As their power was exhausted, the Kamar-Taj students regained their composure, as if they had entered a "sage mode," losing the greed and desire for power that had previously consumed them.
Of course, this didn't mean they had fully mastered the power enhanced by the Reality Stone. It would still take them a long period of cultivation to stabilize and harness their full potential.
This also meant they no longer needed the Reality Stone in the short term. In fact, having been lost once to the allure of power, many Kamar-Taj students had grown wary of the Reality Stone.
While the students of Kamar-Taj reflected on their actions, back in the dimensional space, Daulte had finally regained his freedom after Doom and Constantine left.
With a cracking sound, the ice and magical serpents that had bound Daulte shattered. Though Daulte's face looked pale, and his aura had significantly weakened, his expression was one of elation.
Even though Doom and Constantine's final move had caused him considerable harm and reduced his strength, this was nothing Daulte couldn't accept. Now that they were gone, no one could stop him from pursuing his long-sought freedom!
This meant that Daulte's dream of gaining his own territory in the Hell Dimension was within reach.
Without hesitation, Daulte activated the Hell Gate, intending to return to the Hell Dimension. As the Hell Gate opened before him, his eyes gleamed with excitement, and his body trembled with anticipation. He could almost see himself becoming a Hell Lord with his own domain and finally grasping true freedom.
With his mind filled with thoughts of the future, Daulte stepped into the Hell Gate, savoring the familiar aura of the Hell Dimension. But just as he took a deep breath, his expression suddenly changed...
At the same time, in the midst of his battle with Robert, Satannish's four eyes flashed with a gleam of cunning. If Daulte had been able to monitor Satannish's fight, there was no reason Satannish couldn't do the same with Daulte.
While both Daulte and Satannish seemed to be in dire straits, Satannish clearly had more tricks up his sleeve. In fact, Satannish's ultimate trump card was Daulte himself.
Originally, Satannish had planned to continue nurturing Daulte. But after sensing Daulte's series of desperate actions, Satannish had made up his mind to devour him.
A large part of this decision was because Satannish was no match for Robert, and he was desperate to find a way to turn the tables—or, at the very least, force Robert to retreat and make him hesitate to attack his domain.
Thus, Satannish secretly manipulated a portion of the power he had placed inside Daulte. Without Daulte even realizing it, a different Hell Gate opened—a gate that didn't lead to the Hell Dimension but instead opened into the massive maw on Satannish's stomach.
This explained why Daulte's expression had shifted so drastically the moment he took a breath. What he had sensed as the Hell Dimension's aura had merely been a ruse, crafted by Satannish.
"You've been watching me even during our fight?!" Daulte instinctively tried to resist, only to find that most of his strength had been drained. Shocked, he shouted in disbelief.
"Huh?" Robert, still engaged in battle with Satannish, raised an eyebrow. He hadn't noticed Satannish pulling off a special move mid-fight to swallow Daulte. No wonder Satannish's combat performance had been so lackluster earlier.
Robert wondered if, by punching a hole in Satannish's stomach, Daulte would come spilling out. The thought amused him, and he seemed eager to try it out.
"Wait! Saiyan! You said you weren't satisfied with our fight, right? Once I devour Daulte, my power will skyrocket! Then you'll have a real battle. Do you dare let me finish this?" Satannish, noticing Robert's sudden interest, quickly tried to provoke him.
"Don't fall for it! Saiyan! If he devours me, you won't stand a chance! Don't let him trick you!" From within Satannish, the nearly powerless Daulte cried out in desperation, placing all his hope in Robert.
"Oh, so that's why you kept Daulte around? You didn't want him to become a real Hell Lord, so you could use him as a power boost," Robert mused, finally understanding the situation. He then smiled and said, "Alright, I'll let you devour him. I want to see what you're capable of afterward."
For Robert, saving Daulte wasn't a consideration. He didn't adhere to the belief that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" when it came to Hell Lords. If Satannish could devour Daulte and grow stronger, Robert had no problem with it. He wasn't worried that the combined power of Satannish and Daulte would surpass his own.
"Good! I knew you were a true Saiyan!" Satannish's eyes gleamed with excitement as he praised Robert—though it was unclear whether it was genuine admiration or mockery. He then began to absorb Daulte's power.
"Saiyan, you'll regret this!" Daulte, feeling his power fade, let out one last curse before perishing, consumed by hatred and bitterness.
Hell Lords were notoriously hard to kill. Robert had faced many, but only Damian had been slain by his hand.
Daulte likely became the only Hell Lord to die without ever having his own territory, his entire life tightly controlled by Satannish.
With a loud hum, Satannish's aura underwent a dramatic transformation. The injuries inflicted by Robert were healed, his body swelled in size, and the Hell Dimension's aura around him intensified.
It was as though Robert had stepped into the Hell Dimension once again, but this was just the overwhelming power emanating from Satannish's newly enhanced form.
"Impressive. Devouring a Hell Lord gave you an even bigger boost than I expected!" Robert remarked, raising an eyebrow in appreciation.
Though the power increase wasn't as significant as a fusion, it was more than what typical devouring would yield. It reminded Robert of the time when Majin Buu absorbed Gohan.
"Too bad!" Satannish, despite Robert's compliment, opened his eyes with regret. Feeling the power surging within him, he shook his head and said, "If it weren't for your interference, I could have raised Daulte even higher. He would have helped me break through the barrier to become an even stronger Hell Lord!"
"Right! It's all because of me. So why don't you show me your anger and power?" Robert laughed, clearly unfazed, and invited Satannish to continue the battle.
With a flash, Satannish vanished from sight, his speed now several times faster than before. Even though Robert was watching him closely, he nearly lost track of Satannish's movements.
In the blink of an eye, Satannish appeared beside Robert, throwing a punch at his head. Robert, reacting just in time, blocked the punch with his elbow.
The impact forced Robert back, but his eyes shone with excitement as he charged at Satannish again.
Seeing Robert unscathed and rushing back at him, Satannish frowned. He quickly unleashed a terrifying Hell Beam, intending to show Robert the full extent of his newfound power.
When Robert saw the beam, he furrowed his brow slightly but didn't counter it with his energy wave. Instead, he threw a punch at it, planning to knock the beam away.
To Robert's surprise, before his fist even connected, the Hell Beam exploded, its energy blasting him backward.
"You think I forgot how you fight?" Satannish taunted as Robert was engulfed by the explosion's smoke and dust. Now, it was Satannish's turn to repay the humiliation he had suffered earlier.
Without hesitation, Satannish lunged into the cloud of smoke, forgetting that his earlier goal had only been to drive Robert back and make him wary of causing havoc in his domain.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Inside the smoke, Satannish and Robert clashed furiously. Their blows scattered the surrounding energy and smoke, and with each impact, Robert was pushed further back. Satannish's excitement grew with every hit.
He knew that his power and speed now far surpassed Robert's. Although he hadn't inflicted any serious wounds yet, the shift in momentum proved he could now suppress Robert. His chance for revenge seemed closer than ever.
With a thunderous blow, Satannish unleashed even more of his power, sending Robert flying. The fiery aura surrounding Robert flickered, showing signs of weakening—a clear indication that Satannish had gained the upper hand.
However, despite this turn of events, Robert didn't change his approach. He didn't even use instant transmission to evade Satannish. He simply charged at Satannish again, and the two resumed their fierce battle.
As the fight grew more intense, injuries began to accumulate on Robert's body. Satannish, reveling in the situation, felt an urge to celebrate his victory.
But what puzzled Satannish was that, despite being thoroughly beaten and covered in wounds, Robert's eyes still gleamed with excitement. His fighting spirit only grew stronger, so much so that it made Satannish feel a slight sense of unease.
"This isn't right. I haven't injured him enough! I need to find a way to severely wound him," Satannish thought, calculating his next move. "I don't know why he's not using that teleportation trick, but this is my chance. If I can defeat him, my status in the Hell Dimension will soar!"
"If I kill him, Earth will lose its protector," Satannish thought, his mind racing with ambition. "With Earth left unguarded, it will be the perfect opportunity for me to claim the Earth Dimension as well!"
"Though the Saiyan is incredibly powerful, his essence is still human, not that of a Hell Lord. If I can just severely wound him, there's a chance I could kill him!"
Boom! Satannish, growing more excited by the thought, momentarily let his guard down. Robert immediately capitalized on this lapse, landing a punch that sent Satannish flying.
However, the blow didn't cause any significant damage to Satannish. Instead, it pushed him far enough from Robert that he had time to refocus. As he steadied himself, all four of Satannish's eyes gleamed with a hypnotic light, locking onto Robert's body with a paralyzing force.
A strange energy began to ripple through the air.
Suddenly, Robert felt something was wrong. His body, which had been moving freely moments before, was now completely immobilized. He strained against the invisible force binding him, but no matter how much power he exerted, his body wouldn't budge an inch.
"What is this?" Robert's eyes narrowed in surprise. After trying a few more times to break free, he realized that none of his usual techniques worked. Only one option seemed capable of bypassing this immobilization—instant transmission.
"This looks like some kind of binding magic or ability," Robert muttered to himself as he tested the limits of the force holding him in place. He could tell that Satannish had used an ability akin to a stasis spell, and while it was powerful, Robert still had a trump card up his sleeve.
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