Chapter 179: The Night of the Full Moon – Middle (4)

There are two types of anger. One that spreads and burns like wildfire, and another that sinks heavily into the depths like the deep sea.

To put it simply, there are those who become hotter as they get angrier and those who, conversely, grow colder.

And in Exia’s experience, Lier was the former, while Sion was the latter.

Of course, Sion would sometimes raise her voice and shout when provoked, but that wasn’t true anger. It was merely a momentary surge of emotion.

Exia had only seen Sion truly enraged once in her entire life. Which meant, at least once, she had seen it before.

That’s why Exia could tell immediately upon hearing Sion’s voice—this was the glorious “second time.” This wasn’t something to be brushed off as a joke. She was truly, sincerely furious.

And of course, this intensity was exactly what Raizein had been hoping for.

“Hehe, good… This is perfect. This is the seriousness I wanted, Father. Then, since it seems you’re properly warmed up now, shall we begin?”

“Do as you wish.”

Sion adjusted her grip on Exia and gave a short reply.

Traditionally, in the Demon Realm, during a one-on-one duel, the higher-ranked individual always grants the first attack to their subordinate.

Not for noble reasons like fairness or honor, but because they must prove they can defeat their challenger even after taking the first hit. This discourages weaklings from attempting cowardly sneak attacks.

Those who stand at the top must be unquestionably stronger than those below. Otherwise, they have no right to be at the top.

Following that principle, Sion gave Raizein the first move—unaware that this was exactly what she had been hoping for.

“Ufufu, excellent. Then—”

Raizein gathered mana in both hands. But it wasn’t the natural blue mana—it was an unnatural, ominous black energy.

With a smirk, she began her incantation.

“In the beginning, before the world existed, there was nothingness. And so it shall remain.

All existence and thought shall converge into a single point, dissolving into silence alongside stillness.

We shall witness the crumbling within the flicker, the annihilation at the end of transience.

It splits. It twists. It expands and contracts, boiling within its own murkiness. It is distortion, for it has no form. It is void, for it has no color—”

As she chanted, Raizein slowly raised her hand, as if carefully aiming at her target.

Once she locked onto Sion’s position, she curled her lips into a chilling smile and uttered its true name.

“Orb of Annihilation!”

Boom.

At that moment, a pitch-black sphere materialized in midair, instantly pulling in and devouring everything around it.

The Orb of Annihilation—one of the ultimate 9th-circle spells, a destructive force worthy of its title.

A sphere roughly 5 meters in radius, capable of moving at the caster’s will, consuming everything it touches—not simply damaging, but erasing its targets from existence entirely.

Even air wasn’t exempt, meaning the inside of the sphere became a vacuum, generating an overwhelming suction force.

A living black hole.

Defense was impossible.

Even the hardest metal, once swallowed by the orb, would be obliterated at a molecular level, as if it had never existed.

The only option was to dodge—but unfortunately for Sion, she was bound by the rule that she must take the first attack. Not to mention, the gravitational pull made evasion even harder.

Even if she ignored the rule and moved first, it wouldn’t matter.

The orb was fully controllable, meaning its mere existence gave Raizein absolute dominance.

If she wanted to keep fighting while avoiding it, it would be an incredible struggle.

This was Raizein’s ultimate attack—a spell so powerful it could shatter even mana barriers. A move that maximized the advantage of striking first.

Of course, she didn’t intend to kill her father, so she deliberately aimed slightly off. However, she ensured Sion was well within the danger zone.

At the very least, her limbs should have been completely obliterated.

There was no way Sion, as she was now, could—

“What is this? Was that truly your strongest strike? How utterly disappointing.”

“?!?”

Raizein gasped in shock at the sight before her.

It hadn’t worked. No, more than that—the orb itself had vanished.

She had clearly cast it. She had seen it appear. And yet, right before it fully formed, it disappeared in an instant.

As if it had never existed.

This was impossible. The one that was supposed to have vanished was Sion’s left half.

Had it been disrupted by magical interference? But there were no traces of such a thing…

“I had a feeling… In the end, you are just another fool who misunderstands what true ‘strength’ really means.”

“W-What are you talking about—”

Raizein couldn’t finish her sentence.

In the blink of an eye, Sion had closed the distance using Blink—and with a single stroke, she slit Raizein’s throat.

Shhkk!

A crimson arc of blood sprayed through the air as her head separated from her body.

Her headless body staggered, hands grasping at her severed neck.

“Kgh… Guh…?!”

“Don’t be so dramatic. You’ll regenerate anyway.”

As she predicted, Raizein’s body swiftly absorbed surrounding shadows, reattaching her severed head before she could fully die.

But Sion had expected this from the start.

Unfazed, she swung her sword again, delivering a second, third, and fourth strike.

Slash, slash, slash!

“Guh—Agh! AAAAAAGH!!”

Her body was meticulously dismantled—head, torso, chest, stomach, arms, legs, eyes, nose, mouth, ears.

Her limbs were severed, reattached, then severed again.

The pain was entirely hers to bear.

“Hkk—Agh! How dare you?!?!”

Within mere seconds, Raizein had been slashed over a hundred times.

Eyes blazing with fury, she twitched her fingers, unleashing a shadow spear.

“Pierce! My spear—”

“Mirror Image.”

Boom!

One of the doppelgangers that had risen in an instant took the attack in her place and exploded.

The look of despair spread across Raizein’s face as her carefully executed counterattack was rendered meaningless.

“W-What… Ugh, Aaargh?!!”

“I just told you. You’ve completely misunderstood the very definition of strength.”

Sion swung her sword as she spoke in an indifferent voice. Despite delivering countless attacks, her breath remained steady, her demeanor utterly composed.

As she meticulously diced Raizein apart, she continued speaking.

“Strength is not about overwhelming destructive power, unreachable speed, or an endless army. Those are merely aspects of strength, nothing more.

What truly matters is this: Who can you defeat with the power you have? That is the only thing that counts. That one and only criterion is the purest measure of strength.”

“A fundamental…criterion?”

“Exactly.”

Sion spoke gently, as though lecturing a naive child.

The only difference was that instead of patting her on the head, she was slicing open her innards with her sword.

“Even if you possess a force capable of shattering mountains, it’s meaningless if you’re only striking illusions.

Even if you have speed that surpasses light, it’s useless if you can’t break through your opponent’s barrier.

Even if an army vast enough to engulf an entire continent comes charging in, it means nothing if they can all be wiped out with a single large-scale spell.

That’s the nature of battle.

No matter how outstanding your strengths may be, if there exists a countermeasure, you can be overwhelmed and fall at any time.

That’s why showing off your strengths is meaningless. The real question is, How will you make them work against your opponent?“

“Make them… work?”

A thought crossed Raizein’s mind. How had her father neutralized the sphere of annihilation she had cast?

The power she summoned was the primordial void—no sword could cut it, no spell could pierce it. The only way to deal with it was to erase the very space it occupied.

…Wait. Erase it?

“Looks like you finally realized it,” Sion chuckled.

“Yes. If that spell had fully formed, even I would have been in serious danger. The ominous energy it radiated was undeniable.

That’s why I teleported it away before it could fully materialize—along with the surrounding space.

It’s probably deep underground by now, absorbing the surrounding dirt.”

“That’s… That’s even possible? You can just erase magic like that? I’ve never heard of such a method before!”

“Of course, it’s not easy. Using teleportation with such precision and speed requires an immense level of mastery.

But I can do it. And that’s what matters.”

As she spoke, Sion formed a hand sign with her left hand—all while still swinging her sword with her right.

“Enhance Gravity.”

“Ugh?!”

With Sion’s spell, Raizein—who had only just begun to regain her footing—staggered violently once more.

The keen edge of her shadows dulled, losing their form and melting away.

Sion spoke calmly, almost as if to herself.

“I am not overwhelmingly superior in every way. The seven generals of old each had aspects where they surpassed me.

Compared to [Arrogance], I lacked unwavering spirit. Compared to [Wrath], I was weaker in raw strength. Compared to [Greed], I was less cunning. Compared to [Gluttony], I had no regeneration.

I couldn’t rally forces like [Envy], nor manipulate minds like [Lust]. My stamina was nowhere near that of [Sloth].

And yet, I was stronger than all of them. No one ever questioned my rule as the Demon Queen.

Why? Because I could defeat them all. No matter who they were, I could crush them beneath my feet.”

She went on, recounting how she had defeated each of the Seven Generals:

She muddled [Arrogance]’s mind and beat her into submission.

She rendered [Wrath] helpless by reversing gravity and leaving her to flail in the air.

She forced [Greed] into a position where even engaging her was an undeniable loss.

She trapped [Gluttony] in a space so tight that her regenerating body crushed itself.

She wiped out [Envy]’s army with successive area-wide spells.

She overwhelmed [Lust] with an army of undead immune to mental manipulation.

She tracked down and strangled [Sloth] before she could summon her illusions.

Each of them had different sources of strength. They had counters to one another, like an elaborate game of rock-paper-scissors.

Yet Sion had defeated them all—some in mere seconds, others in minutes.

Because she could do anything.

She wasn’t perfect, but she was closer to perfection than anyone else.

Even if her opponent were a god, she would eventually find a weakness and exploit it.

This was the almighty Demon King—Sien Astaroth.

“Simply having many techniques isn’t enough. True strength lies in using them at the right place, at the right time.

And that is why I am the Demon King.”

Sion spoke with complete confidence, continuing her relentless assault.

Sword in her right hand, magic in her left. Her speed had not slowed in the slightest since the battle began.

“Ugh… Aaagh… Aaaaagh!!!”

By now, Raizein was barely holding on.

And yet—she still had hope.

As long as she was bathed in darkness, she would never perish.

Under the full moon’s glow, even Sion couldn’t kill her.

Right?

“Well, I suppose I have no choice then,” Sion mused. “I’ll just have to keep going until sunrise.”

“!?”

Raizein’s eyes widened in disbelief.

And in the next moment, her face was shattered.

As blood clouded her vision, she saw Sion smiling faintly.

“Let’s see… If my memory serves, it’s about midnight now. The sun will rise in six hours.

That should be doable. I might be a bit sore afterward, but oh well.”

“Hh… Hhk?!”

Raizein screamed internally.

Impossible. Even for her father, that was…

“Again,” Sion whispered into her ear, her voice laced with mockery.

“I told you, didn’t I? I’d make sure you understood the weight of this throne.

I wonder… How long will it take before you start begging for mercy?

Shall we make a bet?”

For the first time—terror flickered in Raizein’s eyes.