The demon didn't answer. Instead it reached down into the earth below and withdrew a flaming obsidian longsword. The weapon was serrated, long cutting spines of sharpened rock shining on its sides. With a bellowed exhortation of hate, the demon swung its weapon. It cleaved through the sky, and where it went, the air boiled and the world turned to lava. A tidal wave of molten rock swept across the realm, dripping down from the patchy clouds above. It immolated everything in its path, even the stone itself melting under the onslaught.

The leering demon stood above it all, its face creased in satisfaction. That sickening expression vanished a mere moment later as three comets rose up from the ground, hurtling towards its head. One red, one blue and one tinged both colors. Sam and the Overlord led the way, trusting in their superior durability to carry them through. Meanwhile, Glakassa remained slightly behind, gathering her elemental energy.

At the front, hammer and fist united, a hemisphere of fused energies forming as father and son melded their powers. The combined concept of Vengeance and Ego was a potent one, creating a will for revenge that was complete in the surety of its success. The hemisphere lengthened into a lance, just as Glakassa loosed her own technique. A beam of frost struck the back of the energy spear and forced it forwards. The shining lance of red and blue light streaked across the heavens, bolts of electricity arcing from it.

The Eruption Demon raised its longsword to block, a ephemeral shield of the mountain's own defence forming before it. A great aegis of obsidian and fire, it stretched across the beast's entire body.

When the spear hit, it looked like a toothpick next to the monster's bulk. However, it struck like a cruise missile. The shield warped beneath the strike, creases spreading across its surface. The demon staggered, each step shaking the ground.

As the shield buckled, Sam and the Overlord propelled themselves across the sky, gathering their strongest attacks. Manifestation of Vengeance played across the contours of Terra's Will as Jacob formed a titanic fist before his own, painted the red of blood and death. The two supreme expressions of power and will sent shockwaves across the sky as they came into being. Sam and his father roared in unison, and barreled into the shield.

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***

Further afield, other cultivators watched, some with jaded looks and some in awe, as a duo of powerhouses battled one of the Eruption Demons. So far, most had fled in the face of those monsters, thinking them to be near invincible guardians of the volcanic plains. Nobody there other than Sam and the Overlord had been treated to the System's special attention, and as such, had gone through a far more normal progression path through the Tower. Many could fight up to the middle of E Rank, or maybe against a weak high E Ranker, but most wouldn't stack up against something near the peak.

Only five other warriors there could have taken on an Eruption Demon with any sort of confidence in victory. Their interests were piqued by what they were seeing, and their egos, inflamed. Whatever came of this floor, its conclusion would be a legendary one.

***

To the inhabitants of a mortal planet, it would have been as if the gods themselves were doing battle. Sam and Jacob's techniques shook the fabric of reality itself, and in such close proximity to one another, cracks formed in the air. They possessed much more power than they should have for their level of progression, and as such, the natural durability of the System created realm lagged somewhat behind. It was built for mid E Rankers, not low E Rankers that could fight at the pinnacle of their Rank.

At this point, Sam was a bit concerned about what would happen when he returned to Earth. That planet wasn't built for people who could level cities with ease, and scour entire countries in a few minutes. The planet wouldn't rank up either, not until a good fraction of its inhabitants were E Rankers. That wouldn't happen for a long time yet.

As he had seen in the Dao vision for his Third Step upgrade, a battle between him, post Tower, and the invaders could wipe out a good fraction of the planet's surface. Sam on his own could probably destroy most of Earth's surface, given enough time. It was a sobering thought, and one that really put just how fragile his home planet was into perspective. The place where he had lived out almost all of his life was nothing but a speck of dust before the whims of a higher rank cultivator.

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