Astaroth was a charming man with the lower body of a bird and a pair of feathered wings behind his back. Like any other High Class Demons, he also had a pair of horns on his forehead, and wore Vanadium Armour.

"You still come despite knowing your doom, human?"

"It would still come at me even if I didn't anyway—do you think I have a choice?"

Astaroth laughed deeply, then got down from his Chimera—a lion with a goat head, a pair of dragon wings, and a serpent as its tail . "Ha-ha-ha! That's a good answer."

Caressing the head of the serpent on his left hand, he looked at Basil in curiosity. "You are aware of your doom, but you don't seem scared, human." He hummed to himself, then caressed the head of his Chimera. "Don't I scare you?"

"Yes, you do." Basil smirked, then pointed his sword at Astaroth. "However, my fear of losing my heart is greater."

"Your heart?" Puzzlement decorated Astaroth's face, before his eyes lit up in understanding. "Oh, that female human is your heart. You are an interesting individual, Basil."

Astaroth extended his left hand forward, and the serpent on said hand quickly wrapped around his arm like an armband before turning into a jadeite. Astaroth's aura became even stronger, but Basil didn't even flinch at the Mana influx.

Astaroth smiled sadly. "I would like to have a chat with you—you seem like someone who understands number well—but I have to end you here. Unlike you, humans, I always fulfil my promise, after all."

Basil tightened his hold on his sword, and infused his Qi into it at the same moment Astaroth gathered his Demonic Mana on the tip of his finger. When their attack was ready, both of them released their attack at the same time.

BOOM!

A powerful Demonic Mana clashed with a well processed Qi, blowing everything in the surrounding of where the two energy came from away.

A suppressive aura soon overwhelmed the entire area inside the massive Magic Barrier, stopping the battle inside temporarily.

"This is..."

"This is the power clash between a Violet Core Knight and an Obelisk Master."

Everyone would be lying if they said they weren't awed by what they saw. Such a powerful clash between power wasn't something they could see everyday, after all.

Although all of them were Mages, joining Henosis had allowed them to realize that Mages weren't always on top when it came to power. Therefore, all of them could easily appreciate Basil's prowess.

"Not just any Violet Core Knight—"

"This is Basil, my man," Iliana added proudly.

Of course, no matter how excited they were at Basil's display, they didn't forget the problem in front of them. Focusing their attention to the battle once again, they rained their attacks on every Demon their eyes could see.

Thrust!

Iliana sent her spear forward, piercing the chest of an Orc Warrior in front of her. She then immediately swung her spear to the side, and successfully bisecting a Plucker, who had been sneaking on her.

Channeling Mana to her feet, she kicked the ground, and floated in the air with the help of Wind Magic. Gallantly pointing her spear at the Demons below her, she condensed her Mana on the tip of her spear before sending it to them.

"[Hill Piercer]!"

Flash!

Iliana's Art didn't produce a sound at its activation; it only produced a dense trail of light in the air. It moved so fast that in the blink of an eye, a nightmarish scene was produced ... For the Demons.

Boom!

Iliana's attack encompassed an area of 2 square meters that was heavily packed with Demons. Her attack obliterated them all, and created a 4 meters deep crater on the ground.

Uncaring to what she had done, she pointed her spear towards another area that was also heavily packed with Demons, and did the same thing. She kept sending them the same attack until she deemed it was enough.

"Huuh... My Magic Circles are almost exhausted." Iliana glanced at her seven Grand Circles that were shining intensely. "I hope they can still work well until Basil ended that bastard."

Her heart was beating like crazy, and for the first time, she didn't know how to calm it down. She was scared at thought of not being able to meet Basil again, and she was trying hard to distract her mind from that thought by concentrating on the Battle.

p "Though, I know Basil will be okay. He's my toughest disciple, after all." She got down from the air, then faced herself to the left. "I don't know whether I can survive this ordeal," she muttered as she saw Eugene with his 10 personal Paladins behind him.

"You are going to die here, Iliana, and Basil might also meet his doom because of you."

"You better prepare yourself, Eugene. The moment you kill me, Basil will already have your heart in his hand." Iliana snorted coldly.

Eugene quirked his eyebrow at first, but he couldn't hold his laugh back in the end. "HA-HA-HA! Basil? Killing me? Ku-ku-ku ... That will be impossible, Iliana." Eugene's eyes flashed coldly. "You know what I am capable of, don't you?"

"Let us bet on the future Basil, then."

"Ah, you are always like this ... I'm sick of it!" Eugene swept the air angrily. "There was a time where I truly loved you, but you always put your eyes on that useless boy, Basil. What do I lack, Iliana? None! But, why—why did you choose him, not me?!"

Iliana quirked her eyebrow, then laughed in amusement. "So, this is all about your unrequited love? Ludicrously stupid." She scoffed coldly.

"Yeah, it was." Eugene nodded his head calmly. "But not anymore. The moment I lost my love for you is the moment I decided to kill you as a sinner. You could've accepted me and live, Iliana. But, no. You chose that kid over me."

As he gestured at the Paladins behind him, Eugene gritted his teeth. "Blame your choice, not me, Iliana ... Execute her." The moment the word was uttered, all of the Paladins quickly dashed at Iliana.

Iliana merely smirked at the Paladins, and took all of them head on. When they met in the middle, the moment the first Paladin's sword clashed with Iliana's spear, the rare moment of Mana clashing against Miracle occured.

Boom!

On the other side, although Basil couldn't actually feel Mana, he could tell someone's presence from their Mana. Therefore upon sensing the familiar presence, Basil couldn't help turning his head towards Iliana's direction.

"That bastard Eugene!"

"Do you think it's okay to look away from your battle?"

Astaroth suddenly appeared in front of Basil, sending a punch at him. He could see it coming clearly, but overwhelmed with his rage, he merely glared at Astaroth and took the punch with his forehead.

"Oh, did I just poke a hornet's nest?" Astaroth tilted his head to the side in puzzlement.

Basil's forehead bled, and the blood was quickly covering one of his eyes. Despite so, he kept glaring at Astaroth as if he could kill said Demon with his glare.

Said Demon wanted to move away from Basil—he knew Basil's expression was not a good sign—but he couldn't retract his hand at all.

"You have a nice grip."

"You will die here, Astaroth."

With his left hand strongly grasping Astaroth's hand, Basil swung his sword at Astaroth's right arm with his right hand.

Slash!

Spurt!

Astaroth's arm was cut off, and blue blood immediately gushed out profusely from the open wound. Bewilderment naturally decorated Astaroth's face, but a manic grin appeared on his face in the next moment.

"Let's have some fun, Basil Cobham!"

"Let's play a game of who dies first, Astaroth!"

Basil, overwhelmed with rage, looked at Astaroth with a bloodthirsty grin then swung his sword at said Demon. Astaroth, overwhelmed with excitement, looked at Basil with his manic grin, and blocked Basil's sword with his left hand.

Clank!

Since he had covered his hand with Demonic Mana, Astaroth could somehow lessen the damage Basil's sword inflicted upon his hand, therefore Basil's sword didn't manage to cut through it.

In the next moment, the armband on Astaroth's left arm shone, and a dense amount of Qi exploded outward. Basil was aware that the Qi belonged to him, therefore he didn't dodge the explosion, and kept attacking Astaroth.

"Aren't you afraid of death, human?!"

"My power can never hurt me!"

"Hah! How ludicr—what is this?!"

Clank!

Much to Astaroth's bewilderment, the explosion of Qi really did nothing on Basil. It passed through him as if knowing that it was originally his, and thus it wasn't allowed to hurt him.

Of course, the thing that really bewildered Astaroth was the fact that Basil's sword was close to cut his head off. If not for the fact that he had a neck armor on him, his head would have flown away.

As the alarm inside his head went off, Astaroth immediately channeled his Demonic Mana to the place where his right arm had supposed to be, and regrew a new arm. Quickly moving his hand, he slapped Basil's sword away.

Clank!

"You are good, human. However, you have to be better to kill me!"

Astaroth glared at Basil angrily, but Basil didn't pay any attention to him. He merely dashed at Astaroth with his fully Strengthened body, and materialized many weapons in the air with his Aura Ability: [Blade Forger].

Countless of swords powered with his Qi were sent at Astaroth, and Astaroth took them head on while covering his entire body with a Magic Barrier.

Clank! Clank!

Although none of Basil's swords could pierce through the Magic Barrier, they had successfully made it falter. Therefore, the moment Basil's sword clashed against Astaroth's Magic Barrier, he could easily cut through it.

Slash!

The moment the Magic Barrier was ripped apart, the battling human and Demon could finally face against each other directly once again.

"Human!"historical

"Astaroth!"

Astaroth had a black ball of condensed Miasma on his left hand, and Basil had his highest level Technique, [Synchronization], activated. The moment the two clashed, an absurd pressure descended upon the entire area inside the massive Magic Barrier.

BOOM!

Half of Astaroth's body was blown away due to Basil's attack, and half of Basil's armor was destroyed due to Miasma Ball. Along with that, Basil also had a Curse inflicted upon his Core thanks to the Miasma.

Basil stood from the ground, and threw a mouthful of blood. "Kuhak! This bastard ... His Curse is draining my Qi from my Core." Looking at Astaroth, who was lying motionlessly on the ground not far away from him, he exclaimed, "It's my win, Astaroth!"

Although he had basically made a history as the first man to ever defeat an Obelisk Master by himself, Basil didn't have a bright expression on his face.

"Ah, you are strong, human. Ku-ku-ku..." Astaroth laughed merrily, as if he didn't feel any pain from his injuries. "However, can you call it your win?"

Basil frowned at first, but his eyes immediately widened in surprise the moment he remembered what he had momentarily forgotten. "Iliana!"

He couldn't feel her presence any longer.