Chapter 1: Demon Land. Part 1
Part 1
For more than 300 years, the war between demons and humans has been waged incessantly, unstoppable battles where thousands and even millions of soldiers die on both fronts until literally only the winning side is left standing... the truth is that no one really knows why this conflict started or why the hatred of the church towards the demons is so strong, also for some reason over time simply the leaders of both sides took it as a matter of little importance and continued with the battles, as if it were something natural conflict between our races, is uncertain the past of this war, but one thing I am sure and that is that if these battles continue ....
The demonic race will cease to exist.
One of the most important institutions in the territory of the humans is the catholic church, both its influence with the masses and its military power have grown exponentially during the last 100 years.
The reason behind this is due to the magic of summoning heroes from other worlds.
Every time a new hero is summoned, he trains hard until he is strong enough to face a demon king. At first the victory of the heroes against the most powerful demonic being was a laughing matter among the members of our race, due to the enormous difference in power between a human and a demon that exceeded the limits of their magic.
But all that changed when the first demon king fell 75 years ago.
No demon could believe or rather... accept this result, the most powerful being, the dark ruler, the one who reigns over all other races, was defeated by a simple human.
Of course, we all knew that it was possible for a demon king to be defeated, after all, they do not live as long as dragons or elves and after a few hundred years their power gradually decreases, that is one of the reasons why some demons with great abilities could ascend to demon lord or even king, however to achieve that difficult goal required a gigantic amount of magical power without counting the physical abilities that he had to possess.
The only ones capable of facing them on equal footing or leaving them at a disadvantage, are the supreme sorcerers or the black superior dragons.
It was simply unheard of for a mere human to accomplish such a feat, after all it is a race inferior to the demon race by far in terms of power.
Although this news also came as a bit of a surprise to the other demon kings, none of them flinched or were surprised by this event, they just took it as a warning to be more cautious.
But that was not enough, because after the death of the demon king of the east, he was followed a few years later by the king of the north and the king of the west, annihilating with him all the lands and the inhabitants of the villages, cities and towns located in those areas of the continent.
Heroes grow stronger at an impressive speed compared to the humans of this world, this information is not general knowledge, although it can be acquired if you know where to look, that is why no demon could have predicted this kind of results, much less would have predicted that the church would eradicate our race without any discrimination in such a short period of time.
Elders, women and children were mercilessly sacrificed by orders of the church, justifying it as a purification of the world as an offering to God, they call it divine justice.
Nobody understood why humans were so cruel, their expressions full of madness when they acted as their dogma indicated was something incomprehensible that even the demons were filled with fear.
Not even those who surrendered and were not willing to fight were spared, instead they kicked them and looked at them with coldness and repulsion, as if they were observing a disgusting insect.
As soon as they finished with one city, they would immediately advance to the next city or town, splitting off in different directions and in small groups to cover more ground and slay many more demons, while the hero focuses on leading the first elimination squad to the demon king's castle.
The last hope we currently have left is the demon queen Karmilla Draculea, located in the southern part of the continent.
Karmilla as her last name indicated is from a noble family of the vampire race, and is an expert in spiritual magic, many would say that this magic could be weak because it depends on the strength of the spirit invoked and also others would say that she became a demon king by simple luck, however, she is literally fused with the spirits of the 5 attributes, so she dominates all known magics, including the temporal one that was believed absolutely lost or impossible to use today.
And although humans have some kind of measure against Karmilla's spiritual power, she possesses superior knowledge of high-level spells so far only used by sorcerers, in addition to possessing an overwhelming amount of magical power, and even without all of the above, the vampire race possesses overwhelmingly superior strength to humans, so it would not be an exaggeration to say that she could defeat an army of 5000 knights with her sheer physical strength alone.
This information is based on legends and stories heard among demons and adventurers, also some history books confirm some of those legends but others enter the abyss of uncertainty, and for the fact that this world is already irrational, I prefer to believe in these data instead of excluding them as mere tales or theories.
On the other hand, as she is the last hope, all the demons offer tributes to her, and pray for her well being, these actions increased especially in the last months, I guess it is all they can do in these moments of crisis.
Despite everything that has happened in this endless war, not counting the army and high ranking demons, we are a peaceful race that tries to avoid conflict at all costs, we try to dialogue instead of fighting, and we also try to subdue enemies instead of simply killing them.
And even after all that, why does this happen to us, can't demons exist in this world in peace with humans, if there really is a God, he must be someone extremely sadistic and cruel, why did he create us in the first place, does this amuse him, I guess I won't get the answers I want to know until the very end.
While I was randomly asking myself these questions amidst a sea of thoughts that I had not had for quite some time, I continued to harvest the fields that were next to Diyu village, the place where I was born and raised.
I am a demon without a name like many other demons of small towns and cities, commonly to differentiate us from each other, we call ourselves by some feature that identifies us, in my case everyone calls me Gin, because my hair is silver, which in itself is an uncommon color in demons.
In this world all creatures of demonic descent, from monsters to humanoid beings such as ogres or orcs, are able to receive a name, by any being that has a magical power superior to the one who receives it, this causes the demon named to obtain a transformation and a huge increase in power, however this increase also depends on the total power that has the being who baptized the demon.
Like all humanoid demons, I have two small horns on both sides of my head, my skin color is a slight yellow hue, although the color is not extremely marked, so we could go unnoticed among humans if we do not count the horns of course.
One of the few things that differentiate me from the rest of the demons besides my hair, is my great physique and my height of just over 2 meters.
Common demons tend to be about 170 centimeters, to a maximum of 185 centimeters, just like the average human, and as for the physique, despite being quite strong compared to normal humans, they are quite thin and do not possess too much muscle mass, in fact those who train diligently, do not even have half of my musculature.
For that reason many demons wanted me to join the army of the demon queen Draculea, but in reality I am more interested in the acquisition of knowledge than in wars.
Many said it was a waste of talent, or that they would never understand the privileged and even called me a coward, but well... it's my life after all.
Despite everything, I couldn't spend my whole life reading books, so I'm currently working in the agricultural cultivation of our village, it's quite a heavy job, but I guess I should use this strength and stamina that my parents granted me in something.
Although I said that they granted it to me, I didn't mean it literally, since my father was an imposing demon, but he was neither strong nor very tall, he fervently defended his ideals and beliefs, although he died in the demonic army when I was 5 years old, my mother always talked about him, telling me that he was a very good man and an excellent father.
My mother on the other hand, is a kind, gentle and very beautiful woman, in fact she has many suitors in the village, which makes me a little uncomfortable, but I am fine with it as long as it makes her happy, she like my father believed that humans and demons could live together in harmony as they were very similar in several aspects, however it is a taboo to talk about that subject among demons, so she did not discuss it very often and retained her beliefs in her heart.
I smiled for a moment while I thought about the time that has passed since the last time I heard one of her stories, and that I should visit her soon, when?
—Gin stop being lazy, it's about to dawn and we still have to harvest the tomatoes, hurry up or you'll spend the whole day without eating, understood?, —shouted a female demon with red hair tied in a ponytail, as a reprimand to Gin, while carrying with both arms a box full of potatoes.
This beautiful girl who accompanies me every morning is called Aki, actually since she was a little girl she was called Aka or akaiiro because of her red hair, but I always called her Aki since she was my childhood friend, in fact she really liked that name, but for a reason that I didn't know at that time she wanted only me to call her that way, so it was kept secret between the two of us.
Over time we logically grew to know each other much better, got to know each other a lot more, dated and got close enough until we naturally ended up falling in love and getting married.
Aki, has a pretty strict and cheerful personality, when we were kids she would always hit me when I did something wrong or when I was depressed. Her active and honest way of being always managed to bring a smile to my face.
She is 168 centimeters tall so there is a big difference between our heights, I remember whenever I used to brag about my height with Aki, I would end up unconscious on the floor, so I stopped doing it for my own safety.
Usually she always has short hair, but recently she has let it grow, her attire is similar to what we all in the village wear, which consists of a long or short white t-shirt depending on preference, shorts, and hemp shoes or sandals.
As this is a village far from the rest of civilization, we don't have much variety in clothes, and our houses are built in a rather precarious and low quality way.
But even so, this is a village where you can live peacefully and whose source of income is agriculture, so there are not many problems with regard to food.
And we also enjoy a climate of eternal spring due to the blessing of Queen Draculea's demonic lands.
Back to the main topic, did she really say she wouldn't eat for the whole day?
I mean, I know she doesn't lie and that she gets upset easily, but... Isn't it too much of a punishment?
—I understand, I'll finish up here immediately and go right away, —I said hastily so as not to make her angry.
As soon as I answered her, I pretended to bend down to harvest and placed my outstretched hand on the ground.
My dark brown eyes changed to a pure white color and I released some magic.
By concentrating slightly I managed to create ten small golems of no more than 15 centimeters, and later one of the golems representing the group took a step forward and placed his right arm on his semicircular head on what would be his forehead, as if he was waiting for my orders.
Normally a golem created with earth type elemental magic would simply stand and be silent, waiting for the mage's commands or the default pre-set commands, however my golems are somewhat different, as I use creation magic.
The magic known so far consists of five attributes to be used, which are:
Light Magic, Dark Magic, Elemental Magic, Temporal Magic and Creation Magic.
In theory all magic attributes can be utilized, however that would require an enormous amount of magical power and possibly centuries of conceptual study of the utilization of each magic.
It is for this reason that one normally learns only the attribute to which one is attuned.
Mages can use at most 2 attributes to perfection, depending on whether they have a good compatibility with those attributes.
In this case, mages define the attribute by the color of the eyes they are born with.
The color blue indicates that they have an affinity with light magic.
The color green means nature magic, in other words elemental.
Black eyes are very rare, but if you manage to find a magician with that eye color, he or she possesses dark magic.
And then there are the inherited magics that are the temporal and creation, although there are also times when a child is born at random between the demonic and human races with this magical potential.
Although this fact is very rare, even among families with extensive magical power as the nobility, so if these are born, are instructed by the best magicians, and sometimes are placed under the custody of the empire or kingdom in which he was born.
The eye color of these wizards, are white, if they have creation magic and purple if it is temporary magic, but as I understand, have not appeared more wizards, sorcerers, demons or sorcerers related to temporary magic, so they are considered virtually extinct.
Queen Draculea although she masters temporal magic well, she cannot use it to its full potential, since her magic depends on the strength of the spirits she has, however the fact that she has a temporal spirit as an ally, is something extremely abnormal and could even be called a historical event.
By the way, I am one of those rarities, but since I am a demon, my eyes remain a dark brown color, until I occupy said magic and they turn white for a brief moment.
Putting this information aside for the moment, the command I gave the golems was, "harvest the tomatoes and bring them in front of me."
Of course I set the harvest area and the types of tomatoes to be harvested, otherwise they would end up harvesting the entire acre, and in turn harvesting unripe tomatoes.
By using creation magic to make golems I can give them more complex orders than those created with elemental magic, this is because they possess consciousness and the others are automatons.
This could be morally debatable, since I am actually creating life, through the residual spiritual energy in the environment, and at the same time I don't know what happens to their souls afterwards, maybe when the magic ends it is as if they die?
I shook my head from side to side to stop thinking about it, and after a couple of minutes, the golems had gathered the tomatoes as I indicated.
A few seconds later I signaled the golems present to rest, and after saluting in a military style they disappeared into the ground.
It didn't take me long to place the tomatoes in two wooden boxes and then take them to where Aki was waiting for me.
We walked together towards the village, Aki as usual did not carry any boxes, while I carried four boxes in my right arm, which were stacked and impressively well balanced one on top of the other, and with my left arm I carried only two, which I carried against my body.
—You finished pretty fast, it's almost as if you had a little help, don't you think so, —said Aki in a laughing tone as she walked beside me playfully.
I don't know at what point she found out, but I'm sure from her tone of voice, that she somehow discovered my golems, she's too perceptive in those aspects, still I'd like to know how she does it, so I can be more careful next time. -Did you find me out?" I asked her with a nervous tone.
—Who knows? But next time you want to skip the job, try to avoid these little guys getting tangled in the plants, —said Aki after sighing with a mischievous voice, while swinging one of my golems with two fingers and then throwing it to me.
I knew it, damn, it's impossible to fool her, next time I'll undo the magic in its entirety instead of ordering them to rest, I'll have to take note of this.
Although it was a surprise that she threw the golem at me, I somehow managed to keep my balance, so I guess all is well for the moment.
As soon as the golem crashed into my chest, he deftly climbed up to my shoulder and sat on it as if it were second nature.
—But still you have to admit that this way we can save work time and manpower, next time we could leave all the work to them, —I proposed to Aki to try to excuse my actions.
For some reason the golem on my shoulder turned his head towards me, maybe he wanted to say something about it, but I'd better ignore that.
—Could it be that you just want to avoid working to have more time for your books and your magic experiments, —Aki added after sighing again and looking at me with a slightly disappointed face.
—Who knows, —I answered Aki while avoiding making eye contact with her.
She was passing in front of me in a playful way while trying to get us to cross glances, damn, even though this is kind of cute, it makes me too nervous.
And when our gazes finally crossed....
—I refuse, after all you must use those huge muscles for something... —Aki said as she cheerfully advanced right in front of me.
At that moment I let out a loud sigh full of surrender, I could definitely never refuse what she told me.
We were only a couple of meters away from the village and of course by that time the sun had already risen a few minutes ago.
—Oh, I almost forgot... about your punishment... —added Aki with a cheerful tone.
Heck, I guess using golems also considered it as bumming around, but just as I was mentally preparing myself for her next words, a big smoke coming from the center of the village suddenly appeared in the sky.
As if it was an act-reflection Aki immediately ran out to better elucidate the event that was happening at that moment.
After a few seconds I managed to recover from the surprise and after leaving the boxes at the side of the village entrance, I ran after her catching up with her in an instant due to my innate endurance and speed.
This was the event that caused my time to stop, and that in turn marked my destiny forever.