"A correct assumption."

"[Voyaging Star.]"

A werewolf made of purple flames and obsidian shot out from within the darkness. He skidded on the ground, his wings wide open, and used his left hand to claw at the stone. As if digging into the dirt, his limb sunk right away and Obsidian Star energy replaced all matter in contact with it.

The Voyaging Star was the apogee of Elemental Reinforcement. A single contact could convert all forms of inert matter into malleable energy. Gliding backward, at least a kilometer of terrain began to crumble into star energy through Rakna's touch.

"[Cantira Cūriya,]" he intoned and the purple flames were ignited with Lunisolar Blaze. Right after, a miasmic aura came into view, arriving at such speeds that the curve of the planet's core allowed it to make it seem like teleportation. "[Veḷḷi Naṭcattira Tūci,]" he finished the spell.

Promptly, like a wave of light, from left to right, flashes coursed through the silver-white flames and turned them into a cloud of glittering dust. Then, with the sound of a chime, they exploded in a bouquet of different shades.

However, none of that managed to stop three bone-like whips to pierce through. The lightning-fast attack threatened to stab Rakna, which he barely deflected with Sonata.

Tarnished Death emerged from the flames. Its eyes were as stagnant as when they started, but its pupils flipped from a square to a lozenge as soon as Lilith appeared above it with Agni Fire coating both her sabers.

Her figure had already transformed, her grinning Asura Mask firmly in place, and she didn't waste a single second before swinging with all the strength her current body possessed.

The Fiend stoically broke off the bones it had used to attack Rakna and thwarted the twin swords with its arm encased in them. Upon collision, the ceiling of the cave cracked and the Agni assaulted Tarnished Death's fog-like flesh.

However, most strangely, the reverse blade of Mò Yé held by Lilith repelled the Fiend's arm as if it had bounced on spring and created an opening for Gān Jiàng to tear into the creature.

"…children and their toys," a shiver-inducing voice, evidently male albeit warped, resounded and Lilith only had time to blink before she felt something hit her. She coughed blood and crashed into the solidified inner core of the planet, almost breaking it in half.

Rakna's expression twitched as he looked up. A monstrous arm made of many pearly white bones was floating above Tarnished Death, having just struck the demoness with crushing strength.

"So much for being one of the weakest Fiends," the werewolf groaned.

The creature of evil scowled. "Did you believe me so extraneous that such a trivial act raised your guard?" He sounded positively offended.

"Well, I wouldn't go that far," Rakna snorted.

Amid their talk, a bolt of green lightning shot out from underground. The clap of thunder made the planet tremble on its own and Tarnished Death used the skeleton arm to block it. However, it did not last even a second before shattering.

The Fiend impassively observed the pieces of his creation and glanced at Lilith who flew up with a venomous look shining through her mask and her Agni Ring spinning with lightning.

"…an Agni Asura," Tarnished Death slowly said. "Why is one of your ilk in this Dream?"

"What dream?" Lilith furrowed her brows while Rakna's eyes widened slightly.

Ignoring her, the Fiend turned toward the werewolf. "You are the 'guest', are you not? Then you can be assured…" His eyes glowed and his aura gained a shade of white, matching his heart's pulsations. "I shall collect your body and take your place within the waking world."

Rakna's expression became frigid.

"You called me the worst of necromancers, did you not?" Tarnished Death continued and with one swift motion, a bone gauntlet grew on his right hand before he used it to pry into the exposed cage of its heart. "A correct assumption," he stated calmly and started pulling.

At that moment, Rakna didn't hesitate to summon his Tenth Tail. He flapped his wings and as he twisted time itself, he teleported in front of the Fiend. Sonata released Lunisolar Flames after changing its core element and blurring from the power of the Ripping Ghost of Rupture.

Yet, Tarnished Death appeared indifferent. He was nearly as old as this Era, having fought and seen many Realm-breaking beings. "Down, wolf," he sneered and a chunk of the Earth's outer core above them dissolved and transformed into an even greater skeletal arm.

It pressed down and Rakna swung his Guandao, ready to cut both the arm and its caster. "[Innate Blade of Rupture,]" he uttered and the cleansing flames became one with the spatial disturbances of his Internal Art.

Sonata tore a line through space and set fire to the cracks. In the blink of an eye, the skeleton was split apart. The bones turned to ashes and a shockwave rattled the planet. The ceiling shook with a new mark carved into it, and yet, Tarnished Death was unharmed.

As if they were always there, a dozen more skeletal limbs had already surrounded him. The Fiend then plunged his hand into of his own chest and began to pull something out.

Naturally, several more hands descended upon Rakna, and this time, most of them were armored with a second layer of red bones. The werewolf grunted and used Fist of Rupture to break them apart, only to reveal more of them.

'Where do they keep coming from…? Is he somehow cannibalizing the planet?' Rakna thought as he waved his hand to create a string of runes, which autonomously formed a circle.

Simultaneously, Lilith summoned three pairs of arms from her Ring. They all extended forward to charge a sphere of all three variations of Agni. She crossed her sabers as well, gathering mana into them.

Rakna began to charge a Slātta Raja at the tip of Sonata, within the runic circle, granting it stability and tuning its output as more Lunisolar Flames were infused onto it.

Tarnished Death's gaze became disgusted. "Innate Order… how repulsive. What an arrogant Law to reject my existence. Is that your favorite toy, child?" He snarled and finally finished his motion, now holding a tall and majestic staff. At the tip, encased in its marble-like material, the Fiend's white heart was beating rhythmically.

Rakna's eyes narrowed and he spoke, "[Slātta Natcattira Raja.]"

At the same time, Lilith slashed at the sphere before her, "[Rakshasi Danda!]"

Tarnished Death slumped as if sighing, uncaring even as spells carrying elements and concepts in opposition to him were approaching. He raised his staff and brought it down, hitting an inexistent obstacle and creating ripples. The white heart pulsed strongly and released a halo of light. 

At his beck and call, within the milliseconds required for the spells to reach him, the remainder of the planet's core seemingly disappeared; molded into something new. 

And a pair of crimson ellipses appeared in its place.

* * *

Astraea hovered above the demon city, her wings gleaming behind her. She turned away from the commencing battle between Bhumi and Soma's group and focused on the advancing Shades.

"{Is everything good with the barrier?}" She asked telepathically.

"{Yes, yes,}" Norio responded, his hands constantly shifting magic circles and runes at the center of the city, and thus the barrier. "{I'm keeping it as cost-effective as possible. As long as it's idle, we won't lose much of our reserves, but once they attack…}"

"{…they've already started,}" Astraea uttered as the Shades began to charge demonic waves. Most of them only seemed able to congregate their energy and fire it. The simplicity made it easy to deal with, but that did not take away from its sheer destructivity.

The angel gently flapped her wings and landed on top of the fortified wall. "Are you ready to go?" She asked the silver-haired demon standing there.

Faruth nodded with a steely expression. "Naturally."

"Then, your army can move as soon as--!" Astraea was interrupted by a strong quaking. One of the titanic Shades was stomped into the ground by Tarasque outside the barrier. He roared to the sky and bit into another before tearing a chunk of its body off.

The large beast glanced at Astraea before swinging one of his wings at the Shades and strangling one with his tail's 'maw'. Tarasque growled and disks of dark purple energy shot out from each of his horns. The disks cut through a giant Shade and several others before stopping and spawning a large field of gravity; crushing them against the ground, albeit not enough to kill.

"…he's got it," Astraea sighed as Tarasque jumped into the midst of the Shades, catching a giant one midair with his claw . At the same time, the rest of the enemies had finished charging.

"Let the first barrage hit the barrier," the Star Entity spoke up. "And then… rush in."

"You don't have to tell me twice," Faruth scoffed and jumped down the fortress wall. His hair shone brightly and his eyes let out a cold light. Cold mist dragged along his figure until he landed on the ground which immediately froze on contact with his feet.

"Men!" He shouted with a wave of cold aura and the demons that had been waiting at the edge of the barrier hollered as one; thousands of elites oozing with demonic energy. "Our objective is not survival! Neither victory!" He yelled with cold authority. "Remind yourself, why did we stay?!"

Astraea quietly watched from above with a solemn expression.

"We will destroy these monsters…" Faruth declared a sword of ice in his hand. "And give our Father the send-off he deserves!"

The demons responded fervently and the situation outside reached its boiling point.

The Shades' demonic energy made a high-pitched noise as it compressed inside their mouths for a brief moment. Then, as if connected by a common thought, they fired simultaneously.

"Brace in!" Astraea conveyed her voice through the wind.

A tide of crimson energy promptly struck. The entire city shook, cracks appearing on the ground around the circumference of the barrier, and Lunisolar Flames ignited the sky; they engulfed the demon capital and immolated the offending power.

"Oi, oi…" Norio grimaced as he wiped the blood dripping down his nose. The core of the barrier in front of him was glitching; silver-white flames trying to break out. "Tch, 'she' said these runes were incomplete but…" He gritted his teeth. "Fuck off! This is way too unstable!" He yelled in frustration whilst forcing the runes written by Ranka to stay in place.

"{Can you hold on alone?}" Astraea asked him through telepathy.

The demon mage grumbled. "{It's fine…! I can't call myself a formation expert if I can't handle this simple thing,}" he said and lightning surrounded him, his element helping him rein in the blaze.

Astraea smiled at his response and gazed forward. The beams coming from the Shades were dying down and declining in succession. The Lunisolar Blaze was also calming down, making it gradually possible to see past it.

But before it was completely done, Faruth turned into a blue flash and went through. At the same time, as soon as he exited the safety of the barrier, he tapped into the Lunisolar reserves bestowed by Rakna to protect himself from the Fiend's ever-present aura of corruption.

He wasn't alone. The entire army he led followed after him, piercing through the encirclement of the Shades and adopting a two-pronged formation.

"Remember! As soon as you cannot resist the miasma, return to the barrier to cleanse it!" Faruth commanded as he planted his sword in the ground and impaled a Shade with ice spikes.

Astraea took a deep breath and opened her hand, inside which a small seed had sprouted. Swiftly, a staff adorned with vines and flowers grew to fit her grip. She whirled the instrument with a deft expertise and glowing spores began to spread in the air.

"[Anaptýssou, Agapiméno Mou Fos,]" she intoned softly as each spore became an unseen lantern floating above every demon's head. She descended to firm ground and tapped the ground with her staff.

Roots grew around her and rapidly coalesced into a leafless tree. But it only lasted until a beautiful emerald crown blossomed on its branches. The tree immediately started sucking in energy from its surroundings, wherever or whatever it was, and continued to grow bit by bit.

Its creator, however, frowned slightly. "This…" She looked at the poor ground of this planet and let out a sad sigh. "I see. It perished long ago," she shook her head and a moment after, a tremor made her stiffen and similarly caught the attention of everyone else on the surface of the Earth.

"This feeling…" Soma muttered whilst conjuring a new arrow. He briefly looked over his shoulder and narrowed his eyes. Somewhere below the crust of the planet, something was rising. A drop of sweat rolled down his face, "What a ridiculous amount of death energy…!"

As soon as those words left his mouth, an absurdly large shadowy pillar punched a hole through the surface of the Earth. It turned everything in its close vicinity into something worse than ashes. The last of the plants still surviving withered instantly, and Astraea's tree flickered as if threatened.

The pillar pierced through the clouds and far out into space. The oddly quiet nature of this strange phenomenon sent chills down everyone's spines as well as its eerily transient existence. However, some people noticed a silver and purple light being ejected alongside it.

Three pairs of wings crackling with spatial energy tightly folded into a ball, further surrounded by a spherical shield currently breaking down and composed of many hexagons.

"Lord Monarch…" Astraea whispered worriedly, and as if on cue, an unearthly roar echoed across the planet. Even she shivered due to the concepts of death she could sense infused into it.

Shortly, a giant skeletal claw grasped the edge of the hole created by the pillar, and Rakna's wings also unfurled, revealing himself and Lilith, whose face was slightly pink.

The werewolf made a half-amused, half-hesitant smile. "I mean, you didn't really need to take the necromancer thing so literally…" He muttered, readying himself for what was to come.

A grossly massive skull glared back at him from within the depths.