Mr. Death in the Steam World

The young man lowered his head expressionlessly, staring at the arm that had pierced through his chest.

His blood flowed slowly down that arm, being drawn into the darkness on the other side of the door.

A gigantic figure slowly emerged; it was a humanoid creature over three meters tall.

Its body was covered in jet-black scales, with a pair of curved horns on either side of its head, blood-red pupils that were vertical, and wings growing from its back.

"You...you promised me..."

"You said that as long as I gather enough life force and complete the ritual, you will grant me power..."

"I have done it; I have given everything I could!"

"You promised! You promised to let me become the Lord of Demons! You promised to let me stand at the pinnacle of the extraordinary world! You promised!!!"

His voice echoed across the wasteland, hoarse and desperate.

"I see."

The demon tilted its head and slowly withdrew its arm.

A glimmer of hope ignited in the young man's eyes.

"So...you'll keep your promise, right?"

The next second, their five fingers came together.

"Click—"

Brain matter and blood splattered in all directions.

The headless corpse slumped to the ground.

The demon licked its claws and laughed mockingly.

"Those who believe promises are fools, and those who believe the promises of the devil—"

It turned its head and its gaze swept across the faces of the priests who stood frozen in place.

"He's the dumbest of the dumb."

In the deathly silence, the bishop slowly raised the staff in his hand.

"I offer this crippled body before the gods."

He chanted softly, and the gem at the top of his staff emitted a dazzling silver-white light.

"From this mortal spirit, a sacred sword was forged."

Light gathered above his head, transforming into a colossal blade of light that reached the heavens and the earth, its blade flowing with ancient sacred runes.

"With this life—"

His arm swung down suddenly.

"—In exchange, you'll be injured!"

This strike brought together all of his magic power.

Even against an opponent of equal caliber, it would be impossible to withstand a direct confrontation.

Faced with this overwhelming attack, the demon extended a single finger.

The moment the two made contact, the towering blade of light shattered from the tip of the sword like a wave crashing against a reef.

"So this is how the power has survived after those guys left."

The demon withdrew his finger and flicked it.

The bishop's body was struck head-on by an invisible giant hammer, and he flew backward, motionless.

"Your Majesty Bishop——!"

A young cultivator roared and tried to rush over, but was held back by the old cultivator beside him.

The devil's gaze swept over them, a playful smile appearing on his lips.

"You're only at the fifth rank, yet you dare to attack me."

"Humans are always like this, even more 'arrogant' than that great man."

Arthur gripped his longsword, and in his mind, the voice of another demon was screaming.

"Run! Arthur! Are you a pig?"

"Look at the horns on his head! Didn't the church teach you that?! That's a fucking demon lord!!"

Arthur knew perfectly well that no demon lord was someone that magicians like them, who weren't even high-ranking, could defeat.

"Run! Run! I can temporarily take over your body—"

"Shut up, you devil."

"I'm not going to run away. If you don't want to perish with me, then figure something out."

After a moment of silence, the demon's voice rang out weakly.

"Anyway, I'm just a clone. If I die, I die. I don't care about you anymore. You can live or die as you please."

Arthur didn't say anything more, and looked up at the demon lord.

It was looking up at the sky and sighing.

"This is so boring, it's time to end this."

Just as he was about to reach out, the bright moon, which hung in the center of the sky and whose clear light had lasted for eternity, suddenly dimmed.

The demon lord suddenly looked up at the sky.

Those blood-red eyes trembled violently in their sockets, reflecting the scene unfolding in the sky.

A pure blackness spread from the edge of the moon towards its center, as if someone had poured a bottle of ink into the void.

"It can't be her... How is she still here... Wasn't she already—"

Behind the panicked demon lord, everyone—from the guild's magicians to the church members—looked up, their faces expressionless.

They've become numb.

In just a few hours, too many unexpected things happened, and the reversals came too quickly.

If there's anything they still can't understand, it's why this demon lord, who was just moments ago so arrogant, would have such an expression.

Moen stayed at the back of the group, intending to escape the battlefield while the demon lord was distracted.

But his body was frozen in place, unable to move.

[Remaining Time: 192:12:45]

[Remaining Time: 91:01:24]

[Remaining Time: 34:46:09]

In his mind, the Death Note flipped through its pages at an unprecedented speed.

The vitality he had painstakingly harvested along the way was now converging towards the black moon in the sky.

[Remaining Time: 08:00:00]

The moon disc turned completely black.

The black moonlight pierced through the thick clouds, like thousands of ink ribbons pouring down from the center of the sky and covering the entire earth.

Then, a phantom appeared from the black moon.

It was the figure of a woman.

Her long hair cascaded over her shoulders like a waterfall woven from the deepest darkness of night.

Her face was breathtakingly beautiful, her eyes were deep and unfathomable, and her figure was tall and well-proportioned; every line of her body seemed to be the most exquisite design of the Creator.

The demon lord let out a low growl.

A thick, dark red beam of light shot out from between its claws, tearing through the air and striking the phantom directly.

The woman remained expressionless, extending her slender index finger forward to gently meet the beam of light.

The beam of light vanished the moment it touched the finger.

For a moment, there was complete silence. It seemed as if this scene had just unfolded, but this time, the situation had reversed.

The demon lord's pupils contracted sharply, it spread its wings, and retreated rapidly.

At the same time, a black spike burst out of the ground below where it had originally stood.

It rolled to the ground, and before it could even raise its head, the second spike was already ready.

In an instant, dozens of pitch-black spikes emerged from all directions, weaving together to form an airtight cage.

Their surfaces are covered with intricate silver runes, which exude an extremely ancient aura as they flow.

The demon lord stood in the center of the cage, tilting his head back, his blood-red eyes fixed on the phantom.

"Sharon!!!"

The woman looked down at it and reached out to grasp it.

A jet-black beam of light shot into the sky, engulfing the demon lord's entire body, along with the door and the woman herself, and they all disappeared into the night.

The silvery-white moonlight once again shone on the faces of the priests who stood there in a daze.

They raised their heads, looked at the ordinary moon in the sky, and knelt down one after another.

"miracle……"

I don't know who uttered those two words first, but they spread like ripples through the crowd.

"It's a miracle!"

"The oracle has been fulfilled! The oracle has truly been fulfilled!"

Deep within Arthur's mind, the demon's voice echoed with disbelief.

"How is that possible? It's only been a short time, how could He possibly appear in the mortal world?"

Not far away, the bishop struggled to sit up from the rubble.

His staff was broken, with only half remaining in his hand. Blood streamed down his forehead, staining half of his face a dark red.

Looking at the bright moon in the sky, he murmured tremblingly.

"Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

"Great, Daughter of the Black Moon."