The air in the lower Lust Ring shimmered with neon haze and distant thunder. riots, brawls, gang skirmishes, and the usual chaos of the outer districts. Perfect.
Exactly the kind of environment Malerion needed.
His breakthrough still pulsed inside him, the four Echo Rings drifting around his core in hypnotic, deliberate rotation. The Fourth Ring had changed everything. his resonance deeper, heavier, sharper. His body stronger. His awareness expanded like a second skin wrapped around the world.
He needed to test it.
And the quickest way?
A real fight.
Behind him, his inner circle followed in a tight formation:
Quill, adjusting his runic stabilizer gauntlets, eyes bright with manic curiosity.
Donnie, calm and calculating, scanning every corner for potential threats.
Dreg, towering and silent, his arms crossed like twin steel pillars.
Liza, the nimble and dangerously observant subcubus, rolling her shoulders with excitement.
Imps Skit and Bit, armed with their scavenged gear, chattering nervously but ready.
They were all armed, all prepared.
They knew Malerion wanted a battlefield.
And in the Lust Ring, finding one was insultingly easy.
A Street on Fire
They reached the district known as Rust Veil half-abandoned factories, half-territory warzone. Two gangs were tearing each other apart, bullets flying in chaotic arcs, homemade explosives lighting the skies with pink sparks.
Perfect chaos.
Perfect testing ground.
Dreg stepped forward.
"Malerion. Want us to clear a path?"
Malerion shook his head slowly.
"No. Today is training. Every one of you will fight. I'll handle whatever reaches me."
Quill let out a hysterical laugh.
"Oh, hell yes. I've been waiting for this! Let's see how the new resonance behaves under violence."
Donnie elbowed him.
"Focus, genius."
Liza stretched her arms and cracked her neck, hungry for movement.
"I could use a warm-up."
Skit and Bit swallowed hard.
"Uh… we're ready! Probably!"
Malerion stepped forward, placing his hand on the cracked concrete.
And the world answered.
His Power Ignites
The Fourth Ring pulsed
a low, seismic hum
that rippled through the ground
and up his spine.
Malerion let the new power unfurl:
Resonance Flow, strengthening his muscles beyond anything mortal or demonic.
Harmonic Sense, mapping every heartbeat within a hundred meters.
Echo Displacement, letting his steps blur like broken soundwaves.
Elemental Phase, shifting parts of his body into living vibration.
His team felt it.
All of them.
Dreg blinked. "Boss… your aura feels heavier."
Donnie muttered, "More refined. Controlled, but… dangerous."
Quill grinned wildly.
"This is ART."
Malerion didn't speak.
He simply walked straight toward the battlefield.
The First Clash
A stray gang demon spotted him and aimed a rifle.
"YOU LOST, PRETTY BOY?!"
The demon fired.
Malerion didn't move.
The bullet bent mid-air caught in a soft, invisible ripple of sound and fell harmlessly to the ground.
The shooter froze.
"What the?!"
Malerion raised a finger and flicked the air.
A focused pulse of compressed vibration slammed into the demon's chest, launching him backward into a broken vending machine.
Quill whistled.
"Non-lethal, clean, minimal energy usage… You're terrifying."
Liza dashed past him, flipping between bullets, kicking another demon square in the jaw.
Donnie moved like a ghost among the chaos, disabling shooters with efficient strikes.
Skit and Bit stuck to cover, providing chaotic but enthusiastic fire support.
And Dreg simply walked forward, tanking bullets like they were soft rain.
Malerion watched his team
how they moved,
how they coordinated,
how his resonance subtly strengthened them simply by existing close.
Good.
They were improving.
Time to push himself.
A Stronger Opponent Appears
From the far end of the street, a larger demon emerged btowering, muscled, covered in demonic tattoos that flared with red magic.
A minor warlord.
The brute cracked his knuckles.
"You the one messing with my turf?"
Malerion stepped forward calmly.
"You're the strongest one here?"
A grin.
"Damn right."
"Good," Malerion said. "I wanted a challenge."
The demon charged with ground-shaking force
Malerion disappeared and reappeared behind him
"Too slow."
A resonance burst struck the warlord's spine, staggering him.
The demon spun with a roar and swung a punch the size of a sledgehammer.
Malerion shifted
his arm dissolving into sound
the punch passing through harmlessly.
Gasps erupted from his team.
Then Malerion re-solidified, grabbed the demon's wrist, and twisted.
Bones cracked like splintering wood.
The warlord screamed.
Malerion pulled him closer, and
slammed the demon into the ground so hard the pavement fractured.
The demon didn't move anymore and after a while he stopped breathing.
Aftermath
Silence.
Only neon lights hummed.
His team regrouped around him. breathing hard, bruised, flushed with adrenaline.
Liza smirked.
"That was fun."
Donnie wiped blood from her lip.
"We handled ourselves well."
Quill scribbled notes wildly.
"I've recorded everything. Data looks beautiful."
Dreg grunted.
"You've become stronger. Much stronger."
Skit raised his hand.
"Boss… you looked like you weren't even trying."
Runt added nervously,
"Are… are you gonna get even stronger?"
Malerion looked toward the distant city skyline
the neon tower tips,
the smog clouds,
the countless lives buzzing with chaos and sin.
"Yes," he said simply.
"Much stronger."
And inside his soul, the Fourth Ring pulsed
steady, hungry,
ready for the next evolution.