The Deceitful One

The pentagram-shaped runic formation lit up with an eerie red light. Soon it enveloped all the black-robed figures that were standing on it.

Gradually, the red light devoured their skin, flesh, blood, and life essence. But strangely enough, none of the hooded figures, including the blond middle-aged priest had an ounce of fear on their faces.

Sacrificing themselves for the descent of one of the 9 Dukes of Hell was their life's greatest honor. Spreading chaos was the maxim that the members of the Inferno Order lived by. Even if it meant dying in the process!

"Glory to the Dark God!" These were the last words chanted by the blond priest as his body slowly dissipated into nothingness. All the while, the maniacal smile on his face never faded.

Meanwhile, on the surface, more than half of Augustus Street was illuminated by a sinister bloody light. This was the very same area that was right about the runic formation.

Alice began to cry tears of blood as she held onto her father's hand, "D-Daddy, what is happening to me?"

Her father had already broken down emotionally as his body trembled incessantly. He tightly hugged Alice and whispered into her ears, "You're going to be fine, Alice, you're going to be fine!"

He didn't know what else to do or say. He had never been so horrified. Looking at his daughter who was constantly bleeding from her face, he began to think that her illness had returned. Hence, all he could do was hug her and comfort her.

"D-Daddy…" Alice choked, "I-I don't feel so good."

And with that said, her eyes lost their luster and the last vestiges of her humanity gradually slipped away, making way for a malevolent devil who had been sealed in the depths of Hell for over a thousand years!

Dark clouds hovered above Augustus Street as a small portion of the Duke of Destruction, Abaddon's essence and consciousness slowly descended onto Alice's body and soul.

Alice's hazy eyes widened for a moment but soon they narrowed as her lips curled up into a cold smile. Her body contorted and twisted as her bones began to creak loudly. Small tendrils writhed all over her skin as her body transformed drastically.

Her father, who was still hugging her, noticed this change as he looked at Alice in disbelief, "A-Alice!?"

Alice—No! Abaddon, whose eyes had now turned completely red, coldly looked at the man holding him and snorted in disdain, "Get your hands off of me, filthy maggot."

With that said Abaddon waved his hand and instantly decapitated Alice's father. The blood gushed out from his neck as it completely drenched the Duke.

Abaddon licked the blood with great relish as he laughed loudly, "HAHAHAHAHA! It's been a long time since I've come to the surface world. Destruction! Slaughter! Blood! Chaos! HAHAHAHAHA!!"

The people around him saw the monstrous transformation of the little girl and tried to flee in panic. But it was all for naught.

The tiny body soon grew bigger and taller as black scales began to protrude from his skin. Abaddon's teeth became sharp and jagged, meanwhile, his fingers turned into razor-sharp black claws!

Meanwhile, two round horns jutted out from the side of the head as they distorted and curled around.

Although it was just a tiny bit of his consciousness that had descended, after his transformation, Abaddon now stood tall at close to 500 feet and his power was equivalent to that of a newly advanced Rank 4 Transcendent!

The area surrounding him had already turned into a sea of flames. Needless to say, the people around him died instantly.

"DIE!!!" Abaddon screamed as he spread his hands and the next moment a giant wave made of black flames spread out in all directions, destroying everything in the process.

The flower of death had finally bloomed!

In the distance, further away from the destructive flames, Detective Watson looked at the towering devil through his window with a grim expression.

"So the day has come…" He muttered under his breath as his eyes shone with firm determination.

…

The members of the Strike Team rendezvoused back at the entrance of the cave mine about fifteen minutes later.

"Strange," Ron rubbed his chin, "Did you guys find anything?"

Andrew, Henry, and Emma shook their heads with confused expressions. Henry tried to confirm once again, "Are you sure this is the right location?"

Andrew nodded, "Yes, that's for sure."

"Since we haven't found anyone outside shall we go lay the traps now?" Henry inquired. He was still worried about his mother being all by herself at home.

Everyone agreed as they made their way inside the coal mine.

"Everyone, keep your guard up! There's a chance those scumbags might be inside." Ron alerted everyone as he took out his dual silver daggers, which were in fact Rank 1 Artifacts.

The rest of the team similarly took out their weapons. Bryan had lost his flying daggers and the Hand Cannon back when he fought Anthony.

Hence, he only had the mystiko blades as well as the black daggers that Grace had gifted him. Bryan felt really uncomfortable not being able to carry a pistol. After all, out of all the weapons, he liked to use pistols the most.

'Fuck me! I should have bought another pistol artifact back when I got my ingredients.' He cursed in his heart.

Right when the team had entered the dark entrance to the cave mine, their spiritual senses were triggered as they detected an incoming attack from within the mine heading their way!

"Disperse!" Ron screamed as he made his way out along with the rest of the members. Just the next moment, countless blood-red spikes as thick as a tree's trunk protruded from the ground as they covered the whole entrance.

Rank 1 Spell: Blood Spike!

When the spell dissipated, ten figures jumped out from within the entrance of the mine as they quickly surrounded the Strike Team members. Everything happened so quickly that Bryan and the rest didn't even realize they had been cornered.

It was the members of the Holy Blood Sect!

And the person leading these ten figures was an old man with a head full of white hair and blood-red eyes. It was none other than, Alfredo!

He coldly looked at Bryan and spat through gritted teeth, "The day of your death has arrived, boy."

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Right at that moment, tens of red-colored fireworks could be seen in the southwest direction. Everyone turned to look at the bright display of fireworks about 20 km away in the sky above Damascus.

The faces of the Strike Team members paled in apprehension. It was the emergency flare signal! And that too, so many of them all at once!