My Special Ability is Growing Muscles

It all came crashing down in one day.

One moment, Humans still lived their lives peacefully and deceitfully in their domain, enjoying the pleasures of live, and the next moment, all of it was thrown into disarray and chaos by the Demon army.

The Demons planned for months.

They were thorough, their targets well-identified.

War comprised more than just Awakened warriors hauling abilities at each other. War between civilizations was deeper, more complicated, and the Demon Council did their homework to hit the human domain where it hurt the most.

They hit them 3 different arteries of what made humanity sovereign.

First was the very foundation of humanity, Nexus Academy, the place where they nurture the brightest talents among humans and groom them to become pillars of human civilization.

Then was the forges, a true military blow that would weaken humanity for years if not decades before they can recover.

But the Demon Council's strategy wasn't just slaughter, it was crippling humanity's infrastructure and morale in a single night.

They also gave an economic kill shot to humanity, causing the arteries that made humanity a sovereign race bleed.

The Northern Roads… the lifeline of trade between Humans and Orcs.

Every civilization survives and thrives by trade and coexistence, and that was exactly what the Demon Council targeted.

Caravans of enchanted wagons rumbled across the stone highways in the Northern roads, carrying steel, food, mana-ore, and medicine.

The artery was guarded by platoons of knights and war mages, seasoned Awakened veterans sworn to keep the routes clear of bandits and beasts.

It was humanity's beating heart of commerce.

And tonight, the Demons came to bleed it dry.

The wind howled unnaturally.

From the night sky descended a blur of wings and steel talons.

Zahrim Galeclaw, the Storm of Talons, the Demon Lord of the Skies…

Zahrim Galeclaw, one of the 8 Demon Lords of the Demon Council. he was a cold predator who believed that the sky belongs to the Demons alone.

He had 2 abilities, Storm Dominion, a Mythic grade ability that allows him to control winds and tempests, turning battlefields into aerial slaughterhouses.

His second ability is Hurricane Dive, an Epic grade combat ability. It's a pretty straightforward but devastating ability; a supersonic dive attack capable of shattering the strongest of fortifications.

Zahrim plummeted with hurricane force as his claws shredded through entire platoons before they could even raise shields.

Wind blades roared like guillotines, slicing caravans in half, scattering horses and beasts of burden into bloody mist.

"Fall, vermin!" Zahrim screeched, his voice like a storm breaking bone. "All Cattle beneath the clouds deserve to die!"

With every beat of his wings, tornadoes tore through the trade route, flipping wagons like toys, ripping apart years of carefully guarded commerce.

Despite the destruction that he alone caused, he was not alone…

Then came the fire.

KABOOM!

The earth itself cracked as Vaeilith Ember, the Infernal Flame, the Blazing Marauder, emerged from molten fissures, her S-Rank aura engulfing the surroundings as her demonic energy flared with suffocating bloodlust.

Her body was wreathed in volcanic flame that made the air warp and fold, her whip blazing like a serpent of magma.

She had a body of blazing beauty, her skin cracked like cooled lava with molten glow beneath. Flames constantly wreathe her hair, and the ground charred with every step that she took.

"Trade? Civilization?" She sneered. "All of it shall become ashes!"

With a lash of her whip, entire caravans erupted into infernos. Enchanted wagons exploded, supplies burning to useless slag. Soldiers screamed as armor fused to their skin, their flesh reduced to charcoal in seconds.

As one of the 8 Demon Lords of the Demon Council, she was also a menace.

Publicly, she had just 2 abilities, but in truth she had 3 special abilities; the God grade ability, Infernal Pyre, the Epic grade ability, Emberstorm, and the Unique grade ability, Cinderborn.

Infernal Pyre allows her to summon hellfire that consumes not only flesh but spirit. As for Emberstorm, it enables her to create volcanic eruptions of flaming rock across battlefields.

Vaelith was known for these 2 special abilities, earning her the nickname, the Infernal Flame, but unknown to everyone, she had a third special ability.

Not even her fellow Demon Lords knew of Cinderborn, and this was because she had never used it despite living for centuries.

Cinderborn is an ability that enables her to resurrect temporarily after death as a flaming wrath, jumping a grade in the process.

That meant, if Vaelith was killed in battle, since she was currently S-Rank, she would resurrect as a SS-Rank Demon Lord.

The only reason why the ability was not God grade was the fact that it was only a temporary resurrection. After the rampage, she'll still die.

She was the Infernal Flame.

Side by side, these two Demon Lords turned the highway into a hellscape of wind and fire as they shredded through the trade arteries of humanity.

For context, among the defenders of the trade arteries due to how important they were, there were multiple A Rank human Awakened, all well-known and important talents of humanity.

But in front of these two S Rank calamities, they stood no chance.

The defenders rallied desperately. War mages formed barriers, knights raised glowing shields, and Orc mercenaries roared as they charged into the fray.

For a moment, humanity seemed to hold… a united wall of steel and magic braced against the storm.

Then Zahrim dove. His gale shattered their formation, ripping men and orcs into the sky before letting them fall as mangled corpses.

Vaeilith's whip lashed across their barrier lines, and the flames consumed the rest.

"Pathetic," she whispered, her eyes glowing with contempt. "This is your alliance?"

The artery bled.

Thousands of tons of supplies burned as the losses quickly piled up in the volume of hundreds of millions of Arcanum credits to billions!

Orc caravans that carried their trade goods to humanity were annihilated. Food for cities, weapons for armies, medicine for the wounded, all gone in a single night of fire and wind.

The once-proud highway was left as blackened ruin, bodies scattered across miles of road. Smoke rose into the heavens, a beacon of despair.

And just as the slaughter reached its height, new figures surged into the battlefield, banners of the Hero Union fluttering behind them.

Human Heroes and Orc Champions charged in, cutting through Demon foot soldiers who had been waiting in ambush.

Spells exploded as the ground shook, but by then, the artery was already dead. The damage was already done.

Vaeilith laughed as she cracked her flaming whip, creating a sea of fire that separated them from the arriving Heroes.

Zahrim spread his colossal wings, the winds pushing back the tide of resistance.

"We came to cripple," he snarled, eyes glinting with savage delight. "And crippled you are".

Together, the two Demon Lords lifted into the night sky, their legion melting into shadows with them.

The cackle of Zahrim's laughter was all that was left in their wake.

On the ruined highway, Human and Orc defenders staggered among the carnage. Wagons were ash, corpses uncountable, the artery severed.

One knight fell to his knees, whispering in despair.

"Without the artery… how will we fight?"

Above, the night sky still burned red with smoke.

And far away, the Demon Council's laughter echoed.