A massive pile of purple soul weapons and Royal Demon Horns fall out of my Soul Storage in front of me.
In this form, I have full control over my Royal Vibrations, Celestial Fire, Corruption, Ether Pool channeling pure celestial energy into high-quality glyphs, Pure Mana, Purple Divine Threads, and dense Primordial Aura holding it all together.
If I spread out their reach, I can feel nearly this entire domain.
All of the blast sites where Outer Guards and Ascended Demons were killed on the way here can easily be seen in the edges of my mind. This entire settlement that surrounds me is much closer, and I can peer into it with far greater detail as well, spanning hundreds of trillions of kilometers on every side. It would be simple to keep track of every single particle of energy floating through it.
However, instead, I pull all of my visual and energy senses back in to focus on a single point. I turn off all of the background tasks of protecting myself and constantly summoning new glyphs to react to the Demon attacking us.
Reality around me turns to a black void. I trust Maria to protect me.
The only thing I see are the crafting items in front of me, my Glyph Imprints, and all of my energy sources floating together in harmony.
I know I cannot create anything as unique or with the same potential as my mysterious soul sword, but that is not my goal. All I want to do is create a weapon that will win me this battle. If it's destroyed in the process, that would still be a success.
I do not have nearly enough Soul Energy to rely on raw power to win, and with this Demon's strange whips and lasers, getting too close without dealing with them would be a death sentence as well.
Maria's Source Resin seems to be able to neutralize them temporarily, and the strength of our glyphs is certainly strong enough to block them. It takes thousands of times more demonic glyphs to destroy one of ours. Yet, even that is not much of an advantage considering this Demon can summon billions of them from its palms near instantly.
There is only one clear advantage I can think of—an energy source that has been devouring demonic essence with ease—and that is my Corruption.
In their raw form, these black tendrils are quite slow. They aren't really made for use in battle itself, but when I stare down at these horns and soul weapons, I see worthy vessels. I can sacrifice these artifacts to create a long-range weapon... I'm sure of it.
While dark energy pours out of my hands to surround the fuel for this craft, all of my Glyph Imprints light up at once; even the majority that have not been stimulated yet. It is like I'm having a miniature enlightenment all on my own from discovering this ability and forcefully manipulating soul crafts and horns of Demons from an Ancient Era.
At the same time, two purple whips collide with the blue sparkling array that Maria holds alone.
There are layers of red glyphs intertwined in it, but as the impact begins shattering layers, she replaces them just as fast, and the red glyphs quickly become less and less of the whole.
Both whips loosen with some slack, then pull back. Maria does not even take the time to breathe. She summons more and more arrays around us, knowing I will not be able to help at all until my craft is complete.
Another two domain-shaking shockwaves ripple through the settlement, as the whips crack again relentlessly and the Invisible Demon far away lets out a wave of vibrations that become many times stronger than before.
Maria's eyes widen as she feels every single array crack, and the Vibrations hit her soul.
She has felt plenty of Royals in this Zone already, but there is something fundamentally different about this one. The Vibrations are sharper, denser, and deadlier. It's like they're capable of creating the same strength of intent with only a tiny fraction of the effort. The wavelength feels the same as a normal Royal's, but the strength of each movement is imbued with a power that is unshakable.
The deeper she lets her psyche fall into these Vibrations, the more it begins to make less and less sense. This Demon's Primordial Aura pours out hundreds of times further than hers, and it feels as though it holds that much more strength as well. Yet, it is because of these strange Royal Vibrations. They feel so calm and normal... but they hold a hidden depth that makes her shiver.
She cannot tell if it is their natural state, or if this is some kind of suppression technique that hides their true strength.
All she remembers in this instant is Ulgar's words when first coming to the Purple Zone. He spoke of the First Bloods, a small number of Demons that were all living in the first generation of this demonic race. He called them High Royals.
While a tinge of fear ripples through her, Maria still trusts what she sees before her eyes.
Even if this Demon is a High Royal, it still can't break through her shielding arrays in a single hit. She also was able to break through these whips herself with a single sword slash.
If Vibrations and Primordial Aura were all that mattered in a battle, killing that Outer Guard would not have been so hard. Strategy, timing, and the power of superior glyph imprints are more important.
This is all she thinks of while summoning more shields in this second clash. The impact of the whips this time is destroying her arrays faster than she builds them.
I can feel her emotions boiling up in our soul bond, and I release a flicker of intent back, letting her know that my craft is about to be complete.
A flash of white light erupts from between my palms, blinding the area around us for over three buildings on every side.
The final layers of Maria's shielding arrays shatter at the same time.
She could have summoned more to give us a few more tenths of a second, but it's no longer necessary. Two black bolts with pointed arrow tips pierce out from the white clouds and collide with the closest points of weakness in the purple whips.
These bolts look extremely similar to the attack Maria and I first blocked when running into a squad of Outer Guards outside this domain.
It's the first Demonic Essence attack that collided with our glyphs, so its image is seared into my consciousness.
The only difference is the bolts flying through the air now are made of compacted Demon Horns, Demonic Soul Weapons, and Royal Grade Corruption tethering them all together. Floating inside these arrow bolts, millions of compressed unique dense black glyphs summoned from the creator's legacy make this weapon a terrifying attack.
They collide with the whips and shatter them at their weak points. The arrows that hit them explode and erupt outward with tendrils of Corruption and black glyphs. It attaches itself to every bit of Demonic Essence in the vicinity and absorbs it into its growing mass.
When the flash of light dims, two more arrow bolts blast off further into the settlement and hit the whips again at a slack point about halfway between us and the Demon.
The same explosions and absorption of this purple soul weapon occur, but the flash has cleared up enough to reveal what I've made. Wrapped around my right arm, there is an enormous black cannon-like soul weapon with seven loaded bolts. One is larger than all the others in its center, while the other six surround it in a circle.
I don't waste any time and let the next two bolts fly, and fractions of a second later fire off the final bolt.
It's going to take a moment to reform these projectiles and summon enough glyphs to charge up this weapon enough to get ready to fire another shot. I used the cannon we faced in the last Outer Guards battle as the base for its mechanical function. Some mass is lost with every shot, so the souls and energy from the materials I sacrificed are used to form the bolts.
If the corruption in the air can be collected again, it can be reused, but I'm not counting on it.
What's fired is more than enough to set things in motion.
Another two clouds of darkness destroy the purple whips right in front of the Demon's hands.
At first, this Demon does not understand what has happened. Its soul weapons were just simultaneously attacked in six places and almost entirely devoured and destroyed by an energy source and glyph pattern it's never seen before.
The largest black bolt of all heads right toward its chest, on a direct path to collide with its cores.
It has maintained its sense of pride since the moment this battle started, showing off the fact that it could stand still and handle us all without having to move.
While landing the direct hit would have been better, a grin still creeps across my face while I watch the near-invisible body of this Demon shift its stance at the last moment. A small ripple of fear can be felt in its vibrations.
The bolt still hits its right shoulder and blasts a massive hole in its defenses.
The First Blood's eyes widen as it feels its Demonic Essence start to drain out from its body, like there is a liquid parasite on its shoulder. It begins summoning large amounts of dense Primordial Aura and High Royal Vibrations in the palm of its left hand, then slams it against the black infected area.
A Demonic roar shakes this entire domain. When it lifts its hand, I actually catch a glimpse of its real body for a moment. Part of its armor has been shattered, and even its flesh has been eaten through.
High Royal Demonic Blood drips down its side while the Demon's thick Primordial Aura defenses all pool back up in front of it. Its true form is exposed just long enough for me to scan it and gather a few readings on its status.
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