Gargoyle Supremacy

Carn was never afraid of physical or Aether attacks. The only thing he feared was a mind attack, which he had no control over. Protecting himself, Carn calmly cast two holy spells.

"Clear mind. Purification."

His stone skin turned gold for a moment. However, it had no effect as no one had used a mind attack spell on him. Realizing the result, Carn was relieved.

*CLANK*

Just as he sighed, Arthur's sword struck Carn. However, the cursed sword shattered upon impact, and Carn's stone skin remained intact.

Arthur recoiled and threw the broken sword away. After taking two steps back, he raised the jewel scabbard. A new cursed sword manifested inside, and he unsheathed it.

He also mocked Carn, "I know of your weaknesses, Carn Yunho! You can't move while the others are staring at you! It doesn't matter how strong you are. I can create infinite magic weapons, and I will eventually crack you open!"

Carn raised an eyebrow, wondering if the holy spirits had acquired the outdated information.

Meanwhile, Anna and Jack stared at Carn. As if they had prepared beforehand, their widened eyes fixated on him, and a layer of holy barrier blocked all dust and wind that might come into contact with their eyelids.

As for the holy spirits, they already finished their grand spells. Three different magic circles rotated above Carn, and each circuit brought forth a lightning of judgment, and one hit Carn directly.

Carn stood firm. It was not like he could not move, but the lightning bolts made his Aether unstable. He snorted in disdain and concentrated on getting his Aether under control.

*CLANK*

*CLANK*

*CLANK*

Arthur burst into laughter while he swung cursed swords at Carn randomly like a newbie who had never learned swordsmanship before. The weapons kept breaking, but he also persistently made new ones.

It took five seconds for Carn to stabilize his Aether. But in the sky, another active magic circle sent another lightning bolt at him. It hit Carn and disrupted his Aether circulation once more.

Elaine cackled as if she was enjoying this, "Sorry for the late introduction, Demon Lord Pebble. Oh, should I call you "Father"?"

Carn looked up. He didn't remember having a baby or having a girlfriend to make one. The back of his mind thought of Gwen and the time when she almost kissed him, but that was irrelevant.

After pondering for a second, Carn recalled the deal he had with the other holy spirit.

"Ah, indeed. You were that cursed ring. I sold you to that stupid baby."

The baby angel smirked, "Yes. You sold her to me! It was you who's stupid, dumbass! You knew this would happen one day, but you still gave us a purified artifact. Now, I shall take her as my wife, and I'll kill you! After we extract your soul, I shall suck her breastmilk in front of you!"

"That's not very threatening coming from a toddler." Carn snickered.

"S-Silence! I-I'll keel you!" The baby angel sent another divine lightning bolt at Carn.

Taking another lightning bolt, he felt nothing. Only his Aether rippled within him, forcing him to stabilize the massive energy within him.

By the time the infant angel finished his spell, the other two had already finished recasting two magic circuits of holy lightning bolts, and they were ready to repeat the process. As for Arthur, he kept hitting Carn with a dull sword.

This seemed to be their strategy. They clearly knew that Carn could still use Aether to move, teleport, or cast strong spells to cover his weaknesses. Thus, they took turns hitting him with divine lightning, putting him at bay. As for Arthur, he served as either a distraction or the main damage dealer.

Either way, Carn already figured out their schemes. Such a tactic could easily be interrupted with just a weak spell that didn't require much control.

Spending only one silver mark, Carn sent Aether to a nearby metal postbox. The red energy flickered and transformed the metal box into a 10-meter metal rod.

A split second later, the new divine lightning bolt steered away from Carn and hit the rod instead.

"Huh?" The holy spirits flinched as they didn't expect their holy magic to miss the target so easily.

Carn finished stabilizing his Aether and vanished. He reappeared directly behind the infant angel and grabbed his tiny head. He then scoffed, "You spirits overly relied on magic. Learn some sciences and common sense."

Out of habit, Carn broke the infant's neck and twisted it 720 degrees. And out of spite, he tore the spirit's head and shoulder apart. Condensing 100,000 Aether in his left hand, which was holding the spirit's torso, he stole its holy power.

Surprisingly, 35,000 gold marks entered Carn. It was a good haul.

The torso shattered and broke into white dust, leaving behind a plastic pacifier. Carn seized it and turned it into stone, which crumbled into ash.

"Two down."

Anna gasped. Her chest heaved as blood spilled from her lips. Losing her divine sponsor, the holy energy within her convulsed, destabilizing her form. She then fell to the ground. Still, with remarkable resilience, she managed to brace herself and survive the fall to Earth.

Nearby, Jack, Elaine, and Arthur's partner froze in shock. But before they could react, Carn had already teleported, reappearing beside Arthur's illicit wife with a smirk that sent chills through the group. Carn then called Arthur out.

"Hey, kiddy detective. Watch this."

Without hesitation, Carn struck. His fist drove into the chest of the fallen angel. The impact pierced through her back with ease. As his hand emerged, it clutched a half-broken bracelet, its fragments pulsing faintly with holy energy.

The angel's eyes widened in horror, her voice trembling as she screamed, "IMPOSSIBLE! THE EARTH HAS NO AETHER! HOW COULD YOU—?!"

"Thanks to you and your little scheme, I've got a million Aether to burn. Now, go to hell."

Once again, Carn stole another angel's holy power. This time, the female angel's energy gushed into him, and 65,000 gold marks became his energy.

Carn twisted his hand, yanking the artifact from her chest. The divine energy that tethered her existence flickered and waned. With another kick, he sent her crumpling to the ground, and her celestial glow faded.

With a single squeeze, he crushed the artifact, reducing it to fine ash. The angel let out one final scream before her form disintegrated into white ash, following the same fate as the infant angel moments earlier.

Arthur, still tethered to the angel through their illicit bond, felt the backlash. He clutched his chest as if an iron grip had seized his lungs. Violent coughs racked his body, and his breaths were ragged. His cursed sword dissipated, and the jewel scabbard dropped to the ground.

Carn's mood was lifted. Just now, he simply killed two holy spirits with only 100,000 Aether. He wondered if he could achieve the Triple-Kill today. He turned to Elaine next.

However, before he could act, she reacted with lightning speed, grabbing Jack and teleporting away in an instant. The pair vanished beyond the boundaries of Carn's dungeon, escaping his wrath.

Carn clicked his tongue in frustration, glancing at his fingers as he began tallying. "Twelve plus one, minus three... Tsk. Ten left, plus however many more are waiting on the other side."

He exhaled sharply as the realization sank in. The scope of the conflict was far larger than he had anticipated. The Mother Tree's warning about avoiding premature battles with these divine beings now made perfect sense.

"This is going to be one hell of a grind," Carn grumbled while he turned his attention to the other two.

So far, 100,000 Aether was well-spent as Carn earned 100,000 gold marks for the trouble. Moreover, he got to kill two of the holy spirits.

And now, the two incarnations were in his grasp. He now had Arthur's life in his hand.

"Now, now. Kiddy loser. What should I be doing with you?" Carn splurged his Aether and walked over under their watchful eyes. He also cracked his knuckles like a delinquent.

Arthur gritted his teeth and got back on his feet even though he was still dizzy. He pulled out a pistol from the holster and pulled the trigger out of desperation.

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

Bullet heads hit Carn's forehead, face, and cheek. Carn ignored the pea shooters and strode toward Arthur like a grim reaper approaching his prey.

"DON'T COME ANY CLOSER!!"

*BANG*

*BANG*

*BANG*

Arthur kept shooting and walking backward while Carn toyed with him. After walking five steps, Arthur stumbled upon the edge of a walkway and fell on his butt. His trembling hand raised his gun and continued shooting.

*CLICK*

Eventually, Arthur was out of bullets.

Carn casually stood there and stared down at Arthur. He thought of killing him right away, but it wouldn't be entertaining. Avenging for the past trouble that he had caused, Carn toyed with him.

"Let's play a game. We'll going to play something similar to the Squ*d Game but with different rules."

"Y-YOU!"

"I'm going to turn around and start counting from one to hundred. When the count is over, I'm going to search for you. If I catch you, I'll kill you. Oh, but there's a kick…"

Carn sneered and leaned closer until his face was 10 centimeters in front of Arthur's face.

"While I'm counting, you cannot avert my eyes from me. Because as soon as you look away from me even for a split second, I'll stop counting, and I'll kill you on the spot. Got it?"

"YOU…YOU DEMON!! I SHOULD HAVE KILLED YOU BACK THEN!!"

"Even if you can go back in time, you would have died that day. Now, I'm going to start counting. Do your best to run away, detective. This Kira will do his best to kill you PAINFULLY! ONE!! TWO!!"

Arthur grabbed his scabbard and got back on his feet once more. He recalled what his angel wife had told him.

Carn's power had a strange restriction. As long as someone looked at him, he could not move.

And yet, Carn was moving fine while Arthur was looking at him?!

Something was not right. Arthur's detective instinct quickly deduced the possibilities that Carn had multiple leeways to overcome his weaknesses, such as Aether spells, holy spells, or other unknown abilities of a demon lord.

Despite that, Arthur couldn't think of a way to defeat Carn. What was his true weakness?

Or rather, was there any?

"TEN!!"

Arthur came back to his senses. He started walking backward.

"ELEVEN!!"

Just as Carn counted to eleven, he cast a holy spell and brightened everything around him. At that moment, Arthur shut his eyes.

"Caught you."

Carn teleported and appeared behind Arthur. A second later, nasty bone-crushing sounds reverberated, and all bones in Arthur's left arm were crushed into powder!

Arthur fell to his knees and held his left arm in pain. He screamed.

But Carn hadn't finished yet. He walked around Arthur and smacked his lips.

"Too bad. You've lost a life. Now, while I'm being kind, let's redo everything from the start. Same rules, got it? Here we go… ONE!! TWO!!"

Arthur could no longer think. He stared at the gargoyle and realized what he had provoked.