Baishe continued its ceaseless charge by levelling cities with its Draconic breath. Guarded by a legion of flying monsters, the Demon Lord was never threatened by the humans who came to stop it. Even if they somehow managed to face the flying serpent in battle, all Baishe needed to do was send one breath out, and its blocked path would be cleared.

Such was the power of a Demon Lord. Even amongst the trillions of Demons in the Demon Realm, Baishe was an oddity. It was a manifestation of the Demon Realm, an existence that spawned from the planet's energy. ????????????????????????????. ????om

It was meant to rule over Demons from the moment it was born. By its very nature, it could dominate any enemy that dared to bare its fangs against it. Even Cthulhu, its age-old enemy, couldn't completely stand toe-to-toe with the flying serpent. Besides the Demon Sovereign himself, Baishe had the utmost confidence in defeating any opponent it faced.

Therefore, it had always looked down upon humans.

Feeble creatures of another planet. Without magic, they were a little stronger than ants. They have evolved without claws and fangs, and their flesh was softer than the poop it discarded. If humans were born in the Demon Realm, they would have been wiped off the face of the planet and would have long gone extinct.

Yet, the prideful Demon Lord had been humiliated by this pitiful race time and time again.

When the Goddess of Destiny first ordered Baishe to invade the planet hundreds of years ago, it treated the mission as a playful expedition where it could explore another planet and have a change of cuisine. While they were not meaty, humans did taste different from all the Demons they had ever eaten.

The first time Baishe invaded, humanity wasn't prepared, and the mighty Dragon had an endless buffet during its missions. Humans, Elves, Werewolves, Vampires, Merfolk… It ate every single one of them without much resistance. It was unfortunate that it could only stay an hour before the Gate to the Demon Realm closed. Otherwise, it would have wiped out the entire population before the fated person was born.

However, the next time Baishe invaded, things changed. Humanity had prepared for the Demon Lord and allied with their enemies, the Vampires, to repel the Outer Demons. Baishe no longer had a free buffet and would often put up a fight against the enemies who came to stop it.

The third time, the unified alliance defended against Baishe for the first time. The Demon Lord was blocked by the combination of humanity's top Hunters, Exorcists and even the Vampire Progenitor himself. And for the first time since the Dragon was born… Baishe had suffered a life-threatening injury.

As a creature born of the Demon Realm, every second it was away from its home planet weakened the Demon Lord. Unable to use its full potential, Baishe was forced to retreat in humiliation and took over a dozen years to recover to its peak.

Time and time again, Baishe would invade the planet, only to be repelled by humanity's growing skills and confidence. Although the Demon Lord would leave countless dead bodies in its wake, it was forced to return without exterminating its prey.

In the end, Baishe developed a deep-rooted hatred for humanity and all the enemies on Earth. Particularly the one organisation that always emerged to disrupt its plans of exterminating the planet.

The Holy Church.

If the Everwinter House was responsible for repelling Cthulhu and its goons, the Holy Church was Baishe's true enemy. The Angels they summoned were the only things that matched Baishe's reign over the sky. In addition, Holy power was highly effective against the Demon Lord and its servants, so much so that even Baishe would feel pain from an Angel's attack.

So when the Goddess had finally given the go-ahead to invade the planet… The Demon Lord jumped at the chance of revenge. It could finally wipe away its centuries of shame by exterminating the Holy Church and all who stood in its way.

The mission to locate 'him' was secondary. Baishe's only plan now was the extinction of mankind.

[Where are those white pigeons?]

Baishe's growl resonated throughout the sky, sending shivers down its subordinates' spines. They cowered back and pointed right at the pillar of light in the distance. Vast amounts of magic power erupted into the skies, bringing fear and tremors into the weaker Outer Demons. Baishe, on the other hand, opened up its jaw and bared its fangs.

[Finally… Finally, I can kill them!]

Without waiting for its subordinates, the Demon Lord flew past the speed of sound and headed straight to the centre of the Papal States. Hurricanes followed the massive Dragon as it ripped through the air. Trees were uprooted instantly while mountains were levelled. Anyone unlucky enough to be in its path could only resign themselves to their fates as the winds tore flesh from bone.

It had been targeting the countries of the Papal States for a reason. If it wished to have its revenge, the first targets it should deal with were those pesky white pigeons that dared to tread on its sky.

And luckily for the Demon Lord…

[A big pigeon!]

The first Angel it faced since arriving on the planet was the peak of all Angels. Eighteen wings spread out wide, each the length of a small river. Holy light descended from the heavens as its golden halo illuminated the darkened sky. Opening its eyes, the Archangel's Holy power exploded into life, freezing the Demon Lord momentarily.

Sent into a dizzy fray, the huge Dragon started seeing visions. First, it saw a memory of Cthulhu rising from the ocean during one of their many battles. A vision of an attack of aeons passed. Next, it saw the memory of its greatest humiliation. The memory of the attack nearly took its life. And finally, it saw an uncertain image.

An image of a single man reigning hellfire and endless destruction onto the Demon Realm. The planet that all Demons held sacred. The man had the Goddess of Destiny's neck in one hand and the Demon Sovereign's head in the other. Baishe, Cthulhu and Thanatos couldn't do anything to stop the man.

He was an unstoppable force. A monster far beyond a Demon Lord. A God that descended to wreak havoc on the Demon Realm. And…

The Nightmare of the Goddess.

The prophecy that had started the Outer Demon invasion and the endless war waged by the Goddess of Destiny. She had seen the future of the Demon race. If they didn't deal with 'him,' the entire Demon Realm would be engulfed by this threat.

[Useless illusion!]

However, it didn't take long for Baishe to recover from its stupor. The Demon Lord broke free from the illusion by focusing its mind, and it stared right at the Archangel's pupils in defiance. In fact, there was a reason why Baishe could steady its mind so quickly.

[Hmph! What nonsense! The Goddess is just overreacting! How can there be anyone capable of defying us? Defying me?! A Demon Lord!]

Baishe denied 'his' existence. While he was fiercely loyal to the Goddess of Destiny, he didn't believe in the strength of this inferior race. Be it humans or Vampires, Baishe couldn't fathom those weaklings being stronger than itself. No, it didn't want to believe that.

Therefore, even when facing humanity's greatest weapon, the Demon Lord remained arrogant.

[Die, you useless pigeon!]

Baishe's chest expanded rapidly as it took in a deep breath. Magic power gathered from its inner core, and a blinding light emerged from its massive jaw. It continued to grow significantly, both in power and splendour, until finally…

BOOM!!!

A blinding beam of pure destruction brushed past the Archangel, creating an explosion ten times more destructive than a nuclear blast. The earth crumbled down into dust while the clouds split from the heavens. Stellar residue dropped like fireflies and landed elegantly on the flaming path of destruction.

Baishe glanced down at the crater while a smile broke on its face. Like all sinister apex predators, the massive Dragon admired its work as if it were a proud craftsman. However, its joy was cut short by yet another beam of light that descended behind the Demon Lord.

[You evaded my attack? How strange, you didn't have that feature in the past.]

The Demon Lord snorted as it glanced back at the expressionless Archangel.

Yes, this wasn't the first time the two had faced off before. During the early years of the Outer Demon invasion, Baishe battled against the Archangel many times. In fact, during the height of their previous war, Baishe saw the Vampire Progenitor and Archangel join hands to land a fatal blow on its body.

Therefore, it was more than familiar with the Archangel's abilities.

Since it was a lump of Holy power, the Archangel didn't have any sort of battle instincts. It didn't evade or move with any form of martial arts. It was just a mass of energy that pumped out spells according to its user's wishes.

For it to have learnt new tricks, it could only mean one thing…

[They evolved once again.]

If there was one thing that Baishe would admit about the inferior creatures, it was their immense ability to evolve. Even mid-combat, they would learn new tricks and adapt their battle senses to improve constantly.

For Demon Lords, who were perfected beings from their birth, they never required that rapid adaptation. They could defeat everything with pure brute force, and their bottomless magic power would easily do the job.

[But it's useless! Even if you have evolved, I will tear you down again and again until you become extinct!!!]

Furious by the Archangel's move, the Demon Lord continued its frenzied attack. Warping around the sky, Baishe created a coil of wind currents that quickly became the largest tornado ever recorded. At the same time, it rose above the clouds and made a downdraft combined with the flames of the Sun.

Before long, both those catastrophes lined up, and an armageddon event was triggered. Falling balls of flame rained down like hail and were wrapped together with the massive tornado to create a fire vortex of hell and death. Everything the flame hurricane touched evaporated into nothingness.

And the Archangel was no exception.

Its wings couldn't withstand the rapid currents and were pulled out from its back. At the same time, its body was flung into the vortex and charred to a crisp. At this point, the Demon Lord was confident that it had finished the job.

Alas, just as it was about to leave for the heart of the Papal States…

[ARGHHHH!!!]

It felt a sharp pain pulsating through its neck as its serpentine body slithered its way onto the ground. Growling with anger, the beast forcibly turned its neck around and saw several spears of light protruding from its back. Magic power erupted from its body, and almost instantly, all of those weapons returned back to light particles, and the angered Demon Lord flew back up to the skies.

The Archangel waited as its body rapidly healed from the damage Baishe had caused it. With a healing factor far beyond that of any Vampire, the Archangel fully recovered its wings in less than a second while its black and burnt body had returned to its pristine state. Its massive halo continued to absorb Holy power at an unprecedented rate, bringing more heavenly power into its midst. And when the Demon Lord had finally returned from its trip down to Earth…

A heavenly needle smited it back into hell.

BOOM!!!

Baishe's body created a crater so deep that one might imagine it would reach the planet's core. However, the Demon Lord didn't have a single injury on its scaly body besides dirt and dust. Immune to most physical and magical damage, it took much more than a needle of Holy power to kill the Demon Lord, and the Holy Church knew it.

Therefore, even though the Archangel had smited the beast, the Pope didn't slack on his attacks. Channelling the power of nine hundred and ninety-nine Holy men, the Pope controlled the Archangel to create numerous lightning bolts and Holy weapons. Relics of past legends, like Holy swords and spears, appeared above the Archangel's head as they prepared to end Baishe's life once and for all.

But alas, the Pope forgot one crucial thing…

[How annoying…]

An energy beam, one twice as large as the previous one Baishe shot, broke free from the Dragon's mouth and melted all of the Archangel's attacks away. Falling down from the heavens, the Archangel could only watch as Baishe re-emerged from hell and flew face-to-face with it.

[You dirty pigeon… I'll kill you.]

Watching Baishe's Draconic eyes, the Pope felt a sharp feeling tingling all over his body. His mind was rattled, and his body was shaken beyond measure. That's right… How could he forget?

Baishe wasn't just a Demon Lord… Baishe was an apex predator deeply ingrained into their souls… And Baishe was about to remind humanity once again…

Why they feared the Serpent of the Skies.