However, each time they attempted an attack, they were rebuffed sharply by the boy in his disguised form. He would appear to move languidly, dodging easily and then las.h.i.+ng out in retaliation with his dull blade - but that dull blade would turn into a blur every time he swung it and chop away at the two devils' flesh and blood!

Roaring in rage and pain, the two abyssals hastily backed away and reconsidered their strategy of close combat. Though they were supposedly of a higher race and superior physically, the results did not show that superiority at all!

Meanwhile, Gaius Trenel was swaying with weakness. He had been exerting the full circulation of his mana to restrain his two targets and he couldn't hold down Weres or Yusof for much longer. He s.h.i.+vered when he saw the rage, indignance and killing intent in the eyes of the two men and roared at Wesley and Saliza in impatience.

"HURRY UP YOU DEVIL DOGS!!! I CAN'T HOLD THEM MUCH LONGER!!!"

Upon hearing that, both Wesley and Saliza did not reply but mentally made a note to devour the contemptuous fool the moment this battle was over!

That is, a.s.suming that they won and survived!

The two devils closed in on their foe once more, but this time, just before they came within range of his punis.h.i.+ng sword strikes, they exchanged a mental a.s.sent and triggered the innate skill unique to their Nightmare Stalker race.

Gravity Field! 2x Gravity Field, combined to multiply the effectiveness!

Suddenly Lars felt slightly sluggish as the weight of his body increased twofold and the pull of the planet doubled!

Shocked, he tried to leap backwards and out of the range of the devils' field of influence, but could not get away. Both Wesley and Saliza kept step with him, approaching even as he retreated, keeping him in their area of effect.

Then the two Devil Lords bodies glowed with power as they readied their coordinated attack.

'NOW!'

"TERROR BLADE!!!!"

"GLIMPSE OF DEATH!!!!"

Wesley arched his back and raised his wicked clawed hands high above his head, compressing all his power into a pulsing 3 metre long light-sabre that protruded from his hands. The purple energies threatened to explode even as he moulded and shaped them into a lethal form and brought his blade of pure power chopping down on Lars!

On the other hand, the female devil raised her body up straight and turned her eyeless face to the sky. She began to float off the surface of the ravaged ground slightly, then her body flickered and s.h.i.+mmered as her figure grew blurry. Then a grand projection of a translucent prehistoric Wyrm emerged from her back, its figure t.i.tanic with half of its body made up of a great maw full of teeth and dripping with green, acidic saliva!

Then the astral projection shot forth at a speed that seemed to approach the speed of light and crashed towards her target - the man before her!

Even General Weres and Yusof Jamal despaired as they saw the sealed fate of the boy - there was no more hope left for him or for the two of them.

Yusof desperately winked at the General, as if telling him, "Use your trump card! Your lifesaving move!"

But he only received a grim look of despondency from the powerful warrior - he had no more trump cards left to turn the situation around.

'If only...!!! If only my defensive ace were not just a personal protection charm!!! If only it were an attacking weapon!!!' Yusof screamed in his heart in despair, resenting their fate to be minced apart and devoured by the alien monsters!

Caught between a rock and a hard place as the blade of death and fatal devil projection sped his way, Lars knew that with lowered speed and physical suppression from the gravity field, he could not escape. And he stood no chance at fighting back - despite his vastly superior skill, grand reserves of mana and masterful manipulation of strength, his physique was just too weak!

Too f***ing weak!

So he did the only thing he could do.

Fight firepower with an even greater firepower!

He at first thought to unleash a Legendary spell and eradicated not just the devils here but also clear out the entire city - but if he did that, he would probably wipe out the people as well... On top of that, he would injure his soul and weaken himself once more!

So instead, he chose to use his newly obtained skill.

No, not the Demon Hunter skills that he could barely comprehend right now.

Something else, something far more practical.

'Kizorik! Quick! Are devils rich in money or treasures???'

'No! Why??? They sacrifice everything of value for Abyss points, why would they have money? Why are you talking about money right now--'

'Great!!!' Then he ignored whatever else the cute penguin said.

He sucked in a deep breath and felt a ripple pa.s.s through his soul, specifically, through his soul-imprint of Greed and the second, true ability he had obtained with the concept of the Deadly Sin.

"Money Makes the World Go Round..."

As he whispered the words, everything visibly stopped moving as a scene that defied the s.p.a.ce-time continuum took place.

Not only Lars - everything, even the dust motes and the oxygen and nitrogen particles in the air completely froze... And so too did the breathing and minds of everyone and everything in the entire world!

Except for the minds and souls of the two Devil Lords and Lars.

And the blood that flowed from the boys' two eyes.

Only, it was not blood, but a molten golden fluid, so thick that it looked like liquid metal.

And Lars' eyes... His usually brown and slightly reddish pupils began to have a tri-segmented symbol floating and rotating within them. And if one looked carefully, one would notice that it was an interlinked spinning triangle of a gold coin, a bank branch building and a dollar bill!

The ancient, historical and modern symbols of greed, all together!

To Lars' pleasure and to the devils shock, they suddenly saw a grand scene unfold before their eyes, erasing and superseding the "reality" around them with another world entirely.

In this real but unreal world, they could see the entire cosmos rotating around them! The depths of the universe and the planets and suns in the starry sky blinked in and out of existence and left the three in awe of the majesty of creation!

However, if one looked closer, they would see that those were not planets, but silver, green, red or brown coins!

The glittering moon around them were diamonds, jewels or gemstones of every sort!

And the suns were instead golden coins spinning in all their glory, radiating splendorous light pouring forth to illuminate the universe!

This was the truth of the cosmos - money makes the world go round!

(...At least this was the truth to Lars.)

Then to Wesley and Saliza's surprise, they suddenly found themselves standing no longer on the solid earth, nor were they suspended in s.p.a.ce.

Instead they were now placed on an archaic, rusted scale, ma.s.sive and looming larger than even the planets afar off!

They were on one side of the scale, whereas Lars was on the other.

And the entire instrument was dangling from a great golden string, held in the hands of a transcendent white-robed deity whose eyes were closed!

'How great in size must he be to hold a scale in his hands that dwarfed even the sun and stars in its stature??!' The thought flashed in the duo's minds, but was quickly ceased by the shocking sight that followed.

The immortal G.o.d opened his eyes.

But there were no eyeb.a.l.l.s nor pupils nor sclera within.

But instead, an endless rainbow coloured waterfall of coins, riches and every form of wealth came pouring out of his eye sockets!

Even the devils who had no use nor desire for material things felt an unexplainable avarice arise in their very souls - a desire that could not be dismissed!

'W-what is happening! Old fart! I have a bad feeling! I-I can't move! Do something!!'

But Wesley could not reply, for he too was paralysed in fear and terror before the almighty being before him.

Suddenly, the transcendent being opened his mouth and released a booming wordless voice. But somehow they all knew what he was saying.

"JUDGEMENT!"

In that instant, a blast of golden light rippled outwards from the deity and pa.s.sed over the devils and the boy.

Then the golden glow was absorbed into their bodies before circulating one time, then shooting upwards as golden pillars of light!

The golden pillar of light began to rise from Lars body as he smiled despite being frozen in place. The pillar ascended higher and higher and higher until it was like a tower to the heavens, so high was it!

But for Wesley and Saliza, to their dismay, the pillar of light rose up like a wisp of stubble after a morning shave - and halted completely!

Then the scales began to move.

Lars' side sank like a rock while the Devil Lords rose higher and higher and higher until the point where equilibrium was achieved - only when the boy was almost to the very bottom possible!

Then the voice spoke once more in an indiscernible murmur of a million changing sounds: "JUDGEMENT! The poor shall be slave to the rich!"

The G.o.d of wealth lifted up an ancient oriental seal, the type used to affix an indelible imprint of the judgement, a seal to stamp a unique signature of authority. Then the seal came plummeting down on the Devil Lords' heads!

'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!' The devils roared silently, unable to move their vocal cords to cry out in fear. But their fears were unfounded, as the seal merely stamped on their heads a single word, a single number and a single letter

[POOR] and [8x]

Then immediately the vision shattered, sending the trio lurching back into the midst of their heated, urgent battle!

Wesley's arms were still raised with the purple sword of pulsing energies bearing down on the boy, and Saliza's devil spirit was still rocketing towards her opponent!

'WHAT WAS THAT???!!!?' 'OLD FART, WHAT HAPPENED??!?!?'

Though their minds were still reeling, as they realised that neither of them had any idea what had just happened, Wesley and Saliza recovered in a split second and continued their attacks!

But they were stunned as Lars' eyes reflected infinite confidence and an unmistakable air of triumph - as if the two Devil Lords were already corpses to be looked down on and trampled upon!

Yet it was already too late - they were fully committed to their all-out finis.h.i.+ng moves - there was no turning back!

"YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!" "DIE INSOLENT CUR!!!!!!" They roared seemingly in unison as they let loose their final attacks!

But even as they neared, Lars grinned evilly and gave a quick glance around.

'No one else within 50 metres... Alright!'

And he launched what the Devil Lords were expecting to be his trump card!

"Level 9 Spell: Starburst!!"

But to their shock, it was merely a Level 9 Spell?!! No matter how powerful it was, an area of effect spell was definitely weaker than a focused attack magic like the earlier concentrated blue beam of energy! therefore, Why would the man who was already suppressed by their gravity fields choose to make such an inconsequential move?!! Was he already ready to die and given up???

'What... What is he doing? What is the trick here...?' But as confused as they were, the two devils pressed on from either side of the boy and struck with all their might!

They watched as the Starburst spell unfolded from Lars' hands that were held above his head, pressed together as if in pet.i.tion and prayer to a higher being. Then they grinned madly, a.s.sured of their final victory over this troublesome foe - one they would thoroughly enjoy ripping apart and swallowing once they were done!

Then they watched as the merely pa.s.sable flaming fist-sized asteroids came soaring towards them, not for a moment doubting that the comparatively weak barrage of fire and rocks would not even so much as pierce their armour.

But they could only stare blankly as the "weak" spell ripped through their bodies a dozen, a hundred, then a thousand times - each miniscule meteor punching a terrible hole right through their bodies and dissipating their attacks easily.

'W-what...?'

That was Wesley's last thought as his soul began to leave this physical body, to be reincarnated in the Abyss, starting all over again from a far weaker body.

'It... Can't be...' The devil spirit Saliza had invoked vanished like smoke before the sky-rending bullets launched by Lars, then the light around her body began to fade as she was riddled with too many holes to even count.

Then the two Devil Lords slumped to the ground, lifeless.

Defeated.

And left a sh.e.l.l-shocked boy who couldn't believe just how effective his Level 9 spell was when supplemented by his soul-ability! It wasn't even powered up by a Maximise Magic due to lack of time...

But blew those f***ers the h.e.l.l out of here in a flas.h.!.+

It was too frickin' awesome!