Chereads / The Birth of a Demon Lord / Chapter 20 - Death, Destruction, and...

Chapter 20 - Death, Destruction, and...

Azemo finally made it to the edge of the forest yawning and mumbling, he had stayed out too late. As he opened his eyes for a brief second he saw the battle that had been raging on through the night.

Since the demon lords were dead the demons had little hope of winning but that did not mean they were backing down. Some held hope that their allies the beasts would come save them while others just wanted to go down in a blaze of glory.

The majority of the demons were getting slaughtered but there were a few pockets of demons putting up more of a fight. Slithe and Noct were still slipping in and out of the battle killing generals while avoiding the more powerful foes. Sillis was carving through humans regardless of their powers or rankings. Spiren was leading a battalion of troops towards the direction that the Supreme general left, it was the only chance he saw for victory. Spiren felt that since the most powerful demons were dead he needed to kill the most powerful human to rally demon kind.

Through the bloodlust Azemo saw Candice swallowing her tome before growing to an enormous size. Next to Candice Azemo also saw a wounded Benthar, Candice had become enraged after she saw what the humans had done to her pupil. Only she was allowed to beat him up. In the stupor of rage Candice began to flit around the battlefield cutting down humans left and right. She was seemingly unstoppable until she drew the ire of the five humans who were escorting the Supreme general. The five were crouched atop the hill surveying the battle as they saw the destruction that Candice was causing, one stood up.

The human pulled out a small delicate dagger that contrasted with his bulging muscles before jumping towards Candice. In one leap, he had covered over three hundred feet, the human with the knife landed before Candice. Even in her furious state of mind Candice was not stupid and took this fight more carefully. Still in her giant form she moved incredibly fast, Azemo could only barely see her moves and that was because he had watched her fight for years. However even with her outrageous speed she never managed to land a blow. The human was not moving quickly at all but he never seemed to be anywhere Candice swung her axe. Almost lethargically the human was ducking, stepping aside or blocking. One might have thought he was toying with Candice but her torrent of attacks left no openings for the human to retaliate.

The clash between the two continued but suddenly a phantom knife appeared behind Candice, the requirements had been met for the knife users' drive skill. Candice did not notice the knife's appearance because she needed to keep all her focus on keeping her opponent on the back foot. The phantom knife plunged towards Candice's back but it did not find its mark.

The wounded Benthar had used every bit of muscle in his body to protect his master. He had dashed forward, dropping his axe hoping to stop the knife with his body. He had succeeded but not even his magycka could stop the power of the phantom knife and he had died in an instant.

Azemo was racked with grief and tried to rush into battle with his tired body but an arrant bolt of red lightning hit him. The lightning had paralyzed him in an instant and his body fell into a nearby bush. He was forced to watch the rest of the battle in this position.

The lightning had come from Zaebos who was also in a battle for his life. Around him the ground was stained with blood and red lightning was everywhere. No human dared to stand up to him any that did swiftly met their demise. Zaebos rustled the lightning around him like grass with his hand as he was slowly walking towards the four humans on the hill.

They noticed Zaebos coming but were a bit preoccupied with a casual bet.

"Ten gold I can kill the arrow user in one hit without taking any return fire."

"At this distance? Not a chance, that demon will at least tag you two times."

"Prepare your wallet."

The one speaking then stood up and picked up her javelin. She stretched out uncaringly before launching the javelin straight into the sky. The weapon turned yellow in mid air as it continued to climb higher and higher. As it reached the apex of its flight the javelin hurtled towards the ground and in half a second Tryst found herself skewered. The javelin had killed her in one hit making its user ten gold richer.

Back through the chaos of battle to Candice neither side had managed to find a killing blow. After Benthar had been killed Candice finally unleashed her magycka, swarms of blades flew through the air cutting her opponent whenever they got the chance. Blood was running freely from the knife user's body but he did not give in. He was on the defensive using his phantom dagger to help block attacks. Candice continued to push onwards and more and more strikes started to land, Candice was getting nearer to that millionth blow. As the fight was just about decided another javelin ended it. Even the abnormally fast Candice could not dodge the attack.

A loud scream rang out over the battlefield as Slithe butchered a general but before he could retrieve his weapon both he and his brother were swarmed by soldiers. This particular group of soldiers had been tracking the brothers path of destruction and had finally caught up. Not caring for their well being the soldiers brought down the brothers in a sea of bodies. When they were trapped on the ground ten mages quickly cast powerful spells obliterating Slithe, Noct and all the soldiers holding them in place.

Across the battlefield Spiren was moving quickly. His entire battalion had been wiped out but he had not a scratch on his body. His sword carved arcs in the air and heads rolled no matter how far away their bodies were from Spiren. Spiren's push through the battlefield actually reached its destination, he had made it to the Supreme General.

Spiren then opened his tome and used his strongest attack. As he leaped towards the general a hundred copies of himself appeared all doing the same attack. The Supreme general was a bit tired but the ferocity of this attack made him go all out for a second. Using the coffin on his back he countered every attack with one swing that left Spiren in the dirt. And just like that Spiren joined the ranks of the dead.

Spiren's end did little to change the battle but slowly but surely every demon was getting cleaned up. The storm that was Zaebos had reached the humans on the hill and he created an explosion of lightning that exploded all the nearby humans, demons and plant life. The four humans were untouched however, one of them had blocked the attack with a massive shield covered in a pink light. This was not the end of Zaebos' attack and he moved forward like a bolt of red lightning.

Normally Zaebos would fight a longer battle finding the perfect time to strike but he was exhausted. All the constant use of his magycka and the length of the battle had tired him out. Still his attack was not a joke, his hand broke the shield into two pieces and continued into the shield bearers arm sending lightning coursing through both of them. Through sheer tenacity the shield bearer did not collapse and instead wrapped Zaebos in a tiny bear hug, the shield bearer was extremely small. As soon as he got trapped Zaebos knew it was the end and a sword cut through him like butter.

Azemo saw Zaebos' body turn into red lightning as the life vanished from his eyes. In the end only Zaebos' cowboy hat remained. Azemo felt emotions washing over his paralyzed body and tears escaped from his eyes.

But Azemo's suffering was not over yet, Sillis was one of the last demons standing. Her white scales were covered in blood as she sliced through humans. She was the messenger of death and her dance guided more and more into the afterlife. No one could touch her because her body faded in and out of existence. No one could stop her strikes as each one brought a sure death. But that would not last forever.

The same sword user that killed Azemo approached her. Sillis turned to face him but the sword user moved so fast only a streak of white light could be seen. The path of light continued past Sillis signifying her death. Her body faded out of existence as she was sent after all the souls she had slain.

Azemo could not stop himself and tears poured from his eyes. His body shook as the power of his sorrow overcame the paralyzation. Azemo ended his tears before heading into the forest, this would not be the end of his story.