Malik sent a blast of white fire—not the full thing, just a taste—straight at Wahum’s chest.

Wahum flickered away, reappearing on the other side of the cave, prompting Malik to follow with another blast.

He wasn’t trying to kill Wahum yet. He was trying to make him work.

To force him to keep using his Holy Relic, burning his lifespan, and reveal his other cards.

Crazy or not, this snake-eyed bastard didn’t seem dumb enough that he’d try to kill an Angel without being prepared.

"You’re playing it safe even now...."

Wahum hissed, dodging another blast.

"It seems like I’m right."

Malik pressed forward.

The fire didn’t stop.

He sent thousands of blasts, each one a white-hot needle aimed at Wahum’s body and his many illusions.

The skeletal man dodged what he could and blocked what he couldn’t, but each deflection cost him more and more.

His skin cracked further. His movements slowed. His hair went from white to gray to something closer to ash.

Another pillar of fire erupted from Malik’s palm, forcing Wahum to jump back.

Every illusion he conjured was burned through, the fire swallowing it whole.

"This is—this isn’t—"

Wahum gasped while backing away.

Though Malik was playing it safe, he never stopped attacking, making it seem like he had infinite Rukh reserves, invalidating the snake-eyed bastard’s theory.

"You should be empty! You should have nothing left!"

Malik condensed his fire into a single point—a star smaller than his fist, brighter than the Sun, hotter than anything Wahum had ever faced.

Around them, the cave walls began to melt.

The air itself caught fire while the cocoons behind Malik barely held.

"This is your last chance. Tell me about the Order."

Wahum’s eyes flickered with fear.

But then his jaw set, and he raised his hands, shadows gathering around him.

His body was crumbling now, pieces of him flaking off, but his Will hadn’t broken.

"I’d rather die."

A gargantuan doorway appeared.

SNAP!

Once it opened, an ocean fell upon Malik, drowning him in the deepest of waters.

Cold swallowed him whole, a black ocean that had him see almost nothing.

He wasn’t alone in such an ocean, however, as directly beneath him...

’Ah.’

The water moved.

A shadow passed, then another, and then twenty.

These were giant shadows, no doubt belonging to creatures bigger than the towering Crowned Demon he had felled a little while ago.

’It seems that he’s finally going all out.’

Malik, using his fire like a jet engine, easily maneuvered through the water, away from the creatures of the depths... He knew better than to fight here, at least not without preparation.

Capitalizing on that, Wahum tried his best to trap him once more, sending massive whales, serpents, and giant octopuses, their limbs grabbing at the water all around him.

Never did they get close, however, revealing that Malik had a very unusual level of skill in swimming and navigating the depths... another addition to the long list of his skills.

Yet he knew that escaping wasn’t enough, so while he did so, he prepared a single attack.

One that was strong enough to deeply hurt Wahum without activating whatever trap he had waiting for him.

And yes, the snake-eyed bastard was close.

Malik could sense him somewhere around him... chasing him as one of the sea creatures.

Shoving both hands forward, fire leaked from his fingertips, forming thousands of needle-thin condensed spikes of fire, dying his part of the ocean white and gold.

SHOOOM!

The spikes fired all around him, targeting every single monster.

They pierced through their numbers, popping through them, making one of them, a serpent...

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Scream in a way it absolutely shouldn’t.

That was Wahum, and Malik wasn’t about to let him go.

Using the recoil from his attack, he jetted forward through the water—

’I need some air, Goddammit!’

Straight at the serpent.

He slammed shoulder-first into his scales, his sword dragging along its surface. Fire pulsed along the edge, and his blade found itself tearing the serpent’s body as though it were fruit.

The ocean shook, and the illusion shattered.

Everything popped...

"Haa."

Malik could breathe again.

Though only for a moment, as he suddenly found himself somewhere familiar...

A realm with no sound, no light, and a perfect black that even his Rukh couldn’t pierce.

The void... the essence of what all knew as Corruption.

’This place is too... unstable. Wahum is desperate; he can’t handle conjuring such a concept for long.’

As if confirming his thoughts, a light appeared below him, breaking through the void.

Another came from above him and also beside him... thousands of them broke through, swirling into a vortex of floating shapes.

The snake-eyed bastard appeared in the middle of it, all bleeding and roughened up.

Still, Malik could see the same grin on his face remain, as if he were sure of his victory.

Wahum snapped its fingers, and every shape turned into a giant centipede.

KRKRKRKRKRRKRKRKRKKKRRRK!

The centipedes rushed him from all sides in their thousands.

It was an army of monsters against a single man floating in the void.

Yet, even then, Malik remained unfazed, having met a much worse force.

Forming a sword of fire with both hands, he stabbed downwards...

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

Piercing the very void.

As Wahum’s scream echoed, a very bright light emanated from the void’s wound, swallowing everything.

Around Malik, realm after realm appeared and went. Everything was broken, and yet it kept rebuilding itself.

Stone, water, fire, and sky.

A battlefield, a child’s room, a throne hall...

A grave, one marked by his own damned name.

He saw it all flash before his eyes, only for him to return to the cave.

A cave that was real... stone that he saw as true.

’...I’m back.’

Everything around Malik was near total destruction.

The cave’s ceiling was barely being held up, and that was signal enough.

Finally, he decided that his next blow would be the killing blow.

’He’s got to be exhausted enough for it to be safe.’

In a second, the fire of a star appeared in his hands.

This was Malik’s first real attack against Wahum.

"It’s over."

The fire exploded outward.

A lance of pure destruction shot across the cave and struck Wahum in the chest.

Wahum, bleeding and dazed, screamed in defiance, trying to push back.

The shadows around him surged, meeting the white fire halfway.

For a fraction of a moment, they held.

And that was enough.

A massive mirror appeared in the path of Malik’s attack.

It cracked and fractured, only to then reflect that same attack back at Malik.

’...I knew it.’

Expecting this, or at least something similar, he attacked once more, and the two beams clashed in the center of the cave, sending shockwaves in all directions.

The ground cracked, the ceiling split even further, and more rocks fell, turning into dust before they hit the floor.

’The attack’s slightly stronger than mine.’

Malik poured more into his beam of fire, while Wahum did the same.

Much like the mirror, Wahum’s body was breaking apart at a much faster pace.

The Sultan’s plan had worked out perfectly, ruining Wahum’s ending surprise.

His arms first, then his legs, and then his chest.

Finally, the mirror broke completely!

"THE ORDER WILL—"

Malik’s fire cut him off, consuming him completely.

His body, his clothes, his Holy Relic, even the shadows he’d been standing in.

When the light faded, there was nothing left but a scorch mark on the cave floor.

Malik stood in the silence, looking at the remains for a long moment.

"The Order... they’ll be really annoying."