Chapter 255: Demon of the Flower (1)

The body of Carbarax, now headless, swayed unsteadily before collapsing to the ground. Ketal looked down, quietly observing the motionless remains.

“Is it over?” he wondered, bending closer to examine the corpse.

However, just as he leaned in, the decapitated body suddenly jerked upright and flung an arm skyward. A torrent of black light surged from its hand, rushing toward Ketal. Yet Ketal was ready.

As if he’d anticipated it all along, he simply twisted his body aside, easily evading the attack. Then, with a casual stomp, he crushed the torso, blasting a gaping hole clean through its upper half. The corpse convulsed violently, as if in the throes of a final death spasm, and soon began to disintegrate, vanishing entirely.

Ketal’s gaze shifted, searching for the real Carbarax.

“I’ve been through this sort of thing before. You can only catch me with the same trick once,” he muttered.

Several paces away, Carbarax reappeared, gasping for breath, seemingly unharmed. However, Ketal simply stroked his chin, unconvinced.

“So I can’t finish you in a single strike, after all,” he muttered

It was a frustrating limitation; Ketal still hadn’t mastered the manifestation of Myst. He could only channel it through his body, reinforcing his flesh. Against a demon of Carbarax’s level, that wasn’t quite enough to guarantee an immediate kill.

Even so, Carbarax coughed violently, a spray of blood staining the ground as he staggered on his feet. The damage he’d taken was evident.

“But I can at least deal you real damage now.” Ketal grinned with genuine satisfaction.

He’d struck a demon using Myst. Even if it wasn’t fatal, the blow had landed, and the result was clear.

Ketal smiled, his mood buoyed, while Carbarax struggled to steady himself, clutching at wounds that were not so easily dismissed. Though he had managed to regenerate his smashed head with demonic energy, the shock lingered, as if his skull had been caved in by a sledgehammer.

“You...!” Carbarax shrieked, voice trembling with rage and pain.

Power surged, black light spiraling out in deadly arcs, but Ketal only stepped forward with an untroubled smile.

Every ounce of Carbarax’s power was shattered and overwhelmed, crushed beneath Ketal’s advance. Carbarax’s body was seized, slammed into the ground with brutal force, then pulverized. Blood flew from his lips. And yet, Ketal wasn’t even using full Myst-enhanced physical power; he was simply wreathed in it, channeling just enough to attack. Even so, Carbarax was helplessly outmatched.

Ketal had fought many demons before, even some as powerful as Carbarax—top-ranked, named demons of Hell. Those battles had been fierce, often seeming to teeter on a knife’s edge. However, that was only because Ketal hadn’t known how to control Myst. He’d been incomplete. No matter how many times he tore them apart, they always revived unscathed, so it had seemed like a fair fight.

However, that deficiency was now gone. No mere named demon could stand against Ketal now.

With a sickening crack, Ketal twisted Carbarax’s arm, then crushed his skull once more. Carbarax screamed, his body regenerating over and over, but before he could even gather his power, Ketal would seize him again, splitting him in two with an effortless motion.

“

Graaah!

” Carbarax shrieked in agony, desperately clinging to life. However, the strain was showing. Each wound accumulated, leaving marks even his monstrous healing couldn’t erase.

Eventually, Carbarax’s legs buckled and he fell to his knees, unable to bear the punishment any longer.

“Thank you,” Ketal said, genuine gratitude in his tone. “Thanks to you, I’m sure now.”

He could injure demons. The confirmation gave him a sense of satisfaction he’d never known before.

“You have my thanks,” he said once more, and walked past the kneeling Carbarax.

Step by step, he moved forward, approaching the enormous pink flower bud at the heart of the corrupted sanctuary.

What exactly is this?

Ketal wondered.

Now that he could sense Myst, Ketal felt clearly that inside the flower, there was a force that dwarfed Carbarax, a power unlike anything he’d ever encountered. He paused, curiosity warring with duty.

I’d like to watch it unfold, see what’s inside...

However, he shook off the temptation. “I can’t. I’m here to defeat you all. That’s my purpose.”

Ketal drew back his fist, Myst swirling around it. He prepared to destroy the flower. However, in that instant, Carbarax lunged, desperate to keep him from striking.

“No matter what, you cannot touch that flower!” Carbarax’s whole being screamed with defiance as he flung himself at Ketal.

Ketal sighed, annoyed, and drove his fist through Carbarax once again. The demon vomited blood, his body at its limit. Yet Carbarax still didn’t fall.

“If I grit my teeth and bear it... I can hold on,” he gasped, pooling every last drop of his power for one final gambit. From the depths of his being, he summoned all that remained.

“Fly!” he roared, jabbing his fingers into Ketal’s chest.

There was an explosion, a surge of power so violent it sent Ketal rocketing away, hurtling across the land at impossible speed. Within seconds, he became a dot on the horizon.

Ketal’s eyes went wide as the wind howled around him. “So that’s how it is. There was a trick like this after all.”

He still hadn’t achieved perfect mastery of Myst. It took a few seconds to gather and deploy it fully, and in that window, he could still be affected by raw physical force. Carbarax had realized this, and bet everything on those brief moments.

Watching Ketal disappear into the distance, Carbarax let out a weak, gloating laugh. “I only bought a few seconds, but... it’ll take him a while to get back.”

For a demon of Carbarax’s caliber, a few seconds meant hundreds of kilometers. Unless one could warp space, it was no small task to return immediately. However, at that moment, a blade pierced through Carbarax’s chest. Myst exploded from the sword, burning his body from the inside. Carbarax collapsed, defeated at last.

“What a cheap trick,” the Mercenary King muttered, sheathing his sword. He had finally broken through all defenses and arrived at the scene. Behind him, the Archbishop and several other Transcendents approached, their faces tense.

“What happened here?” the Archbishop asked the Mercenary King.

“That demon flung Ketal far away. He’ll need some time to get back,” the Mercenary King replied.

“I... see,” the Archbishop replied, puzzled.

But why go to such lengths?

The battle was effectively over. Victory was theirs. Carbarax had spent all his strength and was on the verge of being banished back to Hell. Throwing Ketal away changed nothing; he would not be harmed, and would soon return.

However, Carbarax only smiled.

“Ha... I made it. Just barely,” he whispered.

His body began to fade, dissolving into nothing. The process of banishment was almost complete. In his final moments, Carbarax achieved his true goal.

“Now... bloom. Consume all nourishment and reveal the magnificent flower. Bring forth upon this world a blossom of utter depravity.”

With those words, Carbarax vanished. Then, a blinding pink light erupted as the flower bud bloomed.

***

Until that last moment, none of them had truly understood the nature of the flower bud. It had shown no signs of change during the fighting, so most had simply assumed it was a device to amplify Carbarax’s strength. However, now, that thing was blooming. As the petals unfurled, a surge of latent power erupted, so overwhelming that the Archbishop and Fiego’s expressions changed at once.

“O Earth Goddess!” the Archbishop cried.

“

Hup!

” Fiego bellowed, unleashing a wall of flame.

Holy light and primal fire joined to form a barrier, bracing against the flower’s power. Rumbling thunder shook the world.

“

Urgh

!” the Archbishop groaned, straining.

“

Ngh!

” Fiego gritted its teeth.

The barrier trembled, on the verge of collapse, but through sheer desperation, they managed to hold it. Then, as the dust began to settle, a chill swept the field. The only sound was the nervous swallowing of those present as their vision cleared.

Inside the fully opened flower, a woman stood. She had hair so long and pink it concealed most of her body, and two goat-like horns curled from either side of her head. There was a vacant, almost innocent look on her face. She slowly tilted her head and spoke, her voice soft.

“Hello?”

A shudder ran through everyone who heard it. It was as if death itself had swept over the land. The weak collapsed where they stood, their legs refusing to bear their weight. The only one who reacted was Fiego.

“Damn it!” it roared, hurling a storm of flame at the woman. A maelstrom of primordial fire closed in on her.

Against anyone else, even Carbarax, it would have been devastating. However, the woman only flicked her fingers. With a pop, the storm vanished, snuffed out as if it had never existed. Fiego bared its teeth, its mind racing.

“Everyone, run! Now!” Fiego shouted. As a spirit who carried the primordial fire, it had lived long enough to recognize what stood before them. “How are you even here, you...”

There were demons in Hell who had names—Carbarax was one, and as a named demon, he commanded strength that placed him on par with the highest-level Transcendents in the Mortal Realm. However, there were those above even them—demons with titles, with domains, who had been granted their own territory in Hell. These demons had the same strength as Heroes.

“The Demon of the Flower. Floris!” Fiego cried out, voice quivering.

“Oh my. Fiego, it’s been so long,” Floris replied with a pleasant smile. “It’s the first time since the Divine-Demonic War, isn’t it? I’m glad to see you well.”

“Just seeing your face gives me nightmares.”

Floris was the Demon of the Flower. In ages past, she had rampaged through the continent, blanketing the land in blossoms of death until the gods themselves intervened and drove her away. There were no surviving records of her existence, because no one who had met her lived to tell the tale.

“How...” Fiego began, but understanding dawned as it spoke. “The flower bud... that’s what it was for.”

Carbarax had corrupted the holy land in order to gather enough energy to forcibly summon a demon who should never have been able to descend. By devouring the sanctuary’s power, Floris had fully manifested in the world.

She smiled, her expression unchanged. “Correct. So, I’m here now to carry out Mother’s will and defile this world. Please don’t interfere, and just go home, Fiego.”

“I can’t let you do that. I have to—”

“Then disappear.” Floris waved her hand, and a pink flower blossomed on Fiego’s body, feeding on its essence and growing rapidly.

Fiego gasped. “When did you plant a seed...?”

“From the moment we began speaking. Goodbye.”

With a sound like bursting silk, Fiego’s body was consumed by the flower, its essence banished back to the Spirit Realm. In a single blow, a Legendary spirit, one of the strongest beings in existence, had been defeated and banished. An oppressive silence descended. Even the Transcendent mages could do nothing.

One of them moaned, helpless, “Ah...”

“Be quiet,” Floris whispered.

And just like that, a flower bloomed from the mage's body. Horror filled his eyes.

“Wait, no...!”

Before he could finish, his body was drained dry, mummified, as a pink blossom burst from him and took root in the ground. Another mighty warrior had collapsed, dead without a fight.

“Please, let’s maintain some decorum while I’m enjoying the Mortal Realm,” Floris murmured, closing her eyes in gentle contentment.

No one dared to oppose her. Only the Mercenary King acted. He darted forward, slashing at Floris with a swift and desperate strike.

“Oh?” Floris’s eyes flicked open. “Brave, aren’t you?”

She caught the blade with her fingers, and flowers began to bloom along the metal. The Mercenary King recoiled in horror, dropping his sword and leaping away.

“A wise choice. Had you held on, your body would have become flower food too,” Floris said.

“Everyone, run!” the Mercenary King shouted, his voice ragged.

This demon had the strength of a Hero. They had no hope of facing her head-on. At least one person had to survive and warn the world. The Mercenary King was ready to sacrifice himself to buy time. Floris saw through him immediately.

“How noble,” she remarked, snapping her fingers lightly.

“Aaaah!”

“Please, save me!”

Flowers began to bloom from the bodies of those who tried to flee, claiming them as fertilizer for her garden. The Mercenary King attacked with everything he had, only for Floris to gently tap his forehead. His body flew across the field, smashing into the earth. He coughed up blood, terror in his eyes.

She’s just as strong as Ignisia, the

Mercenary King thought.

Floris smiled serenely. “Just stay right there and watch as the people you tried to protect all die, one by one.”

“Aaaah!”

“No! Stop!”

Dozens more flowers bloomed, claiming the lives of Transcendent warriors outside the sanctuary.

“Next will be you,” Floris announced, turning her gaze on Kain and the Archbishop’s group. Flowers began to blossom among the mages, draining their lives before they could even scream.

Kain let out a hollow laugh, his sword trembling. “So this is how I die? What a pointless end.”

However, he wasn’t finished yet. Even if it was meaningless, he would fight to the last breath. Gripping his sword, he steeled himself. Floris smiled, preparing to bloom another flower.

Just then, she paused, looking past her would-be victims. Raising a hand, she summoned petals to shield herself. An immense impact struck the barrier, cracks spreading across the flower-shield. Floris staggered back a step, frowning. With a flick of her wrist, she fired a volley of petals like arrows, strong enough to pierce mountains.

A roar echoed as the attack was shattered, flower petals scattering in all directions.

“Well, that’s a first. Someone managed to block and even counter my attack,” she murmured in surprise, her eyes narrowing. “It’s a barbarian...?”

Kain’s eyes widened in shock. “K-Ketal!”

There he was, Ketal, having returned at last, swinging his axe.

“You’re stronger than you look,” Ketal said with a grin, his face alight with anticipation, as if he’d just discovered the world’s most entertaining new toy.