Just as Soren began shaking off the last traces of suppression, Mephisto's expression twisted. A flicker of wild determination sparked in those hellfire eyes.
He had clawed his way up from nothing, from blood-soaked trenches of demonkind, surviving battles that tore planes apart. He knew death far too well… and he refused to meet it again.
In a single, ruthless decision, Mephisto ignited his colossal body.
BOOM!
The explosion of power shook the abyss to its foundations. His aura, already monstrous, surged skyward like a volcanic eruption, sending shockwaves rolling across the molten landscape.
The entire plane seemed to groan under the weight of Mephisto's unleashed might.
Deep within the abyss, demons felt it instantly.
Some collapsed and some trembled.
Some awakened after ages of slumber.
All knew the same thing…
The Lord of the Abyss was burning his own body and spirit.
A last-resort technique of the flame demons, one used only at the brink of death.
In the shadowed territory of the Nightmare Clan, a black castle loomed over a valley of swirling darkness. Its master, the Nightmare Lord once Mephisto's rival before choosing to bend the knee, opened eyes that shimmered with shifting shapes.
"Mephisto… you mad fool," he rasped, his voice echoing like a thousand whispers. His form flickered: a half-present nightmare of thorns, talons, and smoke. "You've set yourself ablaze, body and soul."
"So… you've met someone who could corner even you."
He paused, uneasy. "But who in this era could force his hand?"
Across the abyss, in the sensual, treacherous lands of the Succubus Clan, an elder with flawless human-like beauty gasped softly.
Black sigils beneath her skin glowed in response to the violent tremor sweeping through the plane.
"That aura…" she murmured. "The ancient prophecy… could it truly be awakening now?"
And she was not alone.
From lairs carved into obsidian cliffs…
From fortresses buried beneath magma seas…
From caverns older than mortal history…
Powerful demons stirred.
Some shrank back into hiding, unwilling to be caught between titans.
Others surged toward the epicenter in greedy anticipation.
Because if Mephisto was truly struggling if he was truly desperate, then one truth echoed through every demon's heart…
If the Lord of the Abyss falls today, his throne becomes fair game.
Soren felt the shift the moment it happened. The air around him warped and his instincts screamed in warning. He knew what Mephisto's full ignition would trigger across the abyss plane and the moment the demon lord's power erupted, Soren reacted instantly.
Space runes spun behind his hands, tightening, hardening, reinforcing the dimensional cage around Mephisto.
Mephisto had already committed.
He ignited one-third of his entire body at once, a suicidal burst of power that detonated through the abyss like a falling star. The shockwave hammered the spatial prison, and for the first time since Soren mastered it… the confinement shattered.
It wasn't Mephisto's superior strength.
It was timing, madness, and luck stacked on top of luck.
Soren had not been pushed to full focus before activating the cage, leaving a microscopic flaw.
Then the Eyes of Hell slammed into his mind, splitting his attention for a heartbeat.
Mephisto seized that single instant and tore free in a blaze of self-inflicted agony.
"Oh~ ROOOOAR!"
The demon lord's bellow cracked molten lakes and rippled through the plane. His aura was beyond critical any further ignition and his own existence would unravel. Even he knew it.
And then, right as Soren braced himself for the final clash…
Mephisto did something that actually stunned him.
He turned… and fled.
Burning flesh and spirit turned into pure propulsion, and the demon lord's titanic form blurred across the magma plains with a speed that bordered on teleportation. In one heartbeat he was there, towering over Soren in a storm of flame.
In the next, he was… gone.
Soren blinked, more irritated than impressed, and flung his senses outward. Space power surged, hunting for Mephisto's twisted aura.
Nothing.
He vanished… completely.
In the chaos of his escape, Mephisto had gone further than Soren expected… he had burned fragments of his own soul to mask his trail, severed the residue of the San Venganza contract, and peeled away every traceable thread between them.
A clean, brutal escape.
Soren lowered his hand, the space array fading into sparks behind him. His eyes thoughtful and a bit annoyed.
"So… the great Lord of the Abyss runs."
He hadn't traveled across planes, fought through molten hellscapes, and torn open reality just to have Mephisto slip away like a frightened beast.
But if Mephisto thought hiding would save him, he was badly mistaken.
Soren looked out across the blazing horizon of the abyss, Mephisto had dodged death today.
But he would not dodge it forever.