The Primeval Era-Chapter 124: Demon! VI

Masamuk floated closer, his damaged body stabilizing as he listened.

"What else?"

His voice was grim.

Serala continued.

"The Shamans developed methods beyond simple combat. They created sacred inscriptions, markings drawn in blood and ash and the crushed bones of ancestors. These inscriptions could bind demons temporarily, trap them within circles of power that their corruption couldn’t breach."

She paused.

"The most powerful Shamans learned to call upon the spirits of those who had died fighting demonkind. Ancestral warriors whose hatred of corruption transcended death itself. These spirits could manifest briefly, adding their strength to the living who faced demonic threats."

Her wing-shaped pupils flickered.

"And there were the Runes of Banishment. Sacred symbols that had to be carved into the flesh of the demon itself, marks that would force the entity back beyond the River of The World. But applying such runes required getting close enough to touch the creature, and few who attempted it survived the process. And I...I dont really know any of them..."

She looked at Damian’s spear.

"Your weapon wounded it, barely. That means your spears carry enough purity to affect its flesh. That is something. That..should be something."

Her voicd held clear hesitation in the end!

Damian focused.

In the region ahead, the outline of the Kishi Demon became visible again.

It stood at the center of the corruption it had created, arms outstretched as if embracing the devastation. The toxic domain swirled around its form like a cloak of power, feeding it, strengthening it, making it more terrible with every moment that passed.

The handsome face tilted back in ecstasy, eyes closed as it absorbed the chaotic energies.

The hyena face grinned toward them with savage anticipation, jaws working as if already tasting their flesh.

"Ka Ka Ka..."

The dual voice drifted across the distance between them.

"How wonderful this feels. How long has it been since I tasted the corruption of a domain? How long since I breathed air thick with the suffering of the living?"

Its arms lowered.

Its four eyes opened.

And it looked toward them with menace that made the air itself grow cold despite the heat radiating from the crimson zone.

"You haven’t fled."

The handsome face smiled warmly.

"How delightful."

The hyena face snarled hungrily.

"How foolish."

Damian looked at the Kishi Demon.

His mind raced through everything Serala had told him, searching for a path forward against something that had shrugged off his most powerful attack like a mosquito bite. Half an inch. That was all his spear had accomplished against its neck. Half an inch against a being that could melt Beast Lords and corrupt entire regions of the Lands of Stone.

Purity of Mana.

Serala had said demons were vulnerable to highly refined energy, to cultivation that had been purified beyond normal standards. Damian thought of the blue flames that burned within him, sacred fire born from a letter of the Primordial Tongue itself.

He didn’t think there could be anything purer than those flames. They had healed mortal wounds. They had raised mountains. They had resisted the demon’s enticement when even a Beast Lord had faltered.

And yet half an inch was all they had accomplished.

Land and Sky Physiques.

Those born with Physiques tapped into the primal energies of the Lands of Stone itself, Serala had said. They drew power from sources older than demons, from the very foundations upon which Land was built. Warriors with powerful Physiques could stand longer against demonic assault.

Some could even triumph.

Damian’s thoughts turned inward.

He had never possessed a Land and Sky Physique. That had been one of the marks against him even before his cultivation was shattered, a weakness that made some question whether he was truly worthy of the Vakochev bloodline. His parents had both carried powerful Physiques. His ancestors had been known for the strength of their inherited gifts.

But not him.

Not until recently!

He thought of the golden marking hidden beneath the layer of skin on his hand. The inscription that had formed when he healed Tiaret, when his flames had cycled through her Noble Simba body and returned carrying power refined across generations of her lineage. He had felt it burning there ever since, waiting to be activated, waiting to be used.

And he thought of his eyes.

The winged pupils he had to constantly suppress with Mana, the manifestation of Serala’s Physique that had been replicated into his flesh when he healed her. The Wings of the Radiant Dawn, copied into his very being without either of them fully understanding how or why.

Two Land and Sky Physiques.

Neither of them originally his.

Both of them now part of him.

He sighed.

The demon waited in its corrupted domain, enjoying the chaos it had created while these three insignificant beings deliberated about how to die. It was in no hurry. It was actuslly growing stronger!

It had been sealed within Vienna’s for who knew how long. A few more minutes meant nothing to it.

But those minutes might mean everything to Damian.

He came to a decision.

"I may have a method."

He turned to look at Serala and Masamuk, his dark blue eyes carrying weight that made both of them focus entirely on his words.

"Would you all be okay if I... imitate your power?"

He kept his words vague.

He didn’t explain what he meant. He didn’t clarify how such imitation would be possible. He simply asked for permission.

Masamuk’s response was immediate.

"Brother, you can imitate my late granny if you want!"

The slime’s obsidian body pulsed with desperate energy, stellar blue points flickering erratically.

"If you have something that can stand against that demon, use it! My extensions of my body are still not healing!"

He gestured toward the portions of his form that had been corroded by the demon’s eruption, gaps in his obsidian flesh that should have regenerated by now but remained stubbornly absent.

"Whatever method you have, whatever power you’re hiding, now is not the time for secrets!"

...!

Masamuk said such words without hesitation.

Serala turned to look at Damian.

Her wing-shaped pupils studied him with intensity.

Her fingers grasped around the spear he had given her, knuckles whitening with the force of her grip.

"We have to survive this."

Her voice was steady.

"I have to warn the Hallowed Voice about what the Dominion of Crimson Stone has done. About the demons they’ve bargained with. About what the Murderous Saint is truly planning."

She met his eyes.

"So do whatever you need to do."

"..."

The two of them had spoken.

They had given their permission without truly understanding what they were permitting.

Damian’s eyes shone with sharp determination.

He took the spear in his hand, the weapon that had been his only armament throughout this battle. He looked at it for a moment, feeling the connection his blood had forged with its structure, sensing the Mana that hummed through its form.

Then he pushed it out and gave it to Serala.

She looked at him in astonishment.

He would really need this, wouldn’t he?!

A warrior going into battle against a demon without a weapon was suicide by any reasonable standard. The spear was the only thing that had managed to wound the creature at all. Giving it away made no logical sense.

But Damian had made his choice.

He left his only weapon behind and stepped forward.

On his hand, the layer of skin he had grown to hide the golden inscription began to burn away.

The marking emerged into visibility, brilliant gold light blazing from characters that had been carved into his existence when he healed Tiaret. The inscription pulsed with power refined across generations of the Noble Simba Lineage, sovereignty and majesty compressed into symbols that transcended ordinary power.

And his eyes changed.

The Mana he had been using to suppress their true form dissipated, and his dark blue irises shifted into something else entirely. Wing-shaped pupils manifested where ordinary human eyes had been, white-blue light crackling around their edges with intensity that matched Serala’s own Physique.

He stared straight at the Kishi Demon with winged eyes and a burning golden hand.

And an instant later, white and gold light began to shine across his entire body.

"Persevere."

BOOM!

He was initiating a transformation of two Land and Sky Physiques at the same time.

And in his mind, he asked himself a simple question.

Why not also do it while uttering that letter?

So he did.

BOOM!