[Void Expansion: Devouring void] Darkness expanded from Arad, covering him, Zuggtmoy, and Merida in the blink of an eye. The demon queen stared at Arad as her tentacle pierced his chest.
"Useless struggle. I don't need to breathe, and such pressure won't pose a problem for me," Zuggtmoy smiled.
Zuggtmoy, the demon queen of fungi. She didn't need to breathe, and creatures at her power level were already beings above the natural order. Surviving in the void for a few hours wouldn't be a problem for her.
CRACK! A fist landed on her face. From one eye, she saw a ragged man with a black beard, a blinded left eye, and a smile on his face. Behind him, tens of armed men and women lunged with blood spears.
^Vampire spawns?^ Zuggtmoy knew what they were instantly. "Such weaklings, do you think they can..."
CRACKLE! Lightning crackled from the bearded man's fist, exploding with a flash and ripping half of her face out. That was the same beam Arad used before.
BAM! The bearded man jumped back, carrying Arad, and flying away. "Deal with her!" He shouted.
As her face regenerated, Zuggtmoy's eyes could see it, the scales of Arad implanted deep into the spawn's bodies. Just like the meteors, he can activate his magic on them.
The spawns jumped at her, thrusting with their spears, punching and kicking like they went insane. Each of their attacks unleashed a beam of light, ripping her body apart.
The bearded man looked back, "Gang up on her! Rip her apart! You're bandits. You know how to do that," He smiled, "It's the Master's orders! Keep her at bay at all costs!"
The spawns weren't fast enough to keep up with Zuggtmoy's speed, but since the bearded man's fist punch landed and stunned her for a while, they could keep her locked in a stun by damaging her constantly.
Blugh! Arad coughed blood as his chest slowly healed, "Master! Here, blood," The bearded man pulled a red potion.
Arad downed the potion immediately and took a deep breath, "Thanks, Zora. I didn't think this would work as well as I expected it."
"I told you to trust us," The bearded man smiled, "No matter how strong an opponent is, once we get him beneath our boots, they are merely a rug,"
He then looked toward Zuggtmoy, and the spawns, "Is what I want to say, but that's a demon lord, the demon queen Zuggtmoy." He growled, "I doubt the boys can keep her busy for longer,"
Arad and Zora stopped, "You go protect Merida. We don't want her or the fungi interrupted. I will blast Zuggtmoy,"
"Take care, Master. No, My Lord!" Zora flew toward Merida as Arad faced Zuggtmoy.
Arad took a deep breath, ripping his shirt off with one hand. ^Brother mentioned that Eris's plasma was a mix of lighting and fire magic drawn from her draconic blood.^
ZON! A massive ball of stone and dirt appeared above Arad's head. CRACK! In the blink of an eye, it got crushed into a nail-sized marble of pure light.
The marble of compressed voidless matter floated down to Arad's face. He opened his mouth, transforming into his half-dragon form. Lightning crackled from his wings and shoulders as flames burned inside his chest, escaping from his nose and mouth.
Arad opened his jaw, swallowing the orb of light.
CRACK! He stood on all fours, anchoring himself to the ground with all his limbs and tail. His stomach and chest expanded, white light escaping through his flesh as the compressed matter and plasma got mixed inside him.
His half-dragon body wasn't able to contain all that heat and power, so he shifted into his full draconic form.
ZON! ZON! ZON! ZON! The light expanded from his stomach. Up to his chest and through his long neck, the volatile mixture released an ear-piercing screech as it boiled, even in the void, signaling that whatever Arad was about to spit out. It was louder, not just in sound.
Zora stared at Merida, "Close your ears. If we can hear it now. It means matter is escaping from his body to the void."
"I can hear you, and who are you?" Merida stared at him.
The man crossed his arms, "Zora, former bandit leader and currently the second in command for My Lord's spawns. We can hear each other because my lord is covering your body with air so you can breathe. It's a two-meter radius sphere around you, and since I'm in it, we can talk."
"And that attack is?" Merida asked.
The man scratched his beard, "Excuse my language, lady, but I can't find other words to describe it." He pointed toward Zuggtmoy. "That attack is so horrid I can't see anything surviving it, living, inanimate, or else. It burns everything, causing the matter itself to ignite."
"I call it the [Fuck everything in that general direction]."
CLACK! Arad's jaw opened, and a beam of white light rushed out. Bursting with a loud boom Merida felt her bones crack from the sound alone.
SPLAT! The spawns turned to blood, escaping away as Zuggtmoy regenerated.
She looked to the side, seeing the pure light rushing at her. "What?"
It didn't even take a fraction of a second for Arad's breath to evaporate her body with everything else in her direction. Even his expansion got ripped open from the side.
"Did he get her?" Merida looked closely, but she could see something forming back up. She was an undying demon lord. Even if her whole body was evaporated, she would get resurrected by the abyss itself.
ZON! ZON! ZON! More light started emerging in Arad's stomach.
"No way! He can fire that thing multiple times?" Merida gasped.
"No, he can't," Zora growled, glaring at Arad, "My Lord! Stop it! Your organs are already charred from the first breath!" He screamed, but Arad kept charging his breath.
Zora scratched his head, "I said stop it! You will lose control over it and explode. You'll kill us all including her!" He pointed at Merida.
ZON! Arad stopped charging the second breath and fell down, bleeding from his mouth and nose.
After about half a minute, Zuggtmoy's body reformed, and she stared at them with a smile, "Did he finally fall? That annoying void brat?" She laughed.
"Huh?" A woman's voice came from the peak of Arad's expansion. Everyone looked up to see a pink-haired elvish woman staring down with two glowing pink eyes.
"What did you just call my husband? Whore." Doma glared down at Zuggtmoy, lifting one finger to the sky. "I said it, didn't I? You're going to pay with your destiny."
Something ranked in Merida's head, "We're over 50%! Her demon lord status has transferred to my fungus! She's a mere demon now!"
"What?" Zuggtmoy looked at her hands. She can no longer hear the voices of her fungi around the abyss. She was overthrown from her throne.
Doma smiled, "Demons like you should crawl on the ground like worms. This suits you more," SWOSH! She pointed down with her finger.
CRACK! Arad extended his wing over Merida and Zora, covering them as his void expansion disappeared.
As Doma's figure disappeared with the void expansion, a large meteor was revealed in the sky.
[Halley's Comet] One of the strongest meteors in the Orionids of Orion constellation.