Chapter 96: Demon

"Do you truly believe you can stop anything?" The voice, cold and utterly distorted, spilled from the lips of Penia, whose garments were in tatters and whose skin was exposed to the air.

At this moment, the aura Penia exuded was entirely different from before. Though it was merely a change in her pupils and a shift in her tone, the impression she gave was fundamentally altered.

"..." Wang Yu narrowed his eyes, watching the abruptly transformed Penia with vigilance, his mind racing with unspoken thoughts.

"You are too late to stop it. Ha! Although you succeeded in disposing of that waste from the Reid family who borrowed power from us, you can no longer prevent a single thing." The words were dripping with mockery, echoing the sentiment that Wang Yu was powerless, just as Penia had insisted.

"I retract my previous words. Not a demon—a devil," Wang Yu muttered to himself. This style was not that of a demon; it was the work of a devil.

Those brutish, mindless demons possessed no ability to foresee the future. The Reid family’s borrowing of demonic power was merely an act of self-destruction. Thus, this entity with slit pupils possessing Penia must be a devil.

Facing the confident and inexplicably arrogant devil-possessed Penia, Wang Yu appeared tense and cautious. This only bolstered the entity's confidence, leading it to step closer, while Wang Yu responded by carefully retreating.

This further inflated the devil’s arrogance. A slight curl of the lips, a trace of mocking disdain, was enough to incite the fury of most men—though not Wang Yu, who merely kept his face grim, maintaining his distance.

"Devils." In the records of the Night’s Edge, such beings were considered terrifying existences. They toyed with human hearts and manipulated the threads of fate, influencing the world according to their whims. Countless historical events were tainted by their presence.

From a wife suddenly stabbing her husband to a king abruptly severing the head of his own heir on the day of succession...

The shadow of a devil could always be found in such events. These beings, hailing from Hell rather than the Void, were like natural-born pranksters, driven by their own whims to commit unpredictable acts.

They hid within the world like its own shadow. It was difficult to detect them, but when one opened the annals of history, one would discover with horror that these creatures permeated the entire history of the continent, seemingly influencing the progress of every intelligent race in subtle, imperceptible ways.

Their greatest power was not their own strength, but their ability to "lend" power and manipulate hearts. By signing a contract with a devil, one could obtain power from some unknown source, but generally, they would pay a terrible price for this seemingly effortless gift.

This price often stemmed from the devil’s ability to manipulate the mind and soul. Unknowingly, those who gained power would drift toward the path the devil desired to see, eventually leading to their own destruction and ruin.

In Wang Yu’s eyes, these elusive, unpredictable beings were far more troublesome and difficult to deal with than demons, who were predictable in their love for destruction and slaughter.

They were too hard to grasp, their motives too difficult to discern. A devil, acting without restraint, could cause destruction far beyond imagination.

The records of the Night’s Edge regarding them were actually quite limited, pieced together from the minute details glimpsed in a multitude of events.

Therefore, events involving devils usually required the presence of someone at Father Fang’s level; even Garcia and Zig would struggle. Wang Yu, a lowly grunt of the Night’s Edge, had not expected to face a devil at this moment. His vigilance and wariness were entirely understandable.

But was he retreating merely out of fear? How could that be?

Maintaining a distance of about five meters from the possessed Penia, Wang Yu kept watch. Although his Ripple was suppressed to a range of three meters due to the Void-sealing effect, that was the range of a sphere. By changing its shape and reducing its cross-sectional area, he could extend the reach...

The Ripple was repelled the moment it touched Penia’s flesh, but it was enough. Information gathered in fragments coalesced in Wang Yu’s mind. While he appeared to be retreating out of caution, he was actually thinking deeply.

"No such powerful strength as a demon. Muscle density unchanged, bone strength unchanged, mana reserves unchanged, no Void energy generated from thin air. The walking posture is professional, highly conducive to sudden bursts of force..." Wang Yu, eyes narrowed, synthesized the information, and a conclusion gradually emerged.

He smiled inwardly. He had thought the hardware had been upgraded, but it was merely a software change. It made sense; without the Void, what could a devil possess? Create matter from nothing? Don't make me laugh. His vigilance remained, but the omen of slaughter had begun to brew.

"What is it? So afraid of me? Do you know who I am? That’s normal, being a member of the Night’s Edge. But at your level, even the lowest of the low..." The devil-possessed Penia pressed forward, the disdain in its tone growing more pronounced.

"Bang!" The answer was a stone Wang Yu hurled with sudden, fierce intensity.

"Hm?!" The devil let out a startled cry, its neck twisting in an unnatural arc to avoid the sudden attack. Yet, the stone was too fast, leaving a bright red gash across Penia’s fair cheek.

It wiped the blood from its face and licked it with its tongue, making Penia’s already beautiful features appear even more bewitching under the possession. Then, Wang Yu lunged, driving his fist toward its throat.

With another eerie arch of its back, Penia—whose physical constitution was far inferior to Wang Yu’s—successfully dodged the attack. "Useless..." the devil mocked while evading.

"Is that so?" His strike failing, Wang Yu lowered his stance for a sweep, but the devil, seemingly anticipating the move, leaped into the air to avoid it.

"I have more combat experience than you have words in your vocabulary, you pathetic, short-lived human." The devil’s taunts continued.

Indeed, the combat skills the devil displayed completely crushed Wang Yu. They were not even in the same dimension. Every exquisite technique, every perfect prediction and sense of timing—in a fair duel, it would have killed Wang Yu within five moves.

"The experience and abilities of an Ancient? A pity. This is not a fair game..." Wang Yu whispered to himself. Facing the devil, which was slightly airborne and about to land to leverage its next move, Wang Yu revealed a cruel smile.

Without the reserves of Void energy, Wang Yu could not activate the Blood-Burning Drive, but having pushed his physical strength to the limit, his constitution was already ridiculously strong. Infusing his Dou Qi and driving the Bloody Gale to its peak, he unleashed a sudden burst of speed, pulling himself toward the devil as if sliding across the ground.

The next moment, his right foot stomped the earth, shattering the scattered bricks, and his body shot upward. He raised his knee and pressed both hands onto Penia’s head, bearing down without mercy.

"Crack!" The sound of bones shattering was chillingly crisp. Wang Yu’s knee strike was so powerful it pulverized Penia’s entire jaw, sending teeth and blood spraying from the point of impact.

But the worst was yet to come. What is the correct way to deal with an enemy more agile and skilled than you? It is not to engage in turn-based combat, trading blows while they dodge with technique, like a performance where neither side is harmed.

The correct way is what Wang Yu was doing now: denying the opponent any chance to escape his range, using absolute strength and agility to suppress them until they died.

The sheer force of Wang Yu’s violent knee strike did not send the devil flying, because Wang Yu used Penia’s hair as an anchor to lock it firmly within his reach.

With his left hand pinning her, his right hand rained down punch after punch upon the possessed Penia. What if it was a devil? The Void was sealed here, meaning that aside from Penia’s physical body, the devil had nothing to rely on.

No matter how good its technique, once Wang Yu found a single opening, the outcome was inevitable: suppression until death.

Penia’s body, controlled by the devil, seemed no longer subject to the brain’s commands—which was why Wang Yu’s drugs had ceased to be effective. Even with her brain violently impacted by the knee strike, Penia did not lose the ability to resist.

The devil attempted to use a subtle technique to dislocate Wang Yu’s wrist, but before it could execute it, Wang Yu grabbed the hair he was holding and slammed Penia’s body into the ground. The disparity in strength was simply too great.

Giving the devil not a single chance, Wang Yu knelt on Penia’s abdomen and unleashed a storm of punches, striking her face, neck, and chest without mercy.

Only when Penia’s beauty was reduced to a bloody pulp and the breath of life had completely vanished did Wang Yu stop his blood-soaked fists, panting slightly to recover from the exhaustion of his frantic outburst.

Then, Wang Yu closed his eyes and entered his mental space without hesitation. If his guess was correct, how could a devil, known for its cunning, fight him head-on? Playing dead to answer his questions was the most likely scenario.

Connecting this to the various deeds of devils in the records, a simple possibility emerged: the devil wanted Wang Yu to kill it, and as for the purpose...

"Hello there, human. I didn't expect your mental space to be quite so unique. But it will soon be mine." An elegant, languid voice drifted over. Wang Yu looked at the devil standing where the endless lake of his mental space should have been.

Dressed in a suit, wearing a top hat, and holding a cane with golden ornaments, the male figure with red skin and an obscured face stood upon a floor of stone tiles engraved with runes Wang Yu did not recognize, which had emerged from beneath the dried-up lake.

To be honest, this was only the second time Wang Yu had seen what lay beneath his lake. Could this thing really be his mental space?

Nonsense. He wouldn't put things he couldn't understand in his own mental space. So what was this place, and why could he use it? He had no idea.

He looked up at the sky, which should have been an endless, brilliant projection of the Void. Now, due to the Reality Stability Anchor’s suppression, it had turned pitch black. It felt more like the universe he had seen on Earth—no stars, just dead, silent darkness.

The devil, having shed the arrogance and chatter it displayed while possessing Penia, simply watched the wide-eyed Wang Yu, going about its business. Crimson flames began to burn from the center of the male figure, spreading outward. Hellfire. Wang Yu recognized these flames.

Wherever the fire passed, the ground cracked and shattered, transforming from stone tiles into the scarlet, scorching scorched earth of Hell, and the sky shifted from dead black to blood-red.

Wang Yu observed the changes in this realm and realized for the first time that he had lost control of this space. Where the fire passed, it no longer belonged to him, but to the devil.

His eyes widened in astonishment. He finally understood the terror of a devil. A space that even Void Evil Gods could not infect had been seized from his control by a devil.

This was truly shocking. No wonder the Night’s Edge repeatedly emphasized the horror of devils. They were the natural enemies of every intelligent being.

The devil looked at the seemingly dazed Wang Yu with a smile. This mental space was indeed special, seemingly possessing a protective power, but to a high-ranking devil like itself, it was far too weak.

It had intended to use the contract with the Reid family to gain some benefits during the war between the two countries, but it had not expected that the strongest Fate-Seer of the Reid family, whom it had possessed, would be restricted by a mortal weapon—the Reality Stability Anchor—and killed by this brat.

Still, obtaining such a unique mental space was not bad. It would take this brat’s body next. Although it couldn't use it to foresee the future, those prisoners of fate in the Reid family would likely take some convincing to accept its status.

However, a powerful body had its perks; at least it wouldn't die as ridiculously as Penia had once the Void was sealed.

"Little brat, any last words before you are erased?" Seven wore a smile. It loved to savor the final words of those whose minds it was about to occupy.

Now, watching the mental space slowly being completely consumed by Hellfire, it knew it was time to enjoy itself.

"Hmm... that 'Corruption' in the Sorenson Mountains—was that your doing?"

Seven paused. It hadn't expected Wang Yu to ask that question, but it was quite amusing.

"Let me think. Ah, that was probably San Nong’s work. He always looked down on those Druids who called themselves guardians of nature and wanted to give them something different. What did he say? 'Isn't corruption also a part of nature?' Hahaha."

"So it was... I felt it was a devil’s handiwork when I heard Holo talk about it... Sigh." Wang Yu shook his head, sighed, and began to walk forward.

"Nothing else to say? Hmm?!" Seven watched Wang Yu with a smile. It was rare to find someone with nothing to say before being erased. It remembered that most people would either scream, beg, or weep; they were all the same, and it was bored. Wang Yu was quite fresh; interesting.

But it didn't stay interested for long. Wang Yu was walking toward it, ignoring the mental space it had occupied, ignoring the Hellfire, ignoring everything, just walking straight toward it.

"Sigh, why is the world always plagued by disgusting maggots like you? Mind Flayers, devils—all of you are lunatics, always looking for trouble and stirring up chaos. Forget it. There’s no need to talk to things like this; just killing them is the right thing to do."

"You?! Your mental space is burning! How are you unaffected!" The scene before it transcended the understanding of the devil’s ancient and long life. The mental space had been occupied, yet he was completely unaffected. What on earth was this guy?

"I do not know." A simple reply, devoid of any deceit, Wang Yu surged from the flames, his fist driving toward the devil's skull.