Chapter Seventy-four - Aspects of Malphas

The old man kept the gentle smile on his face as if he didn't realize Locke's intentions, he just waited patiently for an answer, Locke just looked at him silently, his instincts told him that this man was dangerous, the man was 'melted' to the ground, his red cloak was stuck on the ground as if he were part of it.

"Can't you at least answer me?" The old man spoke, still keeping his smile. "Can't you see that I have no intention of fighting?"

"Heh, you don't want to fight? Dominating this senior is the way you found to disarm people? Did you really think I wouldn't notice? Do you think I don't feel all that horrible mana you emanate? Why are you so interested in invading our world?" Locke responded with a series of questions.

"What? Child, I'm just a humble priest of the Lord!" The old man replied, as if he didn't understand Locke's questions.

"I'm not talking to you! I'm talking to whatever is using you as an intermediary!"

Locke could feel that this 'fusion' of the old man with the ground was much deeper than it appeared, somehow the man was fused with this own dimension and was being fed by it, Locke could feel that all the man's natural mana had already been replaced and he had become a perfect avatar for that strange, stinking mana, which now flowed through him naturally, the man made a face of surprise, as if he didn't understand Locke's implications.

"What do you mean, child?" The man replied. "Oh, do you think I'm not human because I'm being supplied by this dimension? This is just a way to feed my powers! Even though my ways are turbulent at the moment, I still am and always will be a priest of the Lord!"

Locke watched the man's face for a while and then broke into a pitying smile. "Wow, you really believe that..." Locke's mana began to surge all over his body, interacting violently with the air, his eyes lit up as his aura became more and more dangerous, he was ready to fight.

"I see there's no way around this without a battle… but what a pity…" The old man sighed. "I would really rather not fight you... Your father was someone who did so much for this world that out of respect for him I wanted to have you on our side..."

"If you knew my father and truly respected him, you would never do something like what you are willing to do, you are about to open a portal that ignores his seal, you are about to bring to this world unparalleled terrors that will put the lives of innocent people in danger!"

"Innocent? Do you really think humans can be called innocent?" The old man responded exaggeratedly, filling himself with emotion. "Can't you see that humanity is doomed? Humans are always at war, always attacking and killing each other! Humanity is destroying nature and destroying the planet! Can't you see that in the way we're on, humans are going to cause the apocalypse by themselves?"

"Let me understand you, humanity is going to destroy itself so to avoid this your solution is to speed up the process?" Locke responded with disbelief. "Are you dumb, stupid or crazy?"

"Humanity is the stupid one! They all refuses to change, they have no more faith, they have no morals and no honesty, they ignore when they are destroying the world and they waste their lives in front of the television or on a cell phone screen!" The old man was practically screaming now. "We will advance this process, instead of an hopeless apocalypse, humanity will be forced to come together and cooperate to face a common threat, with more monsters on earth the number of humans will also decrease! People will have to turn to God to be saved! Humanity will survive and become better!"

Locke held his forehead like he had a headache, he looked at the old man like he was stupid. "This is stupid... This whole plan is stupid... And I very much doubt that your God would approve this idea..."

"I confess that my Lord hasn't answered my prayers since I joined the heralds, and that's why I was forced to use methods like this in order to have some power back... But my Lord will see that my ideals have never changed when He see that humanity has returned to the right path!" The old man continued. "I'm Matthias Durkwick! Dedicated priest and faithful servant! For the last time I ask you: Stop hindering our plans! Come to our side! Help us make this world a better place!"

"You're a fool if you think I'm going to help you with this stupid plan, I'm not going to go against everything my father believed in and I will never be in favor of the deliberate killing of common people! I know humanity needs to change, but that's not the way! This will never be the way!"

Matthias sighed deeply. "So, will it be like this?"

"It will be like this!" Locke replied.

"What a pity..." Matthias then snapped his fingers, the floor of the room began to squirm as a huge army of demons began to sprout from the floor, Imps, they were about three feet tall and they skins were a dirty reddish brown color, they had small sharpened metal rods as weapons and began to run towards Locke.

"...This is a joke?" Locke asked in disbelief, he created two huge propellers made of shadows and made them spin in the air, the propellers moved around him and he joined the attack with his claws and with the sharp blade of the tip of his tail, all his movements are perfect and the sight was like a army of small demons was running straight into a meat grinder, being torn to pieces with unearthly ease.

"I should have known these little worms would be insufficient to handle something like you…" Matthias commented. "It's time to call the big ones!" The ex-priest began to chant Latin words, the air in the room began to cool and Locke felt a certain sense of danger.

Again, the ground began to squirm violently as four huge black eggs rose from the ground, the eggs cracking and revealing the appearance of four identical figures. The four had the appearance of a strong man, they were covered in elaborate armor made with silver and with engraved gemstones, their heads were uncovered and were shaped like a raven, with a huge sharp beak and a small crown on the head, their hands were also bare and shaped like bird claws, as were their feet, they also had bird wings that extended behind their back and started to fly as soon as they emerged, each of them had a different pair of weapons.

The first had a long mounted spear in one hand and a tower shield in the other, the second had a pair of sharp shuang gou's, the third had a bow and arrows and the fourth held a book in one hand and a black staff with a red jewel on the other.

'"They're aspects of Malphas!' Tia exclaimed. 'These are copies of one of the presidents of hell! Be careful Locke! Even though they are not as powerful as the original they are still very dangerous!'

Locke could feel the mana of the creatures, it was far from being the strongest enemies he had ever faced, after all that honor belonged to Rudra, but he felt that these four were not going to be a joke, besides he very much doubted the chance of awakening an ability that completely nullifies the enemy's attacks would reoccur again.

The demon with the spear charged Locke, he positioned himself with the shield covering his body as the spear aimed at Locke's chest, he was faster than Locke expected but he had no difficulty dodging but the other three they didn't wait, the demon with the shuang's ran to Locke and tried to cut off his wings, Locke blocked the attack hitting the two blades with the bony blade in his tail, the impact sent sparks everywhere as both were thrown back a little. .

At that exact moment Locke was forced to move his face in a hurry, an arrow passed at the distance of a hair, making him feel the wind and the demon with the spear attacked again.

Locke dodged the spear attack with the back of his hand, the tip of the spear left a mark on his scales, he launched a powerful kick right in the middle of the shield, throwing the demon meters away and making it crash into a wall.

"Duck down!" Tia yelled.

Locke ducked at the same instant and spun in the air like a ball, a greenish ray streaked through the air right where he was before and he could see the fourth demon in the distance, the demon started to prepare a second spell.

"Four against one seems kind of unfair!" Locke joked.

"Well, one would certainly be insufficient to fight you… You know what, it's not too late to change your mind…" Matthias replied.

"Nah, I'm fine!" Locke responded with a smile. "Besides, I meant it was unfair to you!"

Locke disappeared from his position at this point, he appeared behind the demon with the book and the staff and grabbed his wings tightly, he placed his right foot on the demon's back and pushed.

Both wings were ripped cleanly, but Locke's attack didn't stop there, as the demon fell he dove into it, his feet sank into the creature's bloodied back and the sharp claws on his feet cut deep, the demon let go the book and the stick while being crushed into a pulp.

"Quick! Take those!" Tia ordered.

Locke didn't question and grabbed both items, putting them right away in the inventory, an arrow was thrown at him while the other two demons ran to save his companion, Locke disappeared again and the arrow hit nothing, he appeared a few meters away.

"Do you want the other weapons too?" Locke questioned.

"Nah, none of them have the aura of magic, although it's interesting to get a metal that's strong enough to scratch you, so I don't care if they're in shreds..." The fairy replied

Locke smiled and ran to the demon with the spear and shield, the demon raised the tower shield and tried to block the attack, but Locke's fist sank into the shield that broke into pieces, Locke opened his fist at the same moment and his claws dug into the demon's unprotected arm, Malphas' aspect tried to hit him with the mounted spear but Locke was too close for the attack to connect, his left hand went straight to the creature's avian face and sank into its neck, Locke grabbed the demon's spine by its neck and pulled, the movement was so violent that the head was only caught by a bit of flesh and the demon fell lifeless, Locke kept the spear intact in his inventory.

More arrows went through the air towards him as the demon with the shuang gou's flew at him, spinning like a furious whipping-top, Locke ignored him and dodged the arrows with ease, he responded with his own arrow, a shadow arrow crossed the air in with immense speed, releasing a high-pitched hiss, it went through the winged demon's skull that fell like a ventriloquist puppet with its strings cut.

Locke then ran to the last remaining demon, the demon tried to hit him with the shuang gou's, but Locke dodges the attacks without difficulty, he played with the demon hitting him with punches every time the demon missed his attacks, his fist left dents in the demon's armor, looked like Locke was having fun.

The truth is that Locke had a certain anger towards demons, he didn't realize it himself but since he found out that his mother had died because of a demon Locke wanted to pay them back, it wasn't like he was consumed by hate but for any enemy demon he would have zero pity.

"Locke, stop it! This isn't your style!" Tia yelled through the mental link.

"You're right, I let myself be carried away, let's get this over with!"

Locke grabbed the demon's arms and twisted them, causing him to drop his weapons, the blade in his tail then sinking into the demon's head, shattering it.

"See, I said it wasn't fair!" Locke joked.

"You're right, it looks like I underestimated you a little... Well, that won't happen again!" Matthias replied.

The ground began to squirm again, even more violently than before, and soon a bunch of black eggs began to emerge from the ground, thirty-two of them.