Hero of Darkness

Kahn faced Axel with eyes full of hatred and disdain after the latter told him about what he'll do to Venessa after killing Kahn. But the current situation was very dire for him at the same time. 

His identity as Hero of Darkness was exposed and there was a chosen Hero as a witness on top of it. Even if Venessa chose to side with Kahn and they somehow managed to leave this isolation barrier… Axel would inform the church and soon, the entire empire would be after him. 

The church could also use this news in their favor saying that the princess is allying with the hero of darkness and thus, their crusade against the imperial rule is righteous. 

On the other hand, Kahn thought of Venessa as a friend at this point and after seeing how she tried to let him escape even by risking her life while fighting against the Hero's party by herself… he already held her in high regard. 

"Kill him!" 

Venessa's rage-filled voice reverberated in the surroundings and Kahn also got ready for a fight. 

Before, he was only looking for a safe way out but now due to these two factors… one was circumstantial while the other was personal. Kahn decided that no matter what… 

Hero of Fire must be killed. 

"Alright then… you heard the lady. Looks like you're not leaving out of here alive." said Kahn and not only him but the seven subordinates also brandished their weapons. 

"Ha ha ha! You're a fool, Salvatore. 

Do you really think you can kill me with just this measly group of yours? 

The Sage's Eye showed me what kind of creatures they are. Monsters posing as hybrids and demi-humans… You must look down on me too much to think that I can't massacre all of you." spoke Axel haughtily. 

"Your entire crew is gone. And so is that 4th stage fireborne saint. You can't escape from us." spoke Kahn as he gathered Space Force around Lucifer's blade. 

"And that's where you're wrong. 

I never needed those weaklings in the first place. 

With them watching, I would not be able to use all of the divine abilities that required me to get into my true form." revealed Axel. 

"True form? What the hell are you talking about?" Kahn readied himself for a battle but didn't attack. He felt like he was missing some key information here. 

However, in the following moment… Axel's entire figure started glowing yellow and soon, his body started enlarging… his flesh turned bright red. 

Crack! 

Crack! 

Axel's body started deforming and bones started cracking as his entire figure grew in size at an extremely fast rate. However, despite the immense pain, Axel had a wide and sinister smile on his face. 

After a dozen seconds, the layer of human skin started tearing from the inside and a demonic and horrifying face appeared. On his back, two ginormous bat-like wings came out and spread widely. Yet there seemed no end to his transformation. 

But soon, Kahn stood rooted as multiple faces of females came out of the flesh of Axel's ginormous figure that was still growing. 

"Let me go!" 

"Spare me, lord Axel!" 

"No! Stop!" 

"Please… please let me go!! 

I have a son… I have a husband. I have a family who's waiting for me. 

I beg you… I beg you! Please let me go."

Soon, the atmosphere of the 10 kilometers radius turned grim and horrifying as hundreds and then thousands of loud wails and screams of women continuously filled the battlefield. All of them were either begging for mercy or trying to protect themselves while suffering some sort of torture. 

At least that was what Kahn and the group could infer from the voices they heard. 

 [Boy… those are the souls of these women. 

Wasn't he supposed to be a human?] Asked Rathnaar. 

"Those are all women. 

It's as if he ate them and their flesh is now part of his body." spoke Venessa from behind. 

Little did Rathnaar and Venessa know that their guess hit the mark. 

"In my world… Human flesh is a delicacy. Males of my species eat women and females eat men." spoke Axel who grew horns on his head, no longer looking like a human. 

"Aren't you a human yourself?" asked Kahn with a constricted expression as he was still amassing enough space force to end the battle in a single attack. 

"Me? Haha ha! You're wrong. 

I look like a human because I have their bloodline and souls from thousands of women I ate. 

That allowed me to bypass the restrictions to enter this world when Hetrax chose me as his Hero." revealed Axel. 

[That fucker Hetrax! He used this guy's ability as a cheat to bypass the restriction of choosing a human hero. 

And if he can absorb the bodies and souls… means he has other abilities as well.] said Rathnaar. 

"But this human form… is nothing but a restriction. I can use only 2 of my divine abilities in it. 

As for the rest… I'll show you why you'll die." declared Axel and finally ended his transformation. 

Soon, multiple white archaic formations appeared around his body and the following moment, a suction force appeared at the center. 

Around the corners of the 50 kilometers radius battlefield… were the fallen members of the hero's party. 

A white orb with a blue-ish hue appeared out of them and quickly charged towards these white formations. 

[Don't tell me… this bastard chose the Soul Eater?!] exclaimed Kahn. 

Just now… he mentioned the divine ability named Soul Eater. 

Kahn had the Eidetic Memory so he still remembered the use of this divine ability. 

It gave the user extra lives by absorbing the soul of the strong deceased entities. But it worked only when the soul belonged to someone who could use world energy, in other words, only a recently dead Saint. 

It was different from Axel's own abilities where he absorbed someone's soul by eating them first. This divine could not only directly absorb someone's soul but quickly turned it into a life force equivalent to having another life. 

Kahn didn't choose this ability because he was a different case and back then, he didn't even know what saints were or how important world energy was. 

If he had chosen this ability even with his precarious situation where the whole Vantrea was hunting him, he wouldn't have been able to make use of it in any way and could've died before even becoming a saint himself.

But their current situation also wasn't favorable either, because this meant that they weren't fighting with Axel alone. 

Their current situation basically meant that they were facing… 

8 Hero of Fire.