New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Once the rapier was almost in his gut, Astaroth sidestepped it, keeping his eyes locked on the demon's eyes. He could already see the demon shifting his sight to follow his movement, albeit slowly.

But the weapon was not as quickly retractable, and his extended arm was wide open for Astaroth.

Pulling out Ad Astra, Astaroth changed its form to a greatsword, and swung in an upward motion, using Severing Strike.

He felt the blade pass cleanly through the demon's arm, like a hot knife through butter, as the arm and weapon kept going forward without their owner.

*14,786!!*

*Hemorrhage applied*

*19,350*

Astaroth knew demons had high regenerative abilities, and the Hemorrhage wouldn't last as long as it usually did. But he also knew he was much too fast for the Duke of hell to do anything about him anymore.

In this single second, the result had already been decided as far as he was concerned.

Astaroth then rapidly morphed his weapon again, going into spell slinger mode and unleashing Cyclone of Blades. The Duke of hell saw mana swelling inside Astaroth and launched backward.

He was too slow to dodge the damage entirely, and was hit by ten blades of wind before reaching a safe range.

Astaroth grinned at the damage he inflicted.

*116,118*

*19,350*

Another tick of Hemorrhage applied, leeching another chunk of the demon's health. But unfortunately, Astaroth saw the wound was already closing up.

He also noticed the health of the Duke go up by ten percent of its total value.

"Tch. Stupid demonic regen."

Scanning the demon, he at least felt satisfied with the damage he had done in two seconds.

*Astaroth, Duke of hell*

Level: 75

Grade: Rare

HP: 256,096/387,000

MP: 46,260

Of course, he had used a high damage skill, with a high cooldown to do so, but nonetheless. If he could do a few of those in a row, he would surely put the demon back in its place.

But the Duke of hell didn't want to go down without a fight. Clenching his teeth, he used a spell he seldom ever used, unless his opponent had the upper hand.

"Illusion Domain: Myriad Worlds!"

Astaroth hadn't seen this spell yet, since Solomon had limited his strength the last time they fought. But at full power, he could use it only once, and it would take a toll on his mana.

Astaroth felt his perception become weird, as the world became woozy all around him. His sight multiplied countless times, making every perspective of reality so small he could barely see what was happening.

He suddenly heard the voice of his opponent resonate all around him, in layers, almost like it was playing on a loop of itself.

"I never would have imagined I would need to use my trump card against a measly mortal. I guess you at least deserve my respect in that regard. But power is not everything."I think you should take a look at

Astaroth suddenly felt something pierce his stomach, but he couldn't see what it was, since his vision kept multiplying on itself. He could only see damage numbers appear in his sight.

*1775!*

*1775!*

*1775!*

…

The numbers appeared in quick succession, at a rate of almost ten per second.

He might have a truckload of health right now, but he wouldn't last long if he couldn't defend himself.

On the outside of this illusion, Aberon and Solomon stood by, watching Astaroth suddenly go motionless. When the demon suddenly started stabbing at his stomach with impunity, looking like a tattoo machine's needle, Aberon felt anxiety rise in his stomach.

Solomon was watching like this was none of his concern. He still had a smile on his lips.

"Will you let the demon kill him?"

Solomon turned toward the old-looking Ash Elf, still unbothered by what was happening mere meters away from them.

"Do you think this is enough to kill your apprentice? I would have thought as his master, you would have the most confidence in his abilities."

Aberon frowned at the accusation.

"It has been over a decade since I last saw him. I do not know how strong he has become. This new form of his already surpassed every expectation I had of the boy."

Solomon chuckled.

"This is nothing. This boy has enough potential locked inside him to be a threat to much stronger beings than a Duke of hell. I doubt he will lose to such a measly foe."

Even though Aberon was confident he could win against the demon before him, strictly because of his experience and multi-elemental affinity, he wasn't so sure about Astaroth. The young man had barely been strong enough to fight the monsters plaguing the surroundings of their last home the last time he saw him.

What Solomon was claiming was an exaggeration, in his opinion. Certainly, he knew the boy had potential.

But to claim a Duke of hell was a 'Measly' opponent for him? That was overstating.

But a sudden burst of energy blew in his face, bringing his attention back to the fight. Looking to the combat once more, Aberon's jaw dropped.

The amount of energy that was washing off Astaroth was much more than he thought was possible for any living being that wasn't at least at the mythic grade.

While the two old men had been discussing, and the demon had been enjoying his stab-o-ton, Astaroth had been focusing all his energy on himself, trying to find a way out of the illusion.

When he noticed no amount of thinking could break through it, he defaulted to brute force.

'Fine. I'll just plow through it. Let's see how much energy your illusion can withstand.'

Taking all the mana inside him, Astaroth suddenly condensed it into pure Aether, pushing it on itself, until the bead of energy was like a glowing sun in his senses.

Once he reached a critical mass, the energy lashed out in every direction, like a nuclear bomb going off, slamming into the walls of the illusion, cracking it into a spiderweb, before shattering it like glass.

The illusion gave way, and the remaining energy pushed outward, throwing the demon away, and washing onto the two old men.

Solomon smiled widely, as he had expected something of the sort.

Aberon only watched in a daze, as his disciple, who he hadn't seen in a decade, suddenly exploded with power much stronger than he ever beheld.

"Finally, I'm out of that stupid illusion. Were you trying to make me throw up?"