Book 7, Chapter 57 - The Metallic Divine Tree (2/2)
The Demon King’s successor was not some foolish upstart, young and inexperienced. He didn’t know much about Belial’s powers, but he did know his talent. As an artisan, the Elder would have all manner of relics and the benefits they provided. Until he knew more, he had to be careful.
Their arena was a unique one. The crystallized mental power that surrounded them worked like spirit beads, but for the important distinction that Source was not pure. It was a mixture of psychic energy and human souls. Mankind had no way to tap into it.
Belial, on the other hand, had created a special relic furnace. The furnace swallowed surrounding energies and converted it into usable energy. Source was refined into accessible mental power for the demon to use.
In other words, Belial’s power was limitless. He could fight until Cloudhawk was drained.
Belial held the trump card and Cloudhawk wasn’t stupid enough to fight a war of attrition. He used his pure spatial powers to avoid the attacks because it was all he could do. If he couldn’t beat his enemy with brute force, perhaps he could win through agility.
One blast of fire after another seared through the chamber, but none found purchase. The Elder paused, but only enough to gather his strength. The fires did not disperse, but instead gathered into platforms like hellish lotus flowers.
Cloudhawk watched the strange scene as Belial used them to race across the chamber. As he renewed his assault, the flowers shot forth like fiery pythons. They wrapped around Belial protectively, capable of attacking whatever came near.
Cloudhawk wasn’t sure how to answer the new threat.
Meanwhile Belial activated several more relics. Huge dark wings emerged from his back that increased his speed a dozen fold. Ignoring Cloudhawk frozen in defensive position, he raced directly for the heart of the seed.
Cloudhawk thought to try and stop him but held back. He couldn’t stand in the demon’s way regardless, not in his state. But it didn’t matter.
The gods’ ship wasn’t here. Belial’s wishful thinking was doomed from the start. Instead of chasing him down, better to let the Elder discover the truth for himself and let those hopes die.
Beneath the demon’s feet danced a dozen gouts of flame. A pair of enormous wings beat furiously, driving him forward. In his left hand the dark furnace continued to spat power, while he wildly brandished his sword of flames in his right.
Like an avatar of destruction he rose to the canopy of the divine tree. The power that poured off of him was stifling, unimaginable. This was the power of a demon Elder – true and terrible strength. No one Cloudhawk had met so far – Not Arcturus, or Judas, or even Legion – could match Belial.
He knew it had to do with the artisan’s methods. Cloudhawk didn’t now know what strength Legion had possessed in his heyday, nor did he know the full extent of his own legendary predecessor, the Demon King.
Belial was at a loss. He was the greatest builder of his people, so he had a keen eye. This had to be the tool gods used to escape the planet, but he saw no indication this was true. How could that be? Was his intelligence so wrong?
He glared at the flowing metal structure. It was huge, there had to be some secret within. The gods left this behind and sometime afterward it took the shape of this tree. The liquid metal was its shell, strong and protective, but not impermeable to the demon Elder.
Several metal discs appeared and descended upon the enchantment. They clung to the tree’s surface like a plaster. Belial activated his relic to make them fuse together and pull, forcing a gap in the tree’s defenses.
Only just then, the earth shook ferociously as though wracked by an earthquake.
The entire chamber rattled as the tree recognized a threat. An imperial and domineering will invaded the minds of Belial and Cloudhawk.
“Intruders! Die!”