90 A Hero No More (2/2)

Boom!

Boom!

The scene looked much like how trainers received the punches of their trainees with a mitt. Even folding his left arm and resting it on his lower back.

”Hah!”

Each exertion Azarael gave made him certain… this man, he's not normal!

”Ah! Hah! Huuh!” Punch after punch after kicks and Azarael was yet to hit Clay squarely, he did not even more from the spot as if Azarael's punches were as light as mosquito bites. What he did not know, was that Clay's overall weight was not actually that heavy. If he received those punches normally, then normally he'd have been blown away from the very first punch.

However, Clay had made it his fighting habit or discipline to multiply his weight when fighting with monsters. Because normally, monsters exert so much force that a single punch would blow a tiny person away, regardless of the damage it does. And getting always blown away was not something ideal for battle.

This was what he taught his subordinates. So. in training from now on, they'll no longer wear the gravity bangles and instead wear them when battling.

if Azarael knew this, he'd have agreed wholeheartedly of this great idea.

Azarael continued his barrage for at least five seconds before he punched his last and retreated. Seeing as Clay was unaffected, he changed his tactics. He used his other abilities instead of physical prowess.

A Demon from Hell had one arsenal that was staple, it was psychokinesis.

Azarael extended his hand and had his palm pointing towards Clay. He was going to exert force on Clay with his mind. He dug deep within himself and even groaned in effort. In his mind, he saw Clay was being held by his power in the air and was slowly getting crushed.

Or so he imagined.

Clay found his ability rather interesting and commanded his skill to analyze and create a skill with similar features as Azarael was showing. It took no time at all to have the skill, heck, Clay's skill reported,

[Opponent's Skill is inferior to Host's. Dissolving Skill. Success]

”Huh. Whatever. I thought I could imitate Skywalker and use the ”Force” oh well.” Clay nonchalantly thought.

”How could this be?!” Azarael was getting even more certain that he went and swallowed more than he can chew. As he was exerting all of his efforts, footsteps arrived at the scene and four men arrived.

Obviously, they were Isaac, Caltec, Jon and Mor.

Clay was frowning a little and they all saw this. And then Jon immediately pointed to the others saying, ”It was them! They were worried about the city, so they wanted to witness the fight. I told them not to go, since I can still feel the danger from this guy!” He was frantic. Maybe because of the malice from Azarael whom they just met or from the fright of receiving yet another scolding from Clay.

”Enough. This guy is boring, so I'll give them to you. He's a bit too strong for you guys in your current state, so let's do this instead.” Clay snapped his finger and Azarael's energy dropped down to his base level from before he was transported to this world.

Clay knew that he had been absorbing the miasma that was a nourishment to a Demon like him to make himself stronger and his hard work for 2 years had all been drained by Clay instead.

Only Clay knew where all that energy went to, but Azarael looked miserable now that he was deflated by Clay. But even in this state, he was still stronger than the four of them combined.

”Hey, Azarael, yea, that's right I know your name. Anyway, if you can beat my guys, I'll let you go and return your energy to you. But if they beat you, you're gonna die, deal?”

Clay gave Azarael a deal, but before that, Azarael was surprised that Clay even knew his name. Just how profound is this man's power? Azarael thought.

”If I win, you'll let me go and have my power back, right?” Azarael sized the guys up and felt confident in ending them quickly. Once he did that, he was confident right away. He readily agreed to Clay's proposal.

”Deal!”

The four men's face paled as they could also feel that the opponent, they had was stronger than them by miles. If earlier, they were dreadful of the other guy because of the energy radiating from him, then now, it should have lessened. However, they found that even with him drained, he was still stronger than the four of them combined. However, at least now, they stood a chance compared to earlier.

”Hey you four troublemakers. Fight him with all you got, or you'll die. If he deals a killing blow to you, I may not be able to save you in time, so you must take note of that. I won't let you die easily, but you may still die regardless. Understood? Now go!”

With Clay's orders. The four of them entered their usual formation. The only difference is that they were fighting a human. Or at least that's how they looked at this guy called Azarael.

Each with a nod, they communicated their intentions and went off to fight Azarael.

Azarael who was trying to grasp his powers again received their attacks without problem.

Isaac attacked with an ice blade connected to his arm created using magic, while Caltec punched out with his Turtle Destruction Wave induced fist techniques. Jon and Mor were waiting for an opportunity to also land attacks.

Isaac's slash was defended well by Azarael using only his arm while his other hand clenched its fist and threw it towards Isaac's body. Before his fist could reach Isaac, Caltec had already launched his own punch towards Azarael's undefended temple. Without fear, Azarael continued his punch and it landed on Isaac's body which resulted in him being blown away into the snow-filled land. Isaac was unmoving for a few seconds before he coughed up blood dyeing the snow on the ground in front of him red.

Caltec's punch to Azarael's temple landed as well and Azarael skidded away while scraping the ground. His standing posture wasn't disturbed. Only that he was blown away by the force of Caltec's punch. After all, he was almost weightless, compared to that punch.

Waiting for him at the position he was blown into was Jon. Jon still felt danger from this man they were facing but he set that aside and faced his fears. He slashed with his all-cutting blade. His slash contained traces of magic energy in it which made it even more deadly.

The slash landed and sliced Azarael in half. There was no blood, only a black smoke that slowly spilled out of the cut halves.

Seeing this, Clay spoke to them, ”Oh, I forgot to mention. This guy is a spiritual entity. He may have a physical body, but he is a pure spiritual entity. To make it fair, let me enhance your weapons.” Clay snapped his finger and instantly, the weapons they had became dangerous even for Azarael. It may not kill him with just a slash, but it will wound even his spiritual body.

'Just what are you?!' Azarael was indignant. This is just wrong!

Azarael wanted to surprise these guys by letting them put their guards down, but Clay foiled his plan with that one sentence and even empowered his subordinates. How was this fair?!

”I see.” Isaac was without weapon and instead relied on his ice magic, but this time, he switched to his other source of power. He summoned the Ice Spirit King saying, ”O Spirit of the King of Frost heed my call and lend me your coat of arms.”

It wasn't a full summoning as Isaac only borrowed the King's power to coat his own Ice Blade, now it became Spirit Ice Blade. It had the same effect as what Clay enhanced the others' weapons with.

”Good thinking!” Clay gave a thumbs up to Isaac and grinned. He knew that Isaac knew what to do with the information, so he did not provide him a weapon. What he did not know though was when Isaac finally made a contract with the Spirit King of Frost. He was curious but he'll ask about it later.

The rest now also had a chance to fight and damage Azarael as well.

Mor, who was chanting something earlier had now unleashed his attack on the unsuspecting Azarael after that single round earlier. He was feeling left out because everyone forgot about him. His attacks after all were big and needed charging time.

When he did attack, his weapon was already enhanced by Clay, so he did not need to worry about it not damaging if it hit.

Azarael was still cursing Clay inside his mind when he felt the fluctuation of energy above him. It was Mor who put his Turtle Destruction Wave – Slash to the extreme of both speed and magic energy output.

A time ago, he would have shouted out loud before hitting the enemy, alerting it and allowing it to dodge, but Mor seemed to have overcome this childish tendency after some time. Clay approved of it, but he still had to work on his magic energy being detected while he attacks. Surprise attacks lose their effectivity when detected after all.

Slash!

Mor's attack hit the ground and gouged a large portion of the earth. His target was nowhere to be found around the hole he made. Then,

”Watch out!” Jon was the one to warn Mor of the impending attack he was to receive. Hurriedly, he put his perception to the test and found Azarael speedily attacking him with a kick from his left side blind spot.

After all, it was Mor who was taught by Clay to use magic energy to detect other creatures around himself.

Swoosh!

Mor was barely able to dodge the attack and Azarael landed in front of him a few meters away. Without letting up, Azarael turned on his toes and delivered a roundhouse kick to Mor.

Mor certainly was not a training dummy. He circulated magic on his Magic Stick and formed a Tower Shield that covered even his flank, receiving Azarael's kick squarely.

Crash!

The sound of glass breaking resounded just as Azarael's kick contacted the shield Mor conjured resulting in him being blown away towards a few meters before crashing on a dozen of trees and stopping. From the looks of it, he was heavily injured just like how Isaac should have been when he received Azarael's attack.

While Mor was getting blown away, Jon had arrived next to Azarael to attack him. He was supposed to stop Azarael's kick with a counterattack, but he was too late and so his slash came late. When Azarael's kick collided with Mor's shield, he was already in the motion of slashing horizontally towards the neck of Azarael.

When Mor was blown away, Azarael had to defend from Jon's slash hastily with both his arms.

Clang!

The sound of heavy metal on heavy metal resounded as the slash hit and Azarael was also blown away at the opposite direction where Mor was. Azarael was damaged quite considerably owing to the enhancement that Clay gave their armament.

”Hiss!” Azarael could only hiss as the pain he could feel was immense. The searing of the soul is what particularly gave him that sensation of pain. He had never felt pain like this for millennia.

While he was in the air, blown away, Caltec had positioned himself to where Azarael was supposed to land and gathered a finishing blow. He utilized the energy gathering and compression ability of the Turtle Destruction Wave and wore it on his right arm as a giant fist. He can either blast it forward or use its enormous energy to deal internal damage to physical beings.

However, this was a mistake. Azarael was a spiritual entity who could not simply be damaged by physical attacks. Caltec's attack well thought off as a follow up attack, however, as an attack in general it was a failure on his part to remember that their quarry was not something he could hurt physically.

It was even a subject for debate at this point if they were the quarry or the other way around.

Caltec blasted Azarael with the ultimate move he charged. At first, Azarael was a bit apprehensive as to what would happen if that fist was to collide with his face, however, when he saw the magic energy that ballooned covering Caltec's fist, he was relieved.

After being blasted away from Caltec using the momentum of the blast, Azarael found himself in mid-air, he was flying. Supernaturally, it was a simple feat to fly. However, the four of them were unable to do this just yet. This was their disadvantage when facing foes who could take to the skies.

They could leap to great heights, however, as gravity dictates, they needed to fall.

”Dammit! We still can't fly. We won't be able to catch him in mid-air.”

”Yeah, our attacks would only be evaded there.”

At this point, they could only look towards Clay for guidance. They had gathered to regroup after Caltec's attack failed to finish the job. Even as the terrain was devastated because of that huge energy blast.

Clay seeing this action of theirs could only chuckle.

”What are you guys looking at me for? This is your fight. If you can't beat him, I'll allow him to go back to where he came from. But if you can finish him then that's it. Just say if you're unable and we'll finish up here. We still have a party to resume.” Clay was not in the mood to play with Azarael. He was too weak for Clay and he was too strong for his current subordinates' strength.

”We are unable to fight hi when he is in the air, Sire. We are still greatly lacking.”

”Exactly! That's why your training will be more intense when we get back. So, ready yourselves.

”As for you, Azarael, go back to the demon realm and maybe train or whatever. Don't even dare to visit other realms before you think you're strong enough, or I will personally end you. And tell the Demon Leaders there to visit me within a year. If they don't respond or if you don't tell them, it's you who I will visit for both accounts. You understand?

”Now, Go!” Clay was not forgiving nor lenient this time. There was a reason why he let the Demon Azarael go for now. One, he could use the bastard as training dummy for his subordinates, two, he could use his memories to extract the coordinates of Hell and make a visit there himself later.

Whatever else form of use he can serve; Clay would have to think about more later.

With a bit of hesitation, Azarael flew away into the direction of the Demon Realm and even tested Clay's influence by swerving towards the Dragonkin Territory, however, Clay had the entire planet under his watch the moment he found out that other races may have summoned heroes after Azarael showed up.

And that tiny movement of Azarael, netted him a light beam that came out of nowhere and struck his head. Fortunately, it was merely a warning shot, if not, he knew that he'd have died without knowing how. So, he continued his way to tell the demons of this world, what Clay had told him to do. His hatred and anger could easily be understood.