DEMON KING

The moment after Hector released his black star core:

'Tch, that muscle for brains finally got serious, huh? I might as well join them to finish this mess.', Lumiere thought, clicking his tongue as he watched the battle at his right side, not worrying about the two in front of him.

"Where are you looking at? I'm still alive here, you garbage with a glass."

Luce said staring furiously at Lumiere, he's in front of Lumiere now. Even though he is on a tree branch, Luce still the power to reach Lumiere.

'Is he hiding his strength all this time?! Damn it!'

He tried to move away from Luce but, Lumiere didn't have the time to react as Luce released his cores.

[6TH STAR CORE - CHRONOSTASIS]

[8TH STAR CORE - WARP]

A black and a red core simultaneously glowed and Lumiere was dragged by Luce together with Levi in the open waters.

It took a moment for Lumiere to realize where he was. He's warped into the ocean where the Grand Duke Of Leviathan is most powerful at.

Find them! Find where they are now!', Lumiere thought, while looking everywhere he can perceive at the deep blue ocean.

As Lumiere looked for someone releasing his cores zealously at that single moment, he finally saw someone.

It was Levi who released seven of his cores. He stared wide eyes at what he saw. It's not that he cannot react to it, he was just restrained by the water as he furiously struggled to break away.

'I hope my first star core ability can buy me some time.', Levi thought before concentrated again and activated his cores.

[WHITE DRAGON'S PATH - LEVIATHAN]

The path activation is a high levelled technique where you activate a number of your cores to transform in the best way your core will get you. Transforming paths are for those warriors that have a beast soul. Just like Hector and Levi.

[2ND STAR CORE - AQUA RULER]

The dragon form of Levi heightened his perception, regeneration, and control over water.

He blasted all the water he condensed using his gracia directly to Lumiere.

'He is just [Saint Rank]! How dare he attack me, a [Demi-god Rank]?!', Lumiere thought angrily.

Even though he was suppressed by the waters, Lumiere can still release his star cores and retaliate.

The power of a high stage [Saint Rank] is nothing in front of a [Demi-god Rank] but, they will still take damage if they caught by surprise.

Four blue star core of Lumiere glowed and he gritted his teeth for the impact.

[SILVER'S PATH - HOLY SILK]

The holy silk covered Lumiere to protect him from a massive blast of water that came from the white dragon's mouth.

The two forces of gracia collided with a big impact and Lumiere was floated away from the dragon form of Levi.

Levi then turned back to normal as he exhausted his gracia just to attack Lumiere with full force.

'Go kill him, Luce!', Levi thought as he watched the tattered holy silk float away from him.

Luce was out of their sight, not even the sixth ability of Levi can see him.

As he watched his holy silk be destroyed by the dragon's blast, Lumiere felt angry and confused at the same time.

'How does a [Saint Rank] injure me, the commander of the holy knights?! It's impossible, unless someone buffed him up. And I can only tell who it is.'

Suddenly Luce's voice rang out from Lumiere's mind, he was talking with him using mind transmission.

"Glad you caught up. As expected from the commander of the Paladins but, I expected more from you, really."

Luce mockingly clicking his tongue so that Lumiere can hear it.

Lumiere was baffled by it. He didn't even felt Luce anywhere as he tried to feel the presence of someone.

"You won't find me.. No, you CAN'T find me. You're in my domain from the start.", Luce made him more angry.

"What did you do? I didn't even feel you? Is it dark element? I thought you are of the wind element."

Lumiere asked him in a calm way. He wouldn't show his emotions to his enemy.

"Oh, trying to keep it calm, huh? Let's see if you can calm down with this.", Luce voice felt ominous.

Then suddenly, Lumiere was stricken by something unseen. It was sharp as it was strong enough to break to pierce the remaining barrier of Lumiere.

Lumiere gurgled water and blood repeatedly from the pain of something piercing him.

He swum up to the surface for air but, he gasped for only little because something pulled him down to the deep ocean.

Lumiere's vision turned dark, he can see nothing. It was like he is in a ball of darkness.

And only a few people can do it to him. He didn't expect that Luce can take him to the brink of his death.

Lumiere's mind was now blurred with different thoughts, mixing up a plan for him to escape while holding his breath and patching up the wounds that were inflicted on him.

"HAHAHAHA! You should see your face right now, White Minister! It's filled of fear and despair right now! I'm delighted!"

Luce's laughter filled Lumiere's mind and cannot take it anymore.

He released all his cores, four blue, four black, and two red. All glowed simultaneously as he activated all of it.

[SILVER'S PATH - SERAPHIM ~ SILVER]

All the darkness that was surrounding Lumiere washed away with a flap of his six wings.

He flew upwards to get away from the water and see where Luce truly is.

He saw Luce was also flying but, with eight black wings and a crown on his head.

Lumiere was shocked to see him with eight wings but, he was more shocked to see the Crown of Thorns, the artifact of the demons.

When demon king is crowned they will pass the Crown of Thorns to that demon king and the crown will changed its form and hue based on the specific user.

"You're the Demon King?!", Lumiere's veins were now all popping out of his head due to his anger towards Luce.

"Oh, you're more shocked than that. I thought you will be shocked by my eight wings.", Luce flew closer to Lumiere.

"The evil archangels that was banished from the heavens and was sent to hell. How can you get here with your complete body?!", Lumiere shouted angrily.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down. Weren't you the ones who did this?"

Luce shrugged his shoulders with a disappointed face.

"What do you mean?", Lumiere asked.

"You know what I mean."

Lumiere pondered and thought about what he did to Luce and was surprised to remember it.

'The Ritual? But how?!', Lumiere looked up to see Luce again but, he was not there anymore.

"Looking for someone?"

Lumiere heard it behind his ear but, he didn't have time to turn around as he was pierced by the invisible weapon again.

Lumiere flew away from Luce while he unsheath his sword and spinned back to for a backhand slash.

Luce just swiped it out with his hands. His pure black hair matched his crown, black with dark purple tips.

The wounds he received were all constantly healing due to his light element gracia, powered by his full star path. But Lumiere was not happy about it because Luce is also in his full star path form.

"Seeing that you're struggling to keep up with me, I'm willing to be the bigger man and let you slip away here. What can you say?", Luce said, moving his fingers like it was controlling something.

"What the hell are you?!"

Lumiere asked Luce, angrily. Even though he is at the peak of [Demi-god Rank], Lumiere can see that he was not a match for Luce.

There's something about Luce that changed after Lumiere and the Emperor of Regulus conspired against the eleven heroes together with Luce. They thought that it would be beneficial for them but, it turned to be something more troublesome.

"Ah, I must have heard, 'Thank you', though."

Luce got disappointed again but, he shrugged it off and let released all of his star cores.

There were three blue, four black, and two red star cores and all of them floated above Luce's head like a halo.

"I won't kill you right now as I need a messenger to send my regards to Leopold..."

Luce flew higher with his eight black wings, it took only a second for him to reach a height that he can see the capital city of Regulus Empire.

He flapped his wings to clear all the clouds that were blocking his sight, then Luce took a deep breath before shouted out loud.

"Regulus Empire! Your White Minister and your Emperor disturbed this king's dormancy! The Demon Army that you all mistakenly fought are my people! Now, taste your own medicine! The real war has begun!"

Luce's voice bursted all throughout the lands towards the capital city to make sure the emperor has heard it. He used gracia to alter his voice and blocked the sound to rang out behind him.

They were in the Leviathan Sea that Duke Levi has painstakingly defended throughout the years without any reward and even killed his son, even though Luce wanted to destroy the Regulus Empire, he doesn't want to fight the western continent of Europia because, it will be exhausting.

Luce turned his look back at Lumiere with a scared face and grabbed him using the 'Behemoth Whiskers', the invisible thread-like artifact that only Luce can control, together with Duke Levi.

The effect of Luce's sixth star core has ran out, and then they were all suddenly warped back to the forest.

There, they saw Hector, sat on the ground using his ability to suppress the eleven heroes.

"Where the heck did you go? I've been alone here for ten minutes here!", Hector asked the two in irritation.

"But, you're with the heroes, right? How can you say you've been alone?"

Levi and Luce walked towards Hector, Luce was still grabbing Lumiere that had turned back to normal.

"They are so not good at being a company, they even tried to kill me again."

Hector brushed his yellow facial hair, from his mustache down to his beard. One of the green star cores he has glowed beside him.

"They're all unconscious anyway. And what's with that one?"

Hector pointed his finger at Lumiere.

"Oh, he's my messenger. I should send Leo my regards. Do you want send yours, old man?"

Luce turned his head towards Levi.

"Nah, I'm good. I'm good as long as no one in my family gets hurt... again.", Levi looked sad when he answered. The memory of his son dying in the war was a big wound for him.

"He's a good friend and a father, you don't have to be so sad about him. He won't let you be sad if he's with you here, you know.", Hector patted Levi's left leg.

"He was a good friend. My best friend.", Luce added.

"Now then... What should we do about the elephant in the room?"

Levi asked Luce while looking at Lumiere. Levi suppressed his laughter as he saw Lumiere floating in mid air with nothing holding him.

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend. I believe in his conviction as a man and a knight.", Luce looked at Lumiere.

"Tell Leo, 'I'm coming for your head', okay. Now then, it's crunch time."

After Luce passed his message, he closed his fingers to a fist and crunched Lumiere's bones, making him faint due to the pain.

"Are you sure he will live?", Hector asked Luce while getting up.

Hector looked at Lumiere being slapped down hard on the ground with broken limbs except his head.

"Ahh, yeah. I'm pretty sure he'll live.", Luce patted both Levi and Hector on the shoulders and head towards the camp outside the forest.

Levi and Hector watched Luce walked like nothing happened. Even his wounds are now gone.

'What really happened to him?', they both thought.