The forest was no longer a forest. It was a graveyard of ash and cinder.
"Ashen Dominion."
The aftershocks of the attack were still tearing the world apart.
BOOOOOOOOM.
Markil didn't stop. He didn't pause to admire the destruction. He was a blur of white and black, a comet streaking across the scorched earth.
He looked forward, his eyes locked on the fleeing Demon King.
DEATH STARE.
Markil's eyes began to glow. Not with the playful purple of before, but with a deep, abyssal violet. His aura exploded outward, raw and untamed.
CRACK.
The ground beneath Markil's feet didn't just break; it evaporated. A 500-meter radius of bedrock pulverized instantly under the sheer force of his acceleration.
He ran.
The speed was terrible. It wasn't movement; it was a violation of space.
Ahead, Balor was sprinting, clutching his severed arm. He felt a chill crawling up his spine—a sensation he hadn't felt in eons.
He's coming, Balor thought, panic rising in his throat. This much speed... but how? He is just a human! How can he move faster than a demon lord?
Balor turned his head to look back.
"Too slow," a voice whispered right in his ear.
Balor's pupils contracted to pinpoints.
Markil was already there. In front of him. Running backward, matching Balor's speed, face-to-face.
Markil smiled. It wasn't a nice smile.
"Hi."
BAM.
Markil's fist connected with Balor's face.
It wasn't a punch. It was a kinetic bombardment.
KA-BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The impact sent a shockwave that flattened every tree, rock, and hill within a 1-kilometer radius. The air pressure dropped so sharply that the clouds above were sucked down toward the earth.
Balor was blasted downward. He hit the ground with such brutal force that the tectonic plates groaned. He was pressed into a crater, his body broken, his remaining arm twitching.
Markil hovered in the air for a second, then landed softly on the edge of the crater.
"Why aren't you using your powers?" Markil shouted, his voice echoing like thunder. "Come on! You're the King of Monsters, aren't you? Show me why I should be scared!"
Balor lay in the dirt, blood pouring from his nose and mouth. His regeneration was slow, too slow.
Rage overtook fear.
"YOU... INSOLENT... MONGREL!"
Balor screamed, his body erupting in white light. He forced himself up, his aura flaring like a dying star.
"LIGHTNING MANIPULATION!"
He threw his remaining hand toward the heavens.
Markil looked up.
"Oh?"
The sky turned black instantly. The sun was choked out by swirling, angry storm clouds.
RUMBLE.
"DIE!" Balor shrieked. "Turn to ash under the wrath of the skies!"
ZAP! CRACK! BOOM!
It wasn't just a few bolts. The entire sky fell. Millions of white lightning strikes bombarded the earth simultaneously.
Mountains in the distance shattered. The ground melted into glass. The noise was deafening, a continuous roar of destruction.
"Whoa," Markil thought, looking at the curtain of electricity falling toward him. "You must be trying to kill me for real."
Markil didn't block.
He ran.
He weaved through the chaotic storm.
Left.
Step back.
Duck.
Jump.
He moved with a consciousness that transcended reflex. He wasn't just dodging; he was predicting the path of the electrons. He danced through the annihilation without a single bolt touching his skin.
Balor watched in disbelief.
"How?! HOW CAN YOU DODGE JUDGMENT?!"
Balor gritted his teeth.
"TELEPORTATION!"
POP.
Balor vanished.
Markil stopped running. He stood amidst the falling lightning, looking everywhere at once.
Where is he? Behind? Above?
My Mana Vision is useless in this storm. The lightning is scrambling the signals.
Suddenly, a cold presence appeared directly behind his neck.
"Found you," Balor hissed.
SLASH.
Balor's sword, Warfer, summoned from thin air, cut through Markil's legs.
"ARGH!"
Markil fell. His legs were sliced clean off at the knees.
"HEART STRIKE!"
Balor didn't give him a second. He drove the serrated blade straight through Markil's back, piercing his heart and pinning him to the ground.
SQUELCH.
Blood erupted from Markil's chest.
Balor laughed. A manic, desperate laugh.
"Got you! I got you! No one survives a heart strike! My sword is cursed! It stops healing! It drains life!"
Markil lay face down in the mud. The lightning roared above them.
Then—
Markil's finger twitched.
"Healing," Markil mumbled into the dirt.
HISS.
Purple steam exploded from his wounds.
The cursed sword was pushed out of his body by regenerating flesh. The legs grew back in a blink—bone, muscle, skin, pants.
Markil placed his hands on the ground and pushed himself up.
Balor stumbled back, dropping his sword.
"No... impossible..." Balor whispered, backing away. "You were dead. I felt your heart stop!"
Balor slashed again, a desperate horizontal swing meant to take Markil's head.
SWISH.
The blade hit nothing but air.
Markil vanished.
"Where?!" Balor spun around. "Where did he go?!"
He looked left.
Right.
Up.
Then, he looked forward.
Markil was standing ten meters away.
He wasn't in a fighting stance. He was standing with his knees slightly bent, his upper body bowed forward, his arms hanging loosely toward the ground like a beast ready to pounce.
His white hair covered his face.
"Nice," Markil said. His voice was low, guttural.
He slowly stood up straight.
He lifted his head.
DEATH STARE.
Balor took a step back. He felt a weight on his chest—a crushing, suffocating pressure.
What... Balor thought. What am I getting back from him? What is this feeling?
The atmosphere shifted.
The storm clouds didn't disperse, but the lightning stopped. The wind picked up, howling through the crater. The light changed, casting everything in a dim, orange twilight.
It seemed to be evening in that world.
The wind blew Markil's white hair back, revealing his face.
His eyes were glowing. Not just the pupils. The entire eye socket burned with purple fire.
A scary, twisted smile spread across Markil's face.
"Don't you feel it?" Markil whispered.
Balor trembled. "What? No... I didn't feel anything! Stop looking at me like that!"
Markil took a step forward.
"The fear," Markil said softly. "The fear you have right now."
"It smells delicious."
Balor screamed. "STAY BACK!"
He moved to the side, trying to flank Markil.
BOOOOOOOOM.
He didn't even see Markil move.
One moment Balor was standing. The next, he was launched into the stratosphere.
Markil had kicked him. An uppercut kick that broke the sound barrier ten times over.
Balor flew upward, blood spraying from his mouth, his eyes rolling back. He punched through the storm clouds.
CRACK.
The clouds split in two, creating a massive canyon in the sky.
Balor floated in the upper atmosphere, gasping for air.
"My sword..." Balor wheezed. "I need... my sword..."
He raised his hand to summon Warfer.
SLASH. SLASH.
He felt a breeze on his shoulders.
He looked at his arms.
They were falling.
Both of his arms, severed at the shoulders, tumbled down toward the earth.
"Ah?" Balor stared blankly.
"Need a hand?" a voice asked from behind him.
Balor turned slowly in mid-air.
Markil was floating there. Standing in the sky as if it were solid ground. His purple aura flared like wings.
"But how..." Balor whispered. "How are you flying...?"
Markil gave a scary smile.
"I'm not flying," Markil said. "I'm just kicking the air really hard."
Markil pulled his fist back.
Purple lightning gathered around his knuckles. The space around his fist began to warp and crack.
"Goodnight, King of Monsters."
Markil punched.
He hit Balor squarely in the center of his chest.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The impact was visible from space.
The sky split again. A shockwave of pure force rippled outward, clearing the storm instantly. The remaining clouds evaporated. The lightning ceased.
Balor didn't scream. He didn't have lungs anymore.
His body was obliterated.
He fell from the sky, a broken ragdoll. But before he could hit the ground, the Void Effect took over.
Just like Thoos.
His skin turned grey. Then it cracked. Then it turned to dust.
By the time he reached the crater, there was nothing left of Balor but a handful of sparkling ash drifting in the wind.
Markil hovered in the silent sky.
He looked down at the dust.
His glowing eyes faded slightly. The scary smile dropped, replaced by a solemn expression.
"You were pretty strong, Balor," Markil thought.
He clenched his fist, feeling the residual power humming in his veins.
"Sorry. But I have to get stronger."
He thought of Melian's tear-streaked face.
He thought of Elrond's broken body.
He thought of his mother back on Earth.
"I have to protect my loved ones," Markil whispered to the high altitude wind. "So don't be so pissed off."
"I'm not going to be defeated by anyone."
He lowered himself, controlling his descent, landing softly in the center of the destruction.
As his feet touched the ground, the air shimmered.
WOOSH.
The purple portal reopened.
Markil sighed in relief.
"Finally. I made it."
He walked toward the portal, then stopped.
"Wait."
He looked at his hands.
"Thoos said... 'You will have everything I have.'"
"Balor was a strong opponent. He had those eyes... Kareno."
"If I defeated him... and I absorbed Thoos's abilities..."
Markil closed his eyes. He concentrated.
He felt a new switch in his brain. A new circuit of mana connecting to his optic nerves.
"Maybe I should try his powers, right? I mean, I earned the loot."
He opened his eyes.
"Kareno."
VWOOOM.
His vision shifted.
The world turned into a grid of information. He saw the mana lingering in the air. He saw the atomic structure of the rocks. He saw the microscopic life in the soil.
His eyes glowed with a terrifying, geometric purple aura.
"Whoa..."
Markil smiled.
"This... this power is really amazing. I am able to see everything."
"Time loops... illusions... future sight..."
He blinked, and the information flooded his brain. It was overwhelming, but intoxicating.
"Maybe for eyes, it's enough," Markil muttered, rubbing his temples.
He closed his eyes again, cutting off the flow of mana. When he opened them, they were back to his normal, deep purple.
"Okay. Time to go back."
"I have a mission tomorrow."
Markil stepped into the portal, leaving the ruined world behind him.
(Chapter 26 Finished)