1 The sixth voyage: THE One Without Equal.

Greetings my dear travellers, I welcome you to another wonderful journey. Surely you enjoyed the last, you're here after all, so let's see.

It starts in the world of Elesium, the world of fantasy, a place in which dragons dominate the skies as the apex of species with their great longevity and might. Elves, the slender and graceful lovers of nature and all it embodies, their history and tradition stretching as long as their lifespans though they are rather reclusive.

Indulge your desires and bathe in your greatest fantasies as all of them exist, yes all of them even down to Heroes of Legends who split mountains with a single sword swing and even Demon lords who could lay waste to entire realms with a finger.

However, our story is going to follow the path of an unlikely hero this time. It's a story about me? A man who just wanted to live his life.

My story starts like any other from the day I was born, my name was Desmond Hardwin. And I was born to a fairly well-off family. We weren't noblemen or anything of the sort, what? Did the last name confuse you? Only slaves don't have last names otherwise almost everyone did.

We were farmers, living in a small village not too far off from the capital and everything was pretty much okay.

"Don't strain yourself too much honey, tomorrow is the big day". A blonde-haired woman called from behind, two children ran up to their father and hugged him.

"Hmm, I hear you". He rose, placed his hands on his hips, and bent backward slightly to stretch himself "I think I'll go home early today". Everyone waved him off and that night, they laughed like they never had before and ate more than they would have normally.

They were a happy family and they were often like this during birthdays or holidays, but this only proved that the next day would be a special one.

Their world Elesuim was just one of the many realms that existed on the world tree, but with that said there was a ceremony held to determine which skill they had. Depending on your skill you could do a multitude of things and get support from even the king himself.

"What skills do you think I'll get Dad?" His youngest son asked him with stars in his eyes, his father just calmly patted him on the head.

"Are you happy?" It was an odd question that has come out of nowhere but he still answered his father as honestly as he could.

"I'm very happy." He replied and his father just slowly nodded his head and sat in a chair next to his bed.

"Then that's all that matters, skills aren't everything son, so don't be scared".

The next day people had gathered at the Square as the knights had come from the Capital with the testing stone that would be giving out their results.

They lived near the capital city of Neztec, although it was the capital, it wasn't a very large place, and the lord was a good person altogether, at least in all the ways that mattered.

They stood there for a while waiting in line as the children went in order of their arrival and some got, very interesting skill classes, most centred around physical enhancements, but there were some external users.

"Dad, what's the difference in skill classes?" I asked my father, the excitement making his voice a bit louder than usual. His father placed a hand on his chin and thought for a bit.

"Well, you see the skills the goddess gives are split into two, we have physical users, external users, and of course holders or obscure skill class". His paused for a second as the next child stepped onto the testing stage after touching the orb the examiners held a blind folded priest who touched his head and a faint glow left his hands and the child shot out a small Burst of ice.

"As you can see external skills include things like fire, water, air, earth, lighting. However, this doesn't mean it's limited to this."

"So, what is the physical enhancements? What's the difference between them and the holders?" My father gave a small chuckle.

"Holder's son and yes the physical enhancers, they are not too different from the physical or external skill class users in a sense the skills are normally something like super strength, durability, resistances, accuracy and so on, different from the external users these people's skills--". The next child had gone up and they repeated the process but rather than outright using his skill, the boy just stood there.

"This one's a magician.". they handed her a small book and she stepped off the stage.

"What does that mean dad?".my father had scratched his head for a while before replying.

"Well, that's is a holder or at times we called them obscure skill class. They say it's because the goddess loves them more, these people have unique skills that allow them to do things even the external and physical skill users can't or at times they can do both".

"Wow." My father chuckled as he continued.

"This doesn't mean that all obscure skills are powerful some are very, well, basic."

"Hey Deswin, I'm going to be a holder too and I'm going to be the strongest one too". Desmond couldn't help but roll his eyes as his friend spoke.

"Whatever you say Mina, we all know I'll be the best". The girl's name was Minerva Goldenhart, she was the village chief's daughter. They had known each other since they were born and the two had developed a sort of rivalry.

The two of us continued to talk and laugh until it had gotten to her turn and when she touched the stone the priest appeared visibly shook as he stepped back from the girl. "This, this one's a hero?!?".

The mention of a hero meant two things, one good and one bad, the good thing being that humanity now had a protector, an incredibly powerful human with nearly godlike abilities. The bad being that it meant that the demon lord has revived and demons would start running rampant again.

The little girl smiled, she had just been told she was special and it made her very happy and she jumped for joy and most in the village were happy, all except her father, the village chief and my one father it would seem.

It was finally my turn and had stepped up to the orb and placed my hand on it and the priest had placed his hand on my head as well and after the hero revelation he looked almost disappointed, I knew how the skill worked and its name but what is This?

"It's an obscure skill". I could hear my father click his tongue it would seem he had an obscure skill as well but my skill was odd in its own way.

"Survivor?". A skill that meant no matter the circumstances I was going to live and not just be alive I was going to survive in a way that I would be fully functional it wasn't really a good skill, I guess.

The rest of the day went on as usual until everyone who could be attended to that day was attended to and in the evening a teary-eyed Minerva was in front of our house telling me about how she would have to leave them for the Capital after they had finished the skill assignment.

We all ate dinner and she slept in our house that night and she left to watch the rest of the assessment but my father and I stayed back at home, I sat there staring at the field.

"Son", he took a seat next to me and the winds brushed past our faces. "I feel like I doomed your future," I turned to face him but he didn't look at me and just kept speaking. "My skill. My skill is an obscure skill as well and it's not a particularly grand one you see". He threw some fruit in the air, quickly closing and reopening his hand the fruit was sliced into pieces following along the lines of his fingers.

"Woah". My father chuckled when looking at my surprised face and handed my some of the fruit before going on.

"As you can see my skill is to cut, that's about it, I can cut anything with great precision but is limited to my fingers and whatever in holding, I'm not like those with the sword master skill or martial arts skill so I can't cut anything that's as hard as the material I'm holding or anything with a certain thickness in one stroke not can I cut things from a distance". I felt like he was going somewhere with this so I asked.

"What about mum?". He looked forward before looking back at me with a kind smile.

"Your mother doesn't have any skills". I was surprised to say the least, from what he had told me I thought it was impossible for anyone to not have any skills. I said nothing however and just nodded my head slowly. "Skills can be trained and evolved; I joined the royal guard in hopes of that when I was younger". He had stopped yet again and picked up another fruit.

"Did it work?". I could already guess the answer but I didn't know why I had decided to asked but he just cut the second fruit up and rose from his seat taking a sword with him as he rose, he placed his hand on the hilt of the blade and stood still for a few seconds and let go, I could feel large gusts of wind as soon as he did as he sat back down.

"I won't say it didn't, as you can see, I could probably imitate the slash made by those with the sword master skill". I clapped as he said that but he didn't seem happy about it. "An impressive thing am I right? But it's only a fake, I have only just barely surpassed my limit but in the end, if I meet someone with the actual skill I'll lose".

This was certainly something to think about, but his skill how would someone grow this kind of thing? It was almost like he could sense my thoughts as he touched my head.

"Don't think anything stupid, your skill, it isn't something I think anyone should train". I agree, my skill was, useless at best, well I could become a mercenary but why cause such unnecessary pain for myself. I might as well abandon the idea all together.

The ceremony had ended, and just like that I was waving goodbye to Perhaps my best friend, never to see her again quite possibly for the rest of my life. I was fine with this for some reason, as much as it hurt.

Time had passed and I was now sixteen years old there wasn't anything special I was doing, my second brother had been born he was about 6 years younger than me, he liked to join me on the farm and watched me as I trained with my father.

"There's no way". I gasped after falling to the ground in exhaustion "How am I supposed to win?". My father stood there, barely even wounded, he had started training me after hearing I wanted to join the knights. I secretly think he saw this as an opportunity to train himself as well because he seemed to be enjoying himself.

"Then that's that for today, no essence in breaking your body when you have to work tomorrow". He picked up the wooden sword he had carved me and helped me up and honestly, I couldn't help but find it slightly funny as we walked home.

That night we all laughed and joked around as usual before going to bed in preparation for tomorrow's work.

The next day was an odd one as we could see guards running around, they came here from time to time but not in this sheer number, "I don't like this". My father had said as we both walked back home for the day.

My father and I didn't train that day and we all stayed inside. As night fell, bells started to sound and I could hear the voices from people as they ran and screamed.

"The demons are coming!!!"

I stuck my head out of my room's window and the sight I had borne witness to was a terrible one.

I could see them. The demons, they were massive creatures with grey skin and muscles all over their body, wearing a striped loincloth around their waist, they possessed only one eye and their skins seemed to be hard as stone, ignoring the blades of the guards as they stepped on them, some even spewed liquid from their mouths that ignited anything it touched as though it were vomit and wobbled like drunks as they walked.

That was not the end it seemed as smaller creatures followed behind them, some humanoid and some like beasts. They bit into and tore apart anything that came across their path, breaking into houses.

My heart pounded in my chest as I watched them trample of everything they saw in a drunk frenzy and my mind screamed at me to run, I ran grabbing my father's sword of the wall and attempting to wake my mother and brother.

The moment I got to the room my eyes widened in shock as I heard a crash and a giant palm had collided with my body pushing me through the wall and letting me fall down to the ground downstairs and my consciousness faded.

The creature wailed in pain and held its eye as smoke erupted from the orifice, his brothers' eyes were currently glowing and his body hovered in the air staring down at the creature in front of him.

The creature opened its mouth, red liquid escaping from its mouth in a guttural roar. The boy returned with a roar of his own as yellow energy gathered around his mouth and blasted its way towards the creature, the light was so bright it had lit up the entire village for a split second.

"Darius". His father was running back towards his house cutting his way through the demons in his path. The light had caught the attention of quite a few of them.

The creature's head was no longer present as it fell to its knees and collapsed to the side and the glow on the boy's body dimmed.

"How interesting". A woman with coiled black horns, dark skin, bat like wings and a heart shaped tail hovered in place of the giant's body. "I think I'll take this with me".

The boy had started to gather the yellow aura again to fire another blast when the woman appeared in front of him and covered his mouth, all the energy dissipated at once and the boy's body had returned to normal.

"wha—". She had knocked him out and cradled the child in her arms looking over the unconscious woman's body with a smile.

"I've always wanted to be a mother". A silver light flashed across her eyes as she raised her hand, the blade clashing against her hardened dark skin. "Oh dear, be careful now you'll wake the child".

"Give me back my son". The woman giggled at his rage and looked slightly over his shoulder. The man barely had time to react as she passed by him grabbing his face with her hands and throwing him as hard as she could through the wall.

The man had crashed into the street and into the midst of the smaller demon's parade, they leapt at him in hopes to kill him, but their bodies very quickly started to be split apart and a majority of them turned into red mist.

"Ahhhhhhhhh!!." His scream rang in her ears as the blood rained down on his body like water and he started to run forward.

"This might be a problem." She said with a relaxed expression on her face before her eyes widened in shock as she could see the blade ready to slice off her scalp, she fell to the floor lying flat on her back and hitting the ground with a thud.

"Vertical slash". His blade crashed down on the ground as she rolled away from him and his blade left strike marks on the ground where she was.

"Hey something's weird here". She nervously exclaimed but once again his blade was at her neck, swinging his blade from the side. She kicked him in the stomach sending him flying backwards only for him to tumble, driving the sword into the ground to slow his momentum.

"RETURN MY CHILD!" His bloodlust had manifested in a way no one could imagine and even the demon trembled at the sight of this man covered in blood as he raised his sword.

"Hey wait what are you doing? you can't—." She held her tongue as she could feel the mana gathering at the edge of his blade and even his eyes had a certain glint to them.

"VERTICAL...SLASH". once again, she had stepped to the side as the giant behind her has been cleaved exactly in half and fell to the ground, she had yet to process this when she started to feel something cold on her neck.

The demon had activated her magic, quite possibly for the first time since her arrival, pushing the man away from her as she landed on the ground. "What is this?!?".

"MY SON". He said almost like a groan, but it would seem he wouldn't be getting up anymore and she sighed in relief until she felt something on her shoulder.

"DARIUS". Desmond had regained at least enough consciousness to move and grasped the demon's shoulder. The demon however frowned for a moment before taking a closer look at the man she gently dropped the child in her hands.

"I guess if I have a husband, I can just make my own child, right?". She punched the semi-conscious boy in the stomach and started to walk off with him, she had passed by the father's body when something told her to jump, an instinct she obeyed.

"Leave us alone!". This man was biting his lip as it bled and was practically struggling to get his body back in order, forcing his muscles awake.

"Oh, come on. This one's yours too?" She almost sounded sad knowing she would have to fight this thing again as she started to fly off at a high speed, trying her best to escape from them and the demons had started to retreat behind her.

The family slowly started to wake, the first being Darius who attempted to wake his mother, seeing as how his father was sitting with his back against the wall covered in blood practically gnashing his teeth.

The priest had stepped in and nearly died from fright at the sight of the man, they were afraid to even step close to him and tried to move further into the house when their hairs stood on end and they felt that may not be the best idea.

Their mother had woken up and rushed downstairs and had a similar reaction to the priests but calmed herself down remembering that it was her husband, she slowly approached the priests.

"We, we came to assist". The woman trembled as she spoke.

"Darling? Thomas? Let them help you". She slowly walked over to her husband and grasped his empty hand "Please".

The healing process was fast, he had some broken ribs and some cuts and bruises but the magic took care of it very quickly, "Your husband heals well for his age, even with magic it seems almost abnormal". His wife gave the priests a silent nod of thanks and they left.

As soon as they did, Thomas had risen from his lying position, grabbed his sword and started walking towards the last direction he saw the demon go in.

"Tom where are you going?".

"I will retrieve Desmond." Like a mechanical doll it was all he said as he walked out of the house or what was left of it anyways.

He left that night with only one objective and that being to find his son and the demons. He searched for them until morning and then returned home and slept.

The next day he left once again, killing any demon that so much as looked at him scanning each area with such care you would think he was mad.

The next day was the same, the day after that and the week after that he kept searching from dusk till dawn, day in day out, second by second, he searched. Until one day he just came back and started swinging his sword at the air.

"Dad?" He didn't respond and just kept swinging his sword.

"No one will ever hurt you guys again". He said and sung his sword until they eventually heard him step into the house.

The next morning, he was swinging his sword, his routine had now changed, he just kept swinging his sword, never breaking focus, never moving from the spot all he did was slash.

One day he had gone to bed and when he awoke the villagers were preparing to move. "Tom, we have to leave now".

"I know where you all will be staying, I'll catch up". He said continuing to swing his sword.

"TOM! Enough is enough, you have to accept that the child is dead, I can't watch you torture yourself for one measly child who may not be alive." His wife quickly said before covering her mouth as her husband gently lowered his sword and stopped swinging.

"Tom I—". He raised his hand indicating she had said enough, he sighed and sat himself down on the ground and turned his head to the sky.

"I am... a bad person, I have not been paying attention to you and Darius and for that I am greatly sorry. I will however not allow you in your spite for me to use the term measly to describe Desmond."

"I—I'm sorry Tom, I don't know what came over me I—". He raised his hand again and she stopped talking.

"Desmond has always been a sickly child, we all thought he would die, that sickly child, every day, would attempt to wash your clothes, he would attempt to clean the house, he would try to cook even though he could barely move. I would rather gouge my eyes out than pretend like he's a number, he survived and he will always survive, even the goddess thinks so."

And with that she left him to his thoughts as he stood there gazing at the sky. The next day he had extended his search, his wife may have given up on her child, but he won't, he didn't care how long it took.

TWO YEARS LATER

He had finally found where the demon had taken his son and was more than prepared to finally kill her.

"Something feels off today." She didn't think much of it and just continued to sit on her throne and playing with her own mana, tracing a finger along her neck.

Something slammed against the large doors and swung them open; she could see a lesser demon running towards her with wounds all over its body. "Commander we're under attack." That was the end of his sentence before his head was disconnected from his body.

His every footstep echoed on the marble floor. Wiping off the blood from his blade he stood there with a cold expression slowly pointing the tip of his blade at the woman in front of him.

"Return my son."

"I don't like stubborn men."

The two clashed and the entire room shook, sparks flew with each of them trying to overpower the other until the two eventually pulled back.

"You're stronger than I remember," she said gathering her mana in her hands until it started to become visible, Thomas put his right foot forward, raising his sword above his head as mana gathered on his blade giving it a certain glow.

"Mana cannon."

"Vertical slash."

The demoness had fired off a blast of compressed mana and the grieving father had swung his sword, just like he had always done for the last two years, his slash had passed right through the entirety of her attack, the air around them had begun heating up and the blood on the floor had turned to vapour.

The demon rushed towards him stretching her clawed hand towards his head, she grew closer when she noticed in the corner of her eye a silver flash approaching her face, tumbling to the side, the blade had taken off some of her hair.

"Nice hair." The demoness touched the side of her head and looked at the ground, Thomas had given her a new haircut it would seem giving her something close to an elongated pixie cut.

"You know what? I'll keep it, along with your head." She threw out a fist charged with mana, Tom just moved his head to the side, grabbing her extended arm with his free hand and kicked her in the stomach causing her to roll on the floor for a bit.

Tom walked up to her while she was squirming on the floor and raised his foot. "Wait, wai—", he brought his foot down with all the force he could muster, he felt her ribs crack and her muscles contract as the ground cracked beneath her.

"Where is my son?" He asked as she struggled under his foot.

"Eat a dick, Human piece of shit". She slammed a charged fist into the ground shattering it. They fell to the next floor, the man tumbling in the air and the demoness flew forward grabbing his neck and punching him in the face, she punched him a few times before charging up her fist to hit him once more when she felt something wrap around her shoulders. "Ew".

Tom over the years had made himself quite flexible so he crunched himself up and wrapped his legs around her arms and threw her off just before they hit the ground.

A demoness was tending to one of the floors when she saw them crash through the ceiling, she had yet to fully process what had happened until she heard a clang sound. Slowly and fearfully moving her eyes, she could see her master using her arm to block the brunt of a blade, tracing this blade to its wielder she saw a man with so much rage it made her body shake.

The blade deflected off her skin and she kicked him in the stomach sending him through one of the castle walls. She stood there trying her best to catch her breath.

"Run, get away from here".

"VERTICAL SLASH." Moving them both to the side the attack had missed and left a large cut in the wall, it didn't take long for the demon maid to start running.

"Here's Tommy!" he dashed forward with a diagonal strike only to be met with a clang sound "Clang?"

The demon commander as she was addressed had grown horns from her forehead and clashed with the incoming blade.

"I thought you were some kind of succubus?"

"I am." She shook her head slightly moving her hair into place.

"Whatever".

The fighting was causing the entire castle to shake, in a small cell the sound of hurried footsteps could be heard, the footsteps would stop from time to time as the castle shook.

"Lord Deswin". Hunched over in his cell was Desmond, his body riddled with muscles, and scars across his flesh, his dark hair had grown long as he sat in the corner of his cell. "Lord Deswin"

The maid from earlier had opened the cell and rushed in to meet the despaired Desmond and tugged on his arm for him to move. Desmond rose from the ground as his chains clinked and dragged across the floor, his large body dwarfing that of the petite demoness, Desmond wasn't a boy anymore.

"We have to get out of here my lord, the mistress is under attack."

"By who?" His voice was hoarse as he spoke but his words were clear as day.

"B--By a man called Tommy?" she had remembered the man shouted something as the two clashed, she thought but wasn't sure, a large hand landed on her shoulder and a shiver ran down her spine.

Desmond was grinning, an action that had become so foreign on his face that it now Looked quite terrifying as he did.

"My lord?"

"Leave the castle, don't come back"

"Then what about you, my lord?". He patted her shoulder and started to walk in the direction she had come from. "Lord Deswin?" Tears has started to well up in her eyes as she watched him walk towards what she considered death but didn't have the courage to follow.

The camp where the villagers had moved to had received a visit from someone they hadn't been expecting. She was accompanied by some new faces and a few guards but she was here, Minerva, the girl blessed as this era's hero.

Her arrival was well received, everyone gave her hugs and congratulations and she eventually found the family of four, or at least they were supposed to be.

Minerva had grown into a fine young woman, her pumpkin orange hair was styled in a Bob cut and she wore glistening silver armour with a griffin insignia on her chest plate, even with armour it was clear how well shaped she had become.

"Where's uncle Thomas, and um Desw—I mean Desmond?". The two looked at each other before Darius stepped inside leaving them to talk.

"My husband went looking for Desmond Two years ago". Minerva's face twitched slightly but she carefully asked her follow up question.

"Why is he looking for Deswin?" Her heart sank as she saw his mother's expression.

"Desmond was kidnapped during the demon incident two years ago". She handed a letter over to Minerva as she spoke and she carefully opened it and started to read. "Thomas went to search for him and from the looks of the letter..."

Minerva's gave had scrunched up in rage and her hair has started to float, her orange hair had started to glow with a golden aura making it look like a flame as the letter in her hands turned to ash and golden light filled her eyes and her feet had started to come off the floor.

"Captain?" Before they could question her further, she had taken off into the skies leaving behind a trail of golden flames as she flew. "This is bad."

The two now had cuts all over their bodies with the demoness having lost one of her horns and Toms body was bleeding from all sides, although the wounds didn't seem deep, they looked at each other and shared a respective look before they slammed into each other again.

"I'm going to kill you and search for my son myself."

"How are you sure you didn't kill him with all that thrashing about?" His left hand collided with the side of her face as she slammed into the ground and he raised his sword above his head.

"Mana cannon." She blasted him in the face in hopes to stop his attack but it seemed to only slow his sword for a moment.

"Vertical slash." The floor had finally given out and the two had started to exchange blows as they fell, the demon's commander having the upper hand due to the ability to fly.

The demoness was tired, more tired than she thought she should be but she had seen enough, she planned to end it in this clash. The demoness had started to charge up her energy for one final strike.

Thomas took a deep breath and readied his stance gathering so much mana into his blade it had started to give off heat.

"Giga mana cannon."

"Imperial slash."

The impact felt as though an earthquake had hit the castle, the walls collapsed and the top half of the castle had crumbled away. The dust had started to settle and all that could be seen were two figures. One has his body standing with his sword extended as he slowly started to adjust his body, dropping his arm to his side.

The other figure stood looking at herself as her body slowly started to slide into two halves and she fell to the floor with a thud.

"Dad?"

"Desmond."

"What's all this?"

A hand could be seen sticking out from Desmond's stomach and they both turned their heads in shock to stare at the figure who stood just behind him, seemingly emerging from a cloud of darkness.

This figure was even larger than Desmond, it had three horns on its head making it seems like a crown of some sort, its sclera was black, Like the night sky, with its iris red like blood and skin so pale like one would expect of a ghost. An expression akin to one who was mourning, standing with its hand in the boy's chest.

"Hmm." The demon had tossed him to the side, the look of shock still freshly painted on his face as his body hit the floor.

The sky lit up and a woman with flaming hair had arrived, drawing her sword she rushed at the demon her sword coated in her aura she swung with all her might, putting Tom's previous attack to shame.

The demon glanced at her, expression unchanging, it calmly raised its blood-stained hand towards the edge of the blade and whispered,

"Reflection." The attack hit her across her chest slicing through her armour and sending her flying back from whence she came.

Thomas held unto his sons unmoving body and his eyes filled with tears as he bit his lips and his hands trembled in rage.

"AHHHHHHHHHHG!!"

"So noisy." The demon had backhanded him in the chest and he could feel his organ's shake and his heart stop altogether, his air gone faster than he could inhale it, his body launched so fast he that he couldn't comprehend it. His eyes became bloodshot, he had barely registered the pain as he knelt there.

"You're still alive?" The demon had practically appeared in front of him, his downward melancholic gaze burning holes in the back of his head, "how interesting."

'I have to move.' His brain screamed at him but his body refused to move and all he could do was tremble under its gaze. The demon would soon turn its head, grasping unto the blade with two of his fingers.

"You must be the new hero I assume."

Minerva has recovered from the attack earlier and returned as fast as possible, she has charged up her blade swinging it as fast as possible only for him to block her with two fingers, seeing as how she couldn't pull the blade back.

"I am the newest demon king, the demon king of melancholy Despero". He placed his other fingers on the blade and it broke, like something made out of clay, quickly moving his hand he had smacked her in the face slamming her head into the ground causing it to crack.

"Slash". The demon king has swatted away the attack and turned his attention to face the man who had done so, there was a golden aura coming off his body and his wounds appeared to heal, he inhaled and the last of his wounds disappeared.

"This— ". The ground beneath his feet fractured in a small circle, a pillar of rock sending his body high into the air.

"Vertical slash". The so-called demon king had raised a palm to block the attack, his body slamming through the pillar until they hit the ground.

"Exploding fist". Her fist had collided with the side of his body and knocked him sideways into the forest causing him to crash through trees, she and Tom nodded dashing full speed into the forest.

The demon king had stopped his flight via stomping his feet into the ground and snapped his head to the direction he had come from. He moved his fingers to his side blocking the incoming slash from Tom and deflecting him to the side when Minerva had come from below with an uppercut, the shockwave from the impact had caused a loud sound he produced.

The attack itself however had never made it to the demon kings head, his hand held just below his chin over the young lady's hand, reeling in his previously extended hand he had attempted to smack her away, raising her free hand and moving along with the attack she had attempted to cushion the blow.

Tom had returned as soon as his hand connected in an attempt to cut his throat with a horizontal slash when the demon king turned his head towards him.

"Ahhhhhhh!!!" The demon screamed producing a sound wave stopping the man in his tracks, his hands quickly moving towards his throat but he had managed to move himself out of the way, although it left three large gashes across his chest.

"Fuck". He clenched his jaw, fighting off the stinging pain his chest and raised his blade above his head and started to gather as much mana as he could and as fast as he could as well.

The demon looked through the corner of its eyes and saw a gauntlet covered fist flash past his eyes before it collided with his face, the attack pushed him from his position but other than moving him, he seemed to be unharmed by their antics. He grabbed her by the wrist and came to an abrupt halt before throwing her as high as he could with his strength and had started to dust off his body when it seemed he had remembered something.

The demon had attempted to move towards him when the flaming hero returned from the sky with seemingly greater fury, her entire body covered in a golden aura, the two activating their trump cards.

The attacks had hit the body of the demon king but seemed to do no damage, there hadn't even been a gust of wind as they struck his body and his stood there with an indifferent countenance. The hero jumped back in an attempt to retreat when the demon king appeared in front of her grabbing her head and slamming it into the ground as her body skimmed across the forest floor.

Thomas was in shock, but he barely had time to attempt to collect his thoughts with the demon king standing before him and calmly raised his hand into a flick motion.

"Goodbye little beyonder." It was an attack aimed at his head but he had raised his non dominant hand to block the attack as a reflex. The attack had hit his arm and completely shattered it, the force tearing the arm from his body propelling him backwards.

"Arrrgh." The pain was something he could barely comprehend and once again the demon king looked rather displeased, sticking a finger into its ear.

"I wonder why beyonders are so tough?"

"The fuck is a beyonder?!" Thomas had managed to ask between his strained groans.

"Are you interested? It's nothing special I assure you. A beyonder is merely something that has surpassed its races limit's, I am a beyonder myself in fact." Thomas couldn't believe what he was hearing, the demon in front of him had claimed to be a being that surpassed the limits of its race and species but what is this it's saying now? He was one of such things as well?

"Bullshit."

"Call it what you will," he had drove a hand through Thomas's chest in a similar fashion to that of his son and slowly withdrew his hand, "I'll leave you like this for now, I'll be back once I kill the hero." He left the man to bleed and calmly moved to his next target.

'I can't allow this, I worked hard, so hard." His mind was fading as were his sense of vision, he tried to urge himself more, to move, he felt like he hadn't done enough, they had taken two years of his son's life from him and quite possibly the rest of it. He refused to die here, to die like this.

"Slash." A word he practically whispered gripping his sword with the last of his strength and forcing his body to its feet, his bones ached and his head felt like it was full of water, 'slash.' The thought had echoed in his mind like a mantra, systematically drowning out all his other thoughts, his sense of pain, his weakness, his regret, his malice, soon it had become his only thought and all he wanted to do was slash.

The air around him started to warp and his mana seemed as though it was fluctuating, a phenomenon that would only take place at one's death, it poured out of his body like a stream, his brown hair turning grey as his mana disbursed. He took a deep breath raising his body to stand properly and find his balance, his feet spaces apart, his eyes turning white and assuming an eerie glow as he raised his sword.

The world seemed to have come to a slowed state with the time growing ever slower as he swung his sword forward, yet it seemed he moved so fast as his sword left after images while it moved, even the demon king with his speed seemed almost too slow in his attempt to rush after him.

The sword motion had completed and a cracking sound could be heard that continuously grew louder, the demon king drew closer when the noise reached its peak and made the same sound as shattered glass.

"TRANSCENDENT SLASH."

The air itself seemed to have vaporised, the attack tore through the ground, it's shockwave demolishing what was left of the castle and reducing it to dust. The attack itself covering the demon king in a rush of blue aura completely enveloping him and everything behind him.

The once lush forest has been turned into gorge of barren soil, the mountain having been split in perfect half with the same width as the gorge.

The dust had started to settle and standing on the only patch of soil remaining was the demon king, his robe had been torn, his scared body being revealed as he stood there in shock, a slight crack sound was heard as one of the horns on his head had broken off his head and fallen to the floor and along with it blood had started to drip. The demon king looked down at his chest to see a large gash across his chest, but other than that he was largely unharmed.

Thomas sword had shattered into particles, not even the hilt remaining, he slumped to his knees, blood starting to drop from his eyes and mouth as he looked up into the sky not even uttering another word.

"I was damaged?" The demon king asked in disbelief while looking at himself his hand starting to vibrate and a strange humming sound could be heard "HOW DARE YOU?!"

The air continued to vibrate and the humming sound quickly turned into a loud buzz and sparks had started to appear on his body. The humming suddenly cut off and the energy retracted into his body and the demon lord's expression became neutral again, black tears streaming down his face.

The hero had risen from her literal dirt nap somewhat in a daze, seeing the demon lord panic she had tried to think of how to possibly move Tom out of his range.

"Mana explosion." The energy had started to rapidly expand away from his body vaporizing everything it touched, the hero had raised her hands and braced for the explosion as it hit her.

The ground had been torched black, standing at the centre of the destruction and calmly looked around, seeing that there was no one in the immediate vicinity he sighed and disappeared into the same cloud of darkness he had appeared from.

The battlefield had been become a wasteland just like that. The appearance of the demon lord on that day like the appearance of a disaster tearing apart the very earth itself and inspiring helplessness with just it's presence.

A small surprised gasp could be heard when a woman dressed as a maid had appeared, she had dark skin and short curved horns, minor scales to the side of her face, her open mouth revealing fangs in her mouth, this demon's name was Alice.

"Lord Deswin." She stretched her trembling hand out in an attempt to touch his body, her hand came in contact with his chest and seemed to be on the verge of tears when she seemed to have felt a heartbeat.

Quickly tearing off his bloodied shirt she could see that his wound had closed up completely and coming closer, although shaky he was breathing. She quickly moved herself to pick him up as gently she could, but it ended up looking quite comical. "Poor man." She looked unto the blackened, charred corpse of the so-called intruder and could only shake her head.

The hero soon opened her eyes with her face to the sky, her body feeling like it had been stabbed by a thousand needles and parts of her armour looked like they had been melted off in some places and just broken in others.

"What happened?" A woman in a robe had addressed her with a pulsing green light coming from her palms and sweat running down her forehead "How did you get knocked this far away?"

"The, demon lord appeared." It was as though she had just given them a death sentence and a cold shiver ran through their spines while the hero struggled to speak.

"The demon lord shouldn't be able to come to the human world, how is that possible?" A man with blonde hair dressed in the same armour she was wearing had asked, she just shook her head lightly.

The demon lord and the hero were existences that would normally never be able to interact with each other without certain conditions, the fact he was here this early was quite odd.

"Do you remember anything else?" A man with a cloth over his mouth had spoken seeing as she had recovered enough to sit up by herself and a golden light covered her, healing the wounds quite rapidly.

"The demon lord said he was some kind of beyonder?" She said now fully stretching herself out, it was quite the sight for them given her state just a few moments prior.

"Where are you going?" The robed woman had asked seeing her captain walking away after looking like she had just barely survived the fight from before.

"I—I, don't know." She clenched her fists and sank to her knees with her hands covering her face, tears streaming down her eyes.

Desmond had woken in a dazed state, trying to stand he could only fall and stumble to the ground, his thoughts running wild as he tried to remember the events of what had happened after he had been stabbed.

The ceiling above his head was different from the grey cement of the succubus castle and seeing as how he wasn't bound; he could only assume he wasn't a prisoner this time.

"Lord Deswin." The maid had stumbled into the house spilling a little bit of the water in the bowl she was holding.

"Where am I?" This question was the first question that came to mind while he sat there on the bed, feeling was slowly returning to him and his body ached with every breath.

"Lord Deswin I'm so happy you're back." She had set aside the bowl and opened her arms to embrace him but Desmond just raised a hand to stop her, an action he had probably learned from his father.

"How long have I been out?" The demoness lowered her gaze, trying not to meet his eyes, she had never interacted with him without restraints or some form of guard as she herself wasn't powerful despite being a demon. It was an understatement to say she felt shy.

"It's been a week, I didn't even think you would wake up, you were so weak" she had started to twiddle her fingers as she spoke.

Desmond just sat there in thought while the maid has started to explain what she had seen when she came back for his body and how she had taken him away and they were now residing in this small house.

"So, in essence we're lost but have food and shelter," He peeled some fruit from the bowl beside him and threw a piece in his mouth. "That's interesting in and of itself I guess."

"Please don't talk with your mouth full my lord."

"Hooh, it seems you're awake now young man." An old man had approached the pair in simple overalls with a makeshift wooden cane.

"Who is that?" he whispered to the demoness by his side, who just smiled at him and gestured to the man who had shown up.

"This is mister Moby, he's the one who gave us this house along with food."

"I'm very sorry for the trouble." He slightly lowered his head, he might be fully healed but Alice had insisted on wrapping him up with bandages, from the looks of things his skill was far more useful than he had imagined.

"It's no problem young man," he stroked his beard as he spoke along with a small smirk. "Your partner here looked quite distressed when she brought you back."

He turned his head to look at Alice who seemed to be feeling embarrassed at having panicked so much. Desmond chuckled at her behaviour and looked up at the sky.

"My father is dead." He said mostly to himself but the others had heard him, the old man turned his face towards the demoness who only shook her head and they all remained silent for a while.

The pair had spent the next few days getting acquainted to the town or the more appropriate term being that Desmond was getting himself more acquainted.

The two were finally ready to leave and made sure to pack up the essentials or rather the essentials were handed to them by the people in town as they passed by, "These people are quite nice" he noted as they now had quite a lot more than they had come here with.

"Guess there's all kinds of things in the world huh?" She waved at the people as they left the town.

A few hours into the journey and he stopped abruptly and the demoness turned to him with a concerned look. "Something wrong?"

"Did we take a map?" Those words had frozen her to the spot and a few beads of sweat had formed in her head "you took a map, right?" She slowly shook her head and he just held out his arms and grasped the air in frustration.

"This will be a long journey." The demoness had commented as she watched him lament which she couldn't help but find a little funny.

Little did she know that comment about how long the journey would be was fairly accurate as during their one-year journey they had encountered monsters, humans and demons alike and through most of them the vanguard of combat had been Desmond, the first instance of this was one week after they had gotten lost.

"Is that a demon?" A man with a blindfold over his eyes had spoken while dangling from one of the trees.

"It's one of them lesser knowledge demons I think." A larger man with a battle axe had shown up from behind the trees, their bark creaking as he passed them by with his body.

"Giants blood." The demoness said with a gasp, the mountain like being didn't wear anything and had hair that was almost like fur, his arms themselves thicker than the tree trunks themselves as he passed them by.

"ha-ha Calipso you're here"

This would be their first encounter with another race other than humans and quite frankly they didn't think they could fight. But rather than afraid for some reason Desmond didn't feel like he should be worried.

"Give me the demon girl and move aside." The giant stretched out it's hand in an attempt to grab the woman behind him.

"Why don't I just give you something else?"

"And what could you offer us?" The blindfolded man was already next to them, he made no sound nor any extreme motions

Desmond had started to sweat he didn't really have any combat experience and anything he had learnt from his father was more playful than anything.

"We don't have time for this." He stretched out his hand, his palm being nearly the size of Desmond's body "Move."

The giant casually smacked him to the side his body flailing about like a piece of cloth as he tumbled sideways and just lay there sprawled on the floor.

"Restraint." The giants' muscles tensed and veins could be seen in its arms as it strained itself in an attempt to move. "You shouldn't have done that."

The sound of something breaking could was heard as Desmond had smacked the giant in the back of the head with an entire tree causing it to break into half like a piece of dry wood.

"That was heavy."

"Greater acceleration" The other man had taken off his blindfold and revealed a pair of golden eyes and with his chant he had disappeared from everyone's vision

"Greater deceleration." Alice didn't seem to know any offensive spells and she looked like she would topple over at any moment from mana exhaustion but she had some useful spells.

He punched the golden eyed man square in the nose, causing him to fall on his back in agony as it broke.

"I, am very strong huh?" it would seem while lacking more fantastical combat ability it served its purpose. "Haha I'm stronger than a giant."

"Composure lord-woah." He had grabbed a hold of her waist, lifted her off the ground and had started to spin around in celebration "please put me down lord."

After he had calmed down, she had given him a rather short lecture about randomly picking people up.

"May I ask what you're doing?" she could see him rummaging through their belongings as though he was searching for something, pulling out a small piece of paper he smiled like he had just found treasure. "Is that a map?"

The smile on his face had yet to vanish, that was until he opened the map that is, "oh by the goddess."

"How far off are we?"

"About a whole year's journey"

Alice's expression had become blank as her pupils dilated, given her appearance it actually made her look quite frightening and slightly comical. "I guess this is what humans say by be careful what you wish for."

One year later

The two had made it back to the refugee camp and well people were a little bit more than surprised to see him. They had managed to hide Alice's eyes with an item but her horns didn't seem to be going anywhere so he wrapped a cloth around it like a hood.

"He looks just like a young version of Thomas."

"who's the dark skin girl next to him though."

"If he's here then where's Thomas?"

They continued to murmur and gossip amongst themselves with the majority of questions being cantered around where his father had gone and why he was currently with Alice, it'll be hell once they find out she's a demon.

He had finally found his mother and it would be an understatement to say she looked worse for wear, the food they gave them to survive was definitely not enough given how they are preparing for war with demons.

But other than that, it looked like she had barely been getting any rest and could barely keep her eyes open when she found him.

"Thomas? Is that you? Did you finally come back? You look good." She was about to embrace him but had stopped herself abruptly and taken another look at him. "Desmond? By the goddess you look just like your father, where is he?"

This was the moment that he had dreaded all throughout the journey, the thought constantly bouncing around in his head all this while. How would he tell his mother that her husband would never be coming back.

He remained silent his mood sombre as he tried to think of how best to tell her, however it would seem he wouldn't need to. The realisation hit her hard and it looked like she had aged a few decades in an instant, she gripped onto her son's shirt, her nails digging into his flesh before raising her tear-filled face to look at him.

Alice had covered her mouth in shock as his mother had left a slap on his face, it had done almost nothing to her son's hardened skin but she continued to strike him with as much strength as she could muster.

"Madam please." Alice had tried to stop the poor woman from hurting herself when her second son Darius had just come back from training with the knights.

"Is that it? your father died for you and you bring home some strange woman? You father sacrificed his life for you and here you are playing with some, some whore". She had grabbed unto the turban they had placed over her head as she shoved her revealing her horns that were attached to her head.

His mother's eyes had widened with horror and the poor demon girl had been pushed once again as the next words she heard were.

"Thunder palace."

The sky had darkened, yellow lighting had started to rain down in the spot where she just was and this time all three of them had their eyes widened in horror as the reverberating screams of Desmond rang in their ears.

His hair stood in end and his flesh burned as he continued to be struck by lightning in quick succession without so much as enough time to flinch.

Darius has cancelled his ability but his eldest brother's body just lay there as a limp mound of flesh, burned black

"You! You caused this!" He had grabbed the demoness by her clothes and started to charge up another bolt in his free hand when they heard a groan.

Desmond's flesh has started to squirm and his body twitched violently as his moans grew louder and his movements more erratic.

"What did you do?" Darius was still holding on to the she demons' arm rather tightly as his brother's skill has started to regenerate, a black tar like substance poured out of his mouth as his head regenerated, they could only assume that was his de-oxygenated blood.

"That fucking stung, by the goddess how am I even alive?" Desmond inspected his body for a few seconds and even Alice was amazed at his recovery, she has seen him heal from otherwise fatal injuries but never like that before.

Some of the other villager's had rushed over to see what had happened but only found a naked man with behalf burned pieces of clothing and shocked faces, most had guessed what had happened or at least come to their own conclusions.

"Is that a demon?"

"Was she the one who did the lighting just then?"

"Thats impossible, those are Thomas boys remember?"

The demon girl was quick to hide behind Desmond, he may be naked but if his previous records where anything to go by he should be more or less immune to that lighting strike just now.

After making sure everyone was alright and getting Desmond a new pair of clothes, they left the family be to work out whatever it was between them

"Brother I'm—" Desmond has shook his head before his brother could finish his sentence.

"We can't stay here; I understand you both need time to heal and that me being around would only stress you both so I'll leave"

"Brother but you just got back you can't –"

"Let them leave" his mother has said from the side of the house, the poor woman looked like she was about to faint.

The two had stayed over the night and left in the morning but if anything, there was one question on the demonesses mind as they two walked away from the camp

"So, does that mean you're immortal?" he gave her a questioning look as they walked and she had started to explain "your skill lets you survive anything right? And from what I saw with the lighting you can regenerate as well do doesn't that mean as long as you're not turned to ash, you'll be alive?"

Desmond gave a little shrug but he had to admit that's as a good question, not one he was willing to test himself.

This was perhaps the beginning of a very long and very painful journey, and he would start that journey by traveling back to where it was that he first woke up after his 2 years of capture.

2 years later

"Have ya heard? That girlie there is supposed ta be the hero"

"There's no way"

"Why don't ya ask her then?"

"Bet ya I will?"

"Oi girlie I hear you're some kinda big name" the man slammed his mug into the hard wooden table and brought his face to the point they were almost touching.

"Go home, you're drunk." The woman said calmly as she continued to sip from her mug, her tables members chuckling at her reply and the man gave her a stern look.

"Hmm I guess ya right about that ha-ha" The man giggled as he left the two off and he was just about to leave when someone burst in from the door covered in sweat.

"A..army of Cyclops, and some lesser demons their leader is an elder troll, set to arrive tomorrow." The man had passed out in the floor and the room fell silent. In that silence many had started to move and others had continued to quietly drink.

"This should be interesting"

The next day just like the dishevelled man had said the demons had appeared, the Cyclops where the first to appear, one eyed demon with the ability to vomit a red liquid that burned whatever it touched, their skins so tough it made arrows nearly ineffective.

The war had started. Contrary to expectations the city had adventurers so the fight was anything but one sided, one could even say they were evenly matched, that was until the elder troll had appeared.

The large pale creature had three eyes and its size made it larger than the Cyclops as it grabbed one by the head and crushed its skull, it used it's feel to stomp and kill those that came close to it.

It was resistant to most of their spells and would occasionally grab and eat people it would get its hands on when they got too close.

The situation had now gone in favour of the demons, they grew bolder and more fearless as their leader seemed unstoppable.

"This should be easy." The demon had quickly swatted its shoulder upon hearing a voice next to its head and turned itself about to try and find its foe.

"Eclipse." The demon's head slipped from its shoulders as it fell to the ground with a Loud thud, it's body starting to stumble before finally falling backwards into some of the Cyclops behind it and killing them.

With the elder troll dead, the people were easily able to ward off the remaining demons seeing how most of them had already started to retreat.

That night while the city was dealing with the aftermath, some celebrated their small victory and others thought about the losses.

"This isn't your fault, Minerva."

"But perhaps if I hadn't become the hero"

"You're not the only hero Minerva"

"I know"

Elsewhere someone else was Also fighting demons. In the realm of the elves or the land of giant trees the sound of fighting could be heard along with small boom like sounds.

"Go, go lord Desmond, go, do your best."

As it would seem in the land of elves someone was currently fighting three elder trolls and an ogre.

Jumping up he punches one of the trolls in the head effectively knocking it over as he lands on its head completely crushing it.

He launches himself towards the next one using the corpse of the first troll as a jumping board only to be smacked back down into the ground by the third.

He hit the floor with a bang and created a small crater where his body hit the ground.

"Haha, that tickles." He jumped over the giant fist aiming for his body and using the troll's own arm as a foothold kicked the creature in the head.

He was about to celebrate when the third one grabbed him and was attempting to crush him "oh this is a little tough."

A giant hole has appeared in the troll's head and its limp body fell to the floor with a thud. "Hey you fucking prick I had his right where I wanted him"

"Looked to me like struggling." The man brushed aside his golden hair and kept his eyes closed as he spoke "on your left by the way."

He had managed to turn just in time for the ogre to slam its muscular body against Desmond's knocking him through two small trees before Desmond sank his feet into the ground and stopped the creatures charge dead in its tracks.

He grunted, placing his hands right around the things waist and lifted it as high as he could before slamming the creature into the ground with all his might, the ogre just grunted wrapping its legs around Desmond's neck and using its hands as support raised him up by his neck and slammed him.

"ouch"

"That looks painful" The creature not wanting to grapple further with this strange human had distanced himself as much as possible from the strange human he was currently fighting, looking to it's left it focused its attention on the two who sat in one of the lower branches of one of the giant trees.

"I would focus more if I were you". The strange human had risen, spitting out some of the in his mouth before a smile made its way to his lips and he moved his neck around as it made a popping sound as he moved it around.

Desmon took a deep breath in and out before fixing his eyes on the creature seemingly sending it a message with his eyes and the creature just nodded as it readied itself with a roar and the two were started to dash at each other before slamming their fists into each other's faces.

"Your master is such a brute." The elf commented on the site before his eyes while the two traded blows, neither blocking nor dodging just taking all the damage they could while also dealing the most damage possible. "Did you hear me you stupid goat demon?"

"Hah? Did an oversized fly just buzz in my ear?" these two didn't like each other very much, but that was most likely due to their origins but they weren't daft enough to start a useless fight over something like that.

The two continued to exchange blow after blow until eventually Desmond had started to gain the upper hand until eventually the demon could no longer fight back against the barrage of blows.

Desmond huffed, his stamina having been drained from the ridiculous exchange while his body itself looked as though he had barely been wounded, he has once again increased the level of his skill through this ordeal. It was a rough method but it was the only one he could use at the moment until he was strong enough.

After getting rid of the bodies the three had started to move towards the settlement of the elves while the other two had landed on the ground with care and grace he had practically slammed himself into the ground although that was due to his new found strength which he wasn't quite used to.

"The human is here." The surrounding elves had rushed over to the site of his landing in order to get look at him properly, humans were quite popular among the elves, especially the women since human men tended to grow much larger than their own men and even by human standards Desmond was fairly tall.

The young boys admired him while the girls both young and old poked him and giggled, some of the children had even climbed up his shoulders.

"Someone jealous?" Alice taunted but the elf just ignored her and kept moving towards their house, eventually Desmond had broken free of his many fans and stepped into the house with a tired expression.

"And here I thought I was the one with the hero skill class."

"That was more troublesome than killing the ogre, that aside I'm sure Alice has informed you." The elf nodded his head and brought out a small obsidian like stone.

"A demon becoming a beyonder, and with the demon lord skill class it's hard to say what his limits are." The elf threw his head back in his chair, which was a habit he had picked up in his two years with them "The hero's might actually have to fight together this time."

"Is that such a bad thing?" she had placed Desmond's food on the table and he had immediately started to eat while the elf talked.

"None for me?"

"Aren't you an elf? Eat some fruit or something that's wolf meat"

"That's a myth, elves are actually a carnivorous race." Desmond had chuckled a bit, when he first met the elf, it was after demons has finished his 'training' for the day by getting struck with Alice's magic in an attempt to improve his resistances.

He had gone to wash up after realising he should have probably taken off his clothes first when he encountered the elf on the other side of the water digging his teeth into some boar.

The two had stared at each other for a good minute before the elf drew his bow and Desmond dashed forward and grabbed his arm. The elf responded with a kick to the stomach that launched him back into the water and immediately started to fire off his magic arrows.

Desmond dodged evert last one, getting scrapped here and there but ultimately his body just healed, getting to his side he pulled back his arm in an attempt to punch with all his might when vines has wrapped themselves around his body.

He stared at the elf as it charged a glowing red arrow and fired it into his face causing it to explode. Smoke and steam filled the air as the water on his body evaporated but ultimately his face was unharmed.

"What.... are you?"

"Lord Desmond, I found some clothes?"

"A demon?" The elf's attention had now shifted to the demoness that had appeared, pulling back his bow he launched a similar arrow at the woman.

The arrow exploded mid-air, having come in contact with a piece of rock she had thrown at the thing.

The elf was quite surprised at such an action and the sheer accuracy of that throw of hers, but in his shock, he seems to have forgotten about something as a punch landed at the side of his face slamming him into the base of the waterfall.

"A hero? Why are you helping a demon?" The elf was unharmed by the attack save for a small cut on his cheek that had immediately healed and just casually dusted off his body, seemingly not in the mood to fight anymore.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Alice had brought over some clothes for Demon to wear and he has slowly started to dress himself "I'm not the human hero"

Now fully dressed the two had given the other a cautious look before slowly started to explain their situations.

And while he had updated the elf on the current state of affairs, the elf has taught him more about skill classes. Upon hearing the word beyonder the elf has slightly panicked but has started to explain what exactly they were and how that changed things.

The beyonder skill class was a strange thing and the exact conditions were unclear, but there were some sure signs are the ability to use skills or function while ignoring the restrictions on one's skill class. Such individuals would be able to do things that were not normally part of their skill trees and in some cases acquire new skills.

As for another condition the individual must have levelled their skill to its absolute limits and mastery, in most cases this alone was enough to be considered a beyonder class, as it could be seen as surpassing the limits of one's skill class, though these people may not have learned new skills.

This brings us to the present where the three are now seated in the land of giant trees and the elven hero was contemplating meeting up with the others, in his mind the most sensible course of action would be to gather with the other heroes, this demon lord might also explain why all the demons suddenly evolved and seem even more aggressive than 300 years ago, though there seemed to be exceptions to this.

"Why are you staring at me?"

"aren't you a baron class demon?"

"of course, I am, can't you see I have horn's"

"Some lesser demon variants also have horns, don't they?" Alice clicked her tongue and Desmond had raised his hand to ask a question and the two had stopped talking to hear what he was going to ask.

"Well, you see I don't quite know the difference between the classes of demons." The elf had placed his hands over his face and sighed, given how strong the man was and the kind of company he was keeping he had forgotten in the time they had spent together that at the end of the day he was a farmer's son.

"Ah well let's start here, shall we?" he stood up from the chair and stood next to Alice. "You see this petite thing is a baron class demon and the succubus who kidnapped you was most likely a count class demon." he then proceeded to tap one of her horns and Alice gave him a rather stern look "do you know what those are?"

"Horns?" The elf clapped its hand as though he was speaking to a child though from his perspective he might look like a child.

"Now most demons aren't picky but some rather like these things" he gave then another light tap and had received a rather well-placed slap from Alice, who promptly moved away from where he stood with his fac bent in the direction of the slap.

"This brings us to the next bit of information." his neck cracked back into position in a rather comical manner as Alice had broken his neck, this strange elf's name was Edric Tarron and he's around one thousand years old and his nickname stood as THE IMMORTAL HERO.

The day he had received his hero class he was a sickly child on his death bed, but upon his awakening his illness was cured, but there in lay another problem he had become immortal his race naturally had a long life span but his seemed nigh infinite and he had the ability to regenerate , to the point where he could even grow a new head if the situation arose. That same hero, is currently explaining to a farmer's son what demons were.

"The demon's evolution and for the more ambiguous demonic species like the succubus, their gender." The elf seemed to be enjoying explaining as he spun around and faced them with a big smile, it's very likely he doesn't get to explain this very often due to his races age. "Typically, lesser demons and even all the way up to greater demons don't have horns, however some races like the minotaur have horns"

"In that case how does one know the difference?"

"The color of their horns and their intelligence level" he raised a finger and pointed it at Alice who couldn't help but feel tired of the old man "Baron classes and such typically have black horns, though the higher classes other than baron can also hide their horns, most high rankers cherish them"

"Then how would you identify them?" The elf's face scrunched up a bit when he heard that but nonetheless, he had continued.

"Well, you don't. The higher races tend to look like humans though they have some key differences, nothing some magic can't cover but you get my point"

Demond had understood the main point of it at the very least and had nothing else to say in regards to that but he did have one other question "when are you leaving for the human realm then?" the elf scratched its head as it thought

"well--" he brought out a piece of paper and handed it over to Alice "I was hoping you could get in touch with the beast hero and see what he thinks"

"You're sending us to the beast realm?" the elf nodded and Alice gave him a strange look.

"Then what's with the letter?"

"Faster than talking?"

"What if the beast hero can't read?"

" I would be a very disappointed if he couldn't"

The pair had left after one week and headed straight for the beast realm, unlike the journey to the land of elves it was only a 3-month journey, that was considering Desmond had just learned about mana control this was good training since he was faster than a carriage and that was even while carrying Alice, his every leap had covered quite the distance, almost to the point one would assume they were flying.

In the beast realm they had encountered the hero as planned but the man had insisted on challenging Desmond to combat even after reading the letter that had been written by Edric, he had insisted on testing Desmond's strength since he had spent so long with Edric.

The two had started to exchange blows and the ground trembled with each impact from their fists, the beast hero had landed an upper cut on Desmond's chin and was about to send him toppling over when Desmond had grabbed the beast hero by the shoulders and pulled him in closer for a headbutt, the ground cracked under the force of the attack and for the first time in a while Alice had seen Desmond bleed.

The beast hero had hit him with a palm to the stomach to increase the distance between them, Desmond knowing he couldn't allow him regain his momentum

"Roar" A shout had come from the beast hero creating a shockwave that tore the ground apart and made the surrounding's tremble from its force, the sound shook up his skull as well as launch his body backwards, he felt like his eardrums would explode just from the sound alone, his body had quickly adapted to the sound but the force was still sending his flying.

The beast hero laughed and beat his chest in pride as he spoke "I am Neind, the bellowing Hero hahaha" dealing with him would certainly be an issue but they continued to fight. At the end of this exchange Desmond was laying on the floor with his arms crushed a fist imprint on his stomach, his eyes rolled back his legs broken, claw marks on his face but amazingly he was still breathing.

The hero had signaled the healer to come but Alice had told them to wait, after a few minutes, crunching sounds could be heard and his body twitched as he started to heal, he coughed severally while blackened blood poured out of his mouth and he had returned to his original state barely leaving marks on his body, even the claw marks on his face had healed, the only marks that had remained on his body where the old ones.

The trial by combat had ended and they went off to drink the night away and laugh to themselves while doing so, the two continued to fight for about two weeks and Neind had started to gradually use more and more strength to defeat him until the start of the third week when he had announced that he himself would be joining the elven hero in the human realm to further discuss, he also handed him another obsidian like stone.

"What in the realms are these for?" The beast hero laughed when he was asked what they were for and told him these were whispering stones, all he had to do was cup his fists over the stone whisper his message into with the receiver in mind before shattering it and whoever it was would get the message, although they were a one use item so it had best be an important message.

The two them left for the land of giants and continued to encounter stronger beasts, stronger people and at times demons albeit none above the baron class had appeared. They had finally arrived in the land of giants after a year of training but the sight they had seen had shocked them both.

There lay an impaled corpse of a giant, it's body almost as large as one of the trees in the land of elves it's blood almost like a small lake, its body covered in wounds, a severed arm was seen gripping tightly unto a hammer on the ground and hovering over its body while upside down was a grey skinned, lean creature it had no eyes only a mouth and had its skin around it's face resembled that of a burned man it had two large black curved horns coming from the side of his head, It didn't wear a shirt nor shoes, only wearing a trouser like that of the impoverished or even prisoners .

"A human in the land of giants? How peculiar." the creature appeared to be puzzled by the appearance of the pair but seemed to still be enjoying itself "Are you a hero? If so, I'm very glad, I was a little bored after killing this one"

"What?" this creature had killed a hero? At the very least it was above baron class.

"elapmi." The word had sounded like a spell and had them confused for a few seconds as a spike had pierced his stomach, a smile creeping its way onto its inverted stature, though soon even it was confused.

The spike hadn't pierced deep and he just broke it off from where his arm could reach and gazed upon the demon with an arrogant look "well that was rude, not even a name?" The demon stared at him in interest.

"I am the viscount class demon Reversi, be sure to entertain me." The demon had introduced itself adding a small chuckle at the end of its sentence before appearing in from of Desmond, its speed making it as though it were teleporting "edolpxe"

The air in front of them compressed and decompressed rapidly as it headed up before finally a small pop sound was heard, the explosion dug up the ground and fully engulfed the entirety of his body raising up a mixture of steam and dust in the air.

" I know our king said we can do as we please but mating with one of the races is a new low even for someone like you"

"Now who are you calling lowly" Desmond was standing right where the Demon had left him his skin was healing and he had grown new eyes and for some reason his clothes were regenerating as well, "This slime clothing is wonderful now I don't have to be naked after every fight, right Alice?"

The demon had ignored him and continued to burn his gaze into her body casing her to tremble slightly "Oi Don't intimidate someone that I'm talking to" he threw out a fist with all his might towards the demon's head which only stretched out a finger and stopped his attack, the shockwave had still passed beside him and caused the ground to crack and shake.

"hsup." yet another spell like word that had moved him backward with such force it threatened to tear his body apart, but no less than a few seconds after he had been launched, powering his body up with mana he had charged at the demon with another charged fist

"Kcolb." Desmond's fist had hit something that had absorbed the entirety of his attack not even leaving a shockwave behind

"He's speaking backwards you have to--"

"maeb resal" a red light had shot out of his finger to hit allice but Desmond had used his body to block as he skin had little black spots all over it and the demon's mouth had taken on a frown almost as though it were squinting in annoyance. "you're too strong, further combat will not go in my Favour" the demon snapped his fingers.

"ecalpsid." There was no sound nothing, the next thing Desmond had vanished, leaving only the two of them there.

Desmond had appeared in a rocky region, the temperature was much higher than the other places he had been and so he looked at the sky and saw something large flying about, he shivered at the realization he had just come to. "Dragons."

After a few years wandering the largest realm only second to the demon realm, the land of fire and death, the land of dragons, he had no idea how to get out, nor how far he was until some form of civilization, he had encountered wyvern and dragonkin alike, both had tried to eat him and he had fought to defend himself but had seemed to have earned the title "Mad dragon slayer or small Dragon" on a side note they were delicious.

with him now in his late twenties being 26 he had acquired a nickname as During his years of growth, his first arrival he had been filled with rage and attacked everything in sight destroying anything in his wake.

He had no idea if the war had started nor what had happened to Alice after he had been teleported but one thing he did know was that he was going to fight his way back into his realm even if he had to tear space apart with his bare hands

His years as wandering would come to an end as he encountered a woman with white porcelain like horns and scales along the edges of her face and a small patch of scales on her arm, slit like golden eyes that stared deep into his soul wearing nothing but the standard adventurer clothing she stood in front of him, this strange creature was the dragon lord herself.

Now there was only one thing to confirm.

The two clashed with themselves each meeting the other with a raised fist as they sent shockwaves to their surroundings.

Seeing themselves evenly matched they traded more blows he would throw out his gist only to have it blocked and she would kick only to have it dodged.

The two had locked hands to grapple the other but the man had kicked her in the stomach to gain some distance.

"I have underestimated you it seems; I apologize I'll use more strength now". She lunged at him even faster than before barely giving him time to react.

He moved his head to the side and responded with a right hook to her face sending her tumbling to the other direction as she dug her hands into the earth to stabilize herself. "Greater speed"

She whispered as she released another burst and grabbing the man by the neck and slamming him against the floor making it crack under the sheer weight of her force.

"You're a very strong man. I've decided I won't kill you I'll take you back with me and we can get married what says you?". Desmond strained as he tried to speak under her vice like grip which she loosened enough to allow him to speak.

"Burn". He fired a beam from his mouth that swept up the area behind her and engulfed her body in a light and explosion's as it evaporated whatever it touched and turned the floor red hot from the heat. But even with all this he could hear clapping.

"Hooh now I see why my brethren call you one of us now, how truly fitting". She smiled and the man let out a light chuckle, in the entirely of his existence this woman might very well be the strongest person he had fought, but that wouldn't last long as he would surely surpass her and would surely get back to his realm

The fight between the two had ended in his loss, he lay there on the crated ground completely blacked out with his limbs dislocated, a way to prevent him from immediately recovering.

"Haha, wonderful mortal, I the dragon lord declare you as the strongest." She cackled with her hands on her hips, scratches and small wounds could be seen on her body which were healing very quickly. "yes I declared you as one without equal, a true man, I wish you well in your future endeavours."

With this she had left him on the floor, to recover by himself after at least relocating one of his arms, with their battle no beast would even dare to approach much less an intelligent being like her kin.

This will surely be an uphill battle for him as he fights to return to his realm, an adventure with an unknown end, let's see where it takes us shall we?

END OF VOYAGE