Child of Destiny

…

Haowin just got promoted within the Demonic Churches due to the recent successes that he had. From an ordinary Messenger, he became a true Herald of the Demonic Church that he was serving.

He even received a sacrificial ritual that converted his race into a real Demon. Through this Demonic Rite, he could become a much stronger force than he used to be.

He still had his humanoid appearance, but his skill was pale grey, making him look more dead than alive. His eyes were pitch-black with crimson pupils. Those pupils were very demonic, making anyone who looked at him shudder in fear.

The only difference that he had from his previous appearance was the pair of long horns that were sticking out of his forehead and curving upwards.

When he took out the hood hanging over his head, the three Elemental Spirits immediately noticed the change that Haowin had undergone.

They could tell in a single glance that this guy had sold his soul to a Demon God and became a true evil. He was no longer a native of the Atlas World as he was now a true demon of the Underworld.

The three wore a solemn expression on their faces as they knew that this was not going to be as easy as they had thought. A strong Demonic Being was already troublesome enough, but a True Demon was going to be too much for their current selves to handle.

Fortunately, the other party seemed to have become a True Demon just recently, so his control over his demonic powers was still not beyond their levels.

At the very least, Shin could still fight against this guy as long as he went all-out and used everything he had.

But before all of that, they had to buy as much time as possible until their host got here. They then could leave everything to him when that happened.

For now, they had to decrease the number of the opposing side. Even though they could not kill them since these people needed to be captured alive, that did not mean that they could not incapacitate them.

With that in their minds, the three quickly made their respective move.

Haowin was able to sense their intentions and quickly waved his hand to warn his subordinates. “Move your feet and scatter!”

Unfortunately, they were already a step too late. The three Elemental Spirits were already on the move.

Hanzo had already extended his arm outward at that time and made a grabbing gesture in the air. A sword with dual blades, which was facing opposite directions, suddenly materialized in the air as he grabbed it.

His arm then suddenly turned into a series of blurs as he swung that weapon in the air.

Swoosh!

Before the opposing side could even make their moves, purple spatial rifts suddenly appeared in their surroundings and cut through everything that they touched.

Some of the demonic players got their legs and arms completely severed as those spatial rifts cut through them.

“Argh!”

“Urgh!”

“Ahh!”

Painful shouts resounded in the entire place as the demonic players started falling on the ground one after another. They were instantly incapacitated just by a single move from Hanzo. Fighting this state was already impossible, much less running away.

Realizing that it was already too late for these people to escape, the only thing that Haowin could think of was to kill them on the spot so that they could respawn again tomorrow.

Getting killed and forcefully logged out was much better than being captured by the opposing party. It was much better than being forced to delete their characters, lose all their progress inside the game, and start over again.

They were not like Haowin, who could still benefit somehow after being thrown in the Eternal Prison.

When that thought crossed Haowin’s mind, he immediately waved his arm in the air and summoned a group of black spears in the air, pointing to each of the demonic players lying on the ground.

After that, he suddenly swung his hand down, controlling those spears and letting them fall to each of his subordinates to kill them.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

But right before those black spears could even reach the demonic players, the ground underneath them seemed to have moved before swallowing each of them while forming an earthen dome that protected them.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Astaroth made his move and ‘saved’ those demonic players at the very last moment. He cast a defensive skill at them before those black spears could even take their lives.

Haowin frowned deeply when he saw that and quickly raised his hand once again, preparing a much stronger skill that could utterly destroy the ground and completely obliterate the others along with it.

He was about to swing his arms down when he sensed an intense heat heading in his direction. And when he raised his head and looked at it, he saw a huge ball of fire rapidly approaching him.

Solus had sent it to him right before he could even complete his skill. The fireball was almost upon him even before he lowered his hand.

Swoosh!

He was already a step too late to dodge, so he could only raise his arm to block the incoming fireball.

The black corrupted mana gathered around his arms before forming a transparent shield in front of him.

Bang!

The explosion was so strong that it sent Haowin flying back. His cloak was also burned in the process, turning it into ash within an instant. If not for the powerful protection that his corrupted mana had, then his body would most likely been scorched black too.

Ta-ta!

When his feet landed on the ground a few meters away from his previous position, he quickly put his guard up and got ready to continue to fight. But to his surprise, the opposing party seemed to have no intention of continuing right away as they chose to secure the captured demonic players first.

Seeing that, he knew that he had been tricked. He frowned quite deeply while glaring at the three but did not make any hasty moves.

In the meantime, the three Elemental Spirits in the distance were currently observing his current appearance while securing their captives.

Aside from Haowin’s face and horns, the trio could not clearly see his overall appearance due to the cloak that he was wearing. But right now, they could see the changes that his body had compared to their previous encounter.

His current build was not much different from what he had before. But his arms and legs were clearly much stronger than what they previously had. His fingers were also a little longer while his nails were much sharper.

There were also black scales covering his hands and arms. They also seemed to be covering the other parts of his body even though they were being covered by his armor. Some hints of them could be seen peeking out from the collar of the armor and spreading up toward his neck.

It was as if his demonic transformation had always been active all the time. The black miasma leaking out from his body was also a clear indication that the corrupted mana within him was so contaminated that it could not be properly contained. It was also starting to contaminate the surrounding mana.

Just looking at him was more than enough to put pressure on his opponents, what was more when he was purposely releasing a much stronger pressure from his body.

Hanzo squinted his eyes narrower while staring at Haowin. Fully understanding that this was not going to be an easy battle even for them, he quickly entered his Elemental Transformation to make sure that nothing could go wrong.

Three purple rings made of ancient glowing runes appeared behind him, rotating at different paces and opposite directions.

The body of the old spirit was also releasing a purple glow along with the appearance of small spatial disturbances around his body, which looked like pieces of shattered glass.

‘Elemental Spirit Transformation: Dimension Traveler’

Following his lead, Solus and Astaroth also underwent their respective elemental transformation.

Solus was suddenly surrounded by a gorgeous flame that had golden runes swimming on its surface. Her wizard clothes were also filled with similar runes, which were blazing with fiery flames.

‘Elemental Spirit Transformation: Firestorm Goddess’

Astaroth, on the other hand, was immediately covered by full-body armor after absorbing the energy from the ground. It was an armor made from a mixture of Earth and Metal Elements.

He rested his greatsword over his shoulder as he took a battle stance.

‘Elemental Spirit Transformation: Earth Warden’

Right after their transformation, the three quickly moved and started attacking Haowin, not giving him any time to react.

Swoosh!

Solus made a series of gentle gestures in the air, summoning a huge group of fireballs behind her. Each fireball seemed to be made of blazing gas, making their appearance closely similar to a miniature sun.

She then waved her hand forward, controlling each of the blazing spheres made of fire forward. These fireballs scattered in different directions, taking different paths as they flew toward their target.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Haowin seemed to be able to read each of their trajectories as he suddenly took a fighting stance. He then enveloped his arms with a large amount of corrupted mana, which suddenly solidified and turned into a pair of black crystalline claw gauntlets.

He waited patiently for the barrage of fireballs to arrive before punching forward and sending a strong gust of wind that swept everything in its path.

His punch was strong, but it was not enough to completely obliterate the incoming barrage. He completely understood it and took a couple of steps forward before throwing a series of punches in the air that destroyed the remaining fireballs.

When he was in his ending pose, he suddenly sensed a brief change in the space surrounding him.

Without any hesitation, he quickly retreated while doing a series of dodging maneuvers such as flips, air rolls, and aerial spins.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!

Every time he did either of those movements, a series of long spatial rifts were suddenly formed on the space that he just went by, indicating slashing strikes that Hanzo had thrown.

Those attacks might come a little too sudden and hard to detect, but given his current stats provided by his True Demonic Body, he was able to sense all of them and respond accordingly.

When he finally felt that he had escaped the range of Hanzo’s attacks, he quickly tried to pick up his form and get ready to counterattack.

But before he could even make his move, he suddenly felt an intense vibration underneath his feet, making him jump high up in the air without any hesitation.

Swoosh!

Bang!

Right after his feet left the ground, huge earthen spikes suddenly spouted out from the ground, piercing toward the sky. Their pointed ends were so sharp that they could even send shivers down Haowin’s spine.

One of the spikes almost caught up to him, barely stopping front in front of his face when he reached the apex of his jump. He was suspended in the air, upside down, as he stared at the pointed tip right in front of his pupils.

A little push and his eye would most likely have gotten pierced by it.

While he was trying to regain his balance in the air, Haowin suddenly saw a group of fireballs heading his way. They were spinning and spiraling around each other while leaving a blazing trail in the air.

Swoosh!

A moment later, they started merging with each other and formed a blazing dragon head while charging at him. It opened its mouth wide, seemingly trying to devour him in a single gulp.

‘Ultimate Elemental Skill (Eternal Flame): Judgement of the Sun’

Roar!

When he was about to think of a way to dodge, he saw Astaroth and Hanzo also sending their respective attacks toward him.

The former summoned a towering pillar made of earth, shooting up toward the sky. The Obsidian Guardian Spirit rode it and sent himself toward Haowin, who was still in the air.

And when he reached a desirable distance, he suddenly raised his greatsword and tightly gripped it with both of his hands.

The Earth and Metal Elemental Mana gathered around the sword and made its size grow larger.

Astaroth brandished the gigantic sword toward Haowin. The sword was so huge that it felt like a mountain was crushing toward him.

‘Ultimate Elemental Skill (Metallic Earth): Supreme Banishment’

Swoosh!

At the same time, Hanzo appeared a few meters away from Haowin while holding his dual-bladed sword behind him. He was standing with a slightly bent leg while the other was resting on the side of his knee of the previous one.

His hand was forming a seal in front of his chest as he was muttering a series of silent chants in ancient language.

After that, he suddenly lunged forward while being covered by a purple light. He entered an astral state and transformed into a streak of light that charged forward. He then swung his weapon forward, cutting through everything, space included.

‘Ultimate Elemental Skill (Void): Ancient Art – Astral Step’

Swoosh!

The three attacks were perfectly timed and arrived almost at the same time, not giving Haowin any window to escape.

Boom!

……