Chapter 504: Demon Lord Kome

Chapter 504: Demon Lord Kome

Hours passed in silence, the wind rushing past him and the sky changing shades as he crossed vast distances between continents.

He was almost halfway across the great sea, hovering in the space between the two landmasses, when suddenly—a presence. A figure appeared out of nowhere directly in front of him, as if materializing from thin air.

Max came to a sharp halt, his body tensing, his eyes narrowing as they locked onto the stranger. But it wasn’t truly a stranger. He had seen this figure before.

It was a demon—but not just any demon. It was him. Demon Lord Kome, one of the four Demon Lords at peak Expert Rank strength. The sky seemed to darken subtly at his arrival, the ocean below trembling under a pressure that hadn’t been there moments ago.

Kome’s towering figure hovered in the air with twisted grace, his long, jagged horns curling back like blades, and his crimson eyes glowing with a hungry malice. His skin shimmered with a sickly black sheen, and shadows clung to him like loyal hounds.

“Hehehehe,” he laughed, the sound sharp and eerie, like bones grinding against each other. “I knew it. I knew if I watched long enough, I’d get my chance to kill you. And now look—Max Morgan, all alone, floating above a sea of nothingness, with no land in sight, no allies, no cursed zone of the tower to run to. No one to save you. This is where you die.”

His words were laced with venom, each one dripping with cruel anticipation.

But Max remained calm, unmoving, almost bored, his expression as steady as a silent lake. “Is that so?” he replied, voice level and quiet, as if this encounter were nothing more than a mild inconvenience.

There wasn’t a flicker of fear in his eyes—only focus. Because he had expected something like this. It didn’t take a genius to predict it.

After all, he had done something no one else dared—he had barred demons from entering the Tower of Truth. He had shattered their access, denied them their foothold. He had taken something precious from them and cast it away as if it meant nothing.

Of course a Demon Lord would come for him. Of course they would seek blood. And now, face-to-face with one of the highest-ranking monsters of their kind, Max didn’t falter. He simply stared into his eyes and waited for it to make the first move.

Demon Lord Kome frowned slightly at Max’s unshaken, emotionless expression, as if expecting fear—or at the very least, concern—but receiving neither. Still, he quickly recovered, a smirk tugging at his twisted lips.

“I have two plans for you,” he said, his voice slow, deliberate, each word oozing menace. “Either you let me plant a slave seal directly into your soul, and become my obedient little pet—my tool to control the Tower of Truth from the inside. Or…” His eyes glowed brighter, flickering with demonic fire, “I rip your soul out of your body, burn it in the flames of total annihilation until you scream for mercy, and then shatter what’s left before you submit to me.”

He hovered closer, darkness coiling around him like a living mist, and added with a sneer, “Choose. I don’t have the patience for games, so choose fast.”

Max stared at him—expression blank, voice cold. “It doesn’t matter what option I choose,” he replied flatly. “Because you’ll die either way.”

For a moment, there was silence. And then Kome threw his head back and let out a thunderous laugh, the sound echoing across the endless skies like a storm.

“Hahaha! You? Kill me?” he howled, as if Max had just told the most absurd joke in existence. “Are you serious, boy? You’re just a child—Level 7 of the Seeker Rank! And I… I stand at the very peak of the Expert Rank. A full realm beyond you!”

His laughter faded into a sharp grin, cruel and gleaming. “Oh, and if you’re thinking of pulling those little stunts you used against Drevon, don’t even try. The moment I see you make a move like that, I’ll crush your skull before you finish blinking.”

The air thickened with killing intent, but Max remained as he was—silent, still, and utterly unreadable. And that made Kome’s grin falter, just for a second.

“Is that so?” Max replied quietly, his tone devoid of mockery, threat, or pride—just a flat, calm statement, like he was merely acknowledging a breeze.

Then, without raising a hand or shifting his stance, he began to release his mana. At first, it was unimpressive—barely a ripple in the air, certainly nothing that could shake the vast pressure exuding from Demon Lord Kome’s towering presence. The demon smirked, arms crossed, clearly unimpressed.

But then, Max continued. And the mana kept coming. What had started as a flicker grew into a steady surge. The air shifted. A subtle hum began to echo in the space between them, and Kome’s smirk started to waver.

The ground far below trembled. The ocean beneath them rippled unnaturally, not from wind or gravity, but from the weight of something far greater pressing down from the sky.

Max’s aura thickened, grew heavier, denser—its color deepening, its texture changing. It no longer felt like the energy of a Seeker Rank youth. No—it felt ancient, boundless, and terrifyingly pure. Kome’s eyes widened, and the smirk vanished completely from his face.

“What… what is this?” he muttered, a hint of disbelief creeping into his voice. But Max wasn’t done. His mana kept building, layering over itself like waves crashing against each other, devouring the air, the light, the space between realms.

Kome could feel it now—feel the crushing presence of something that should not exist at Max’s level. The demon’s face twisted, turning pitch black with horror and disbelief, his body trembling ever so slightly as a deep, primal instinct screamed inside him to run.

“Impossible,” he whispered. “How—how do you have this amount of mana? I’ve been gathering energy for hundreds of years—hundreds! I’ve devoured nations, drained entire bloodlines dry just to reach this level. How can a mere boy—how can you possess mana like this?”

But there was no answer from Max. Only the quiet, suffocating expansion of a force that no longer cared for explanations. Only one thing was clear to Kome now—he had made a terrible mistake.

However, Max wasn’t done. The overwhelming surge of mana had already pushed the demon to the edge of panic, but what came next shattered the final remnants of Kome’s arrogance.

With an emotionless gaze, Max allowed another force to rise—his Green Soul Force. It radiated with an unnatural stillness, a purity that defied the corrupted energy of the demon, and as it poured out from Max’s being, the very air around them stilled as if time itself held its breath.

Then, Max looked directly into Kome’s eyes—calm, into his soul, commanding, absolute. “Kill yourself,” he said, his voice low, almost gentle, like he was offering a suggestion rather than an order.

But the moment the words left his mouth, Kome’s body moved. Not by choice. Not by instinct. His right hand lifted on its own, fingers curling like claws toward his throat. His eyes stretched wide, horrified, trying to resist, but his limbs refused to obey him.

“What… what did you do?” he stammered, voice quivering, filled with disbelief and rising terror. “What did you do to me?!”

But no answer came—only his own hand closing around his neck with terrifying precision. And before he could scream again, his claws tore clean through, severing his own head from his body in one smooth, horrifying motion.

His head tumbled downward through the air, expression frozen in a grotesque mix of shock and confusion, his glowing red eyes still searching for an explanation, still trying to grasp what had just happened.

But the thoughts didn’t last long. The light in those eyes dimmed, flickered—and then vanished completely, swallowed by the darkness that finally came to claim him.

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