Chapter 961

Everybody stared for several long seconds at what had just transpired.

How had the catastrophic battle ended in a matter of mere minutes?

For some reason, everyone standing there felt certain they would have to join the fray to eventually take the demon down.

But shockingly, the monstrosity was gone within five minutes.

Didn’t Grey say that the demon was supposedly stronger than the one he had battled back in the world of warriors?

How had it been so effortless to eliminate him?

The scene was so baffling that every person kept their gaze fixed on the demon’s shattered skull.

They waited with bated breath for the creature to twitch; even if it were only a slight movement, they wanted to see if it would somehow rise again.

But as the warrior mage shook his leg, the demon’s tainted, dark blood merely fell from his boot to the parched earth.

Taking a measured step backward, he looked at the corpse with an unsettlingly calm gaze. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Julius was still coughing in pain, his chest tightening as a sudden, sharp agony lanced through his lungs.

Kael kept blinking profusely as he shared in the collective shock of the demon’s abrupt demise.

Even Captain Amir stood in total disbelief.

He didn’t know how he was supposed to react to such a lopsided victory.

Being a powerful figure himself—well, perhaps not as formidable as Grey and the Emperor—he still fully expected that he would have to intervene, even if only once.

But he hadn’t even received the chance to launch an attack or take a single step forward.

The threat was neutralized before he could engage.

For a fleeting second, it made him feel slightly redundant.

"Well, that is a waste of hype," Raze uttered, finally tearing his gaze from the demon’s body after two minutes had passed without any signs of life.

’Grey is definitely more powerful than before,’ Dante analyzed with a steady gaze, staring intently at the warrior mage’s back.

"Ah... too bad that the demon wasn’t strong enough to draw out all your affinities. I would have loved to see them all. Cough... cough..." Julius grabbed his mouth as he coughed specks of crimson blood into his palms.

Kael looked at his old man with a worried expression, yet he didn’t move to assist him.

There was nothing he could truly do; the coughing had become a grimly normal occurrence.

"Grey?!" Lyra called out worriedly.

For some reason, the Supreme Magus hadn’t moved from his position after that initial step backward.

He just kept staring at the demon’s remains, lost in thought.

’Something isn’t right here. Yes, this was an Echelon Eight; yes, it was strong, but it died too easily.

Granted, I’m much stronger than before. I wasn’t even forced to activate my breakthrough mode.

I didn’t reveal my full arsenal of affinities, but the demon was definitely going all out,’ his eyes darted across the demon’s anatomy as several conflicting thoughts raced through his mind.

’... Why and how did the demon find me here? Could it be when I used an overwhelming amount of mana and Ki on that army? Is that what lured it out?’

His mind quickly flashed back to his first encounter with the demons on Vayun.

’Yes. That day, my elemental powers had collided with Rivock’s Ki attacks, resulting in a thunderous explosion. A minute later, a portal tore open with the demons trickling out. Is that the same thing that happened today?’

The others were worriedly discussing the situation behind him, but he couldn’t hear their voices as his mind processed several grim conclusions.

"Uh... is Grey okay?" Charlotte couldn’t help but ask the group.

"Should we maybe uhm... check up on him?" Lyra suggested, but a sharp glare from Scarlet glided her way, silencing the proposal instantly.

"No. He doesn’t need you." Her voice came out like a chilling slither.

"Sheesh. Chill, girl. No one is snatching your man," Raze mocked, a taunting smile playing on his face.

Scarlet’s face heated up in an instant, followed by flames licking her palms as she shot the boy a glare sharp enough to incinerate a human.

Raze took an involuntary step away, letting out a loud, nervous gulp.

Amir and Kael gave each other a quick glance before walking forward with cautious steps.

They moved carefully, making sure not to spook the Supreme Magus lest they get torn to shreds by his lingering battle aura.

’Is Vayun okay? Is the Dawn faction safe? If my presence had drawn the demon here—if it was truly hunting me—it must have visited the Dawn faction first, right? Yes, there are powerful figures there. Thalos is stationed there, but for some reason, I’m still worried.’

His hands balled into tight fists as a dark, dangerous glint flashed across his eyes while he stared at the demon’s lifeless husk.

"Hey, Grey? What happened?" Amir softly called out, breaking the silence.

And that was when Grey finally snapped out of his heavy train of thoughts.

He twirled around to see the Captain and Kael standing expectantly in front of him.

Tilting his head, he looked over at his friends, who were all watching him with varying degrees of worried expressions.

The Emperor, though equally concerned, looked as if he were on the very verge of collapse.

He was pale, his energy visibly waning as he grew weaker by the second.

Turning back to look at the demon one last time, Grey’s gaze glided over the torn terrain before landing on the fallen Generals, followed by the ten thousand destroyed soldiers littering the floor.

’Come to think of it,’ Viktor mused silently as his eyes landed on the headless Generals.

’... For a being to take down those three at once—within a second, no less—it’s definitely crazy strong. Which means Grey is just that much stronger. So formidable that he made the demon appear utterly weak. Damn. What a monster.’

Grey’s jaws tightened as the images of those he had left behind on Vayun flashed vividly through his mind.

’They can wait for a while longer. Nothing will happen to them. I trust Thalos to handle it all. Besides, the three descendants and the Crimson Lotus Clan are there. They—they can all work together to defend the faction if any threat comes their way.’

Thinking for a few more seconds, he heaved a heavy sigh, trying to steady his nerves.

’... Three days. Within three days, I will return there briefly to check on things and then come back here again. Yeah. Three days. The faction won’t fall within that short time frame.’