The Seven Demon's Tamer

chapter 10: One… Two… Three… Seven Heads

Bang!

The sound wasn't merely loud—it was catastrophic, affecting the landscape like the birth of a universe in reverse.

The impact sent shockwaves everywhere across the plain, causing ripples that distorted everything. Trees that had somehow survived the initial overpowering presence now uprooted themselves and fled alongside the high air current and shockwaves.

Bang!

The second collision was even more violent than the first. Where the two monarchs met, the air itself seemed to solidify, in fact, crystallize before shattering into a million fragments that were strangely visible to the naked eye.

The entire plain had ceased to function properly in the presence of such overwhelming power.

Bang!

Bang!

One after the other, loud sounds, like explosions, resounded as Dracogon and Hollow clashed in different directions each time.

The ground shook upon every attack, and Luxy and Ryder both braced themselves. It felt like the entire plain wouldn't be able to maintain its stiffness and shape if they continued fighting.

Thanks to Luxy's senses, which Ryder shared with him, he was able to follow their movements with his eyes, which shouldn't have been possible. Luxy could testify that he was just a regular, average devil—nothing special.

Bang!

Dracogon swung its long, sharp claws with one hand at Hollow, who quickly blocked the attack with his own claws, shaking the plain with a loud, reverberating sound.

The collision point flashed with concentrated energy. For a brief, terrifying instant, Ryder could see through the tear in reality that their clash had created.

"Impossible!" Ryder blurted out. Through the tear, he could see a glimpse into what he would assume to be some other dimension, where strange colors momentarily bled through it before the rift sealed itself with a sound like thunder.

Hollow's face remained calm despite the incredible force he was withstanding. If anything, he looked slightly annoyed, like someone experiencing a minor inconvenience on an unpleasant day.

"You know," he remarked conversationally as he held Dracogon's claws firmly with one hand, "most people make appointments before dropping by. Don't you think your surprise visit was very polite?"

"Maybe I could have prepared refreshments if you told me beforehand. Maybe a nice blood fountain?"

"You would have loved that, wouldn't you?" Hollow concluded, attempting to distract the Dracogon for even the shortest time, if possible.

The Dracogon wasn't fighting with much strength, but his defense was nearly impossible to breach. If the fight continues, then Hollow won't win, but won't lose either.

The Dracogon's only response to Hollow's blabbering was a guttural growl that vibrated the air around him before he launched again.

Bang!

Their claws clashed again, shaking the surface once more. Seeing that Hollow was getting used to the pattern of the attack, Dracogon decided to make a little adjustment.

"Oh good," Hollow taunted. "For a moment, I worried you only knew one move."

"This is bad," Hollow screamed inwardly. Blasting forward toward Hollow in an unpredictable swoop, Hollow was forced to cross his hands to form an X shape in defense.

Hollow's taunting comment seemed to strike a bit of anger into the Dracogon. The flames in Dracogon's eyes flared higher, and a sound like distant thunder emanated from his chest.

"Yes, I think this is working," Hollow grinned as he thought. "When angry, he wouldn't attack with his brain, but would with his emotion."

"That would give me enough opening."

Only that it didn't.

Dracogon's wings then spurted out, and midair he quickly flew counterclockwise behind Hollow and swung his sharp claws.

The impact caused a shockwave that rippled outward, flattening everything in its path for as far as the eye could see. Ryder and Luxy were knocked backward, tumbling over before coming to rest against a smooth, leveled ground of what had once been a mountain, but was nothing now.

The wings spread out with astonishing speed, tearing the air itself with a sound like canvas ripping.

For a creature of such massive bulk, Dracogon moved with shocking agility. One moment he was before Hollow; the next, he was completing a maneuver that should have been physically impossible given his size. Besides, his wings' texture was literally that of bones.

How could he flap bones to fly!

Whoosh!

Despite the unpredictability of the attack, Hollow was still able to dodge completely by creating a long distance between them.

Hollow's body flashed and rematerialized with the same bored expression he had worn throughout the fight, though on closer observation, one might notice a slight elevation in his right eyebrow over the left.

"So, you have been holding back," Hollow smiled at Dracogon.

"And you have been as well," Dracogon replied.

The words emerged from that impossible mouth, not as normal speech but as concepts translated imperfectly into sound, distorting and malfunctioning time and everything around.

Small objects near these ripples—pieces of rocks lying around, actually aged millennia in seconds—forming, crumbling to dust, and then reconstructing themselves in endless loops, for quite some moment.

It wasn’t that they weren’t aware of this fact, yet they both still decided to state it.

Turning sideways, Hollow's eyes locked onto Luxy and Ryder, who had been standing on the sidelines all this while.

A realization suddenly snapped in Hollow's mind.

His posture changed subtly—a slight relaxation of his shoulders. Ryder and Luxy, who had spent some time with the demon monarch, knew this could translate to even without any word said; it was like watching someone suddenly solve a complex equation.

"Oh, now I get it. He was holding back all this while mainly because of the presence of his host."

It wasn't merely tactical awareness—it was a smart reassessment of the situation. The Dracogon, for all his terrifying power and malevolent presence, was held back by the same goal that limited Hollow himself: keeping Ryder intact.

"If he fought with full strength, this plain wouldn't last more than a mere second before being reduced to pieces. Ryder would die from the shockwaves alone."

The plain was already showing signs of failure. Reality itself was growing thin in places, patches of nothingness appearing and disappearing randomly each time they attacked each other. Each clash between the monarchs accelerated the decay, pushing this plain closer to complete collapse.

"This means our goals have something in common… Ryder’s survival."

It made sense now, because Dracogon's aura alone when he first arrived at the plain was more overwhelming than the power he was radiating from this fight.

Hollow nearly laughed. Two demon monarchs, beings of chaos and destruction, both restraining themselves in order to preserve the life of a single human.

It all sounded amusing—like two hurricanes carefully navigating around a paper boat, not wanting to destroy it.

Vwoom!

Dracogon charged once more in a flash toward Hollow and readied his claws.

Hopping to the side, Hollow dodged the attack while moving closer to Ryder.

Dracogon swung its claws toward Hollow again, but Hollow countered with a swing of his own, causing the surface to tremble while breaking an entire layer of the ground as far as the eye could see.

"This isn't sustainable," Luxy muttered, more to himself than to Ryder. "This plain is at the brink of destruction now."

Hopping toward Ryder again, now closer, Dracogon attacked once more—an attack that made Hollow smirk.

Dracogon's attack was so weak that he could block all of his claws with a single finger.

Hollow raised a finger upwards to prove his point rather than merely leaving it like a hypothesis. His single extended finger met Dracogon's full assault with casual ease, the impact creating a small sonic boom but leaving Hollow unmoved. Even Luxy and Ryder were able to stay on their feet after the attack instead of tumbling like previous times.

"I was right all along." He was holding back because of Ryder. "If I stay this close for the entire battle, I won’t have a hard time… but I won’t. Just like Dracogon, I also want Ryder to survive."

A little accident to Ryder could make their whole fight a waste. If Ryder dies, then he'll regret this for the rest of his existence—he just knew that.

"Luxy!" Hollow called out. "Take Ryder and exit the Astral Shadow Plain."

The command rang out with seriousness and authority. This wasn't Hollow's usual sardonic tone, but the voice of a monarch issuing an order that expected obedience and immediate response.

"I can't," Luxy replied. "If I could, I would have done so ever since we contracted."

"Oh, that's right. I nearly forgot," Hollow reasoned.

Hopping once more, Hollow landed right beside Ryder and wrapped an arm around his shoulder in a seemingly friendly gesture.

The movement was so swift that even with enhanced perception, Ryder barely registered it happening. One moment Hollow was engaged in combat with Dracogon fifty yards away; the next, he was standing beside Ryder.

Dracogon, who had been fiercely attacking, suddenly halted. He didn’t dare make any more offensive moves, fearing that Hollow might do something crazy—like killing Ryder.

"Fancy meeting you here," Hollow remarked, giving Ryder's shoulder a squeeze that was just short of painful.

"Lovely apocalypse we're having, isn't it? Perfect weather for the collapse of my very own plain."

While Dracogon was focused on Ryder's survival, Hollow was as well. Dracogon didn’t know this, though.

Hollow, now next to Ryder, placed his hand on Ryder's left shoulder, where the marking was visible. Since Luxy had merged with Ryder a short while ago, Hollow decided to communicate with him.

"This will hurt," Hollow whispered, his voice strangely gentle compared to other times. "But only for a moment."

Ryder tensed, his eyes widening in alarm. "What are you—"

Before he could finish, Hollow pierced his claws gently into Ryder's shoulder. The pain was sharp but controlled; it somehow didn't have a shred of violence.

Piercing his claws gently into Ryder's shoulder, blood dripped down as he began the process—transferring all information related to exiting the Astral Shadow Plain into Luxy’s mind.

Within Ryder's consciousness, Luxy absorbed the information like a vacuum. Strangest information—the true names of places that existed between the plains themselves, methods of navigating through separate realities—all flooding in through the connection Hollow had established.

All this was knowledge known only by demon monarchs, but now Luxy as well.

The sight of Ryder's blood dripping from his arm to the tip of his finger and then to the ground made Dracogon flinch. The crimson droplets seemed to hang in the air longer than they should, defying gravity before splattering against the smooth ground where they landed.

He felt the urge to rush forward but decided against it. He wouldn’t be fast enough if Hollow planned to kill his host, after all.

"If you kill him," Dracogon growled, his voice shaking the air dangerously, "I will ensure your suffering lasts until the heat death of every universe."

For an entire moment, there was no movement between Hollow and Dracogon. Then, suddenly, Hollow broke the stillness.

Hollow didn't bother to respond. He knew the threat was empty—not because Dracogon didn't have the ability to carry it out, but because he wouldn't dare; violent movement so close to Ryder wouldn't be so smart.

Hollow removed his claw tip from Ryder’s shoulder, which healed in an instant, and then spoke.

"You know how to travel through planes now, don’t you, Luxy?"

"Yes. Now I can," Luxy replied.

Dracogon, who had been watching the entire time, finally understood what was going on after listening to the conversation. His host was about to exit the plain.

"No!" he roared and launched forward, but unfortunately, he was too late.

Luxy, now armed with knowledge traversing through realities, enacted the technique with fluid mastery, like he was doing it for the one millionth time. The air around Ryder began to bend inward, light spiraled around his form.

Swoosh!

Ryder disappeared into thin air, leaving behind nothing but a quick flash of light.

"How dare you!" Dracogon screamed angrily as waves of heat distorted the air. "I wanted today to be the day I intersected with my host, and now you took that away from me!"

The taunt hit its mark. Dracogon's entire being seemed to expand with rage. The flames and energy he had been keeping down—suppressing with monumental effort for Ryder's sake—slowly began to reveal themselves. The temperature of the plain rose dramatically, causing what remained of reality to warp and bubble like wax held too close to fire.

There was no one to protect now. He wouldn’t be fighting like a child's play with Hollow anymore. He wouldn’t be holding back.

Absolute Harness: Seven Head.

Slowly rising upward, the flames that had previously been restricted within his body escaped outward, solidifying into a flame armor around Dracogon. But not only that—something else began to happen.

A transformation.

From behind his neck, another body part began to grow out, extending like a nightmare unfurling. It was like his neck as well, only longer, more sinuous, with threads of red heat flowing within them.

"You’re taking your true form, huh?" Hollow clenched his fists.

"Don’t you think it’s a little unfair? I’m not the kind of monarch with fancy magical abilities."

Hollow clenched his fists and took his stance, shoulders squared, knees slightly bent. Despite Dracogon being in the middle of his transformation, Hollow didn't dare interfere. Something in his instinct warned him against it.

Like a foggy memory buried deep in his mind, something warned him to stay clear.

The additional neck extended from Dracogon. At first, it was just one, but then it began to multiply.

One… two… three…

A total of six long necks now hovered behind Dracogon, weaving through the air. Adding his own made it seven. Just like the skill's name implied: Seven Head, the ancient form of the dragon who existed before the division of the demon realms.

Simultaneously, six heads grew at lightning speed upon the six necks, each one a perfect replica of the original yet somehow distinct.

Their eyes burned with flames of different hues and intensities. Each head possessed a different kind of flame, representing the elemental domains over which Dracogon could create and bend at will—crimson, azure, orange, gold, violet, white, and a black so deep it seemed to consume light.

At this moment and for the first time since he could remember in his existence, Hollow doubted his chances against his opponent.