How I Became the Strongest Sovereign

Chapter 144 - Lucifer’s Lair

My head spun and I dragged my body by it's last ounce of energy, sighing. I made sure to knock the remaining Hunters out without disposing of my identity. They all thought it was another beast but it was actually me. This allowed me to meditate in peace and recover a little before finally reaching the final floor.

This was the end. The last stage: Lucifer's Lair.

I entered the tomb, my senses on high alert. The walls were stoned and built like the inside of a medieval castle but the only difference was it was completely dark. I relaxed into the bitter comfort of the darkness. I'd have to get used to it.

The only source of warm light was coming from the end of the long passageway where I knew the end lied. I was walking towards an unknown fate but it didn't scare me.

I neared to the light and once I reached the door less entrance, an unforgiving heat scalded my skin, kissing it with horrifying torturous ashes. The floor under me was bright red like metal touched by fire. 

I scanned the contents of the large room from the entrance, deciding to enter once I was mentally prepared. 

Across the room, a large throne stood with glory. A man in his 30s sat comfortably, watching my face as I hissed from the heat. I knew exactly who he was from his appearance. His right demon eye, pair of dark horns and red hair gave it away. 

His features looked the same as my transformation when I used 'Shackles Release' except he had dark wings on his back and the other difference was our eyes. His had a specific pattern whilst mine was plain red. What could that mean?

"Took you long enough. I thought you'd never make it." he smirked, cunningly.

"Lucifer," I addressed him with annoyance.

"Zeref," he returned in a humble, deceiving tone.

I activated my fire mana, trying to withstand the burning sensation and the waves of heat protruding the ground but it didn't work. My skin was bright red in irritation.

I looked at the ground and then at my tattered shoes. 

I decided not to delay any longer than three seconds.

I looked the man in the eyes while stepping into the room. A feeling of relief washed over me as the room started to cool and the ground turned into a normal stone colour.

"Illusion," he chuckled, laughing at my relief.

What a maniac.

"I commend you for clearing the previous floors. I must say I would have been very disappointed if you had failed to even pass those 2 floors. Did you like fighting my pet? That S Rank Dark Insect?" He asked, crossing his legs and resting his cheek against his fist.

"Yeah. It was cannon fodder." I returned, with an expressionless face.

"So this is where you've been hiding? You realise the whole world thinks you died right?" 

"Oh yes. I know but now I'm going to finally leave this hell hole."

"What are you talking about?"

"YOU! You're my ticket out of here! Zeref Amara: The Lightning Contestant." He laughed sinisterly.

"Do you think it was a coincidence that Kayden gave you my Demon Characteristics? Don't you get it?! You're a vessel! You're going to be my new body!" He cackled wickedly.

At that he suddenly disappeared and appeared in front of me. My body froze as I couldn't move any further. 

What was happening? His demon eye. Was this his Visual Prowess?

"Now I shall take over your body." He smiled devilishly.

[Foreign entity is trying to take over your mind!]

[System is protecting the host!]

[Foreign entity has been blocked]

"What's happening?! Why can't I get through?!" He looked shocked and tried again but failed.

[Foreign entity is trying to take over your mind!]

[System is protecting the host!]

[Foreign entity has been blocked]

"Hahahhahaa!" I laughed, breaking out of his spell, "You think taking me over was going to be that easy?!" 

'Lightning Aura'

'Lightning Armour'

'Flame Fists'

I punched his face but he didn't even flinch. Instead, he looked infuriated and punched my stomach, making all the air in my stomach funnel out of my lungs. What power!

He then imbued his fist in a reddish Darkness mana before punching me. My body was flung backwards into the wall of the room. I coughed out blood and struggled to get up.

[You have taken critical damage!]

[HP is at 78%]

One hit did that much damage?!

I had no choice but to go full power from the start.

'Shackles Release.'

'Rapid Healing.'

I charged towards him and our hands collided with each other. We both gritted our teeth as we wrestled using our strength to overpower the other. 

"Look at you, relying on my blood for extra power. YOU'RE WEAK! Extremely weak!" He laughed, conjuring a ball of darkness in his hands before detonating it close range. He burst into a puff of smoke teleporting back to near the throne. 

"It's been a long time since I've had a guest so I'll play with you a little. Just make sure to not take too much damage. That body will soon be mine anyways." He laughed, pulling out a dark longsword from his waist. The whole blade was dark, except for the red white hilt it oozed darkness.

A burst of darkness mana exploded out of his body making the atmosphere heavy. I struggled to stay standing under the pressure. Could I even beat him?

'Voadhailis, Cambio Forma.'

I gripped my trusty dual short swords tightly, activating my strongest augmenting spells. 

"Darkness Domain." He smiled devilishly revealing his hands like a magic trick was going to uncover.

Suddenly the floor had turned pitch black and darkness mana rippled. What kind of spell was this? I could feel my spells breaking one by one due to the incredible pressure on my body. It was like he was controlling the atmosphere in this room.

"Judging by your reaction you haven't learned Domain magic. I'm surprised you've lived this long; Well this is the end."

He covered the distance in an instant, swinging his longsword at my torso. I blocked with my 2 short swords but a cut still formed on my torso.

'How?' I grimaced, leaping back. My mana consumption increased due to his 'domain spell'; I had to use more mana to withstand the darkness mana interfering with my spells and mana control. 

This 'Domain' spell, why didn't Gramps teach me this before? I shook my head in annoyance. The gap in power had increased a lot now. It made me think: Could I really beat this demon king?

His Darkness magic was more effective in this room now, I could feel the potency of his mana increase tenfold in this domain. It was like it was buffing up all of his attacks.

I imbued both my blades in condensed mana and clashed with his long sword. We burst into a frenzy of sword strikes. The sound of metal bashing against each other filled the room and sudden waves of magic would cause scars to form on the Dungeon walls. 

"Is this all you've got?!" Lucifer shouted, mocking me. 

"Shut up!" 

'Gravity Zone'

I increased the Gravity 100 times making him struggle to move.

"Gravity Magic, Interesting."

I charged going in for the final kill but what happened next widened my eyes in shock. Why was I in the Gravity Zone and how was he charging towards me? 

Was this one of his visual prowess? We both had swapped places, but how? My visual prowess could only make me swap places with non-living objects. 

Thinking fast, I deactivated my Gravity Zone that was now acting on me and put both my blades in an X shape to block his lunge. 

-SHATTER

My eyes widened as I saw Voadhailis's Claws shatter into smithereens in front of me. His dark longsword pierced through my chest and I felt all my energy leave me. I began to feel lightheaded and spots of darkness filled up my vision.

"Your body is now mine. Good Night, Zeref Amara, The Lightning Candidate." He laughed sinisterly, his smile stretching from one ear to the other. 

"What was that? Saying your final wishes are you?" Lucifer mocked as I whispered something. 

Suddenly, reddish orange streaks of aura started to envelope my body and an unknown power that I had never felt before rose up from within my mana pool.

Dragonic Mana.

I kicked at his stomach, making him fly back and crashing into the Dungeon walls.

The 'Forma del Drago' spell finally activated. My left eye glowed golden yellow like Voadhailis's and red scales formed around my hands. I had around half of my mana pool left and using up both transformations was putting an extreme toll on my body.

Blitzing towards him, I threw a corkscrew punch towards his face but he gripped my fist in rage, blocking my punch. How was he still this strong?!

"You're lucky this is only 30% of my original power. If I had a real body you'd be dead by now." He roared in anger; his mana pressure increased with his words. He was finally using all his power.

Again we exchanged deadly blows with our fists, causing shockwaves to burst out with each one of our punches. My HP was dwindling and had already reached 30%.

I had to end this quickly, his mana looked to be finishing like mine too.

'Indra's Spear.'

Lightning snaked around my arm and concentrated in my palm. He did the same conjuring a concentrated darkness ball in his hands. 

We were inches away from contacting each other before he swapped places again with his longsword that I had run past.

SH*t!

He smiled devilishly, his darkness ball centimetres away from my back.

'Godspeed.'

Immediately, everything went black and white and froze in its place, the mana particles, Lucifer, everything froze.

I inhaled and exhaled deeply. I missed this feeling. It turned out that I had to break my promise with gramps.

Pivoting round I sliced down at Lucifer's throat severing his head from his body. It was unfortunate he didn't know I had several trump cards. 

Time went back to normal as all my mana had been depleted. Lucifer's body toppled over and I fell to my knees in exhaustion.

This was my hardest fight to date and this wasn't even the Demon King's full power. I truly was still weak.

"I'm gutted that we had to meet this way but I'm glad you became my heir. You did well, take care of my people will you; they've suffered enough without a leader already. Farewell."

Those were Lucifer's last words and his body perished into darkness particles, before entering my body.

[Congratulations! You have successfully cleared the Dungeon!]

[Quest: Lucifer's Lair has been Completed!]

[You have levelled up!]

[You have levelled up!]

[You have levelled up!]

[You have levelled up!]

[You have levelled up!]

…

[You have successfully completed the Hidden Quest: Lucifer's Descendant]

[Rewards will now be transferred to the host]

[You have gained the Title: Demon King]

[You have gained a new Stat Point: 'Influence']

[You have gained 'The True Demon eye']

[You have gained Lucifer's Special Skills]

I smiled at the last notification before an intense and excruciating pain rushed throughout my body.

I closed my eyes tightly shut and gritted my teeth until my consciousness faded.