[My power… Is the power of the Sun.]

Those words rang in my mind like a screeching bell. The Demon Sovereign was burning like a flaming torch, his entire body growing more resplendent by the second. Fireballs congregated around him and orbited the Demon Sovereign like planets orbiting the Sun. No, it wasn’t a metaphor.

Igni had become the Sun.

There was a reason for his near-infinite magic pool and endless energy source. The Demon Sovereign had evolved to house an entire star in his body, strong enough to match the Sun of our solar system and any other stars.

Calling the Demon Sovereign a living creature would be an insult. Right now, he is a living Sun.

Although I had the power to control everything in existence, I didn’t have a deep magic pool yet. Given enough time, I could increase my energy to reach the Hegemonic status of my future, but right now, I am still inferior to the Demon Sovereign.

[How interesting… How much did you have to sacrifice to reach this level? How many centuries, no, millennia, did it take to store this much energy?]

The Fire Giant paused momentarily and raised his burning hand to his chest. The balls of flame around him were drawn into the palm of his hand like a black hole, condensing into a miniature star once more.

[This… Is the wrath of the Demon race. The burden I carry on my shoulders.]

The Demon Sovereign turned the miniature star into a deadly beam of flaming light once more and sent it flying in my direction. The searing heat and intense pressure of the ray were enough to destroy entire planets and erase them from solar systems. And naturally, my Vampire body wouldn’t be capable of taking such an attack head-on. This was why I warped away again, dilating Spacetime and creating an empty space where I could hide.

While the first time came as a surprise to him, Igni was quick to adapt. Seeing that I warped away, he summoned even more ‘Suns’ behind him. A nebula of flaming balls coloured the dark and empty void of space, each one possessing enough energy to provide for the human race for a thousand years. But Igni had no intention of using that energy for good.

The Demon Sovereign threw one punch and consumed one ‘Sun,’ turning it into a planet-destroying death ray.

I was tempted to escape again, but that would defeat the purpose of this battle. I wanted to completely break Igni’s will and make the Demon race voluntarily surrender to me. And if I were to evade all of his attacks like a coward, I wouldn’t earn his respect.

Which was why I stood my ground.

Spacetime warped around me, creating a protective coat that was invisible to the naked eye. The death ray, which evaporated planets within seconds now, just passed through me as if I was an immaterial ghost and was warped to the other side of the barrier.

The Demon Sovereign saw my move and instantly bit down on his lips. He attempted to throw more punches at me, each with the power to decimate planets completely, but they were to no avail.

My Spacetime barrier warped all those attacks, and I didn’t even feel a breeze. Watching my defences stop his every move, the Demon Sovereign’s thoughts increasingly got agitated as he cursed at me.

[What burden do you carry?! What torment have you been through?! You’ve been tormenting our nightmares for thousands of years, and for what?! To enslave us?! To make us into your playthings?! I will never allow that!!!]

Igni threw everything he had with a righteous fury guiding his punches. I was a menace to the Demon race and an entity that had plagued their future. If I wasn’t eradicated, they would forever be tormented by my existence and memory.

They had sacrificed billions of Demons over the years. The Outer Demon invasion was remembered for the enormous human cost, but no one knew how many Demons had passed on. Not to mention, I’d kill all the Demon Lords they’d sent my way.

Their loss was exponentially worse than ours, therefore…

[I will end you and the eternal nightmare! I will reclaim the Demon race’s destiny!!!]

Igni exploded with the power of a thousand Suns as miniature stars decorated the void. Flames and stardust were absorbed into one extreme point, creating a singularity with crushing gravity and an infinite dread. The thousand Suns turned into a condensed neutron star, and white pulses rippled through the fabric of Spacetime.

I could feel my Spacetime barrier fluctuating as the neutron star grew in size, and the extremity of that stunning white scorching sphere was enough to throw alarm bells in my head.

The Demon Sovereign’s next attack… was something I couldn’t block.

p

And because of that… I was forced to act.

Awakening my Vampire Aspect fully and unlocking the power of control wasn’t just something that enhanced my existing abilities. It gave me a new outlook on how my power could be used. And what my power truly was.

I could control everything.

The Earth. The void of space. Stars in the galaxy… Even the galaxy, nay, the Universe itself.

I could manipulate it all.

Igni… Oh, Igni… If you had the power of the Sun.

I had the power of the whole Universe at my disposal…

[Galactic wind.]

I raised my hand and allowed my Vampire Aspect to do the rest. Glowing like a kaleidoscope, the circle on the back of my hand opened up a tear in the fabric of Spacetime. And inside the tear… was an entire galaxy.

A galaxy twice the size of the milky way. Fumes from dying nebulas gushed from the galaxy’s core and rushed out of the portal I’d created in the fabric of space. Just a fraction, a tiny fraction of the galactic wind was enough. The power of the spewing gas resulted in an intense amount of kinetic and thermal energy that was enough to turn a solar system into ashes.

The winds rushed out from the galactic halo and created a small nebula above our heads. It continued to grow and grow, even though I had closed the rip in Spacetime to prevent the entire galaxy from breaking through. And the energy in my hands now far surpassed that of any neutron star and possessed multiplicative more mass.

And that power was enough to burn Igni’s neutron star.

The galactic superwind violently crashed with the Demon Sovereign, blowing apart the neutron star and all of the conserved energy that he had. Tossed through the fabric of Spacetime, Igni lost much of his previous fire and was reduced to his original, Demon self. The clash of the two energies created a residue nebula the size of a thousand planets, painting the entire place with a beautiful blue, red and green. It was a mesmerising sight, to say the least.

But the Demon Sovereign couldn’t enjoy the same scenery as I did.

Huffing and panting, Igni’s entire body slumped in fatigue. Creating a neutron star was taxing enough, but he’d spent energy to resist my galactic wind. Even if he had a bottomless amount of magic power, it wouldn’t be enough to escape unscathed.

[You survived that? Colour me impressed.]

[… I threw a Sun at you, and you threw an entire galaxy. Are you mad?]

[You started it first.]

Exasperated by my reply, the Demon Sovereign cursed with a defeated sigh.

[… Uriel was right; I was insane to think that we could beat you in open battle.]

[Hoh? I’m curious, what did she say to you?]

[She said… If we didn’t stop your ascension and kill you before you had the chance to grow, we would stand no chance against you.]

[I see…]

The Goddess of Destiny did have a point. Against my control over the Universe, there was nothing the Demon Sovereign or the Goddess could do. Even if the Demon Sovereign had the power of a thousand exploding stars, it was far from enough to compare with my galactical power.

[I’m left with no other choice…]

[No other choice? Do you still have a trump card to play?]

[… Uriel, I leave the Demon race in your hands.]

Closing his eyes, the Demon Sovereign spread his arms out wide. Magic power erupted from every pore of his body, creating a pressure I’d never experienced before. It felt just like the gravity of a black hole but at the same time… It felt demoralising and dreadful.

The colours of his flames gradually shifted from orange to blue and then purple until finally… It reached a void black. The void black flames condensed into a singular point and turned into a supermassive black Sun.

This… I’d seen this before.

Cthulhu… Thanatos and now, Igni.

They were using the same power from the same root. The anti-magic that all Vampires and magical beings feared. But this was on a whole other level. Rather than becoming black goo like Cthulhu or black mist like Thanatos, the Demon Sovereign’s anti-magic was a black Sun.

An entity that devoured planets and changed the gravity of entire solar systems.

And all that power… Was consuming the Demon Sovereign.

Absorbing the black Sun back into his body, Igni had become the embodiment of anti-magic. Any Demon, let alone an entity like the Demon Sovereign, would have exhausted their lives just to house the black Sun. And with each passing second, I could feel Igni’s life force corroding away. Yet, the Demon Sovereign showed no signs of pain or agony. Instead, with a satisfied smile, he clenched his fist and sent a wave of black fire flying in my direction.

Usually, nothing could breach my Spacetime barrier. Even when Igni threw the energy of an entire star in my direction, it would have been warped away without harming a single hair on my body.

However, this black fire pillar was different. The moment it came into contact with my Spacetime barrier, my control over the fabric of space was voided, and I was forced to make an emergency teleport.

[This…]

I gulped, and for the first time since I’d warped into the Demon Realm… I felt danger. Looking back, I could see the Demon Sovereign smiling from ear to ear, unable to hold back his glee.

[Hegemon… This will be the place where we both die!]