The southern valley was a sprawling, bubbling ocean of liquid glass and boiling magma. The heat radiating from the abyssal craters was a heavy, spiritual pressure that crushed the breath out of the mortal champions. The bruised red sky had been devoured, replaced by an absolute, suffocating pitch black that mirrored the depths of the underworld.

Malgreth, the King of Demons, stood in the center of the molten earth.

He was not an avatar forged from residual magic. He was the ancient king, the primeval nightmare that had haunted the Void Era. He stood twenty feet tall, his colossal frame forged from condensed, obsidian-like muscle that seemed to consume the atmospheric light. A jagged crown of burning black bone protruded from his thick skull, and his eyes were two swirling vortexes of hellfire. He did not need to roar to announce his dominance. The sheer gravity of his presence forced the remaining mortal soldiers to their knees.

The elites of the continent who had just executed the ancient warlords, could barely lift their heads. Their weapons felt like they weighed a thousand pounds. The air tasted of sulfur and imminent death.

"Hold the line!" Terravarous rumbled vehemently.

The giant Solaris royal wiped a streak of blood from his jaw. He forced his massive legs to straighten, pushing his internal core past its mortal limit. The earth beneath the liquid glass answered his call. Terravarous coated his massive body in thick, unbreakable diamond armor. The crystalline shell gleamed defiantly against the dark flames of the Demon King.

Terravarous charged forward like a massive, unstoppable siege engine, his heavy boots vehemently cracking the bedrock hidden beneath the magma.

"We flank him!" Ignis Solaris yelled, his voice cracking from the blistering heat.

The fiery royal raised his bare hands, compressing his internal core until the veins in his arms bulged and threatened to burst. Brilliant sparks of blue fire jumped across his knuckles, condensing into a sphere of pure, obscuring thermal energy.

Daemon Sylphyros sprinted to the opposite side, his wild nature taking over. He roared as he unleashed towering, roaring tornadoes of untamed orange flames from his curved scimitars.

The three Colosseum Champions coordinated a precise, desperate assault. They had fought together in the bloody sands of the arena for years. They knew exactly how to layer their attacks to overwhelm a superior opponent.

Terravarous leaped into the air, using his earth magic to launch his massive frame higher. He brought both of his massive diamond fists crashing down, aiming directly for Malgreth’s thick skull. Simultaneously, the dual firestorms of compressed blue and wild orange completely engulfed the Demon King’s thick, obsidian-scaled legs.

CLASH!!

The impact echoed across the entire valley like a deafening thunderclap.

Malgreth didn’t even try to dodge. He simply raised one bare, obsidian-scaled arm to catch the falling giant.

Terravarous’ unbreakable diamond fists struck Malgreth’s forearm. The sheer kinetic force of the blow would have pulverized a mountain. But the absolute density of the Demon King did not yield. Malgreth’s arm did not buckle a single inch.

CRACK!!

Terravarous’ eyes widened in sheer horror. A sickening sound vibrated through his arms. The thick, flawless diamond armor covering his fists vehemently splintered. Spider-web fractures rapidly spread up his forearms. Malgreth’s physical density was superior. The demon was harder than the deepest bedrock of the mortal world.

Malgreth grinned a terrifying, fiery smile. He looked up at the suspended giant.

"Fragile," the Demon King whispered.

Malgreth casually swung his other massive fist in a brutal, rising uppercut.

SMASH!! 𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮

The obsidian fist struck Terravarous perfectly in the center of his chest. The unbreakable diamond armor shattered into a million useless pieces, raining down like glittering snow into the magma. The shockwave rushed into the giant’s ribs. Terravarous coughed up a massive spray of blood. He was launched expeditiously through the air like a cannonball, his massive body soaring over the battlefield until he crashed into a distant volcanic ridge. He was buried instantly under tons of collapsing rubble, his heavy breathing falling silent.

Ignis and Daemon gasped, their eyes widening at the effortless destruction of their strongest physical fighter. But Malgreth was already moving. The towering god stomped his massive, burning foot into the liquid glass.

BOOM!!

The sheer shockwave erupted outward through the magma. The displacement of air instantly snuffed out the blue and orange firestorms, harshly suffocating their magic before it could even singe the demon’s skin. Malgreth did not even bother drawing a weapon. He swung his massive arm, generating a hurricane-force backhand that swept across the battlefield.

The physical air pressure alone hit Ignis and Daemon like a solid wall of iron. The two fiery royals were swatted away like annoying flies. They tumbled across the burning ash, their bones cracking audibly as they were battered into submission. They came to a halt fifty yards away, bleeding profusely and struggling to draw breath.

Malgreth stood untouched. The combined, ultimate assault of three Colosseum Champions had not even left a scratch on his obsidian flesh.

"Is this the pinnacle of the mortal era?" Malgreth mocked, his voice crawling into the marrow of their bones. "You fight with the desperation of dying insects."

A fraction of a mile away, Kairos Vedaryan struggled to push himself up from the jagged rocks. His chest heaved profusely. The pain in his previously healed ribs flared, but he forced the agony into the back of his mind. He gripped the blackened hilt of Asteria tightly, his knuckles turning white.

Kairos watched Terravarous fall. He watched Ignis and Daemon get swatted aside. The sheer, insurmountable gap in power was terrifying. Malgreth was not a Warlord relying on dark magic tricks or illusions. He was a being of pure, absolute physical devastation.

"I have to cut his core," Kairos muttered to himself, his silver eyes locking onto the center of Malgreth’s chest. "Asteria has to pierce the armor."

The Conqueror of Time triggered his timeline. The shimmering silver light in his irises flared vehemently. He blurred into a terrifying storm of dark afterimages.

He accelerated his physical body to rapid speeds. The world around him slowed to a crawl. He threaded the needle through the erupting magma geysers, his heavy boots barely touching the liquid glass as he closed the distance. He knew a frontal assault would be suicide. He needed the element of surprise.

He materialized behind Malgreth, evading the Demon King’s line of sight. Kairos poured the entirety of his remaining Primordial Law into the dull edge of Asteria, wrapping the blackened iron in a hyper-accelerated temporal field.

He swung Asteria in a brutal, two-handed strike aimed directly at the back of the Demon King’s thick, exposed neck.

SCREECH!!

The blackened silver blade hit the obsidian flesh. The impact was jarring, sending a violent shock up Kairos’s arms that threatened to dislocate his shoulders. Sparks of silver light and dark hellfire exploded across the pitch-black sky.

But the blade did not cut.

The temporal distortion wrapping Asteria ground fiercely against the ancient armor. The blade bit perhaps a fraction of a millimeter into the demon’s skin before halting completely. Malgreth’s physical strength and ancient, condensed density broke the mortal’s formation. The dull iron of the sword groaned under the immense friction.

Malgreth didn’t even bother turning around.

The Demon King simply flexed his massive back muscles.

BAM!!

A shockwave of pure, repulsive dark energy erupted from his skin. The blast hit Kairos at point-blank range. Kairos was thrown backward, the breath expelled from his lungs. He flew through the air, rolling heavily across the burning ash. He jammed the blade of Asteria into the ground, dragging it through the ground to halt his momentum.

Kairos stopped thirty yards away, panting heavily. He knelt in the ash, glaring up at the towering god.

Malgreth slowly turned around to face him. The vortexes of hellfire in the demon’s eyes swirled with dark amusement.

"You hold the broken law in your fragile veins," Malgreth rumbled, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. "You use the laws of the universe to speed up your little sword. But time cannot cut what is eternal. My flesh was forged in the void before your stars even existed."

Kairos forced himself back to his feet, his arms trembling. His internal core was running dangerously low. He had executed Azravel through sheer willpower, but willpower alone could not pierce obsidian.

"You bleed like anything else," Kairos stated fiercely, raising Asteria into a defensive guard.

"I do," Malgreth agreed, a deep, rumbling laugh escaping his chest. "But you do not possess the blade to make it happen."

Malgreth lunged.

The twenty-foot god moved with a speed that defied his massive bulk. He crossed thirty yards in a single, terrifying bound. He brought his massive, burning foot crashing down directly where Kairos stood.

Kairos accelerated his timeline, diving to the right.

CRASH!!

Malgreth’s foot obliterated the volcanic rock, carving a massive crater into the earth. Liquid magma geysered into the sky. Before Kairos could recover his footing, Malgreth swept his massive arm through the air.

The sheer atmospheric pressure generated by the swing caught Kairos mid-dodge. The wind hit him like a solid battering ram. Kairos was knocked off his feet, crashing into a boulder. He gasped profusely, his vision blurring from the concussion.

He tried to stand, but Malgreth was already there. The Demon King loomed over him, blotting out the remaining ambient light.

Malgreth reached down with one massive hand. He grabbed Kairos completely by the throat, lifting the mortal boy effortlessly into the air.

Kairos kicked his heavy boots, struggling to break the iron grip. He grabbed the demon’s thick, burning wrist with both hands, using all of his strength to try and pry the fingers open. But it was like trying to pry open a mountain. The heat of the demon’s skin seared Kairos’s callused hands, burning through his dark tunic.

"You killed my Warlords," Malgreth whispered, bringing Kairos’ face close to his own burning eyes. "You played the hero. But heroes always die in the dark."

Malgreth tightened his grip. The pressure on Kairos’ windpipe was agonizing. The boy’s vision began to darken at the edges. "Kairos!"

The scream pierced the chaotic roar of the magma. Malgreth paused, slowly turning his massive head toward the backline of the battlefield.

Standing a hundred yards away, illuminating the pitch-black sky with a brilliant beacon of gold, there was Seyana. The Crown Princess of Solaris had left the medical camp. She stood amidst the ruined rocks, her silver rapier drawn, her amber eyes burning with unwavering defiance. The divine light radiating from her skin pushed back the oppressive darkness, offering a stark, beautiful contrast to the Demon King’s hellfire.

Malgreth’s fiery eyes widened slightly. A primal, starving hunger crawled across his jagged features.

"The Dawn," Malgreth breathed harshly, his grip on Kairos loosening just a fraction.

The Demon King turned his massive body toward Seyana. He carelessly tossed Kairos aside like a broken toy. Kairos hit the dirt hard, coughing as oxygen rushed back into his burning lungs. He watched helplessly as Malgreth began to march toward the Princess.

"No," Kairos wheezed, struggling to push himself up. His legs refused to obey. His body was battered into submission.

Malgreth ignored the broken champions lying in the ash. He ignored Terravarous buried under the rubble, and Ignis and Daemon bleeding on the rocks. The Demon King had found the prize.

"I will consume your light, little angel," Malgreth roared vehemently, his voice shaking the very foundations of the southern valley. "And I will become the absolute master of this dying world!"

The King’s Might was undeniable. The vanguard had failed. The mortal champions were utterly defeated, left bleeding in the ash as the primeval nightmare marched uncontested toward the golden light of the dawn.