the Demon Lord who occupied Castle Nalva.

After just one hour, a lesser demon wiped 5,000 soldiers and 3 out of the 4 remaining heroes. The Demon Lord never even showed his face in the battle.

[1] The reference was from Tang Hao's teaching to his son, Tang San in Combat Continent/Douluo Dalu regarding a hammer technique in blacksmithing.

[2] Cell is a character from Dragon Ball Z who can regenerate himself from literally just a single cell.