Prologue

The Cardinal World, a world of monsters and magic, of mighty kingdoms and empires spanning grand masses of land humanly impossible to govern, of beings with power unimaginable and as with all of sentient life, a world with both light and darkness.

Heroes were most certainly not a concept foreign to the species that dominated the planet's population, at least in numbers, but they were a concept many among their numbers had long lost hope in.

What were humans to beings that could trample over them much like they did ants? To beings that could match their guile and cunning so, so much more.

Monsters capable of rational thought existed, even if reviled and built communities, lorded over their lessers and fought gruesome wars both among themselves and with others.

Humans, humans could only go so far before hitting a limit, that was an undeniable and harsh truth the species had been forced to accept early on.

Skills existed, astounding powers that defied logic, awed the masses and shook the lands but humans were NOT the only race privy to them.

Monsters could acquire them just as easily, or easier, as some would argue.

Angels existed, as did Demons, but both stayed put and kept to themselves, in their own realms so long as they were given no chance to wreak the havoc they wished for.

It was a thing to be proud of then that even with species like orcs, goblins, ogres, lizardmen, massive beasts and apex species like Dragons who could destroy entire nations upon a whim, humans had always been there.

They'd preserved, grown stronger, and conquered.

How else could they possibly boast of being the dominant species on the planet?

It would be true too considering that most of the known map lay divided between kingdoms and empires and existences simply unapproachable, even after millennia.

The Demon Lords.

Beings of such inconcievable and immense power that upsetting them was akin to suicide not only for oneself but for all even slightly involved.

They stood at the absolute top of the world, ruling over their own domains as they saw fit with none other than themselves to decide what was right and what was wrong.

They too, as did all beings capable of thought, clashed with one another, even if rarely.

And conflict between the Demon Lords was not something the human world would ever be ready to face. It didn't matter that they'd seen and felt it happen, they just couldn't.

The last time one occurred, it shook the world's foundations and changed it's shape.

The Destroyer, Demon Lord Milim Nava had faced off against the Lord of Darkness, Demon Lord Guy Crimson, the consequences of their clash somewhat mitigated by the Labyrinth, Demon Lord Ramiris.

It hadn't been majestic, nor a sight any were privy to.

All the masses knew was that a sizable part of the supercontinent making up most of the landmass of the Cardinal World had been reduced to an inhabitable, barren wasteland where life was no longer possible.

That had been a clash between the oldest of the Demon Lords.

The one brewing now would not be much better either, perhaps more destructive than before.

Demon Lord Guy Crimson stood on barren land with his arms crossed, his fiery red hair falling down to his waist in the absence of any sort of wind, depicting a sort of savage beauty with his visage.

Tall, fair-skinned, with muscles that pulsed with the sheer raw power the Demon Lord could put on display and a face that could entrance even the strongest of hearts in a glance, forever lost in his deep crimson, gold-tinged eyes.

He wore minimalistic clothing, displaying his bare chest and only covering his arms with a dark piece of fabric, and his legs with a baggy dark garment, a red cloth tied around his waist.

He was a demon, a progenitor that lorded over a whole race of his own.

A being of pride that when first summoned, destroyed a nation at his summoner's behest and then destroyed the summoner's nation as payment, deriving a sick sense of pleasure from the ordeal only demons could.

He'd awakened as a Demon Lord then, faced the first Hero mankind threw at him and built a legacy of his own, even allying with one of the oldest Dragons and forging a land of his own.

His pride demanded any power he attained be through his own hands and so it was, the strongest Demon Lord held might a product of his own effort.. past the nature of his birth.

To his front stretched a barren land that had no end, not a silver of wind blowing past him or his foe as if afraid of somehow irking them. The Sun blazed overhead and rays of heat could be made out distorting the scape into a horrid scene one would think impossible considering the light.

The firm grin across the crimson-haired demon's face portrayed that he was less troubled, more amused and excited about the entire affair, "Do we really need to do this? Why don't you just go die off in a ditch?" He joked, raising his hands to either side in a tired manner, "It's quite bothersome that you think I have the time to entertain farces like these."

He'd been called out to grant a comrade and friend demise, a strangely compelling but dastardly occasion. There were not many Guy would call friends after all.

"You're still here though. Will it even make sense if a Demon Lord just commits suicide out of nowhere?" Said friend scratched the side of his head confusedly, wondering if his idea had been a good one, "Didn't you want to fight anyway?"

With a half-shut estranged eyes, the sixth Demon Lord to join the ranks of the apex, observed Guy.

It was an odd sight, to see two beings that looked so similar contrast so erratically at the same time.

Demon Lord Zepar, the 'man' who brought several nations to an untimely eradication didn't seem one bit like the being feared by the masses.

He wasn't exceptionally tall, or stoutly built, or even attractive as Guy was.

Standing only a few centimetres taller than the average man and lean, he possessed light, almost pinkish, red hair that took a deeper shade at the edges and calm, even emotionless dull pink eyes. A dark red linear blade-like mark was present just below his right eye.

His face was one that upon closer inspection could be thought of as 'good' but not enough to turn heads, the most notable thing about the man was his seemingly bored and disinterested demeanour.

He wore better clothing, a black coat that reached his knees over a grey shirt and blue jeans and had one hand behind his back, gauntlets on both hands and sabatons that radiated magical power.

He too was a demon, but a being entirely different as compared to his 'adversary'. Finding himself with the power to destroy as he wished and knowledge of the workings of the world, Demon Lord Zepar had destroyed nations, using the dead to evolve into a being none could match.

A lucky coincidence perhaps? He didn't truly care.

"Milim would be up to fight any second of the day though.." Guy pointed out, crushing the ground under his feet as he took a single step forward.

His fellow Demon Lord only dubiously tilted his head in response, "And get bored the second she realises I intend to lose."

"Which is EXACTLY what I want to do but someone.. Someone thought he had the right to ask me to orchestrate his downfall." Guy Crimson reached for the air with a hand, closing his eyes for a brief moment, "Who do you think I am?"

"Someone who would fuck the ground if it was possible?"

"See the fact that you think I haven't done that already is demeaning."

"You have?"

Disgust seemed to flash across Zepar's face as he curiously eyed Guy, taking a step back into the barren wastelands behind him.

"About the size of Milim's aftermath should be enough right?" Guy continued, unbothered by the demon's reaction to his words as if it was something he was used to.

It would be hard to believe if one was told that the barren wasteland they stood in now had been a lush grassland moments before their arrival forever changed the terrain. Their auras choking and snuffing out any life in the vicinity as they casually bantered amongst themselves.

Casually, Guy Crimson reeled back his outstretched fist before punching outwards and in doing so, releasing an explosion of flames as fiery as his own hair that melted through the ground and changed the colour of the sky, declaring to any witness just why he was a Demon Lord.

His foe was one too however and so, the flames disappeared moments before contact, dispelled entirely by a singular glance from Zepar. The odd thing though was how the ground previously melted looked as it had before and the sky returned to it's original blue colour.

"I see you still have that annoying ability of yours." Guy clicked his tongue, feigning annoyance even if the outcome was one he expected, "Why can't I just copy it?"

"I've long destroyed the possibility of such a thing happening." Zepar answered, casually shrugging. He knew full well he was a one trick pony and knowing of Guy's ability to copy skill, he made it so that such a tragedy would never come to pass.

"Destroyed, Destroyed, is that all you know?! No wonder you can't get a woman!"

"The pot calling the kettle black."

"Heh, I'm playing a game beyond your understanding so no, destruction isn't the only thing I know."

"Does it cause destruction though?"

"..."

Before long, combat once more ensued. This time at a scale alarming all the major powers in the world and so, what was essentially a staged fight between two allies would come to be perceived as a final stop to the vicious Demon King Zepar, one that came when he, in his hubris, attacked the oldest and strongest Demon King, believing himself stronger.

The human realm would remember the day for aeons to come for it was the end of a monster that destroyed as he saw fit.

Demon Lords killing one another was not unheard of but the proportions of the Ruin Lord's demise surely were, laying waste not to the Cardinal World but to it's moon.

-

Note that this prologue is set hundreds of years before canon.

Zepar is the name he was given upon arrival and he definitely isn't a good person considering he destroyed several nations to evolve into a Demon Lord and evolve his single skill to an ultimate one. At least that's the reasoning given so far. He orchestrated his demise to attain seclusion and respite from the infamy he gathered through those actions.

This is my first work, so be sure to give feedback.