[Two Seconds Left.]
With only two seconds of invulnerability remaining, Alex refused to let this opportunity slip away.
Every muscle in his body was coiled tight.
Every sense heightened to an almost painful degree.
The air itself felt thick with the oppressive weight of the Hatred Demon's presence.
A suffocating miasma of malice clawed at his skin like a physical force.
The demon was trapped within his [Blood Domain].
Its usual advantage of speed and evasion nullified by the claustrophobic confines of the crimson mist.
It knew, just as Alex did, that running was no longer an option.
If it tried to flee now, he would hunt it down before it could even reach the edges of the domain.
Which ant only one thing: this battle had to end now.
Two seconds.
That was all he had to either kill the demon or deal enough damage to shatter another of its heart-lives.
And Alex already knew exactly how he would do it.
His fingers curled around the remaining [Universal Orbs].
The smooth, glass-like surfaces humd with barely contained power.
A fierce grin spread across his face.
One that held no joy, no triumph, only the cold, razor-edged focus of a predator monts away from the kill.
"YOU CANNOT REMAIN INVINCIBLE FOREVER, CHILD."
The demon's voice was no longer speech, it was a guttural, primordial roar.
Warped beyond comprehension by the sheer hatred consuming its form.
The na Hatred Demon hadn't been given lightly.
Every syllable dripped with venom.
Every word laced with the promise of agony.
Its voice alone was a weapon.
A psychic assault that threatened to unravel sanity itself.
But Alex didn't flinch.
Slash! Slash! Slash!
One strike. Two. Three.
Then, in less than half a second, the attacks multiplied.
Dozens, hundreds of slashes erupted from its four monstrous arms.
Moving faster than the eye could follow.
The air itself scread under the assault.
Each claw tore through space with enough force to rend flesh from bone.
Shadows twisted and warped around the demon's limbs.
The very fabric of reality strained under the sheer speed of its onslaught.
Yet Alex stood untouched.
No matter how many tis the demon struck, the [Orb of Purity]'s protection held firm.
Unlike barriers that shattered under damage, this one was bound by ti.
And ti had not yet run out.
The Hatred Demon howled.
Its roars devolved into an incoherent storm of fury.
Its attacks grew even more frenzied.
Its movents erratic, like a beast realizing it was cornered.
Alex didn't bother trying to decipher its words, there was no point.
Instead, he focused on the first orb in his grasp.
[You have selected the "Orb of the Mountain."]
With a flick of his wrist, he sent the orb hurtling toward the ground.
The mont it made contact—
Crack!
The earth split, and a jagged fissure tore through the [Blood Domain], cleaving the battlefield in two as the ground beneath them yawned open, revealing a bottomless abyss below.
The sound was deafening.
A thunderous roar of collapsing earth, like the very bones of the world breaking apart.
From the depths, inky black tendrils lashed upward.
Writhing like serpents as they sought to drag the demon down.
An abyss of darkness that pulsed with an ancient, hungry energy, wanting to consu whatever the master had targeted.
The edges of the rift glowed with an eerie crimson light.
The sa hue as the blood mist that filled the domain.
[One second left.]
"CANTBEATIAMBETTERTHEHATREDWILLWIN—"
The demon's defiance was absolute.
It moved with terrifying precision, and its form flickered between spaces, evading the grasping tendrils with unnatural speed.
Its body seed to phase in and out of existence.
Leaving afterimages in its wake.
When the black tendrils did manage to snag a limb, the demon simply cut them apart.
Its claws sliced through the [Forbidden Skill] as easily as it had handled the [Orb of Divinity]'s divine blade before.
'Not enough,' Alex's eyes burned with determination, 'But this will be.'
[0.5 seconds left.]
Ti was no longer asured in seconds at this point.
The ti between victory and annihilation was now so thin that they couldn't do that anymore.
"ICANSENSEYOURWEAKNESSYOUCANTHITGIVEUPCHILD—"
The demon's attacks intensified.
Its claws a blur of death.
Alex could feel it.
The instant his invulnerability faded, those strikes would tear him apart.
There was only one way to survive: he had to restrain the demon.
And to do that… A wild, almost manic grin stretched across Alex's face.
'I'll just have to zap him.'
Ding!
[You have selected the "Orb of Thunder."]
But this was a gamble for the simple reason that the [Blood Domain] was an empty void with no structures, terrain, or anyone for the thunderbolt to ricochet off.
If he missed, even by a fraction, the lightning would dissipate harmlessly into the abyss.
And given the demon's speed?
Alex estimated his odds of survival at a generous 0.01%.
Yes, this was his "brilliant" plan, the one that he believed was his only chance to survive this and get out of this battle alive.
The only one he could conjure under this crushing pressure.
Yet even with those abysmal chances, even knowing that his chances of victory with almost non-existent... he still wouldn't give up.
[0.1 seconds left.]
"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIEDIE—"
The Hatred Demon's voice was a ceaseless, dented chant.
Hundreds of slashes had already been unleashed.
Each one a death sentence waiting to land the mont his protection vanished.
"I SENSE YOUR END. YOUR PROTECTION IS GONE!"
The demon knew, it sensed it, and in just a fraction of a second afterward, it surged forward.
All four claws aid straight for Alex's heart.
It had tid it perfectly.
By the ti those talons reached him, his invulnerability would be gone.
And it intended to kill him in the most brutal way possible.
But Alex wasn't done fighting.
The [Orb of Thunder] was ready.
All he needed was a single thought to unleash its power.
Yet precision was everything, and as the demon closed in—
[Your invulnerability has been removed.]
—Alex was now defenseless.
One wrong move, one misjudgnt, and it would all be over.
But…
"CO FORTH, BLOOD CHAINS!"
His arm snapped back, aura flaring as he gathered every ounce of power left in his body.
The mist around them surged, responding to his will, and twisting into thick, barbed chains that shot forward like vipers.
"DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE—"
The demon's frenzy reached its peak.
Its claws inches from Alex's face.
Then—
Fwish! Fwish! Fwish!
Dozens of crimson chains erupted from the mist.
Coiling around the demon's legs, its torso, its arms, binding it in an instant.
The chains burned where they touched its flesh, searing black smoke rising as the demon thrashed.
"USELESS!"
But the chains shattered almost imdiately as the demon's strength was too monstrous to contain.
'Almost' wasn't the sa as completely, though.
And so for the briefest fraction of a second, so fleeting that even the demon, lost in its rage, failed to notice, its montum stuttered.
That was all Alex needed.
His fist, charged with every drop of aura he could muster, was already in motion.
The demon's claws descended, but Alex knew he couldn't dodge.
His eyes couldn't even possibly hope to track the attacks.
And so instead, he did what he thought was the best solution: he closed them.
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