DEMON SUMMONER: DESCENDANT OF THE CELESTIAL SOVEREIGN

Chapter 3: The Last Human Standing

Eka stepped out of the ruined minimarket. His boots stepped on the cracked asphalt slick with black fluids. The morning air brought no warmth, only the smell of sulfur, thick smoke, and the metallic tang of blood that pierced the lungs.

Ahead of him, the sea of death was waiting.

Hundreds of C-Rank Demons stood tightly packed, covering the entire main road. Their forms were disgusting. They were a mix of insects, reptiles, and wild dogs with protruding exoskeletons like armor plating. Their savage breaths echoed off one another, creating a thin mist in the cold air. They all stared at Eka with ravenous hunger.

However, it was not the hundreds of C-Rank Demons that made Eka feel like he was being choked.

On top of a half-collapsed pedestrian bridge, exactly fifty meters in front of Eka, two entities stood looking down at him. They were A-Rank Demons, the absolute peak of the food chain in this mortal world.

The first was a three-meter-tall humanoid with blood-red skin. It wore the rusted remains of ancient samurai armor and wielded a giant serrated katana. Kuro-Oni.

The second was a pitch-black hound the size of an armored truck, often called by the moniker Hellhound. Liquid magma dripped from its jaws every time the creature exhaled, burning the concrete beneath its paws.

Just from the gaze of those two A-Rank Demons, the air around Eka felt as heavy as lead. Eka's ribs creaked softly. As an E-Rank Hunter who couldn't even manipulate a wisp of Qi, standing before the pure aura of A-Rank Demons was like putting his head under a hydraulic press.

Kuro-Oni snorted softly, its voice sounding like grinding steel. The demon tilted its head, staring at Eka with a deeply condescending look.

"Is this mortal trash the only reason Yakzud and Makzud bothered to issue an order?" Kuro-Oni's heavy voice echoed, vibrating in Eka's ears. "What a pathetic divine bloodline. You are too weak to even be my dog's snack."

The Hellhound growled low, confirming its partner's words.

"Move forward," Kuro-Oni commanded with a bored tone. "Break his legs. Don't kill him too quickly."

One C-Rank Demon, a humanoid with two bone-scythe arms, stepped out from the ranks. The demon smiled, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth.

Eka tightened his grip on the hilt of his broken steel sword. His torn right palm bled fresh blood once again. He widened his stance, forcing his human eyes to focus.

"Valhalla, I'm coming." Eka roared as he leaped forward and slashed his broken sword.

However, a two-level power gap was an absolute law in this world.

The scythe demon vanished from Eka's sight. A harsh wind blew in front of Eka's face. Before his brain could process what happened, excruciating pain exploded in his left chest.

The bone scythe tore through Eka's chest in one invisible swing. Blood sprayed into the air. Eka stumbled backward, trying to swing his remaining blade. But the demon was already behind him.

One breath passed. Eka's back was slashed open.

Three breaths. Eka's left calf was kicked until his shin bone cracked, forcing him to drop to one knee.

Five breaths. Eka's left arm was pierced, spilling blood that soaked his shirt.

Eight breaths. The demon moved around Eka like a blur. It scratched, slashed, and toyed with its prey. Eka could not put up any resistance at all. His sword only cut through empty air. Every time he moved, the demon's scythe tore into his flesh first.

Ten breaths, and that was Eka's absolute limit.

Eka coughed up fresh blood onto the asphalt. His entire body was covered in deep lacerations. His shirt was in tatters, sticky with his own blood. His lungs worked furiously to gulp down oxygen, but every breath felt like swallowing shattered glass. He collapsed forward, supporting his body with his violently shaking left hand.

The scythe demon stopped right in front of Eka. The demon burst into laughter. The sound of its laugh resembled grinding rocks.

"Is this the strongest future human prophesied by Yakzud and Makzud?" The demon sneered. It kicked Eka's shoulder until the young man sprawled on his side. "Kneel properly before me, and I will give you a quick death."

The demon spat. Thick black fluid landed right on Eka's cheek. Hundreds of demons behind it howled along, mocking the suffering of the helpless human race.

Eka's vision began to dim. A chilling cold spread from his toes. Death was already clinging to his throat. However, amidst the silence of his dying mind, the image of his father leaping forward with a severed arm slammed back into his brain.

Eka's spilling blood suddenly boiled.

It was not a metaphor. Eka's body temperature spiked drastically. The blood vessels in his neck and arms bulged, emitting a dim golden glow from beneath his skin. The ancient blood curse slumbering within his DNA reacted to his despair and absolute refusal to submit.

Eka stabbed his broken sword into the asphalt, forcing his ruined body to stand. His joints creaked loudly under the strain.

"I am Eka, son of Andi." Eka's voice was low, trembling with the blood filling his throat. He raised his head, glaring at the C-Rank Demon with eyes that now glowed golden. "I will never kneel before a demon like you."

The scythe demon snorted cynically. The creature raised its bone blade to decapitate Eka.

Eka let out a roar filled with a rage that tore his vocal cords.

His divine bloodline erupted. In a single second, Eka's muscle cells were forced to work four hundred times beyond mortal limits. Time slowed down in Eka's eyes. He saw the demon's scythe swing as if it were crawling through the air.

Eka pressed his feet against the asphalt. The asphalt beneath his boots shattered into a small crater. Eka's body shot through the air, creating a miniature sonic boom.

One horizontal swing. The broken steel sword in Eka's hand slashed the scythe demon's neck at a speed the eye couldn't track.

The demon's head detached from its neck. It flew into the air along with a geyser of thick black blood.

Simultaneously, the sound of shattering steel rang out loudly. Eka's steel sword could not withstand the pressure of the force he unleashed. The blade exploded into tiny metal shards, leaving only a jagged broken hilt in Eka's hand.

All the demons on the toll road froze like statues. Silence took over. Kuro-Oni on the bridge widened his red eyes. No one expected a half-dead E-Rank Hunter to be capable of slicing off a C-Rank Demon's head in one pure motion.

But the price for borrowing a god's power had to be paid in full instantly.

The moment the demon's head hit the asphalt, an explosion of lethal pain struck Eka from the inside. The muscle fibers in both his arms and legs tore simultaneously. The blood vessels in his eyeballs burst, turning his golden pupils blood-red. His heart beat at a terrifying speed, pumping blood so forcefully his internal organs felt like they were being crushed and burned alive.

Eka vomited a massive clump of black blood from his mouth. His body stumbled forward. He forced his knees to lock, refusing to fall. With breaths that sounded like grinding iron, Eka raised his broken sword hilt. He pointed it straight at Kuro-Oni on the bridge.

"This is... human resolve." Eka whispered with a triumphant smile, blood dripping through his teeth.

As soon as those words left his mouth, Eka's body collapsed completely. His face smashed against the hard asphalt. His consciousness snapped, sinking into deep darkness.

Up on the bridge, the Hellhound growled furiously. Intense heat exploded from the hell dog's body. The pride of an A-Rank Demon was wounded by the bravery of a mortal ant.

The Hellhound leaped down from the bridge, creating a massive crater as its four paws slammed into the toll road. The creature sprinted forward, opening its massive jaws dripping with liquid magma. Its giant fangs prepared to separate Eka's head from his helpless body.

Just as the Hellhound's jaws opened wide, merely an inch from Eka's head, the sky above Jakarta exploded.

A deafening roar of thunder tore through the thick clouds. The dimly red sky suddenly flared bright like a burning ocean of blood. A terrifying gravitational pressure descended instantly, cracking the toll road's asphalt for hundreds of meters.

A red pillar of light shot down from the sky with the speed of a meteor.

Along with the light, a voice full of pure wrath shook the entire land. It traveled directly into the skull of every creature that heard it.

"YOU BALD BASTARD. HOW DARE YOU THROW ME INTO THE MORTAL REALM. I WILL REPAY THIS INSULT."

BOOM.

The red light slammed into the toll road. The resulting shockwave created a spiral blast. The Hellhound, being too close to the impact zone, was hurled backward into the air, rolling a dozen times before crashing into the burnt frame of a car.

Asphalt dust scattered everywhere. Slowly, the dust was swept away by a dense spiritual energy vortex.

In the center of the newly formed crater, exactly one centimeter away from Eka's unconscious head, a sword stood embedded. The blade was blood-red, carved with an ancient dragon motif that looked alive. An ancient and incredibly lethal killing aura seeped out from the blade, locking down the breath of every demon present.

Then, a man's voice echoed. The voice was not loud, but it contained absolute authority that forced anyone's body to tremble.

"Tch, a bunch of trash lining up for death. Be quiet and obey in the presence of the strongest entity. I want to speak to this damn human right next to me."

Kuro-Oni, still on the bridge, instantly dropped to one knee. His legs could not withstand the sword's pressure. The Hellhound, having just gotten back up, immediately pressed its head against the asphalt. The giant hound's body trembled in terror. As far as they knew, in this mortal world, A-Rank was the highest limit for humans, demons, and angels allowed to descend. But this newly arrived entity clearly surpassed the power limits of the mortal realm.

From inside the hilt of the red sword, the very faint sound of snapping fingers could be heard.

CLICK.

In the blink of an eye, the dust floating in the air stopped moving. Raindrops froze mid-air. The demons' roars were cut off in their throats. Time across the entire mortal land froze.