Gonna Be a Demon King!
Chapter 93: Discordant Battle

Chapter 93: Discordant Battle

"Anyway, Sir Naephas. An angel soul fragment inside a human body, on a backwater planet like this..."

Naephas’ expression darkened slightly as Floch pointed out these details, and he clicked his tongue in disgust.

"I know. Although it was a tiny fragment—barely even a thousandth—it was definitely one of theirs."

There was a short silence between them before Naephas continued, giving an order.

"Draft a report and send it to Galactic Command. The angels are up to their funny business again."

"Yes, yes, yes," Floch responded, waving a hand lazily.

Then he muttered, "Seriously, those angels... finding talented demons, killing them, stealing their souls, purifying them and turning them into artificial angels..."

It was a method that not only killed rising demon talents, but flipped them to the angelic side in one brutal stroke.

And judging from the way they reacted, this wasn’t the first time the angels had pulled something like this.

But as Floch grumbled under his breath, he suddenly froze, realization dawning on him. He blinked rapidly, his gaze snapping to Naephas as he asked.

"Wait a second... I’m the one who has to draft the report to Galactic Command?!"

"Of course," Naephas responded instantly. "Who else?"

"No, wait—this is bullying! Abuse of power!" Floch cried, pointing an accusatory finger at Naephas.

"Why do I have to deal with Galactic Command?!"

The other demons in the bridge looked at Floch like he’d lost his mind for daring to even question Naephas’ orders, while the High-Rank demon simply raised an eyebrow at the accusation.

"Abuse of power? Last I checked, I was your superior by three Ranks. I gave you an order that falls perfectly within military protocol. Execute it."

Without waiting for any further complaints, Naephas stood and walked out of the bridge.

Floch watched him go, then dramatically fell to his knees, fists clenched. "Bullying! Bullying, I say!" he cried to the ceiling like a tragic actor in a terrible play.

Around him, the other demons manning the airship’s controls didn’t even flinch. They kept their eyes locked on their screens and instruments, hands moving as if they were doing something, even when they weren’t.

Not a single one dared even glance in his direction.

None of them wanted to be the poor fool he decided to drag into his theatrics.

◇　◇　◇

Across the sprawling ruins of Zlego and the battered landscapes beyond, the war raged on without mercy.

The skies, once blue, were now choked in a haze of smoke, fire, and streaks of magic energy flashing back and forth like falling stars.

The airships hovering above unleashed barrages of missiles that blasted craters into the earth upon impact, obliterating dozens to hundreds of Zorix natives with each impact.

Battalions of angels shot through the smoking skies, their weapons glowing with radiant light as they clashed with airborne demons in brutal mid-air skirmishes.

On the ground, the battle was a chaotic mesh of the different races involved.

To the east, in the broken shell of the area that once was Zlego’s outer regions, human knights and mages fought desperately alongside the elven warriors.

Magic shields protected them from the demonic energy-infused spells of the demons, while spells of light and poisoned arrows rained onto the swarming hordes of Low-Rank demons.

The humans and elves fought back-to-back, the defensive lines constantly shifting as each side sought to push forward but struggled under both the sheer numbers and intensity of attacks thrown at them.

Every few minutes, immense shockwaves would ripple out of the area as a captain rank demon or a human knight captain would engage in a fierce, localised duel, sending the bodies of any unfortunate nearby flying like ragdolls.

To the south, near the districts the merchants of Zlego once dominated, the angels stood their ground against the demons.

Shielded by hastily constructed barriers of light, their formations held strong despite the never-ending waves of flying and ground-based demons. Like the demons, some remained on the ground, pushing and clashing with the demons in melee range, while some hovered in the air, unleashing controlled bursts of searing white light that tore through enemy ranks.

Alas, the demons were not all brawn and no brains.

They began using stealth skills and magic while tunnelling underground, bursting up behind the angels’ defensive lines to strike from the rear.

This turned the south into a brutal grind where no side gave an inch without losing blood for it.

Meanwhile, the western front was just pure chaos. No other words could be used to describe it.

There, ragtag squads of humans, elves, and angels fought without any real coordination, their only unifying strategy being survival.

The sounds of weapons clashing and massive explosions ringing out every second drowned out any orders superior-ranked soldiers gave. The demon airships also concentrated fire on this region, spraying bullets of demonic energy-infused darkness upon all their enemies.

It was here that casualties piled highest on all sides, with skirmishes breaking out everywhere, commanding officers falling in battle, and elven-tamed monsters crushing demons under their massive feet.

Between the western front and a meat grinder, it was hard to tell which one was better at shredding bodies.

Above it all, the lesser demon generals gave orders from the airships, their focus split between commanding the battlefield and maintaining the protective barriers around their vessels, shielding them from the barrage of angelic light missiles that streaked toward them at regular intervals.

Despite the bloodshed and chaos of this battle, the defenders fought on, determined to drive the demons out of Zlego.

Because if Zlego fell completely, there would be absolutely nothing left to stop the demons from pouring into the cities beyond—and after that, the rest of the continent.

◇　◇　◇

In what was left of the streets of central Zlego, Xaren and Ilya cut through wave after wave of elven-tamed monsters that mindlessly charged at them.

The elves herding these monsters were long dead, but in a final act of resistance, they used magic to make the monsters go berserk, increasing all their Vitality, Strength, Agility and Durability, in exchange for all their Intelligence.

Xaren’s Unique Skill was constantly active, and with it, he created a steady localized gravitational downforce around his position, pinning monsters to the ground and freezing them in place long enough for Ilya to zap in, sever limbs and heads, before zapping out.

Not too far from them were familiar faces, Carack the fire demon and Bjorn the leopard demon beast.

The two duos had linked up sometime after Xaren devoured that strange angel’s soul, and they stuck together from then on, especially given how well their elemental abilities complemented each other.

Xaren used his Unique Skill to generate powerful downforces that, if they didn’t outright slam the humans and angels into the ground, at least slowed them to the point of near immobilisation.

Carack followed up by unleashing waves of flames that set these slowed enemies ablaze, while Ilya used her wind to spread and intensify the fire. Her wind blades also carved deep gashes into their bodies, making the pain of Carack’s flames searing their wounds all the more unbearable.

For the finisher, Bjorn slammed his fists into the ground, sending crackling arcs of lightning surging through the earth. The bolts raced along the ground like hungry serpents, striking the immobilised and burning enemies.