Chapter 72 -Powerless-

CHAPTER 72 -POWERLESS-

SUSAN GRIFFIN

Alter had entered the portal first, when he did, marshal Sol'gonol stopped me. His dark eyes pierced through my soul like a harpoon going through a fish. 

"Daughter of the Dark Slayer, may I remind you of your presence towards the Demon King?" His voice was in a nonchalant tone, yet it had some sort of disgust towards me in some way. "Though you may be the offspring of this nation's greatest Star, doesn't mean you are to be arrogant in any way. Especially in front of the Demon King's essence." 

"Is that a threat, marshal?" I let out, already igniting my mana core to its fifty percent of mana capacity. Winning against a marshal isn't possible for me now but I could buy enough time for Alter to know something is wrong when he does not see me there. 

That was the plan which was rotating my head, as I had to standby for the earth and fire affinities all around me, ready to course through destruction of this canyon. 

However, the demonic marshal had other plans. Letting go of his threatening aura that surrounds him like a coat and trying to bite me like serpents in a pit, hungry for some full body meal. 

His long and pale fingers pointed towards the portal, letting me pass by without harming me in any way. I took only two steps, cautious of his movements and thinking. 

There is no bed for that. I thought in my mind, eyeing him up and down fast as I—or more like my eyes—could handle. Marshal Sol'gonol could behead me in less than a second if he wanted to but instead he is warning me to take action during the Demon King's presence. 

After a second or two, I needed to redo my whole thinking and plans all together with the marshal's attention. "Don't worry," I said, casually walking to the oval door size portal that connected us from Death Valley to Deboa. "Even I am not that foolish to upset the Demon King just because of my mother's contribution to this kingdom." 

"Wise and upright, just like your mother." 

Then, without hearing anymore of his sugercoated words towards me. I walked into the portal, to where our main reason for being here was. 

The feeling of my stomach being moved around like a windmill moving at hundreds of yards made me feel uneasy and sick. Even standing still—landing my foot on the pavement where the Lord's chambers was, had a toll on my body that I felt like I was going to faint at any given moment. 

My lungs begged for air like he had been taken from me, but I conceded in doing so. Taking deep breaths to level my blood and oxygen in all directions inside my lungs and heart. 

My field of vision then changed, from the blue highlight of the flowers of prosperity to the dark gray of solitude inside of Deboa's castle. In there was Alter Violet, facing the Demon King with a glare of annoyance as the Lord's guards brought up their weapons. 

Alter only stared, each and every single one of them–up and down–like eyeing a silly noble who thinks he owns the world. In the battle between Alter–or Sammael–and Angel Star Michael left some questions to me as well as to everyone watching the fight. 

How could he, a human being, be able to use the angelic power that only the angels have? He may be an Ancient Walker, but he is still a lower ranked species than the other races. The power that compels him from the inside out, is otherworldly. 

A moment of silence and tension that filled the room, when I came to realize, Sol'gonol had already made it here and has disassembled the portal. 

Four marshals now stood in front of Alter, two on each side of the throne, representing the power of Demon King CinderHell. 

Tremendous force of what radiated from the four demons made me tremble that standing without my legs wobbling was impossible, but not for him. 

The young boy who stood in front of me, his dark wavy hair, seriously but not too serious, was standing in front of the Demon King without bowing. 

"So, who are you now? Or who am I going to speak to?" Demon King CinderHell said, his voice of ruler and coldness rang on the ground and walls. 

As I tried to process his majesty's words, my body instinctively kneeled without a doubt. Keeping my head low as possible so that I wouldn't be in any danger. 

Nevertheless, in the atmosphere of dense mana crawling around, greeting danger as it was its own, Alter didn't bow or kneel. The posture of an unfearing being was in front of me while the thirteen year old boy stared up at the King of all demons. 

Anxiety flowed into my body, waiting for the King's next demand, or even his execution for not kneeling before him. After all that's how he's been portrayed in these hundreds of years. The marshals are no less than him when it comes to respect, they will for sure try to kill Alter. 

We must run now. I thought, defensively lifting up my head with a discrete but dreadful manner. It might be just a failure to try to run away from them, the Demon King's level is no joke to even the marshals. Death might be our only way out if we do run. 

"Cut the bullshit. Tell me why have you called for me after all these years?" Alter finally spoke with displeasure in his voice, crossing his hands before speaking again. An ignition of mana circled around Alter's body–from his footwear made out of divine material to the very top of his wavy dark hair–unleashing a bright light, blinding all of us present in the chamber. 

Brilliant white feathers fell gracefully on the ground–some even floated for a various amount of seconds before falling–coming from a pair of angelic wings. Then I realized what was on top of Alter's head, it had been a halo with droplets that mirrored water droplets but they didn't fall. 

"Why? Are you having fun playing the game of youth?" The Lord mocked Alter's words like some piece of trash, before adding on. "You know you can't win without it, so why prolong it, why delay the inevitable?" 

"You talk so much for something you know very little about, CinderHell." 

Alter radiated the mana around him into his hand, creating a blade out of mana—four elements to be exact. The weapon's color resembled the colors of those Elementals' eyes. 

"I could say the same thing to you, False Angel. You think that the world rotates around only you, but if only you would take your own mind out of your rear. This isn't a fantasy world where you are the main protagonist or the most powerful person in all dimensions. No, you are powerless here, Alter Violet…" 

Demon King CinderHell stopped and let his words linger in the air and then he continued. Expressing every single emotion that he had—seemingly all bottled up—for some time. A long time, even expressing it through his words, it felt like my own. 

"I don't even know what to call you anymore… Alter Violet. Sammael. King of War. Ancient Walker. So many monikers, so many identities." 

Alter only stayed, no words or movement aside from his own mana blade swirling through the colors of red, blue, green, brown, and even silver in some occasional times. 

"All of those titles, but no work done for them. So many useless titles just to cover up the one that is more useful than the ones you have right now." 

However, Alter didn't stay quiet after that one. Instead he spoke but with anger and hatred towards the Demon King, like the lord knew what he meant. 

"Don't speak when your mouth is full of shit, Demon King. You don't even know what I'd done just to get here, with or without titles. Whether I hold them or not, you have no right to say anything." 

The angel boy then walked, slowly, towards the throne where the Demon King was. His halo didn't move in counter to him but to his own flow. The white beautiful wings stretched as far as they could, showing nor fear or dominant force on them. 

They were speaking as loud as they could, they weren't being dominated. It was the opposite. They were the dominant ones here. 

Sol'gonol and the other marshals took Alter's—slow walk—as a threat towards their Lord that they instantly took action. Setting their weapons free from their sheaths of leather and pointing them to the angel. 

The dark wavy hair of Alter changed color and texture by the fourth stepping stair, into a white long silky hair. 

His Ancient Walker phase combined with his Angel form. 

I had only seen this form during our encounter in the dungeon's event, back on Roa. His 'Ancient Walker' ring phase if I was correct. A phase or a trial of his true power from the Ancient Walkers. 

I'd assume that every time he'd use it, it could only be done alone, solo, no need for a combination of another phase or power. However I was wrong, my eyes stared at his brilliant white glowing hair that mana started to quiver with him using this duo power. 

"Sol'gonol and you lot, thinking of beating me now?" Alter spoke in a mocking way, trying to trigger the four marshals into striking first. "After I had crippled every single one of you." 

The red haired demon dash to Alter's front position, unleashing a barrage of continuous attacks, one after another. Alter swiftly only dodged every attack thrown to him without much struggle, but he then grabbed Sol'gonol's dominant hand, above his shoulder and pulled with force to throw the marshal with sheer force. 

The two other marshals entered the fight as well, working together, trying to bring down the enemy they regarded as an angel. "Kigmath, Zozroch, you two are the same as always. Still trying to catch me off guard when I rendered your lowest marshal unable to fight. However…" Before Alter could finish his sentence, a deadly aura surfaced around him once more. 

His bloodlust filled the room, overtaking my senses full of dread from the Demon King's words and putting them into a similar state when a prey is cornered by its hunter. 

Though it was directed towards me but to the marshals, it was too potent for not to mistake it like that. 

"Force Field," said Alter after teleporting away for a couple of seconds before teleporting in between the two marshals without them noticing him. Two bubbles incarcerated the two demons in an instant. They tried to break it with sheer strength but it was futile, I wasn't confident in breaking them myself either. No, I think that even the Demon King himself can't break it either. 

Walking through the force field he created himself, both marshals frowned upon seeing this. Ready, both demons activated their core phases, but the angel didn't care at all. The expressionless face as he walked towards Kigmath while his appearance changed was concerning. Darkend liquid enveloped both Kigmath and Zozroch like slime to later solidify into what seemed like hardened steel. 

"The Warrior's Armor," Alter slightly said after not only letting marshal Kigmath finish his entering phase but also letting him strike first. The multi-colored blade finally made its debut by canceling the marshal's attack–having been through heavy weight of force–by many weapons. "Void Bending." 

The feeling of the mana particles around marshal Kigmath's attack disappeared instantly like they never existed, leaving only a worried demon without anything on its mind. 

Marshal Kigmath fell back, a few feet from Alter's position. His orange eyes carefully gaze at the blade of his trusted sword–the sword that the Demon King himself had given to him when he was entrusted as a marshal–had no longer the mana capacity to engage or defend anything at all. 

Demon King CinderHell wasn't surprised by this but rather he expected this to happen at some point, is what his face and his nonchalant aura told me. 

"Oh, sorry, was it important to you? That weak excuse for a sword?" The angel boy incited in his words with a smirk of victory that the demon wouldn't be able to comprehend. Yet, in Kidmath's moment of mourning for his trusted partner, Alter continued to speak, but in a more malicious way that brought me a feeling of fear upon seeing him like this. "I don't know why you brought it here, you know that I could've destroyed it last time we had fought. Honestly, I was hoping you actually did. Unveiling that piece of junk of its overwhelming role was satisfying to me, that I might do that with the rest of the marshals' weapons." 

Noticing that he wasn't going to give him an answer, Alter turned his back to Kigmath and headed his way towards Zozroch, once again having that deadly grin. "That is the reason why I was able to cripple you both without much struggle."

On the other hand, marshal Zozroch was baffled at the destruction of Kigmath's weapon and was ready to kill Alter with his yellow eyes filled with hatred. "Alter Violet, I will make you regret what you had just done!" yelled Zozroch, activating a mana based spell amounting to a destructive spell that could possibly level the castle to the town's level. 

The angelic being had taken notice of this and turned his face towards me–who was still on the floor and not being able to stand because of the heavy mana surrounding me–with a hint of doubt and worry. 

His feet seemed to turn blurry but were quickly stopped by an earth and shadow spell, igniting from behind him binding him in place. Turning his head as fast as he could when he noticed this spell, his eyes widened in surprise when he found out who it was. 

"And you, StarBoy… still let your back open towards an opponent's unknown status." 

At that moment, Alter's brown eyes had a shade of dark red surrounding the iris of his eyes. Fear. I thought, Alter is feeling fear but I don't know for whom or what. In the next second, the force field he had put in between the two marshals broke down in small little pieces before Zozroch's destructive spell reigned far above the three of them only to fall fast enough for me to miss it.