1 End Of An Era

"Watch your back Demon lord" yelled a man in white light armor as he swung his large spear towards a dark figure in front of him.

The figure wearing a dark black robe quickly turned around, within his hands sat a spark of black electricity.

Noticing this, the man wielding the large spear quickly jumped backwards avoiding contact with the spark.

The figure placed his hands on the ground beneath his feet.

The spark of electricity grew as it traveled in every direction taking out multiple human and demon figures fighting in the nearby area.

The man in light armor was able to dodge the attack as he leaped into the air towards the figure once more. With a strong downward strike, his spear became engulfed in flames.

Slash.

The dark figure's right arm was cut clean off. His left hand now held a ball of black fire which he threw into the air.

As the ball reached it's highest point, it expanded into a large black ball shooting black flames towards the earth below.

The man dodged the raining fire balls like an elegant dancer gliding around a stage.

Bang.

A ball of fire came into contact with a large rhombus shaped shield. The fire engulfed the shield which was soon burned to a crisp.

A man in brown light armor watched as his prized shield disintegrated into a mere pile of ash.

Standing beside him now was the man in white light armor. His blonde hair tied behind his head into a ponytail, his blue eyes glued to the dark figure only a few feet ahead. His large spear stood in the dirt next to him.

The man in brown armor was much more well built. He had short brown hair with blue eyes still staring at the shield turned to dust. A short sword was now in his grip.

Behind them stood a woman in a white robe. A large hood covered her brown hair but her blue eyes could be seen glowing within. A large staff rested on her back.

"Three out of four heroes?" the dark figure asked as he approached the group of heroes.

"Flames of Helios" a young voice sounded from behind the dark figure.

A large wave of flames engulfed the forest as it headed towards the dark figure's location.

The dark figure charged into the ferocious flames with no caution to himself. From behind the waves of flames the dark figure emerged.

Almost like a beast chasing prey, the figure leaped into the air as his left arm glowed a bright red.

Bang.

The left arm came into contact with a circular shield which also emitted a red glow. Both men flew backwards but stayed on their feet.

Removing the hood from his head, the figure finally revealed himself as a forced smile slowly took shape.

Messy white hair covered his head, and eyes as red as blood stared down it's challenger. A horn now grew attached to the left of his head.

Across from him stood a young man. Black hair covered his dark brown eyes. His black armor covered in the blood of demons. A small circular shield held in one hand, and a long sword in the other.

This young man was named Ingram. A hero known across the continent who was now fighting his final battle against the demon lord Yami.

"It ends here Yami. Your reign as the demon lord ends here."

"Only if you can defeat me" the demon lord replied charging forward.

Ingram charged forward as well before throwing his shield which still glowed red. Moving to the side, Yami dodged the shield landing a punch to the midsection of the hero.

Ingram flew through the air crashing through multiple trees. As he stood up, Yami already floated above.

"Fury of the hundred demons kings."

Large shadow like arms formed from thin air crashing down onto Ingram with a barrage of punches. Strike after strike successfully connecting with the hero.

"Arrow of heaven" yelled a female voice.

A bright, almost blinding arrow of light sped through the air before being caught by one of the shadow arms created by Yami.

"Stay out of this Diana, it's my job to defeat the demon lord and bring peace to this world." yelled Ingram as he picked up his sword from the floor next to him.

"We are a team Ingram." the female voice replied readying another arrow of heaven.

"I agree" said the man in white light armor. "Same here" replied the man in brown light armor as well.

"Conrad, Orion." Ingram whispered with a smile now on his face. "Lets do this" he shouted as the four charged at the floating demon lord.

"Arrow of heaven full storm." Diana yelled as hundreds of light arrows sped through the air.

Conrad followed up with " Bolt of Zeus" throwing his spear which now carried an electric current.

Majority of the arrows were blocked by the black arms while others manged to penetrate the demon lord's body. The spear lodged directly through his chest causing Yami to fall to the ground.

Now that Yami was on the ground, it was Orion's turn to attack.

"Stampede of the forest" he yelled as his energy formed various beast from their adventures. A Griffin, Chimera, Wyvern and more crashed into Yami.

Visibly injured but still able to move around, Yami began to open a large portal of sorts.

"You're not going to escape this time." the voice of Ingram could be heard as he fell through the air like a shooting star, his eyes glowed a bright red.

"Crash of total destruction."

Crashing into the demon lord, a large explosion appeared leaving behind a large crater.

Diana, Conrad, and Orion slid into the crater. Ingram was already back up on his feet, as Yami laid conscious but unable to move.

"It's over demon lord Yami. Surrender and we will grant you a painless death."

Suddenly, the ground began to shake and from the skies above an ominous voice laughed.

"End illusion."

The four heroes opened their eyes to find themselves laying in the forest.

"What happened?" Ingram asked puzzled as he looked around for any clue to help him better understand their current situation.

Yami appeared in front of the heroes with a sinister smile on his face. "I used an ability of mine to throw you four into an illusion world created by me. I showed you guys what a fight against nearly half of my power would look like.

"Only half?" Ingram yelled back as if he could not believe what he heard.

"Anyways heroes, I have something to say" Yami began to speak once more.

"I want to propose a peace treaty heroes. I have certain matters to attend to soon which means I will be gone for a while and the demon's may wreak havoc without my guidance. With a peace treaty however, both sides can live their lives and maybe live together in the future."

"And why would we accept? We may not be able to trust you."

"Like I said, I will be going into hiding soon. I will not be disclosing the details. I could just wipe you guys out right here but I will need your help to protect my people after my departure."

Yami had an almost depressed look on his face.

"How about this heroes? If I am ever seen again, the peace treaty will be called off" Yami said with a smile as he stuck out his hand holding a contract. "Unless you want to see me use my full power?"

"We need more than just that before we can trust your word demon lord."

Obviously annoyed, Yami raised his hand to the air.

Slash

His arm was sliced off. The heroes stood where they were not moving.

Yami had sliced off his own arm to prove a point?

"I'm serious" he said with a calm tone.

After a few minutes of arguing with each other, the heroes agreed to the peace treaty and signed the contract which was then duplicated by Yami.

"One for your kingdoms, and one for my demons." Yami said before disappearing into thin air. "Don't worry, they will abide by the contract."

...

Yami now stood in front of a large portal. He had already delivered the peace treaty to the high ranking demons and alerted them of his departure.

His plan was to enter the cycle of reincarnation. His body ached all over as a curse from within would soon end his life. The very curse was why he had offered the treaty as his demons would only wage war and end up extinct if they attempted to attack the humans.

Entering the portal, he awoke in a dark, silent void.