Demonic Po*nstar System

Chapter 617: The New Paragon

The formation absorbed Calypso’s charge without breaking.

The Colossid Brutalizers stepped forward as one, slabs of layered muscle rolling under natural armor as tower shields locked together.

Bone-and-mineral weapons came down in disciplined arcs meant to crush rather than cut, each impact timed to overlap the next.

Calypso took the one such hit across the collarbone, the force driving her sideways and tearing skin open down to the meat. Dark blood poured freely, ran hot along her ribs, and steamed as her power surged. Her grin widened, eyes blown wide as the Manifestation of Carnage answered the damage with raw output. Muscle thickened, veins bulged, and the pressure around her body slammed outward hard enough to stagger the front line.

She pushed into the shields anyway.

Another blow cracked into her thigh, splitting muscle and nearly buckling her leg. She planted her foot, roared through clenched teeth, and ripped her axe sideways into a Brutalizer’s knee joint.

The edge bit deep. Bone snapped. The creature went down, and Calypso followed through with a rising cleave that tore through torso and throat in a wash of blood that coated her face and chest. The kill fed her further. Her movements grew heavier and faster at the same time, each strike landing with crushing authority.

Behind the shields, the Chorusbound Savants moved.

Tall, robed forms glided through the gaps, glowing throats pulsing in synchronized rhythm.

Each pulse tightened the Brutalizers’ formation, reinforced their stance, sharpened timing. Calypso felt the pressure immediately as blows came cleaner and harder, shields locking with renewed precision.

She took another hit to the back that split skin wide and drove her forward into the shield wall. She answered by grabbing the rim of a shield with one hand, yanking the Brutalizer off balance, and burying her axe into its neck at point-blank range. Blood sprayed across the shields, slicking the ground beneath her boots.

She kept advancing with worrying damage stacking across her body.

Cuts opened along her arms.

A crushing strike fractured ribs.

Her breathing turned ragged, each inhale scraping against pain. Yet she never faltered.

Every injury pushed her deeper into the Manifestation, turning her into a walking engine of violence that refused to slow. She waded through the vanguard, carving gaps through sheer force, even as the Savants’ pulses tried to tighten the net around her.

Kaiden watched from behind dryly. This hopeless demoness of his could use backup.

Kaiden felt the pull of the fight in his chest, the heat behind his eyes, and the grin stretching his face wide. he replied, already stepping into motion.

Alice pouted.

Kaiden chuckled and jumped.

Having received no reply, Alice scoffed cutely. and just like that, her two basic buffing spells activated themselves.

[Status Effect Gained: Harmonic Conduit Integration]

+10% to all base attributes while Conduit Attached

Mana Perception: Enhanced

Dual Vision: Established

[Dominion Convergence Activated]

When activated, 10% of all damage dealt by the Dominant Core is transferred as healing through the Conduit, restoring all nearby allies designated as ”trusted.”

The effect hit Kaiden the instant Alice locked in.

The battlefield unfolded in layered clarity.

Mana currents traced through the Brutalizers’ shield wall, thick and stubborn, while thinner harmonic threads pulsed between the Chorusbound Savants like veins carrying command signals.

Alice’s presence sat at the center of his awareness, steady and intimate, every fluctuation in power mirrored between them.

Kaiden moved with his Manifestation of Carnage.

The Blood Monarch gauntlet flexed, veins of crimson crawling outward as a greatsword formed from condensed blood and mana, its edge vibrating with restrained violence.

He stepped forward and let Wrath take hold. Thermal kineticism ignited through his limbs, every stride building pressure, every swing compressing heat and motion into the blade.

He crossed the distance in two steps and brought the greatsword down in a diagonal strike, aiming for a monster that was facing his demoness, leaving its weak point open.

[You’ve slain Colossid Brutalizer (Level 68).]

[You’ve gained 64,200 XP.]

[You’ve gained 7 DMP.]

The shockwave staggered the line. Kaiden flowed through the opening, speed feeding heat, heat feeding force, his next strike ripping through another Brutalizer’s thigh and triggering a concussive burst that tore the creature apart from the waist down. Blood sprayed across the ground, and Gluttony answered instantly.

The siphon engaged.

Mana and blood flooded back into Kaiden through contact, strength climbing another step as temporary boosts stacked.

He waded into the pressure with calm aggression, letting heavier blows land because they paid him back in fuel. A bone-grown mace crushed into his shoulder, splitting skin and muscle, and the siphon drank the spilled blood as his body rebuilt itself mid-motion.

He drove his blade straight through the Brutalizer’s throat and twisted, draining it dry as it collapsed.

[You’ve slain Colossid Brutalizer (Level 69).]

[You’ve gained 66,800 XP.]

[You’ve gained 8 DMP.]

Behind the vanguard, the Savants reacted.

Harmonic pulses spiked, mana reinforcement slamming into the remaining tanks as command signals sharpened. Kaiden felt Alice tense through the conduit as the pressure climbed.

Kaiden replied, already shifting.

Pride unfolded across the ground.

Arcane glyphs burned into existence around him, layered sigils anchoring themselves into stone and air alike. Invisible pressure walls snapped into place, boxing in the Savants’ escape routes and cutting off reinforcement lanes. A Chorusbound Savant tried to slip past the field, only to slam into a glyph barrier that crushed its elongated limbs inward with controlled force. Kaiden stepped into the trapped zone and cleaved through its torso in a single, efficient swing.

[You’ve slain Chorusbound Savant (Level 69).]

[You’ve gained 71,300 XP.]

[You’ve gained 9 DMP.]

Calypso surged beside him, her axe crashing down through another shield as Dominion Convergence fed her, allowing the woman her reckless charge. She took a hit into the abdomen, tore herself free by advancing, and split the attacker from collar to hip in a single roaring arc. Kaiden used the opening she created, swapping back into Wrath mid-stride, his blade flaring as he accelerated past her and drove straight into the heart of the remaining Savants.

Explosive strikes chained through the control unit, detonations ripping robes and bodies apart before they could retune their harmonics.

[You’ve slain Chorusbound Savant (Level 70).]

[You’ve gained 73,900 XP.]

[You’ve gained 9 DMP.]

The formation collapsed due to the loss of coordination.

Brutalizers faltered without guidance, shields drifting out of alignment as Kaiden and Calypso tore through the broken center together. Alice’s mana continued to pour through Dominion Convergence in controlled pulses, keeping both of them upright and lethal as Kaiden rotated between Wrath for impact, Gluttony for sustain, and Pride to lock the field into shapes that favored them.

This was no longer three borrowed tricks per stance.

These manifestations were extensions of who he had become, layered, flexible, and brutally efficient, and the battlefield answered accordingly as the Sinners carved their mark straight through a unit built to dominate wars.

And while this was going on...

Elsewhere, far from the battlefield and the screaming feeds, the first ripples reached the people who were paid to notice when the world tilted the ’wrong’ way.