DEMON SUMMONER: DESCENDANT OF THE CELESTIAL SOVEREIGN

Chapter 10: The Apex Predator

Time seemed to stop ticking on the ruined provincial highway.

The centipede-wolf Demon General that had dominated the battlefield mere seconds ago was now completely paralyzed. The mouth of the Peak C-Rank creature was still open, but no roar came out. Its predatory instincts were crushed, suppressed by the two towering, death-bringing silhouettes rising from the young man's back. The giant creature's body shook violently. Its bone pincers fell limply, resting against the asphalt.

Eka did not waste his enemy's mental paralysis.

He ignored the pain tearing through all the muscle tissues in his arms. The fresh blood still dripping from his eyes and nose did not make his vision waver. He dug his heels into the asphalt, violently twisted his waist, and ripped the God-Slaying Sword out from between the demon's jaws.

The ancient red blade hissed as it cut through the air. Eka took one step sideways, moving into the blind spot on the left side of the demon's neck. He raised his sword high, channeling every drop of pure strength amplified by the leaking A-Rank aura in his body, and brought it down in one incredibly smooth, sweeping motion.

The blade sliced right through the bone armor on the C-Rank Demon General's neck. A loud, ear-piercing crack echoed out. There was no resistance from the creature's neck muscles. Eka's sword continued its path, cleanly separating the wolf-like head from its centipede body in a single strike.

Thick black blood erupted like a high-pressure geyser. The viscous liquid drenched Eka's body, soaking his ruined shirt and his unrecognizable face.

The Demon General's head hit the asphalt with a heavy thud, rolling a few meters before stopping right in front of Siti's knees. The demon's massive body swayed, then collapsed, crushing a wrecked car on the side of the road completely flat.

In that exact second, the towering silhouettes of the horned samurai and the hell hound behind Eka vanished, violently yanked back into his shadow.

"Argh."

Eka let out a stifled scream. He vomited a clump of thick black blood from his mouth. The God-Slaying Sword slipped from his grasp and clattered onto the asphalt. Eka dropped to his knees. He clutched his chest tightly.

The mortal law demanded its payment with absolute brutality. The body of an E-Rank Hunter had been forced to contain the direct leakage of an A-Rank aura. The blood vessels all over Eka's arms and neck ruptured, creating a dark purple spiderweb pattern beneath his skin. His heart beat at a speed that nearly tore through his ribcage. His lungs felt as if they had been drenched in boiling lead.

"You insane brat. You nearly destroyed this vessel," Kuro-Oni growled inside Eka's head. The demon's voice was filled with pure panic and anger.

"If you ever do that again, I will chew your heart out from the inside myself," the Hellhound threatened, its scorching heat crawling uncomfortably up the back of Eka's throat.

Eka coughed violently, hacking up more blood onto the asphalt.

"Shut your mouths, both of you damn demons," Eka replied coldly in his mind. He closed his eyes, forcing himself to regulate his breathing amidst the physical torture that was nearly claiming his life. "You helped me because you were afraid of dying. Do not pretend to act like you are my masters. Because here, I am your master and you are just my servants."

The two demons fell into a grumbling silence, not daring to argue with that fact.

Suddenly, from the corpse of the decapitated Demon General in front of Eka, a pitch-black light shot out. This was not a small crystal like the ones Eka got from D-Rank Demons. This Spirit Rune crystal was the size of an adult's fist, radiating incredibly dense spiritual energy.

The black crystal flew rapidly and slammed into Eka's chest, phasing directly into the core of his heart.

Eka's eyes shot wide open. The extreme heat burning his internal organs was suddenly replaced by a wave of incredibly soothing energy. The foreign energy flowed intensely through all his blood vessels, stitching the torn muscle fibers back together and stabilizing his chaotic heartbeat. The severe laceration on his right palm sealed itself, leaving behind new skin tissue that was far thicker and tougher.

Eka's body emitted a faint glow for a moment. He could feel a restrictive gate inside his body had just been shattered. The air around him felt different. He could now perceive the particles of pure energy floating in the air, something entirely undetectable to his previous mortal senses.

His physical foundation condensed. His bone density increased drastically. The fatigue that had been chaining his legs evaporated without a trace.

Eka took a deep breath. He had officially broken through his limits, advancing to a D-Rank Hunter.

He picked up the God-Slaying Sword from the asphalt. The weight of the sword that had previously tortured his arm muscles now felt perfectly balanced in his hand. Eka stood up slowly. He wiped the remaining blood from his chin with the back of his hand, then turned his gaze to look behind him.

There, Aris was still sprawled out, his chest heavily injured by the blow from the General's pincer. Siti knelt beside her lover. Her beautiful face was smeared with dust and tears. The woman's hands trembled violently as she tried to cast a bit of ice Qi to freeze the bleeding wound on Aris's chest.

Hearing footsteps, Aris forced himself to turn over. The man coughed up fresh blood. Aris looked up, staring at Eka walking closer with the blood-soaked sword in his right hand.

There was no longer a condescending look in Aris's eyes. His B-Rank Hunter pride and arrogance had been shattered into pieces. Aris now realized the horrifying truth of what he had just witnessed. This raggedly dressed young man standing before him was no ordinary refugee. His aura, the look in his eyes, and the monster silhouettes he had just unleashed proved that Eka was an absolute anomaly in this mortal world.

Eka stopped exactly two steps in front of Aris and Siti.

Siti looked up at Eka. The woman's breath caught in her throat. Eka's gaze was completely empty, as cold as the bottom of the ocean, devoid of mercy and human warmth. Siti could feel psychological terror wrapping around her throat. She was not looking at a savior. She was looking at a god of death who could decapitate her at any given moment.

Instinctively, Siti lowered her gaze to the asphalt. She did not dare meet the young man's eyes for more than two seconds. Her body shifted slightly, offering her respect before the newly established absolute authority.

Aris swallowed hard. The pain in his chest was overshadowed by the fear crawling up his spine. He tried to speak, but his voice only came out as a hoarse whisper.

"Who are you, really?" Aris asked quietly, his eyes avoiding Eka's gaze.

Eka did not answer the question. He did not care about their curiosity or their fear. His eyes moved past Aris and Siti, staring at the hundreds of civilian refugees huddled behind them.

Those hundreds of people were frozen in place. There was no sound of crying, no panicked whispers. They held their breath in unison. The sight of Eka cleaving a giant demon in half with a single sword swing had planted a new dogma in their brains. That blood-soaked young man was their new god. A protector and executioner holding their lives at the tip of his sword.

The transition of power occurred without any resistance. Eka did not ask for it. He did not need the title of leader. But the law of the jungle in an apocalyptic world placed the strongest at the absolute peak of the food chain. And today, Eka was the apex predator.

Eka shifted his gaze to the south. On the side of the highway surrounded by scorched trees, stood a large, rusted green signpost, leaning from a demon's impact.

There was faded white writing on the sign.

'BOGOR SAFE ZONE, 50 KM.'

Eka stared at the sign for a long time. Fifty kilometers. It was a massive distance to cover on foot across a land swarming with monsters. Especially when he had to drag hundreds of human burdens behind him. However, he had no choice. That was where Sopian and his mother were waiting.

Eka sheathed the God-Slaying Sword at his left hip. The scrape of steel rang out crystal clear, slicing through the silence of the highway.

He turned his body slowly, looking back at Aris who was still clutching his chest, Siti who was bowing and trembling, and the hundreds of refugees staring at him with desperate hope. Eka's face showed absolutely no emotion.

"Siti, treat that man's wounds with your ice Qi," Eka commanded coldly. His tone was flat, yet it carried an undeniable compulsion.

Siti nodded quickly. Her hands immediately emitted ice Qi to cover Aris's chest.

Eka stared straight at the hundreds of refugees standing in the back.

"Do you want to live?" Eka didn't shout, but his voice echoed, reaching the ears of every single person on that road.

No one dared to answer out loud, but Eka could see frantic nods from those dirt-streaked faces.

"Walk behind me, and not a single one of you makes a sound," Eka said with a tone of finality that killed any form of protest.

Eka turned his back on them. He began to walk south, marching down the highway littered with the debris of the apocalypse. The cold wind swept through his blood-matted hair.

Behind him, Aris forced himself to stand with the support of Siti's shoulder. The B-Rank Hunter couple limped forward, following Eka's footsteps in silence. The hundreds of civilian refugees slowly moved forward as well, tightening their formation. Not a single one of them dared to let out a cry or a complaint. They walked like an army of ghosts, obediently following their new sovereign toward the city gates of hope.