Chapter 174

Chapter 174: Chapter 174

"Fine," Satou said, his voice tight with controlled anger. "But stay mobile. Don’t let him touch you if you can help it. He adapts to everything—the more you hit him, the less effective your attacks become."

"Understood," Cassius replied, dropping into a combat stance as Satou carefully lowered Seraphine to the ground.

The demon lord’s hands were surprisingly gentle as he set her down, checking her pulse, making sure she was still breathing. Seraphine’s eyes fluttered open slightly, and she saw Satou above her—not the bored, casual figure she’d tried to seduce, but something else. Something protective and furious and absolutely unwilling to let her die.

"You... came..." she whispered, blood bubbling from her lips.

"Of course I came," Satou replied, his voice softening for just a moment. "That’s what allies do. Now rest. We’ll handle this."

He stood, Void Fang held in a reverse grip, his entire body radiating killing intent. The Reaper watched this exchange with interest, still touching the cut on his cheek that stubbornly refused to heal properly.

"That’s a nice sword you’ve got there," The Reaper observed conversationally. "Never seen anything quite like it. Feels... wrong. Like it shouldn’t exist."

"It exists to kill things that shouldn’t be killable," Satou replied coldly. "Things like you."

The Reaper’s smile widened. "Oh, I like you already. You’ve got that killer instinct. Not the fake kind that warriors pretend to have—the real thing. The kind that comes from actually being willing to kill without hesitation when necessary."

"Then you understand," Satou said, his aura flaring, "that I’m not here to test your limits or satisfy your boredom. I’m here to end you."

"Good!" The Reaper laughed. "That’s the attitude I’ve been waiting for! Come on then, mystery demon lord with the impossible sword. Show me what you’ve got!"

Satou and Cassius moved as one.

What followed was controlled chaos—a three-way battle where two fighters worked in perfect coordination to create openings against an opponent who could adapt to anything.

Cassius struck first, his vampire speed allowing him to close the distance in a blink. His claws raked across The Reaper’s guard, forcing him to defend. The attack did no damage—The Reaper had adapted to vampire abilities when he’d fought Carmilla—but that wasn’t the point.

The point was distraction.

While The Reaper’s attention was on Cassius, Satou Void Stepped behind him, Void Fang already in motion. The reality-erasing blade carved through space, aimed at The Reaper’s spine.

The Reaper twisted impossibly, his body moving in ways that shouldn’t be anatomically possible, and brought his sword up to block—

CLANG!

The sound was wrong. Not metal meeting metal, but reality meeting reality. Sparks that weren’t light but something else—fractures in space itself—erupted from the collision. The Reaper’s sword held, but the force of Void Fang’s blow sent him sliding backward, his feet carving trenches in the stone.

"That sword really is something special," The Reaper said, genuine appreciation in his voice. "I can feel it trying to erase the space where my blade is. If I wasn’t actively reinforcing my sword with adapted magic, your weapon would have cut straight through it."

He didn’t sound worried. He sounded interested.

Cassius attacked again from the left, blood magic manifesting as crimson spears. The Reaper deflected them casually, but that moment of deflection gave Satou another opening. He used Shadow Step, appearing at The Reaper’s right side, Void Fang thrusting for his ribs.

The Reaper leaned back, the blade passing millimeters from his chest. But Satou had anticipated that—his free hand shot out, claws wreathed in dragonfire, raking across The Reaper’s arm.

Contact.

The dragonfire burned, and The Reaper hissed in momentary pain before his body adapted. But the damage was done—three bleeding lines across his forearm that, like the cheek wound, weren’t healing instantly.

"Two weapons that resist adaptation," The Reaper noted, examining his wounded arm with fascination. "Your sword erases reality, and your fire has some quality that makes it harder to adapt to. Dragon-level fire, maybe? With something else mixed in?"

"Stop talking and fight," Satou snarled, pressing the attack.

What followed was a relentless exchange of strikes and counters. Satou would attack with Void Fang, forcing The Reaper to defend or dodge. Cassius would exploit those defensive moments to strike from unexpected angles. When The Reaper counterattacked, they would separate, using their superior mobility to stay out of range, then immediately re-engage from different positions.

It was working. Sort of.

The Reaper had four wounds now—the cheek cut, three arm slashes, and two shallow cuts on his torso where Void Fang had connected. None of them were healing properly. The reality-erasing properties of Void Fang prevented instant regeneration, forcing The Reaper’s body to actually work to adapt to wounds that technically shouldn’t exist.

Cassius darted in again, his movements a blur of vampire speed. He feinted left, then struck right, his blood-magic-enhanced claws aimed at The Reaper’s throat. The Reaper blocked, but the force of the block left him momentarily off-balance.

Satou was already there, Void Fang coming down in a two-handed overhead strike aimed at The Reaper’s shoulder. If it connected, it would sever his arm.

The Reaper’s eyes tracked the blade’s descent, and for just a moment, there was something like concern in his expression. He couldn’t block—Cassius had his sword occupied. He couldn’t dodge—Satou’s speed was too great, the distance too short.

So he did something else.\

Counter-Adapt: Spatial Lock

Space itself froze. Not time—The Reaper couldn’t stop time, that was Chronus’s domain. But space. For a fraction of a second, the distance between Void Fang and The Reaper’s shoulder became infinite. The blade moved through an eternity of compressed space, taking what felt like minutes to cover the last few inches.

By the time it reached his shoulder, The Reaper had already moved, the spatial lock releasing as he repositioned. Void Fang cut through empty air.

"Spatial manipulation," Satou growled, recognizing the technique. "You adapted to Veronica’s magic."

"And Morgana’s dimensional abilities," The Reaper confirmed. "Combining the two lets me do some really interesting things with distance and positioning. Though I have to admit, I can’t maintain it for long. Your sword actively resists spatial manipulation—it wants to cut through whatever I throw at it."