Unrivaled Demon's Odyssey
Chapter 16 - Immortality

"What shall I do with you?" Nero cracked his fists as he approached Darius.

Darius grabbed his sword and dashed at the angel, then aimed the tip of the sword to the angel's neck.

"If you come any closer, I will chop her neck into two," Darius said, burying the sword into the angel's neck.

"Don't you dare!"

"Then just back up if you don't want me to do that."

"A mere weapon can't affect an angel."

"Oh? Is that so? You look panicked enough."

'I can't even cast a barrier as his sword is piercing Sophi's neck.' Nero clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.

"Fine, first take of that sword and move away from here."

"I won't do that. Do you think I am a fool like you?"

'Only if he lifts his sword—even a little bit, I can cast a barrier' Nero was clenching his fists so hard that he had started bleeding.

"Listen, mortal. I was planning to kill you slowly."

"I was going to skin you alive and slowly chop you into pieces and feed 'you' to you. But if you throw that sword, I will give you a painless death," Nero growled.

Darius couldn't kill Sophia even if he wanted to, because if he did, he would lose his only ticket to get out of here. And Nero would have given him the most painful death possible.

"Did you really threatened me when 'I' am threatening you?"

Nero's fury was indescribable; he was barely holding his anger.

"Would you step back, or do I need to chop some angel here?"

"Fine, fine!" Nero then remembered his promise to Emilia.

'What about her revenge? If I let this mortal go now, I am not sure when will I catch him again, and if I don't step back, he will kill Sophia'

"It's fine!" Emilia shouted. "We will step back, so let her go."

"Oh! Look who is speaking. The slutty angel who sold herself to the devil," Darius insulted Emilia.

Emilia was already scared, and her body trembled with fear, but she stepped out to help Nero.

Nero glanced at Emilia, then looked at Darius and said, "Let her go now."

"How should I believe you won't do anything to me?"

"I promise I won't do anything to you." Nero planned to rip him alive as soon as he stepped away from Sophia.

"Oh? Devil's promise? Well, no. I don't believe anyone in this world."

"Evil expect evil, huh?"

"Damn right!" Darius looked at Emilia and said with a smirk on his face, "Come here."

Emilia didn't move and looked at Nero.

"I said come here!"

Emilia slowly walked to Darius. As soon as Emilia was near Darius, Darius stood up and grabbed Emilia from behind, then placed his sword on Emilia's neck.

"Hehe!" Darius dragged Emilia to the door with him, then stopped.

"Let, Emilia, go," Nero warned.

Darius smirked and shouted, "A foolish demon and a naive angel!"

Darius kicked Emilia and then swung his sword to chop Emilia's head.

SLASH!

It all happened in a matter of seconds.

"You…! Haha!" Darius laughed. "You really are a foolish demon!"

Darius ran away through the door. As soon as he passed through the door, his body shined and he disappeared into thin air. 

When Darius swung his sword to cleave Emilia's head, Nero jumped in between, and his neck got decapitated, but there was no sign of blood. Nero couldn't use any of his attacks as Darius was using Emilia as a shield, and all that happened in a matter of seconds so the only thing Nero could think of is to physically attack Darius. But since his body and powers were still unstable because of the seals, when he tried to use his godspeed, he ended up running faster than he thought and got his head sliced.

Emilia dropped to her knees in shock as Nero's head rolled to her. Tears trailed down like rain from her eyes as she looked at Nero's face. She moved her trembling hands towards Nero's head, grabbed it, and then slowly moved it to her chest to hug it.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Emilia heard a voice.

Emilia threw Nero's head in shock.

"Ow! It hurts. Why would you do that?"

"Why are you… are you a ghost?"

"No, I am a demon. And… it seems… I really have become an immortal."

"You are alive?" Emilia asked as he wiped her tears.

"I guess… I am?"

Emilia once again moved her hands to grab Nero's head.

"Uhh… can you… see where my rest of the body is?"

Emilia glanced around and spotted Nero's body.

"Yeah," she sobbed.

"Can you either bring my body here or turn my face towards it so I can control it?"

Emilia picked up Nero's head and put it on her lap.

"Can you really see everything? Emilia questioned.

"Yeah," Nero's body started walking towards Emilia.

"How are you controlling your body?"

"No idea. This is my first time getting my head chopped like this."

Nero's body picked up his head and fixed it on his neck. The flesh and the skin attached like it was never cut.

Emilia stood up and touched Nero's face.

"Did it hurt?" she asked with a concerned look on her face.

"Nothing hurts me— hey! Would you stop touching me like that?!"

Emilia was touching Nero's face like a cat playing with a ball. She stopped and looked into Nero's eyes before saying, "You saved me again."

"I wasn't trying to save you or anything," Nero turned around and said with a sigh, "I was just trying to send his head flying with a punch. But as soon as he let you go, he swung his sword… the time was too little to… and my body was unstable, so..."

Nero was already confused enough about his immortality. 'How and when did it happen?'

"So you are saying you tripped when you tried to run, and—"

"No!" Nero turned back to Emilia and slowly moved forward as Emilia walked backward while staring into Nero's eyes— but stopped when she hit the wall.

Nero pushed Emilia against the wall and said in a solemn voice, "I can be anything, but not stupid."

"I didn't call you stupid, and…." Emilia's face flushed as she closed her eyes, "You are too close."

Nero exhaled sharply and walked to the center of the chamber.

"Why didn't you snap?" Emilia asked.

Nero didn't reply and glanced at the angel lying on the ground.

"If you had snapped, then you could have killed him… right?"

Nero took a deep breath and looked at Emilia.

"He and…" Nero pointed his gaze at Brax's headless body and said, "They both had drank your blood. Even if you are half-angel, your blood can make a normal human invulnerable and strong for a certain period of time."

Emilia looked at Nero with a puzzled but calm face.

"In other words, they were as strong as you for some time. I have already said that my snap doesn't do anything. It's just a trigger to unleash my power. The stronger the enemy, the harder I need to snap. There is nothing I can't defeat; there never was… and I don't think there is one now who can rival me."

Nero's snap doesn't direct to a certain individual, but it directs to a certain limit of power the individual consists. So far, Nero was snapping according to the power level of the demons, who were the weakest in Nero's opinion. He was too powerful to control his power, and currently, his powers were unstable because of his dead cores.

But Darius and Brax had drank Emilia's blood, which made them more powerful than a normal human, so Nero would have needed to snap harder according to Darius' power level. But if Nero had snapped, it would have endangered not only Emilia's life but also Sophia's.

Emilia slowly walked to Nero and held his hand.

"What are you doing?" Nero asked.

"What… what would have happened if you had snapped?" Emilia asked.

"You might have also died. And besides…" Nero looked at the angel and said with a gentle smile on his face, "I can't let Sophi's life be in danger."

"I would have died?"

"You would have been wiped out from existence," Nero shot a bitter smile at Emilia. "I am far too strong. And now…. for some reason, I am immortal."

"Talk about ironic," Nero scoffed.

Nero looked at Emilia and noticed she looked sad and disappointed.

'Is this because I let that mortal go?' Nero was convinced that Emilia was no different than the people who used Nero and then betrayed him.

"If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have gotten hurt, or he wouldn't have run away."

Nero's eyes widened in surprise as he chuckled and patted Emilia's head.

"It wasn't your fault. I was sealed for a long time, and my body and powers are still unstable, so that's the only reason that mortal was able to escape. But don't worry, he couldn't have gone far, I—"

The chamber started rumbling.

"What's happening?" Emilia questioned.

After some seconds, the rumbling stopped.

"Even if I had chased him, or tried to risk yours and Sophi's life by attacking him, he would have survived because of the prison realm. The route was cleared as soon as Sophi's seal broke, and the guards were awakened."

"So we can't replace him now?"

"Of course we can. But first, we need to get out of here."

Nero closed his eyes and raised his hands in the air.

"Are you trying to open some portal?" Emilia asked curiously.

"No, I am trying to reset my soul cores. Can you keep an eye on Sophi?"

Emilia watched Nero as he began muttering something.

After about ten minutes, Nero opened his eyes and found Emilia still standing on the same spot and staring at him.

'Idiot,' Nero walked to the angel and picked her up as he carried her in his arms.

"Let's go now."

They left the chamber and walked forward— suddenly, the scenery changed, and it turned into a giant arena.

"Are we out?" Emilia asked.

"No," Nero shook his head as he let out a big sigh.

"What's this place?"

"Two seals were broken from the prison realm. So that means…." Nero glanced at the right and saw a colossal titan standing. Then Nero looked to his left and saw a colossal statue holding a huge spear and a gigantic sword.

"... two guards to fight." Nero sighed.

Nero would have easily chase after Darius, but he couldn't. Darius wasn't sealed in the prison realm, so he could leave just by passing through the door— although he himself wasn't aware of that because they never tried to leave the chambers they entered. They just kept moving forward and never looked back.

While Nero was sealed in the prison realm, he had to defeat the guards to leave this place. So chasing after Darius was pointless as he was transported to the entry of the dungeons soon as he passed through the chamber's door.