The monster of impossible proportions let out a echoing bellow that shook the world around it and burst Devaxion's eardrums.

Having lived his entire life in the Darklands, sometimes having traversed its deepest depths, the king of the Umbrashnuls had seen his fair share of powerful monsters.

Some had been far more powerful than him and true horrors that still occasionally haunted his nightmares.

Yet nothing could compare to what stood before him now. Every other monster he had encountered that should have been among the most terrifying the world had to offer seemed like common rats when matched against such a titanic and dreadful thing.

Immediately, he knew that fighting was not an option. He had already used several of his strongest attacks, and they had not fazed the creature.

Certainly, he did quite a lot of damage, but it was healed in mere moments. He doubted that the thing could be destroyed unless its entire body was obliterated. And even then, he was not sure that that would be enough.

'What have I done?' Devaxion thought as he melded into the shadows and began darting away.

He had no idea how the ghostly entity he had been fighting before had turned into such a monstrosity.

After he had erased the man's ego with his psychic magic, he had started shifting into one monstrous form after the other. Until landing on the titanic worm that had a gaping mouth filled with razor sharp teeth.

It was utterly baffling, but Devaxion decided to consider the abomination no longer.

Regrettable as it was, the only option he saw left was to gather as many of his people as he could and run.

A creature like this was not going to be satisfied claiming a chunk of territory and staying there.

No, it would continue to devour and destroy everything in its path. Even now, Devaxion could feel its strength growing as it drained the life from everything around it.

It was a shame to abandon everything that he had built, but Devaxion knew that this part of the world was soon to become a desolate hellscape.

Except, while he thought he would be able to escape, a powerful force started dragging him back in.

He turned his head back and saw that the colossal monster was drawing everything around it into its mouth. Creating a giant vacuum that started tearing apart the very earth.

Devaxion tried to speed up, delving deeper into the shadows and exerting his own powers.

It was not enough.

At best he was getting away a at a crawl, and he felt he would exhaust himself before the monster.

More worryingly, a multitude of green tendrils shot out from its body and began burrowing through the rock and stone.

One look was all Devaxion needed to know that those things were bad news. And several dozens were shooting towards him.

'I need to damage it enough to stop it momentarily. Then I'll use that opening to escape.'

Before Devaxion had been considering how to save as many other Umbrashnuls as possible. Now though, the only thing that he was concerned about what his own life.

Coming out of the shadows, he anchored himself in place with his spear and began conjuring magic attacks as quickly as he could.

Every one of the tendrils that came towards him were shredded apart with ease.

While they may have been numerous, they were not very durable.

However, they regenerated so quickly that it took him everything he had just to keep them at bay. At least, until they started firing magic attacks.

Giant iron swords, beams of light, blasts of fire, and bursts of lightning targeted Devaxion.

It was incompressible how the monster was able to wield such powerful magic all at once, but there was no denying its capabilities.

'A calamity given form.' Was all Devaxion could think as a hundred-meter-long sword of iron crushed him.

His entire body was splattered, but thankfully it was nowhere near enough to kill him. So long as he avoided the haphazard beams of light, he could avoid dying.

The situation was not looking good for him though.

Every attack he took caused him to lose his position and be dragged a bit closer to the enormous and wide-open maw of the monsters. He knew that it would not stop until it drew him in and consumed him.

That would likely end up being a fate worse than death, as he would eternally have his energy drained without being able to die.

Realizing that he no longer had any other option, Devaxion embraced the most dangerous unique skill that he had stolen from Marcus.

'Soul Burst.'

Strength like nothing he had ever felt before coursed through Devaxion's body.

Feeling all of his stats doubling brought with it an almost intoxicating level of power.

He felt invincible. As if nothing in the world could hope to take him on any longer.

One look at the monster he was facing brought that fantasy to an abrupt end.

Even with such a massive boost, it was going to take everything that he had to escape. Especially within the short three-minute duration he had before the backlash of the skill hit him.

A torrent of shadows like nothing he had ever commanded before swirled around Devaxion.

Soon the size of his attack was large enough to rival even the size of gargantuan monster intent on eating him.

The creature's own magic faltered in the wake of the shadows, and soon its body was ripped apart into millions of pieces.

For just a moment, Devaxion believed that he might have killed the thing. Up until it started pulling itself back together.

He took this as his cue to flee, but before he could get far, a ring of light shot out from the giant worm that was both invigorating and debilitating at the same time.

Devaxion felt healing energy coursing through him but at the same time the light that it was coming from wreaked havoc inside of him.

It was a very unique feeling to have himself healed and destroyed over and over again in quick succession.

This was thanks to Marcus instinctively using his Light of Salvation Supreme Skill.

Under normal circumstances, it was meant to be a massive healing power that could bring armies back from the brink and even resurrect the recently dead.

As he currently was though, Marcus was not even thinking about anyone else. He simply used his most powerful healing skill to recover from the damage that he had just taken.

Once he was back in perfect condition, his instincts told him to eliminate the threat that had just hurt him.

Before he had just been absentmindedly draining life energy from the surroundings, affording the Umbrashnul King no more attention that it deserved as a powerful morsel to be consumed.

Now it was categorized as a threat that needed to be eliminated.

Straining his muscles, he tightened his body into itself like a spring.

When the tension reached its peak, he let go and launched his entire massive from forward faster than the speed of sound.

Devaxion barely got out of the way of the gigantic jaws that tried to draw him in, but even then, he was sent flying as his form burst into shadows from the impact of a glancing blow.

By the time that Marcus had stopped his momentum, he had left a nearly forty-kilometer-long tunnel through the earth.

The structural integrity of the area began to falter, and millions of tons of rock fell down on him.

It barely even slowed him down, and he went intangible to maneuver through the solid rock and began flying back towards where he had been before.

The only thing left in his head was to devour everything. And he was going to start with Devaxion.

Right after the Umbrashnul King had managed to reform himself, he was once again besieged by the incarnation of the Dread Burrower that Marcus had turned into.

He was not quite as powerful as the original Doomsday Monster yet, but he was getting closer after every passing second.

Soul Gluttony was already going at full force, and the tendrils he had spread out were draining the life force of everything that they came across. Given enough time, he truly could become a menace powerful enough to bring an end to the entire world.

Devaxion proved to be slippery and difficult to pin down, so Marcus fractured his soul and sent thousands of Ecto Duplicates to pursue the man and slow him down.

Some looked just like his normal form, while others took on the shapes of beasts and monsters he had encountered during his adventures.

Unrelentingly, they attacked Devaxion, and while the Umbrashnul King put up a good fight, it could not go on forever. Eventually, the empowerment from Soul Burst failed, and he was unable to defend himself any longer.

With a lunge forward, Marcus drew the man into his mouth and swallowed him.

An influx of energy began coursing through him as he drained what power Devaxion had left.

It was the first of many meals, but far from enough to satisfy his gluttony. Until Mirrion had been picked clean, he would not stop devouring everything in his path.