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470 Temptation of Power

"My master is the Great Devil Helcan the Mighty!" Ulrich declared proudly.

Surprisingly, Ulrich Salazar did not establish a contract with Balmodan the Undying but the Helcan the Mighty. After all, Ulrich led a dark organization full of members that gained strength by assimilating the bloodlines of wolves — like how Balmodan did.

Nevertheless, Ulrich\'s brute strength could be explained if it was Helcan the Mighty.

Just like how Balmodan the Undying boasted the greatest regenerative ability, Helcan the Mighty boasted the greatest physical power among the seven Great Devils.

Strength was also a type of law.

Anything could become the law; everything starts with a thought, a will, and a belief. Such was the world they lived in — a world of magic.

Although Vaan wasn\'t sure if it also applied to the creation of new laws, the process in which he comprehended one could be categorized into three main stages: realization, actualization, and manifestation.

First came the realization of a thought, a possibility, then the will to actualize it — actualization, and finally, the manifestation of one\'s belief.

That was how he comprehended the Fire Law.

Of the three stages, actualization was the biggest hurdle to overcome.

If the will conflicted with existing laws, the harder it was to become a belief and manifested. Likewise, if existing laws backed the will, the easier it was to manifest the belief.

For example, blue flames could be produced by burning copper chloride or butane, and a fire was something that burned. By understanding those two main points, he could easily manifest blue flames.

Blue flames were just by-products of his input; he wasn\'t limited to manifesting blue flames. If he wanted, he could manifest other colors too.

However, the color blue was generally associated with cold things.

Thus, blue flames were great for catching his enemies off guard - if he intended to use them so.

Furthermore, ordinary blue flames could never reach the same terrifying temperatures manifested by his Fire Authority.

That said, Vaan was curious about the actualization process of Great Devil Helcan\'s pure strength-based law.

Was it psychic self-enhancement?

Although it seemed like Vaan deliberated for a period of time, his entire thought process happened in a single instant.

...

"Swear your allegiance to my master, Your Imperial Majesty! Do it sincerely, and your thoughts will reach him!" Ulrich stated.

"I swear to serve the Great Devil —!"

Boom!

Before Emperor Renardier could finish speaking, he was sent flying after being forced to block another one of Vaan\'s sword attacks, which further chipped away at his treasured greatsword.

"Did you really think I will let you do as you please?" Vaan uttered.

Shortly after, he did another horizontal slash with his Peak-level Rank 5 Greatsword in a complete revolution. The subsequent shockwave sent all the remaining Aura Lords flying to their deaths in the blue flames, clearing out the area instantly.

"Your Excellency, nooo—!"

"I-I don\'t want to die—!"

Countless short-lived cries resounded before the Aura Lords were heard no longer, all reduced to ashes and scattered in the wind.

Vaan kicked against the ground with a powerful step and lunged at Ulrich next, causing the latter to eye him seriously.

However, Emperor Renardier barely made it in time to block Vaan\'s attack—only to send flying again. He lost his footing and ate the dirt, rolling on the ground until he came to a crashing stop near the edge of the mountaintop.

The threatening, scorching-hot blue flames made Emperor Renardier break into cold sweats. Just a little more force and he would have been suffering severe burns.

"How much more time do you need, Marquis Salazar?!" Emperor Renardier roared, picking his sore and battered body off the ground and throwing himself back at Vaan.

"It\'s done! Keep clear!" Ulrich alerted.

After he finished the forced fusion of his holy aura and demonic power, Ulrich\'s felt like his body was filled with strength. Even if it was only for a moment, he felt like he had surpassed the Transcendent rank.

"I\'ll take it from here!" Ulrich\'s shouted with confidence, immediately lunging at Vaan with his longsword. "Die!"

Ka-cha!

Vaan burst with instantaneous speed, shifting his position to the side of Ulrich. Then, with one big downward swing of his greatsword, Ulrich\'s longsword snapped in half.

"Tch!"

Ulrich clicked his tongue at the sight, but he didn\'t freeze on the spot.

Instead, he immediately threw his broken weapon at Vaan and whipped a kick at his waist.

However, Vaan slapped the broken longsword away with his spare hand before intending to block the incoming kick with his knee.

Although Vaan raised his knee quickly, he was still a split second too slow. As a result, he failed to block Ulrich\'s kick but deflected it instead, kneeing the person\'s leg upward.

Rip...

Ulrich\'s leg overextended into a super split, causing something to tear that made his face pale instantly; he dropped to the ground, seemingly having lost strength in his legs.

"Fuck..." Ulrich cried.

At the same time, his holy aura and demonic power separated once more, causing his strength to plummet back down to the peak Transcendent Rank.

...

During that time, Emperor Renardier took the opportunity to swear his allegiance to the Great Devil, Helcan the Mighty.

"Hahaha!"

Emperor Renardier laughed maniacally, having heard Helcan\'s voice accepting his swear of allegiance in his mind. He almost seemed to have lost his mind.

"Your servant swears to carry out your bidding! Please bestow upon me the divine power to defeat thy foes, my new master, Helcan!"

\'I can only bestow my divine strength onto one person. If you want my blessing, prove to me that you are more worthy of it!\' After Emperor Renardier heard Helcan\'s message, his gaze immediately flickered with a cold, sharp glint.

In the next moment, Emperor Renardier immediately threw himself at Vaan again with bloodshot eyes, full of murderous intentions. His aura surged to the limit.

However, his treasured greatsword was also at its limit; it would undoubtedly break with one more clash.

Nevertheless, just before their swords clashed, Emperor Renardier\'s chipped greatsword suddenly shifted, narrowly evading Vaan\'s greatsword as he threw himself to the ground and rolled heavily, crashing into Ulrich.

Then, he did something neither Ulrich nor Vaan anticipated.

While Ulrich wasn\'t on guard against him, Emperor Renardier directly lopped off the person\'s head with his greatsword...