Reject Human. Become Demon. [Book 2 Finished!]

AN:

So... It's for this release actually that I manage to upload so soon after the last. After promising it for last time... Whatever! You get an earlier chapter! Hooray!

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A tug. A faint pull. It wasn't yet urgent, but Pandemonium wished for my presence. I killed a few creatures more to fill my capacity for high-grade materials, and then initiated the teleport back.

[Hellfire Heart has reached level 42!]

The charred and rotting landscape around me warped and bent, and then I found myself back in my teleportation room in a clutter of bone, meat, and other organs. And also plants. Moonwash had some requests, as did Granuel. I'd really packed myself full, including several packs I'd hugged, some on my back, and even a few right beside me secured on by thin straps. A lot got damaged during the teleport, but it still resulted in a massive increase to what I could haul.

I fed Pandemonium some of the high quality meat to start with. Soon enough, Moonwash came in to help me, and together we loaded stuff into carts to be taken to our various storage spaces. We were actually using the other buildings now, because over a year of this had really allowed us to stockpile.

The two of us convened with Granuel after all of that was done.

"War is coming," he said, looking out of the fifth floor window and towards the dark courtyard below. It was actually a sprawling landscape now, if still bleak. Moonwash had created new strains of grass, plants, and trees, that could survive and thrive even in this environment.

"It's already come," I replied, taking a sip of my own tea. "It's never stopped."

"Yes, but it's coming here specifically!"

"Oh?"

"Yeah. I just confirmed the news. It's a huge army consisting of an entire corps division!"

My eyes darkened. I consulted my memory core for what a corps was again. It was an army tens of thousands strong. That could be dangerous, even for me. It was certainly different from the various skirmishes I chose to poke my head into over the past year. That was just me venting my frustrations on poor Edengarian soldiers who had made the wrong choice of stepping near my territory. And Granuel sometimes informed me of the easy prey.

I didn't actually need to be the one to fight them. I'd made it clear that this city was not under my protection. Certainly not officially. It would be almost foolish to engage enemies in the field, when Pandemonium here could give me such a massive advantage. They could trample the homes of everyone else who lived here, but my manor shall never burn!

Well, it would burn. And it would be glorious!

"And what's worse," he continued as I weighed my options. To fight them in the rainforest, or allow them to trample the city and come to me? It was a hard decision. "Is that people are blocking support. New Grandera wishes to use this to force us to cede our claim to the city!"

My hand slammed on the table, and it shattered. Pandemonium swiftly repaired it, and I shrugged a little in embarrassment.

"Sorry for the outburst. But those fucking pigs! They've already dragged their feet like limp dick cows, and now they want to pull this bullshit!?" That made me mad. It made me really fucking angry. Curse the council and all their bureaucracy. Curse their weak cowardly methods to the lowest hells! "If I repel them by myself then I'll just be doing their job for them! We already agreed that defense wasn't my problem! They can do that themselves! Or they can hand the city over to us, and then we'll come up with something."

I wasn't bluffing. I could watch this city burn. Even now, it remained wretched and antagonistic. It was just everyone else who wanted to keep it. I wanted the entire city demolished.

…Refusing to defend this place would do just that. The Edengarians would destroy it all, and I wouldn't even have to lift a finger. Everyone worth saving could be temporarily sheltered in Pandemonium.

I abruptly stood back up, and flew outside. I looked at the state of the city, and then noticed how much it had indeed deteriorated once I consulted my perfect memory. I pictured what it would look like for everything and everyone to be razed to the ground. The march of ten thousand boots. They hated me anyway, so why should I save them? They should save themselves.

Well, there's that new pyramid. And I like the dwarves and harpies.

I sighed and went back inside.

"How much do you guys want to save Arisen City? How much do we need it?" I asked. That was how Astro City had been temporarily renamed.

Granuel hesitated, but Moonwash had no such compunctions, "I want it for a lot of my projects. Granuel's been able to get me a lot of the better stuff recently, including an unidentified horn from a water creature, that I'm pretty sure was a Level 80 Mutation at some point. I also visit the dwarven district to exchange ideas sometimes, and I enjoy that."

A lot of luxury goods have already been diverted here, just because of the weird influx of Lost Reflections goods

Emboldened, Granuel continued to drive the point home. "I've been able to divert a portion of the luxury market here. Or well, not really luxury, but the very expensive and very practical stuff. We alone drive the demand for those products up. And then we can also supply them. Moonwash's creations are more popular than ever, and so do the biggest players want the things you can bring back from Lost Reflections." I had to fly from Lost Reflections to here a few times, while carrying big visible bags full of Materials. All to obfuscate my ability to teleport, and explain the origin of the products. It was a pain in the ass. "All this to say, that we won't be able to get these back if the city dies. I have many businesses here, and that helps funds the many things we're doing. Uh, including the stuff you want, like lawyers, and guards, and information, and all the negotiations we're doing with New Grandera itself. And lastly, you have friends and family here. Most of us do want and need to actually meet with others. Even Moonwash likes some of them!"

I snorted, and then smirked, "That's some shameless arguments."

He had the decency to look away and scratch his head in embarrassment.

I pictured it. An army twenty, thirty, forty thousand strong. I could shatter any individual cog in that machine, but there were so many cogs. That massive battle I fought with the goblin horde showed me that I was certainly not invincible. I knew I could be caught off guard. I could be driven to a corner. And these people were even more dangerous. They lacked some advantages, sure, but they were still each stronger than the average goblin. They had far more variety in their methods, no matter how Edengar might stab itself in the guts sometimes regarding that. They could adapt, with minds equally malicious, but far more… sane and unbothered.

"Fine," I finally said. "I'll go kill them all then."

If it was too much for me to handle, then I'd just leave and wait for the more favorable battleground.

We then argued over my word choice, because I'd just implied that I would take on all of them alone.

I meant exactly what I said. There was no misunderstanding.

~~~

—Granuel PoV—

I left Pandemonium, and breathed just a little bit easier. But that ease soon disappeared anyway once I crossed the big empty clearing all around the manor, and then entered back into the city proper. The wealthier parts closer to the center were still calm, but things quickly got worse. Someone had let slip to the public that a big army was coming. It happened just a day after we found out, so I assumed that those damned Edengarians had been waiting for this. They wanted to sow discord among our ranks. And… I had to admit that it was working.

"Hey, hey, did you hear? Edengar is coming!"

"Oh no…"

"They're bringing an entire army with them."

"Thousands!"

"Wow!"

"What do we do?"

"I don't know…"

"The powerful will just battle it out. Again. And we'll die in the crossfire."

"I'm not going to let them take this city…!"

"We'll finally be free!"

"Fuck them!"

"Fuck everyone!"

"How do you sign up to be a soldier here?"

"I'll start with being a guard."

"Ugh. This place has gotten so much dirtier since those barbarians decided to squat down in our lands."

"I'm so sorry you lost your home."

"...your job…"

"We're holding a gathering of likeminded people…"

"I-is this real?"

"I'm sorry… I can't…"

"Not interested. Thank you."

"Where! Wherewherewhere! YOU HAVE TO TELL ME!"

My strong ears picked up on conversations both hushed and shouted. I focused to actually parse through more of it, rather than ignoring most of what I heard. It was clear that people were agitated. Not everyone was against us, but public opinion remained out of our favor. The best we could hope for were neutrals, who just wanted to be left alone and live a good life. I'd capitalized on that and created new businesses bearing the Angeless brand, but that in itself had caused problems. People retained a… fondness for the angels and the religion they represented, even years later. Sometimes there would be harebrained attempts to outright rebel, and we had to put them down. Although really, by charging into Pandemonium, they put most of themselves down. But even discounting those extreme elements, the name of my business alone alienated so many people. They viewed "Angeless" as blasphemy of the highest order. And for that, they weren't wrong. My very presence here was blasphemy! I was never supposed to be a leader, the proud owner of several businesses! I would be a mere fucking scout if they had their way.

So I kept the Angelslayer brand for most things, but also created some… poorer businesses to make use of those more unstable labor forces. In secret. I concealed and obfuscated the fact that I ultimately owned those same rival stores. I'd even said some mean comments about them publicly. The pay, services, and benefits they offered were of course far inferior to what an Angelslayer business would bring, but that was their choice to make. If they loved the angels that much, then they didn't deserve to benefit from my companies that would've never existed under their rule!

I heard a sudden kind of gallop that I wasn't unfamiliar with. It was growing louder and clearly approaching me. My decades of adventuring out in the dangerous wilds kicked in, and I turned around just in time to see a charging centaur with her spear leveled right towards me.

I had chainmail underneath my well-tailored suit, so I could probably take one hit. The enemy was likely around level 20. I readied my wand, but it soon became clear that I needn't have.

An arrow shot her in the leg and shattered bone. Another centaur followed and carved his halberd through the assailant's flesh. A fountan woman thrust a rapier into her windpipe, and that ended her final struggles.

I nodded to my secret guards, and approached the centaur woman's corpse amid the panic of the crowd. I closed her open eyes that seemed to glare at me from across the barrier of life and death.

"I wish you hadn't done that. Then you would be alive. But I need to defend myself. I have a duty to this city, and I wouldn't be able to help any longer if I was dead!"

My voice was loud enough for everyone to hear, and I did mean most of it.

Soon, I arrived at the town hall, and quickly made my way to the lesser inferior council meeting room on the first floor. Normally, we would have a mayor, but the uncertain status of the now tentatively named Arisen City (from the ashes) had relegated the ruling to a council of sorts. And that council had all the qualifiers of 'lesser' and 'inferior' because New Edengar laws were still largely active, and The Council wanted all other 'councils' to officially be recognized as lesser and inferior to 'prevent confusion.'

"It's good that we are all here," a rugged tyranight man nodded. He was Franz Doomvald, a commander and the highest-ranking military officer present here. "As you know, an army estimated to be over twenty thousand strong is on their way here, and we are here to discuss countermeasures."

"Twenty thousand is a lot," a human woman dressed in colorful frills that hid thick armor underneath confidently nodded with a smile. She was Estera Madros, the adventurers guild master of the local branch. "But we can take them. We'll try! And if not, then we'll take as many of them down with us as we can!"

"That would be the only proper way to die," Avelor Drath, the spokesperson for the harpy and dwarven forces spoke proudly. "But I do not intend to die. I do hope you have a plan that will save this city and drive out the invaders?"

"That's the ideal," Carl Old, the representative of the cruster kingdoms, simply agreed. "But they far outnumber our forces stationed here. I don't think it's possible. What we can do is hold the line, focus on defense, make use of our walls, and wait for reinforcements."

"But there are none coming," I sighed. "The army's reinforcements… won't make it in time."

And everyone around this table knew why. It was the five of us, plus one other who had not yet spoken, who made up Arisen City's lesser inferior council.

"The Eliana Kingdom and Aldugar Empire are sending reinforcements," Carl informed. "Whatever your conflict or negotiations with New Grandera, you have proven yourselves to be very capable allies against Edengar, and Angelore as a whole."

"So will the dwarves and harpies assemble," Alvelor added imperiously. "We are very impressed with all that you've done, and wish to deepen the ties between us more."

"Oh… That's good. That's great." I felt emboldened by the knowledge of reinforcements. "Haell has also agreed to participate, and from what we've all seen, she can let us win no matter how vastly outnumbered we are."

"Shouldn't that be a given?" Franz the general asked. "She wants to 'rule' this place, doesn't she? How can she do that if she's even willing to fight for this place?"

I honestly felt a bit embarrassed about that, but I resisted the urge to fidget and responded with good posture and clear eyes.

"She is not a soldier. She isn't obligated to fight anything."

"That is stange," Avelor chimed. "I never got the impression of a coward from her."

"And that's because she isn't," I said with a little more bite. "My friend just didn't want the obligation. But she will fight anyway, even if she doesn't have to."

It made total sense to want the fight to happen in Pandemonium, but this city was in the way, and it was my idea to have it so. Not that New Grandera would've allowed it to disappear either way.

We managed to set those differences aside, and began to plan for the actual war, from troop deployments to resource allocation. I put forward the idea of having half the soldiers remain inside for riot control, which was understandably met with skepticism. But this was Haell's idea, and she totally had a point. Edengar still had many sympathizers here, and it would make total sense for them to try something while we were distracted by bigger things.

"N-no! They won't do that. They can't…" Kalina protested. She was the last part of this council, and she represented the regular people at large.

I told her about the many things I'd overheard and the attack on me earlier. The rest of the council agreed that it was a problem, though they were still reluctant to divert that many troops for it.

"How bad can it be?"

"It's just some stupid rebellion. The normal guards should be more than enough to deal with it."

"Yeah. We should go all out on the actual army! I know that manor of yours can take it anyway. Pandemonium, right? They'll just be running to their deaths!"

"Ummm… Can we try and talk to them before that happens? Maybe stop people from trying to launch a rebellion in the first place…"

"The timing of the rumors spreading is truthfully suspect. If we can uncover their plots before the main enemy forces come, then it would prevent a lot of bloodshed. I put forward that such should be our first priority."

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

I accepted all of their thoughts and complaints. They were all valid, after all. The crux of the matter was whether or not I could convince them that Haell was a trump card so great that we could afford to have only half of our meager troops against the entire corps division coming for us. It didn't help that I wasn't entirely sure either. I knew just how strong she was, but ten thousand trained soldiers strong? More? That was a stretch!

~~~

—Back to Haell PoV—

I trudged through the rainforest on hoof, while Moonwash, my parents, and the strongest party of adventurers we'd hired followed behind. Some harpies flew above to keep a lookout from the skies, and because that was just how they preferred to travel. It was a laughably small force to combat the approaching army, when none of our extra help were even gold-ranked. But it should be enough for what we wanted to do, because we weren't here to defeat them outright. Yet. No matter how I wished to try. I might be able to pull it off all by myself, but my allies had a plan, and Granuel had convinced me to play ball.

The ground began to rumble. The vibration could be seen in the loose pebbles.

I knew it was coming, but we should still be a fair distance out. The force of tens of thousands of feet and hooves was just something that could be felt from here.

"Over there!" a level 30 iskawtan from the party we'd hired exclaimed. I followed her directions and chased after the enemy ishkawtan, who was now desperately trying to run away. She was a spy from the enemy, soon to be a mere corpse. My greatsword struck true, and she crumpled like paper, unable to protect her soft bloody insides.

I flicked my greatsword and pretended to search the remains, before suddenly turning around and charging forward at my top speed. The hiding belfegor had barely reacted when Devilcalibur came to sever him from across the waist.

That was one goal of this mission. To diminish the enemy recon capabilities.

The second goal was to start bleeding them out and wringing them dry like the oversized prey that they were.

The temptation was strong to fall back to my original plan and do it all by myself, crush all those ants underhoof! But, I didn't want to go back on my promise, for now that I had agreed, it might only mess things up if I went too off script.

I marched the rest of the way there with my family following behind. We killed all the scouts we could find, which were a lot because we were the only ones with eyes in the air. There was even a whole party with two gold-rankers that I managed to take out before the first true clash of this war even began. They weren't anything special, just two human rangers with illusions of how strong they actually were. Their arrows weren't strong enough to reach my flesh through the deathmetal, and the rest of their team fell in seconds while they weaved through the trees.

I killed those last two with some help from the harpies, just to poison their information a little about my true strength.

Finally, we reached the main Edengarian army. It was truly massive, to the point that I couldn't see its entirety from here, unless if I flew and announced my presence prematurely. Ogres, humans, and a few centaurs with axes led the way in a wider line, cutting down all the trees and stacking the trunks off to the side. Inhexes followed, and were positioned surrounding the remaining army, likely instructed to prevent any attack at the cost of their lives. And then, there was the bulk of the army itself. An orderly march of people, with clear themes, professions, ranks, and species separated out.

They were my enemy. The ones who wished for my capture. Those who ordered my torture.

My grip tightened on Devilcalibur, and I charged. The ground shook from a thousand scattered footsteps. The army had already come to a stop, and the inhex advance had come to counter my own charge. I met them in melee, Devilcalibur easily passing through their chitin, and my body moving with great agility to deflect or dodge their strikes. They couldn't hold me for long, and I continued to make rapid progress towards the main body of their army. That was when the projectiles began to rain down, and I sacrificed my blood to gain a sudden burst of momentum. The inhex bodies in my way scattered into smaller pieces, and even those that I never touched suffered from the indiscriminate streaks of arrows and magic that rained down upon us all.

I did not stop for the massive explosions behind me, and soon found myself right in front of a proper shield wall. A single slash crumpled or outright destroyed the shields. The predominantly ogres holding them staggered backward, some already dead as Devilcalibur had sheared right past their defenses and then the flesh they were trying to defend. Others survived, but doubled over, gravely wounded and rotting from the inside.

My next slash was ritualistic, and Devilcalibur made its wide sweeping arc with enough force to shred through all resistance. It rampaged through its full range. The enemies fell, bisected along with their weapons and armor.

The next slash showed my mastery of the greatsword. I forced it to sweep in another arc, severing bodies in half, but then further spreading the rot from there. Soldiers collapsed, died, and screamed as they puked their own guts out.

I rushed forward and made it deeper into their ranks.

The army finally began to contract around me and the hole in their formation I had dug by myself. It made me sick to be surrounded by these many hostile people ready to tear me apart, but I was no longer stuck in a cell, nor did I need to worry about morality or society. I simply rammed through one side of their convergence, and began to utterly demolish anyone in my path. A rugged breath tore out of my shallow smile as I screamed and lost myself in the din of battle. I never allowed the jaws of their formation to close around me, always ready to break it apart. I carved chunks off the army's side, going back and forth, back and forth, as my senses heightened, and I fell into a deep state of focus. I twisted and turned impossibly fast, dodging the many swords, spears, and maces aimed right for me. Some still made it through, of course, but my Deathmetal armor was very durable, and what little damage I suffered was healed nigh instantly. People grunted nearby, likely hit by the small steady stream of vengeful curse magic that coursed out of me. The corpses began to pile up, and I spread a blanket of blood magic to bring all that sweet repugnant blood into my mouth.

I felt refreshed. A gold-ranked human spearman tried to ambush me by pretending to be a normal soldier, but I saw it coming, and Devilcalibur sliced through her weapon and then her. And then it kept going until everyone around her was dead.

An ogre guardian and human rogue duo tried to challenge me next, while the other soldiers tried to box me in. I mowed through the encirclement, nicked the rogue with the shockwave of my anatomic mastery, and then bisected him while he screamed. The ogre charged me in rage, but I dodged and then beheaded him while he tried to stop himself and not crush his own allies.

The flow of projectiles had greatly slowed down, for they again didn't wish to hit their actual allies. The army had stretched far to the right and was almost reaching the treeline by now, in their desperation to catch and contain me. All the while hundreds if not thousands of their companions had already died. It would be so simple to just march right into their center and cut off the head of the snake.

"Army-Stopper Plague."

Moonwash's voice reached me over the din of battle. My distraction had succeeded in buying her the time she needed. The harpies flew over the army, as the harbingers of the flowing green mist that promised death. One of them flew separately, before quickly pulling back in a trail of blood.

I charged at the direction he indicated. Where I only skimmed the outskirts before, now I pierced through the army like a drill hungry for gold. I scattered all the soldiers in my wake, and then pulled ahead far enough to not be encased by their reforming ranks. Rinse and repeat as the distance rapidly shrunk. My enchanted hoofshoes were in full effect as my passage produced a howling sonic boom. In the distance, I could still see spells being used to counter Moonwash's big ritual. A single level 40 human swordsman with a buckler stood in my way, but that buckler and the arm that held it shattered after only one attack, and the rest of him sloughed off in the next. Some other attacks got through to me because of the momentary delay, but my armor withstood it admirably. The deathmetal was chipped and gouged, but still devoid of an outright hole. Soon, I left them behind again and absolutely mowed through all resistance in front. I felt a familiar energy in the air, just before I saw the ritual being drawn. I pushed my body harder and traveled at blood-melting speed.

The shepherd man was drawing a beautiful half-finished arcing waterfall in one moment, and then he was naught but a bloody mist in the next.

I scoured the remaining ritual, which was likely aimed for me, despite it no longer being possible to complete with the sole caster dead.

I then turned and homed in on the shouting shepherd priest nearby, and the commander-looking woman near him. They were guarded by an entire party's worth of gold-ranks. This was a priority target, I decided.

"EVERYONE! Hold steady! The enemy is only one, and she is our greatest enemy! Sacrifice yourself if you must! BRING HER DOWN AND BRING HER HERETIC HEAD TO THE ANGELS!

I felt his words try to resonate but ultimately slide off my mind like so much shit water being cleaned. It affected everyone else who surrounded him far more strongly, for all the good it would do them. The several lines of soldiers that separated us crumbled like dust to my assault. The first of the elite gold-rankers, a human templar with a fellow big sword, found his weapon and himself shattered by the same attack. The remaining four formed ranks, but I slipped past the ogre with two quick turns, and the mages and archer behind him swiftly died once I'd gotten close. I felt tendrils of mind magic squeeze my head for purchase once I was in front of the shepherd, but that only fed my rage and thus power. I crushed his head with one quick slash, and then went after the general, with the angry ogre still trailing behind. The human woman raised her dagger as a bunch of soldiers threw themselves in my way to save her, but ultimately failed. The dagger was completely unable to resist the weight of Devilcalibur in this moment, and the strategist that held it died, her mind now beyond salvage.

"You! Commander Karina! NOO!" I heard the ogre approach behind me. I did not pause to bask in my glory, but immediately turned around to face this new 'threat.' I killed him too, batting aside his greatsword with one quick slash, opening up the armor with the next, and then absolutely ravaging the bloody insides with the final one.

I made my exit from whence I had come. My sight was tinged green now, for what remained of the poison mist now covered a portion of Edengar's army. The soldiers in front of me coughed as they were mowed down like even weaker grass. There were no longer any notable elites on this side of their formation, for they had already thrown them at me on the way here.

I made it out, ran for the treeline, and then participated in the purge between the trees.

~~~

Only a short time later, after having disengaged from the main army, I was back for more.

I hesitated for a second amid the trees burning in hellfire. What I was about to do gave even me pause. For the last time, I worked over in my mind, the thousand well-worn arguments that had churned in my head leading up to this one moment.

You weren't supposed to go after the doctor in war. It was a warcrime of the most heinous order. This was a fundamental thing in my mind, but the nations of this world had no such convictions. It was common sense to go after the healer first in battle, and to target them specifically in war was only that same principle applied to a larger body.

Additionally, the healers here were far more miraculous than doctors ever were. Their powers could turn the debilitation of Moonwash's poison into a mere passing trend. You also weren't supposed to use chemical weapons in war either, but who's counting? With the help of a healer, fallen soldiers could rise again in minutes, if not seconds, to aim their blades upon you once more. I didn't think the nations of Earth would have ever agreed that it was a warcrime to kill doctors if they were so effective in active combat. Instead, it was actually more effective to leave enemies alive but maimed, to slow them down and siphon off their resources while their doctors scrambled to save the lives of those who would never be able to fight again.

My resolve never wavered. I'd made my choice, I agreed to this plan, and I would hesitate no longer. Our enemies surely wouldn't. They would aim for our healers if they were presented right in front of them. So even if I wanted to follow that convention, it was totally impractical and unfair to do so if our enemies wouldn't do the same.

Like a demon, I shall show them hell!

I ran through the painful embers of hellfire still burning on the ground. I crashed into my enemy's unprepared vanguard. The looks on their faces were comical and trite. They didn't expect another attack so soon after the other one. Their remaining scouts had missed me, for we had just purged them from the rainforest. Granuel's spy assassin guards had been at wait just for this moment.

"THE DEMON! HAELL'S COMING BACK!" someone shouted from right by the edge of a burning chunk of rainforest, but it was too little too late.

I carved a straight path to my target with greater ease than before. The largest congregation of healers away from the center. It was near the area where I had attacked before. They were tending to the most wounded who had miraculously managed to survive, while also clearing the poison from the soldiers nearby. A big field of flowers and light had been setup just for that.

It was kindling for my hellflames. It spread through the grass, and turned the vibrant flowers to ash. My sick enemies tried to stop me, but like before, their attempts shattered in my wake. The healers made themselves very visible, either as acolytes of the church in their stupid robes, or by having the similarly identifiable clothes of the army or some brand. The sundertops were far from subtle either, and most of them were healers, especially here. Now they tried to run in alarm, except only I could break the sound barrier here. Their ears surely rang from the noise as they died. The healers fell on the burning and rotting remains of those they only wished to help.

…Okay. Maybe that's a bit too fucked up. But such is war. They would've done the same. The tragedy will repeat until the last flag of Edengar has been burnt down.

The rain of projectiles came too late, for they were too afraid to lose what was already lost.

I made my exit through a path of destruction that left even more dead in my wake.

I managed to do this two more times, until they finally caught on and made radical enough changes. The healers were nestled further in, and the patients had to be hauled there.

~~~

The battle only continued over the following week. I attacked in the day, I attacked in the night, I was a constant that never slept, and so would they not. Commander Franz, along with a few sub-level 40 'elites', participated in the night raid that saw many of their supplies burned down. I unleashed my hellfire in full force then, and then again just before the fated day of the final battle arrived. The point of me holding back, much to my chagrin, was to give the enemy the wrong impression of my powers, even if I'd shown them in public many times before. I was clearly different now, and they might think I had lost some powers in exchange for new ones. That was how Mutations worked after all. And they did prove to be susceptible to whatever information we spread now, even if contradicted by prior reports, because they did foolishly lessen the guards on their supplies after I'd repeatedly hammered their leadership and killed important targets. They had assumed that I was somehow obsessed with decapitation strikes–which are great–but I could do other things too! Maybe they wouldn't have lost so much of their food, if they hadn't underestimated me so.

I faced several traps during this time, but the belfegors they managed to station in my accurately predicted route failed because I was just able to tell that they were there. They were useless without a proper ambush.

Another plan was to hammer me with rituals, but I just dodged or fled. They had a very obvious windup, and I was sensitive to that kind of thing. The greater magic loved me so. I was often able to tell they were there, before the harpies could even warn me.

Just as they were unable to hit me with a ritual, however, so too did Moonwash fail to finish another Army-Stopper Plague. It was actually a disease that lasted only for a few hours, dealing as much damage and weakening enemies during that time. The ritual itself was obviously complicated, and I had to rescue her and my parents from their last attempt when enough soldiers and adventurers stormed through the woods to actually kill them.

That would be the one other time I used my hellfire in bulk, to cover their retreat and burn the rainforest down.

May Edengar believe that I was all out of hellfire mana, for the battle tomorrow.

~~~

I flew with the harpies under the cover of night. I wore the spare mythril armor that Moonwash had made, because the deathmetal one had understandably been battered beyond repair by the many skirmishes I'd engaged in. But finally, after several weeks of slogging it out with the enemy, it was finally time for the big battle. Half their number had already been killed. I gave them no more time to ponder, as they too were ready for our presence.

Curse rained. It took the form of a dense roiling smoke that blotted out the stars as it spread. The soldiers looked up, and they hesitated for just a moment longer than they would've, had I led with the bright red hellfire. Various projectiles were shot into the air to defend against the descending curse, until they settled with wind as their best option available in bulk. That was when the hellfire lit up the night sky. It rained down upon them, and jets of water rose up to meet flames. The sky was filled with steam, obscuring us further. The arrows shot by archers were fouled. Our own army only a thousand strong appeared from the treeline, but the enemy soldiers were ready to meet the far smaller force. Our side found purchase anyway, as they shot their arrows and spells, while I had single-handedly tied up so many of the enemy mages. They decided that repelling the ground forces was more crucial, so some of those mages were diverted towards that effort, thereby allowing small balls of curse and hellfire to hit the cramped soldiers below. A single strand of skin burned by hellfire was enough to make them squeal. The curse didn't rot or damage them in any way, for its effects were mental and absent from this entire war so far. The curse of madness, predominantly induced by rage, made them take stupid risks or even turn on their fellow soldiers.

I rode the chaos and exacerbated it further, finally unleashing my aura and evil eyes that had so far been sealed. The first time was always the most impactful, and my enemies were not accustomed to it at all yet. I raised Devilcalibur high, and it added to the dread. Half the army had ceased, just allowing themselves to be trampled by my allies. Many others lost their heart and began to flee from it all. I descended like a meteor, crashing right in front of the command tent. A level 40 human was crushed underneath me, for I had come in strong and left a crater. My body ached, as those harpies had listened and given me the biggest boost they could on my way down.

A problem that was quickly solved with some healing.

The officials remained frozen for one critical moment, and I did not harbor the kindness to give them a chance. My magic exploded out of me, not in one short-lived burst, but a consistent twister that pushed back all the soldiers who were too close. Some were clearly summoning their courage to try and intervene and protect their dear leaders, but this should delay them for long enough. The sounds of intense battle gradually returned to what it should be, where the far bigger side of Edengar had previously gone quiet. Their leaders too screamed as they were consumed by my magic. Only a handful actually died, as their elite mages were fast enough to react, summoning blasts of water and wind and other elements to counter my own. I noticed some frost struggling to form, but the cold of night had already succumbed to the torturous heat of hell.

"THAT'S HER! THE TRAITOR! HOLD FAITH, BROTHERS AND SISTERS! SHE'S CORNERNED RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF OUR TRAP. KILL HER, AVENGE DUKE ASTRO, AND TAKE ASTRO CITY BACK!"

Their shepherd general shouted, and the 2 parties worth of gold ranks moved. Or they all would've, had their three mages not been occupied. 6 warriors charged to meet me, and they actually managed to parry one slash. The next one had my anatomic mastery poured into it, and they staggered back. Their shields and weapons had cracked, and they were bleeding lightly from inside their armors, but they were still largely fine to keep going. An arrow flew for me, and it actually pierced through the armor to bury shallowly into my flesh. I was going to pull it out, but the melee enemies charged again. I gritted my teeth in bloodlust, excitement, and absolute rage. I gave them just what they wanted and ripped through their gear with Devilcalibur as they struggled to jointly contain my force. I pried the arrow stuck in me with sheer blood pressure, just in time for another one to lodge itself on the other side. Some of the mages were soon able to join in the fight, as they had gotten used to defending against my mix of curse and hellfire. Wind magic was used to mitigate the former, while water clashed against the latter. My magic was largely going clockwise anyway, which made it easier to defend against by pooling their magic more on one side. I commanded my evil storm to press harder from all sides. The entire battlefield was a mess of elements as our magics clashed. The ground erupted into spikes below me, and I was barely able to dodge them all. An assassin used this opportunity to approach me from behind, having quickly circled around. I made another quick turn, and bisected him in half. The next spikes damaged one hoof and pierced through my armor to drive inside my guts. Another assassin appeared, but this one I had only just noticed, even with my dimension scanner and magic circling the area.

The tyranight woman had come from outside the ring of my magic. Her scaled body was covered in burns and rot. The night still clung to her, having muffled her footsteps and presence all the way here. I tried to twist my body away, but her claws raked across my back like hot coals running through my veins.

I can do hot coals.

I healed from the damage and wasted no time. The sensory ailment was a bit harder, so i just pushed through it while my healing continued work on the problem. Devilcalibur slammed through her claws, her legs, torso, and then finally the head. I felt new weapons try to pierce me from behind, while magic came from below. I twisted around and managed to dodge all but one sword and a spike.

I healed again.

My vision fully cleared.

I had finally formed a simple ritual in the air, despite all the magic I was already maintaining.

"Hellfireball."

The swordsman died.

An arrow was swept aside with a quick tilt of Devilcalibur.

My intimidation package roved over them again, and it gave me just enough of an opening to push half the remaining warriors hard. They were using sidearms now, or even fighting with their fists. I healed through the converging offensive on me again, and then killed one templar after another adventurer. With diminishing forces, the tide quickly turned back in my favor. I left the warriors in the dust, and killed the squishier mages and archer. The tankier humans and ogres were then pressed hard by my raging magic that now reigned supreme. Wounds accumulated on them, and they were no match for my swordsmanship.

Most of the top officials I was aiming for were already dead. They succumbed the moment their mages couldn't protect them anymore. Only a few were left, and I easily crushed their heads underhoof to end their whining and begging.

One remained, General Victario. His eyes glared at me with such hatred, that I could almost respect it.

"Do you think you can keep–"

His last words died in his throat, separated from the severed head.

I allowed the curtain of hellfire and curse to fall, and immediately found myself besieged on all sides. The soldiers were waiting to rescue their leaders, and they were quick to pounce.

They froze for a moment when I held the decapitated head over my own and shouted, "GENERAL VICTARIO IS DEAD!!!"

And then they charged again.

I laughed, both joyfully and maliciously. That's right, it wasn't yet over. Our own army was actually losing. So I took to the air and bombarded them from above.

I am free.