The Fraud Heir to The Strongest Clan

In the outer Callex, the battle was still unrelenting. The soldiers and the other scions fought with everything they had, pushing their human bodies to their limits.

It was a small scale war. Half of the remaining Olcourian Military were deployed to the forest to battle a fraction of the demonic forces. But even then, it was more dire than any human war Vedis had seen. It occurred to him that if the demons decided to invade them, they were nearly defenseless.

Not only were the demons physically superior, but there were more of them that can use dark magic than humans that can use elemental magic aside from the Luxiers and Venilons. They also had a greater population as their continent was larger in size than all of the human continents combined.

The dread in the emperor's heart gnawed heavier when the signs of Thevon fighting had ceased...

There were no longer lightning strikes and exploding fireballs anymore. The ground of the large cliff in the inner Callex had stopped shaking as well.

"Gods forbid, Thevon..." he whispered, his voice trembling in worry and fear.

Losing a powerhouse like him was akin to losing one pillar of the empire. The disadvantage that their race had would grow even worse.

After drinking a vial of arcanium, Vedis drew his greatsword. Only a horde of lower-ranked demons charged towards him, but even this caliber of enemies equalled a whole squad of soldiers.

He formed frost blades in the air and let it fall like raining spears in the area where his enemies were. Then, he leaped forward, smashing the immobilized monsters with his greatsword. He spun, whirling the massive blade, cutting all within its range in half.

Just before his mana ran out, Vedis used earth magic and formed three golems of stone. They were robust and sturdy, twice a human's size. But of course, they were just lifeless rocks shaped like a golem.

Which was why Vedis used the great spirit of life. Granting the inanimate rocks life, they rose from the ground and began marching forward. These terrifying units made of rock annihilated any demon they came across and served as a protector to his soldiers.

"That was the last vial..." he grimly muttered to himself.

Vedis didn't see the mace-wielding demon that jumped to him in time. When the massive demon swung his metal mace, Vedis used his greatsword to defend himself, but he didn't have enough time to assume a defensive stance.

He was thrown out of balance and launched aback, the hilt of his weapon slipping away from his hand. Before he could stand back up, the demon was already coming at him.

Vedis braced himself. He waited for the strike to dent his metal armor. What happened instead made the emperor's eyes open wide in surprise.

Two portals opened at both sides of the demon. And from those ominous portals came diamond hands. They grabbed the demon and mercilessly tore him apart. No matter how he screamed in pain and struggled, his dense muscles and hard bones still looked like soft meat in the diamond hands.

His dismembered limbs fell one by one in a pool of blood. Though he was an enemy, Vedis couldn't help but dread his brutal demise.

Blinking several times, the emperor turned his head and saw a familiar person.

A man with wavy, long dark hair was walking towards him. He wore a carefree smile as he looked at Vedis with his sharp, crimson eyes.

Under his breath, Vedis muttered.

"Both you and your son make my skin crawl..."

Axerion offered a hand to Vedis. He reluctantly accepted it and rose to his feet.

"Good morning, Your Majesty," said the Godhand with an innocent smile. He then continued.

"I know this is quite the conundrum, but where is my son?"

Vedis sighed, his weary eyes half closed.

"Who knows? That young man of yours has been a headache for me these past few days, so I have no idea where he's gone."

Axerion laughed heartily.

"Well, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, does it?"

Vedis glared at him, Axerion continued.

"Knowing him, he's probably in a place we least expect him to be. Just try not to be too shocked when in the end, he will be the one to solve everything."

The emperor sighed and then spoke.

"I don't care anymore, just let this end."

Axerion walked to the side, his eyes locked in a certain direction.

"I received a brief report about the situation. The heir to the Light Clan is over there, right?" he said.

"You say "over there" like it's across the street. We're fifty miles away from him," Vedis remarked, annoyed.

"But yes, he's there. The demons isolated him to be killed."

Ignoring his words, Axerion stood straight and lifted his arms forward. He then whispered:

"Let me borrow your power once more."

A longbow made of white light appeared on his left hand, and its strings of single-stroked lightning in the fingers of his right hand. As he drew the incandescent bow, a terrifying luminous arrow with blinding white flames dancing around its shaft, materialized.

He then glanced at Vedis and said:

"Distance is a barrier that only weaklings like you are affected by."

Axerion released the arrow, and like a shooting star, it traced the sky towards the general direction of the inner Callex.

***

At the end of the tunnel that Dhein had fallen into was the bottom of a tall cliff. The sea-level ground was at least a hundred meters above, and the steep walls of rocks and dirt made it impossible to climb.

Exiting the tunnel, Dhein felt the sunlight once he arrived at an open-field surrounded by the cliff walls. There he saw Thevon, wounded and tired.

'So this is where they are! Thank the gods, he's still alive...' Dhein thought, relieved.

For a moment, Thevon glanced at him and then returned his gaze to the demons.

The scion of light looked at him emotionlessly. As Dhein walked towards him, he heard a familiar voice.

"T—That's him... The scion of divinity!" Krushe exclaimed, her voice trembling in fear.

"He killed Luggar and destroyed my puppet. We should retreat now while we can!"

The tall, hunchbacked demon also spoke.

"We can't abandon our progress here, not after everything we've accomplished. Our weapons are almost completely built!"

Krushe clicked her tongue and then said:

"Don't say I didn't warn you."

With that, the demoness leaped more than a hundred meters in the air and stepped on a rocky outcropping before running off to the forest above the cliff.

"Tch! That sly coward..." a demon draped in a black robe scoffed.

Now, five high-ranking demons were remaining. A tall hunchback, a dark sorcerer, a giant wielding a hammer, a short assassin and a lady with the body of a spider for her lower half.

Dhein turned to Thevon and asked:

"Are you okay?"

The scion of light didn't reply, he didn't even move. His aimless eyes were just glued to the foes before them.

Dhein was about to say something when the tall, hunchback demon spoke.

"Just so you know, we're not planning on running away like that coward. We will fight."

'It's time for my specialty,' Dhein thought.

Then, he wore a terrifying grin that made the demons flinch in fear.

"Is that so?" he said, baring his perfectly lined teeth. His face distorted like a madman as he carved dread into his enemies' hearts.

"Then don't expect mercy. I am the mirror of heaven, but I can give you a glimpse of hell."

After internally cringing at his own line, Dhein glanced at Thevon.

'I said all that, but I'll be leaving the battle to you,' he thought.

But his hopes were instantly crushed.

Thevon collapsed face-first to the ground.