The scene shifted back to the broken battlefield of the normal world. Dust swirled through the air, carrying the stench of blood and scorched earth. Vareon's massive demonic foot lifted slowly, strands of flesh and crushed bone clinging to it. Beneath that monstrous stomp lay Kazuki, his face utterly mangled, nothing more than a ruin of what had once been human features.
Vareon, his body towering and warped with demonic essence, his voice deep and guttural, thundered through the battlefield."YOU FOOL! YOU THINK YOU ARE CLOSE TO… THE DEMON KING? YOU ARE NOWHERE NEAR HIS SUPREMACY!"
His words echoed like judgment itself. Without sparing another glance at the broken child, Vareon turned, his monstrous frame lumbering forward. To him, Kazuki was finished—just another soul erased.
But then…
A faint shimmer spread across the ruined flesh. A threadlike layer of spiritual force, so thin it seemed like a fragile spider's silk, began stitching the destroyed face together. The glow thickened, layer upon layer, until the damage melted away as though it had never existed. Slowly, a pair of sharp eyes reopened. Kazuki rose from the ground, his expression calm, almost mocking.
"And what makes you think I can't match his supremacy?" his voice carried through the battlefield, low yet cutting. "Supremacy itself… does it even exist? Or is it simply a matter of what one chooses to count as supremacy? If you measure it the way you are, then you are wrong."
Vareon spun back, fury igniting in his demonic eyes. With a roar, he launched forward, his clawed hand tearing through the air. But before the strike could land—Kazuki vanished.
Vareon's breath hitched. His senses screamed, yet his eyes could not follow."Impossible… I am a fifth-tier body-refining DEMONIC BEING, channeling the Demon King's power itself. My base speed surpasses seventy percent the speed of light… yet I cannot track an eleven-year-old child?!"
Kazuki's voice echoed around him, calm yet strained, as though spoken from multiple directions at once."I don't know how fast I moved just now. My body wasn't built for that kind of speed. Each moment tears me apart inside—my organs, my bones, every fiber shredded. But even as I burn myself alive with movement, I heal… again and again."
Vareon's eyes narrowed, realization dawning."You're breaking the law of the Body Refining and Spiritual Force Agreement…" he growled. "You're overloading your mortal body with spiritual force it cannot endure—then using more force to patch the very destruction you cause. It's madness. It's… insane."
Kazuki appeared before him, calm but with blood dripping down his chin, proof of the strain tearing him apart from within.
Vareon's voice lowered, dark with respect and hatred intertwined.**"If you are truly the child walking the Fate's Chosen Path… then perhaps it makes sense. But know this, boy—you will not win this fight."
The air around them grew heavy. Sparks of spiritual energy clashed against the oppressive demonic aura, shaking the battlefield. Both stood ready, the storm of their battle only beginning.