46- A Devil’s Demise.

Was Jeanne really in danger? Why hadn't anyone noticed her when she was so close to home?

Ahm didn't have time to think about it.

The air, the earth, and even the plants were gradually changing into a familiar black substance, and everything's nature was being twisted.

The morning dew began to burn and then freeze the plants, the earth began to turn into liquid as if melting, only to be mixed with plants, rocks, and even bugs, and the air became poisonous only to return to normal in less than a second and then into something else repeating an unending cycle.

But Ahm didn't care because his entire focus was on a single task...

Kill Diodora Astaroth!

*Cough* *Cough*

"Is that you? I couldn't get any closer to your house than this... hehe. I'm curious what expression she'll make when I show her your dead body." Deidora didn't even consider the situation; he is a High-rank Devil, a descendant of the Noble clan Astaroth; how could he compare himself to a lowly human child?

He didn't even recognize him as a threat because even the surprise attack had no effect; after all, how could a human harm The Heir of the Astaroth? He didn't even get past his shield, let alone hurt him, and now that he has 'that,' not even that b*itch Leviathan can beat him.

"Should I keep you alive, or should I let you die? Yes, that would be preferable. I'm going to kill you in front of her eyes... no, better yet, I'm going to take her in front of you... r*p-*HOWL*"A howl was heard at Diodora's right as he was imagining what he would do to break the little saint, the vengeance they both deserved for betraying him, going out on a date looking so happy together!

He barely had time to blast the wolf that pounced on him before the beast turned into a black substance. Perplexed as to what such a weak beast was doing here, he began to look around, only to discover that black wolves surrounded him...

"What do you think you're doing, you lowly beast?" He unleashed his incredible and overwhelming demonic power, fitting the sole heir of the Astaroth clan, expecting the beast to cower before his might.

Run! I'll look after you later; do you think beasts can attack me and get away with it? Wait until I'm finished with that lowly human, and your lowly lives will come to an end... but not before I'm satisfied... I'll teach you not to mess with a Noble Devil of the highest class like me.

What is a wolf pack doing so close to a city? Why are they going after him? Who cares how some beasts act? They're stupid beats, so they'll act like one.

But, to his surprise, they didn't flee in fear, instead standing their ground with the slightly stronger wolf glaring at him, and that's when he realized someone was missing.

"You think you can get away from me? Your useless tool will not be able to stop me." A sacred Gear, of course the bug has one otherwise… how would a human dare to attack him? He can control the beats, but what good is that against the might of a Noble Devil? Nothing, child's play, the stupid Kid is only postponing the unavoidable...

He simply grabbed one of the beats and tore it apart with his bare hands to demonstrate to the wolves how useless they are, yet… nothing stopped them, they pounced on his throat only to be stopped by his barrier, and then burned shortly after by a simple spell.

But before he could follow the human, a massive shadow was cast over him...

A dragon appeared above him, charging a fire breath and firing at him, but... how could such a weak thing get past his barrier? Ha.

Its head was gone with the cast of a single spell…

"Weak! You think that a stupid lizard can hurt me?"

*Roar* *Roar*

Diodora looked around for the source of the noises, and then he saw it...

Hundreds of dragons were hovering in the sky, circling him...

*Howl*

Wolves were circling him, ready to pounce and tear him apart, or at least try.

Snakes, lions, eagles, and even rats and giant bugs surrounded the Astaroth Heir, but he knew how frail they were when standing before him...

"Hehe. It's obvious that kid numbers are useless in the face of overwhelming strength, but... how can I expect a mere human to be taught something so... basic?" He mocked the kid, expecting a reaction, but all he saw was a sea of black monsters blocking his view.

It didn't take long for the beasts to start stampeding.

But how can it be so simple to harm a high-ranking devil like himself?

A barrier appeared, halting their stampede and tossing the diving beasts that came from the sky.

It took them nearly a minute just to start cracking his half-assed creation and an entire minute to break it only for another to appear right behind that one.

"Haha. See? It's pointless, kid. I'm not trapped here with your lowly beats; your beasts are trapped here with me!" Diodora was ecstatic because the power had led him to believe that a simple snake combined with his talent was sufficient! Who is going to be able to stop him now? Grayfia, Leviathan, and, eventually, Lucifer himself, and then the entire world!

During his monologue, he failed to notice something creeping underground, and he was too late to avoid a giant centipede's mandible, but his reaction was enough to barely defend himself, causing the bug to take only his arm, only to be blasted the next moment as punishment for daring to hurt his great body! .

"Argh! You'll pay for it!" Grabbing what was left of his arm, he began to consider how to reclaim his arm as well as how to punish the perpetrator!

But then he had an epiphany: why can't I grow it back? Then, with a single spell, his arm was... restored.

"Haha. I'm just a genius! Beelzebob? Lucifer? Grafia and Leviathan will also  end in my bed! No way, Gabriel! "Hahaha " His mind was filled with excitement, pride, and euphoria, and he failed to notice the absurdity of what had just occurred...

But why would he need to pause to consider his own brilliance? How amazing his abilities are... how Ophis' favor was all he needed to shine and stand on top of the world!

And then another idea came... do something to find the rat that is hiding behind and the culprit of all of this! Not long after he found his target and started to chase after him.

Beasts after beasts were slain by him, simply unworthy of even his 'decent' level attacks no matter how big and strong they look.

He slayed countless beasts and of course some damaged his body but his invention was enough to grow his missing part...

That's how he started chasing after the rat amidst the sea of monsters not caring about the details of how everything turned this way or how twisted and illogical everything is since for him everything was as it should be... with him at the top of the food chain! Powerful beast as his feet! and his enemies running in fear!

How long did he pursue... him? A day... a week... a year... Why does he never come close? Why is he still on the trail? As the euphoria and bliss faded with the passage of time, questions began to appear in his mind...

Why is he... where it all began? What had he been up to all these years?

He had just started to notice things... How the trees looked… hundreds of beasts were packed together to form something resembling a trunk and roots, leaves that looked like insect and small animal carcasses, fruits that looked like eyeballs, and It's wood that looked like scars left by high grade burns...

The floor, which appears to be a devastated and inhabitable land overflowing with monsters as far as the eye can see, the sky, which lacks even the faintest sunlight and only filled with figures that number in the millions...

They were all staring at him with the same expression...

They were making fun of him! All of them the same grin, the same eyes filled with mockery.

He was about to punish the beasts when one of them, a simple wolf, pounced at him with a speed that couldn't be compared to what he saw, severing his left leg with a simple bite.

"Agh! You'll pay for it!" The pain was excruciating, but it didn't take long for the second beast to seize his right...

"Aagg!"

His arms... and then his body... but before the fear of dying set in...

He was still standing...

He was right back where he had started...

"No... no... what's going on?" It didn't take long for him to realize, and it wasn't even a second before the next batch began to rejoice in their feast... their living, moving, screaming, never-ending Devil-size feast...

Thousands of rats, millions of ants, or a single bite from a massive beast waiting for his body to dissolve in his stomach. Deidora spent the rest of his life waiting for the end... only to have them start all over again with the first wolf then back to the last beast…

...

Ahm was looking at how Deidora descended into madness at each passing second... how he talked alone, launched spells at the air and rejoiced in beating enemies that were never there...

To think that filling someone else's mind with the leftovers of what happened in that [Box] where his emotions were thrown together forming a unique energy after they mend and clash against each other would be so… brutal.

Ahm knows that he is far too gone, no even him can recover who 'Deidora Astaroth' was.

I will call this box [Pandora] and the energy will be simply called [Despair]...

What a great test subject…

Ahm felt someone appear behind him as he pondered what he had learned from the Devil.

"You overreacted... " A familiar voice that had taught him over the previous months...

At this point, Ahm's mind had calmed down from the initial outburst of emotions and began to consider the situation...

Jeanne was never in danger... even she could beat Deidora or at least stall him until the rest of the team arrived and if it hadn't been for his sneak attack, she wouldn't have been hit at all, and even then... she could heal herself.

Kei could sense when he appeared in her domain and attacked Jeanne, and Shishou could simply kill him even before that... she just choose not to do so because... it wasn't neccesary.

Sigh...

"Yes Shishou... I know... " He kept watching as Deidora was slowly losing his mind... he can't kill him due to political reasons but that doesn't mean he is going to leave this place alive...

*chuckle*

'People die when they are killed' for some reason the legendary phrase appeared in his mind

Scathach looked at her disciple, thinking to herself, How much is he underestimating himself?

She saw the elements change at a fundamental level, earth mixed with rocks into a single mass and things becoming [Ink] as he walked, only... for them to go back to normal as soon as he calmed down, something that would require hours of preparation and then hours of procedures to do so at such scale, yet he did it so... naturally that is beautiful from the view of someone with enough knowledge like herself.

As if logic didn't exist.

part of herself was transformed into [Ink] when she got close trying to test his limits , not enough to be threatening but she also knew that it was unconsciously... much less done with the intention to hurt her.

What would happen if he decided to use it to kill someone?

How far can he go? Having memories of Scientifics, Biologists and even philosophers that try and explain the world around them she knows how... illogical he can be... what he can do is... limitless but he himself doesn't know about it.

But maybe, that's not a bad thing.

She also understands how much a person's mentality can influence their actions, how someone who is insecure or ignorant can believe himself to be stupid or simply waste his talent causing to faill or simply get outperformed by someone worse than them, much less someone whose mind has progressed to the point of being'real'...

But she sees no reason to tell him... knowing something could be harmful, and it will be beneficial for him to discover himself as he grows stronger.

If Kei is someone who appears only once in a million... But Ahm... there could only be one...

This was the best outcome; the devil is dead except for his body and soul... and even if they could mend the pieces of his mind togheter and bring him 'back', 'Deidora Astaroth' would be gone forever.

Ahm decided to trouble his cheerful friend...

She would make extensive use of Deidora's actions against the church, and when combined with what he said about the [Queen] of the current Lucifer and the current Leviathan...

At the very least, this will give her a political advantage, and... it's not like Deidora is 'dead,' right?

I will make it up to her...