Chapter 46 - The Rampaging Blood Demon Art, and Another Demonic Technique
The Rampaging Blood Demon Art wasn’t originally a demonic sect martial art.
Its predecessor was the Exploding Blood Art, a technique created by the Blood Demon—one of the Three Great Demon Heads who once terrorized the martial world alongside the Heavenly Demon and the Lust Demon.
As its name “Exploding Blood” suggested, it was a straightforward technique that forcibly combined blood energy with inner qi and innate true energy to generate explosive power.
Simple, yet devastatingly destructive.
Not only did it temporarily amplify internal energy and physical strength several times over, but it also granted the user an unnatural regenerative ability while active—an utterly broken technique.
There were even legends about how during his battle with the martial alliance’s Blood Demon extermination squad, the Blood Demon had pressed his severed left arm against the stump and it reattached itself.
Of course, there were side effects.
There’s a reason why martial artists—who would normally chase after any powerful technique regardless of its origin—avoided blood energy techniques.
Forcibly injecting blood energy into one’s dantian and spinal cord gradually eroded the body’s central nervous system, eventually turning the user into a cannibalistic madman—a severe side effect.
The Blood Demon disregarded these consequences, practicing the Exploding Blood Art until he went insane, committing atrocities across the martial world that earned him his epithet.
As the Blood Demon grew increasingly savage, his infamy nearly surpassed even mine as the Heavenly Demon.
His rampage finally ended when he invaded the demonic sect’s headquarters at Hundred Thousand Demon Mountain, where he died after losing a life-or-death duel against me.
[Congratulations! You’ve cleared Event ‘No.149 - The End of the Blood-Crazed One’!]
[Reward: Secret Manual ‘Exploding Blood Art’ has been awarded!]
Staring blankly at the secret manual I received as a reward after defeating the Blood Demon, I thought to myself:
-What am I supposed to do with this? Who would learn an insane technique that drives you mad just by using it?
-…Maybe just a quick read.
Strangely enough, the Blood Demon’s technique appealed to my middle school edgelord sensibilities.
No, honestly, wasn’t there something romantic about it? A berserker who grows stronger by burning away their life force.
Thus, rationalizing to myself that “I’ll only use it in emergencies,” I secretly practiced the Exploding Blood Art while contemplating how to merge it with my Heavenly Demon techniques.
The result was the “Heavenly Demon Heart Method - Rampaging Blood Demon Art.”
A modified version of the Exploding Blood Art adapted for demonic sect practitioners.
However, given its severe side effects, I rarely used the Rampaging Blood Demon Art even during my time loops.
Especially after one incident during my life-or-death battle with the martial alliance leader—when using it caused all my meridians to twist, leading to an early death ending.
“GAAAAH!!!”
So I never expected—never in my wildest dreams—that I’d be using this Rampaging Blood Demon Art again in a fantasy world.
“What the—? Why is he suddenly—?!”
Alkemis was shocked.
She watched in horror as Theodor, who had been cornered moments ago, suddenly vomited blood before charging at the black flame chess pieces like a rabid beast.
If he had simply grown stronger, she might have understood—but Theodor was literally biting and tearing at the chess pieces with his teeth.
Scratching wildly with his nails, ripping and biting indiscriminately—no trace of humanity remained in him.
‘And he’s absorbing the black flames…!’
Just moments ago, Theodor had failed in his attempt to absorb the black flames.
But now, to Alkemis’ eyes, it appeared he was voraciously devouring the flames, using them as fuel for his increasingly savage rampage.
“Die! Just die already!”
Losing her composure, Alkemis panicked and repeatedly channeled more mana to summon black flames.
There was no time to shape them properly.
She simply conjured wave after wave of black flames to engulf Theodor.
SHWOOOSH—!
“!”
Yet Theodor easily tore through the barrier with clawed hands, charging furiously toward Alkemis.
When she saw him snatch two final black flame spears out of the air with his teeth and chew them up, Alkemis realized:
The black flames no longer affected him.
Changing tactics, she abandoned the flames and instead summoned rose vines to tightly bind his limbs.
CRACK—
For a brief moment, Theodor’s movements stopped.
Thud. Thud-thud.
Only for a very brief moment.
“Grrrr…”
RRRIP!
The vines couldn’t withstand Theodor’s brute strength and tore apart.
“That’s impossible… He broke them with pure strength?”
Alkemis gasped in shock.
As the vines snapped, Theodor’s gaze locked onto her again.
“S-stay back!”
Step. Step.
Ignoring her words, he advanced.
No—given his completely crazed eyes, it was questionable whether any rationality remained in him to understand speech.
“STAY AWAY!!!”
Screaming until her throat nearly tore, Alkemis thrust both hands toward Theodor.
The largest black flame sphere yet—far wider than a person—engulfed Theodor completely.
WHOOSH—!
Watching the flames swallow him whole, Alkemis smiled triumphantly.
“Kuhaha! Serves you right. Acting like a rabid dog, but in the end… burned to—”
“Burned to a crisp” was what she meant to say.
She couldn’t finish because of what she saw unfolding before her.
Theodor emerged from the flames.
Covered head to toe in black fire, yet walking toward her as if nothing had happened—his appearance so grotesque and intimidating it could make one believe he was an avatar descended from hellfire.
“…H-hic. Eeek…!”
Alkemis stumbled backward in terror, falling to the ground.
Even then, she desperately scrambled away, but Theodor soon stood right before her.
“Y-you monster…! What… what are you…?”
How ironic—a fallen deity calling a human a monster.
“You… you can’t touch me! I’ll never leave this girl’s body! The only way to extract my soul is to kill her!”
Theodor stopped.
“Hah… kyahat! That’s right. If I get hurt, your precious lady gets hurt too. Understand?”
“…You’re right.”
Finally, he spoke.
“Huh? You can talk—”
“Inhale—”
As he took a deep breath, the black flames covering him dissipated.
More precisely, he absorbed them through his entire body’s energy channels.
Where the flames receded stood a naked man, smoke rising from his entire body.
It wasn’t Theodor.
“Wh-what’s with that appearance now?”
“Huh?”
The Heavenly Demon ran his hands over his body, realizing his hair had grown long again.
Looking down at the hand wearing his disguise artifact ring, he found it had completely melted away.
“Tch… The disguise broke. Anyway, that’s not important now.”
The Heavenly Demon reached toward Alkemis.
“Guhk…”
As if an invisible hand had grabbed her throat, she floated into the air.
“L-let go… keh…”
“Good point. Even if I defeat you, it’s meaningless if I can’t separate you from Parmela. Thanks for helping me regain my senses.”
His strategy against Alkemis’ black flames had been simple:
1) Activate Rampaging Blood Demon Art.
2) Use absorbed black flames to replenish the demonic qi needed to sustain it.
3) Compensate for internal injuries and direct damage from the flames with the art’s regenerative abilities.
No matter how much I resisted with the Rampaging Blood Demon Art by absorbing flames, eventually my regeneration would fail and I’d be completely consumed.
A dangerous gamble with guaranteed destruction as the only outcome—a last resort.
Thus, my goal was to subdue her before that point. And I succeeded.
Fortunately, Alkemis didn’t understand the Rampaging Blood Demon Art’s risks, mistakenly believing her powers no longer affected me and losing her will to fight.
And just before attacking her, I barely regained enough rationality to deactivate it.
Now at close range, I could easily subdue her even if she tried something.
[Warning. Current meridian damage exceeds 70%. Immediate treatment through Energy Circulation or similar methods recommended.]
Of course, the losses were substantial.
‘Recovering from this with just Energy Circulation will take forever. No spirit pills or elixirs either. I wonder if this world’s potions can heal meridians.’
“Keuk… Ha. Trying to figure out how to extract me from this body? Give up.”
Even while struggling midair with her neck gripped by Empty Grasp, Alkemis taunted me.
‘I was worrying about my own condition.’
“True. You’re quite bold for someone cornered. The moment a demon possesses someone, their souls become linked. The only way for the demon to destroy the host’s soul is through prolonged, gradual absorption. Meaning—you also can’t destroy Parmela’s soul right now, and extracting your soul would save her. Correct?”
“…Hmph. You know quite a lot about us?”
‘I have an informant. Isn’t that right, Vertus?’
-Don’t act familiar.
“Anyway… how about letting go first? Planning to strangle your master to death?”
“…”
Releasing Empty Grasp, Alkemis dropped unceremoniously to the ground.
“Haha… This confirms it. Tough talk, but you can’t touch me while I’m in this body. And how exactly do you plan to extract just my soul when they’re connected?”
Annoying, but not entirely wrong.
I could kill Parmela like a true demon lord and forcibly extract the soul, but…
‘System. Is it really impossible to only absorb Alkemis’ soul from Parmela’s body?’
[Affirmative. The ‘Absorption’ command previously used to acquire Corrupted Mana cannot extract a soul anchored to a physical body.]
“…”
Absorption. Absorption.
There is one demonic art that comes to mind when thinking of absorption…
‘Using that in my current condition might be truly dangerous.’
But I don’t have many options.
‘…System. What about the Soul Devouring Grand Method?’