Chapter 10

As the smoke and dust began to dissipate, a figure wearing a robe and mask to cover himself slowly entered the room. The masked person who had broken down Mithril's door was Ziel.

"Who are you!? How did you get into this place!?" Gilbert shouts at Ziel, taking out a magic wand from his space storage and preparing to attack. On the other hand, Tristan was already wielding his greatsword.

"You don't need to know who I am. All you need to know is that I'm here to eradicate pests." Ziel suddenly disappeared from their sight after saying that.

"Be careful!" Caldeon shouted to warn Gilbert and Tristan, but his words were too late.

Ziel suddenly appeared in front of Gilbert and Tristan. He held Tristan and Gilbert's faces in his right and left hands and slammed them to the ground.

Boooooooommmmmm!

The room shook, and a small crater was created on the ground where their heads were banged. But Ziel's attack didn't end there. He threw their bodies in the air, picked up Tristan's greatsword lying on the ground, then Ziel compressed his aura into the sword and used it to slash their necks at once.

Sword King and Magic King, two existences that could be said to be very powerful in the Clorius continent, just died in a matter of seconds. They didn't even have time to make a single counterattack on Ziel.

"Bastard!" Caledon roared after seeing his two strongest subordinates killed instantly before his eyes, and he charged at Ziel furiously. The black smoke that enveloped his body gathered in his hands and condensed into a large black sword. He then swung the sword at Ziel.

"Hee... Isn't that an evil spirit? So you're using yourself as an evil spirit's host? Poor you... Even though I can't feel sorry for you." Then Ziel parried the black sword with Tristan's greatsword in his hand. The shockwave shattered the floors, pillars, and even Caldeon's throne.

"Shut up!" Caldeon raised his sword. His mana and life force were sucked into the blade and made his sword aura thicker. Then he slashed it towards Ziel. 

[Devil's Wrath]

The aura blades of life force compression shot towards Ziel at high speed. After seeing the attack coming at him, Ziel did the same as Caldeon did. He raised his sword, which was currently shrouded in a thick gray aura, and swung it at Caldeon. Their sword slashes collided. What happened next wasn't a shockwave from the clash of swords, but Ziel's slash cut through Caldeon's attack instantly.

"What!?" Caldeon was dumbfounded after seeing the slash with the combined power of the evil spirit and his life force cut by Ziel's attack like a piece of paper. Meanwhile, Ziel's slashes keep shooting straight at Caldeon with incredible speed. Caldeon tried to dodge after seeing the attack coming at him, but his response was slow, and Ziel's slash cut off his right hand.

"Aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Caldeon screamed in pain while clutching the slash wound on his shoulder.

"That was close, even though I wanted to eliminate you with one hit." Ziel sighed and shook his head.

The thing he did earlier was the same thing Caldeon did. Ziel compressed his aura and mana into the greatsword he held to the extreme. The difference was that he compressed it many times until it was as sharp as possible to the maximum extent his sword could receive his mana and aura. Because of that, the sword he was holding now, even though it belonged to the Legendary Rank, felt very hot, and small cracks formed on the blade. That was because the blade couldn't accommodate the excessive compression of aura and mana.

Caldeon, with his severed hand, tried to counterattack. Eight magic circles appeared on his body then he extended his hand towards Ziel. An enormous magic circle was created in his palm.

[Fire Bolt]

A ball of fire mixed with lightning shot out from the magic circle in Chaldeon's palm towards Ziel at high speed.

Ziel suddenly charged towards the ball of lightning fire and easily slashed it with his sword compressed with mana and aura.

"What!?" Caldeon was surprised after seeing it and intended to launch his next attack. But Ziel was already in front of him and punched him with his free hand. Caldeon was blown away into the cave wall, and a large crack in the wall formed from its impact.

"Bastard! You will pay for this! I will kill you!" Caldeon screamed hysterically, then a magic circle formed on the part of the severed hand and stopped the bleeding. He realized from the previous exchange that the person in front of him had power far above him. But anger had already taken over him because two of his subordinates died, and his hand was cut off. Caldeon stood up and prepared to attack Ziel again, but he suddenly stopped his actions.

(Be one with me, I'll give you the strength you need)

A voice echoed inside Caldeon's head. The sound came from the black sword still held in his severed hand.

"Is what you said true!?" Caldeon became excited after hearing what the evil spirit said.

(Of course, I will give you great power)

"Can I kill him with that power!?" Right now, Caldeon was only thinking about how to kill Ziel.

(You can, you can even rule this continent)

"Then give it that power right now!" Caldeon shouted impatiently.

(Hahaha... Alright. Accept this power of mine. Let my power seep into you)

"I understand!" After that, the black sword turned back into black smoke. Then the smoke enveloped Caldeon's entire body and began to enter through the pores of his skin.

"Aaaahhhh! What happened!? Why does it hurt so much!?" Caldeon knelt in pain while holding his head.

Ziel just silently watched the drama between the evil spirit and Caldeon. From the start, he could hear the conversation between the evil spirit and Caldeon even though it was inside Caldeon's head. Because Ziel can catch the sound waves that the evil spirit transmits into Caldeon's head.

Even though Ziel knows that Caldeon and the evil spirit will become one to defeat him, Ziel remains silent because he wants to see what kind of transformation would occur when Caldeon and the evil spirit merged into one.

Caldeon's skin color slowly turned pitch black. A horn appears on the right side of his forehead. His eyes turned white. The hand severed before grew back, and the black smoke that previously only partially covered his body now completely covered his body. He was like an incarnation of a demon formed from a mass of smoke.

"No!? What are you doing!? Why did I turn into this!?" Caldeon panicked when he saw his body turning into a monster.

(Hehe... Don't you want power? Then hand over your body. I'll help you kill him)

Evil spirit and Caldeon spoke alternately using one body. He's like a person with multiple personalities. It looks strange either from appearance or personality is seen from any angle.

"No!? I won't give my body to you!? Get out of my body right now!?" Caldeon started to roll around while banging his head on the floor, trying to expel the evil spirit.

(It's useless, now I'm completely one with you. As a thank you, I'll help you kill him. So... Goodbye. Hahaha...)

"No! No! Aaaahhhh!"

After their long debate, Caldeon's body suddenly fell silent. But not long after that, a tremendous aura emanated from his body. He got up from where he was rolling before. Nine magic circles appeared from his body. Right now, 'Caldeon' had the power of a Demigod.

"Hahaha... I finally have my own body. Thanks to you for pushing him like that. Otherwise, I'll have a hard time mastering him. As a reward, I'll give you the honor of being my first victim. I'll suck your life force out." The evil spirit inside Caldeon's body laughed and glared at Ziel. He had already set Ziel as his prey.

"Are you guys done?" Ziel just looked at him indifferently.

"A mere human, but you are so arrogant. It seems that you are not aware of your current situation. Then I'll torture you first before sucking you until dry!" From the evil spirit's hand emerged a black magic wand with a red crystal on it. Because Caldeon was a Sage, so he had a wand with him.

[Skull King]

An enormous magic circle formed on the ground. A creature with a crown and red eyes tried to get out from the center of the magic circle. When the creature shows its proper form, a giant skeleton 3 meters tall and wielding an ax appears in front of Ziel.

Gruaaaaaaahhhhhhhh!

The sound of his roar echoed throughout the cave area.

"Hahaha... Now Skull King, defeat him but don't let him die!" Caldeon commanded his summoned beast. The Skeleton King suddenly moved forward and attacked Ziel with astonishing speed.

"Hmm... Maybe it'll take a little longer than I thought." Ziel muttered softly and stared at the Skull King who came to him.