The silence after the witches' revelation was brief.
The ground trembled, deep and unrelenting. The chamber—already weakened from the battle—split apart, and from the abyssal depths beneath, a surge of unholy energy erupted.
Kol recognized the shift immediately.
"Move!" he commanded, but it was already too late.
The second seal shattered.
A deafening boom tore through reality itself as the air rippled with power far older and darker than anything they had faced before. The flames of the defeated beast extinguished instantly, smothered beneath a greater force.
And then—they stepped through the rift.
Two towering figures, each clad in ancient, cracked hell-forged armor, emerged from the darkness. Their presence was suffocating, their sheer aura pressing down on the battlefield like an ocean crashing over a single drowning soul.
The Devil's Knights.
They were the Knights of death, bound in service to the true Devil. Their names were unknown, but their power? Undeniable.
One stepped forward, his obsidian blade resting against his shoulder. His voice was like gravel grinding against steel.
"Demon King." His gaze fixed on Kol. "You are unworthy of the crown you wear. We have come to take it back."
The second, cloaked in the shadows of the abyss, laughed, his voice slithering through the room. "And the rest of you? You're nothing more than insects beneath our feet."
Without hesitation—they attacked.
Kol barely had time to react before the first Knight lunged. His sword, blackened by the flames of the underworld, crashed down with such force that the ground buckled beneath them.
Kol caught the strike with his fist, but even he felt the impact rattle through his bones. Sparks and Black Thunder exploded from the collision.
"Not bad, boy." The Knight grinned, pressing harder. "But you'll need more than that."
Kol vanished, reappearing behind him, his fist coated in crackling Black Thunder. The moment he struck, the very air shattered, the force of his blow ripping through the chamber walls.
The Knight stumbled, but he did not fall. Instead, he laughed.
Kol's eyes narrowed.
This fight wasn't going to be easy.
Elizabeth clashed against the second Knight, her divine power burning like a star against the darkness. Every strike of her golden blade met the Knight claws, their battle shaking the ruins around them.
She pushed forward, her attacks relentless—but the Knight anticipated every move.
Then—his hand lashed out.
Faster than she could react, he slammed his clawed hand into her stomach, piercing straight through.
Elizabeth gasped, her breath caught in her throat.
With a sickening rip, the Demon Lord tore his hand free, sending her body crashing against the stone floor, blood splattering across the ground.
Dain, Orin, and Valen intervened.
"Elizabeth!"
Dain roared, launching himself at the Knight. His fists, each capable of crushing mountains, collided with the Knight's body, sending shockwaves through the room.
Orin teleported behind, his twin daggers slashing across the Demon's throat, while Valen's infernal chains wrapped around its limbs, attempting to tear it apart.
But the Demon Lord shrugged them off as if they were children.
"Pathetic." He lashed out, his claws tearing open Dain's arm, while a single wave of his hand sent Orin and Valen flying into the stone pillars.
Bleeding and battered, Elizabeth struggled to her feet, her divine energy flickering as she heals herself.
They were losing.
Jacob and Brad vs. The Witches
While the Knights tore through Kol's allies, the witches worked tirelessly at the ritual site, their hands raised toward the final seal.
Jacob and Brad intercepted them, blades clashing with cursed magic.
Jacob's sword, fueled by divine fire, sliced through one of the witches' dark tendrils, but the remaining sorcerers retaliated instantly.
A wave of shadow magic surged forward, slamming into Jacob's chest. He gritted his teeth, but the pain was unlike anything he had felt before—like his very soul was being torn apart.
Brad fought beside him, his own blade carving through the air, but the witches were too many, too powerful.
The seal continued to crack.
Kol saw it all.
His siblings wounded.
Elizabeth still standing.
Jacob and Brad overwhelmed.
And the witches winning.
Kol Unleashes His True Power
Something inside Kol snapped.
The power he had restrained, the power transferred from Owen's blood began to erupt from his body.
The Black Thunder that crackled around him turned pure abyssal black, the very air screaming as reality itself began to twist. His horns, the true mark of the Demon King, fully emerged, and his eyes burned with a dark crimson light.
The first Knight unmoved.
Kol grinned—feral, monstrous, unforgiving.
And then he vanished.
In the next instant, the first Knight's arm was gone, severed in a flash of black lightning. The ancient warrior howled, but Kol was already moving.
His foot crashed into the second Knight's chest, sending him spiraling backward.
His siblings turned to witness his transformation.
Kol stood tall, the air shaking around him.
"You wanted the true Demon King?" His voice was no longer human—it was a force of nature.
"Then let me show you what that means."
The Final Seal Cracks
But as Kol prepared to unleash hell upon the Knights
The final seal began to break.
A deep, inhuman voice rumbled from the abyss, filling the chamber with an unspeakable terror.
The Devil's shadow began to emerge.
The world itself seemed to darken, the very fabric of existence trembling as something ancient and unstoppable began to awaken.
The Knights laughed.
"You're too late."
Kol stared into the abyss—and the abyss stared back.