Dungeon Diver: Stealing A Monster’s Power

The Citadel Wide holograms go dark, and confusion spreads through the tens of millions of lords that were forcefully pulled from their daily lives by a mandatory avatar command to watch.

"Where'd they go??"

"What happened? Did they turn off the broadcast?"

"The Demon won... that must be it..."

"No way! You saw The Ogre Conglomeration Head and High Orc Leader take out the dragon in a single attack. They couldn't have lost!"

"Yeah! Berserkers don't go down so easily either... That warrior and the human dodged the Citadel Lords' attack, and even landed an attack back..."

"But this is a Noble... he's probably just toying with them... we've all seen the public matches before..."

"True. Maybe it really is over..."

"Is he really going to kill all of the remaining Lords left in their races? Are the humans, ogres, orcs, and berserker giants done for...?

Even the Demon's servants in lower floors of the tower become confused at the darkness before them.

Not a single reading shows up in their surveillance systems or dueling room high tech monitors.

Only a small group of servants that have followed Andras since back before he was given this position as Citadel Lord understand what is going on.

"He's using that move again... I thought the family head forbid it."

"Yeah, but if you look at the ether readings before our systems went dark... it looks like this was his only choice. Those Warlords are stronger than—"

"Don't finish that sentence! There are no Lower Lifeforms stronger than a Noble Demon."

"Y-You're right. This is merely a part of Andras' plan. He must be concealing his power so he can torture them beyond what the public should see."

While these servants discuss, the consensus inside the dueling room is completely different.

Torvak and Asic still fall down from the sky, but their senses are far too honed with recently refined mental ether that has been waiting to be used to its maximum potential.

Translucent white orbs of energy expand from their minds, and cover the entirety of the dueling room.

Identical pulses of perception pulse out from Ember and Zashen who zero in on the Noble Demon from both sides.

This Demonic Domain of Darkness loses its efficacy almost instantly, as everyone in the room now appears as perfect white outlines in the vision of the 4 warlords.

Two blades of wind magic are the first attacks to come within range of the Demon while lightning and shards of blood stone rain from the sky.

Ember charges up balls of fire in his fists, but watches closely for an opening, as he knows sending attacks off from this distance and this power level is quite useless...

His thoughts become reality as the three-pronged spear in the demon's hand is spun around, making the dark crystal collide with both of the wind crescents coming his way.

They collide and explode, but no sound can be heard within the abyss, the only tell that Zashen's attacks have been blocked is the dispersing ether energy that trails behind the Demon as it points its spear at the berserker and lets out a beam of dark energy.

The Berserker's first instincts are to dodge, but it seems the demon's speed and power has increased by at least 3 times since the lights went out; the kilometer-tall berserker giant only has time to block with both of its blades crossed in front of its head.

Zashen lets out a battle cry while he is pushed back, but none of the other warlords can hear him; only see their strongest close-range fighter be sent flying back dozens of kilometers by a ruthless beam.

At the same time, the Noble Demon uses its Shadow Step skill to move around in this darkness without any limitation.

No bounce points are necessary, all it has to do is pick a place in the dueling room it desires and it is there before anyone can blink again.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

It shows this off by disappearing and reappearing in between the thousands of lighting and stone attacks coming down upon it.

The ether-infused outline of this monster blips all over the room, impossible for even the Warlords' advanced Ether senses to track within this strange Abyss.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

The lightning and earth wielders narrow and tighten their attacks inward as the demon approaches, but its teleportation speed is too fast to adjust fully, and it's only hit by a single-digit number of stray attacks before the Demon is right between the two of them.

Unlike the dragon who took the entire force of Torvak's lightning to probe a point, Andras still has the entire strength of his custom Premium-grade defenses active. The blood stone shards that collide with his weak points are eaten away by the demonic cloud that surrounds him before any of the mental attacks can make their way into his true being.

Still, both Warlords swing their soul Weapons with no fear.

Yet, it doesn't do much at all.

Asic's two-sided axe is stopped by the tip of the Demon's crystal spear, while Torvak's club is stopped by the butt end of the staff on the other end.

Shockwaves of ether erupt from their clash, and the demon is struck by hundreds of lightning bolts and stone shards, but the culmination of these wounds only cracks his armor just slightly; nowhere near as destructive as the attack Zashen pulled off at the start of their fight.

A black beam of light comes out from the spear's tip, and Asic is forced to go on the defensive, rotating his axe to block and fill it with physical ether.

He's sent flying backward, just as fast as Zashen, and once far enough, the demon rotates his spear upward. The beam of black magic tears through the lining in the ceiling as it leaves Asic's axe and comes down to hit Torvak in his other side with the same blast.

His spiked club glows hot with all of the ether he can put into it and is pushed back in the same fashion.

A visual of the Demon raising his spear, with his mouth open, shows all the Warlords that it is laughing at them for believing they could face a being with his level of power.

From below, Zashen comes at him again, and all the demon has to do is point his spear downward to aim another deadly attack his way.

The glowing red berserker spins around the black beam, only growing stronger when faced up against a superior opponent; and catches the Demon off guard again.

Two crescents of ether-infused attacks get within his close-range aura, one colliding with his chestplate and slicing through, making that familiar searing sensation return of his skin actually breaking, while the second crescent aims for his neck.

The Demon Shadow Steps away before it can be hit again, right behind the Berserker with the tip of his spear against his back, and lets out a black beam that sends the berserker flying across the abyss of darkness within this room again.

If not for the eerie silence, the roar of agony could be heard from the red-eyed swordsman as a deadly black mark is burned into its back.

Though, it doesn't burn through all the way because two more forces curve in to counter, the High Orc and Blue Ogre from above that want more.

Ember watches as the three of them collide over and over in the air, sending waves of Ether out as they clash on semi-even ground.

The Demon has the technical advantage, and clearly overpowers these 1st Class Lords; heavily damaging them every exchange they make.

Zashen gets right back into the fight with more blood-red rage flowing into his veins. The near-fatal blow only invigorates him more.

Over 3 dozen exchanges pass in the blink of an eye, and the world token on Ember's palm rises all the way up to [242].

Both Asic and Torvak get hit a few times, but Zashen takes the brunt of that black beam more than any of them.

They're all badly injured and certainly can't keep this up for much longer, but the demon is quite injured too.

The lightning and shards of stone may only be pinpricks, but getting pricked in the same place all over a thousand times tends to get one sore.

Zashen also opens up portions of the Demon's armor for more of these long-range projectile attacks to land.

Even sharp strands of mental attacks make it through the triple barrier of defenses on his mind, making the Noble Demon's ears ring.

It has incredibly fast healing, and none of the attacks it has taken are fatal at all, but the fact that it is being injured makes it mad and shameful beyond any physical injury it could ever take.

Mere 1st Class beings making a Noble Demon bleed chips away at its confidence and ego.

For the Warlords, being able to finally put their false ruler in his place after millennia of suppression means far more than any wounds they may receive during this battle. While being beaten to a pulp, they're having the times of their lives.

Plus, all is going according to Ember's plan.

Even the fact that their movements are slowing down, and the Demon is still energetic enough to face them all like the battle just began, was predicted by Ember hours ago in their meeting over holographic devices in the Volterra district.

The Demonic Dragon, unconscious at the back of the room, remains untouched. It would be an easy victory, to kill its soul-bonded pair.

However, even Andras Vermillion knows that these Warlords cannot do such a thing.

To kill even a single demon, noble or not, will incur the wrath of the 5 Great Families.

This is what is truly terrifying about the demons.

Even if by chance, a one-in-a-trillion prodigy makes their way up from the Lower Realm and bests a 1st Class Demon, they will be used as a mortar by the Family heads that watch from even higher Zones of this Realm.

This is what makes even those with the strength to do so, unable to kill a Demon.

That is, unless the one with that strength does not fear the 5 Great Families.

–

As the three warlords' attacks begin to slow, and the advantage of Andras Vermillion becomes overwhelming, Ember finally makes his move.

Zashen, Asic, and Torvak all halt once they're thrown to the back of the dueling room in separate directions, standing with their soul Weapons ready, but this time do not jump back into the fight.

The Demon floats above them all, in the center of the room, aiming its dark spear downward, now showing the outline of a mad demon laughing as its prey gives it time to heal.

There are hundreds of cracks in its armor, and hot red scars in its flesh, pricked by thousands of shards of earth, tingling with electricity. They all dissipate as thick waves of demonic energy restore its flesh and armor, while the upgraded full-guard avatar filters out all of the lingering mental and physical ether attack residue.

Andras floats before the warlords as good as new, now with newfound rage and reason for them to be erased from existence and never see the light of day to spread the word of this noble's disgrace.

However, on the 4th side of the room, the human in its astral form has not thrown a single attack since this stage of the battle began.

While this demon thinks the human must be blinded by its dark power, and hasn't jumped in because it can't see, reality is quite the opposite.

Ember begins taking steps forward and his Astral Form grows. All that can be seen are his hands growing into sharp claws and a long pointed tail emerging from his back as he activates his Hybrid Dragon Form.