Elsewhere on the battlefield, a man moved among the enemies with the grace of a runway model.
His appearance, a mix of an extremely handsome face with delicate features, along with traits all inclined toward nature, such as his wood brown eyes or leaf green hair, only reinforced his image.
As he moved across the battlefield, the enemies seemed to move away on their own, though in reality they were being moved by the ground itself, while the trees opened to let him pass, at the same time blocking those who tried to attack him.
"Damn it, what is happening?!"
"It is some kind of environmental control, be careful!"
Several mid level demons noticed him and decided to attack together, trusting that the trees would not stop them, as a result, the trees that normally should not have been able to withstand even a single attack from one of them resisted all of them at once.
One of them, a Phenex, trusted in his regeneration and advanced head on, to his surprise the trees did not stop him.
A smile of success formed on his face, thinking he had won, reaching the person.
But at the moment he was most confident, he was grabbed directly by the delicate looking man, who began to absorb his vitality at high speed.
The demon from the Phenex clan, no matter how much he tried to break free, could not do so, only able to watch in horror as all his vitality was absorbed and his body aged until he finally turned into ashes with no chance of regeneration.
His companions, seeing this, knew they should not touch him, but before they could react, they were held by several tree branches, suffering the same fate as their companion even without direct contact.
Not a few witnessed this scene.
Among them, nearby, a high level demon noticed him and decided to approach immediately.
Being from the Bael clan, he did what he did best, he pointed at his position and in the next instant there was a sphere missing where he had been before, with no trace of the man who had been there a second ago.
"Success" the demon muttered with satisfaction, believing he had succeeded.
But before he could celebrate, he saw several nearby tree branches extend toward him, beginning to absorb his life force.
As a high level demon it was easy for him to break the branches, but the more he broke, the more appeared, each one absorbing a bit of his life force before being destroyed.
With no other option, the demon from the Bael clan flew upward into the sky, where he finally got rid of those branches.
These, losing their target, moved toward any nearby life, whether demons or humans, absorbing everything in their path before finally growing a new plant from that life force, whose branches eventually transformed into the man who had just been killed.
"Ufff... uff... I am alive" the man, once confident, had lost all his composure after facing death so abruptly.
He immediately lost all his courage and pride because, although he could resurrect, it was an ability he only knew he had until that moment and had never actually used.
Although this was one of the sources of his confidence, now that he had used it for the first time he understood it was not something he wanted to go through again.
"I have to leave" he said, stepping back and starting to run in the opposite direction.
"If I could kill you once, I can do it twice, I do not think you have infinite resurrection!"
But his escape was not successful.
The demon from the Bael clan in the air saw his reappearance and subsequent escape and immediately began to chase him.
But with the Bael demon having already used his most powerful attack, something he could only use once at his current level, and with the terrain itself, many times stronger than his normal strength, stopping him, even against the man fleeing desperately, the demon ended up losing.
Even so, before dying, he used magic to communicate the situation to all the other high level demons.
The man, relieved by the disappearance of his demon pursuer, soon changed his expression upon seeing several more of the same level chasing him.
Several members of the Bael clan appeared in particular, wanting to restore the honor of their clan's unique power.
With all their power, it was not difficult for most of them to catch up to him along the way and kill him.
But to the dissatisfaction of both sides, he came back to life each time.
"N-no, please, forgive me" the man begged through tears.
He no longer even tried to run, he simply knelt on the ground in a miserable state, the moment he saw another high level demon approach, he did not attack, he surrendered immediately.
"P-please, kill me, do not use that strange ability, I will not resist, I promise"
"I am not a Bael" the demon said simply with a smile "I am a Murmur"
With the Murmur clan's exclusive ability, the demon looked directly at the soul of the person before him and showed a surprised expression.
"Fascinating, your soul has slight cracks. It seems the ability you are using regenerates you from your soul, however, that damages it and is what causes you so much pain"
"I I do not know what you are talking about, just kill me" he said, still crying, "Please, I do not want to suffer anymore"
Despite his pitiful appearance the demon understood and did not mock him, the mere fact of touching one's soul is already the worst imaginable pain for any being regardless of power, the fact that it was cracking must mean constant pain that even the demon, having experience with souls, did not dare to imagine.
Even so...
"This is going to hurt a lot"
"Arghhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaahh!"
As soon as he said this, he placed his hand on the human's head, causing him to start screaming immediately while blood came out of all his orifices, even after fainting from the pain his body kept convulsing on the ground nonstop.
The Murmur are a demonic clan especially focused on souls.
Of course they are not strong enough to attack the souls of others freely, if they were, they would be much higher in the demonic hierarchy.
However, the human's soul in front of him was exposed due to his ability, making it very easy to reach, and it was already cracked, so destroying his soul was extremely easy.
As for feeling pity for the human kneeling before him, what was that compared to the possibility that he might survive and cause trouble again for his master, thanks to whom he and his current family had a perfect life?
...
Elsewhere, a woman completely dressed in black advanced with confidence, just like the previous two, although of course, she did not know that.
She was a top tier beauty, with a dominant gaze, full red lips and light blue eyes, with white ethereal hair that seemed to float around her.
However, no one could see this, since the entire area one kilometer around her was submerged in complete darkness, and only she could see within that zone.
But the reach of that darkness did not stop there, as everything around her died quickly upon being within her domain.
Spikes, chains, quicksand, explosions, the darkness around her transformed at her will, attacking relentlessly anyone and killing them just as quickly.
Several high level demons used their senses within that darkness, managing to find her, but upon approaching they discovered that her darkness was not the only dangerous thing about her.
Although her body was not that strong, she knew how to use her abilities perfectly synchronized with her combat style, as if she and the darkness were one, the kind of mastery only someone who had lived with it their entire life and trained in it could achieve.
Of the thirty high level demons under Kaito's command, five were killed by this girl, demonstrating her power.
Unfortunately for her, that was enough to attract the attention of the strongest on the other side.
And the moment Kirito learned of this, he knew who to call.
...
"Yaaaawn... is this all?" the woman said as she kept advancing without stopping for even a second, "After those five a few minutes ago, no one of their level has shown up. It seems they are not as strong as the Union imagined"
As she advanced, she repeated her usual technique.
First she waited for waves of demons to enter her territory, she could have killed them the moment they stepped in, but letting them fully enter before killing them all felt more satisfying, like building a combo in a video game.
Finally, after almost a minute, the lightless space where only she could see was completely filled.
The ground beneath everyone changed, turning into quicksand that sank their feet.
In the same way, chains spread toward all those flying, binding them to the ground and dragging them down slowly.
"Damn it, I cannot get out!"
"Someone help me!"
"What is this thing? The terrain here should not..."
Hearing their confused screams only filled her with more satisfaction before she began to act.
When everyone was on the ground, her face finally changed, showing cruelty and amusement mixed in the smile of a psychopath.
The ground, once malleable, not only stopped moving, it hardened and began to compress more and more.
Among the many things she could do with her darkness, one of them was suppressing the abilities of those inside, although it took time, it was useful when enemies entered her territory without any information or caution.
That was why, when it came to group fights, she always considered herself the best, and today was just another day proving it.
At least that was what she thought, but then, why, no matter how much she tried, did the ground no longer move?
"What is happening? Move!" she shouted, not at the ground but at her darkness, her lifelong companion that had never disobeyed her before, except in her early childhood.
Around her, the demons began to free themselves quickly and, having located her, flew around her, heading straight toward her.
Although they did not know how they had freed themselves, they did not care, they simply advanced toward the woman with killing intent.
"Kill her!"
"Quick, before she uses that technique again!"
"Stop! Stop!"
Like a horde of zombies they all moved toward her while she told them to stop.
The demons looked at each other for a second, confused that the girl truly believed telling them to stop would work, before smiling with disdain and mockery and advancing even faster.
What they did not know was that the woman was not talking to them at all, from beginning to end she had not even paid attention to them. At that moment the woman was in complete shock, unable to understand why the darkness, which had always obeyed her, no longer did.
She did not care about dying, it was something she had always been prepared for, but what she had never been prepared for was her companion betraying her like that.
But no matter how many times she tried, the darkness did not respond, it did not listen.
Surrounded by thousands of demons she herself had allowed to approach, she died without understanding what had happened until the end.
However, the moment she died, the darkness that should have disappeared did not, but this did not affect any of the demons in the area, because without the original owner of the darkness knowing, someone else had entered, someone whose authority over darkness completely surpassed hers.
Not only that, the darkness, which should have covered only one kilometer, now extended across a full third of the battlefield, blinding tens of thousands of combatants, while not affecting anyone on Kaito's side.
It was only after ten minutes that the darkness finally receded.
The artificial moon in the sky returned to Sonya's hands, who looked at the battlefield without interest, already knowing the outcome.
Although not everyone trapped in her darkness died, most did, because Sonya's darkness was several times stronger than the previous one. That meant that the abilities the previous girl had, such as terrain control, blindness and ability suppression, Sonya could also use them, and far more powerfully.
Within that darkness, those who did not die did not survive because they were strong enough, but because so many were dying at the same time that they were lucky enough to escape.
At least two thirds of the total deaths of the battle occurred in those last ten minutes thanks to Sonya's ability.
And overall, half of the human army that entered hell had already been annihilated.
However, although in a normal human war just 30 percent casualties would make one side surrender, here neither side retreated.
The humans had confidence, they trusted in the various artifacts they possessed.
Meanwhile, the demons were driven to prove that the phrase at the entrance was not a lie and to eliminate every last man of the human army.
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