Chapter 89: In Danger

Fighting is normal; after all, there will always be friction between people.

But battles between the world’s top fighters are no longer mere scuffles.

They can easily turn into world-shaking, earth-shattering confrontations.

Gods? Even if gods appeared, they would only be toys.

Those gods who dare only to play tricks in the shadows—drawing strength from human faith and granting humans power in return, accumulating strength over tens of thousands of years—still don’t have the courage to challenge the product of the world’s own will: the Demon King.

Otherwise, they wouldn’t rely on, assist, or catalyze the birth of heroes, subtly influencing successive generations of heroes to eliminate those uncontrollable, unmanageable Demon Kings and demon tribes, until…

After all, only magic can defeat magic. This is an eternal, unchanging law.

“What’s wrong, Gerard? Have your fists lost their strength? Why are they so limp? There wasn’t a hint of this when you hit me earlier.”

Sig caught the opponent’s angry punch lightly and casually raised an eyebrow.

Then he grabbed Gerard’s arm and effortlessly flipped him over his shoulder, throwing him aside without a trace of hesitation.

He even tried to snatch the Hero’s Sword but was repelled and forced to drop it on the ground.

Not even the crotch could be destroyed or worn through, no matter how hard he tried.

This time, it was no longer a one-sided crushing; it was a temporarily evenly matched duel.

Gerard’s state was off—his strength was continuously weakening…

This battle between mortal enemies seemed to be reaching a turning point because of it.

During the fight, Sig remained cautious, occasionally glancing toward the girl Emilia watching from a distance.

She looked quite pleasant to the eye.

He hoped nothing would happen to her midway, but it probably wouldn’t… after all, he had left many contingencies on her.

He had effectively emptied out all the good stuff from his crotch, combined with the current Demon King’s power—adding effects on top of effects—it wouldn’t be wrong to say that she had become a Transformer now.

Ordinary people, no— not even heroes—could easily approach her at this moment.

Sig stared at the desperate hero before him.

Gerard was struggling to stand, gritting his teeth and gasping for breath, his whole body in a bad state, swaying and dizzy.

His strength was constantly diminishing, and his muscles were steadily shrinking.

Yet he showed no sign of giving up.

After all, Gerard could never abandon Emilia.

He braced himself and prepared to continue.

Watching this, Sig calmly analyzed the situation, his face expressionless as the heavy rain poured down on him.

It seemed the opponent intended to defeat him first, then go after Emilia.

At that thought, a faint smile crossed his lips.

“Just as I thought. Then bring it on.”

The battle raged on, earth-shattering and heaven-shaking.

It was clear Sig was gradually gaining the upper hand.

Every move he made was without restraint, filled with genuine killing intent.

He used every bit of skill he had learned throughout his life—no why’s, no reasons—because only one of them could survive.

And he had to live.

Because someone was counting on him to survive.

Because… Emilia wanted him to live.

That was all there was to it.

He laughed—laughed with strength.

As for what would happen after killing the hero—well, new heroes would surely appear in the future.

He would decide on that when the time came.

He believed that his future self could definitely handle it.

For now, there was only one thing to understand: Gerard must die.

Even with the help of the gods, they couldn’t stop him.

On the other side, Gerard was losing ground, looking terrible and pale.

He held his stomach—not because he was overwhelmed by the hits, but because something inside was wildly thrashing about.

It felt like a tempest raging within him—difficult to describe.

It was as if he had consumed something off, something far worse.

It wasn’t that the gods had abandoned him or that their power had weakened during the massacre of humans, but rather that against Hakimi’s Demon King power, his strength had returned.

He bit his teeth, bewildered by what was happening.

Perhaps Gerard hadn’t realized yet…

It was those pills made from the remnants of the Demon King he had eaten earlier.

Once the medicine wore off, the residual Demon King power inside rejected the divine power.

The two forces, fire and water, clashed and surged inside his body, pushing against each other.

This caused his condition to deteriorate more and more with every strike.

Now, darkness clouded his vision.

Like suffering from severe constipation, he hastily raised his hand to signal.

“Hakimi Demon King, pause, pause.”

“I’ll just keep wearing you down until you’re out of breath. What else do you want? Do you want me to rest? Gerard, this is a death match—either you die or I do. There are no rules.”

After all, Sig was the kind of guy who played dirty, with no moral scruples.

That was his style now and the most efficient way.

He mocked as he charged, rushing toward the hero with eyes nearly impossible to track by the naked eye, no hesitation.

He raised his hand, gathering power.

He wouldn’t miss this chance, repeatedly using Aminos, slashing relentlessly across Gerard’s body.

In an instant, Gerard was left battered and bloodied, with no unbroken skin.

It was clear he couldn’t even defend himself anymore; his reactions had slowed drastically.

If he had been in his previous state, he could have blocked these blows without injury.

Clearly, unexpected circumstances had caused him to lose the initiative in battle—enough to influence the outcome.

The more the gods empowered him, the more unbearable and weak he became.

The gods he once relied on had become his death warrant.

Or perhaps realizing he was doomed—no longer having resurrection ability—Gerard knew that if he died again, it would be for real.

Fear of death surged again.

After being struck by the weapons of the Kingdom of Aus, his connection with the gods was partially severed.

Even taking the pills was a mere drop in the bucket.

Thinking of this, he tried to pull out another pill to maintain his high-intensity state, to completely turn the tables and welcome Emilia home victorious.

But the container was empty, discarded carelessly.

He cursed under his breath at Duke Orlé, a useless piece of trash.

Why hadn’t he prepared more? Incompetent at best, a hindrance at worst.

He ran swiftly, shouting harsh threats at the pursuing Sig.

“Damn you, I’ll kill you!”

“Then come on! What are you running for?”

Sig casually picked up the discarded medicine bottle and held it to his nose.

A quick sniff and he instantly knew what it was.

He pondered for a moment, then looked incredulous.

He was utterly baffled.

“This is my scent.”

Not convinced, he sniffed again.

Still his…

No way, the hero was just consuming my power?

Had he gone mad? Didn’t know… wait, now he did.

With that, his eyes darkened with a serious glint.

He raised his hand and grabbed a skill with the utmost deviousness, trying to call his own power back.

Sure enough, it worked.

He could feel the strength pulling toward him.

A broad smile spread across his face.

“Come here, Gerard.”

Gerard, who had been fleeing, was instantly pulled back.

He was bewildered but perhaps realized something.

He shouted in fury, understanding it was all Sig’s doing.

“No wonder, no wonder at all.”

“Sig, what did you do to me? It can’t be your trick, can it? No wonder I only have half my usual strength now. Damn you, you despicable scoundrel! Once I recover, I’ll challenge you one-on-one.”

“I wouldn’t dare. I’m a coward—I don’t want to fight you at full strength. Nyah nyah nyah.”

Sig stuck out his tongue, mocking relentlessly.

He had no confidence in defeating Gerard at full power, but in this state, handling him was easy.

He glanced at the sky.

The opponent’s resurrection ability was definitely a huge problem.

If only he could toss him into space.

Speaking of which, Gerard had exposed such a massive weakness—it was illogical not to exploit it.

Besides, why waste your hard-earned efforts?

“I like taking advantage of people’s misfortune. What of it? I’m no hero or nobleman—I’m a Demon King, the villain you humans love to hate.”

Gerard was now on the verge of collapse, seemingly close to death.