Augrikkalia

Everything was dark, I couldn't see anything nor feel anything. I wasn't even sure where I was, or even if I was still alive. The only proof I had of still being alive was that I didn't feel dead exactly.

"Well, color me surprised," A voice said, but I couldn't tell where it was coming from, "I wasn't expecting this. Rothar really wanted to make sure you never got in his way."

"... Who are you?"

"Seriously?" The voice groaned out loud, "I'm insulted by how you forgot about me so easily, Steven."

I gasped out loud, "Oh, it's you. How did you get here?"

"That's my secret." I heard the voice chuckle then clear its throat, "On another note, do you even know where you are?"

"I...can't tell." I tried looking around to find anything, "All I remember is Rothar throwing a black ball at me and being sucked in. Am I...in the ball?"

"You're not in just any ball." A ripple effect then went all around me and ended right behind me, "This is a sealing orb. It was made to seal others in a sort of dimension inside the orb. It's nearly unbreakable from the inside."

"Then how do I get out?"

"I say "nearly" because anything of this level can easily be broken by a powerful enough spell," Suddenly the ring with the three stars had begun glowing, "Luckily for you, you have just the spell you need."

I stared at the ring for a moment, "You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

"My, what could you possibly mean?"

"This all seems a little too convenient." I raised an eyebrow, "The ring. Rothar's seal. You knew this would happen, didn't you?"

"Well..."

"Answer the question."

The voice chuckled, "Really getting into the role, aren't you? Alright, how about a deal then?"

"A deal?"

"Yes." Suddenly, two glowing orbs appeared in front of me. One red, one blue. "Here's the deal, I have two orbs here. The blue orb will give you all the information you want about my involvement with Rothar."

"And the red one?"

"Think of it as like a contract. If you can defeat Rothar and save your subjects, then I will answer any ONE question you ask. No holds barred." The orbs began circling around me. "So, which will it be? Red or blue?"

I watched as both of the orbs circled me and silently thought to myself.

'I would want nothing more than to learn their involvement with Rothar, but that's just one question I could have answered if I look into it. This could be my only chance to ask the one question that has been bugging me ever since I came to this world.' With that thought, I made my decision and pointed at the red one, "I choose the red orb."

"Really?" The red orb stopped right in front of my face as the blue orb disappeared. "Very well, you know the deal. Defeat Rothar, then we'll talk. No sooner."

The next thing I knew, the red orb split into two and while one of them disappeared, the other went inside me.

"See you later, demon lord Arzo. If you survive." With that, a magic circle appeared then disappeared, so I assumed they left the black ball.

I looked at my ring with the stars and took a deep breath, then I focused on the magical stars so one of them began glowing.

"Grant my wish, break this seal, and return me to the world."

(Outside the ball.)

Rothar viewed the lovalon kingdom from one of his orbs attached to the staff and watched as the soldiers charged into the castle.

"All according to plan. The human ruler of that kingdom was too easy." Rothar turned to Rinako who was still struggling in the chains. "Now, what to do with you."

"You traitorous scum!" Rinako was able to break the chains on her arm, but it quickly regenerated then reattached. "How dare you betray our lord and master! Death will be too good for you, Rothar!"

"Correction, YOUR lord, and master." Rothar summoned a floating ball which he sat on. "That demon was NEVER my master. I was only playing along with him until this very day came. The day I become the master."

Rinako glared at Rothar. "You were planning on betraying lord Arzo from the beginning!?"

"Of course." Rothar adjusted his right sleeve. "And what do you know? My plan was so perfect, not even Arzo saw it coming. Now, all that's left is to wait until the humans' kingdom falls."

"What of lord Arzo?"

Rothar shrugged. "With him being forever sealed within the ball, I'll most likely use him for decoration. To show everyone that it was me who defeated the great demon lord, Arz-."

Rothar was unable to finish his sentence as the black ball behind him exploded. Rothar quickly turned around and readied his staff as the smoke cleared and out stepped lord Arzo.

(Arzo)

I stepped through the smoke and saw Rothar looking at me, dumbfounded. I looked behind him and to Rinako who stopped struggling and was also staring at me, but in amazement.

"How?" Rothar spoke up as he also rose his staff at me. "How did you escape my seal? I personally made sure it was unbreakable. This is impossible!"

"I'll deal with you later, Rothar. Teleport." I teleported to Rinako and placed my hand on the chains. "Disrupt."

The chains around Rinako broke off, which allowed her to return to the ground. Once she had, she immediately kneeled to me.

Rinako looked up. "My lord, I am glad you are unharmed."

"Rinako, You must travel to the lovalon kingdom."

"May I ask why?"

I turned to Rothar. "Someone needs to get to the kingdom and have Perylua take our hostage somewhere else. If he dies, then the whole plan falls apart."

"And what of you, my lord?"

"I will deal with the traitor."

Rinako nodded. "Understood, my lord." She stood up and immediately ran off.

Rothar hummed. "I can't let anyone ruin my plans, not yet." He held up his staff and made a magic circle appear.

A huge monster appeared through the circle, he was much taller than me and his hair was so long it covered his eyes. He was also very bulky. If I was still human, I would be very jealous. The monster leaned over me and growled.

"No." Rothar got its attention. "Your target isn't him, at least not yet. Follow the human girl. Once you have her, do what you will. Eat her if it pleases you, just go." The monster sniffed the air, then ran past me in the direction Rinako went.

"You disappoint me, Rothar." I took a step forward. "You were one of my best mages. My only question now is, why?"

"Why? The answer is simple. Eons before you even decided to rule our world, I was told my future." Rothar made a mirror appear, which then glowed to show me a hooded fortune-teller. "In the future, a demon lord will declare war on the world. I am to join his army and help him win. Afterward, we will be sent to another world, and this will be the perfect time to strike. I am to build up a following strong enough to overthrow you. When this is done, I will train all of them to become strong enough to subdue your army."

"And what about me?" Rothar looked at me and raised a brow. "It's obvious you never planned to have me sealed forever. I'm sure even you knew I would break out of that ball eventually. So, am I to believe that I was to die?"

Rothar chuckled. "Leave it to you to figure that out. Yes, if everything had gone to plan, then you would be dead." He then reached a hand inside his robe and fumbled around a bit. "Sadly, we ran into a...problem."

Rothar pulled out a bag then threw it at me where it landed on the ground in front of me. I picked up the bag and opened it, only to find a piece of a tail inside. The tail was just like the other from before. A piece of the tail was burnt while another piece was torn off.

I slowly looked up at Rothar. "You're the one who killed Seiko."

"That I am." Rothar smiled widely. "I knew that if Seiko ever escaped back to the castle, then my entire plan would be up in smoke, so I killed him."

"And the tails? Why did you do it?"

"Because I could." Rothar chuckled. "I knew that if you had found out that one of your loyal servants had died, then it would anger you. Seeing you all angry was too good to pass up."

"Well, let me tell you this." I looked down. "You failed at making me angry. Instead..." I looked back up and glared at Rothar as I released my magical power which made the ground rumble "I am furious."

Rothar raised a brow. "Oh? Hm, looks like I get to kill you after all."

I held my hand up. "I summon you, my maiden." The red gem on my ring glowed, then a light left it and landed beside me. When the light disappeared, Scarlet appeared in its place.

Scarlet opened her eyes and looked around. "Where am I?" She looked over at Rothar then at me and gasped, then immediately kneeled. "Lord Arzo! I am glad you decided to summon me back. Does this mean you have decided how I could make up for my mistake?"

I looked over at her. "Scarlet, head to the lovalon kingdom. Inform Perylua to escape with our hostage, and give this order to everyone in the castle. Kill every human in the lovalon kingdom, except for the king, and capture all of our own mages."

Scarlet looked up. "My lord? What do you-."

"Now is not the time, Scarlet! This is a direct order from your master! GO!" Scarlet nodded, then she stood up and ran off. I summoned my staff to my side. "Now it's time for you to die, Rothar."

(Scarlet)

Scarlet ran through the forest to reach the lovalon kingdom but abruptly stopped when Rinako crashed into the ground in front of her. Scarlet looked into the crater Rinako had created as she stood back up and dusted herself off.

Rinako noticed Scarlet looking. "Scarlet? Did our lord summon you back?" Scarlet nodded. "That means he has given you a task. Please tell me. What is it?"

"I was told to head to the lovalon kingdom to give our soldiers there an order, Although." Scarlet tilted her head. "I'm still a bit confused as to why our soldiers are in the kingdom."

Rinako climbed out of the crater. "Everything will have to be explained later. For now, obey our master and head to the kingdom." She got into her fighting stance.

"And, what about you?"

"I must deal with him to protect our master."

Scarlet her loud tumps coming from deeper in the woods, when she turned she saw a large monster walking toward them.

"Go, Scarlet. This fight is mine." Scarlet nodded and continued on her way.

(Rinako)

The beast ran at Rinako and tried to punch her, but she quickly moved out of the way and caught his arm then proceeded to use her palm to strike his elbow trying to break his arm. The beasts roared as Rinako then used her palm to strike the beast in the chest which caused the beast to go flying back.

Rinako exhaled slowly as a bright flash appeared in the sky followed by multiple explosions. "May you emerge victorious, my master."

(Scarlet)

Scarlet had finally arrived at the lovalon kingdom. When she scaled the wall she was shocked to see the castle standing in the middle of their kingdom. She quickly shook off her shock and quickly ran to the human castle. When she got inside, she searched every room until she found the room Perylua and the prince were in.

Perylua was brushing Issac's hair. "...And then she ended up hitting me with a giant ball of water. I was soaking wet! Can you believe that?"

Issac chuckled. "Well, to be fair, it sounded like you deserved it."

"It was just a prank! Jeez, sometimes the others can be such meanies." Perylua turned and finally noticed Scarlet. "Oh, Scarly! I didn't notice you. What're you doing here?"

"I was told to deliver an order from our lord."

"Oh! really?!" Perylua began jumping in excitement. "I finally get an order from Arzy? What is it? What is it?"

"Escape the kingdom with our hostage and keep him safe."

Perylua nodded. "Understood."

Issac raised a brow. "Hostage?"

Perylua quickly turned back to Issac. "Don't worry about it. Right now, I think we should leave."

"What? why?"

"Because there's a huge battle going on outside right now. We should run away before we get hurt too."

"But, I didn't hear anything. If there's really a huge battle, shouldn't we have heard something?"

"Oh, yeah!" Perylua cupped his ears. "You didn't hear anything, because I covered them. pretty clever, huh?"

"How did you know?"

"I just had a feeling." Perylua let go of his ears and tapped her chin. "Think of it as a tingle down my back."

Scarlet turned to leave. "Since my job is done here, I'm heading down to the castle."

"Okay." Perylua waved her off. "Bye, bye, Scarly." She turned back to Issac. "Now then, we should get going. Right, Issac?"

Scarlet left the castle and went back outside. She was about to head to the castle when she was stopped by Damus Isola who was hiding in the shadows.

Scarlet turned around. "Damus, Isola."

Damus stepped forward. "Scarlet, what has happened? We saw our castle appear here, then a bunch of their human soldiers run in. Where is lord Arzo?"

"He is most likely fighting Rothar in the woods."

"Rothar?" Isola and Damus looked at each then back to Scarlet. "Why is he fighting with Rothar?"

Scarlet shrugged. "I don't know. Lord Arzo sent me here to deliver a message to all of our people."

Isola tilted her head. "What's the message?"

"Lord Arzo has ordered for us to kill every human in this kingdom, except for the king. He is to be left alive."

Isola smiled widely. "Understood." She readied her vampiric sword. "I will make sure to make our master proud."

"As will I." Damus adjusted his vampiric gauntlet. "Sister, shall we start with the ones in the human castle first?"

"Yes, let's." Both of them disappeared

Scarlet turned back to their castle and finally appeared at the gates which were being guarded by a few soldiers.

One of the soldiers drew their sword. "Hey! Who are you? No one is supposed to be her-."

Scarlet summoned her scythe and easily decapitated all of the soldiers as she entered the castle. She appeared in the throne room, which was empty, and stepped toward the throne.

Scarlet held out her hand. "Summoning, communication orb." An orb appeared before her so she placed her hand atop of it. "This message goes out to all and is an order from our master. Kill every human in the kingdom, but leave the king alive. Also, capture all of our own mages, but do not kill them."

(Tokod)

Tokod was sitting on the sidelines as he watched a small army of humans try to fight back against their army of demons when he received the message from Scarlet.

Tokod stood up. "Alright, that's enough of a test." He cracked his knuckles. "Guess it's time I throw myself into the ring." Tokod began walking to the humans. "All of you, move."

The demons all scattered to different places in the room as Tokod walked toward the humans.

"So, which one of you wants to die first?"

A man clad in full armor stepped forward.

"I shall be your opponent!"

Tokod smirked. "Oh? And what's your name, little lamb?"

"My name is Artor." Artor raised his sword at Tokod. "Remember it well, demon!"

(Orlong)

Orlong had been on the defensive the entire time the human warriors had been attacking in the room of the giants which was basically a gigantic cavern. During this time, he had been thinking about whether or not lord Arzo would want these humans dead. When he had gotten Scarlet's message, he had finally gotten his answer.

Orlong smacked away another human. "Message received." He readied his hammer. "From now on, I shall no longer hold back. I will kill each and every one of you."

"Hear that, Alyna? He thinks he's gonna kill us."

"I did, Gawain. Guess we gotta show him why we're S-class adventurers."

Gawain and Alyna readied their weapons then ran at Orlong.

(Perylua)

Perylua carried Issac on her back through the castle. She had been doing her best to avoid anyone else who may still be in the castle until she ended up outside.

Perylua looked in both directions. "Alright. It looks like we're in the clear. let's get out of here while we still can." Perylua ran through the town at a normal pace as not to hurt Issac.

Perylua was just about to reach the back gates of the kingdom when she had to jump away to avoid being hit by a fireball.

"Uh oh, looks like we were caught red-handed. We were so close too." Perylua looked up and saw the mage.

"I'm surprised you were able to dodge my surprise attack." Ela landed on top of a building. "Guess that means I can't afford to go easy on you."

Perylua set Issac down. "Hey, Issac? Can you do something for me?"

"Uh, yeah?"

"Find someplace to hide, and don't come out until I say so. Okay?"

"Um, okay."

Perylua smiled as she watched Issac run off. "Okay, now that he's gone, we can finally fight."

Ela raised a brow. "Did you send the prince away because you want to keep your hostage safe? Or, did you not want him to see your death?"

Perylua giggled. "None of the above. I just don't want my best friend to get hurt. I still have so many stories to tell him of my adventures."

Ela remained silent then tilted her head. "Wait. How old are you?"

Perylua also remained silent then tilted her head. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, what's your age?" Ela waited for an answer but none came.

Perylua tilted her head the other way. "What's an age?"

(Scarlet)

Once she had sent the message through the castle she began to leave the throne room.

"Now that that's done." Scarlet twirled her scythe. "I think I'll join up with Zoe and Celia. No doubt they'll be happy to see me again."

(Arzo)

I dodged the giant wind slashes that were sent my way, then I teleported away as pillars of flame appeared from below me. Once I reappeared, large vines tried to grab me.

"Air slash!" I created wind blades and used them to destroy the vines. "Now, piercing shock." I pointed and sent lighting at Rothar.

"Barrier!" Rothar summoned a shield to protect himself, but the lightning was still able to shock his arm a little. "I should've added more power to my barrier."

I summoned a ball of fire then sent it flying at Rothar. Rothar quickly put up another barrier to protect himself only for the fireball to explode in a cloud of smoke.

"An illusion spell?" Rothar looked around to try to spot me in the smoke.

"Multiply." I summoned clones of myself and had them flying around in the smoke. "Now, to prepare the spell." I held my staff in front of me and summoned a magic circle.

Rothar continued to look around the smoke until he finally saw a silhouette. "Got you. Spirit beam!" He shot a blue laser from his hand that hit the clone which made it fade away. "Clones? Fine, I'll destroy them all until I find you. Arzo!"

While I continued to prepare my spell outside of the smoke, the clones kept Rothar at bay. Multiple blue lasers shot out from the smoke too. I just had to hope none of them actually hit me.

One of the clones got behind Rothar. "Firebomb."

"Spirit beam!" Rothar fired another beam which destroyed the fireball and hit the clone. "Where are you, Arzo?! Get over here and fight me like a true demon lord!"

'Should be about done.' I dispelled the smoke and watched as Rothar turned to me and smiled widely.

"There you are!" Rothar pointed his staff at me. "Ice lancer!" Spears of ice were created in mid-air then went flying at me.

"Too late, Rothar." My magic circle appeared in front of me and blocked the spears of ice. "Devil magic: Demonic incineration!" Red and white flames shot from the circle and went straight to Rothar.

Rothar quickly put his staff up. "Sixth gem magic: Summon-."

I wasn't able to hear the rest of it as the flames consumed him.

"Brun in the flames of hell." I was about to turn away when something flew right out of the flames and tried to slash me with its sword. "Barrier." The thing hit my barrier and I was able to get a good look at it.

The being had a black suit of armor with a black helmet that covered her eyes. The beings' sword was also black as well as the shield they were carrying. The being almost looked like the angel from before except for its wings. its wings were also black and there were two sets of them on its back.

Rothar chuckled as he stepped to the side. "How do you like the new Archangel? I made her even stronger than before. Not even your death corruption can stop her now." The Archangel then pulled back and hit my barrier hard enough to knock me back. "Now, Archangel. Kill the demon before you in the name of God."

(Rinako)

Rinako had followed where the monster had landed, but when she got there, the monster was gone. Rinako heard heavy footsteps from the right, but before she could see who it was, the monster had appeared seemingly out of nowhere and prepared the punch Rinako so she quickly put her arms up to block it. Rinako was sent flying through tree after tree until she crashed into a boulder.

Rinako stood back up and dusted herself off again. "What an annoying monster. I'll have to use more power if I want to kill it."

By the time she was done dusting herself off, the monster had reached her and prepared to hit her again. Instead of blocking it, Rinako matched him by just using her palm. The monster then used his now healed arm to try to strike her, but it too was blocked by her palm. Both she and the monster continued going back and forth, and every time they did it would create a shockwave that blew wind everywhere. Both of them continued this for a while when Rinako suddenly used her palm to deflect his left fist to get a clear hit on him. As usual, Rinako used her palm to strike his chest which should have pushed him back, but he held his ground and instead struck back against her and pushed her back instead.

'He's somehow become stronger than before. My normal strength won't be enough anymore. I need to use more.'

The monster ran at Rinako and prepared to strike her again, but he was too slow as Rinako had already gotten close to him and balled her fist. Rinako struck him in the chest again, and this time she sent him flying into the trees. As soon as the monster had gotten his footing, Rinako had appeared and kicked him in the right side of his head which sent him flying again. After crashing into tree after tree, the monster had ended up outside the forest where he finally stopped. The monster stood up and began looking around for Rinako who had lept into the air and was currently falling right above it.

Rinako balled her fist again. "This is the fate of all those who dare to fight against our great demon lord." The monster sniffed the air and looked up to see Rinako, he quickly jumped to attack Rinako in the air. "Now die, you monster."

The monster threw his punch just as Rinako did the same causing them to clash in the middle. At first, it seemed like they were equal in strength until Rinako put a lot more power into her punch which destroyed the arm of the monster. Rinako went through his arm as she destroyed it until she reached his chest and struck it with as much as she could muster. As a result, the monster was sent back to the ground and created a gigantic crater.

Rinako landed on the ground then looked into the crater to see the monster dead on the ground with a giant hole in its chest. "That is the end of that, now then." She turned toward the direction of the lovalon kingdom. "I should head to the castle to assist the others. Lord Arzo is sure to emerge victorious, so I have no reason to assist him."

As Rinako began walking she gave herself a look over. "I'm completely covered in blood. I should take a bath when this is over."

(Tokod)

Tokod lazily blocked another one of Artor's sword strikes with his arm as he yawned. Artor jumped back and was breathing heavily.

"Seriously? This is the best you can do? I even asked around the kingdom on my own to see who the strongest knight was." Tokod shrugged. "I guess all of those people were wrong when they said it was you. Even that one guy with the magic sword was stronger than you. To an extent."

"Magic sword?" Artor gripped his sword harder. "So you're saying that if I had a magic sword, then you would take me seriously?"

"Maybe. You would at least be stronger and worth my time."

"Alright, here we go." Artor's sword began glowing as a pentagram appeared. "This is me at my full power." Artor's body began a red glow as he shouted out, then he rushed toward Tokod.

Tokod put his arm up to block it but was unexpectedly pushed back by the force of the hit which also destroyed the armor on his arm.

Tokod looked at Artor in awe. "Now that's what I'm talking about! Come on, give me more! let's make this a true battle of power!" Tokod ran back at Artor and struck him in the chest which left Tokod a little surprised.

Although, what surprised him wasn't the fact he got a hit. It was the fact that Artor made no move to defend himself. When the smoke cleared, Artor ran back at Tokod and swung his blade widely in an attempt to hit him, but Tokod was able to defend himself from every one of his swings until Artors swings started to become much faster than before. Artor took another swing and just when Tokod was about to block it too, he was suddenly sucker-punched in the chin then hit in the chest by his sword which also broke his armor.

Tokod smirked then he suddenly erupted into full-blown laughter. After a few seconds, he finally stopped. "Well, look at you! You may be a mindless brute because of that magic, but you still got some skills. Now, this is getting really interesting." Tokod ripped off the rest of his armor. Tokod now wore an ancient greek toga with a red cape and no shoes. "I was getting sick of that armor anyway. Now we can battle like true warriors."

Artor roared as he and Tokod rushed at each other again only to clash in the middle. Tokod took this chance to grab Artor's head in an attempt to crush it but only succeeded in destroying his helmet before he was smacked away by his sword. Artor jumped in the air and smashed Tokod into the ground and kept up his attack by smashing his sword down on top of him.

Tokod grabbed his sword and moved it out of the way. "Okay, my turn."

Tokod balled his fist then struck Artor in the face which blew him away. Tokod jumped up to his level and proceeded to grab his head then slam him into the wall then dragged him across it. Tokod then threw him to the ground and landed nearby.

Artor stood back up and was bleeding heavily from his head. "You can still move? You're way tougher than you look." Artor picked up and stone then threw it at Tokod who simply smacked it away "Come on, do something much more fun instead of just throwing rocks."

Artor quickly moved behind Tokod and tried to his sword to slice off his head but when his sword hit his neck it simply bounced off like it was striking nothing but pure metal.

"Oh?" Tokod simply turned and stared at Artor. "Trying to cut my head off? Sorry, but my skin is way too tough for something as simple as that. Maybe try again when you're a little stronger. You might be able to leave a scratch by then."

Artor instead tried to punch Tokod but it was blocked by Tokods own punch.

Tokod chuckled. "You're strong, stronger than most humans I've fought. But, I think it's time we ended this fight." Tokod thought for a moment. "How about we both shoot off our most powerful attacks? whoever survives is the winner. I'll even let you go first."

Artor jumped back and gripped his sword with both hands as it glowed red.

Tokod held out his arms. "Come on then, give me your best shot! I'm standing right here!"

Once the sword was glowing a bright red, Artor roared as he ran at Tokod once again where he struck him directly in the middle with his sword and flung him away but only a few meters before he completely stopped.

Tokod sighed. "So, that's it, huh? that's your absolute strongest attack? Well, I'm disappointed. I truly expected more from you." Tokod simply walked toward Artor who had finally returned to his normal self and was breathing heavily again. "Hm, looks like your power-up is over too."

Artor tried to pick up his sword with his shaking arms but could barely raise it up at all. "I...Can keep going. I will... Defeat you."

"Yeah, that's all good and all, but we're done here." Artor hadn't noticed, but Tokod was already standing right in front of him. "It's my turn."

Tokod moved his hand forward and hit Artor's armor like he was simply knocking on a door. Before he knew it, Artor was sent flying back into the wall with a very deep dent in his armor where Tokod hit.

Artor couldn't move. 'With just a single hit, he not only destroyed my armor, but he also crushed my heart. I don't even have enough energy to move a finger. it looks like this is where I'll die. At least, I did...what I...could.' Artor closed his eyes and dropped his sword.

Tokod stared at his body for a few seconds then turned away. "Looks like that's the end of that. A shame though."

"H-He defeated the captain?!" Tokod turned to see the rest of the human soldiers were currently too scared to move at the moment.

"W-What do we do?! if even the captain was no match for him. What chance do we have?!"

Tokod smirked then burst into full-blown laughter which shocked the soldiers. "Y-You think I'm gonna waste my time with a few weaklings like you?! That's hilarious!" Tokod continued to laugh until it slowly devolved into a chuckle. "Ha. Alright, the rest of you can finish them off however you like. I don't care."

Tokod walked back to his chair and sat which confused the soldiers until they noticed that the other demons were laughing, so they readied their weapons just as they all swarmed them and tore them limb from limb.

Tokod moved his left sleeve out of the way to see a small bruise on his arm which made him chuckle. "It seems, in the end, you are still the only one who can match me."

(Arzo)

I had to dodge another one of the Archangels slashes as I flew to the ground and tried to use the trees as cover.

'I can't keep dodging her slashes. I need to counter her attacks and defeat her if I want to get to Rothar.'

I created a magic circle which I reached my hand into then I brought out my sword in time to block a slash from the Archangel. Once I had, memories came rushing into me. Sword skills and moves from when Arzo trained with a blade, but something felt off I just couldn't tell what. I then used my own strength to knock the Archangel away.

Rothar floated close to the ground but remained above the trees. "Oh? You finally revealed your sword? I heard you had one made too. Let's see how it measures up to Archangels sword skills."

The Archangel ran at me and swung its blade to slice my head so I quickly made my staff disappear so I could focus on defending myself with my sword. When the Archangel took her swing, I put my sword up and blocked it, but I was suddenly smacked in the head from the other side by her shield. I used the momentum to spin then try to slash her, but she was fast enough to block it with her shield.

'Why can't I move fast enough? I saw the memories so I should have enough training to defeat her...unless...Arzo never completed his training! Arzo only knows the basic sword skills, but, other than that, he's never fought a real battle with a sword.'

Archangel moved her shield out of the way and tried to slash me but I was able to jump away from her in time. Sadly, I didn't expect her to chase after me so quickly and try to slash me across my chest.

I put my arm out. "Stoneskin." My arm turned to metal and blocked the sword.

Archangel then jabbed me in the chest with her shield which made me grunt then she tried to smack me with her sword again, but I was still able to block it back using my own.

I exhaled slowly. 'I need to do something. My sword skills are nothing compared to hers. Sadly, I never got to explore what kind of magical abilities this sword possesses, nor do I know how to activate them. I need to-."

I wasn't able to finish my thought when Archangel threw her shield at me. Thankfully, I was able to dodge it in time, but I had to quickly turn back and use my sword to block another one of her swings. While I was holding off her sword, I heard thunking sounds behind me. And when I looked to my left, I saw her shield right about to hit me. But somehow, almost by instinct, I moved Archangel into her shield which knocked it away. Archangel caught her shield in mid-air then charged at me. But this time was different, before she even swung her sword, I saw some sort of transparent version of her already doing it. By the time she, herself, swung her sword, it was in slow motion which gave me plenty of time to duck underneath it then slash her across her midsection which made her move away from me.

Rothar angrily squeezed his staff. 'How the hell did he do that? I was led to believe Arzo hadn't picked up a sword in his life! Was the information false?'

The Archangel charged at me again and tried to cut my neck, but I effortlessly deflected it. I then tried to do an upward slash but Archangel was able to use her shield to block it, and while it was blocked she tried to strike my neck again so I ducked back and used my arm to level myself as I brought my leg up and kicked her in the head.

I then used my arm to jump away. 'I can feel myself getting faster and faster. If this keeps up, then I'll be able to get a fatal blow on her, then I can focus my attention back to Rothar.'

Archangel was just about to charge at me again when Rothar stopped her. "Archangel, take off your helmet and show your true power."

Archangel made her shield disappear and used her now free hand to take her helmet off to reveal a black-haired woman with gray eyes. Once her helmet was off a second sword appeared in her hand then her pupils shrunk as she charged at me again and started swinging her swords wildly. I had to move even faster just to block her swords, thankfully whatever was allowing me to move so fast was still in effect which allowed me to block all of her attacks. As I blocked her attacks I had finally noticed the magic symbols in the middle of the sword glowing. There were three magic symbols and two of them were already glowing. The third one looked to be close but for now, it was barely noticeable. I blocked each of her attacks and as I did, I noticed she left many openings which I decided to take advantage of to get a few extra hits on her. After I had struck her again, I noticed the last symbol began to glow and once it had, time had slowed to a near stop. The Archangel was moving so slowly that I could move around her ten times before she even noticed.

I raised my sword and stared at it. 'So, this is the power of the sword made by the dwarves. Yes, they made a perfect weapon for me.'

I moved toward the Archangel then made slashes that would've been too fast to follow and finished it with a long slash down the middle. I then stepped back and watched as the symbols stopped glowing and returned time to normal. The slashes appeared on Archangel which made it cry out and explode into light.

Rothar growled. "Damn it. I had to waste so much time on Archangel. If I knew it was going to be a failure, I wouldn't have bothered with it in the first place."

I threw my sword into a magic circle then made my staff appear. "There's no point complaining, Rothar. Especially since you're going to share the same fate."

(Orlong)

He smashed the ground using his hammer which made the rocks shoot up. He then smacked the rock into Gawain who quickly turned and used his armor to prevent being injured. Alyna used her whip to grab onto one of the ledges of the wall and swing upwards where she then swung her whip at Orlong who used his arm to defend himself. Gawain then ran forward and prepared to slash his leg.

"Axe skill: War slash." Gawain slashed Orlongs leg and left a large gash.

Orlong grunted in pain. "Alright, two can play at that game." Orlong raised his hammer behind him in preparation to swing at Gawain. "Hammer skill: Double impact."

Orlong swung his hammer at Gawain who put his arms up to block it. At first, he was simply pushed back by the first strike, but he didn't expect to see a transparent version of his hammer also swing down and smack him which flung him back. Alyna quickly jumped down and used her whip to grab Gawains leg, then proceeded to swing him back at Orlong. Gawain used gravity to his advantage as he fell toward Orlong who used his hammer to block his slash.

"Gawain! Move!" Gawain jumped away from Orlong while Alyna used her whip to swing at him.

"Enhancement magic: Power-up times twenty." Alyna swung and kicked Orlong in the chest which actually knocked him back and grunt in pain. Alyna fell back to the ground where she was joined by Gawain.

Orlong rubbed his chest. "You humans are tougher than you look, and your cooperation in battle is something to be admired."

Gawain chuckled. "Well, it's not every day I'm praised by a monster. I'll be sure to remember this one."

"Now then." Alyna readied her second whip. "I think it's time we ended this. Don't you, Gawain?"

"I couldn't agree more!" Gawain readied his ax again. "It's about time we win this fight."

Orlong chuckled. "It's funny how you think you would win this fight. Unfortunately for you, this fight was over the second I got the message." Suddenly, the giant doors to the giants' room opened, and in stepped an army of elves who were wielding bows and swords. "It's about time you got here."

Syndra stepped forward. "Apologies, Orlong. We just had to deal with the humans in the sirens' room as well before coming here." She readied her bow and pointed it at Alyna. "Now then, shall we see how you warriors measure up to elves wielding dark magic."

Orlong walked back and sat down. "I've had my fun. You guys can handle them." He then leaned back and took a nap.

Syndra's elves who wielded swords all charged forward toward Gawain and Alyna who readied their weapons. While Alyna struggled to dodge their weapons, Gawain had no problem with blocking, the real problem was hitting them since they kept dodging Gawains' attack. Alyna was then slashed across her right arm which made her grunt in pain, and while Gawain turned to check on her, Syndra used that moment to fire an arrow at his head but she wasn't aiming to kill, the arrow merely grazed his face.

Syndra smirked. "Got you."

Gawain wiped the blood off the face. "Alyna, are you alright?"

"Yeah." Alyna wiped the blood off of her arm. "This is nothing. I can keep fighting."

"No, you can't." Syndra got their attention and they watched as an elf handed her the sword and bow that had their blood. "This fight is over. Dark magic: Death by blood infection."

Both Gawain and Alyna fell to the ground and held their chests in pain while the elves that surrounded them started to retreat back to the door.

"Damn it." Gawain tried to stand but couldn't. "This magic! And it only took the tiniest amount of blood to activate it."

One of the elves kneeled before Syndra. "What would you have us do with them now, lady Syndra?"

"When they're dead, just toss their bodies in some random field." Syndra put her bow on her back. "Due to their blood now, we can't give them to the vampires, nor let anyone eat them."

"Understood, my lady."

"Now then." Syndra turned back to the door. "Let's move onto the next room and eliminate the rest of the human scum who dares to invade our lord and master's castle."

(Perylua)

"Your age? You know. How many years it's been since you were born."

Perylua scratched her head then gasped. "Oh! Do you mean that thing you humans do when you're born? Sorry, but my people didn't do that."

"What? why?"

Perylua giggled. "Because it's pointless." She then spun around in place. "Who wants to spend every day of their life keeping track of some random number? It seems silly to me."

"So, you don't know your age?"

"Nope! And I don't care!"

Ela sighed. 'I don't have any qualms about killing a monster, but children are a different story. The problem here is I don't know how old she is. I guess I should just kill her for good measure. I was ordered to eliminate any monster who tries to escape.'

"Hey!" Perylua knocked her out of her thoughts. "Are we still gonna fight? Cause if not, I'll just take Issac and leave."

"Fine." Ela put her hand in the air. "Flame magic: Meteor crash." She summoned flaming rocks then sent them to Perylua.

Perylua put both of her hands out in front of her and watched as the meteors didn't touch her and instead hit a barrier which made them explode into smoke.

Ela huffed. "Nullification. How annoying." She then teleported away and appeared behind Perylua and before she could react, Ela placed a talisman on her back then flew away.

Perylua looked at at back and watched as the talisman disappeared. "Hm? what was that?"

"You think you're the first monster I've met with nullification?" Ela pulled out one of her talismans and showed it to Preylua. "I specifically made these to get rid of nullification magic. Now we can fight on equal terms."

"Oh!" Perylua clapped her hands. "That's amazing! It's been a long since I fought someone who had magic. This is gonna be so much fun!"

"Hmph. Flame Magic: Phoenix fireballs." Ela created multiple fireballs around her. "Combined with wind magic: Wind cannon."

Ela had the wind fuse with the fireballs then she sent them to Perylua who used her speed to dodge them. As fast as Perylua was, Ela was still able to follow her movements and shoot the fireballs at her. Perylua skipped from building to building to dodge the fireballs until she accidentally made a wrong step and slipped off the building.

"Whoops." Ela used this opportunity to shoot another fireball at her which smashed her into the ground below and exploded.

"It's not over yet. Sound magic: Thunderclap." Ela clapped her hands which sent a shockwave toward the ground that resulted in destroying it. When the smoke cleared, Perylua was gone. "What? where did she go?"

"I'm over here!" Ela turned to see Perylua on top of a building waving at her.

"What?" Ela studied her body and noticed the lack of injures. "You don't have a single scratch on you. How is that possible? I know I hit you with that fireball, so how did you escape?"

"Oh, when I was hit by that ball I went SMASH into the ground, and then BOOM it exploded. After that, I went underground and came up over here."

"Without a single injury?"

"Yep!"

Ela couldn't believe what she was hearing. In all her years of fighting monsters, this was the first time one had been so nonchalant about not being hurt by her spells.

"Oh, yeah! Is it my turn to attack now? I was hoping to try this new move I came up with."

"Not yet! Ice magic: Piercing Icicles." Ela summoned shards of ice which were shot toward Perylua who bent her body backward to dodge it. 'I need to keep her on the defensive until I find a way to keep her down for good.'

Ela summoned a magic circle. "Summoning magic: Wildcat." She summoned a green-colored tiger that was as big as her. "Take care of her and keep her away from me."

The tiger charged at Perylua who tried to dodge to the right, but the tiger moved faster than she thought and ended up tearing off her left arm as it landed on the building behind her.

Perylua stared at her missing arm. "Oh, That's interesting. I seem to be missing my arm."

The tiger spat the arm out then charged at Perylua again who put her arm up to protect herself. The tiger jumped around and constantly slashed Perylua while she made no move to stop it. While the tiger kept Perylua still, Ela summoned another magic circle and began preparing a spell

Perylua got down on one knee. 'What do I do? Do I attack? But she's not done attacking me. I have to wait my turn...Right?'

(Flashback)

Arzo's army had arrived at another human kingdom and was currently decimating it. Arzo was overseeing the whole thing by floating above it when he noticed Perylua was surrounded by human soldiers wielding swords. The soldiers were slashing and bashing Perylua who just stood there with her arms up to protect herself. Arzo quickly flew down which made the soldiers back away in fear.

"Perylua, what are you doing? Why aren't you fighting back?"

Perylua turned to Arzo. "Oh, Arzy! Well, I was waiting for their turn to be over so I can attack. It wouldn't be fair if I went to attack before them."

Arzo remained silent then he walked past her and summoned his staff. "Flame magic: Sea of flames!" He sent a wall of flames at the soldiers which burnt them alive and not even left ashes behind.

Arzo turned back to Perylua. "Perylua, there will come times when your opponent won't play by the rules. They will attack you and keep attacking. when that happens, that will be your sign that they aren't taking turns anymore and neither should you. So, for now, ignore your game and attack!"

(Present)

Perylua quickly grabbed the tiger by its throat when it went in for another attack.

"You aren't being fair." Perylua looked over at Ela. "Shouldn't it be my turn to attack? You've been attacking for so long. Oh well, guess I'll just take my turn since you broke the rules."

Perylua's arm then sprouted tentacles which also wrapped around the tiger's throat until her entire arm was around then she squeezed and easily broke the tiger's neck which caused it to disappear. Then Perylua's arm returned to normal.

Ela was shocked. "She couldn't even dodge its first attack and yet she caught it so easily. Has she just been holding back this whole time?"

"Oh right!" Perylua looked down at her missing arm then some black slime emerged from her body and formed a new arm as well as replaced the sleeve.

The black slime transformed into her new clothing and even changed color to match. When it was finished, it was like her arm was never torn off to begin with.

Perylua stretched and rolled her shoulder. "There we go, good as new."

'Did she just regenrate her arm? What kind of monster is she? I've never seen a monster like her.' Ela was lost in her own thoughts for a moment but was pulled out when the magic circle began glowing. "It's ready!"

"I'm ready to!" Perylua had her arms stretch down until they touched the ground then her hands transformed into blades which hardened to become just as sharp. "Let's do our best and have fun."

Perylua whipped her right arm up and brought it down on Ela who quickly used her magic to fly away.

'I need to cast this spell, but I can't do it if I keep moving.'

Perylua then brought up her left arm and whipped it horizontally at Ela who ducked back, but she wasn't fast enough to keep the front of her hat being cut off revealing her short green hair, white skin, and amber eyes.

Perylua was in awe as she stared at Ela. "Wow. You're really pretty."

"Wait, what?" Ela then noticed her hat had been cut. "Oh, my hat. damn, now I need to get a new one."

"Why? you're really pretty, you should show your face more."

Ela clicked her tongue and looked away. "I just don't like people looking at my face, okay?"

"Okay." Perylua shrugged then she whipped both of her arms up and brought them down toward Ela.

'I can't dodge in time! Wait, what if I don't dodge? That's it! I'll use it to my advantage.' Ela brought her arms up to protect herself as she was smacked into the ground.

Perylua brought her arms back and returned them to their normal length then she jumped over to where Ela crashed. The area was currently covered in smoke due to the crash so she couldn't see her at the moment, but then a light shined from the smoke as a magic circle appeared in the air.

Perylua looked up. "Huh? where did that come from?"

When the smoke cleared, Perylua saw Ela standing there with the same magic circle in between her hands then she tilted the circle down until it was pointing at Perylua.

"Holy magic: Holy strike of the heavenly moon!" Multiple beams shot out from the circle and all of them struck Perylua. The circle kept rapid-firing beams at Perylua until all of them combined and shot one huge beam at her.

Perylua quickly recovered herself then she opened her mouth so wide that she was able to consume the entire beam. After the beam stopped, she closed her mouth and wiped.

"That was yummy." While Perylua was wiping her mouth her body regenerated itself along with her clothes.

Ela's mouth was agape. "D-Did she just eat the beam? How is that even possible? Just what kind of monster is she?!" She slowly dropped her arms to her sides. 'T-That was my last trump card. If that didn't kill her, then I don't know what can.'

Perylua watched her drop her arms. "Oh, are you sad that your spell didn't work out?" Perylua jumped off of the building then walked to Ela and pat her head. "Don't be sad. I'm sure it'll work out next time."

Ela clenched her fist. "I'm not giving up that easily!" She put her hand up at Perylua. "Fireball!"

"Uh oh!" Perylua ducked back and dodged the fireball then flipped and she used her hands to jump back on top of the building as Ela flew in the air again.

"I will defeat you!" Ela summoned more fireballs then shot them at Perylua who put her hand up and made it grow gigantic to bock them

"Uh oh, I hope I didn't make you mad. I was only trying to cheer you up with my pats."

"Shut up and die!" Ela summoned a gigantic fireball then hurled it at Perylua.

Perylua used her gigantic hand to smack away the fireball which made it blow up one of the other buildings away from them.

"Okay, my turn." Perylua shrunk her hand then held both of them out as thousands of needles shot from her body toward Ela.

"Barrier!" Ela put up a shield to block them but the needles pierced right through it and stabbed Ela who coughed up some blood. "I'm not done yet! Holy magic: demon piercing light." She shot a beam of light that pierced Perylua and went through her head.

"Oh, nice shot." Perylua healed her injury then brought her needles back and transformed her arms back into the whips from before. "Sadly, I don't think that'll be enough either."

Ela knew her injuries were going to be a problem and were about to heal them, but was suddenly struck in her shoulder by one of Perylua's whips that was quickly pulled back.

"I didn't even see it coming. It was way too fast."

Perylua began whipping both of her arms around at speeds too fast for Ela to see and was continuously cut by both of them. Perylua then grabbed Ela with her right whip and wrapped her up in her tentacles. Perylua made her left whip transform into a gigantic hand again and pulled Ela towards her.

"Sorry about this." Perylua let go of Ela then struck her and smashed her to the ground. Perylua jumped off the building and walked where Ela was laying and crouched down.

"I lost, didn't I?"

Perylua shrugged. "Can you move?"

Ela tried lifting her arm but winced and put it back down. "It hurts too much to move. Not to mention, I think I exhausted my mana. I doubt I even had enough to heal myself in the first place."

"That's a shame."

"So, what now?"

"Hm?"

"Are you gonna kill me? Turn me into one of your trophies?" Ela closed her eyes. "Do what you want, just get it over with."

"You're gonna let me do whatever I want?"

"It's not like I can stop you."

"Okay." Perylua grabbed Ela by her shoulders. "Then how about I make you one of my forever friends?"

"Forever friend?"

"Yep!" Perylua nodded. "When you become my forever friend, you'll live for a much longer time and we'll be able to do more things together. How does that sound?"

Ela sighed. "At this point, I'm not sure I care. Just do whatever you want."

"Okay!" Perylua opened her mouth until it was big enough then she lifted Ela and began putting her inside.

"Hey, wait a minute! Wait!"

Perylua kept surfing her until she was completely inside then she closed her mouth and rubbed her belly.

"I hope you have fun in there with all my other friends." Perylua then stood up and looked around. "Now, to find Issac." She began sniffing the air for Issac only to find him hiding behind a nearby building.

"Issac! Are you over there?" Perylua began walking over. "What are you doing so close to our fight? That was super dangerous, you know?" Once she had looked around the wall, she saw Issac against another wall holding a stick at her and was clearly shaking.

"Issac? Wha-."

"Stay away from me!" Isaac tried to move away but couldn't due to the wall. "Stay away from me, you monster!"

Perylua had a sad look on her face. "Why wold you call me that? I'm not a monster."

"I saw you!" A tear rolled down his face. "I saw you eat that lady! Is that what you did to those people back then to? Were you gonna eat me to? Huh?! Answer me!"

Perylua remained silent then she crouched down. "No. I wasn't gonna eat you Issac. I'm your friend, remember? I would never eat you."

"I don't believe you!" He gripped the stick harder. "You're a monster, a freak! You eat people and you were gonna eat me!" He threw the stick at Pearylua which hit her in the head. "Get away from me, you monster!"

Issac stood up and tried to run away from Perylua but she simply caught him by extending her arm and wrapping it around him. While she brought him back, he was kicking and screaming for help while also balling his eyes out.

"Sorry, Issac." Perylua hit him in the head which knocked him out. "But I have to follow Arzy's orders. I promise I'll explain everything later."

Perylua carried Issac on her back and continued on her way out of the city.

(Arzo)

The rest of our fight could only be described as a shoot-out of spells. I hit him with some spells, he hit me with some spells. I dodged some spells, he dodged some spells. I blocked some spells, he dodged some spells. I knew he was running low on mana which meant I would be able to end this soon enough. I just needed to keep going a little longer.

Rothar was breathing heavily. "Heh, I hope you have enough mana to block my next attack, Arzo." He pointed his staff at me. "Black hellflame, level ten!"

A large body of fire was sent toward me. It was too big to dodge and too powerful to block, so I did the next best thing.

I put my hand out. "Disruption!" I sent a wave which made the flame disappear completely

"Y-You still had enough mana to pull that off?" Rothar put his staff in front of himself as he grumbled. "That's fine. I'll just cast another spell A-."

I sighed. "I think it's time we ended this, Rothar. you've wasted enough of my time and I'm growing tired of this battle of ours."

"That's big talk, Arzo." Rothar smirked. "But I bet you don't have any more mana than I do after all the spells we've been firing off."

"Hm, you have, once again, underestimated the skills of a demon lord." I, again, released my magical power. "Unlike the rest of the mages from our world. As a demon lord, I have enough mana to keep this going battle for another ten days."

"T-That's impossible." Rothar raised his staff. "Then, I'll just have to kill you with this next spell."

"Sadly, I won't give you that chance." I raised my staff in front of myself then I removed the stone in it and pointed it at Rothar.

Rothar's staff started glowing. "Elemental nova!" He shot a huge orb mixed with the elements at me.

The stone I held began glowing. "It's over. Reality warp."

A bubble-like shockwave shot out from the stone and surrounded both me and Rothar. Once it did, the entire area around us began warping and shaping itself as if it were formless.

"What is this?"

"It's my reality." I held up my stone. "This stone is more than a magic channeler. It has the power to change reality itself."

"You've never had this power before, or else you would've used it against the gods themselves!"

"You're right. I obtained this power from the gods instead."

"What?"

"That's right." I smirked. "After I had defeated a specific god, I took this piece of the stone from them and added it to my staff. Sadly, the power of this stone is limited. I can only use it once every few years."

"And you decided to use it now?" Rothar glared at me. "You were hiding such power from me all so you could reveal it at the end when my mana is low."

"It was never my intention to hide it from you, Rothar. I had just been deciding on the best way to kill you for your betrayal, and I finally chose the perfect one."

Rothar's body had begun to move on its own as his arms and legs began twisting in ways that shouldn't be possible.

"What? What are you doing?"

"This is a reality stone, Rothar. This means that as long as I have the stone, all of reality, including the people within it, are mine to control."

Once Rothar's arms had twisted backward he dropped the staff which fell down into the forest below.

Rothar began screaming out in pain. "This isn't the end, Demon! I will make my future come true. I will become a god. I will Wi-."

Rothar's body exploded in a firework of blood. Afterward, I released the bubble and returned the stone to my staff then I flew down to the forest and picked up the staff Rothar dropped.

"It may be changed, but it's still a powerful staff." I flew back into the air then went to the Lovalon kingdom where I saw my castle sitting in the middle. I flew down to the doors and walked inside to my throne where Rinako had a hand on an orb near my throne. "Rinako."

Rinako turned then immediately kneeled. "Lord Arzo, I am beyond happy to see you return to us. What of the traitor Rothar?"

"He is dead. I made sure to give him an excruciating death." I stepped toward Rinako and stood beside her as I gazed into the orb. "What happened to the humans who invaded the castle?"

Rinako stood up. "They have all been successfully killed. Not a single one of them was left alive."

"And the mages?"

"Captured. Some of them put a fight, but others simply surrendered."

"That's good. I'll decide what to do with them later. For now, I'm going to go talk to the king."

"Of course, Damus and Isola had just informed me before you entered that they had captured the king and are currently holding him in his throne room."

"Then let us go. Come, Rinako."

Both of us left the castle and headed toward the human castle where once we entered we saw the king sitting on his throne with Damus and Isola on either side of him.

"King Zhao."

Zhao only stared at me. "So, not even that mage could defeat you? It would seem this plan was nothing but a waste of time."

"I am a demon lord, Zhao. I won't be defeated by someone who was clearly weaker than me."

Zhao sighed. "What now? Have you come to kill me?"

"Of course."

"Then, allow me to make a final request."

Isola raised her sword to his neck. "Foolish human. What makes you think you have any right to make requests of our master? Know your place."

I raised my hand. "Let him go, Isola." Isola looked at me then lowered her sword. "I will hear your request. Depending on what it is, I may accept it."

"I only wish for you to let my son go." I raised a brow but said nothing. "I know you have him, that was the only reason why I surrendered myself without a fight. But, since I am going to die, let my son go free. You have no reason to keep him hostage anymore."

I thought for a moment. "You are correct. Since everything is over now and your kingdom has fallen, I have no need for him any longer." I saw hope fill his eyes for a moment. "But, I refuse."

"What? Why?!"

"I am still new to this world. I haven't seen everything there is to offer yet, and who knows? There may come a time when I'll need the prince as a bargaining chip. So I think I'll hold onto him a little longer."

"You monster!" Zhao stood up but was immediately stopped by Isola and Damus who put their weapons in front of him. "Damn you, demon!"

I walked toward Zhao until I was standing right in front of him. "Yes, I am a demon. I am nothing but a monster. The very same demon who killed every single human from his own world." My hand began glowing as I placed it on his shoulder. "You should consider this a mercy. You'll be free from a fate worse than death. Devil magic: Return to ashes."

Zhao had a shocked expression on his face as his body turned to ash. Once he was completely gone, I decided to leave the throne room with Damus and Isola and return to my own.

"My lord?" I turned to Rinako. "Now that you have dealt with Zhao, how shall we deal with the mages?"

"Have them locked up for now. I'll question them afterward."

"As you wish."

Damus bowed. "Isola and I will inform the others." Both of them then left the throne room.

I sat on my throne with Rinako by my side. "This is a problem."

Rinako turned to me. "What is, my lord?"

I waved my hand in the air. "This whole thing. With all the commotion we've created, there's bound to be someone who'll find out about us now, much earlier than I want."

"May I make a suggestion, master?" I waved my hand. "Perhaps we can make this kingdom our new hiding place. The people of this world still have no idea of what has happened to this kingdom. Let us take advantage of that."

I went wide-eyed. "That is an excellent suggestion, Rinako!"

Rinako bowed. "Thank you for such praise, my lord."

"First things first." I stood up from my throne. "We need to make sure others can't get to this kingdom, nor see what has happened here. I'll be back, Rinako."

I teleported myself to the walls of the kingdom where I proceeded to stab my staff into the ground and summon a magic circle.

"Barrier expansion!" I summoned a barrier that slowly surrounded the entire kingdom but was separated from its walls by miles. It also included a part of the nearby lake which was perfect. "That should do it. Now to add a bit more magic. Illusion magic: Scenery change."

The barrier glowed for a moment then stopped. "There we go. Now to return to the castle." I turned back to teleport to the castle but I couldn't help noticing the human castle still right behind mine.

"How distasteful. I can't let something like this stand." I used my staff to summon a new circle underneath the castle then it phased through the circle. I then made a new circle appear above the human castle and watched as my castle crushed theirs. "That's better. Since this kingdom no longer has no King, I might as well claim it as my own. At least for the time being."

I teleported back to my throne room where Rinako bowed. "Welcome back, my lord."

"Rinako, have everyone gather in the throne room. I have an announcement." I summoned the orb for her to use. I really should've known about this before. If I had, then Rinako wouldn't have to walk from room to room to get everyone.

Rinako placed her hand on the orb. "Everyone has been ordered to gather in the throne room. Your lord and master has an announcement."

After a few minutes, the doors to my throne room opened, and in stepped a variety of monsters who all kneeled to me.

"My servants. Rothar was a traitor. He had planned everything that had transpired."

Scarlet gasped. "I guess that explains why you were fighting him in the forest."

Syndra hummed. "That also explains how the humans were able to invade our castle. That traitorous scum. I wish I could've killed him myself."

"Not to worry, I already made sure he paid for his betrayal. Now then." I waved my hand and created a holographic version of the lovalon kingdom. "This will be our kingdom for as long as I allow. But, calling it the "Lovalon kingdom" would be calling it by a human name. If we are to reside here, then I want to call it by a new name. A name I give it myself."

I thought for a moment then got an idea. "That's it. From now on, this kingdom shall be called Augrikkalia."

Zoe nodded. "A wonderful name, my lord."

"I agree." Damus bowed his head. "A perfect name to strike fear into our enemies."

Rinako kneeled. "And as your servants, should you order us, we will spread the name of Augrikkalia across this new world until there isn't a single human who hasn't heard of you. O' great demon lord Arzo."

"Hm, forever continue serving me well, my servants. Do our new great kingdom proud!"

All of them yelled. "As you wish, Demon lord Arzo!"

(In another kingdom)

A soldier ran into a study where a woman was reading a book and kneeled.

"My Empress, I have news."

"Speak."

"Lord Leon, your brother, has been sighted heading straight here."

The woman looked up from her book. "My brother is coming back?" She smiled widely. "Excellent. See to it that a room is ready for him when he arrives."

"As you wish, my Empress." The soldier then left the room.

The woman licked her lips. "So, you've finally decided to come home, little brother. This time, I'm not letting you escape me again."

(Elsewhere. A large tower sitting in the middle of a desert)

A man with a cane walked into a room where a shirtless man was meditating.

"Oh, boss?"

"What is it now? Haven't you disturbed me enough today? What could be so important that you had to interrupt my meditating for?"

"The Lovalon kingdom has fallen."

The man's eyes shot open. "It has? Which fool did it? I was very clear in telling the others that no wars were to be waged this year. Who dares goes against my order?"

"That's a special part. My spies from the kingdom tell me it was a demon lord."

"A demon lord? So, another one has finally come into the light. I will have to deal with this and soon."

(Elsewhere. Hidden cavern)

A man tapped a pencil on a piece of paper as he groaned.

"I seriously can't believe the last one was a bust. Well, there's goes another potential weapon for the empire." He moved a few papers around then picked one up. "Well, looks like you'll just have to be next again. let's hope you actually produce better results this time."

The man turned and looked into a cage where a figure was huddled up against the wall and had their face hidden by a cloak, but even though their face was hidden, anyone looking in could clearly tell the figure had been crying a lot.

(Augrikkalia)

After everything had been settled, I had everyone leave the Throne room, including Rinako, since I still had one more thing to deal with.

I suddenly heard clapping come out of nowhere. "Well done, well done, You beat Rothar and saved your castle and your servants You should be proud, Steven. Very proud."

"How about we just skip straight to the end of this conversation? I want my question answered."

The clapping stopped then I heard chuckling. "Very well. A deals a deal. Ask whatever ONE question you wish and I'll answer, no holds barred. Any question you desire will be answered with the absolute truth."

I smirked as I finally asked my question. The one question that's been bugging me ever since I came to this world and possessed this body. Yes, that question is...

(To be continued. End of part 1)

(A/N: Well, this has certainly been quite the journey. I am very sorry for getting this chapter out later than my other ones. It took a lot longer than I thought. I had actually planned to get this chapter out before Christmas, but then things happened so I had to push the date before new Year's, then more things happened...I'm just glad I was finally able to get this final chapter out. Now, I can take a small break and get my sleep schedule back in order...But I've also decided to write some character backstories. If you guys want, you can vote for whoever backstory you want to see. I'll only be writing five chapters though so don't expect a lot.

I'll give you guys a time limit of three days. If I don't see any responses by then, then I'll just write whoever I choose. Deal? Deal. See you guys when chapter one of part two comes out. Happy New Year!)