Rise of the Cosmic_Emperor

Beldar crossed his arms and they received the brunt of the attack while their sudden separation also threw Hal off but not to the ground since his wings kept him in the air.

The Beldar formed the hard-crusted shell around both of his hands into weapons. The right became an ax while the left was a hammer.

Hal's eyes narrowed, 

"I'm guessing the copy you sold is not capable of this" he said.

Beldar grinned and it was quite gruesome thanks to his hard-crusted face, 

"No, it's not" he said in a much deeper voice than before and then swung his ax at Hal who dove to evade it only to meet with a hit from his hummer...

*Bam!*

... which smacked him out of the air and into a tree in the forest. A tree which fell as a result of the impact.

Hal groaned as he slowly and cautiously took flight again. Clearly, despite his size, Beldar's swiftness was not to be underestimated.

He had only thought of this when Beldar came pelting at him with his hammer swinging at his head. This time Hal did not attempt to evade and instead released Devil energy and made use of his better mastery of it to form it into a shield with which he hoped to hold back the hammer strike...

*Bang!!*

"Hngh" Hal groaned from the impact because the attack seemed to be what finally sunk it in on how powerful that technique was.

Even with the Devil energy shield as well as his Mid-world Devil form, he still felt the impact rippling into his skin and he knew why it was so.

It was because of the semi-saint energy that was harnessed in the technique.

It was mostly faint but made all the difference. If Hal had thought beforehand that it was only to cancel the effects of runes and also battle semi-saint pressure, then he found that he was wrong.

"You'll kill me? Haha, I'll KILL you!!" Beldar said with the air of someone enjoying the proceedings before he swung his ax at Hal with the hope that his hammer on the Dark shield would keep Hal preoccupied and in prime position to be hacked to death.

The ax was close to making contact when a trident composed malevolent devil energy discharged from Hal's side and intercepted the ax at least long enough for Hal to sidestep the hammer and fly directly at Beldar's headd to cut it down.

With his arms outstretched after Hal's quick sidestep, there was no way Beldar could defend himself, he was basically a sitting duck.

At least that was what Hal thought.

And he was wrong because when he was close to slashing at his neck, several long and evil-looking spikes sprung out of it and it was only because Hal made a suicidal leap backward only to be saved by his wings that he was able to evade them.

"You can make weapons from all parts of your body??" Hal asked incredulously now that his feet were on solid ground.

Beldar looked to swell with pride, 

"It's my own surprise element, do you like it?" He asked Hal.

"Like it? I love it! That is awesome. You've thought of everything. I should just give up on killing you now. It seems pointless and will only lead to disappointment." Hal said with a melancholic shake of his head.

Beldar laughed, 

"Of course it's pointless. I admit that you scare me and might be able to get through my defense but evading my all-around attack is impossible."

Hal nodded in agreement...

"I totally agree. In fact, I'm sure we just got off on the wrong foot and this is the start of a blossoming friendship. Don't you agree?" He asked.

'You change face so quickly. Just a while ago, you were talking about snuffing out his life, and before that, you said you will beat him senseless' Grimoire said in an exasperated tone.

'Well, my friend, Haven't you heard the saying, that all greatest male friendships start with conflict?' He asked the artifact.

'I don't think that's a real saying' Grimoire said.

'Well, it's a thing nonetheless. I mean we threaten to kill each other and deal a few blows only to eventually hug it out.

That said, I don't see myself hugging it out with this dude, I just need him to stop attacking and give me time to think.'

Beldar narrowed his beady eyes, 

"Friendship? Don't get ahead of yourself. Despite your monster or Devil-like appearance, you can't cover up that you are Haron scum and for that reason alone, I will kill you!" With that proclamation came the addition of spikes to the already terrifying-looking hammer.

Hal shook his head, 

"That breaks my heart, you know?" He said before summoning his cosmic armament thinly veiled with a cosmic phenomenon before dashing backward before taking flight to the top of a tree where he sent a cosmic attack infused with a cosmic phenomenon at Beldar.

There was an incredible flourish in the way Hal delivered that blast.

*Boom!!!*

Before it even hit, Hal was already on another tree and sending another cosmic attack at Beldar end before that hit, he was already moving to another tree to do the same.

He was moving from tree to tree with such speed that Beldar could hardly keep up.

Essentially, he was attacking Beldar from all angles and the only effect was that it was making the monster angry.

Since Hal's cosmic attacks were still those of the mid-stage of the cosmic phenomenon realm, they hardly had an effect on someone whose prowess had been heightened with his base prowess being at the peak stage of the Cosmic phenomenon realm.

However, while Beldar was roaring in anger, he failed to notice that all Hal had been doing so far was a distraction and only to overwhelm his senses so that he missed the four-ring circle Hal had summoned below his feet...

"Fourth grade Skill: Flaming pit" Hal called out with a smile.

Before Beldar could even think of moving out of the way, the four-ring circle erupted quite similar to a volcanic eruption which it was meant to imitate albeit in a smaller and more controlled manner.

'Flaming pit' was an upgraded part of the natural disaster series which had merely been at the third grade albeit, high tier, and Hal no longer felt that was good enough.

(You will remember the Natural Disaster series Skill as the one Hal used against Borus, the Tretch King's minions)

He could not help but admit to himself how satisfying it was to finally use it and seeing it roasting a monster was only a welcome plus.

However, he had no intention of keeping his connection tethered to that very draining skill even if he could now afford to as he was now in the cosmic phenomenon realm as opposed to back when he first used the natural disaster series at which point he was at the Cosmic pearl realm.

Although to be fair, the skill had been a High tier third-grade skill back then and well above his level.

The Flaming pit was just another step in the plan which was to weaken the defense which it had effectively done after which Hal swooped in with a Cosmic attack infused with Devil energy, Fiend energy, and Lust flames.

The lust flames managed to seep into Beldar's body through the exposed area and burned him from the inside out while the rest dismantled anything else he had protecting him.

*Boommm!!!*

After a particularly spectacular explosion, the twelve feet monster was gone and replaced with the naked form of a six feet tall man.

His skin was charred and from the way he was squirming on the grassy forest floor with areas around him looking charred as well, he was still suffering from the lust flames.

Hal found it a little convenient and intriguing that the location where the four-ring circle actually appeared was unaffected by the skill and only the spillover to surrounding areas actually saw damage. 

Hal bent low with his skin now back to normal but his eyes remained Devil black, 

"I don't usually say this but... You've got excellent bone structure. Don't let what Sassy said get you down.

Speaking of Sassy, it looks like she and the others have destroyed your monster ex-brothers. Any last words?" He asked with a benevolent smile even as all of Beldar's essence were getting passed to him and getting stored away for refinement.

Beldar looked away from him and to his monster ex-brothers as tears rolled out the corner of his eyes. Whether due to regret for what he did to them or simply the loss of good subordinates followed by his own death was unclear. 

Then he looked at Hal, 

"You really are... a Devil" and died a second later.

"Haha, I knew you'd admit it by the time I was killing you." Hal said in jubilation.

'I don't think he meant it as a compliment though' Grimoire said.

'Who cares? He acknowledged it and that is all that matters. That's one for the history books my friend. We got an unbeliever to believe! That has got to mean something.'