Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Borus' eyes widened at the Devil grip on his hand, he released the second hand that was gripping the ablaze Hal and attempted to pry those fingers off.

Hal chuckled out of the blaze,

"Hehe, I made him mad? No no no, he made ME mad"

With that, his grip slackened and Borus was quick to take advantage and leaped backward.

With the contact between himself and Hal broken, the flames were put out and revealed Hal, in his Lesser Devil form.

A mild stream of nightmarish dark fog swirled around his naked form.

The Flames had burnt off his clothes and his entire musculature was on display.

His hair was about four inches longer than normal and well past his shoulder now, his eyes that were now dark (sclera and all) occasionally released small bursts of fog of the same color.

Even with the distance that he had now put between them, Borus could still feel the oppressive energy that the nightmarish dark fog gave off.

A part of his mind wished to rush back in and lay it all out, but the rational part of his mind struggled to keep his body in place while observing this change.

Hal watched the Beast struggle against himself and would have loved to take advantage by rushing in immediately, however, he knew that the moment he did so, he would fall victim to the instability of being a lesser devil.

The lack of control over their Devil energy made lesser devils susceptible to random fits of rage.

It messed with their cognition in battle and rendered them victim, to their most basic instinct.

On a norm, Hal would be able to regain control, since his Bloodline was that of the Primeval Devil Queen, but he had taken on this form when the Tretch King upset him by beating him down repeatedly.

The moment he moved to act, he knew he would probably be unable to stop himself until the Tretch King was dead which was something he would much rather avoid.

So it soon became a standoff in which they both watched each other and waited for one of them to make the first move.

*Growl*

The sound had come from Hal as he reached the limit of his restraint and raised one of his legs to attack, but before he could...

*Bam!*

...the Tretch King's fist slammed into his chest.

"Ahhhh" Borus, the Tretch King yelled as he continued to use his maximum force to drive Hal back.

Hal dug his heels into the ground so hard, that it caused grooves as he was forced back.

The Tretch King's flames continued to blaze even brighter from his sense of accomplishment, but it could not help but bear a confused expression when it saw Hal look up at him and smile,

And then he dug his heel even deeper and stopped the Tretch King's movement before he raised his knee and sank it into its abdomen.

Borus' eyes widened from the pain and stretched his arm, which he had been using to push Hal back, even further from himself to put some distance between them but Hal just smiled.

He grabbed that same arm as he released a torrent of Devil energy that oppressed the Beast even more and then he pushed it away from his chest to finally close the distance and punch out with his fist.

*Bam*

With the difference in their heights, the most he could do was punch the Beast's mid-section but even so, it was not a blow it could shrug off.

Borus groaned as the blow forced him to take a few steps back but Hal did not let him have a moment of rest as he was already dashing forward with his crimson fists raised.

*Bam* *Bam* *Bam*

Blow after Blow connected with the Demon Beast's large frame and it was continually forced on the defensive.

With the knowledge that, should things persist in this manner, all would be lost and his dream of breaking free of the callous circle of fate would end, Borus was getting desperate.

All of Hal's strikes were purposeful.

They were to kill him!

If Hal had merely been attempting to beat him up before, it had changed since he took on this form.

He was right. Hal was only barely keeping himself under control. It was why he had refrained from summoning Executioner (which had dispersed after he had been slammed into the Tree trunk earlier) again.

Because with that weapon in hand, he was sure to slay the beast.

Borus suddenly dashed away from Hal as fast as he could and headed in the direction of the Dome-protected Marla.

Hal's eyes widened, strong as the Dome was, Hal was not sure it would be able to resist the strength of a Quasi-demon fiend like the Tretch king.

The moment the Tretch King's destination was clear, Hal blocked its path to Marla with his Devil energy while he ran forward to intercept the Beast itself.

It was then he finally understood that it was a trick.

The Tretch king had no intention of attacking Marla, it only ran towards her so that Hal would move to protect her and clear the way for him to go after the downed lords of Tretch forest.

Hal simply stood by and watched it kill about Eights Beasts all at once and drain their body of Blood essence.

"Roooooaaarrrrr!!!"

Its already Red eyes became deeper by several shades, its already large physique bulged out even more and its roar was terrifying to behold.

It had prioritized instant strengthening over long term effects of Cultivation, thereby reinforcing itself with the Blood essence instead of refining it.

Even though there was a time limit, It was bound to be even more troublesome to deal with until its effects wore off.

But yet, in face of all this, Hal's grin became even wider,

"That position and distance is perfect"

He said and his iris turned a deep shade of Violet while his sclera remained as dark as ever.

He stretched forth his hand...

"Aflame their passion, Essence Stealer"

...and out of it swarmed a mass of purple mist as he summoned the ornate purple Bow with Dark veins and spikes.

Hal raised it and pulled its purple string.

As he did so, a flaming purple arrow formed from the point he held on the string and pointed straight at the Beast.

The Tretch King's wild eyes narrowed at the deadly-looking weapon and its flaming projectile but then it laughed loudly before speaking in Demon speech,

"So what if you have another weapon? And a ranged weapon no less. Hahahahaha, all I have to do is prevent you from having a clear shot"

Then Borus dug in his feet and dashed toward Hal in ZigZagging motions.

Hal couldn't help but smile at its ignorance. Experienced archers could easily predict the Beast's movement and shoot it down even with its zigzag pattern.

But he had to admit that while it was possible, he had neglected the use of a bow and was far from being an experience Archer.

But that hardly mattered.

Essence Stealer did not always need a clear shot.

So with a Grin, Hal did not change the direction of his shot and released the string.

*Whoosh*

Was the sound the flaming arrow made as it left the bow and at a speed much faster than a bullet, it hit the ground that had been its target...

*Boom*

...and set it all ablaze!

Borus did not worry about the blast and merely aimed to use its force to propel him forward at a much faster speed, but he was shocked when he found himself surrounded by a Ring of purple flames.

He had no choice but to force himself to stop.

This was impossible. Unless an accelerant had been poured before the release of the flaming arrow, there was no way it could have surrounded him so fast. He thought.

But yet it had.

Hal chuckled at the Beast's confusion.

Essence stealer has two types of shots but both always cause combustion.

The first shot was a direct hit that once it makes contact and the target's strength is not enough to put it out, it would aflame their passions and burn them from the inside out with lustful flames and in the process, the demon would absorb every Essence their body had to offer.

The whole process would take less than a second.

But, since Hal had no interest in killing the Tretch King, yet, he opted for the second attack.

The Ring of Torture.

"Arrrrrggghhhhh"

Borus yelled suddenly and fell to his knees.

Hal nodded and dispersed of Essence Stealer,

"You succumbed quickly. That's Good"

"Arrrrrggggghhhh" Borus yelled again as his flames began to dim slowly.

Hal sighed as his skin returned to normal.

His sclera was white again but his irises were still a deep violet color. His hair still stretched past his shoulder, which showed that the growth was permanent.

With a thought, he withdrew another set of robes from his inventory and put it on even as the Tretch King's wails grew even louder in the background.

Marla's eyes widened as she understood that this was the end of Hal's combat with the Demonic Tretch King.

The Dome around her faded and it was clear that the Beast would no longer be a threat.

While she had seen Rita make use of those Purple flames, this application was one she had never seen and awed her as the Ten feet tall beast squirmed within the Ring, seemingly from pain.

"Can you feel it? The flames burning within you from the inside out. I've never felt it but the description I got was... Graphic. Right now, the lustful flames are refining your essence and feeding it to me, their master and conjurer, directly.

Once the refinement is done in its entirety, you'll become a husk and as must be obvious to you by now, you'll die"

Borus was now gasping as all the flames on his body were now out and his claws had shrunk out of sight.

The pain was beyond being unbearable,

"Please.... Make.... It... Stop!" He groaned.

Hal stepped forward and walked through the flames before he slammed his palm on the Tretch King's chest and branded him with the Devil mark.

His violet irises returned to their normal blue and the torture flames fizzled out, leaving behind a thin black ring on the forest floor.

"I-i-i will tell you all you wish to know" Borus said and attempted to stand, but found himself unable to do so.

"No need"

Hal said and his eyes (sclera and all) turned Dark as he invaded the Tretch King's mind.