Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest

Adam’s eyes flash with cold, murderous intent. His tail lashed at the ground, splintering the soil. Motes rained around him as his hands tightened around his weapons. If Titania wanted to wear his essence down, he would oblige. No, he’ll even help her out.

He raised his god slayer, his figure flickering.

Eyes narrowing through her visor, Titania tensed, anticipating where he would reappear. The magic symbols snaking her armor brightened subtly.

A detail that didn’t escape Adam’s attention as he swung from his position in a confusing attack aimed at no one... In appearance, that is.

Just as the blade reached where her shoulder should have been, he vanished from the ground.

He heard a muffled curse as he reappeared in front of her, his hand thrusting for the kill. But with the curse came a spear of thorns. It slid between Titania’s shoulder and his blade in a narrow parry, its barbs scraping white marks across her red armor.

This time, the magic symbols on her bracers flashed for a split second too long, confirming his suspicions. He was fast, way too fast for anything but ancient warring gods to react this smoothly.

The pieces of the puzzle instantly fell into place. The insidious fairy was boosting herself externally with her mana, probably because her body couldn’t endure the load due to her species’ natural capabilities.

’The more I damage her armor, the slower she’ll become.’ His eyes narrowed, and his arm rose with purpose as the eight flying spears shot at him once again.

Before they reached him, he blinked, reappearing right above her. Straining his abdominal muscles and using his wings to increase his speed, he spun down, turning into a saw of dark plasma as his blade descended.

Titania snapped her head at the shrieking winds. But she had no time to think. There were no wasted words, no pauses. Each of Adam’s moves had a single purpose: to behead her swiftly.

Though her confidence in her defence didn’t falter, she couldn’t help but doubt for a split second. A battle of this magnitude; it was a first even for her, and it... strangely caused her breath to quicken and her blood to boil. She would win. Not for her worshipers or her husband’s sake, but to overcome the worthiest challenge since Mab with her own strength.

"Come!"

Mana rumbled in her hands, erupting into a barrier formed by ten circular layers above her. Simultaneously, she controlled her flying spears to surround the impact point, ready to strike as soon as they clashed.

And clash they did.

Sparks rained down on the fairy capital, illuminating the soldiers’ fierce faces as they butchered their way inside. Yet, their expressions collapsed at the shrill grinding noise roiling across the sky.

Attackers and defenders halted, their eyes snapping toward the dark radiance trying to consume the verdant barriers.

CRACK

The first one exploded into shards propelled like shrapnel without resistance. The second followed, then the third.

Titania gasped. How could he shatter them this easily when only failures met his earlier attempts? Not good, no time to think. Counterattack!

Under her urgent command, the eight spears shot at Adam in an unavoidable omnidirectional attack that followed her strategy. Either give up on this strike and lose the essence, or thrust down only to be skewered through and through. She won in both cases, and the more he persisted, the earlier she would pluck his life like a flower.

However, Adam smirked. How many lightning bolts had he died from in the past few months of training... and how many times had he negated Zeus’ dazzling charge by the end of it? What were a few spears in comparison?

His form flickered once, then warped twice more. The pressure on the barrier vanished three times in a split second as spears impaled his eyes first, his neck and limbs next, then his heart.

Yet, no blood streamed down the wounds. In fact, there were no wounds at all. The spears had just traversed him as he blinked at the same place in a masterful control over timing—the kind even Mab could only recognise.

To be fair, the spears were much slower than Zeus. It would have been a little more complicated if the hits had come more delayed, though. A mistake born from her complacency and one he would abuse until he couldn’t.

And those shields came first. After all, he had cautiously avoided using his god slayer even though he could have shattered the capital’s barrier on his own. Not only to create legends for his subjects, but mainly to surprise her with its Harmony Breaker enchantment, which weakened divine shields and blessings by fifty percent upon impact. Of course, this enhancement was just the cherry on the cake compared to the others.

His smirk broadened as he collapsed on the remaining barriers, obliterating them into rains of glistening dust.

Titania tried to recall her spears, but he was already on her, his blade shining on her helmet.

She thrust up her spear with both hands while wrapping herself in another barrier as her amor glowed brighter than ever. From the ground, she summoned colossal roots that tangled into fists bigger than the minotaurs sowing death among her citizens, each aimed to send him flying back.

BAM

The plasma blade crashed into her spear, the tremor jolting her bones. Shoulders quivering, icy sweat pooling between her delicate brows, she snarled and hurled her strength back at him.

Yet, her eyes widened, an ominous feeling gripping her heart... She heard a soft crack. Surely it couldn’t be... and yet, it was.

She watched in horror as the plasma blade cleaved through her barbed spear of coiling thorns, dividing it into seared halves. Soon, it would be her turn. Roots? Too far. No! Jaw clenched, she did something she had never done since defeating Mab.

Right as the blade would have sliced her in half, the blowing gales scattered her body into lush leaves. They swirled with grace, avoiding the blow before streaming several hundred meters back and condensing into her form again. She had run against... against...

"This freshly ascended weakling?!" Her dark gauntlets clanged, and her voice cracked in humiliation. "I’ll show you nature’s wrath, ant."

Instantly, the fists aimed at Adam made a sharp turn. They wrapped around her instead, rocks, water, and even magma crawling on her new shell from the ground.

Adam raised a brow at the scalding giant now facing him, then shrugged. "I’ve killed bigger things. You’ll just join them." Yet, shadows danced on his face.

The problem wasn’t the shell. It was what she could do from within now that it added to her protection. But again, a war of attrition wouldn’t work against him. Instead, the longer the fight dragged on, the more certain his victory became.