Modern World Warlock

Inside the cathedral, Dante and Astaroth were demolishing the place with the sheer force of their spells clashing against each other.

"Rapture!" Dante shouted as he waved his hand to the side, shooting an invisible air slice that Astaroth was able to block with his arm, leaving a long slash mark in the wall behind him.

"Not bad…" Dante commented, seeing that his spell barely caused a scratch on Astaroth's arm.

"I told you, Hellslayer… I'm the King of Wrath now—These spells won't hold me back," Astaroth said, his tone sounding more humble when speaking to Dante.

Dante grinned with excitement and tensed his muscles, realizing that Astaroth was much more powerful than the first time he met him.

"Let's hear it, then…" Dante said.

At that moment, the air around them fell silent, and both the warlock and the archdemon uttered the same words simultaneously.

"Malevolent Art: Wrath," they chanted in unison.

In the blink of an eye, a giant flaming explosion encased the cathedral, blasting the remaining pillars holding the ceiling and causing the entire structure to catch fire.

A massive, fiery wing extruded from Dante's back with shadowy strands connected to his right arm, releasing waves of hellfire every second that scorched everything around the warlock.

Dante's right arm was encased in shadows, and his fingers were long claws with hellfire oozing from them, which went up all the way to his shoulder.

His opponent was no different. Astaroth's ashen-white right arm was fully encased with fire and shadows—and had a giant flaming wing coming out of his back that burned its surroundings.

As they rushed forward to attack, their claws met in the middle, creating a force that prevented them from colliding and producing a nova of hellfire that kept destroying the church.

"Hahaha, it's been a while!" Dante said loudly, reveling in the chaos and destruction around them.

The archdemon didn't seem to hold the same enthusiasm, but his proud and arrogant demeanor was nowhere to be seen when fighting the warlock.

When they retracted their claws, they both instantly followed up with a barrage of quick attacks. However, Dante was faster than Astaroth and managed to slash the demon's face, making him take a cautious step back.

"Come on… I'm already here, so you might as well use everything you got," Dante commented with a bit of a cheeky smile, knowing that Astaroth still had something else under his sleeve.

Astaroth smiled back. "You are correct…" he muttered, raising his left arm in the air.

"Awaken, Behemoth!" The archdemon shouted, producing an earthquake that momentarily shook the entire town.

From the bottom of the church, inside the expansive underground room, a massive pentagram appeared, releasing a powerful energy that materialized a giant monster.

Sensing the danger coming from beneath him, Dante cast his "Wings of the Fallen" spell and flew up just as the floor crumbled, showcasing the frame of the colossal monster that was jumping toward the warlock.

The behemoth was a quadruped beast with the face of a dog, the arms of a gorilla, and the body of an elephant.

While its back legs were short and didn't allow the beast to stand upright for long periods of time, its forelegs were massively muscular, and its hands looked like that of a giant ape.

Moreover, it had two long horns coming out of its head and a few bony spikes extruding from its back.

Right as the beast destroyed the cathedral's flooring and rose to catch Dante, the warlock grinned while luring the beast away, leaving the flaming cathedral and rushing along an empty street away from the plaza.

Astaroth got on top of his summoned beast and chased Dante along, shooting waves of hellfire directed at the warlock that landed on the surrounding buildings.

Dante was flying at a low height, using the town's structures to protect himself from the barrage of spells that were coming at him.

The body of the behemoth demolished everything around it as it kept rushing to catch Dante, flinging cars and light posts away with its massive tail and horns.

When the warlock kept going straight, he noticed the end of the street ahead, divided by a safety guard so cars would not fall down the cliff on the other side.

Highpoint town was located at the top of a hill, so it wasn't uncommon that the streets surrounding it were beside a hundred-meter fall that led to the forest preserve.

Right as Dante flew straight, the behemoth jumped off the street to try to catch the warlock, making him do a vault in mid-air to avoid it and allowing the monster to fall.

Still, the warlock was aware that it wouldn't be near enough to kill a behemoth, so he followed the beast down with his fiery claw prepared and a wide grin on his face.

However, his attack was met with a clash against Astaroth's claws, standing atop the behemoth.

The beast quickly shook its body to get Dante off him and spun with force, making its tail release an airwave that knocked down a couple more trees and pushed Dante back.

The warlock quickly regained his footing and pointed his claws at both of his opponents.

"Wrath," Dante said, generating a blinding fiery light that condensed in his palm until it was a tiny sparkle.

"Release," he continued, producing a giant vortex of hellfire that covered at least thirty meters of space before him.

When the spell was about to hit the behemoth, the monster let out a loud roar that dispersed the flames directed towards it and Astaroth.

Nevertheless, the warlock expected it to do just that, and just as it was done roaring, the behemoth saw Dante hovering right in front of its face.

"Soulshock," the warlock cast, releasing a discharge of black lightning that halted the monster for a brief moment before it swiped its hand to the side, trying to hit Dante.

After the warlock easily avoided the behemoth's counter, he realized that the monster had also been fed human souls, as he didn't remember them being so resilient.

Finding themselves in the expansive forest preserve that was slowly starting to catch flames, Dante stood before Astaroth, who was riding the towering monster.

"Heh…" Dante scoffed with a laugh, clenching his claws and sharpening his gaze at his opponents.