The Battle of Kings (II)

Time paused again, but it was not like before. A large clock suddenly appeared behind Edward before the spear hit, and the moment it stopped moving, time around him also stopped.

"Good save, Morgana," Edward sighed in relief.

"Hurry up, your mana is draining," she warned. Edward's face turned ugly as he sensed his enormous reserve of mana rapidly depleting because of this one spell. In all his life, Edward had never felt so weak due to losing so much mana.

'These damn Demon Gods have their own dimensions, and stopping time for them is like stopping time for an entire universe,' Edward complained. The larger the area, the harder it was to influence time—also, the more powerful a soul, the higher the resistance to attacks such as this.

If Edward had a similar amount of energy as Vitalis, he could have used the Time Stop Spell as he pleased and instantly killed the latter. Unfortunately, he was only a Middle Demon God, not even an upper one. He was only using extraordinary means to achieve strength on par with a king.

Edward moved out of the death sword's attack. He stopped the spell while also accessing his reserve of mana to replenish himself. Vitalis was able to move, and the smile on the corner of his mouth disappeared. He looked at Edward's pale face and the subtle residual energy in the surroundings.

"Time Authority. Damn it," Vitalis decided to stop playing around. A world of blood slowly manifested behind him. Edward's expression turned ugly as he realized what the latter was doing. Just like how the Gods can summon a projection of their Divine Kingdom to increase their power in the material world, the Demon Gods can do the same for their dimension.

He raised his staff to cast two spells. The first one was that he activated another effect of the Curse of Gluttony already inside Vitalis. The mighty Demon God watched in horror as his stomach collapsed, releasing a black hole that wanted to swallow him.

Vitalis controlled his dimension projection to nullify the black hole, but it was useless. Edwards' second spell was Dimension Anchor, preventing the projection from descending into the Blank Realm.

Edward's spell did not stop the projection, but it delayed it enough for the black hole to do some damage. Vitalis looked at him with hatred before allowing his body to be swallowed. However, Edward's danger intensified instead of reducing. He immediately looked at the clones Vitalis had previously summoned.

As expected, one of the clones' aura suddenly changed; the clone had become the new Vitalis. Edward controlled his clones to attack, but Vitalis was faster than him. His blood clones suddenly turned into kamikaze soldiers, exploding themselves to eliminate all the clones and even trying to injure Edward's real body.

He did not evade these attacks or try to defend with a shield spell. Instead, he captured and sealed these clones. While he was doing this, Morgana intercepted Vitalis's action of summoning his dimension projection.

Her efforts should have worked, but she underestimated the means of a Demon God. Vitalis sacrificed millions of his followers to ensure the success of his attempt. Then, everyone felt it. A child ran down their spine, their blood stagnated, their life energy was chaotic, and finally, an unparalleled and uncontrollable hunger.

Vitalis was radiating power, making Edward sigh. With the projection, Vitalis's laws were operating at their full strength, just like him, with his magic domain. 'Morgana, we're using the formula.'

'Alright. Distract him long enough for me to sneak attack,' Morgana nodded.

'Alright.'

"I've had enough of this foreplay. Mortal sorcerer, I shall praise you for pushing me to this extent. But now, it's time to face your doom," Vitalis stated as he summoned a blood ocean, controlling it to rush toward Edward.

'It's time to bring the big guns,' Edward thought as he cast a buffing spell on him: Death Protection. A quick analysis of this blood ocean tells him it has the ability to absorb life energy, so he protects himself. Then, he prepared to use his most powerful law.

Edward positioned himself in a defensive stand, trying to stop the blood ocean. However, the ocean would absorb all the spells he threw at it while continuing to chase him. Edward moved around while slinging spells like he was holding a machine gun, but they were useless.

The blood ocean swallowed all energy and power of law. A desperate look appeared on Edward's face as he found himself surrounded by the ocean. The ocean used its chaotic power to block the surrounding space, rendering teleporting or any type of spatial spell useless.

"I will enjoy this meal, "Vitalis said as he controlled the ocean to swallow his prey. However, at this moment, without even moving, Edward's wand suddenly fired a purple beam that tore apart the ocean like Moses parting the sea.

A sense of dread even more terrifying than when Beelzebub tried to eat him, overwhelmed Vitalis, and since he did not want to die, he forcefully summoned a part of his dimension instead of the projection. The destruction beam tore through the dimension like a well-sharpened katana slicing through bamboo.

A large chunk of the dimension was erased from the world, and since Vitalis was connected to it, he received a backlash. However, he still survived.

'Now,' Edward yelled.

'I got it,' Morgana replied. A formula echoed in the Blank Realm, focusing on Vitalis. Before the latter could react, his eyes went blank, losing his will and consciousness.

"Hurry up," Morgana warned. After successfully using the Anti-Life Equation, Edward did not waste this opportunity. He first ordered Vitalis to kill all the people under his command.

The Krytonian Legion was barely holding on against the other Tier 10 Demon Gods. Odin was holding his own, but the Ancient One and Ra were struggling with their opponent. Edward wanted to ease their burden.

Vitalis executed the orders, killing millions upon millions of demons. Edward's second order was for Vitalis to strip his connection or control over the Blood Dimension. The latter resisted for a few seconds, but ultimately, he executed the order.

Edward's third order was going to ask Vitalis to kill himself, but Morgana stopped him.

"What's the problem?"

"There is a 75.9% chance that this order will activate his sense of self-preservation and awaken him from our control," she warned. Edward pondered. Becoming as powerful as they are is a form of evolution, and all life strives to survive no matter the situation. So, it made sense that such an order would have the opposite effect.

"In that case, I'll do it myself," Edward said before ordering Vitalis to remain in his position without moving. He then cast the spell: Light of Destruction. A brilliant purple light descended from the Heavens, trying to erase the Demon God from the mortal world.

This should have been the end of the battle, but something unexpected occurred at the last minute. Vitalis' aura suddenly changed, becoming more greedy, chaotic, mad, and potent.

Edward and Morgan's faces changed as they thought of something. "It couldn't be, right?"

"I'm afraid so," Morgana replied with a deep sigh.

"This is annoying," Edward complained. He did not expect it would be so difficult to kill a Demon God King.