The Seraphic System

The Seraphic System

Chapter: 61

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(The Prince Of Deceit)

-{Eizel}-

Cold eyes regarded the scene of the Angel tearing through the underworld boredly.

In truth, he was a little impressed. 

Not because the Angel had found his plan, no. It hadn't been all that well put together and he hadn't been trying too much. Mostly since he had assumed an Angel would be naive enough to believe his illusion. 

Though the ability to see through his illusion was just as impressive, especially since many Gods and Dragons weren't able to escape his illusions and lies which went beyond basic senses and the curtain of lies was all his victims would experience as reality. It's near impossible to lie to the Prince of deceit. 

What really impressed him was the Angel's deception. 

It had keyed him in on what type of person this Angel was. Different, the masked Angel was different. Playing along to lead him to what he was searching for had been a decent tactic, something he, as the Prince of Deceit, could appreciate. 

The Angel would have never been able to search the entirety of Hell for it otherwise. 

Without surviving anyway, the chances of stumbling upon one of the Demon Lord's realms wasn't exactly hard. 

He had found that unlike the rest of his kin; this one was untrusting, cold, and special. 

That was made more evident by the form he possessed. 

He vanished and reappeared in the air, wings of darkness stretching far back behind him. 

This had mostly been a whim on his part. He was overseeing one of his subordinates, who had been making preparations for the brewing turmoil among Hell's residents following the Light Lord's return.

It was no small matter.

Hell was on the verge of complete lockdown, and he hadn't expected anything unusual in his routine surveillance. That's why he was mildly surprised when the Demonic priest suddenly collapsed, only to be struck by an arrow of light. 

The priest disintegrated into dust as a potent blast of holy power obliterated him, leaving no trace behind.

This had intrigued him. 

He hadn't been able to sense the masked Angel and had been forced to make an effort to follow him without being detected. 

When he had seen him enter the old angelic stronghold that had been left from an age that had long past, he had decided to make up a quick plan to find out more. 

While he could torture the information out of him, he felt that this way would be so much more fun.

Getting a horde of lower ranking Demonic Beasts to swarm their location to get a measure of his abilities hadn't been hard, and after a series of interesting events that had led to here, as he watched the poor Angel try to escape his range. 

That angelic rune trap was a high-class spell, it had also been packed with a decent amount of angelic magical power. 

Lifting his thin hands, a massive beam of pure demonic energy tore through space. 

-{Kai}-

I soared through the sky, my angelic form blazing around me with angelic mana. My form lit up the area around me and the natural darkness of Hell seemed to fight back. 

Two massive wings carried me higher and faster than I had ever flown before. 

I hadn't truly flown in this form, since I didn't want anyone in Heaven to know about my status. Something that would be changing soon. I had decided that I could trust them. 

Holding back such information would merely serve to hinder me and cause a bigger backlash in my relationship with Gabriel and Uriel. I had wanted to make sure they could be trusted and truthfully gain more strength before but I didn't see any need to withhold it anymore. 

My freedom would become more limited and there were many downsides to coming out as the Heir of God but to be honest. I didn't want to hide things anymore, the constant lying and deceit wasn't something I wanted to do with the people who were my family. 

I had wanted to improve the progress with the Shard more before I told them though. 

[Divine Shard] {Progress: 2.2%}

[The Shard of ?]

My eyes widened. 

How? 

That progress was insane. 

I shook my head. I needed to get my head in the game. The oppressive heat of the demonic hellscape below licked at my skin, which helped my thoughts clear. 

I focused on the swirling darkness that surrounded me. My angelic aura gleamed faintly in the harsh crimson light. 

Subtlety was out of the question. 

The glow of my angelic energy was like a beacon against the rest of the dark atmosphere. There was a good chance the Demon with that amount of power would find me even if I hid, so I focused on getting as far away as I could. 

As if on cue, a spike of demonic energy erupted from behind me, a pressure so intense that it felt like the air was being sucked from my lungs appeared and I knew that the Demon had caught up with me. 

My instincts screamed a warning just in time, and I twisted mid-air, narrowly avoiding a massive beam of pure demonic power that roared past me. 

It struck the ground below with earth-shattering force, tearing through the landscape in an explosion of black flames. An entire terrain below me had been obliterated. 

My breathing slowed as I steadied myself, the shockwave from the blast rippled through the air. 

Turning toward the source of the attack, I spotted it. 

The Demon who had attempted to manipulate me with an illusion. 

I clicked my tongue, I had a feeling this had to do with my interference with the Demonic Priest sacrificing those souls. It would have been better if I had stuck to my original plan but seeing that child getting so painfully used even in death had forced me to act. 

I sighed, it was no use lamenting on the past actions. I needed to focus on finding a way around this. The 'Key Of Heaven' needed to be unlocked and for that I would have to focus. 

A figure emerged from the shrouded chaos, its thin frame deceptively fragile against the backdrop of destruction.

Its eyes, a sickly red, locked onto mine with a predatory intensity. Long white hair cascaded down its back, swaying lightly in the turbulent winds. 

Inky black, spiraling horns protruded from its head, glistening like liquid obsidian. Every inch of its form radiated malice, a chilling aura that seemed to weigh on my very soul.

I could feel a deep emotion from my Angelic instincts. My eyes narrowed. For the first time since feeling my angelic instincts, It truly wanted me to kill and erase this disgusting creature in front of me. 

It opened its mouth as if to speak but I didn't wait. 

This wasn't the time for words. 

This was a God-class being. The oppressive power radiating and its power level being above that of even Ares was enough to confirm that I was completely outmatched.

It could kill me before I would be able to react if I didn't do something about it immediately. For the first time since my battle with Ares, I had no choice but to push beyond my limits. 

I activated my Semi-Divine form.

Its eyes widened, as if sensing what was about to happen. 

Intoxicating, the feeling of my body gaining so much power was intoxicating. My veins glowed golden and my eyes turned silver. Time slowed down to a crawl as the flickering fire below me barely moved. 

Semi-Divine Form Activated

The light became brighter, and I was thankful the mask I wore still somehow contained my aura that would no doubt draw every being within Hell to my location.

Two shadows stretched across the land, resembling my wings. My form was completely wreathed in liquid celestial-blue light. The air around me bent and the air shook under the power. 

I imagine if my mask was off the effects would be a lot more noticeable. 

Fifty seconds. 

That short number I had been given suddenly felt a lot longer as my mind calmed, my angelic instincts grew stronger to the point I felt I could weaponise it. 

I shot forward, my body splitting the space a part and closing the distance with a burst of speed.

A punch was sent towards the surprised Demon who possessed the title of 'Prince of Deceit

My mind went to work. Did that mean he was technically a higher ranking Demon? Would looking towards the Devil's societal structure give me some clues? 

The Demon was able to block and the impact sent shockwaves through my arms, my grip almost faltered. The creature was sent back from the force and tilted its head, its eerie gaze unflinching.

I skidded through the air, my wings straining to stabilize me. 

A low growl rumbled from the creature's throat, its sickly red eyes narrowing as it raised a hand. Demonic energy coalesced around it, 

The Demon was stronger even in my Semi-Divine form. That made sense, in terms of pure overall power level he was thousands above me. 

I didn't wait, my chakra chains tearing through reality towards the Demon. He looked fearful for a split moment, something I noted as he gazed at the chains and the demonic energy erupted out of him as he retreated back.

Dark energy exploded out and destroyed everything around it in a fireball. 

I flew back to avoid the reach of the attack with ease. I could see his surprise at the level of power I was displaying but there wasn't just fear, something about my chakra chains was terrifying to even a Demon Prince. 

I would have to think about that later. 

With my Semi-Divine form all my energy pools were boosted including my chakra and mana reserves which now sat at an astounding surplus. It was like comparing a drop to a bucket filled with water.

It was insane. I felt powerful and truly confident. 

My eyes sharpened further, my palm opened and twelve massive bright balls of light that shined like stars appeared. In the next moment they streaked through the air. The balls of light were small but condensed with so much angelic mana that the space around it distorted. 

The sheer display of power shocked even myself. 

I wasn't used to fighting at such a level. 

The Demon Prince raised his hand and the air around him shifted unnaturally. 

Shadows surged upward, condensing into an obsidian-like shield that seemed to ripple as though alive. The shimmering light of my twelve brilliant orbs reflected in its surface, swallowed whole by the abyssal dome.

That only lasted a moment as massive explosions erupted and were barely restrained by the shadow. 

Something that made the Demon look mildly surprised.

"You're just one surprise after another aren't you?" It spoke.

I hurled a massive light spear at him. It tore through the air like a comet, the ground below it scorched by the sheer energy it emitted. 

The Demon Prince darted to the side, his movements fast and the light spear slamming into the ground behind him. The explosion that followed was deafening. 

A wave of holy light erupted from the impact, creating a crater that swallowed everything in its radius. The Demon was able to make a dome appear around the light and swallow it, stopping the explosion of light from reaching him with ease.

His hands stretched outward and the ground beneath us began to tremble. Massive pillars of shadow erupted from the earth, each one crackling with dark energy. 

They shot upward, twisting and writhing like living creatures. One of the pillars came dangerously close, forcing me to weave through the air to avoid being impaled.

I swiped my hand down, a thin but powerful line of light sent slicing down towards the demon with a speed I wouldn't even be able to comprehend without my Semi-Divine form. 

Reality tore in two for just a moment as the thin blade of light cut through all of the shadow constructs with ease and the Demon Prince was forced to retreat. 

A powerful flap of the Demon's twisted wings made him explode back in a surge of speed. The Demon didn't stay idle as it dodged. Its maw opened and living darkness poured out of it. 

The mass of darkness looked like it was made of millions of dark bugs combined together into one massive living organism. 

In return, I sent multiple light rods towards the living mass of darkness and towards the Demon Prince behind it. The light rods impacted the living mass of shadow and did enough as they dissolved a moment later.

My eyes widened, but I noticed the swarm of darkness had lessened in size noticeably. The Demon Prince didn't stand idle as its hand swished and a field of grotesque living flowers spread around him. 

My eyes narrowed. 

He was up to something. 

Hundreds of powerful light rods lit up the sky and I waved my hand down, they left streaks of light in the air as they descended. A good chunk of them were consumed by the living mass of shadow before it dispersed and the rest forced the Demon to move.

He simply sent me an amused, twisted smile as while most of the fleshy flowers were destroyed by the light rods. Few of them survived but those that did began to pulse.

I went to destroy them only to be forced to focus on the Demon who opened its palm, the flesh of its hand opening up and firing a small bone structure. 

As it came closer to me, the bone exploded into thousands of other bones that all grew at an astonishing rate. They acted as tendrils as they became thousands of spears, tipped with sharp ends that had a vicious black liquid oozing from it. 

The flowers below suddenly sprouted and began vibrating, they all let out a pulse of a massive amount of dark energy. The ground rumbled a split instant later as corpses crawled out of the ground.

Thousands of them. Demonic beasts long since dead rose, all of them instantly charging towards me. 

My eyes calmly surveyed the scene. 

With a quick flick of my wrist, blades of light materialized around me in a dazzling array. 

I sent them streaking outward, each one finding its target with deadly precision. The charging corpses were obliterated in bursts of holy energy, their forms reduced to ash. 

I followed up with a sweeping motion. I created a large shockwave of light that expanded outward, obliterating the remaining flowers in an instant.

The bone spears loomed closer, their speed increasing; a dozen of the closest ones were destroyed by the shockwave. 

I raised my arm, summoning a shield of condensed light that shimmered like a star in the night. 

The spears collided with it, the dark ooze sizzling as it evaporated on contact. The shield held and I pushed it outward, light cracks appearing throughout its frame before shattering the remaining projectiles into harmless fragments.

By now, the landscape around us had been completely transformed. 

The brief clash between two God-class beings had completely ruined it. 

A lance of shock travelled through me, I hadn't even focused on it. This level of strength was… incredible. To think this wasn't even the peak of this universe's capabilities. My Angelic instincts soothed and covered my worry, keeping my calm focus on the Demon in front of me. 

Before I could catch my breath, the Demon Prince made his move. He unleashed a massive orb of dark energy, its surface writhing with malevolent tendrils. 

It hurtled toward me, devouring the air itself in its wake.

I narrowly avoided the orb as it smashed into the ground, detonating in a plume of shadow that left a smoking crater. The smoke seemed to work as an acidic agent as everything it touched began to melt into a black sludge. 

I needed to find a way to escape. 

The Demon was stronger than me by a very decent amount. It was a good thing that the Demon seemed to be magically focused, meaning most of his power was probably in the amount of demonic power and potency he possessed.

That made sense since the Demon's magical attacks carried a lot of weight, more weight than mine contained by a very large amount. 

While I was pretty confident I held the physical power advantage, I couldn't use it properly since I wasn't used to this level of power.

The only reason I hadn't been killed was because not everything had to do with power levels and the Demon, while aiming to kill, wasn't using everything he had. I could feel it. 

Once my Semi-divine form ran out of power I would be dead or worse, kept for torture.

An aura of darkness exploded out from the Demon Prince, the air darkened and I could feel myself feeling oppressed. In response, I pushed out holy power to combat the darkness. 

Some sort of suppression attempt? 

The many demonic beast corpses on the ground, those that hadn't been vaporised from the multiple attacks that had followed, all melted into shadow and rose up. They swirled and the liquid shadow formed into some sort of gas.

This all happened in moments. The gas quickly expanded and a cloud of black gas that had streaks of green light appeared throughout it appeared all around him. 

Gas.

'ignis procellae'

A high-class spell taught me by Uriel.

Fire erupted around me and came to swirl defensively into a tornado, with me at the centre.

This wouldn't be enough.

Holy power was fed and the fire turned golden, I continued to feed it holy power as I used wind manipulation to magnify it several fold. With a flick of my hand, I used wind manipulation to make the spiralling storm of fire around me clear my view. 

The dark gas swirled and coalesced into a massive spiral that I just caught sight of being sent directly towards me. 

I returned fire, literally.

I saw the Demon's eyes widen slightly.

The mass of holy fire that lit up the sky like a beacon in the darkness met the dark gas midway. 

There was a moment of silence as we both flew back. 

Gas met fire. 

Light flashed and an explosion ensued. 

The explosion was massive. 

Still, that didn't mean we were idle. 

Up in the sky.

Multiple balls of light formed around me and I sent them shooting towards the Demon who in turn, unleashed another swarm of darkness from its mouth. 

The balls all expanded into massive spike balls as they impacted the swarm of darkness. Shockwaves erupted from the impact and vibrated for dozens of miles around us. 

My chest rose and fell with controlled breaths. My fingers twitched and I allowed my angelic mana to flow, crafting something I hadn't attempted in combat before. Well, I had but not at the sheer scale I was performing at me now. 

I used the brief cover of the massive explosions that the balls of spikes caused as they battled with the swarm of darkness. 

The light around me easily bent and coalesced into multiple massive illusions. They were all replicas of myself, each floating in the air as if they were entirely real.

The illusions scattered instantly, darting through the air like meteors. All of us left streaks of light in the air to gain his attention. The Demon's cold eyes narrowed, his focus darting between the figures.

As this happened I weave even more illusions to add to the confusion. The landscape changed and I became a God as I crafted reality into my image with power hundreds of times stronger than my own. 

For a moment, I sensed his confusion and most importantly his hesitation. 

I moved with them, blending into the chaos. 

My true form danced between the light mirages, closing the distance under their cover. One of my illusions lunged, feigning a strike, and the Demon turned to counter it, his shadow-coated fist swinging through the empty projection. 

The Demon exploded with energy and multiple sharp lances of liquid shadow forming around him and shooting in rapid succession, hundreds of illusions were impaled in an instant. 

A dark scythe formed in his outstretched hand and he slashed it, unleashing a wave of demonic energy that obliterated a quarter of all the illusions.

I acted fast. I capitalized on the opening, my real body shooting forward with everything I had. 

My hardened fist connected with his torso, the impact erupting in a shockwave of raw light energy that sent the Demon careening backward. 

The air cracked under the sheer force of the blow, and for the first time, his expression faltered.

I had gotten off the first hit. 

The moment of triumph was short-lived. As a wave of malevolence tried to push me towards the Demon. 

The Demon's form twisted unnaturally mid-air, his body skidding to a halt. 

An eerie aura began to envelop him, black and sickly yellow energy forming around him, like an ocean of malice pressing down on my very being. 

The swirling energy around him darkened, devouring the light in the air itself. All the illusions around him were devoured and I was only just able to dart back a good distance from the Demon.

The key of Heaven was sealed so I couldn't escape. 

This fight would go nowhere. One of us would die and while I had the physical advantage, magic in general had shown itself to be more powerful than pure physical power in most cases. 

My time with my Semi-Divine form was also going to come to an end. A lot of the time had been used in that exchange. I still had enough time to be comfortable with, but not enough to win against an opponent who possessed such powerful abilities and magical power. 

Normally, my versatile skills were an edge I could use in battle but it seemed this Demon was able to easily match them. 

I did have the speed advantage so I could technically outfly him. 

My mind rapidly went through multiple potential plans boosted by my Master Mindmaven and Semi divine form. 

I needed a way to hold him off while I unsealed the Key Of Heaven, in this state the process would be a lot faster but that didn't help when my opponent was running on the same, perhaps an even higher processing state. 

My body lowered to the ground, avoiding a slash of darkness. My hand slammed to the ground and a truly massive amount of chakra. 

There was a rumble and the Demon paused for a moment. 

The Demon only paused for a second before sending multiple slashes of darkness towards me with its scythe. 

It was just a moment late.

The barren hellscape, devoid of natural life since its inception, suddenly erupted with vitality for the first time in its existence. I used an amount of chakra that I hadn't even thought about touching before. 

Massive trees erupted, rising up to tower above the Demon. The slashes of darkness impacted a few of the many chakra enhanced trees that rose up before dissipating as there was suddenly a massive dense forest that surrounded us. 

-{?}-

Far away a singular Demonic Beast watched the ensuing battle between the two God-like beings with wide slitted eyes. 

As a High-class beast he was fully conscious, something that had taken him hundreds of years in cultivation and feasting on weaker beings. 

Even becoming a high-class beast had been hard and filled with luck, only 0.1% of the total demonic beasts in Hell could reach the High-class. 

The beast took a step back, head lowered in fear.

He knew of the higher race that were called Demons. 

They often summoned tides of demonic beasts to do their bidding, which usually involved destroying everything in their path which all Demonic Beasts were happy to do. 

No doubt one of the beings was a powerful Demon. 

That instinctual fear and obedience his demonic instincts gave him when in the presence of a powerful Demon was teeming. 

He had thought he was powerful as he lorded over the many weaker Demonic Beasts of Hell. He had crawled his way through the mid-class realm of power that was considered the advanced stage of power and had become an elite among demonic beasts. 

Looking at the resulting clash he couldn't even hope to follow, he understood that he had just touched in on the real power. In comparison as a Demonic Beast that was taken seriously and a big threat, he felt small. 

Were these the true powerhouses? The very few that managed to reach such a realm of power. 

All he could see were the after clashes of multiple attacks, as he continually backed away as the massive shockwaves gradually got bigger and the devastating attacks with power he could only imagine got even larger. 

The other being, with massive wings that cast shadows stretching across the lands made him want to hide away in Hell for the rest of eternity. 

That power he had never felt was making even the air from where he stood far away sting. He didn't want to know how bad that fell from the actual zones in which the terrifyingly powerful attacks landed. 

A mountain next to his was cut in half by a stray wave of darkness and he whimpered. 

He went to move another dozen miles away only to blink in confusion. 

The dull, cracked soil was replaced by rich earth, blanketed in lush green vegetation that shimmered in the faint light. 

Tall, thick trunks rose high far into the sky, their canopies forming intricate networks of leaves that filtered the dim glow into soft beams. A faint, floral fragrance wafted on the breeze.

'What?'

That was the only thing the Demonic Beast could think about this whole situation. 

-{Kai}-

There was an explosion toward where the Demon was. 

This was the chance to get a head start.

I took control and the forest around me moved. 

The Demon found himself under attack by hundreds of thick spiked chakra-enhanced roots that tore out from all of the many large trees that had been created.

Many of them struggled to get through the aura of decay he was projecting. 

I took this chance to fly around, it was only a split few moments before a massive explosion erupted behind me. I covered myself in an illusion to momentarily throw him off. 

My form shot through the sky and after gaining enough distance for what I needed, I descended quickly. 

This situation wasn't ideal, as per usual. He would catch up soon, so I had a chance to prepare. 

It was a good thing I had a reward from the divine quest I had finished with the Greek. 

I took it out, a small coin that had a strange insignia inscribed on it.

Would you like to use Legendary summoning? 

Yes/No

I selected yes.

A bright flash of golden light encompassed the area as I finally used my legendary summon. 

-END-

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