339 Chapter 339

Unlike Cyrus' life power, Derik unleashing his death power struck fear deep in the hearts of his foes and even allies, they could only watch the massive green skull in the skies and tremble unconsciously. His killing intentions spread like wildfire this time, reaching the edges of the continent and his death aura began to corrupt the minds of the less intelligent magic beasts, making them go on a rampage. Back in the empire people were terrified since they recognized the owner of the aura, death had truly returned to the continent and at this point they could only run into their homes and shut their doors, hoping a terrible tragedy would not befall then but even then it didn't stop Derik's image from flashing in their minds.

"Derik!" Elsa gasped in shock as the death aura flooded into her living quarters.

Even though she was stripped of her power and position in the empire, she still knew how bad their situation was with the invaders. Derik's sudden appearance meant that Cyrus has returned as well. With the two most powerful mages of in the continent back, she could help but feel safer but that didn't mean she didn't feel terrified as well. Soon the fear turned to despair as she remembered Francis and Diana joined hands to attack the death palace two years ago and failed. Derik and Cyrus are aware of this and when they are done dealing with their current enemies, they will definitely turn to those two.

Only death awaited them at this point and with Cyrus around too, not even Ahika will be able to stop them from killing those two.

"You weren't always like this…" Elsa muttered while clenching her fists so hard that it turned white.

Remembering when they found Derik back at the sky rift dungeon, saving him with her healing spells and even spending some time with him during their journey, Elsa realized she was wrong. Derik has always been like this, the death mage was neither good nor bad, he was just fair at least. He simply repays his debts according to what he's given, once you are good to him he will treat you accordingly and if you are bad he will definitely do the same. She couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Derik agreed to join the elves back then and have his death magic sealed away. Both of them should still be together now, happy and her closest friend who had a fall out with Derik, Isabel will still be alive. But then again, if Derik didn't become this and didn't become as strong as he is, they probably would have died at the hands of the ancient elemental dragons.

"Derik please!" Elsa cried out.

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Unknown to her, her cries reached Derik's ear causing him to look at the direction of the empire but as usual, his face didn't reveal his emotions. To be honest, he really didn't know why Elsa would cry out to him in such a manner, so he really didn't know how to react to this. At this point, he remembered his conversation with Samael and Demos before they were thrown into the black whirlpool. According to these two demigods, the power of faith was a means of growing in strength. It can only be acquired by drawing power from those who have complete faith in you and like a god listening to the prayers of its creations, you can hear the cries of those who believe in you. Just like he felt the cries of his disciples when they were defeated by the paladin.

"This…. Elsa…" Derik frowned upon realizing the implications of this.

Ever since the empire was created, he and Elsa has always been in bad terms, never able to see eye to eye but even then he didn't think she would still feel this way.

"Unfortunately… It's too late for all of that" Derik revealed a savage grin while staring at the enemies who probably thought they are well hidden underground.

At this moment, only Cyrus remained calm when faced with Derik's oppressive death aura, even Blink who was tasked with sending all the supreme masters back to the empire was lost in fear and admiration as he stared at Derik standing beside the massive green skull. Unfortunately, Derik had no intention of letting him and the other supreme masters linger around any longer so he decided to bring Kalos over from the other side with just a thought.

It didn't even take a second before Kalos and Aldora appeared by Derik's side, both with astonished expressions on their pale faces. Ever since Derik left not only was their powers greatly limited but their consciousness was slowly fading away. At a point, they were almost no different from any other normal undead puppet and this worried them greatly. They finally understood the limitations of their abilities and the consequences of staying away from their master for too long.

"It has been a while, old man…" Derik shot Kalos a smile and the undead returned the greeting with a deep bow, alongside Aldora.

For some reason, they couldn't explain why but Derik was like a totally different creature right now. Aside from his sudden increase in height, there were other things about him they couldn't explain, like the urge to fall on their knees and worship him like a god.

Without saying a word they could easily tell Derik's intentions, so Kalos proceeded to create a spatial gate behind the supreme masters while Derik flicked his hands lightly, to create an invisible force that pushed all into the portal without giving them a chance to struggle.

"You can leave now… we will return to the empire as soon as we are done…" Derik said to Aldora and Kalos.

"What do you plan to do?" Aldora asked with a slight frown on his face.

Yes, he too noticed the extraordinary changes in Derik and Cyrus but that doesn't mean they are invincible with their newfound strength. As far as he is concerned, there are more capable warriors on the side of the invaders too. Especially the beast-men and the orcs!