"As long as you keep attacking without interruption," Orion continued, "each blow becos stronger than the last. It’s a true combo ability, devastating if left unchecked."
He paused before adding, "But it has a weakness."
"If your chain of attacks is interrupted," Orion said, "it resets entirely. You have to start over from scratch."
He gestured toward her trembling fists, where the darkish-red aura flickered unstably.
"And while your technique itself might be limitless in theory," Orion continued, "your body isn’t.
There’s only so much power you can channel before you reach your natural limit. When that happens, you have to reset manually, or risk tearing yourself apart."
Astaroth said nothing, but her glare confird everything he’d said.
Orion then turned his attention to Asmodai next. "Your ability is more subtle," he admitted. "I haven’t fully figured it out yet."
Asmodai’s grip on his katanas tightened slightly.
"But I’ve noticed sothing," Orion said, with his glowing eyes narrowing. "You’re taking far less damage than you should be from my strikes."
He gestured at Asmodai, at the relatively minor injuries marking the demon lord’s body despite the devastating blows Orion had landed.
"That’s why you look better off than your sister," Orion said calmly. "Whatever your power is, it’s protecting you sohow. Reducing the damage you take."
Asmodai’s expression remained neutral.
Orion’s voice grew colder. "But if you’re still taking damage from my punches at my current level of power, then I’m certain I can beat you too."
Asmodai’s demon magic, Dominion, was absolute in its function. It determined how much damage he received based entirely on his opponent’s power level relative to his own.
If his opponent was weaker than him, he took no damage at all, their attacks would simply bounce off harmlessly.
If his opponent was equal to him in strength, he would only take half the damage from their strikes.
But if his opponent was stronger, truly stronger, then he would take the full brunt of every attack without any reduction whatsoever.
This ability had made Asmodai condescending toward nearly everyone he encountered. Very few beings in this world could match him in raw power, which ant most opponents couldn’t even scratch him.
It was the very foundation of his pride and the reason he held the title of Demon Lord of Pride.
But right now, facing Orion, Asmodai was taking damage.
Not full damage, but enough to know that this Archon stood on equal footing with him at minimum.
And that realization ate at his pride and his face twisted with anger at Orion’s words.
"You talk too much," Asmodai growled, then launched himself forward with explosive speed.
The battle resud with even greater intensity than before.
Asmodai’s blades moved aggressively, slashing and thrusting in rapid succession as purple energy erupted from every strike. He pressed forward relentlessly, forcing Orion onto the defensive.
Astaroth joined in monts later, with her fists a blur as she attacked from the opposite side. Her combo was building again, each punch landing with slightly more force than the last.
Orion found himself caught between them, forced to divide his attention as they coordinated their attacks alot better this ti.
A katana sliced across his shoulder, but only leaving another re cut with little blood, and a punch slamd into his ribs, sending a shockwave rippling through his body.
Another katana slash carved across his chest. Another punch connected with his jaw.
For a mont, it seed like the two demon lords were gaining the upper hand.
But then Orion began his counter. He caught Astaroth’s next punch in his palm and held it right there despite the force behind it.
Yellow lightning then exploded from his hand, coursing up her arm and making her scream in pain.
Then he twisted aside from Asmodai’s sword swing and drove an elbow into his face, sending the demon lord staggering back.
Orion released Astaroth and grabbed her by the wrist instead. He swung her around like a hamr and hurled her directly at Asmodai.
The two demon lords collided and crashed together into a nearby structure, bringing the rest of what remained of it down on top of them.
Orion stared down at them calmly despite his own sustained cuts. Well, he was a god that survived sitting in the sun for weeks, these cuts were nothing.
The rubble shifted as Astaroth pushed herself free first. She staggered forward, clutching at her arm where Orion’s lightning had burned through her skin.
Asmodai erged a mont later, with blood dripping from a broken nose and split lip.
They both stared at Orion from across the battlefield
The battle resud with even greater intensity than before.
Asmodai’s blades moved aggressively, slashing and thrusting in rapid succession as purple energy erupted from every strike. He pressed forward relentlessly, forcing Orion onto the defensive.
Astaroth joined in monts later, with her fists a blur as she attacked from the opposite side. Her combo was building again, each punch landing with slightly more force than the last.
Orion found himself caught between them, forced to divide his attention as they coordinated their attacks alot better this ti.
A katana sliced across his shoulder, but only leaving another re cut with little blood, and a punch slamd into his ribs, sending a shockwave rippling through his body.
Another katana slash carved across his chest. Another punch connected with his jaw.
For a mont, it seed like the two demon lords were gaining the upper hand.
But then Orion began his counter. He caught Astaroth’s next punch in his palm and held it right there despite the force behind it.
Yellow lightning then exploded from his hand, coursing up her arm and making her scream in pain.
Then he twisted aside from Asmodai’s sword swing and drove an elbow into his face, sending the demon lord staggering back.
Orion released Astaroth and grabbed her by the wrist instead. He swung her around like a hamr and hurled her directly at Asmodai.
The two demon lords collided and crashed together into a nearby structure, bringing the rest of what remained of it down on top of them.
Orion stared down at them calmly despite his own sustained cuts. Well, he was a god that survived sitting in the sun for weeks, these cuts were nothing.
The rubble shifted as Astaroth pushed herself free first. She staggered forward, clutching at her arm where Orion’s lightning had burned through her skin.
Asmodai erged a mont later, with blood dripping from a broken nose and split lip.
They both stared at Orion from across the battlefield
"I’m done holding back," Astaroth said in a snarling tone as her darkish red aura starts to spike.
Asmodai turned toward her sharply. "Don’t be stupid!" he snapped. "If you push past your limit—"
"I don’t care!" Astaroth scread back at him. Her aura flared brighter than ever before as she forced more power into herself.
She was the Demon Lord Of Wrath and this god was going to feel every bit of it.
Her muscles bulged and her veins stood out starkly against her skin as darkish-red energy poured from every part of her being.
"Astaroth—" Asmodai began, but she was already moving again.
She launched herself at Orion with a scream of fury. This ti when she attacked, every punch carried devastating power behind it, far beyond what she’d been capable of before.
Each strike created shockwaves that tore through nearby structures and left craters in the ground.
Orion blocked the first few blows but was imdiately driven backward by their sheer force.
His arms ached from absorbing the impacts, and cracks ford in the stone beneath his feet as he was pushed back step by step.
Asmodai joined in monts later, supporting his sister with precise slashes that forced Orion to split his focus once more.
For a brief mont, the two demon lords fought on equal footing with an Archon.
And they even managed to land solid blows.
A punch from Astaroth caught Orion square in the chest and sent him tumbling through the ground and crashing out through building structures before landing out several ters away.
Both demon lords followed dup imdiately, already arriving before him once more, with the intent to deliver more attacks.
But Orion who had regained his stance, said "Enough,"
And his voice roared out with the sound of thunder and a shockwave that sent them backwards.
Then he launched himself into the sky with explosive speed, yellow lightning trailing behind him as he ascended high above Yul’thera’s ruins.
Astaroth and Asmodai both looked up, and their eyes widened as they watched Orion.
The Archon raised one hand toward the heavens above him and a bolt of pure lightning descended from the sky itself to strike his open palm directly.
The bolt condensed into a solid spear of crackling energy that burned so brightly.
Orion’s Bolt!
Both demon lords launched themselves into the air after him without hesitation, but they knew they wouldn’t reach him in ti to stop what ca next...
Orion’s cold voice echoed across the battlefield one final ti:
"Disappear."
He hurled the bolt downward with all his might, and everything faded to white...
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