Shadow Slave

The battle continued, with the three of them slowly losing ground. The Great Devil was pushing them further and further back, toward the fireline established by the Wolf Army.

Now that they were closer to the heart of the city, there were many Nightmare Creatures around. Jet would have loved to go on a rampage and cut some of them down to replenish her essence, but sadly, the ancient fiend was too powerful and overbearing. She could not allow herself even a momentary distraction if she wanted to survive.

The abominations, too, seemed to abandon their demented frenzy and scattered to avoid the rolling whirlwind of destruction that was the battle against the Heart of Kanakht.

Jet, Effie, and Kai were already battered and beaten. Both their souls and bodies had received plenty of wounds — well, in her case, not the body. Nevertheless, they were still holding up well. Pain and injuries were nothing new to them. Each possessed a rich experience of crawling out of the most harrowing of hells.

All Saints did… but these three, in particular, had experienced too many horrors to be deterred by a few scrapes, no matter how frightening the adversary was.

It was also because of their experience that they cooperated seamlessly, not only resisting the unholy powers of the Great Devil, but also slowly luring him into a trap.

The Heart of Kanakht was like a tide of devastation. He was Insidious, lethal, and seemingly immortal. No matter how many times they forced the giant limbs of moving sand to collapse, the sand simply reformed into its previous shape again. No matter how many of the souls the fiend had consumed they destroyed, his wailing legion seemed endless.

And yet…

The moment of his death was swiftly approaching. There were a few things Jet needed to achieve to make sure that her plan worked — she had to learn the limits of both the giant sand projection conjured by the Great Devil and his actual body, create an opportunity, and make use of that opportunity with flawless timing.

Finally, everything was ready. Raising her scythe, Jet yelled:

«Now!»

In the next moment, the three Saints moved like three parts of the same body.

The dragon dove down, opening his maw to release a haunting song. That song crashed into the great mass of sand and produced an earth-shattering blast, dissipating the vague form of the towering man for a moment.

Almost at the same Time, Effie tossed her shield into the breach created by the blast. The shield tore through the air like a cannonball, colliding with the gaunt figure hidden in the hurricane of sand. That figure was the actual body of the Great Devil — of course, just like the giant projection he had used to fight them, it was also made of sand.

Effie's shield could not truly destroy or even damage it. But the dreadful power contained in her throw was so vast that it shattered the torso of the fiend, turning it into a cloud of sand for a split second.

Soon, the sand would be pulled back to rebuild the body of the abomination.

But not just yet.

Jet's icy eyes glinted with dark satisfaction.

«It seems I was right…»

There, in the chest of the Great Devil, revealed when his body broke apart…

A black human heart was revealed, hovering in the air like an amalgamation of countless curses.

The Heart of Kanakht.

him from coming back to life, then wouldn't the true core of his remnant, the Great Devil, be one of those

wraith was just a manifestation of the sinister will that still dwelled in the vile heart, and the

bones had

But now…

Heart of Kanakht was stripped of

Indestructible sand had a chance to coalesce back into the form of the gaunt

Her scythe flashed…

the

almost surgical. However, a devastating shockwave thundered from the point where the mist blade pierced the heart,

staggered and pulled her scythe back, suddenly feeling

better have… otherwise, we'll be in deep

whirlwind slowly came

hurricane

spilled to the ground,

souls grew quiet, and then

looked up, at the broken figure of the Great

and then, it crumbled like

Spell whispered into her

slain a Great Devil,

have received

looked at the bleeding pieces of

few moments, she shook her head

have stayed in the safety of hell, fool. Why come to

were still plenty of Nightmare Creatures in the city, and it would take some time for the government forces to

survivors, treat the wounded, and transport all civilians away from the ruined

work, work. There was no end to it. Jet could not remember the last time she

a vacation again,

But first…

shattered soul of the Heart of Kanakht into her mist blade. At the same time, she took a deep breath,

Her expression changed slightly.

«Walt, what is…»

whole flood of them was suddenly

Countless.

hell

—— —— ——

time later… The battle

seven Gates still remained, barriers were built around

many people had died. The survivors were slowly emerging from the shelters, while

at the lost faces of the civilians, so she retreated to the top of an artificial hill, observing everything from

replenished her essence greatly after participating in the final

and Effie were sitting nearby, staring