When I opened my eyes, I was in bed alone. Memories of last night touched my mind as I got dressed. I had no idea that Iona had felt that way, and the night was bliss, but the way each girl acted left holes in my thoughts.
Why are they so forthright with their feelings? It felt like I was traded around like some useful item, not that I would complain, but my head tells me that this will cause problems. Maybe I should try talking to Lavender about it after.
Pulling my red coat on, I left my room and went into the hall. To my surprise, all the girls were waiting and ready to go. Iona was back to being the loli, and Lavender was picking at one of her pigtails while Iona tried to fight her off.
Tilly was talking to Victoria, who was wearing a new set of plate armor that shone from the demon stainless steel Tilly, and I had gotten it from Gershaha.
When I opened the door, I quickly looked at them all relaxing before all eyes turned to me. Tilly wore a green and white dress standing beside Victoria in her shining armor.
Lavender had a pink and blue dress with a cut on both sides of the leg, while Iona wore a cute pink frilly dress that she must have been stuffed into by Lavender.
"So, are we all ready?"
"Mmmhm!"
We all started to walk towards the bathroom, but Iona slowed down a bit to bump her little hips into me. I looked down, and she gave me a mischievous wink before catching up with the girls.
I followed behind, and when we opened the door, no massive yellow eye was waiting for us.
Instead, A pathway that floated in a galactic sky was in front of us. Stars and planets were the backdrops to the two-meter path we had to walk, and it led to a gigantic platform.
At the end of that platform was a staircase that led up to a single door.
Once we reached the first platform, the pathway we had come from disappeared as though it had never been. Four pedestals rose from the galactic painted surfaces where four creatures were standing on them.
Each one had the black of deep space for skin with cracks and tears that let light stream out, and even though the lightless back, PEIRCE EVIL revealed the undulating black miasma.
"Be careful and don't get cornered alone," I yelled out as I activated the hand command for LIGHT BLADE.
The white blade didn't stop until it had taken on its DEMON BRINGER form.
"DEMON HUNTER!" I screamed as Tilly reached under her red cape.
Tilly pulled out a large glass triangular rifle that I was instantly familiar with, but I was confused about how she got it, but then I remembered the cape. Tilly tried to fire the gun, but the beam emitted was absorbed into the monsters' blackness.
"Throw it, and everyone gets near me. Lavender, make a wall, and get in close to me with Iona!"
Things started moving at a rapid pace from that point as everyone followed my orders. Tilly threw the Ion Glass Cannon and ran to me. Victoria darted back from the one she had been engaged with, running to get close.
An earth wall rose from the galactic floor like only the surface was painted, and the rest was just regular ground below. Each of the girls had pulled in close to me as I raised my arm. Instantly a shield started to form around us as we heard the sound of glass shattering.
"THHHHHHUPH! BOOOOM!"
The vacuum in the first stage deafened us, and we were only lucky that the shield finished before the second part. Even from inside, we could feel the heat from the massive explosion.
All the girls held me close as more glass, and metal fiber poured from my armband. I looked down at it and was surprised to see that it was running dangerously low.
The explosion died off before my armband ran out of thread, but it indicated that the shield had its limits, even after the Augmensive Glass. I looked down at all the girls, and they all seemed fine, just a bit shaken. Each pulled away except Iona, who held on just a bit longer than the rest.
The shield fell, and the galaxy scene was gone, nothing more than a broad and blasted out cave. A massive hole was in the wall where the staircase and doors were before. I turned to look at the girls but froze when we all heard the roar.
"MY PETS! MY VISTA! YOU HAVE DESTROYED MY HOME! COME FACE ME, MORTAL CHILDREN, AND I WILL DEVOUR YOUR SOUL!" the deep draconic voice of a very angry Nemicoramus roared out.
"What do you think he will do if we just wait here?" I asked jokingly to the girls, but loud enough to be heard.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU KNOW!"
"Like how mad do you think he will get?" This time it was Tilly asking loudly.
"Don't make me come in there!" There was still heat in the dragon's voice, but it no longer screamed, almost sounding a bit hesitant.
"Oh? But It would be so much more convenient for you to come to us, so by all means, come in here," Lavender's voice tried to convince Nemicoramus, but then the dragon started to make up excuses. Bad ones.
"Well, you see, I have the appointment for my hair later, so it would just be more convenient for you to come inside."
"Is it that the big scary dragon can't leave his cave?" Victoria teased.
"No, no, no, you see, I just don't like the air out there. It's stuffy, and I have gotten used to this air in here, so if you can all just kindly GET IN HERE SO I CAN EAT YOU, everything will be fine."
The dragon sounded on the verge of a mental breakdown, but we didn't let up. We each taunted and poked fun at the dragon for hours, but nothing could get him to come from his cave until Tilly had an idea.
Tilly reached behind herself again and pulled out a potion. On the side, it said, "Magical Beast Polymorph Juice." All that was left was to decide who would become the female dragon to woo Nemicoramus out of his special cave.
That was the plan from the start. Lavender had found some information about Nemicoramus, never leaving his cave other than to stretch his massive head out. This information made us think that the key to defeating him was getting him out of his cave, but not everything was going according to plan.
Nemicoramus did not want to leave his cave, so what we figured out was right, but that still didn't help us with the problem of him not coming out, so when Tilly offered Victoria the potion, we had put all our bets on it.
"Do I have to take this?" Victoria complained while looking at the slightly glowing light blue liquid.
"You and I will go to that all you can eat meat house. Just the two of us, ok?" I offered to Victoria, but once I said the last part, the empty potion vial was sailing through the air.
Victoria began to grow and enlarge. Her body and armor stretched, wings tearing from her back. Soon, a large Stainless Steel Dragon stood in front of us. Even as a dragon, Victoria was stunning.
"How do I look?"
"Stunning, I mean, you're so damn shiny I can barely look at you, even in the dim lighting. From what I can see, you look great, but let's keep going with the plan."
Victoria nodded her draconic head and moved closer to the gap where a door and stairway had been. Tilly and Iona took a left, and Lavender stayed with me. The plan was to get Victoria to draw out Nemicoramus, and we would start the plan. That's what we wanted to happen.
Victoria let out a roar of challenge to the hiding Demon dragon and stepped back.
"Oh? What is this? Did you bring me a gift?"
Nemicoramus's voice took on an interesting tone as it got closer. Victoria started to step back, but a massive clawed and scaled hand crashed through the wall and pinned her down. The talons tore into her stainless scales like it was human flesh and Victoria screamed out in pain.
"THUMP, THUMP"
The marks on my body started to heat up as Lavender hurled fire and earth at the emerging monolithic demon dragon. I watched blood leak from the deep cuts in the back and sides of Victoria's dragon form. Tilly rushed forward alone to try and free Victoria.
"THUMP, THUMP"
Iona is screaming for her to stop, and I can see the now emerging other claw. This demon was more massive than they could have ever imagined. My only thoughts were, "Can I save them? Where have I led these women I love? I don't want to lose them all again."
"THUMP, THUMP"
Darkness. Then a voice. Then another.
"Do you want power?"
"You need us!"
"Let us break them, and then drink their eternal ecstasy!"
"If you want to dominate, let me help."
"Take our power, and we will serve you well."
"Reject them. You need me!"
"THUMP, THUMP"
In the darkness of my mind, time stood frozen before me. Demon voices echo promises of power, and I'm faced with mortal problems at hand. The requests became hard to deny—Victoria, the one that is always trying so hard to get back to me, was dying.
I can't hesitate, and I reach into that dark place, grabbing the snake demon and allowing it to latch on. Black flames burst from my marks, and they move and change into striking snakes that run down my arms. I gripped DEMON BRINGER in both hands, and the black snake crawled the golden flames and danced along with them.
"NEMICORAMUS!!" I screamed and instantly stepped to the claws pinning down Victoria down, and four out of five-clawed digits fell, cleaved of, and her body finally shrunk back to normal size. The demon's magic must have been preventing the change.
Wasting no time, I was in front of the other claw, but the demon closed his fist, and it collided with DEMON BRINGER. I gave Tilly time to change her path and get back, but I was blown back into the wall. Even with the demons extra power, it wasn't enough. Those were my thoughts as I pulled myself out of the rubble and jumped back to where Victoria was.
"Are you ok?" I tried asking, but Nemicoramus cut in before she could answer.
"Turning you back on me?"
The undamaged fist connected with Tilly and me from out of nowhere, sending us both flying through the air, smashing into the wall. I caught Tilly and took most of the damage, but this was starting to look bad. If we couldn't figure out something quick, we were all going to die, but then Tilly held out her wrist, AVATAR already displayed, and I noticed the flashing bar.
CHAIN REACTION
"Everyone give it you're all! With everything you got!" I yelled as Tilly, and I rushed the dragon.
"CHAIN REACTION!"
Tilly rocketed forwards with her silver hammer, connecting to the dragon's nose. Sets of spikes shot up along the dragon's neck and then locked down tight. I leaped up, and somehow Iona was there, halfway through a spin kick. I kicked out, and we connected, sending plummeting toward the dragon's neck.
Nemicoramus tried to reach up with a clawed hand, but a bleeding Victoria used a perfectly timed RIPOSTE to defect the attack. DEMON BRINGER sizzled through demon flesh as the demon snakes helped heal the wound open. As the blade passed through the demon neck totally, it burst into black particles.
"Oh no," I groaned, but looked to Victoria quickly, but Iona was back to tending her.
"We have you, Dave. Lay back and,"
Lavender's voice kept getting quieter until I could hear no sound. Suddenly, I was in a blank space, and four demons stood before me. Each looked like shadows of men and women, but I knew better.
"When we are five, we are one."
"What does that mean?"
"With five demons, we all become one with you, and then we change. Lose and let us birth a new demon, or prevail and remove our curse. You will be reborn into Shade Holm. Win and survive!"
I wanted to argue, scream, plead, or something, but I just felt the world slipped away.
WARNING MINI-GAME ACTIVATED
SHADE HOLM THE DEAMON REALM
Save the souls of the demons within or become devoured by their ambitions. The current level and systems are disabled. New character and system download required. ACTIVATING.
This chapter ends the first volume of Poor Man Reborn. Volume 2 will follow Dave through Shadeholm, The Demon Realm, to save his demons' souls.
I hope everyone has enjoyed the book so far, and I hope you continue to read and enjoy the adventure. Thank you to all my readers and supporters! You guys help me write just by reading!