After a moment, the massive body of the lava demon dissipated before Marcus.
But Marcus didn't relax, because he could sense that although his last blow had destroyed the lava demon's body, there were still life signs within the remains.
Sure enough, before Marcus could launch another attack, loud laughter echoed from the countless fragments.
"Hahahaha! How interesting—to destroy my toy so easily."
Following those words, the shattered lava demon began burning furiously, and a strange-looking horned demon appeared before Marcus.
The moment it saw Marcus, flames condensed at the devil's fingertips.
Whoosh!
The beam of fire struck Marcus's body, but didn't harm him in the slightest—instead setting off blue ripples across his form.
Fortunately, Marcus had mastered the power of the Vazarin school, or he truly couldn't have blocked the beam released by this demon.
A light blue energy shield had appeared around him. This was Vazarin's protective shell—an ability to absorb enemy attacks and convert them into personal shielding.
At the moment when the lava hammer had fallen earlier, he'd activated the protective shell to absorb all the damage from that blow.
It was because he'd absorbed that attack that he could now easily face the horned demon's flame beam.
After stabilizing the shield around his body, Marcus looked at the horned demon before him and understood that with Equinox's power alone, he couldn't fight this powerful demon. After all, this was hell—the demon's home turf.
"This one's trouble. Time to bring out the big guns!"
Following his voice, Marcus was bathed in brilliant light, and then battle armor wearing a golden feather crown appeared before the horned demon.
Wukong
Marcus, having transformed into the Monkey King, suddenly manifested his Celestial Twin ability, and a clone identical to him leaped from his body.
Facing such a formidable opponent, only this warrior with primal fury in his body could match it.
Clouds and mist rolled beneath his feet, and in a blink, both Marcus and his clone were enveloped as they charged the horned demon.
Facing the approaching cloud, the horned demon didn't hesitate. Countless flames in his hands transformed into fire arrows that shot toward Marcus.
From the lava pool beside him, a giant hand made entirely of molten rock emerged and slammed toward the cloud formed by Marcus.
BOOM!!!
Under the assault of countless fire arrows and the giant hand, the cloud dissipated, but blue light pierced through the lava appendage.
Defy
Marcus's clone wielded the energy-formed Iron Staff, sweeping it out with tremendous force.
Swoosh!
The giant lava hand was instantly destroyed by the Iron Staff's attack, turning into countless molten chunks that filled the sky.
Marcus was surrounded by energy, and the armor across his body had grown stronger, allowing him to withstand more punishment.
The moment they burst from the lava giant's grasp, Marcus and his avatar swung their golden staves and brought them crashing down toward the devil.
Iron Vault
The staff in Marcus's hands grew instantly, becoming a massive pillar that slammed toward the demon.
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Accompanied by thunderous impacts, the demon was driven into the lava under the violent strikes of the enormous Iron Staff.
After the attack, a golden amplitude crystal appeared in Marcus's hand, instantly fusing with his armor.
Then, facing the demon that had been smashed into the lava, he used Celestial Twin again.
The attacking clone suddenly transformed into a stream of light rushing toward the demon. The Iron Staff in its hands also instantly became a huge pillar, smashing down fiercely at the creature.
BOOM!
The demon, whose body was submerged in magma, was launched out of the lava pool by the violent impact.
Seeing the demon fly from the molten pool, Marcus charged toward it again.
In his hands, he continued channeling energy into the Iron Staff, causing the weapon's energized ends to extend continuously.
"Eat this!"
The continuously extending Iron Staff drew a blue energy trail through the air—from a distance, it looked like a blue curtain had suddenly appeared.
But the attack within shouldn't be underestimated. The energy released by the Iron Staff was Marcus's full power. The falling weapon continued growing in size, reaching the diameter of a truck tire when it struck the demon.
This blow drove the demon straight into the ground, but Marcus still didn't let up, continuing to swing the Iron Staff in devastating strikes.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The ground shook constantly as the area around the demon was pulverized.
After several more attacks, Marcus restored the staff to its original thickness and thrust it toward the demon's head like a spear.
The powerful Iron Staff let out a sharp whistle through the air and ruthlessly plunged into the earth.
Under this tremendous force, the demon's body was instantly crushed with no signs of survival.
"Phew... finally over!"
As he exhaled, he saw the surrounding demons suddenly collapse as if their power had been cut, while streams of white light converged toward the fallen creature.
"You are a formidable opponent. I didn't expect the vessel of my avatar to be defeated by you. I will make you into a new vessel when we meet again..."
The demon's voice echoed from all directions as the gathered souls formed a green circle in the air, exploding instantly to engulf Marcus's body.
Fortunately, Marcus's reflexes were sharp enough. At the moment of explosion, he used Defy, raising the Iron Staff to resist all the blast's damage.
After the explosion ended, Marcus stood on a rock floating in the lava pool, gazing quietly into the distance.
When the magic circle had exploded, he'd seen most of the demon's body fragments condense and flee toward the distance.
"Just a vessel for a clone? As expected of a devil—really cautious about protecting the real body."
What had fought him was merely a vessel for a powerful demon's avatar. Even a mere vessel had such incredible power. The mythological forces of this world were truly terrifying.
But since his opponent had chosen to make threats, it meant the enemy had no time to deal with him now.
"Doesn't matter. The one maintaining the passage is gone—time to seal the hell portal."
With those words, he transformed into cloud and rushed toward the hell passage.
The number of demons in the tunnel was still massive, and they continued streaming toward Earth.
The cloud that was Marcus moved between these demons, quickly rushing through the congested passage to emerge at the hell portal's entrance.
The moment he returned to Gotham, Marcus resumed his appearance as Harrow.
He raised the Incinerator and brought it crashing down on the demons still pouring from the hell passage.
Energy waves burning with solar fire advanced continuously, and the demons piled at the hell portal's entrance were all instantly reduced to ash.
Meanwhile, those binding chains that blocked the passage and prevented its expansion continued tightening.