Galaxy's First Ruler

First came the army of the undead, with their lances pointed at the Devil.

A lightning bolt cracked behind them, elongating their shadow towards him. The Devil melted into the shadows and appeared among the thick of the army. And with a tiny flick of the Pillar of Footprints, hundreds of undead soldiers got sent flying into the air.

"Expand!"

The Devil aimed at the soldiers in the air and commanded the Pillar. The Black Bull's eyes glowed and the Pillar, in an instant, went up to the sky and came back. Not caring for the disintegrated soldiers in the air, an emerald point of light originated in the Devil's eyes.

FLAW DETECTION!

The Devil maneuvered the pillar, leaving behind purple burrs, as he kept decimating the soldiers, pieces by pieces. But noiselessly, a clear water drop came rushing towards him like an apparition. The Devil's eyes stared at Tomislav's blessing, and aiming the water-drop, he threw the pillar, like a bolt of lightning.

BOOM!

The Pillar broke the sound barrier, exploding hundreds of soldiers, and soon a ghostly figure of a black bull surrounded the pillar.

ROARRR!

The bull bellowed and smashed into the water-drop. For a second, the entire Plaza seemed to have become an ocean, undergoing earthquakes. Massive illusory tsunamis arose, washing away thousands of undead, and drowned them into the unreal ocean.

Above the Devil, the blurry golden trident changed its orientation and aimed itself at him. But before it could come out of the eye-like hole in the sky, a world trampling foot appeared above it. The foot covered the entire sky, and the line on its sole felt like mile-deep ravines.

Roarrrrrrrr!!

The bull again roared, not in defiance, but submission. The Pillar came rushing towards the Devil's hands as the naked foot touched the trident. No sound of that world-ending impact entered the Plaza, but the illusory ocean vanished, leaving behind traces of its wrath. The Devil vanished and appeared in front of Tomislav, who had taken out a Bazooka.

"Impudent!"

With an annoyed mutter, the Devil hit Tomislav's arms with the Pillar, making them useless. And a swift kick blasted Tomislav's head out of his torso. Behind him, the image of Everlasting Venomous Rose was taking shape. The Devil saw Trifon summoning the ancestral spirit and let out an evil grin.

Hehe!

"Intimidation!"

Trifon's head jolted back, and the Skill got canceled. But before he could shake off the Intimidations' effect, the Devil had already arrived behind him. Undead Trifon's hollowed eyes couldn't reflect the blackened face as the Devil opened his jaw wide and bit off Trifon's head.

"GO! Pussy Pussy!!"

A shout came from the Devil's left, and a purple kitten landed on the top of the pillar. The Devil's eyes became wide as a chip fell off from the pillar where the paws of the kitten had come in contact. He saw a mirror hovering above the purple-haired Christin and let go of the Pillar. His purple eyes gave an emerald glow as he appeared above the mirror and cut it in half using the Broken Faith.

The Devil's feet landed on Christin's head, crushing it in pulp, and the purple kitten vanished. But before the pillar could return to him, TIZONA and COLADA flashed by his eyes. El Cid had made his move.

By this time, the unrestrained use of Skills had raised the Penalty so high that even his Shared Vision could hardly see any Stat over the Undeads.

The Devil's feet broke down into the shadow blobs, and the swords passed over his head, cutting a few of his dense purple hair. He threw the Katana at the Boss Crawler, but before it could hit, the sword vanished. It was just a distraction. Broken faith wasn't enough to handle two Count Ranked Items.

The Devil's hand reached towards the Pillar and the Rumok on his hand glowed.

"No more resurrection, bitch! I am going to seal you for eternity. Rot here, along with your Legend!"

As the Katana vanished and merged back into the Devil, the Pillar got pulled and appeared in his hand. The Devil's purple, golden, and emerald-colored eyes looked at the Boss in search of all the Flaws. El Cid raised Tizona to use a Skill, but the Devil had already struck the Crawler's wrist using the Pillar. The useless wrist couldn't hold the sword and it fell, making El Cid squint his red eyes.

HAHA!

The Devil let out a laugh and mocked.

"What are you thinking?!"

The Colada flashed and gave out an icy burst of Mana, but the Devil didn't go for the blue sword. He smashed the Pillar to his right, and it hit the Boss Crawler's leg, who was coming for the Devil's head. The Boss staggered as he lost the sense in his left leg and, in sheer terror, shouted at the Devil.

"You!… You can see the future?!!!"

The Devil gave a horror-inducing smile that made the Boss visibly shiver. El Cid dashed toward Tizona, to use One Step Shunpo and get away from the Devil, but another flurry of the Pillar made the Boss lose every sense of his body.

Thump!

The Devil eyed El Cid's sprawled figure and put his leg over his chest armor.

"Wait here! I am going to take care of these ants."

What ensued wasn't just a blood bath but a pure massacre. The entire plaza was covered in purple and emerald flashes, and the figure of a massive pillar could be seen appearing and vanishing here and there. Thousands of soldiers got pulled and annihilated under the sheer weight of the pillar. And what had left of the undead Dreamers also got crushed under the Devil's wrath.

The Devil approached El Cid and seemed a little out of breath. All the Skills, and fight had left him out of Mana and Stamina. The only reason he had been so careless about the Penalty was that he knew that other than Boss, none could kill him in one attack. That's why only after making sure that El Cid's couldn't move, he had gone for the rest of puny things.

Or, so he thought.

"After sealing you, I will flay you and cut off your dick. Let those who come after me see what worthless crap you are."

The Devil let go of the pillar and his hand reached towards El Cid's helmet. His Perception was still in its Zero state, and the Flaw Detection had gone into cooldown. So when the Boss's stomach blasted open it took the Devil completely off-guard.

In sheer shock, the Devil saw what he had thought to be the Boss Crawler changed to a hideous being. And a crawled-up body of a black armored knight, wrapped in tentacles, slipped out of the hideous creature's stomach. A distant memory came to the Devil as he realized what the creature was.

It was an Undead Changeling.

The Devil was still thinking why the Boss Crawler would let himself be taken over by a Changeling when one more body came out of the Changeling's stomach. But there were no tentacles attached to him. The Devil didn't immediately recognize the funny-looking hippie man covered in juices and blurted out.

"Who the fuck are you?!"

The hippie extended his hand towards the Devil and muttered.

"I… I am Mantis, and I am not known by any other name…

… LIFE-STEAL!!!"

Before the Devil could even use Shadow Blink, everything in front of his eyes had become darker than dark.

Pressure Points