I Reincarnated as a Demon King,I Will Kill Everything

The circle of runes around Elrodan turned not outward, but inward. The moonlight drew itself in, transforming into a circle of votum that burned from within his soul.

[LUNAR MARTYR: SOUL TITHE]

The Chaos vault creaked—not by light, but by an old promise. The three knots of their former oath—the Triune Oath—emerged as three spikes of light: Darrius (extinguished), Elrodan (now aflame), and Garruk (demanding). The second spike struck the ground, impaling Garruk with a lava-moon chain.

Rena swung [SEVERANCE], cutting through the rope—dense sparks exploded, but the chain reappeared, forged by the sound of a magical hammer from the bowels of the earth.

Noah hissed in my gauntlet. "Source of empowerment: Martyr Sync. If the sacrifice is successful, the target receives the full Titan's Aegis. The chain is in the domain of the oath—priority is difficult to break."

I raised my palm toward Elrodan. [SOUL CLAMP]—the jaws of the gauntlet closed…

TING!

The invisible shield—[WARD OF THE FALLEN ANVIL]—struck Noah's palm back. The vibrations rose up my arm, heavy, ancient, like a mountain striking it.

Elrodan looked at me—not in fear. In relief.

"Take care… of my child," he said to the shadow that was no longer there. Then to Garruk, "Finish it."

His soul turned—not out of his body, but poured through the chain. His flesh crumbled to silver ash; only the cracked moonbrand remained, then extinguished in the wind.

Rena was pushed back three steps, her lips smeared with blood. "He gave up his true soul."

The chain slammed into Garruk's chest.

His giant axe seethed, then enveloped in basalt and moonsilver plates. The aura of the blacksmith god—or his shadow—struck the blade once, twice, three times. Each strike cemented a fragment of Elrodan's soul as a new layer to Garruk's armor.

[BERSERKER AEGIS: TITAN FORGE – FULL SYNC]

[LABRYS OF DAWN–DUSK]

The pressure on the battlefield multiplied. The air hardened. The gravity I had imposed writhed, broken by the Aegis. Garruk stood, taller, thicker; cracks of red light flowed beneath his skin.

He raised the axe—now double-bladed, one side dawn, one side dusk.

"For Darrius. For Elrodan," he murmured. His red eyes were wet—not from fear, but from anger tempered by an oath.

Noa warned, swift and cold.

"Status: Unstable Oath Avatar. Durability: very high. Resists: gravity, soul-lock, and holy—increased. Weakness: limited duration—borrowed souls will burn the vessel from within."

"Good," I said. "We just have to hold on until the hourglass breaks."

Garruk swung first.

[SEISMIC SUNDER – ANVIL PATH]

The axe smashed into the ground—the battlefield rose into a mountain ridge, then collapsed in a rockslide. I leaped onto the back of the rock wave, parrying the dawn blade with [BLACK MOON DRIVE], while the dusk blade circled back from below—double tempo.

Rena came in, cutting the angle—her two swords formed [VOID PARALLEL], stabbing into the armor seam at Garruk's armpit.

TING!—it was no use. Aegis absorbed, the moon brand on the axe's cleavage grinning, rejecting its darkness.

"Rena, don't use holy-negate. He's not light—he swears," I said, blocking the blade and inserting a hook into Garruk's jaw. [BOOST]—his jaw twisted, but Aegis locked onto the bone, reflecting the force back into my shoulder.

Garruk charged.

DUGG!

My chest felt like it had been rammed. I took four steps back, my heels dragging along the trench. He pursued—the twilight-side axe descending like an execution hammer.

I parried the cross, and Noa growled. "Pressure exceeding threshold. Recommend: directional dispersion."

"Agreed."

I stepped.

[GRAVITY FIELD – SHEAR]

The gravity field tilted 23 degrees—the axe shifted from a deadly slash to a grazing trajectory. The blade continued to scream against the Overlord's plate, but didn't break it.

Rena circled behind Garruk, planting [HELL GATE—LOCK] on his Achilles tendon. The Aegis creaked—not broken, but gripped.

"Now!" Rena shouted.

I shrugged, rainbow-black pulsing through Noa Genesis.

[ANNIHILATOR – BLACK MOON DRIVE]

[BOOST ×2]

The fist slammed into the newly imprinted brand on Garruk's chest—a remnant of Elrodan.

CRACK!

The Aegis cracked a fraction. The flames in her axe roared back, mending the crack like hot steel under a hammer.

Noa reported, "Crack forming—self-forge activating. Repeat at a rhythm that beats the counterforge. Needs three synchronized strikes."

I smiled faintly. "Do you hear that, Rena? Three patterns."

Rena nodded, breathing heavily. "I held his leg for two seconds."

Garruk roared, his axe spinning in a circle—[IRON ECLIPSE]—creating a beheading disc that swept in all directions. The GRAVITY SHEAR barrier melted like wax. I crossed Noah, swallowing half, the rest decapitating the stone pillar behind.

"You're not touching him anymore!" Garruk roared, protecting the brand on his chest like a mental shield.

"I'll hit him," I replied. "Until you run out of hammers."

The three of us pulsed within a meter; the world shrank to the circle of slashes and arcs of fists.

Garruk raised his axe for another round—the Aegis screamed, the martyr's time lit like a nearly burned fuse.

Noah whispered, "Pressure window—now."

I advanced. First blow—crack in the brand.

Rena locked the axe wrist—two seconds.

Second blow—the crack widened.

Garruk spat out lava blood—forced up.

Third blow—I combined the moon and darkness—Elrodan's brand shattered.

The donated light sparked from Garruk's chest like a final spark.

Aegis still stood—but it had lost a breath.

I looked up, measuring the time. "Your plot armor is only a moment away from igniting."

Garruk closed in, raising the Labrys of Dawn–Dusk for one final execution—slicing through Rena and me in a single arc.

I lifted Noa. Rena, at my side, crossed swords.

The axe descended—

The Labrys of Dawn–Dusk axe descended as a line of execution—one side dawn, one side dusk—splitting the air like the shackles of fate.

I lifted Noa; Rena crossed her two swords at my side.

CRASH!

The impact severed the very veins of the earth. Dawn collided with my gauntlet; Dusk slid past Rena's crossed swords—slicing her shoulder. Her Hell Gate armor shattered; black blood gushed. Rena bent, falling to one knee, but still held the blade of dusk to prevent its arc from grazing my neck.

"Hold on…" she hissed, her teeth clattering.

Garruk pushed, his Aegis crackling—the counterforge still working, patching the crack we had created. His giant eyes were wet with rage and grief.

"I… will not… lose… to them!"

"Noa," I whispered, palms boiling under the dawn. "We cut the hammer."

"Accept," Noa's voice was heavy. "Execute directed dispersion."

I shifted the angle of my arm—[GRAVITY SHEAR] tilted the weight of the blow. Dawn slipped a fraction, no longer pressing straight. In the gap the size of a fingernail, I slid my left palm onto the axe handle—[SOUL CLAMP]—Noa's magical jaws gripped the soul-nail Elrodan had forged into the blade.

Rena let out a short cry, forcing her sword to lock onto the dusk side—[HELL GATE—LOCK]—the two seconds we needed.

"Now," she said, her voice cracking.

I raised my knees, compressing the moon and darkness into a single point.

[ANNIHILATOR — BLACK MOON DRIVE]

[BOOST ×2]

The fist landed directly on the brand we had cracked earlier.

CRACK—!

Tempa screamed back, trying to patch it up—I struck again.

CRACK—!!

Still holding on—Noa roared in my bones. "Synchronize three!"

"The third," I said coldly. Rena held the axe's arc with her body—blood rushing, her knees trembling, but she didn't release the lock.

I turned my hips fully—the universe shrinking to a circle—and struck the brand one last time.

CRACK—SPLIT!

The brand shattered. Elrodan's gift of light sparked from Garruk's chest like a final spark, soaring into the air and then extinguishing.

The Aegis weakened for half a breath.

Garruk roared—in pain, anger, unwilling to fall. He threw us all away with a violent sweep. Dawn slapped my Overlord helmet—a crack across my face, black blood splattering. Twilight slashed Rena's stomach—she bounced, hit the ground, rolled three times before coming to a halt, gasping for breath.

Garruk charged again, forcing the last of his life into the axe's edge. "FOR—THEM—!"

I looked up, wiping the blood from my lips. "For closure."

Noah glowed rainbow-black; blue shards (Darrius' legacy) and the shimmer of a cracked moon (Elrodan's remains) swirled within it.

[NOA GENESIS — SMELT-BREAKER]

I pressed my palm against Labrys's side as he descended. The gauntlet consumed the Aegis's forging energy—the sound of the magical hammers dying out one by one—then spewed it back in a wave of shattering into the core of the axe's shaft.

THUMP—THUMP—THUMP—KRAAAANG!

The shaft cracked; the blade's cleavage fell a fraction.

I slipped into his arm—very close—and placed my palm over his oath-hammered heart.

"Come down, false Titan."

[BLACK MOON COLLAPSE]

[BOOST ×3]

The black moon collapsed inward; the oath energy in Garruk's chest imploded for a split second before exploding out in a dark red mist. His Aegis tore like old skin being pulled apart.

Garruk faltered. His red eyes cleared for a moment—just enough to see that the hammer was no longer responding.

"Darrius… El—" his voice trailed off.

I grabbed the basalt helm on his head, pulled it down, and then gently dropped it to the ground.

"Sleep," I said lowly. "You have been sufficiently tempered."

The giant's body collapsed, the earth trembling once—then still.

Silence fell through the smoke. I stood, my left shoulder crushed, my breath burning in my lungs. Noah hissed, her gems dimming one by one.

"My Lord's status: heavily injured. Advice: cease further fighting."

I let out a short laugh—soon to turn into a cough of blood. "Note… advice accepted."

Rena crawled over, her hands trembling, clutching the twilight gash across her stomach and split shoulder. Her Hell Gate armor was barely intact. She knelt beside me, holding me from falling.

"I'm sorry… My Lord," her voice hoarse, her breath ragged. "I interrupted the axe's trajectory, but—"

"You held it for two seconds," I interrupted quietly. "Without it, I'd lose my head."

Rena lowered her head. A drop of blood fell from her chin to the ground that no longer remembered the name of this village.

The wind carried ash and the remnants of a broken sacred aura. In the distance, church bells could be heard faintly—a summons, or a warning. The sky was still split thinly where the oath had been nailed; the line was fading slowly, like a wound reluctant to close.

Noa murmured one last time, his voice heavy. "Main enemy: elimination. Remaining threat: the arrival of reinforcements—high probability."

I nodded, staring up at the night sky. My chest ached, my arms numb, the world spinning.