Chapter 896: Vlad Xaos - Sector Master of Hell
Vlad’s eyes narrowed as he felt the sudden eruption of power pouring from Loatan’s body. The Sector Master had crossed a threshold—devouring the Origin Force of his own domain, pushing himself into a realm of strength that few could ever touch.
But before Vlad could fully analyze the surge, Loatan was already upon him.
The True Depravita of Wrath’s eyes widened in alarm as the massive Devil’s speed nearly blurred out of sight. He barely managed to raise his sword in a defensive stance before Loatan’s colossal fist came crashing down with the weight of a world.
"What strength—!" Vlad’s voice was strained as his entire body trembled under the impact. His arms cracked audibly, bones fracturing beneath the crushing pressure. The blow blasted him across the sky like a meteor, leaving trails of dark fire and shockwaves in his wake.
It took every ounce of willpower for Vlad to stabilize his body mid-flight, but Loatan was already upon him again.
With a roar, the Sector Master clasped his massive hands together like a hammer and swung downward. Vlad tried to evade, but the speed was overwhelming.
The blow landed squarely.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
The impact sent Vlad plummeting into the heart of a massive fortress, the structure detonating in a storm of fire and debris. Towers collapsed, walls crumbled, and the anguished screams of countless Devils echoed as their bodies were crushed beneath the ruin.
Buried under the wreckage, his figure was hidden from view.
Only moments ago, he had stood on the cusp of victory. Now he lay entombed under a mountain of stone and steel, the voices of the damned howling above him.
"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"
Loatan’s laughter thundered across the battlefield. He cared nothing for the thousands of Devils slain by the collateral damage. To him, they were nothing but dust beneath his feet. All that mattered was the destruction of the one who dared challenge his throne. And to his mind, that destruction was complete.
But his triumph was short-lived.
"Jormungandr!"
The voice echoed from within the ruins, steady and commanding. Loatan’s laughter froze.
The small infernal feline that had followed Vlad’s group stirred. In a flash of psychic light, its form blurred into a beam of energy and streaked into the rubble.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOM!"
A column of lightning and flame erupted. The wreckage soared into the air, defying gravity as if torn apart by a storm.
And from within the rising debris, Vlad emerged once more.
But he was not the same.
A new eye had opened on his forehead, its glow searing like a brand of gluttony itself. His aura swelled exponentially, not only in raw power but in mastery over the Laws that bent reality.
Loatan’s eyes widened, a flicker of disbelief breaking through his arrogance.
Before he could recover, Vlad vanished, space itself distorting. A storm of warped reality took shape, and in the blink of an eye he was before the Sector Master, sword raised high.
The blade descended.
Dark flames and lightning erupted, each bolt sharpened by the sundered edge of space itself. The attack struck with such ferocity that Loatan’s massive frame was engulfed in a multicolored storm of destruction. His body reeled, cracks spreading across his flesh, burns searing his skin, bones splintering beneath the impact.
And yet, impossibly, Loatan endured.
The power of the Origin Force he had consumed pulsed through his veins, repairing his wounds even as they were inflicted. With a snarl, he hurled himself back into the fray, his eyes burning with killing intent.
The duel resumed, fiercer than before.
The sky itself seemed to fracture as sword and fist collided again and again. Flames, lightning, and space-rending force flooded the battlefield in waves that erased all lesser life unlucky enough to be near.
The Superior Legendary Devils stood still, their eyes locked on the fight, none of them making a move. Even with one of the True Depravitas lending aid, it was a fusion of two entities, so it remained a one-on-one fight, and there was no reason for them to risk their lives and interfere in something like that.
Of course, part of the reason why they did not move was resentment. Loatan had devoured the Origin Force of the Sector. Every Devil who cultivated here would now find their growth stunted, their future stolen, especially the strongest ones like the Superior Legends.
Freya, Ouroboros, Fafnir, and Overlord remained unmoving as well. Calm certainty shone in their eyes. They placed their faith in Vlad, in the inexhaustible wrath that defined him.
The battle reached its climax.
"DIE!" Loatan bellowed, every cell in his body igniting with fire and destruction. His form became a burning comet, a flaming star plummeting from the heavens, aimed to obliterate Vlad in one apocalyptic strike.
The attack sealed space itself, its oppressive force locking the fabric of reality, making teleportation impossible.
But as the blazing titan crashed toward him, Vlad disappeared.
He reappeared behind Loatan’s head, his presence like a whisper of inevitability.
The Sector Master’s eyes went wide with shock. Impossible. Teleportation had been sealed. Only a Lord, wielding Space at its highest mastery, could bypass such suppression. Yet Vlad stood behind him all the same.
The answer lay in Vlad’s Negative Teleportation—warping not through space, but through the absence of it.
Loatan never had the chance to comprehend it.
Vlad’s sword fell.
The blade sundered flesh and bone effortlessly, slicing through the monstrous helm of fused bone and horn. It carved into his neck, tearing muscles, severing the spinal cord, igniting his nervous system in black fire. His Soul Dimension shattered in an instant.
There was no scream. Only silence as the light faded from his eyes.
The titan’s massive body lurched forward, momentum carrying it like a falling mountain. It crashed into the distance, obliterating towers and plazas, burying thousands of Devils beneath its bulk.
But none paid attention to the dead.
All eyes turned upward, fixed upon the lone figure standing amidst the fractured sky, wreathed in fire, lightning, and wrath.
A new Sector Master had arisen.