I regressed and became the Sword Ice King

Jerome slowly dropped his blade when the night was filled with the silence it ought to be filled with.

A satisfied expression exuded on his face as he walked up to the dead body of his former companion, Phillip Jun. 

A sigh escaped his lips when he stared at the put created by the technique. 

"Honestly….the Jun family…are too strong". 

He avoided the pit, walked up to Phillip, and retreated the spikes back into the shadow. "....if you weren't so weak from the battle against his children….you would have won…" 

He lifted his dead body and slowly made his way to the complex. 

"I'm pretty sure Michelo isn't working as hard as his children….when did he say he'll be back again…." 

****

Meanwhile, About 2 hours ago. 

In the forbidden forest, Michealo and Rachael were marching deeper into the forest. After defeating the five death knights, they decided to find the fruit of depravity. A fruit that should not be eaten because of its deep connection to Hades. It summons monsters on a whim and makes a terrain uninhabitable by both animals (yes including humans) and plants. 

They stopped when Rachael halted her horse  

"Did you find something ?" Michealo asked his wife as he came down his horse. 

She pointed at a crispy old tree. It had the appearance of a malnourished tree that was burnt up, but at the tip of one of its seven shaky branches was a bright red fruit in the shape of an Apple.  

"Oh….that's it…" Alex chorused as he was about to set his horse down the small cliff they were currently on. 

Rachael cast a glance at him with prickly eyes and he brought himself to a halt before he could even move down. 

"Where do you think you're going ?" She asked sternly and he lowered his head in submission.

He bit down on his lips as he trembled in his fit of rage. "I apologize…." He muttered through gritted teeth. 

"Keep your apology for your king since it seems misfortune loves you.." 

He gritted his teeth, stopping himself from replying while Rachael came down her horse thanks to her husband's aid. 

A wry smile exuded his lips. "Calm down…" 

"Calm what ?" She muttered and pointed at the fruit. "That thing could kill us all if we're not careful". 

He chuckled as she walked past him. 

"....I'll burn it with the holy flames then". 

She carefully came down the cliff and walked up to the black-looking tree. 

Michealo whispered as his sword appeared in the palm of his hand. "Obey the sound of my voice….mystic blade". 

He held it firmly as he watched his wife's every move. 

She clasped her hands together and whispered some words. A bright white flame appeared at the palm of her hand when she opened it and a small sigh exuded her plum lips. 

She was once a temple knight of the Temple of Lucia. She served the god of casualties, Mayura that saved humanity from the grasp of darkness before she met Michaelo. 

She still remembered the countless number of times he broke into the Temple just to see her. She always chuckled at the thought whenever it crossed her mind.  

Placing the fire on the tree and taking safe steps back, she watched as the fire spread and consumed the tree. 

It slowly burnt making crispy noises as a result of the burning of wood. 

She slowly turned around to walk away when a loud hollow scream, like the sound of a siren, projected in their ears.

She turned around, alarmed, when a branch of the tree was about to strike her away. Her husband appeared in an instant and sliced it off before it could even reach his wife. 

"Get behind me, Rachael" 

"What are you talking about ?" She walked next to him, and her sword, "lightsaber", appeared in her hands after saying the code. "We fight together, idiot"."

They were both fully aware that if Michealo had not stopped the branch at the time, She would have seriously gotten hurt and the thought alone scared him. 

Sunken eyes and a hollow mouth formed on the trembling elastic body of the black tree as it began to uproot from the ground. The branch holding the fruit retreated higher as another branch stretched at them like an elastic rubber. 

They jumped back, avoiding it, and it caused a large crater in the ground. 

'...something like that  Almost hit my wife ?!' Michael thought as a grim expression exuded on his face.

He turned around at Alex. 

"Take my men and yours as far away from here as possible and ensure….that not even one of them dies….if not". 

Alex felt a chill creep up his spine as his heart was sent into a state of panic. 'All this bastard Juns ! See what the king does to you !'. He thought as he turned around. "Men follow me !". 

"...." Michealo turned towards his wife and a small sigh escaped his lips. "I can't let you get hurt…." 

"Hmmm….I know…" she nodded as they watched the gruesome sight before them. 

The inner surface of the tree began to twirl gruesomely as the hard bark turned into flesh. The branches retreated into its body as three pairs of fleshy beast hands stretched forth and ravaged the earth. 

It cried out as the main branch metamorphosed into a rhino-like head with hollow eyes and long canines. 

"Oh…..this is rather…." Rachael muttered as the beast let out a beastly cry. 

The red fruit appeared at the end of its crocodilian tail as it suddenly charged forward at them.

Rachael jumped out of the way while Michealo stood still, raising his sword into the air. 

"Chapter 7 of the Jun Swordsmanship !" His aura increased explosively, far greater than what Gloria had formed. 

The aura spread around his body to the blade of his sword, increasing strongly and explosively as he struck it down. 

The beast jumped out of the way and the strike extended towards the trees behind it. 

"Oh ! It's smart!". 

Rachael cried out when she appeared above the  beast. 

It moved its head towards her direction and its tail struck her away in one full sweep. 

She blocked the hit with her sword and charged forward again. 

The beast swung one of its paws as it stood to four of his feet towards her when it suddenly felt a sharp stinging pain behind it. 

It turned around to find the perpetrator when it felt another stinging pain. 

It screamed out as its paw was sliced off  

"Pay attention to me you fool !" Rachael cried out as she twirled, slicing another one of its paws away. 

Its green blood spilled on the snow and it began to melt down into the ground. 

"Careful of the blood !" Michaelo screamed out as he swayed his sword horizontally. "3rd chapter- Fierce surge". His aura spread across his sword ,forming a coat,three times the length of his original sword. 

He sliced the two paws of its hind legs causing the beast to cry out in pain. 

It fell to the ground unable to maintain the balance with just a pair of arms left. 

".....to think I'll see a beast with 6 arms". 

Rachael said as she walked towards its tail. 

"Are you cutting it off ?" Michaelo asked, walking towards its head. 

"Of course….and you…you're cutting its head off ?" 

He nodded as he raised his sword in the air. 

She did the same and simultaneously, they cut off its tail and head. 

The beast lay motionless on the ground as Rachael pulled the tail by its end towards her husband. 

"Should we just burn it directly?" 

"Yes….it'll be more effective that way". Her husband replied with a small sigh. 'I guess…nothing major occurred….' 

The white flame appeared on the palm of her hand as she set the fruit on fire directly. 

She watched as the red color of the fruit began to turn black before settling as ash and whisking away into the air. 

Michaelo felt refreshed at the thought of accomplishing their mission. Now that the fruit is gone, the forest will slowly revert to its original form. At first, he felt suspicious of the mission but now that all has been done, he felt like he could believe the king A little. 

"Should we leave now ?" He asked his wife with a satisfied expression spread on his face.

She chuckled. "You're just glad nothing serious occurred". She walked away with him as a blissful feeling swelled up in her chest. "Wonder what the kids-

They froze on the spot as they felt a horrifying disgusting aura creep up on them. This wasn't an energy that could be emitted by the small-time demons but the big bosses of their field. 

It was choking and spread a feeling of dread in their hearts. 

Rachael attempted to turn around when Michaelo stopped her. "Don't even…move…" 

Cold sweat ran down their spine as Michaelo quickly took a step forward holding his wife disappearing and reappearing a long meter away from that spot. 

He turned around in an instant and drew out his sword as a dark red sword struck down on his. 

"Oh….you can see me ?" The amount of power he held in his voice was more than enough to bring fear into the hearts of  the normal people and cripple those that attempted to ignore it. 

The air warped as a large figure in black spiky armor appeared. He held a dark red greatsword and two long horns protruded from its forehead. Its tail was half its body length and its eyes were red with rage. 

"I am the 3rd Knight of the Demon Emperor known as Sulter, the Rage king". 

His introduction didn't seem necessary as Michaelo could identify who he was. 

A demon who was the 2nd strongest in the rankings in Hades was well known all around the world. 

It said he brought down everything and anything that stood in its way to their knees in one hit.

"You….you burnt the fruit you know….you know how long it takes to grow those ?" He said as he increased the strength of the grip of his sword. 

Michaelo groaned as he was forced into the ground. The stones pierced his armor but did not dig deep enough to deal actual damage to him. 

"You need to die…you and that woman….you killed my pet like it was some chickling….you have any idea what it took to groom that beast ?" His eyes smoldered with rage ,and contempt filled his expression. He felt disgust in his chest at their existence and he only thought of wiping them off the face of the earth. 

"Just die already"