Modern World Warlock

As the forest preserve next to Highpoint Town was riddled with hellfire and a rain of weapons, Dante and Astaroth rushed through the area, leaving a wake of pure destruction behind them.

Astaroth, managing to catch one of the weapons that tried to skewer him, wielded it to deflect the rest of the blades, axes, and spears that were shot at him from the skies.

Still, even after fending off a barrage of strikes, he couldn't withstand Dante's relentless advance, who used his searing claws to tear through the archdemon's torso.

The demon gritted his teeth and swiped his claws while getting flung back, unleashing four fiery lasers that were homing on the warlock.

Dante ran around a few trees and used them as cover for the hellfire lasers, pointing down with his left finger and making another set of numerous weapons rain down on Astaroth's position.

While the archdemon focused on evading the flurry of weapons crashing around him, he stopped sensing Dante's presence for a brief second, which was enough for Dante to arrive at his opponent's blind spot.

With a grin on his face, the hellfire coating Dante's claws turned wholly black and white before unleashing a black flame vortex that caught Astaroth's back, pushing him against a small hill.

Using his black feathered wings, Dante rushed straight ahead at the crash's location, leaving a trail of black fire behind him.

However, before he could reach his opponent, he vaulted to the side to avoid a flaming lance that was aimed at his throat.

From the top of the slightly demolished hill, Astaroth used his claws to produce hellfire lances that were three to four meters long, throwing them with all of his strength at the warlock.

Whenever one of Astaroth's lances landed on the ground, it created a small explosion that made all of the trees burst into flames and implode, releasing burning splinters around them.

As some of the splinters caught Dante's cheek, a small drop of blood trailed down to his lips, making his eyes widen with excitement as he continued advancing.

When their claws met, a blaze of hellfire and black flames surrounded them, shrouding them from the view of the camera drones in the sky.

A second later, hundreds of weapons kept plummeting from the golden portal above, which avoided Dante's position while chasing Astaroth.

Their battle was taking them all over the forest, and the destruction they left in their wake caught the attention of the forest rangers located far away from them, thinking that a wildfire had broken out in the preserve.

When Astaroth landed on the ground, away from the golden portals, he looked up at the sky and saw the warlock coming down at maximum speeds with his black flaming claws prepared to strike.

However, the archdemon still had one last reserve—a spell that could only be used once every 500 years.

With confidence and determination, Astaroth locked his eyes with the incoming warlock and pointed his claws upwards as if he were waiting for the impact.

"Mordred Pact: Decimate," Astaroth uttered.

In that split second, Dante widened his eyes with a bit of shock and hesitated to continue his advance while a bright, red lightning appeared and completely prevented the drone cameras from seeing the outcome.

Lilith, who was attentively watching from Camille's tower, seemed to get a bit agitated the moment the red lightning appeared, and seeing that the cameras weren't able to focus frustrated the queen.

"What was that!?" Detective June asked, standing up from her seat.

"It looked… ominous," Alice commented, understanding the irony in her words after everything they had seen.

Camille, who noticed the succubus queen's unrest, asked if she knew what was happening.

"It's a spell that all demons can use—Mordred the Mythical Demon takes body parts in exchange for an immensely powerful attack," Lilith explained with a bit of distress.

The fact that Lilith wasn't acting as calm as before made the rest of the group at the tower feel a bit hopeless. Still, when the queen noticed the golden portals weren't disappearing, she sneered.

After the cameras finally focused, the group was shocked at the scene.

Astaroth was still standing before the warlock, although his entire left arm was missing as he gave it as an offering to Mordred. His claws extruded hellfire, but its intensity wasn't as potent as before.

Dante stood merely three meters away from his opponent, with his right arm, which used to have his claws encased in hellfire, completely severed almost at shoulder length.

However, contrary to Astaroth, Dante's wound was bleeding profusely, making him a bit dizzy as he looked down with a severe expression.

"You survived…" Astaroth said with an exhausted tone.

Dante didn't answer, but the demon knew that he was still alive, taking a few steps to approach him and finish him off.

"Hah… Hahahaha!" Dante chuckled as more blood gushed out of his wound.

"A Mordred Pact? I didn't think you had the guts…" he continued with a slightly mocking tone.

Astaroth, who noticed the golden portals weren't disappearing, ignored the warlock's taunts as he pondered how he was still holding onto his power.

"Still… You are gonna need more than one of those to kill me," Dante said.

Astaroth quickly pointed his claws at the warlock. His eyes widened with desperation while charging a powerful hellfire blast.

"Malevolent Art: Blood," Dante muttered, grinning with a wicked smile that made the archdemon freeze in fear.

Suddenly, all of the blood spilling out of his severed arm stopped flowing. Instead, it began gathering around the severed space and regenerated Dante's arm muscles in a few seconds.

Right as he regained the mobility of his right arm, it instantly turned to claws and was encased in shadows and hellfire, signaling that his first malevolent art was still active.

Astaroth was in disbelief while falling into despair. It was already difficult enough for him to fight against a monster that could use two malevolent arts at the same time. Nevertheless, Dante had three active.

It was magic so powerful that only a few selected demons with the ambition to become kings could cast. Still, the warlock who had no desire to conquer hell could use more than one.

"HOW!?" Astaroth shouted, his voice echoing in the razed forest.