Extra's Path To Demon King

The Duke let out a wild, breathless laugh as he stared at the headless body standing before him. Dark, black blood spurted continuously from the severed neck, drenching the ruined earth in heavy, viscous stains.

Allen was a complete wreck of a man. The desperate decision to sacrifice one of his aspect chambers was functionally no different from committing suicide or detonating his soul sanctum entirely. Regardless of the outcome, his life was coming to an absolute end, and he knew it down to his very bones.

Looking at him vertically, exactly half of his body and face had been charred pitch black, as though a precise line had been drawn down his centre and one entire half burned away to cinders.

Sacrificing one of his two aspect chambers had allowed the Duke to channel and direct all of that violent, destructive power in a single focused direction rather than letting it unleash as an uncontrolled, omnidirectional explosion.

Allen had taken that horrific risk for one reason only.

He needed a few more precious moments of life, even if the act ultimately sealed his death. With those remaining seconds, he intended to slaughter the thralls of the demon. In his barely functioning condition and with his remaining strength fading fast, he knew he could not hope to finish off Daniel.

That silver rune armour was too formidable in its defensive strength, an unyielding wall he could never break in his broken state.

Just as the Duke gathered the last bits of his strength to leap toward the family mansion and carry out his final violent intention, his body seized. He found himself utterly unable to move forward even an inch.

A thick, dark hand attached to the headless demon corpse abruptly clamped around his throat with suffocating force. The grip was so brutal that the Duke was rendered completely immobile, his feet lifted slightly off the crushed earth.

Allen felt his barely beating heart skip a beat. Terror flooded his eyes as he stared at the moving, headless corpse. The demon was dead. Its skull was gone. Yet the body moved with terrifying precision, pinning him in place as though it still possessed life.

The more his mind tried to process what was happening, the less sense it made.

Dread expanded in his chest, cold and suffocating. At the back of his mind, he tried desperately to deny the impossible truth that the world was forcing him to face. The horrifying reality was right before his eyes.

Despite having its skull and brain completely pulverised, the Disastrous Demon of Despair was still alive.

Right before his horror-struck gaze, the bone structure of the demon skull began to rebuild itself inch by inch. Fractured splinters of bone reattached, weaving into a seamless crown.

Tissues, muscles, and complex networks of nerves wove together cell by cell, reconstructing the head in relentless sequence. Long black hair cascaded outward, followed by the appearance of dark eyes, a nose, a mouth, and the forward-curved, white-striped demonic horns.

The head of Osiris was forged anew, pristine and undamaged, as if the destruction had never occurred.

The instant those dark eyes opened, the white slit pupils narrowed, locking directly onto the Duke. Dread swept over Allen, flooding his soul and battered body like a tempestuous sea.

What happened next shattered whatever remained of his sanity. Slowly and deliberately, the towering body of the demon began to alter its form. The massive frame of profane majesty shrank, shifting until it took the shape of a handsome young boy.

Light blue hair fell across his brow, and ocean blue eyes gleamed with intricate runic insignias etched directly into his pupils.

The terrifying force that had plunged all of humanity into absolute despair had transformed into a human boy. Bright, pure mana radiated from him, carrying a serene warmth capable of calming even the most turbulent heart.

To anyone observing closely, Axel in his human form appeared even more handsome than before, a subtle side effect of becoming a full demon.

Glowing notifications from the Prime Nexus flashed continuously at the corner of his vision.

[All remaining energy left in the transformation of Demon of Eternal Despair has been consumed to regenerate the head of Axel Nomrad]

[This act of revival would not have been possible if Axel Nomrad was not in his strongest demonic form; as such, he must exercise further caution]

[You have transformed to your humanoid state to recover your hidden injuries, backlash, and energy reserves]

[Axel Nomrad is now a full demon; as such, he is no longer human]

[But due to the influence of the Runecaster aspect as well as the Runic eyes, he has gained the ability of Human State, as it maximises the true might and efficiency of his Runic aspect]

[You are to consume 100 mana every hour to maintain this Human form]

While Axel took a moment to review the essential notifications from Prime, the Duke trembled uncontrollably. His voice quavered as he forced out a ragged, hysterical shout.

"WHAT IS THIS? What is the meaning of this? Demon, how did you survive that? Is this some trick or transformation magic from the demon race? Why did you turn into the son of Myra?"

The Duke roared in sheer panic, his chest heaving with ragged breaths. "NO! How could you possibly survive without your head? Even higher demons cannot survive having their heads destroyed, I am sure of it!"

Those hysterical words were spoken more to convince himself than to get an answer from the creature standing before him.

A moment later, the silver-armoured figure descended onto the field.

Daniel landed heavily, the metal plates of his armour clanking loudly against the earth. He stared at the back of Axel with trembling eyes, his voice barely above a whisper. "Demon? What is the meaning of this? Why have you taken the face of my son?"

Silence heavy enough to crush the lungs settled over the battlefield. Axel did not answer right away. He did not move, nor did he turn. He stood there like a frozen statue against the cold wind.

When the silence grew too loud to bear, Daniel roared with desperate fury. "DEMON! ANSWER ME THIS INSTANT!"

Axel let out a deep, weary sigh. A soft, mirthless laugh escaped his lips. Slowly, he turned around to meet his father in the eye. The expression on his face was identical to the look he wore when he first returned from the academy, the hollow gaze of someone who had lost everything precious to him.

Daniel clenched his jaw with such force that blood began to seep from his gums. Between father and son, there was no need for words. A single honest look conveyed the tragic truth.

The Nomrad patriarch stepped forward with heavy, deliberate strides. The metal plates of his rune armour clanked loudly with every step he took toward his son. His expression was cold and ruthless. Gathering nearly all of his remaining strength, he drove a massive punch straight into Axel’s face.

The blow landed with enough force to crack bone, but Axel made no effort to dodge, block, or shield himself. Blood poured from his mouth, yet the injury closed and healed in the very next instant.

Daniel grabbed him by the collar, pulling him close and screaming directly into his face. "Bullshit! Do you honestly expect me to believe such utter nonsense!"

Axel offered a bitter, sorrowful smile. He gently reached up and placed a hand over one arm of his father, sending a subtle, rippling wave of mana through the contact point. His voice was quiet and soft. "Father... please."

That single ripple of mana was more than enough proof of whether Axel was speaking the truth or not. Members of the Nomrad family who were blessed with Runic Talent possessed a unique vibrational frequency within their mana, a signature that could never be copied by anyone else.

It was a special resonance that even the doppelganger Axion could not replicate, and the alien imitator was not privy to this information either.

Daniel stammered, his strength giving way entirely. Unknowingly, he took several unsteady steps backwards. Through the small gaps of his armoured helmet, his thunderstruck expression was clearly visible to Axel.

The Nomrad patriarch’s eyes trembled with shock. He muttered in a barely audible voice. "How can this be? How can this be? How could this possibly be?"

The Duke, who had been silent for a few moments, suddenly sent a secret message directly to Daniel through a focused thread of mana transmission. His tone was malicious and provocative. ’Daniel, this is the bitter price for colluding with a demon. Demons love eating human flesh.’

’Osiris probably ate your son and used some foul ability to transform himself into Axel.’

Yet he did not receive the expected reaction from Daniel. Instead, it was the cold blue eyes of Axel that turned toward the man.

BANG!

Axel took one decisive step forward and kicked the Duke in the head with terrifying force.

A shallow crack formed on the skull of the weakened Duke, sending the man slumping to the ground as he lurched in pain.

Axel stared down at him, his tone frigid. "You were so haughty back then after you called father and me into your office, humiliating us right in front of your bitch of a woman."

BANG!!

Axel kicked Allen once more and continued. "Why don’t you act so haughty now? Back then, you almost made me kneel. I could barely contain the rage seething through the demon bloodline."

BANG!!!

BANG!!

BANG!!

Axel continued to stomp the man, but he controlled his strength carefully, avoiding too much force because he did not want to kill him in a single strike.

The Duke suddenly realised the harrowing fact upon hearing the words of the Nomrad heir. Coughing up dark blood, his voice broken and wet, he managed to speak. "It was you all this time. Cough... blergg... cough... is that why you could withstand my pressure back then?"

"Argh, damn it, I knew something was off," stated the Duke, his eyes rolling back slightly. "See now, Daniel? Who knows how long it has been since the demon killed your real son! Or perhaps the real Axel never woke up at all."

"It was this vicious demon from the start, fooling you and all of us, causing one disaster after another!"

Daniel gritted his teeth. Those poisoned words from Allen hit him harder than expected. Doubt bloomed inside his mind despite Axel showing the single, absolute truth of his identity that could not be faked.

Wearing the twisted and pained expression of a father forced to doubt his beloved son, Daniel asked the only thing he could. His voice carried the deep heartache that was tearing his soul apart. "How? Tell me the truth, how are you a demon?"

"WHY ARE YOU A DEMON!" asked Daniel Nomrad as his voice cracked in complete agony.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!