Chapter 128: Dangerous Position

With the oppressive tide of hellfire finally driven back, Damian felt the pressure around him ease just enough to breathe.

His chest rose sharply as he drew in a deep breath, the first moment of clarity he had been given since the storm began. His burning gaze lifted, taking in the towering structure that now surrounded them.

The cathedral.

It loomed over the battlefield like a divine prison, its radiant pillars stretching endlessly upward, its glowing runes pulsing with an authority that did not belong to this world. The massive eye above remained open, its silent gaze pressing down on everything beneath it.

And that was when he felt it. A sudden, suffocating discomfort. His expression tightened. It was not physical. It was deeper.

His demonic heart trembled!

For a split second, it felt as though invisible chains had wrapped around it, scorching, binding, restricting its very movement. Each beat became heavier, slower, as if something was actively suppressing it from within.

Damian’s brows furrowed as he clenched his fist.

His power… felt distant.

Everything except his white flames.

The rest of his demonic force responded sluggishly, like a weapon dulled and weighed down. It was still there, but reaching it felt unnatural, forced, as though something stood between him and his own strength.

“What the hell is this…” he muttered under his breath.

The response came immediately.

[The Cathedral of Absolution has successfully suppressed your demonic attributes.Your demonic heart, demonic force, and related abilities are currently being restrained. However, the Ninefold Samsara Firefox is not classified as a demonic ability.]

Damian’s eyes narrowed.

So that was it.

His gaze swept across the cathedral again, his expression growing colder with every passing second. He had already known Corbin and that archangel were dangerous, but this…

This was something else entirely.

This was a battlefield built to kill demons. Even if they defeated Duke Haborym he would still be trapped here with them. Forced to fight an archangel and a priest within a domain that crippled his power while empowering theirs.

A slow breath left his lips.

“…Tch.”

For the first time, the thought crossed his mind clearly. He might actually die here. But even as that realization settled in, his eyes hardened instead of wavering.

Coming here was his choice. He has always been prepared for accept whatever outcome that follows.

At that moment Corbin stepped forward and Gilbert followed.

The archangel’s massive form shifted as Corbin casually tossed the radiant shield back toward him. Gilbert caught it without a word, his wings adjusting slightly as he resumed a guarded stance, golden flames flickering steadily around him.

Corbin, on the other hand, reached to his waist. From beneath his cassock, he pulled out a weapon.

It was a golden whip

As he gripped it, divine energy surged through it, causing its length to glow brighter, humming softly with restrained power. He rolled his shoulders once before turning his gaze toward Damian.

“Are you ready?” he asked, his tone calm, almost casual, as though they were not standing before a demon noble in the middle of a divine battlefield.

Damian stared at him for a moment. His eyes were sharp and suspicious. But in the end, he said nothing. Instead, he nodded slowly, then he lowered his stance.

His posture shifted once more into something predatory, his body leaning forward as white flames flickered engulfed his hands, ready to surge at a moment’s notice.

No matter how dangerous Corbin and Gilbert were, they were not the immediate threat. Duke Haborym was.

His gaze snapped back to the Asura, his eyes burning with renewed intent. Once he kills this monster, he will find a way out.

No matter what it took.

Gilbert moved first.

With a sharp beat of his wings, his massive frame lunged forward, the flaming sword in his grasp carving through the air as golden fire surged violently along its edge. His swing was clean, decisive, and the moment the blade cut through space.

BOOM!

A torrential wave of divine flame erupted outward, cascading toward Duke Haborym like a raging flood of golden judgment.

The cathedral trembled and yet Duke Haborym did not retreat.

“GRAAAAAH!!!”

Instead, he roared and charged forward!

As the divine flames crashed toward him, emerald fire surged to life around his body, forming a dense, raging wall of hellfire that moved with him, wrapping his figure like a living armor.

The two forces collided instantly. Golden fire met emerald inferno but he did not slow down a bit!

In mere seconds, he tore through the wave, his massive frame bursting through the divine flames as though forcing his way through a storm. He reached Gilbert and struck.

Smack!

One of his arms lashed out, slapping the flaming sword aside with brutal force, the impact sending sparks of golden fire scattering through the air. Before Gilbert could recover, three of Duke Haborym’s right arms clenched into fists, hellfire surging violently around them.

They came forward as one.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Gilbert reacted instantly, crossing his wings and bringing the shield up in a desperate brace, golden energy flaring around him as he tried to withstand the impact.

It was not enough.

BOOOOM!!!

The force slammed into him, driving him backward as the ground beneath his feet shattered. He skidded several meters across the broken street, his wings scraping against the air as he fought to stabilize himself.

His feet dug trenches into the earth before he finally slowed.

But Duke Haborym did not give him time to recover. He surged forward again, six arms flexing and hellfire roaring. But just as he moved…

Crack!

A blinding streak of gold tore through the air from the side.

The whip.

It came fast.

Too fast to ignore.

Duke Haborym’s instincts flared instantly. His advance halted mid-step as he shifted his weight, pulling back half a step just as the golden lash tore past where he had been.

It curved and struck.

The moment it reached him, hellfire surged again, erupting outward in an attempt to intercept the attack.

Slice!

Like a blade through butter, the whip cut through it effortlessly. The emerald flames parted as though they held no resistance at all, the golden whip tearing straight through the barrier and grazing across Duke Haborym’s cheek.

A thin line appeared and then blood began to flow A clean, precise cut stretched across his face, dark blood trailing down slowly as the whip snapped back toward its master.

Silence flickered for a brief moment.

Duke Haborym’s movement stopped completely. All three heads tilted slightly.

“…I see.” He frowned.

His six eyes shifted toward Corbin, who stood at a distance, the glowing whip coiled loosely in his hand, golden energy flowing steadily through his body.

“The Cathedral of Absolution possesses another function. One you conveniently failed to mention.” Duke Haborym began slowly, his voice low and measured.

“And here I thought the power it drained from me was being redirected to the archangel. But no, it is being siphoned. Drawn out and fed into you.”

Duke Haborym’s grin widened slightly, his expression darkening with something far more dangerous than before.

“How interesting…”

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