[Chapter 210: Triple Layered Attack]
Daniel gripped the Sword of Thunder and unleashed a simple, direct vertical slash. Before the blade even reached its target, majestic light energy pressed down like a mountain.
The Red-Faced Demon dared not meet it head-on. Its body flickered as it activated "Shadow Movement," attempting to melt into the suddenly thickening shadows in the corner to escape.
This was its gift -- like a fish in water within the "Otherworld." Though suppressed in the mortal realm, it remained elusive and hard to defend against.
"Hmph! You think you can get away?" Daniel snorted coldly.
"Seven Lamps bear witness. By celestial authority, let every shadow be bound."
His left hand formed a seal and pointed toward the darkness.
A radiant phantom of the Seven Lamps materialized overhead, each star releasing a pale shaft of celestial light that descended like sacred lances.
The beams struck the shadows, pinning them in place.
In an instant, the darkness froze, and the surrounding space seemed to solidify under the weight of the celestial judgment.
The Red-Faced Demon's Shadow Movement was abruptly interrupted. It stumbled from the shadows, eyes flashing with shock.
Daniel's greatsword flowed from a vertical slash into a powerful sweep, aiming for its waist.
"Lava Scale Armor!" the demon roared, crimson scales glowing brightly as they absorbed the strike.
"Clang--!!"
The clash of metal echoed through the house. The Sword of Thunder struck the scales, erupting in blinding sparks and surging energy.
Though the armor remained intact, its tremendous impact sent the demon hurtling sideways.
Boom!
The Red-Faced Demon crashed through the wall and flew out into the garden.
"Damn!"
It flipped over midair, revealing fine cracks and a white mark on its chest scales. Hellfire flickered within the fractures, healing the damage.
Enraged, it slammed its hands into the ground. "Die!"
The solid floor beneath Daniel instantly turned muddy and viscous like a swamp. Countless pitch-black arms formed from shadows and resentment clawed at his ankles.
At the same time, the walls seemed to breathe -- bloody tentacles snaked out, corrosive slime dripping from the ceiling.
The entire room became a writhing, malevolent living cage.
This was no mere illusion -- the Red-Faced Demon forcibly twisted local reality, shaping a Domain.
"A trivial trick... and you presume to use it against me?" Daniel scoffed, bringing his foot down with force.
By sealed authority, let the ward anchors awaken. Stabilize the four quarters!
Hum!
The ward anchors concealed beneath the house resonated as one.
The site's spiritual currents surged upward beneath Daniel's feet like a mighty tide, coursing through the entire ward array.
The sanctified power swept outward in every direction.
The shadowy arms and blood-soaked tentacles dissolved on contact, melting away like frost beneath the morning sun before the overwhelming spiritual force.
The twisted space smoothed out forcibly.
The ward's power clashed with the demon's Domain, producing a deafening creak.
"You won't kill me!"
Hellfire blazed wildly in the demon's eyes. Two solidified dark red beams of destruction shot straight at Daniel.
Wherever the beams passed, space froze and shattered inch by inch, revealing warped darkness behind -- a terrifying attack cursed with instant death.
Its intent: to completely dismantle Daniel from Soul to matter.
Suddenly, Daniel's massive form slid half a step to the side with extraordinary agility.
At the same time, lightning surged through the Sword of Thunder.
By heaven's decree and earth's foundation, let the sacred pattern be realigned.
The dark red beams slammed into the sword, which exploded in lightning.
"Snap!"
Under the lightning's force, the beams recoiled.
"What?!"
The Red-Faced Demon hadn't expected this move and was stunned as part of its own beam grazed its left shoulder.
"Sizzle--!!!"
Despite its Lava Scale Armor, its shoulder was scorched into a charred, smoking hole by its cursed power, Devilish energy leaking wildly.
"Roar!"
The demon howled in agony and fury.
Its malevolent aura flared, demonic flames surging as it entered a frenzy.
Speed and power exploded; it abandoned all technique and charged at Daniel like a runaway locomotive.
"Good! Let's finish this!"
Daniel took a deep breath, his body glowing like a small sun.
He no longer dodged, sinking slightly into a powerful counter-attack stance.
But just before impact, a sneer curved on his lips.
His always-empty left hand pressed down toward the ground.
Ward array... activate. Triple Evil-Slaying Protocol.
Daniel looked at the Red-Faced Demon with a faint smile.
"Did you really think that was my only ward?"
The second layer... Skyfire Ward, awaken!
Hidden beneath the fractured floor, the Blazing Sun Seals and Sacred Flame Seals flared to life.
A torrent of consecrated solar fire erupted from every direction, weaving itself into a blazing prison around the Red-Faced Demon.
Though it could not rival the Sacred Flame of Judgment, its radiant power was anathema to corruption.
The relentless holy fire scorched the fiend's infernal body, weakening its strength and disrupting its senses and movement.
The Fivefold Dominion Ward... awaken!
At the four corners of the house and its center, five ward anchors resonated simultaneously.
Each embodied one of the Five Sacred Principles -- Air, Spirit, Water, Fire, and Earth.
Air cut through corruption with invisible force.
Spirit unraveled and dispelled unholy power.
Water cleansed defilement wherever it spread.
Fire fed the holy blaze, intensifying its judgment.
Earth anchored the entire array, binding and suppressing all within its reach.
The five radiant streams intertwined into a single consecrated lattice, converging with the Skyfire Ward to form an inescapable prison.
This was Daniel's full preparation as a Radiant Sovereign of the Lesser Ascendant Order, combining his own Exorcism and Ward expertise.
A single ward couldn't contain the demon -- but a triple chain layered one on top of another was designed to counter such evils.
"Roar, roar, roar--!!!"
The Red-Faced Demon thrashed wildly, engulfed by flames and the five-colored net.
It sprayed sulfurous breath and clawed furiously at the lights.
It even tried a "Sacrificial Channel" as a final desperate move.
But the Living Earth power firmly stabilized the space.
True Water purified chaotic energy, blocking its self-destruct or channel opening attempts.
Its scales peeled away under the beating solar fire and elemental power.
Its form shrank and grew increasingly illusory.
"It's over."
Daniel stepped into the ward.
He raised the radiant Sword of Thunder.
With thunder, sweep away the evil! With true fire, burn the demonic soul! Command!
The Sword of Thunder, carrying upright celestial thunder power, along with the Seven Lamps star power and Golden Aegis Rite, pierced the demon's dark red energy core -- the concentrated Devilish energy and curses pulsing in its chest.
Pfft!
No earth-shattering explosion occurred, just silent disintegration.
Starting from its core, the demon's body turned to the finest ash.
"This... this is impossible. How can this be?"
The Red-Faced Demon stared at its disintegrating body, disbelief coloring its face.
"Faced with death and still denying reality, I truly pity you," Daniel said, his voice booming like thunder, filled with killing intent.
The demon's voice weakened. "Lord Ram... will not let you off."
Daniel replied, "You said the trap you set for me in the Otherworld was meant to force my Soul to undergo Astral Projection to Hell?"
Red-Faced Demon: 'You've already... guessed it. Why bother asking?'
*****
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