My Goblin System : Levelling up with my SSS Class Devouring skill Chapter 471

Valentine felt sothing he rarely experienced in combat.

Frustration.

His calm, serene expression began to crack. His jaw clenched. His eyes narrowed.

This doesn’t make sense. The sanctuary should have him suppressed. My divine techniques should be overwhelming a demon-type creature. I should be winning. I SHOULD BE WINNING.

But I’m not even scratching him. Every attack fails. Every technique is countered. It’s like fighting soone who knows exactly what I’m going to do before I do it.

His tactical calm began giving way to sothing more primal. Sothing that decades of disciplined training had suppressed but never fully eliminated.

Anger.

Twenty minutes into the one-sided exchange, Valentine’s serene expression had completely disappeared, replaced by visible frustration and mounting rage.

"WHY WON’T YOU FALL?!" The shout burst from him, emotional control cracking. "You’re suppressed! The sanctuary reduces demon power to one-tenth! You should be WEAK! You should be MANAGEABLE!"

Satou tilted his head slightly, a gesture that might have been curious. "Is that what you thought?" His voice carried sothing that might have been amusent. "That your forcefield was working on ?"

Valentine’s eyes widened. "What—?"

"I’m not fully demon," Satou said simply. "Your sanctuary affects , but not the way you think. I’m operating at maybe sixty-five, seventy percent capacity. Not ten percent."

The Archbishop’s mind reeled. Sixty-five percent? SIXTY-FIVE PERCENT? And he’s this strong? That ans at full power he’s—

The calculation was terrifying.

If Satou at sixty-five percent could effortlessly defend against Valentine’s all-out assault, then Satou at full power would be...

A threat to the Ten Seats. Possibly equal to Fifth Seat or higher. Elric’s intelligence reports were catastrophically wrong. This isn’t just a settlent defense force. This is a demon lord-tier threat that rivals so of our kingdom’s strongest assets.

Valentine’s anger crystallized into cold fury. "Elric’s reports said you were dangerous but manageable. Said you were roughly equivalent to a lower demon lord at best. He was WRONG. You’re—"

"His turn is over," Satou interrupted, his voice calm, final. "Now it’s my turn."

The crimson Berserk aura around Satou flared brighter, dark red energy crackling like flas.

Valentine’s combat instincts scread danger and he raised his hands defensively, holy magic blazing—

Satou vanished.

[ENHANCED AGILITY TI DILATION SHADOW ABSOLUTE MOVENT]

The combination of abilities made Satou’s movent essentially untraceable. One mont standing thirty feet away, the next mont directly in front of Valentine, moving through space and ti with speed that divine perception couldn’t follow.

Satou’s fist, coated in crimson energy, drove into Valentine’s stomach with precisely calculated force.

The impact folded Valentine in half, expelled all air from his lungs, and sent him flying backward like he’d been hit by an avalanche.

He tumbled through the air, crashed into the ground, bounced, tumbled more, finally sliding to a stop eighty feet from where he’d been standing.

Valentine gasped, his divine blessing having prevented fatal internal damage but unable to eliminate the pain. His stomach felt like it had been hit with a battering ram coated in fire.

He tried to rise—

Satou was already there.

A kick to the ribs sent Valentine flying sideways, his divine-reinforced bones preventing breaks but the impact still driving air from his lungs.

He hit the ground, rolled, tried to gain distance—

Satou appeared beside him mid-roll and drove an elbow into his back, slamming him face-first into the earth with enough force to create a small crater.

Valentine’s divine blessing flared, healing the damage, letting him pull himself from the crater—

A knee to his face sent his head snapping backward, blood spraying from his nose, stars bursting across his vision.

He stumbled backward, raising his hands defensively—

A palm strike to his chest sent him sliding backward fifteen feet, his feet carving furrows in the ground.

He tried launching a counterattack, his hand striking out with holy blade technique—

Satou caught his wrist mid-strike, twisted it with casual strength that strained Valentine’s divine-reinforced joints to their limits, then drove his other fist into Valentine’s exposed ribs.

CRACK.

Three ribs fractured despite the divine blessing. Valentine scread, pain exploding through his torso.

Satou released the wrist and delivered a spinning kick to Valentine’s head that sent the Archbishop tumbling sideways, blood and saliva flying from his mouth.

Valentine hit the ground hard, his divine healing imdiately working to repair the broken ribs, seal the cuts, stop the bleeding.

But before healing could complete, Satou was there again.

A stomp to his chest drove him deeper into the ground.

A kick to his side rolled him over.

A grab by the collar lifted him up, then slamd him back down with force that cracked stone.

Valentine’s world beca pain and impacts. Every ti he tried to defend, Satou broke through his guard. Every ti he tried to counterattack, his strikes hit empty air while Satou’s returned hit with devastating accuracy.

And Satou was deliberately avoiding killing blows.

Valentine recognized it through the pain—recognized that every strike, while brutal, was carefully placed to maximize suffering while avoiding vital organs. Broken ribs but not punctured lungs. Shattered bones but not severed arteries. Crushing impacts but not instantly fatal trauma.

He’s making suffer. Making feel what Seraphina felt. He’s not trying to kill quickly—he’s trying to make hurt.

The realization brought a surge of desperate fury.

"ENOUGH!" Valentine roared, holy magic exploding from his body in an omnidirectional blast that forced even Satou to disengage montarily.

The Archbishop stood in the center of a golden sphere of divine power, his body healing from the accumulated damage, his eyes blazing with rage that had completely replaced his earlier serenity.

"You think you can humiliate ? Make suffer? I’m an Archbishop of the Church! I’ve killed dozens of demons! I’ve fought threats that would destroy kingdoms!"

His divine power surged higher, golden light intensifying until it was nearly blinding.

"You’re stronger than my reports suggested. Stronger than I expected. But you’re NOT invincible. And you’ve made a critical mistake."