Without any further banter, Sam reached out with his Authority, and did something that had simply appeared in his mind, the product of his enhanced intelligence. A rudimentary machine, filled to the brim with fuel and built like a cannon. Made of quickly cobbled together metal, more to prevent it from exploding than anything, it was extremely rough. It was the first time Sam had tried making something with his Domain.

It enveloped him before detonating, launching him forwards. Sam had a hard limit on his speed, imposed by his Dexterity stat. However, making use of outside forces allowed him to increase his velocity. As he was propelled out of the mouth of the cannon by a geyser of flame, he pushed off. The metal warped, crushed by his strength. However, it had done its job.

Sam rocketed forth, moving a good two thousand or so miles per hour faster than Ramiel had been anticipating. Terra's Will snapped around with the sharp retort of a sonic boom, sheathed so tightly in power that the metal glowed from the ambient heat.

Ramiel leveled his spear. Although he was weakened, he was still a D Ranker, if not much of one. Sam wasn't going to win the fight without taking some sort of damage.

"My mother won't let you get away with this," Ramiel spat as he struck.

As the spear smashed into Terra's Will in a spray of sparks and cosmic light, Sam grinned. "She isn't here to save you now. Why would she care if you died? She can always make more children. Perhaps they won't be such a disappointment."

Sam's attacks were carefully controlled, using every last ounce of his weapon mastery. While he projected a casual air, he was also at the limits of his power. He was missing an arm, running out of Dao energy, and a few good wounds away from death. Fighting a D Ranker was no easy task, even for another D Ranker. For most E Rankers, it would be a death sentence.

Sam slammed his hammer straight into Ramiel's right chest, just as the angelic fighter stabbed him through the neck. Before Ramiel could twist the spear, or send fire through it, Sam used Manifestation of Vengeance, loosing the power contained in his hammer. With a spray of blood and multi colored flame, Ramiel skipped across the cloud. He got to his feet a moment later, racing in once more.

The cloud beneath the two warriors started to come apart as their clash left scars in reality. Tears in the air that wouldn't heal for a few seconds after their birth, small circles in which light died an ignominious death. Most of those spatial tears came from Ramiel, but Sam left a few of his own. The raw might imparted by three Dao Seeds was nothing to scoff at, especially when one was more than halfway through the Stage.

Wounds mounted on the warriors as well as on the world. There was no glorious end to the battle, for both of them had already spent their all.

It all came down to who found an opening first, and in this fight, that was Sam. Ramiel slashed his spear, cutting a long gash across Sam's torso. He was a fraction of a second too slow on the retraction, and Sam moved in. His hammer descended, blasting Ramiel down into the ground. The D Ranker conjured a pillowy pad of foam beneath him with his Authority, cushioning the impact. Sam couldn't interfere, as his Authority was locked away this close to a D Ranker. While he could still use it, he couldn't use it on Ramiel, or anything that the man created.

However, Sam struck again on the rebound, hammering Ramiel deep into the foam pad. The force of his blow sprayed blood and crushed flesh in every direction, and Ramiel let out a groan of pain. Sam continued to hammer away, his body burning with pain as he overdrew his stamina. Ramiel tried to rise, but was unable to. An odd memory resurfaced in Sam's mind, of how he had first slain another cultivator above his rank. Salvar Tenebron, the invader commander from what felt like a lifetime ago, had been F Rank while Sam had merely been G Rank. He had been forced to crush the man with a barrage of blunt force trauma, until he was beyond the limits of his regeneration. Sam did the same thing now, only his foe was orders of magnitude stronger than Salvar ever had been.

Minutes passed, and Sam's body started to tear itself apart even as he continued to barrage Ramiel with hammer blows. The D Ranker was almost impossibly tough, and while he could be injured, actually killing him was an exercise in futility. The D Ranker likely had the equivalent of millions of points of health, and the durability of a mountain, or an entire mountain range.

Eventually, Sam stopped, panting as blood ran down every inch of his body. A tidal wave of essence came crashing down on his soul, suspending him in midair.

You have killed Ramiel, Lord of the Forbidden Heavens!"

You have leveled up!(x4)

Ramiel's sundered corpse started to glow with radiant orange light, tendrils of flame licking at his arms. Between one moment and the next, the D Ranker's body detonated, nearly catching Sam. He managed to create a portal just in time, adjusted to the contours of his own body. The torrents of flame vanished into it, appearing a few dozen miles away. The portal quickly started to crack, and Sam summoned another. The strain on his nearly depleted Dao was immense, but he couldn't escape through an unstable portal.

The flame just kept coming and coming, and Sam's second portal cracked. A third formed, but he didn't have enough strength left to sustain it. With a tinkling crash, the portal snapped, and Sam's entire body was inundated in flame. His armor melted and his flesh soon followed. A good half of his body burned away, leaving nothing but a rudimentary humanoid made of meat and ash. Somewhere at the core of his being, his mind remained, flooded with absolute agony.

Sam felt the world slipping in a vague sort of way, as Ramiel's Dao struggled against his own. He was dying, and there was little he could do about it. With some final semblance of reason, Sam used his free stat points, putting them all into Constitution. Resilience wouldn't help here, as the damage was already done. What Sam needed was some additional regeneration.

The pain dimmed, but it was like a bonfire turning into a campfire. It was still blinding. Sam should have been able to see around himself even without eyes, but the damage done to him was so immense that his vision was whited out by the agony. Slowly, ever so slowly, his body started to knit itself back together. It was more painful than almost anything he had felt before, perhaps even eclipsing that of his battle with Granthar and his subsequent recovery. E Rankers healed fast, but they still felt all of the pain that a normal person would in a dramatically shortened amount of time.

Sam's body returned to its normal state, but the world around him was far different than before. A sweltering, oppressive heat surrounded him, and the air was thick with unfiltered malice. He stood upon a lonely outcropping of obsidian, suspended by thick chains of dark steel in the midst of a void. Far below, an ocean of lava bubbled and seethed. Looking up, Sam saw other islands of rock, all connected by a spider web of metal.

You have entered Layer 1 of the Inferno Gauntlet(Nightmare Mode)

Hell. Tartarus. The Bardo. Your world has many names for the negative half of the afterlife, the dwelling place of the souls of sinners and the unhappy. You are now in one such place. The Inferno Gauntlet is one of the lower Rank Hells, with a mere ten layers, while many have millions or billions. The Hells are legion, almost infinite in their number. They are far more varied than the Heavens, and far, far easier to enter. As in the mortal world, strength is everything. Prove yours by defeating the lord of this layer of the Inferno Gauntlet. Duke Alcazadran, Demon Lord of Sloth.

Completion: 0/1

Rewards: Title Upgrade

Sam could feel a maleficent presence far above him, coming from a monolithic temple crafted from black rock, and flickering with barely visible flame. The aura radiated the power of a D Ranker, if not an especially powerful one. It was what Sam might expect from one who had just entered the Rank. After his fight with Ramiel, Sam thought, for the first time, that he was ready to face a true D Ranker by himself. His Authority could save him from the main problems of contesting a D Ranker, and after that, it was simply a question of raw power, which he possessed in spades.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Sam opened a portal and stepped through, popping out in front of the entryway to the temple. Within was a dark void, lit occasionally by flashes of color and light. Sam took a deep breath, more out of instinct than anything else, and stepped into the temple.

Space warped as soon as he did so, and the darkness within the temple resolved into color. A vast throne room, with the far end dominated by a titanic chair fashioned out of glimmering obsidian. It wasn't really shaped like a throne, more like a beanbag chair than anything else. On it lounged a slender demonic man, his chin leaning against one hand. His face was suffused with boredom. All around him, thousands of wretches mewled and cried as they tried to reach for the throne with twisted hands. They were covered in wounds, and the throne, to them, promised salvation. However, they lacked the strength to reach it.

"Who are you?" Alcazadran asked, without looking up. He spoke in a near monotone, almost completely uninterested.

"Sam Atlas. I've come to fight you."

For the first time, the demon seemed to feel something approaching interest. His eyes lit up slightly, and he looked up. "Really? I don't think anyone has ever tried that before. Where exactly are you from?"

"You seem awfully friendly for a lord of hell," Sam replied. "Why aren't you blabbering on about peeling my flesh away or roasting me over an open flame?"

Alcazadran waved his hand dismissively. "Too much effort. Why bother torturing someone when they are fully capable of doing it to themselves? Look at these fools. Touching my throne would heal them, but their wounds gradually reappear. They've learned to simply let things be rather than struggle in futility."

Sam curled his lip in disgust. "You're a monster."

Alcazadran laughed bitterly. "I know. I'm a good one too." His face hardened. "I think it's high time I got rid of you. I tire of this conversation."

The demon rose to his feet, and held out one clawed hand before his eyes, examining it in apparent fascination. Blades of crystal grew from the ends, made from what looked like solidified blood. Then Alcazadran used his domain. Chains grew from the air and snaked their way towards Sam at high speeds. They stopped dead in their tracks six feet away from Sam, where he stood, arms crossed. Within that space, his Authority was absolute, and could not be impinged upon, even by an early D Ranker.

Sam opened a portal beneath him, and appeared above Alcazadran's head. The glorious light of Dao Juggernaut rampaged across his body, just before he brought down Terra's Will. Alcazadran blocked with his clawed hands, crossing them beneath the hammer. Sam grinned, and bore down, using his Daos to supplement the attack. Alcazadran's defense, already tenuous, shattered in a literal sense, his claws breaking beneath the force. Sam's hammer crashed into the demon's head, and slammed him into the stone beneath. It was oddly durable, and a force that should have leveled a mountain simply sent cracks spider webbing across the dark rock.

Sam used his weapon as a conduit, sending half of his remaining Dao potency through it, and into Alcazadran. The demon's flesh burned beneath the deluge of raw power, and the ground liquified. Sam, for a moment, thought that he had already won. Then the demon started to push back, and with a mighty heave, Alcazadran threw Sam off.

"I have no idea how you are so strong for your level," the demon began, "but it does not matter. I am a follower of the path of Sloth. Sometimes, for the sake of greater peace, war must be waged."

Alcazadran howled in pain as his body began to bulge with layer upon layer of muscle. HIs hands transformed from being almost effeminate to being those of a bodybuilder. He clapped his hands together, and when they came apart, each was covered in a thick gauntlet of red light. He grinned at Sam, fangs showing, before leaping off the ground. Wings of flaming red broke out from the demon's shoulders, and with a single flap, he accelerated to devastating speed. His fist slammed into Sam's gut, tearing through his armor and into his flesh. A secondary explosion of force rocked Sam's entire body, and blasted a hole through his stomach.

Sam hurtled backwards, and only managed to catch himself at the last moment, skidding along the ground. He plowed through a few of the crawling damned souls, and came to a halt just beside the throne.

Alcazadran came racing in, his hands shining brighter and brighter as he prepared to atomize Sam with his next punch. Sam curled his lip, and pushed himself to his feet. Terra's Will came crashing in from the right, battering the demon lord's hand away. Sam moved in closer and slammed his left palm into Alcazadran's torso.

A wave of light exploded out of his hand, mingled red, blue, and yellow as he wove together his Dao and elemental abilities. Alcazadran howled as his flesh tore apart under the blast. A wave of destruction ripped through his chest, and a moment later, the Duke of Hell was stumbling back, unable to resist the force of Sam's strike.

Sam smiled, but he wasn't that confident about his chances here. Alcazadran was about the same strength as Ramiel had been, but Sam lacked any allies in this fight. While the battle against Ramiel for the fate of the Forbidden Heavens had only been possible because of Sam, he wouldn't have won without support.

Only, things were different here. Sam was stronger, both in terms of stats, and in terms of everything else. He had an Authority now, rendering one of the main weapons of a D Ranker useless. All he had to do was do what he had done so many times before. Punch above his Rank, and win a battle that should have been impossible.

Sam and Alcazadran clashed for what felt like hours, slowly whittling down each others' defences. In real time, it was less than a minute, and to any mortal observer, the fight would have been completely invisible. Each strike shook the air of the temple, and left devastating wounds that simply healed over within seconds. Still, lasting damage left both fighters covered in blood. Sam's armor was about as good as paper at this point, and it was barely hanging on.

As Alcazadran charged in, Sam used his portal abilities properly. He had been saving them for an occasion like this. Three portals opened in unison. One in front of Alcazadran, one slightly to Sam's left, and one right in front of his left hand.

Alcazadran fell through the portal. He reappeared on the other side of the portal, right in the path of Terra's Will, streaking in from the right. The demon snarled, and leaped backwards. Or at least, he tried to. One final portal opened, and Sam thrust his left fist through it.

Coated in a radiant layer of Dao, his hand speared into Alcazadran's spine. The punch burst through the flesh, a spear of power forming before it to make such a thing possible. Alzadran came to a screeching halt, jerking as his momentum stopped. Sam's wrist tore, nearly severing his hand. However, it had done its job.

The blazing end of Terra's Will impacted Alcazadran's head, and folded the demon nearly in half. Sam's left hand did come off at that point, flying off with Alcazadran, still embedded in his back.

Sam cradled his wounded arm to his chest, but the wriggling stump reassured him that the damage was only temporary. There was no way that he could ever hope to defeat a D Ranker without taking gruesome injuries in return. Sam was stretching his abilities to their very limits, and physical wounds were the least of his concerns.

In contrast, Alcazadran was far worse off from the exchange. His stomach had a hole through it, and his head was a crushed lump of mangled flesh that was completely unrecognizable as anything other than something one might find on an abattoir's floor.

"How… impressive," the demon choked out, somehow talking without a mouth. "I suppose I wasn't taking this seriously enough."

"You don't seem like you take anything seriously," Sam shot back. "Squatting here amidst the conceptual filth of your own evil, and then having the arrogance to be shocked when someone appears who can fight you."

"At least I'm true to myself," Alcazadran gurgled as his face started to come back together. "Can you say the same about yourself?"

Sam grinned as his body lit up with the light of his Dao. Swirling loops of power condensed into plates of armor, surrounding him entirely. The damage he had taken in the fight stoked the fires of his Dao Seed of the Avenger, tinting the armor a bloody red. "Yes. Yes I can."

Alcazadran's torso was illuminated by a ring of red light that formed out of thin air, with him remaining completely oblivious. Sam took a step forward, and formed a portal. This time, the demon was ready. He slashed his claws across the air, and for fifty feet in every direction, the air filled with thousands of razor sharp blades of scarlet energy.

When the portal opened, Sam stepped out, right in front of Alcazadran. His armor started to tear apart, and blood sprayed as the razors sliced through his flesh beneath. He only smiled harder. The red circle surrounding the demon lord's chest burned brighter and brighter as Sam approached.

His armor failed, leaving only his flesh to stop the assault. Pieces fell to the ground as Sam was flayed by the attack. He kept moving regardless. The pain was blinding, but it was ultimately worth it.

"You think your path is part of some greater meaning," Sam spat between bloodied teeth. "You think you actually mean something in the grand scheme of things. I have faced down beings far stronger than you when I was barely above a mortal's level of power. I have communed with the great forces of the Boundless Expanse. I am the man who is going to defeat the Tower. Who are you to me?" Sam parried an incoming punch. "Nothing but an obstacle."

His hammer flashed through the air, almost in slow motion as both warriors stared at it. Alcazadran, for the first time in the battle, teleported away. Reality caved in around him, before depositing him a few hundred feet away. Then a portal irised open in front of him, and Sam emerged, his entire body a mess of blood and flensed flesh.

Without any more banter, Sam struck. Alcazadran was already dead. He just hadn't realized that yet. Why would Sam waste words on someone who was already in the palm of the Reaper?

Such was the potency contained within Sam's Dao at that moment, a bonfire crackling with the flames of his revenge, that when he struck Alcazadran, the D Ranker's entire body turned into a red mist.

You have killed Alcazadran, Demon Lord of Sloth!

You have leveled up!(Extra essence is being banked until after the end of the Tower to ensure fairness.)

Sam turned away from Alcazadran, and strode away, even as reality flickered away. Behind him, one of the tortured souls reached the throne, and laid a hand on it. With a brilliant burst of light, they vanished, finally freed from their torment.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.