—Over a year ago—

  “Life magic?” Baston asked as he set down his cane and took a seat.

  I and Moonwash sat across from him on the table. We were currently back at their home in Blank City of Northern New Grandera.

  “Yeah. We recently managed to secure some, and we wanted to see if you’d like to get your arm and leg fixed.”

  Baston heard my words and pondered for a long moment. He had gotten a permanent injury because of how he’d protected Moonwash and me all those years ago.

  “Have you asked Luine?” he finally said. “She needs it more than me.”

  “Ah, no. We don’t… have nearly enough to do that. Yours just needs some correcting, but hers will require us to regrow her an entirely new one.” Our best bet for that might really be Moonwash’s prosthetic work, which was coming along nicely, as the limbs were mostly… behaving, but we still couldn’t find a good way to actually send it instructions.

  Baston’s condition, on the other hand, actually presented a harder problem to solve with potential living prosthetics, unless if we were willing to just cut off his existing limbs entirely.

  “Save it up, then,” Bastan said. “Or have Moonwash use it in her experiments. But there’s no need for you to feel bad about what happened. I chose to help you grow in secret back then because I wanted to.”

  I furrowed my brows a little. “And I do not think that. At all. It’s not our fault. But what is true is that you’ve helped us a whole bunch in the past. So if we can help you out now, then it would be great.”

  “I want to learn how to restore living bodies with life magic,” Moonwash added. “It’ll be helpful for my research. That is one of the experiments I want to run with it.”

  “Ah,” Baston paused for a long moment, taking his time to think again as we all drank our tea. “I would’ve suspected that you were just looking out for me, but I actually believe it,” he laughed. “Of course you’ll want to do that. So sure. It would be a bit disorienting for a while, but I would certainly not mind getting some feeling back in these old bones of mine. If you’re sure that it’s safe, of course?”

  “I am,” Moonwash confirmed, and Baston could say nothing more in front of her confidence.

  “Well, you are talented,” I heard him eventually murmur, as if to reassure himself.

  ~~~

  Elfrafin taught Moonwash how to actually use life mana as some lucky animals got their bones fixed, or unlucky if my girlfriend made a mistake and happened to make it worse. But finally, she was ready to heal Baston, and the process went off without a hitch.

  Now, our old friend could finally move… quite well enough. It would take a while longer before we could truly move like before, or maybe it would never happen if he preferred the company of his flowers, than the field of death along this continent’s many battlefields.

  ~~~

  —Back To The Present—

  In a dark underground chamber, empty of all things aside from a dark gleaming enchanted device that came down from the roof, and a rough stone-hewn chair below it. I faced Larah and Ragnar, who gulped at the sight before them. It was what they wanted, the experience of being a demon, now something they could truly understand. But before any of that, there was something I needed to tell them. Something I had decided upon.

  “You can’t have babies.”

  “...What?” Ragnar blurted without understanding.

  “It’s another condition that I have for helping you to become a demon,” I explained. “I’m sorry, I know I’ve made this as difficult as I could already. But it has to be done.”

  “But why?” Larah decried, accusing.

  “It’s not some weird cult thing,” I quickly defended myself. “I don’t actually give a shit if you have a child or not. It’d just be a problem if it’s a demon.”

  “This is sounding speciest…”

  “Well it’s not!” I snapped. “Listen first and let me finish! You already know about the menace heart or any other sort of curse. Not to mention the hellfire heart. Now what if baby straight up born as that? Do you think a child like that will turn out okay!?”

  “Well…”

  “They can’t.” I gave them the answer they were too slow to arrive at. “I’ve proven that an adult might be able to handle it. MAYBE. Big maybe. But there is really just no way a child can. So, as the first Demon, the Progenitor, I have decided that we cannot reproduce as babies. But, we may still reproduce, if we want. It’d be too fucked up otherwise. Only, we will not procreate like the other species, though we could still do it recreationally. But the only new demons will come from powerful new rituals, that can only be taken after someone has proven worthy through many trials and tribulations. I Declare It So.”

  My eyes widened at the voice that came out of my mouth. It was mine, of course, but with a distinctly otherworldly hue. Like whenever I chose to cast a ritual. The greater magic hummed, and power pulsed this deep underground.

  I touched my pelvis, and somehow knew as my perception of all things spiked for a moment, that my womb still functioned, capable of giving birth to calamities.

  Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

  “I… understand why,” Ragnar said.

  “I don’t like it,” Larah complained after a moment’s hesitation. “Why did you make demons so fucked up anyway?”

  “I…” didn’t? I didn’t have control over the process? But I did. Enough. Our blood at least did not need to be able to hold so much mana. Most of it could have just been vented out. “For power,” I settled on instead.

  I took a step towards Larah, and she involuntarily took a step back.

  “If you think being a demon is so fucked up, then why stay? It is not what you expected. Go find something else, then.”

  She swallowed, but looked at me defiantly. “Because it’s my dream too.”

  I held her stare, then looked at Ragnar.

  “I’ll… need to think about it some more… after that. I haven’t really thought that much about having children yet, but… what if I want some in the future?”

  “Adopt,” I shrugged. “Or just don’t become a demon. Take all the time you need to think. Answer as you please. I will be fine as the first and last of my kind.”

  I pushed them both out of the room, to Larah’s dismay.

  “Hey! Wait! I’m still down to try, goddamit! Give me the curse experience!!!”

  She reached past my grip, squeezing longingly at the cursed device that would turn all her thoughts to evil.

  “It’s the last one. Don’t worry. I know you hate thinking. But just a month or two more of rubbing that pea inside your head, and I promise, this time I’ll start your torture, okay?”

  “A month?” She protested with utter incredulity.

  “I have important business to attend to. I’m sure you don’t want to keep me from it, hmm?”

  “Ah. AH!” She pulled herself away from my grip, which I did release her from after a few seconds of struggle. “Fine. I want in. This has been soo annoying, so I’ll go take it out on some Edengarian skulls! ARGH!”

  “...I’ll go too,” Ragnar decided next.

  I just shrugged as I grabbed them both, the small Larah, and the only slightly shorter but definitely wider Ragnar. The several layers of ceiling opened, and I flew past them, to my passenger’s screams. Of delight.

  ~~~

  An army a hundred thousand strong marched through the forest and chewed through the trees below me. It was of Northern New Grandera, and for once, I arrived early. My family and friends were with me, from Moonwash, to the Piss Hunters, and then the Demon Aspires. Marcus was still with the latter; he continued his adventuring work with his friends, even when he had already given up on becoming a demon himself.

  The landscape slowly changed, as the green trees gave way to blue. The humidity rose by many levels, in a way I could hardly feel from all the way up here. The war for the Endless Dive began with an arrow that streaked right for me. I swerved the moment I felt something from the very edges of my spatial senses, but the arrow still managed to hit my wing. I wobbled in the air, my altitude dropped, and a wall of arrows reached for me high in the sky.

  I swung Devilcalibur and countered them. Broken shafts rained along the ground. I remained in the air, for my wings had already healed. Our own army released a warcry and charged for the yet overgrown forest to meet our enemies who had somehow evaded our scouts.

  I arrived there before they could, but our enemies were already in full retreat. They jumped from branch to branch, or ran along the overgrowth. I was able to easily catch up to anyone I set my eyes on, but they had already scattered, and it would be impossible to get all of them. Hellfire set alight trees, but this wonderzone of all things was the best at countering that kind of thing, even here along the edges.

  Most of my prey escaped as I glared at the forest, promising great retribution once we arrived at Ocirin City.

  ~~~

  After a long march around the wonderzone, filled with countless small skirmishes and confrontations amongst our scouts, we finally did arrive at Ocirin City. It was a heavily fortified position, with walls made of both earth and wood, and I knew it hadn’t always been like this.

  Oh, it was fortified, of course, given the importance of the outpost. But those fortifications had only grown over the last year, as news of an imminent attack reached the ears of Edengar, long before any official announcement was made. This made it clear that despite the lack of diplomacy or any open dialogue, all the nations involved had their roots deeply entrenched into each other’s systems. This included my own Arisen City, which was super annoying. All the Demon Aspires who had more recently joined us had already informed me about several suspicious people who’d approached them. It was embarrassing. I was glad they told me, though. The hype around them would surely die down once they’d proven incorruptible enough.

  The spies naturally did not survive, whether they were captured first, or outright killed.

  “LAY DOWN YOUR ARMS AND SUBMIT YOURSELVES FOR JUDGEMENT!” a shepherd yelled from the other side of the enemy walls. I’d quip about how useless it was for such a declaration to be made, but someone of their species yelling such things was less useless than others.

  I narrowed my eyes, having spotted who I was going to kill first. Or second. War was no time to be choosy.

  “SURRENDER AND GIVE US BACK OUR CONTINENT!” our general and his posse chorused back, in a booming voice that thundered far louder than the enemy’s. He was a Level 40 chiron(bat-like people) and he flew with a small colony of a dozen of his comrades.

  There was no need for further words beyond that. There were never any actual negotiations to be had. The throes of war started when the projectiles started flying from both sides. My allies defended themselves against the arrows and spells, while our own barrage proved more effective against the enemy soldiers who remained outside their walls.

  Chaff. Most of them were inhexes, left here to die. This was exactly what Arx was fighting for. He should have been here, fighting to kill those who had reduced his people to meatshield slaves, but he could not even do that. Those very same people, Inhex Queen Iz, they were taken hostage. So I would do some of this fighting in his stead. Our armies would put to rest these poor inhex, while I did what I was best at.

  I flew with the harpies and bombarded the walls. The sheer volume of projectiles that came for us from the various firing ports and towers actually held us back. But we held them back too. The ground battle quickly tilted in our favor as the enemy troops below lost their projectile support. I kept up the threat of my hellfire and curse magic as my allies drew ever closer to the wooden walls. It was a good counter if you were expected to face people, instead of monsters who only had their bodies to bash against the tougher earthen walls. Our dwarven engineers reached said walls, but as expected, they could not easily tear it apart with magic. The walls were still planted in earth, however, so they made it quake. The enemy mages swiftly countered, but I had already flown ahead. I weathered a portion of the projectiles that filled the skies, which quickly reduced in number as people wobbled and missed. I activated my intimidation package to prolong their bewilderment, just before I crashed upon the ramparts and started hacking.

  Bodies broke and entrails flew as Devilcalibur reaped a great harvest. Magic rushed out of me, and I faced magic in turn. Their spells were much harder to evade from this up close, just as mine were the same. The full projectile might of this fortification turned on me for one second, but the harpies quickly put a stop to that after I’d rushed deeper into enemy lines to evade most of the strikes directed at me. General Damian and his chiron ilk also joined us, as the bat-like people screamed at the gathering of enemies and tore them apart with their fangs. We began a full sweep of the ramparts with me at the center, the harpies following close, and the chirons as disruptors and executor of stragglers.

  The ground battle then quickly tilted heavily in our favor as well, as our people had finally broken through one part of the wall in all the chaos. Allied troops crushed the new walls of nature earth attempting to be erected, and then rushed in. Soon, another hole was blasted through the enemy walls, which only followed the same process. A fierce melee struggle ensued, especially as it spilled further into enemy lines, and the next set of enemy walls and archers fully came into effect. We were being held back once again, for now.

  Meanwhile, the troops up here were in full retreat now, and many were making their way down. I killed another of their Level 40 elites, before I rushed through the same stairs they did, and pushed them off in pieces as I made my own way down. I scanned the battlefield, and helped where my allies were having the most trouble. From a powerful ogre smashing through our ranks, or a charge of centaurs and a sundertop doing the same, but worse.

  They all fell by my blade.

  I killed a tyranight assassin who had come after far too many of our own elites.

  I targeted their powerful healers who were getting their fighters back to fighting shape too fast.

  A powerful group of templars was steadily chewing through our lines, and I put a stop to that.

  Their human general was escaping, and I decimated him from behind.

  My sheer speed thundered through the fields of battle, and in that noise, someone I’d neglected moved.

  A partially serrated blade came out from the robes of a person that felt exceedingly wrong. I barely reacted on time to get my neck out of the way, but the slash was able to reposition and at least bite deep into my arm from an existing wound on my armor. Flesh was mercilessly torn away by the serrated part of their cutlas.

  I ripped Devilcalibur out of the dead general, and swung it to drive away the interloper. A refined cackle echoed out of the robe, which momentarily stalled the rising and falling morale around us in favor of confusion. And then those very robes were ripped away to reveal the person who hid underneath.

  A shepherd. In a battle dress that simultaneously looked fit for royalty, a powerful pirate, and the admiral of a full navy. The natural crowd that grew on her skull looked far more menacing than others. She wore rampant jewelry, especially one that I recognized to be Moonwash’s own handiwork. An amulet that prevented her heart from influencing those around her. I did not even know it was a shepherd under all those fabrics. I did not realize she was… Level 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, beyond!

  The amulet too came off, and I could feel the sheer confidence that she felt even in the face of me. The shepherd woman clearly had the ability to hide her level, but now it was all coming out. The sheer presence of a Level 80 creature, coupled with the emotions that she shared, bolstered the spirits of her side, while diminishing our own.

  You… YOU…! YOU!!!

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “I AM QUEEN EDEN GENESIS, AND–”

  FUCK YOU! YOU’RE THE ONE! THE FUCKING ONE! WHO HAD ME IMPRISONED! WHO TORTURED ME! TRIED TO RAPE ME! USED SOMEONE WHO I THOUGHT WAS MY FRIEND AGAINST ME! IT’S YOU! IT’S ALL FUCKING YOU!!!!

  I appeared in front of her. A sonic boom garbled her worthless words. Devilcalibur came right down, but my enemy reacted on time, dodging the blade with time to spare. She deflected it lightly with the non-serrated parts of her sword just to put me off balance, and then landed a quick biting slash across my guts with her other identical blade. Blood poured, but was quickly stifled by my healing. It did not delay me from bringing Devilcalibur back around to wipe the shorter woman’s whole frame off the face of this world.

  She only dodged out of my way with grace.

  “--I AM HERE TO SECURE OCIRIN CITY, DRIVE BACK THE REBELS, AND CAPTURE THEIR DEMON HERO!!!” Eden finished, as if she had the leeway to chat in the face of me. And she fucking did! Our clash continued, and I only found myself repeatedly pushed back. It was like she could read my every move. She reacted before every slash I threw out. Her parries were perfect, always taking full advantage of the weight of my own superior strength. Her serrated blades caught my own, and threw off my aim before I could even swing. She was never caught off guard, where I suffered numerous cuts for every exchange. Most of them were from the jagged parts that dealt heaving damage, while the clean cuts of the long straight edges sliced deeper and occasionally paved the way.

  The over 2-meter-tall woman could move faster than the speed of sound without the accompanying thunder, which meant that her armor must be of the wind variety, and fast. Those were powerful, but typically far less durable than their other counterparts.

  I grinned and exploded with magic all around us.

  Eden didn’t even flinch. I should have expected as much. Her armor being weaker was only relative; My enemy was a Hero-Rank being of her own right, and the Queen of a whole vassal nation that spanned half a continent. Her armor was made from only the best materials, and by the best smiths that she could find. She didn’t even have to tank all of my hellfire and curses, as I had to truly saturate the entire space with them. Any denser waves I sent at her were just as easily dodged as my sword strikes. It only served to stall her a little, but I still got cut up. Only my Rapid Combat Nervous System allowed me to even prevent my head from getting outright chopped off. My healing staved off the damage, but I would still run out at this point. I was losing.

  I didn’t care to count how many hits she’d gotten on me after only a handful more clashes. I was pretty sure those gleaming gloves of hers absorbed most of the vengeance magic my curse tried to dish out.

  “Haell! HAELL ZHARIGNAN!” And even now she had the leeway to chat, though her voice did fall so that only we could hear. “You’ve truly done a number on me by taking Astro City. Impressive work burning the manor, and breaking the minds of everyone around you. It’s only made me want my own legion of pet demons more and more. But I know you’ve grown enough by now to where I cannot take you alive. It’s amazing really. But you also know that you’re outmatched. You are still much too weak to face me, and it is your folly that you were arrogant enough to come out while you still were!”

  I stared at her, eternally livid. We exchanged another set of blows, and I got two cuts that gouged through my chest. I growled.

  “Hmm? What was that? Ready to surrender? I just need your babies, I’ll treat you well in your new home!”

  “I said… DON’T TALK AS IF YOU’VE ALREADY WON!!!”

  Resentment was unleashed. New power flooded my body. Eden was left reeling after my slash suddenly sped up. Her hand shook from the force of the blow she was forced to parry or die. She defended with her other sword when I returned for another go way too fast. She was pushed back, hard. The accompanying wave of curses that came with my most powerful attack finally seeped deep enough into her armor and skin to draw blood.

  The easy smile finally fell off the bitch’s face, and she glared at me. We took no time to gloat, and had instead brought my sword up again to put an end to this so-called queen. My mini-rituals went off at the same time, though Eden had tried to get as little of my blood on herself as possible throughout this entire fight. I felt magic suddenly latch onto my mind, but that only stoked the flames of my anger further. The pain of this headache was my fuel, and it would not color my aim. Like how I broke the mind of her subordinate, The Duke Astro; I sent a powerful semi-ritualistic vengeance curse rushing through the bridge she had so foolishly built between our minds. Devilcalibur inexhobarly advanced as the massive headache was suddenly reflected back into my enemy. Her grimace deepened, but neither the magical explosions around her, nor the devastation inside her own head, slowed her reactions at all. Her two swords finished crossing in an X, to receive my powerful blow. Her knees buckled beneath her, and she took tremendous damage. Her bones were certainly sprained, and the ocean of magic under my control had only grown stronger. But still, this clash had finally given Eden the leeway she needed to redirect my unstoppable slash, and parry it away.

  Crucially, no counter came to draw blood, as my enemy instead chose to retreat and regain her bearings.

  “Wow. Level 80 and you’re this strong.” The grin returned to her face. “But not strong enough.”

  I put that pointless bravado to the test. I charged for her, and swung Devilcalibur in an arc with all my afforded power. Eden jumped back, only getting a deep scratch on her armor. She then leapt back into the fray to land a light cut on me. My greatsword was already returning for another go at this time, but Eden guided the heavy weapon to strike the ground instead with perfect form. I wrenched the blade back up to slice her in half, but she had already fallen back before charging back into the fray.

  This same song and dance continued, with Eden able to slice me around far less easily than before. But I was still losing! I thought I had her when I awoke resentment, but… that first clash was only a fluke, I had to admit. She was in a terrible position for my sudden powerup, yet still she reacted, parrying my strike for only a little bit of numbness upon her hand.

  I was still losing.

  Maybe I could outlast her. I could sip some streamers of blood here and there. Devils knew there was so much bloodshed happening all around us. But even that might not be a sure thing. Even if I could eventually win the 1-on-1, what would happen until then? We were attacking an entrenched enemy position; they had the advantage. If my allies get pushed out, that would leave me here surrounded. If she were willing to sacrifice some, I was sure Eden could at least prevent me from taking flight. There was no way out.

  For me.

  I considered for a moment if I should call for help.

  Elfrafim was here… somewhere. She had come in case an angel showed up. But that was precisely why I did not wish to call upon her. I did not want to reveal her potential presence just like that. I knew that she did not like either New Gradera or Edengar as nation-states, even if she hated the latter a lot more. She would help if I asked, but I didn’t want to involve her any more than necessary.

  I devoted a portion more of my senses towards understanding the war happening around us, and I learned that the flow of battle had stabilized. The battles lines had grown stagnant as neither side could make a significant push. The number of elites we had was for once, actually around equal, thanks in part to my actions up north months ago. I’d killed not only the swordreaper, but possibly the largest gathering of gold-rank elites in one battlefield for decades. That had forced the enemy kingdom to adjust and redistribute their forces to protect all fronts, else they would’ve been able to concentrate a lot more troops here in Ocirin City. And yet, even in that circumstance, the best we could manage was a stalemate.

  I bled.

  Eden landed deeper slashes thanks to my distraction, but it was nothing I couldn’t swiftly recover from, as I’d already demonstrated.

  I shelved the plan to ask for reinforcements for now. I’d revisit it later if we were truly losing. Maybe we could find a breakthrough yet.

  ~~~

  “Poison Rain.”

  “Fog Thunderstorm.”

  “Freezing Mist.”

  Sure enough, the balance did shift. Rituals were set up by both sides in time, but it was my girlfriend’s work that truly stood out, in both quality and speed of creation. Her extensive versatility allowed her to take full advantage of the environment here, extremely humid and full of ambient water mana that did make spells of that sort more effective. That last one was even cast after a passing flock of cloudbirds had somehow been lured down by harpies, and then the chirons, thereby drenching predominantly the enemy soldiers. That frost was their death knell.

  Eden too noticed this as a frown crossed her face.

  “Tsk. So Moonwash had indeed come. That’s a problem.”

  More than she expected, I bet. Moonwash had not participated in too many wars, and I would be worried about her in a one-on-one against anyone, but she had only further perfected her craft while living in our basement. Using two elements for a single ritual was but the norm for her now. They had seen nothing yet.

  And Eden did not want to see any more, as she immediately rushed for my girlfriend.

  My already overwhelming bloodlust grew exponentially upon realizing her plan. Unfortunately for the queen of stupidity, where my regular speed only mildly overcame hers with the help of resentment, my charging speed was an entire league above. I easily caught up, and she was forced to stop and defend herself again. Devilcalibur finally managed to land a blow past her armor and to her flesh, though it was only a skin deep cut on her bicep. But even something small may be unbearable, if it was a curse anathema to the living.

  Eden grimaced before widening the distance between us once again.

  “You’re truly an unpleasant enemy, aren’t you? A bloody brute, with only brutish tactics to her name. Maybe I don’t need demons after all.”

  I did not bother to respond. It was hard to think of anything, when my mind was filled with an endless desire to kill. A desire that I could just as endlessly indulge in as I charged forward to keep the painful battle going. Eden’s guantlets were dripping blood now, for I knew that my vengeance magic was finally taking its toll, and towards the parts of her that wielded her weapons no less. She had not weakened yet, but even if she was unfazed by pain, her body itself would eventually fail her here.

  I took a dozen more cuts from her, while Eden only suffered the diffused devastation of my magic, until she finally decided that this was untenable and she needed to be the one to change things.

  “ELITES TO ME!”

  “GOLD-RANKS! COME HERE!” I answered decisively, and both our most elite units rushed in!

  Projectiles of all sorts suddenly rained down on us from both our armies, and we were forced to separate. A few more volleys followed, until both armies returned their focus to each other again. The first of our elites had arrived before I could chase after the Edengarian Queen that fled. I met the eyes of my parents, who saw how my white armor had entirely turned red and broken, and nodded at them. They didn't say anything, and nodded back. I knew of the worry they kept bottled inside, but this was the life I chose to live, and there would be no stopping me. All I could do was acknowledge their totally reasonable concerns.

  I charged back into the fray once I saw the first signs of Eden getting healed.

  “OH NO YOU DON’T!” I detonated the blood of mine that remained on her body just as people started to clean it off. I even caught some of her healers along the blast, which was good. I arrived, but Eden managed to protect her healers from my blade, and her arriving mages countered a good part of my magical barrage. Our own elite mages and archers then began their bombardment, forcing her own side to the breaking point.

  Her sundertops arrived and started to heal her from afar with a bright and shining solar spotlight. My allies did the same for myself, but this development was still a big loss for me, because previously, only I could heal. But thankfully, between me and Moonwash, we actually had the advantage in magical warfare here. That advantage lessened when my girlfriend began working on something else, but that was okay because I was now actually a better regular mage than her in sheer devastation.

  Eden was never keen on letting Moonwash work her magic, and she was certainly more livid now. My tail strained as I turned with all my might, and ensured that my enemy was stuck here. Neither of us wanted the other close to our allies, only I had a harder time keeping her away because Moonwash could not be moved right now, and I was certainly not letting her die out of anyone here. I screamed and threw myself at my enemy, getting more cut up than at any point in this fight, all to protect the woman I loved.

  That love alone was the most important thing, but it also paid off.

  “Chain Lightning.”

  The world took a small breath. Moonwash stood at the center of the ritual, and the lightning struck herself. It pained me to see her sacrifice her body like this. A ritual born from a curse I’d recently discovered and created. Extrapolated from vengeance magic’s ability to seek out those who hurt me, to instead have a simple homing effect that sought out my enemies. Coupled with lightning’s inherent desire to seek out certain materials, my girlfriend gestured towards an enemy templar, and the thunderbolt left her hand and body to strike him next.

  “ARRRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!!” the human man screamed, but it did not end with him. The lightning continued to leap from enemy to enemy, like the points of a constellation. The ritual of a shepherd mage was disrupted, an archer missed her shot and spasmed, a sundertop roared and stopped healing their queen; that very same queen was struck, and even she did not escape unscathed!

  I took full advantage of the situation. It was my unending harassment that prevented her from dodging to begin with. Eden’s body seized up, spasming and stunned. She was not able to react to this next slash with the same dexterity and grace she had this entire fight thus far.

  I was finally able to land my first clean hit.

  And it was amazing.

  Her armor was torn right open.

  The blade continued on to her torso underneath.

  Skin broke, muscles were torn, and flesh decayed.

  A ravaging wave followed and made a total mess of her insides.

  Eden vomitted a massive volume of blood and bile before she was able to regain control of her body and jump back.

  She took one glance towards her elite units, and instantly decided to head somewhere else.

  Of course she did. They were in a full rout. Moonwash’s chain lightning had done massive damage on them, and my allies had immediately pounced on that moment of weakness. Even then, the Edengarians might’ve still managed to save at least half their number and heal, but this was when our aerial troops swooped down from above to provide a distraction.

  The harpies descended, creating sharp cyclones of wind, and fighting with their talons.

  Chirons screeched a glass-breaking sound as they dropped down, and then picked someone to latch onto with their fangs like their life depended on it. Which it did. Not many of these guys were even gold-rank material.

  They were cut down and blasted apart by our enemies in their death throes. A regrettable number of harpies and chirons met their ends here. But for their sacrifice, the enemy had lost the opportunity to regroup and were now getting slaughtered. Eden made the pragmatic choice of abandoning them, and had instead ran towards the nearest cluster of her allies.

  “TO ME! STOP HER! SAVE YOUR QUEEN!” Her voice came out, along with a powerful wave of emotion. Our enemies entered an enraged and frantic state, now throwing themselves at me to die. Arrows and spells flew as I was surrounded and hemmed in by their warriors and tanks. I tried to take off, but my wings were naturally targeted when I did. I descended back to the ground, and shredded my enemies in turn. I only minimized the damage that I took as I made my way past the sea of writhing bodies, and towards the direction where Eden had fled. I reached her, and clenched Devilcalibur’s hilt in fury when I saw her wounds being mended by a very powerful nature healer. Except he was no longer using nature magic, but instead life magic! The belfegor mage was actually someone I recognized, for he was present during the earlier battle of our elites, but he had somehow slipped away long before Moonwash could cast her ritual. And he was not alone, for all their healers were now converging here. The sun magic of a hundred sundertops turned the entire space into a blinding star. Eden was even chugging down potions, all of which I recognized to be made by Moonwash!

  “THOSE ARE NOT FOR YOU!” I screamed, but it was too late. I charged, and Eden sprung up, healed enough. She made an easy and delighted smile as she avoided all my attacks. I was the one completely surrounded this time, and her people did not hesitate to give their lives to cling unto me and hold me back for even just a single breath. Even the waves of hellfire and curse were unable to hold all of them back.

  Eden naturally did not let go of this chance either, as it was now my turn to suffer catastrophic damage. I avoided getting my head chopped off at all cost, but that cost was precisely an arm and a leg.

  “Retribution of The Abscised!”

  I called upon a ritual I hadn’t used in a while, but Eden had mitigated the damage by immediately jumping back after she’d cut off my arm. She only did the same when I cast the same ritual for my leg. The information of that ritual I used in Astro’s prison had naturally reached her.

  “HAELL!”

  “HANG IN THERE!”

  “RIGHT HERE!”

  “DON’T DIE!”

  “WE’RE COMING!”

  “PLEASE!”

  My side’s elites, who had survived unlike her own, finally arrived. This gave Eden a greater sense of urgency, but I managed to escape by beating my healed wings so hard that they broke again after only one flap. I crashed through so many armored enemy soldiers along my supersonic tumble, until I was finally caught by someone so endlessly dependable and kind.

  “Thanks, Dad,” I muttered, just as the wave of allied healing came. The extra help was appreciated, though there would be diminishing returns. My missing limbs were already halfway healed, and now they shot forward, whole and hale.

  Eden cut through walls upon walls of roots and thorns, past great workings of magic that stalled her, only to find Devilcalibur descending from above like a guillotine, just as powerful as before!

  My enemy jumped back and wasn’t caught, but she was certainly spooked. The confident, if annoyed expression on her face fell away, replaced by a frown so sour you would think she was dying.

  “Limb regrowth? So it wasn’t a one-time thing, nor something you can only do with a ritual so massive.” She sighed like the weight of the whole galaxy rested on her shoulders. “So ridiculous. So uncontrollable. Unwilling to listen to reason.”

  She parried more of my attacks. She had to dodge the spells of my allies, though most of them were still focused on her enraged army. I did not stop to chat. But that was precisely what Eden wanted to do as she turned around and just ran.

  “STOP THEM! STOP HER! GIVE YOUR LIVES IF YOU MUST! DO NOT DIE WITHOUT TAKING A HUNDRED WITH YOU! YOU WILL BE REMEMBERED AS GREAT WARRIORS BY THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THE EMPIRE–NAY, THE VERY HEAVENLY HEGEMONY! FOR THE ANGELS! FOR THE ANGELIC GOD!”

  “FOR THE ANGELS! FOR THE ANGELIC GOD!”

  Our enemies charged at us with an outright suicidal rush. Other fronts were abandoned, just to converge on my position, and that of my friends and family. The gates of their second set of walls opened, and the troops spilled out with the same fervor. I could charge after Eden, but she was still deep inside the enemy formation, and I had already learned my lesson about engaging her in such a situation.

  “AARGGHH!!” I roared in frustration. At my weakness. Unable to kill the enemy queen when she’d already presented her head to me on a silver platter. Such a good opportunity might not come again.

  “FOR QUEEN EDEN!”

  “FOR HOLY EDENGAR!”

  “FOR ADAMO!”

  “FOR EVEL!”

  “KILL THE REBELS!”

  “BURN THE HERETICS!”

  “DON’T LET THEM ESCAPE!”

  “WE HAVE THEM SURROUNDED!”

  “FOR OCIRIN!”

  “PROTECT OUR PEOPLE!”

  “JUST HOLD ON!”

  “THE QUEEN WILL BE BACK!”

  “WITH HER WE’RE INVINCIBLE!”

  The Edengarians chose the worst time to try and crush us with the sheer weight of their bodies. I ground the weak, pathetic, and fragile carcasses of my enemies with the sheer weight of my greatsword. I drank of their blood to replenish my empty stores. I’d nearly used up all the archdemon blood stored in my extra-dimensional blood storage, actually. I’d overused my hellfire and curse mana, so now I had to use them sparingly.

  It was good enough to kill this rabble anyway. My hearts pumped, and my reserves of magic grew with every second. My enemies too calmed, and then despaired, as Eden’s influence disappeared.

  As did the vile woman herself.

  I clicked my tongue when I got confirmation that she’d escaped.

  Ocirin City was inevitably brought down without her help, nor of the many elites that she lost, because she actually thought she could defeat me with them. But the victorious battle still left a slight bitter taste in my mouth, for it was like I’d been presented a bloody treat that I was just unable to get no matter what I did.

  I swore in my hearts that the next time we met, Eden would be nothing more than a stain on the road in the face of my power.

  WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Goddamn. That is the best fight I’ve ever written. It’s my favorite, certainly. I’m so happy with how this turned out.

  I didn’t know if I should semi-spoil Eden’s sudden appearance in the title, but I can’t help it! It sounds so epic! AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! Feedback this maybe pls.

  Oh right. Other things happened with this chapter. I just realized that since Haell and Moonwash actually got life mana… there was no way they wouldn’t share with Baston. So… Yeah. Flashback scene. Gonna be honest, that’s just a part of this being a web-serial. Stuff like that will happen sometimes–or not! It did take this long.

  The babies… Yeah. Listen. Haell decided that they would be like the mythical vampires now, who only made more vampires like this! Just gonna outright say that I’m not endorsing neutering people, in case that isn’t clear. Demons are just… eesh, a very special case. And I came up with the solution that Haell would come up with. And once again, her being the first-person perspective is not an endorsement! I would not vote for Haell if she was running for president!!!

  Unless… if… she’s right behind me. Yeah. Write in a new category of Demon Queen. Okay.

  Subscribe to my to read 30 Chapters ahead! Just had a really good day of writing, among other fun things too, and I feel really good about the chapter I just posted there! Real excellent timing actually, for me to be able to post on RR and SH again so soon. Been looking forward to finally posting this chapter, so make sure to tell me what you thought of it!