Supreme Monarch

Watching the Dark Garuda viciously rip apart the defenseless pair that had injured Erin. Tyler felt nothing. This was not the first time he had killed someone, neither was it the first time he had seen people die in front of him, but, the way the Dark Garuda fought was both twisted and savage and one would normally not be able to retain their food seeing such gruesome scene.

The creature seemed to enjoy the process of killing them and took its time with it, clearly taking his order to rip them apart way too literally as it could have killed them in an instant but didn't. Instead, it rips parts of their body off while giving them the illusion that they had a chance of escape.

The pair didn't even have the time to react to Tyler's words when the Dark creature had appeared before almost as though it had teleported. Their screams and desperate pleas fell on deaf ears as Tyler was not in the mood in engaging in any dialogue.

He calmly observed the scene for a moment before carrying Erin to the corner of the hall and placing her there. He then proceeded to use light healing on her a few times until he was sure she would survive. With no time to waste, he ordered Zelda to take her to where Nadine was as he got up and headed for the main entrance to the castle.

The Dark Garuda had finished toying with its prey as it rip through their flesh with its mandibles and actually ate their organs. Sensing Tyler leaving, it quickly snatched the heart of the last demon and took off after him, leaving the two minced cadavers to bleed out on the marble floor.

Tyler exited the castle through the main entrance and came onto the outer ward, he saw his opponents in the distance. The one he judged to be the strongest had an illusionary book in front of him and another kicked a stunned Albert away which should've angered him more but he felt nothing.

Well, that wasn't exactly accurate as he did feel something. However, it wasn't the feeling he had expected. Moreover, his emotions right now were strangely suppressed. He had imagined he would've lost his cool the moment he saw this scene, but strangely, that didn't happen.

He gathered his mana in the air as he continuously fed it with mana until it could no longer remain the same size as a golf ball. With that, he fired and prepared another. 

Although his first shot was successful, the second was partially blocked so Tyler deemed the skill no longer useful for the time being and moved forward. The group seemed surprised at his appearance and were muttering something about him or something, but Tyler couldn't care less right now.

He moved closer to them and the Garuda followed, hovering in the air behind him without even flapping its wings. As he got closer to his opponents, it seems the strongest in the group could no longer take it and summoned what should be back up but Tyler had no intentions in a prolonged fight as he immediately activated a skill the moment they were in range. 

Well, he didn't really activate the skill as he was already using spatial manipulation the moment he left the castle. It was why the strongest among them had been unable to react to his first attack, and since the skill he used next was a subsidiary skill of spatial manipulation, it didn't really need an activation process.

•Frozen Space•

In an instant, everything around Tyler froze. It was as though time had stopped as the clouds had also stopped moving. However, Tyler knew that this was only happening in the area around the castle and time was still moving in the rest of the world.

He could sense several limitations in this skill and thus could not keep the Frozen space up too long else he risk someone shattering it or invading it. He then created two magic bullets with dense mana and immediately spilled the ball seamlessly into a hundred needles of mana as he fired it at them and released the frozen space the moment the needles were about to touch a hundred men that came at him as he could not harm anyone that had been frozen by his skill.

Distorting space around the mana needles point of impact, he was able to increase the potency of the attack, as such only one person had been able to resist and survive the strike. While the other hundred men that had been called here fell like lifeless dolls whose strings had been cut.

The moment the small army of a hundred that charged at him died suddenly before everyone's eyes, Tyler heard the Dark Garuda comment something like: Don't just kill everyone and take away my fun, leave some for me.

Tyler didn't pay attention to the clearly devious conjured celestial but he complied and allowed him to kill the one demon that had survived and recovered from his attack almost immediately.

The Dark Garuda happily complied as it disappeared and appeared before the demon and with a single attack, it split the sky and almost space itself.

Clearly enraged by the death of his companions or something, the strongest of the group that was surely the Behemoth finally made his move and without a doubt, it was a devastating one. Using a high-tiered skill.

•Astra Smite•

At his words, the sky above Tyler split open as it revealed a world beyond one's imagination. Unable to peer into the world above, a massive wave of Astra or celestial energy gushed down like a pressurized torrent at Tyler in a massive range that could not be avoided.

This was one of Mammon's strongest skills, a Divine Tier skill that would obliterate everything it touches, be it physical or spiritual. The skill would even destroy the very soul, preventing any hope of resurrection or reincarnation. 

Unable to avoid the attack without letting everyone here die, Tyler used a skill of his own. As Spatial Manipulation was still active, he instantly created a large spatial barrier around him and everyone else in the ward because if the attack touched the ground, there was a high chance it could even destroy the entire castle. 

His Spatial Barrier creates a multi-layered defense as well as distorts space in a way that creates an absolute defense. However, even with such a powerful defensive skill that wasn't limited by the constraints of a magic item, the astral smite poured out so much power that it threatened to destroy Tyler's barrier.

With more than his life at stake, Tyler could not allow such a thing to happen. If it was just him and the Dark Garuda, he was strangely confident he would be able to survive the skill but a lot of the people he had gotten to know over the few weeks he had been here were lying motionlessly on the ground around him. Some were already dead and some were gravely wounded. Still, he could not let their bodies be reduced to dust.

He didn't know how he would do it, but he would not allow this attack to fall. His determination bore forth results as his innate Ability had broken his Spatial barrier beyond its limit. His skill had once again evolved, upgrading to Universal Barrier, a supreme defense that draws in the power of the universe itself, creating a complex number of multi-layered cosmic barrier that is almost completely impervious to all types and forms of attack in the universe.

The barrier that protected him transformed and immediately shattered the attack, forcing the rift in space to close. Looking back at the only demon trio left standing, Tyler could see the shock in their faces. The most surprised one of them was the behemoth who had used the attack. 

That may have been his most potent attack so perhaps it was hard for him to believe Tyler could defend against it.

His expression soon returned to normal as he moved forward a little and spoke to Tyler while chuckling. They were still a fair distance apart but the wind carried his voice clearly to Tyler's ears.

"Fufufu... That was Impressive, truly, impressive. It has been a while since I last met an opponent at your level. Even amongst them, not many could stop that last attack with even breaking a sweat."

"..."

"I suppose we haven't yet been introduced, although I'm sure you know who I am don't you."

Tyler slightly tilted his head at the demon that seem to be moving his mouth for some reason and Mammon took it as a response.

"Of course you do. A behemoth of your level and intellect has sure gathered quite a bit of information about the Seven Primordial Behemoths. But I'll introduce myself anyway. I am called Mammon, the Behemoth of Greed."

He made a slight bow that did not carry any hint of politeness but seem to demean his opponent as he awaited Tyler's response.

"What's wrong can't speak? Oh right, I guess you must be angry about your comrades right? How amusing. Still, you've killed more of my men than I have tours so let's call it even." Seeing neither Tyler nor the Dark Garuda makes any further movements, he judged he had garnered their attention as he signaled for his remaining generals to step back while he took a step forward.

"Say, I have a proposal for you. Why don't you join me? You're plenty strong and I could use a few more generals after this. With your level, you could easily be my second in command. What do you say."

He had a smile on his face as he proposed that to Tyler while casually approaching him.

"Oh before you reply, you should know that the last skill I use was not my strongest. I also have hundreds more at that level, not even your absolute defense can withstand that many attacks am I right?"

He spoke confidently as though he had grasped a secret. Perhaps he had been able to tell that Tyler had burned through a lot of mana by simply stopping his Astra smite and was confident he wouldn't be able to keep using such a skill. After all, if it came down to a battle of mana reserves, he was confident he wouldn't lose.

With his hands in his pocket, he stopped a few meters away from Tyler as he awaited his response. His illusionary book had already flipped to a certain page to contain a skill he deemed perfect for this situation as well as an empty or blank page in case this behemoth chose wrongly and tried something foolish.

He smiled warmly at Tyler but his aura was immediately unleashed and encompassed the entire castle in a domineering wave that was accompanied by a silent huddled killing intent that would be able to cripple most below a certain level.

"Pointless."

"Huh?" A sudden and unexpected reply from the behemoth that had kept silent the entire time as he just boldly stared at him. Although he had an inkling, he still wanted to clarify what this demon meant before he took any drastic actions and was just about to ask what he meant when he suddenly spoke again.

"There's no point in speaking with vermins. Besides, you'll be dead soon anyway."

Without even waiting for his words to sink into Mammon's head as though he had only been speaking to the wind. He stretched out an arm and pointed his index finger at him, instantly casting a spell.

"FireBall."

A massive ball of flames gathered in front of his index finger as it rapidly grew larger and larger in mere seconds, steadily changing color from a reddish yellow to a whitish blue as the temperature around the castle rapidly rose without limit.

With a thought, the bus-sized ball of flames was launched at the stunned Mammon, crossing the distance in less than a second as the sheer heat it emitted, melted the ground it flew by.