Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest

’I’ll show you what these marionettes can do and how much we don’t need gods.’

Smirking despite the near annihilation of his forces, Adam raised his finger toward the veil of roiling dust and smoke blanketing the sky.

From his fingertip, a beam of condensed plasma shot up, shattering the silence with a defiant roar. It reached the sky, filling it with hisses as it vaporised anything it touched until the sun pierced through the grime to bathe the ruined battlefield.

Warm rays brightened the pits gouged out of the earth. They shone upon the horrifying plant creatures assaulting the army’s rear and the ocean of vine cocoons that paralysed the vanguard in a devouring embrace, slowly depriving them of their strength—of their lives.

More importantly, it shone on the noble hippogriff cavalry. It shone on Gawain, sending his heart into a drumming frenzy. The poundings reverberated through his ribs and blood as his blond hair turned into golden tongues of flame.

It was time to fill his role. It was time to show the fairies that they left nothing to chance.

The air crackled around him as he guided his mount down, then leapt before the colossal barrier.

Soil melted beneath his feet, his figure sublimating. Sunrays condensed to illuminate him and only him as if he were the only one worthy of their care today—in this single moment.

He raised Galatine, Excalibur’s overlooked sister, overhead, its enchantments roaring to life.

The blade brightened, turning scalding white before it melted into a flow of pure sunlight. It stretched through the sky, cleaving it into blinding halves before he thundered.

"Each day, for one minute only—when the sun reaches its zenith—I incarnate the greatest blessing the Lord ever bestowed upon the living." His blue eyes flared like twin suns. "I am the sun!"

The air grew unbearable around him, the heat spreading like wildfires. Anything that could burn ignited like torches. Plant creatures screeched on the darkened ground before dissolving into ash.

Freed from the vines dragging it toward the ground, the flying bastion soared back to its rightful position. Smoke rose from the shattered cannons, turning the threatening structure powerless until repaired.

The cocoons swayed, their lush colors turning orange, then brown, before hands pierced through them. Colossal minotaurs, eldjötnars, and balors emerged in clouds of dried dust, their figures thinner, but their roars carrying twice the rage. The vanguard was back. But Gawain was not over yet.

"Behold the only sacred sword that can surpass Excalibur!"

Eyes wide behind the barrier, Titania watched the flow of sunlight thicken. An icy shiver ran down her spine, her breath catching in her throat for a split second. She felt threatened. Her? An ancient goddess? How could a mere mortal wield such power—enough to make her feel as though she stood before Lugh’s divine radiance?

A radiance that descended upon her in a cacophony of burning gales and screeching vapor.

She bit her lip. One minute he had said. She would hold on. Then... She hissed through gritted teeth, her green eyes burning with mana. "I’ll obliterate any traces of you, vile things."

Earth rumbled before the barrier, colossal wooden arms shooting to wrestle the solar blade to a stop. Simultaneously, thick thorns crowned by blood-red flowers sprouted on the barrier, each devouring Adam’s plasma like insatiable beasts in a dance of mutual destruction.

If these fools wanted a battle of attrition, she’ll give them just that, except that no one, not even Mab, could best her.

Clenching her fists, she watched the solar blade cleave her wooden arms like paper. Blazing chunks crashed on the ground like meteors. But she didn’t care. For each destroyed, she commanded a dozen more to rise.

However, the blade descended with fierce abandon, slowing but still carried by strong momentum.

Eyes narrowing, wings trembling, she controlled the ground itself.

The plain split open, the rumbles sending everyone tumbling. Like a flowing torrent of mud, it rose before the blade, condensing into a thick wall pulsing with dense mana veins as if breathing in challenge.

BOOM

A shockwave roiled from the collision, blasting scorching air in a circle that stretched into the surrounding forests. Trees were consumed like straws, magical creatures died by the thousands, and rivers evaporated in a split second.

Titania’s impregnable wall itself caved under the pressure. Cracks spiderwebbed its darkening surface, the noises drowned under the deafening sizzles.

Yet, she smirked, then raised her hand, slowly, confidently.

Echoing her movement, the ground rumbled again. However, no wood emerged. Instead, a geyser of sparkling water erupted from its depths. With a roar, it rose to crash against the solar blade, exploding into mist.

Yet it had served its role. The blade lost its final momentum... The wall began to straighten. It was her victory!

She clenched her already-raised hand into a victorious fist, roaring. "Pathetic mortals. Did you really believe you had a chance to overthrow the fairy capital? I alone am enough to stop you all, including you—the pitiful puppet dangling at Mab’s fingertips who dares to call himself a god."

Before the barrier, beside Gawain, Adam smirked at Garduck. "Wow, she really blocked that."

"Indeed, her dominion over nature is quite impressive." Garduck placed his broadsword on his shoulders, not worried in the slightest. "Everything unfolds according to my script. If anything, she’s the puppet dangling at our fingertips."

Adam raised a brow, chuckling. "Even the cocoons?"

Garduck glared at him before he rolled his eyes. However, his answer never came, for Gawain’s urgent voice echoed.

"What are you doing?! My minute is almost over!"

Adam’s eyes instantly sharpened. "We can’t delay anymore, then. Congratulations on stopping one blade, Titania!"

With a pull of his arm, the plasma swirling around the barrier flowed back to him. He gripped the energy as if it were corporeal, then, like Gawain earlier, raised it overhead, contrasting the blinding light with his plasma’s dark radiance.

Simultaneously, Garduck raised his broadsword, the infernal enchantments carved on its surface erupting with a soul-chilling chuckle. Flames took the shape of a mocking skull before they shot beside the two blades, adding a third that burned a demonic green.

"I wonder if you can stop three, though?"

Sneering in unison, their right foot gouged a hole into the charred soil.

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AN: Subs are painfully low. I’ll rush to the end if it doesn’t get better soon, because ngl, both of my books are dead with an income of around 5$ per week.