Chapter 34:The Test of a True Demon King—A Throne Built on Ashes

The abyssal creature loomed over the battlefield, its shadow swallowing what little light remained. Its form was shifting—an ever-changing nightmare of writhing limbs, void-like eyes, and jagged, endless fangs.

Kuragami wiped the blood from his lips. The force of the impact still echoed through his bones, but he didn't falter. He couldn't.

This wasn't just another battle. This was a declaration.

The sky was gone—only a vast expanse of black tendrils and endless hunger remained. Saphira was frozen in place, barely able to keep herself standing. Even the Abyssal Warden, the once-unbreakable force of carnage, had knelt.

Only Kuragami stood.

The beast's voice crawled through reality, slow and suffocating.

"You seek the throne, boy?"

A massive claw lashed out—faster than sound, heavier than existence itself.

Kuragami reacted. He had to.

His Forgotten Sword surged with power, an eruption of violet flames so intense that the ground melted beneath him. He swung—not to block, not to deflect, but to carve straight through the attack.

BOOM.

The battlefield shattered.

Entire mountains split apart, the shockwave obliterating what little remained of the land. Saphira was flung backward, crashing into a jagged outcrop, blood spilling from her lips.

Kuragami didn't stop.

He rushed forward, closing the distance in an instant. His eyes—**burning, inhuman, absolute—**locked onto the abyssal entity's shifting form.

One strike.

His blade sank into its flesh, piercing through layers of twisting, writhing darkness. The monster screamed, the sound ripping apart the very air.

But it wasn't enough.

The abyssal entity reformed instantly, its wounds closing as if they had never existed. An immortal beast.

Kuragami landed, eyes narrowing. Then he understood.

This wasn't just a test of strength. It was a test of sovereignty.

A test to see if he was worthy of breaking the natural order itself.

He exhaled.

A dark energy pulsed through his veins, ancient and unnatural. His power—the power that defied reason, the power that even the gods feared—began to awaken.

He lifted his hand.

The sky bled.

The Forgotten Thorn, the throne destined for a true Demon King, manifested behind him, its presence erasing the concept of light itself.

The abyssal creature hesitated. For the first time… it flinched.

Kuragami stepped forward, his voice calm.

"Kneel."

The abyss roared in defiance. It lunged, its entire body a mass of consuming darkness.

Kuragami didn't move.

The moment the creature touched him, the world collapsed.

Reality itself shattered like glass. The land, the sky, the concept of existence—all consumed by his will.

Saphira, barely conscious, saw it. The impossible.

The abyss—the being that had existed before gods, before demons—was being consumed.

By Kuragami.

His power devoured it.

His eyes burned with something far beyond strength, beyond cruelty. A new law was being written.

When the dust settled, only one figure remained standing.

Kuragami.

His Forgotten Thorn awaited.

He stepped forward.

And took his rightful seat.

A red moon loomed over the blackened sky, casting an eerie glow upon the ruined city of Abyss Maw—the domain of the 9th Strongest Demon, Belphegor, the Gluttonous Tyrant. The stench of rotting flesh and burning entrails filled the air, thick enough to choke even the strongest of demons. Twisted buildings, made from the bones of fallen warriors, towered above as the ground squelched beneath Kuragami's boots—a city built upon corpses.

Yet, he walked forward without hesitation.

Whispers slithered through the streets.

The eyes of thousands watched from the shadows—half-eaten demons, starving ghouls, and Belphegor's mindless followers, worshippers of consumption itself. Their flesh hung loosely from their bones, their stomachs swollen from devouring anything—even each other.

Kuragami's piercing purple eyes gleamed under the moonlight as he approached the Throne of Gluttony, a colossal seat constructed from the fused bodies of demons, all trapped in eternal agony. And there, seated upon it, was Belphegor.

A monstrous being, larger than any demon Kuragami had encountered so far. His bloated form rippled with unnatural muscles, yet his stomach remained endlessly distended, pulsating like a living entity. His mouth stretched impossibly wide, gnashing rows of jagged teeth, and his six arms twitched with anticipation.

"A visitor? No... a meal." Belphegor's voice oozed from his mouth, overlapping, as if a thousand voices spoke at once. The screams of those he had devoured still echoed within him.

Kuragami remained silent. This was no test. No trial. There was no reason to talk.

The slaughter began immediately.

A Feast of Flesh and Blood

With a single motion, Belphegor raised one of his six hands, and his army erupted from the shadows.

One thousand monstrous creatures, each twisted by gluttony, charged at Kuragami like a tidal wave of flesh and bone. Teeth snapped. Claws slashed. Their hunger knew no bounds—even among themselves, they tore into one another, desperate for strength.

Kuragami did not move.

The first demon lunged—Kuragami flicked his wrist.

A wave of black fire erupted, incinerating a hundred demons instantly.

Another rushed—his forgotten sword materialized in his hand. With a single swing, a shockwave carved through the battlefield, splitting demons in half, reducing them to mist.

More. Hundreds more. They fell like insects.

Kuragami walked forward, untouched, unharmed, and unbothered, his eyes glowing with something deeper than power—absolute dominance.

The army that had terrorized the abyss for centuries was nothing more than fodder beneath his feet.

Belphegor's Nightmare Begins

For the first time in a thousand years, Belphegor felt something he had forgotten.

Fear.

He saw his greatest warriors slaughtered like livestock. He saw his domain turned to ash in mere moments. He saw—for the first time—an existence greater than his own.

"This... This is impossible."

Kuragami raised his forgotten sword, his voice cutting through the night like a death sentence.

"You are nothing but a fat, mindless beast. Your hunger is meaningless."

Rage consumed Belphegor. His bloated stomach began to glow, and suddenly, the air twisted with an unnatural force.

"Then become my feast!"

His body ruptured, and from his stomach, a storm of devoured souls burst forth. Thousands of voices shrieked as black spectral arms clawed their way into reality, dragging everything into their abyssal hunger.

Kuragami felt it. The pull. The weight.

This was not an illusion. This was not a trial.

Belphegor had consumed demons, gods, even entire domains.

And now, he sought to consume Kuragami.

Devouring the Devourer

But something unexpected happened.

Kuragami did not resist.

He walked forward, willingly stepping into the abyss of Belphegor's stomach.

The demon lord grinned, believing he had won. "You are mine now."

But then—

The screaming stopped.

The souls inside Belphegor's abyss turned silent.

Belphegor's body seized up.

And then, it began to implode.

From within the abyss, Kuragami's voice echoed, cold and merciless.

"You are not the one consuming me. I am consuming you."

A rupture.

A reversal.

Kuragami was not being absorbed—he was absorbing Belphegor.

The souls that Belphegor had devoured for thousands of years now belonged to Kuragami.

The thousands of abilities, experiences, and power—now his.

Belphegor's body withered, his once colossal form shrinking into nothing as his very essence was devoured in return.

His final screams faded into nothing.

The 9th Strongest Demon was no more.

A New Terror Awakens

The demons who had once followed Belphegor knelt in horror and submission.

Kuragami emerged from the abyss, his eyes darker than ever, his aura suffocating the entire realm.

Something had changed.

Something terrifying.

For the first time, Kuragami felt hunger.

Not for food. Not for blood.

But for more.

More power. More destruction.

His own army trembled in his presence.

Even Alexandra's daughter, watching from afar, felt a primal terror creep into her bones.

Kuragami was no longer just a warrior.

He was becoming something beyond demons, beyond gods.

And this was only the beginning.