Storm of Depravity
'Enemy! Enemy! Enemy!'
'Give me back my face! Give me back my face!'
'I'll kill you! I swear I'll kill you!'
'How dare you steal the face of I, the great Lord of the White Tower! I will never forgive you!'
'I'll rip you limb from limb and turn your flesh into a new chimera test subject!'
The Lord of the White Tower, Ostis, had lost all reason to rage upon finally confronting Actor, the enemy who had ripped off his face ten years ago. After a long decade, he had at last encountered the culprit in the North Continent.
To restore his stolen face skin, he had delved into human experimentation, alchemy, and even black magic, pouring years into research. But no matter what he tried, he could never regenerate it.
Using troll regeneration to heal the facial skin only led to necrosis after a short time. Transplanting skin peeled from others resulted in the same melting decay. It was as if he alone was denied the right to have a face...
Desperate, he pored over the forbidden tomes penned by Pladeus, scoured the Magus Civitas library, and hunted down every record on the demons of Hell without leaving a single page untouched.
Yet records on Dantalian were scarce. Face-collecting demon. Capricious demon. The Manbianja who shapeshifted into thousands, even tens of thousands of forms. Incarnation of Change. That was it—barely anything else.
Compared to contractors of other demons, records on Dantalian's contractors were pathetically few. The only facts he uncovered were two: Dantalian was extremely capricious, with no known contractor surviving a long pact. And every contractor had to offer their facial skin as tribute, peeled away for the demon.
With such scant data, endless experiments, and exhaustive study, Ostis could only settle on one hypothesis.
'My face is with Dantalian! That demon stole my face skin, that's why I can't restore it! I must find the bastard who took it!'
From there, using Pladeus's forbidden texts as a foundation, he began rampant human experiments and summoned lesser demons to amass black magic knowledge. The Lord of the White Tower, Ostis, gradually devolved into a madness-consumed mage lord, a name that struck terror in Magus Civitas just by mention.
Ten years later, he finally crossed paths with Actor in the North Continent.
* * *
"To face you, I discarded my humanity! Everything I had! For revenge against Dantalian—you!"
"Sorry, but I'm not Dantalian. Just his contractor."
"It doesn't matter! Whoever you are, you're the enemy who stole my face skin! I'll grant you suffering worse than death!"
Woooong!—
"Hm?"
"King of Depravity! By our oath, I summon you here! Aid me in avenging my foe!!—"
Reeeeng!—
You! You're contracted with Azazel?!
"Azazel? Azazel... Hah! Rank 10 in the hierarchy?!"
"That's right! The devil worshippers in this North Continent—their black mage faction reached out to me first, dreaming of revenge! They promised to offer sacrifices to summon him if I called!"
Master!~♪ That crystal is a soulstone! A gem sealing human souls as sacrifices for summoning Azazel!~♪
"You bastard! Don't tell me you've been doing this in the North?!"
"Kuhuhu... For my revenge, their noble sacrifice of souls was willingly given! Isn't it only natural for the chosen humans—us mages—to use them as fodder?!"
I'd indirectly experienced just how rotten mage arrogance was by wearing that bastard's face skin—and those from Magus Civitas. But I never imagined they'd be this trashy.
The North Continent overflowed with human scum, sure. But under the guise of pursuing truth and advancing magic, what these guys had done rivaled the Holy Kingdom's mass slaughters at village level during their witch hunts.
Serial killers could only rack up so many bodies. Not like a nation-sanctioned heretic hunt by the Holy Kingdom, or these "researchers" hunting humans for test subjects.
"Whew~ I gotta thank you for one thing. Realizing I'm way more human than trash like you."
"Kuhuhuhu... That your last words? Now, behold his arrival!—"
Rumble!!—
Quake!!—
!!!
Thick storm clouds gathered as purple lightning and thunder roared across the sky. The strikes grew more frequent, shifting toward the fallen on the battlefield, then crashing down on the dying—or even those still standing.
Quarrung! Rumble! Crackle-zap!
"Gaaaaah!!—"
"Kyaaaaah!!—"
"Save meee!!~~"
"God! Mercy... Gaaaaah!!—"
Crunch! Crackle! Blaze!
Purple lightning poured like bolts on lightning rods, straight into the crowns of Holy Kingdom and mage legion victims alike. Shocking transformations began in those struck.
Their bodies ignited in violet flames regardless of gender, sprouting demonic horns, bat wings—and shifting into female forms... succubus-like demons!
Even the original men underwent gender transformation into these female demons! The elite of Magus Civitas's mage legion from the Central Continent, alongside the Holy Kingdom's noble holy knights and priests, morphed into female demons clad in outrageously revealing BDSM outfits straight out of adult videos!
Crunch! Blaze!
"Kyaaaaak!!~~"
"Gaaaaak!!~~"
"What the hell is this?! Amdusias!"
Reeeng! Zweeeng!~♪
Depravity descends! This is the power of the King of Depravity, Azazel! His authority to corrupt the noble into Hell's slaves!~♪
"No way that crystal Ostis has..."
Ooooh!~♪ Yes! Master!~ That's the crystal infused with Azazel's depravity power!~♪
"Ostis! You bastard! You're turning even your own subordinates into demons?!"
"Kuhuhuhu!~ For revenge! Gladly!"
He's insane! Should've finished him back then!
Letting him escape ten years ago had caused so much suffering. My fault entirely. If I'd stayed vigilant and killed him right after peeling his face...
No decade of horrific human experiments.
"Let's end this grudge here, Ostis!"
"Kuhuhuhu! I'll reclaim my face from you!"
Reeeng! Keeeng!~♪
Rock'n'roooll!~♪ Master! The King of Depravity, Azazel, comes soon! I'll block him!~♪
"Got it. Halphas!!~~"
...Whoooosh!!~ Flutter! Flutter!
"Kyahahahaha!~ War! War against the King of Depravity! Haa~♥ Just take out that pervert, right?"
"Halphas! With Amdusias, can you beat Azazel?"
"Fufufufu~♥ Who knows? Depends on how much of his true power that pervert brings to the surface for descent."
"Halphas. That body you've refined—how much of your true power does it wield?"
"Hmm~ About 70%? Thanks to the massive war in this realm you sparked, Boss—I'm in peak condition~♥"
"Good! I'll leave the rear to you. Gotta deal with this lunatic mage."
"Yessir~♥ As you command~ Now, artsy boy. Shall we?~"
Zweeeng!~ Zweeeng!~♪
Ooo~ Yes~♪ Tragedy! Baby!~♪ But true Rock rings out from hardship!~♪ I'll heed Master's command!~♪
As Dantalian once said, Halphas's power scaled with the war's magnitude and impact. Since the Central Continent's factional strife—sparked by that incident ten years ago—had escalated into massive conflicts, she was stronger than ever. At 70% of that, even against the Rank 10 demon lord, the King of Depravity Azazel, descending in incomplete form, it was a fair fight.
So I'd handle this mad mage first, decisively.
"I took your face skin last time. Now I'll take your life!"
"Kuhuhuhu! Time for vengeance!—Contractor of Dantalian!"
* * *
Chaaeng! Shaaack!
"Shaaaaak!~"
"Kuh! Brother Abel! Please, snap out of it!"
Shaaack!
"Gaaaaah!"
"Sister! Don't give in to evil... Gaaaaah!"
The sky darkened with malevolent energy as ominous purple lightning rained down. Gloria witnessed the horror of Abel, who had shielded her exhausted form, struck and transforming into a female demon.
Not just the Holy Kingdom's crusaders—whom they'd barely subdued amid the slaughter frenzy—but mages from Magus Civitas too, once hit, turned demonic and assaulted everyone indiscriminately. The battlefield devolved into fresh chaos.
"What in the world is happening?! Oh God! Grant us salvation!"
"Shaaaaak!—"
Chaaeng! Chaaaeeng!
"Nngh! Brother Abel... Please..."
"Shaaaaak!!—"
"Fufufufu!~ What a pathetic sight. You foolish servants of God?"
!!! Boom!
"Kraaak!—"
Thud!
Halphas booted Abel—who lunged to pierce Gloria's heart—sending her flying over 10 meters to crash on the ground. Gloria stared in shock at the black-winged giant who had saved her.
"You!"
Flutter!
"Kyahahahaha!~♥ God won't save you fools. Silly humans?"
"Demon! How dare you mock our God?!"
"Puhuhuhu! Of course! Don't you idiots get it yet? Your God never cared about you to begin with."
"Shut up!—"
Rumble!
!!!
"Hm~ Looks like it's finally here? Advice for you lowly humans: If you wanna live, grab the survivors and run. Kyahahahaha!~♥"
Quarrung!
"This evil aura?!"
"Fufufufu!~ Rank 10 demon lord, the King of Depravity Azazel, is descending to this land? Way beyond you humans. Unless you wanna get caught in our fight~ Run along now~♥"
!!!
Gloria and the nearby holy knights and mages gaped at the storm's eye, where lightning hammered relentlessly, coalescing an unimaginably sinister presence.
The moment the King of Depravity, Azazel, descended to the earthly plane.