Bernard, who had been keeping Ethan busy suddenly felt strange. His entire body stiffened.

A chill ran down his spine so sharply that he gasped. He did not know why, but he could not move. A deep sense of dread spread through him.

Ethan saw the chance and dashed forward, sword raised. His eyes narrowed with determination and his aura flared.

But just before his blade could connect, a horrifying scream tore through the sky.

"ARGHHHHHH!"

Bernard's body burst into a thick cloud of blood-red mist. It exploded outward violently and then a suction force dragged it all into the magic circle.

Ethan turned and saw the magic circle where mist vanished completely.

Ethan almost staggered back in shock. His eyes widened and his breath stopped for a moment.

"What the fuck…" he muttered under his breath, shaken by what he had just seen.

Though he didn't know what laid behind the circle, it was enough to kill him with a single gaze.

"Thank God,I didn't rush ahead to attack."

It felt like death itself had brushed past him.

Then he looked up and froze.

Kai stood laughing, his eyes bloodshot and his mouth twisted in a broken smile. His entire body trembled with madness.

"Hahahahaha… It's over," Kai shouted. His voice cracked, filled with a twisted maniac smile of victory mixed together.

"You're done for. From now on, you'll know the taste of despair."

Ethan's breath became heavy. His chest tightened. A cold pressure pressed down on him like thousands of invisible hands gripping him.

"Sorry Bernard… your sacrifice is necessary for the expansion of the Lord's plans."

"Your death will be remembered in golden words in the history of Cult… hahahaha!" Kai screamed as his laughter echoed across the battlefield.

But the laughter did not last long. His expression suddenly shifted. His face twisted into a deep frown as something began moving inside the portal behind him.

A tear split across the sky.

A huge claw covered in black scales pushed its way out of the portal. The claw was bigger than a house and sharp spikes grew along each finger. Black blood dripped from the tips. Each drop burned holes into the ground.

SZZZHHHHHH!

The earth melted like wax. A thick rotten smell filled the air immediately and made the soldiers gag.

The claw gripped the edge of the sky and pulled something monstrous through the tear. A horned head pushed out next, covered in twisted bone plates. Its eyes burned with red flames that lit up the battlefield in a bloody glow.

Rows of sharp teeth stretched into a sickening smile.

A deep booming growl shook the earth. The sound made the walls crack and the air ripple.

Then the massive figure vanished, turning into dark mist. The mist shot straight into Kai's body and disappeared completely.

A writhing and pulsing mass of black mist began to rise and crawl across Kai's skin. It moved like a living creature, twisting and coiling around his body. It wrapped tighter and tighter until his bones began to crack loudly. His body distorted in unnatural ways, bending like something was breaking him from the inside.

"Fuckk....." Ethan roared. He pushed his feet into the ground and jumped in, swinging his blade with all his strength.

Huge slashes of violent power shot toward Kai and struck his twisted form. But a crimson barrier flashed and blocked the attacks, scattering them into sparks of light.

"Damnnnnnnn," Ethan cursed, his jaw clenched tight.

Kai's limbs stretched, muscles swelled and pulsed with dark energy.

His skin rippled and bulged as something inside tore its way out. With a loud and sickening tearing noise, two giant wings burst out from his back. They spread wide, covered in dark scales and glowing veins that looked like they were burning from within. Two long sharp horns erupted from his forehead and curved upward like blades.

His skin darkened and hardened into something like stone, carved with demonic patterns glowing red. His eyes changed into deep crimson, shining with pure fury and monstrous hunger.

Ethan watched him in growing horror and unease. Without waiting another second, he charged forward and swung his sword with all the divine strength inside him.

A radiant arc of holy light cut through the air and slammed against Kai. But the moment it hit, a strong crimson shell formed again and blocked it completely. The light scattered harmlessly. The attack vanished like nothing touched it.

"This is the power of a demon of the Abyssal World. No, he was just granted additional power. Thankfully nothing descended or I might be fucked up for real," Ethan muttered. His voice was low, tense, and shaking.

He stepped back and tried to understand everything. Slowly, he pieced it together.

Kai had tried to summon a demon projection, but the ritual failed. Instead of a projection, he had sacrificed Bernard's life to gain the demon's power directly.

The Demon God answered and granted Kai strength and protected him during his transformation. That barrier was not normal protection. It was the demon's power.

"The Demon Lord might be on par with a god, so there is no way I can break that protection."

"Then can I only wait and see him getting stronger?"Ethan cursed.

His grip tightened on his sword. His heart sank like a stone.

Still, there was a chance. He believed the crimson shield would not last forever. It was only protecting Kai while the change finished.

When the transformation ended, the defense would fade. But the real question burned in his mind. Could he defeat Kai after he turned into this monster?

"If I can't... I should just run away," Ethan told himself. His lips were dry and his heart raced painfully.

"Instead of sacrificing my life uselessly,I will just escape."he muttered, turning towards Walls.

Thankfully all of them had escaped.

"GYAAAAHH!"

Kai's scream tore through the sky. It was no longer human. It was wild and animalistic and filled with chaos. His voice thundered. His body looked like a creature from hell.

Red glowing patterns covered twisted flesh. Long sharp claws extended from his fingers, and his grin looked like death itself. His wings spread wide and cast a dark shadow across the battlefield. The ground cracked under his feet with every step.

Kai stepped forward slowly, his crimson eyes locked onto Ethan.

"So, what will you do now, knight of the light?" he said with a deep voice filled with madness.

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