While I was expecting a vicious demon that radiated desolation, Kestus was actually quite beautiful. His jet black skin; his sleek yet battered gold-plated armor; his murky magma colored eyes; his protruding horns, and even the cinders that fell from his wings matched his aesthetic. Although he was my enemy I couldn't help but marvel at him; however, after a couple seconds of staring, I brought myself back to reality.
'Now's not the time to be admiring the enemy Grayson. Get your head in the game.'
Kestus looked down at the corpses of Endora and Evenkell, and then looked back at Eve.
"You have failed me child."
A look of pure terror overcame Eve, as with that resounding declaration Kestus lifted out of the darkness a large dark-steel hammer and with it, smashed Eve into the floor.
CRUNCH.
When Kestus lifted up his hammer, all that remained from the Warmonger Eve were various crushed body parts and vertebrae that fell from the blood-stained hammer.
"So you're the type of king that executes their subjects for failure."
Kestus turned in my direction and looked down, examining me.
"A human, a mere human, managed to achieve victory against my personal guard?" his deep strident voice rattled as he spoke.
"Yeah, something like that." compared to him my voice sounded like a squeal.
Kestus led out a hearty laugh, his chuckles causing the entire castle to shake.
"I see, then you must be here to slay me." He lifted up his Warhammer and started to walk towards me.
"Wait, wait, wait! Hold on a second." I lifted my arms and made a 'T'.
"Before we fight, I have a question to ask."
Kestus' disheveled eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he came to a halt. He was silent for a couple moments before he spoke.
"Speak child, I will answer one question before your demise."
I gave him a huge smile, before instantly replacing it with a cold stare.
"What is your connection to the Abyss?"
Kestus' body stiffened as he heard my question. "The Abyss you say?" His murky magma colored eyes stared at me as the color slowly changed into a dark blood red.
"For a mere human to even know the name of the depths, you must be exterminated."
He dropped his signature war hammer and ripped off his large gold body armor, dropping it to the ground. A purple aura exuded from his battle-scarred body as sharp spikes sprung out of his back and giant purple horns grew out of his shoulder.
"Heh, guess you're not gonna answer my question then." I undid the straps of my Hypatian Armor and dropped it to the floor with a resonating clang.
Kestus punched his fists together and the entire room trembled from the shockwaves.
"I'll make this quick and painless for you."
I chuckled at his choice of words.
"You know, one of your subordinates said something eerily similar before I killed him."
I rolled up my sleeve, revealing a small metal plate embedded in my shoulder and tapped on it.
'Activating Right Arm Augment [Celerity] at 200% capacity. | Four Uses Left |' A voice echoed out from my shoulder.
Small particles then flew out of my Augment and covered my body until it turned into a sleek carbon fiber body armor. I started walking towards Kestus as the particles rippled across my face, creating a black holographic mask with two luminescent violet eyes.
"Unfortunately for you, you will suffer the same fate." I declared in a distorted voice.
I let out a laugh of exhilaration before blasting towards Kestus at speeds that far exceeded a normal human's capacity.
Needless to say the battle ended swiftly, as not even steel could withstand an endless barrage of sword slashes.
***
The Siege of Naught would be a hard fought battle, but after a nine hour long siege the Demon King Kestus would finally fall to the blade of Ewingar and the Empire of Hyptis would achieve victory. As the dust arose from the end of the battle the army naturally turned to their leader to celebrate their victory, but he was nowhere to be seen.
The army searched high and low for their leader but they could not find him no matter how long they looked. They even looked for a body, but again he could not be found. All that remained of their courageous leader Ludwig Van Stanton was his brilliant sword Ewingar that was embedded in the chest of the Demon King. Other than that, he had seemingly ceased to exist.
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[Checklist Complete]
-Successfully completed the Siege of Naught.
-Successfully found a link between the Demon King Kestus and the Abyss.
-Variability Level Stabilized.
-Initializing teleportation of Grayson Harris to Earth Zero.
-Deactivating and shutting down Simulation Earth 397 and reverting it back to its original state.
-'Operation Earth Zero' proceeding on course with a 39% success rate.
-------
With that, a short woman with beautiful long black hair and dark purple eyes placed down her tablet and set her eyes on a chessboard in front of her.
"While the acceleration may end up being a future hinderance, I will not let it stop me accomplishing my goals for the future. After all, my plan has finally reached its inception point."
The lady draped in black smiled.
"The curtains open on the final act of this play. Will the hero triumph over the enemy or fall in futile resistance?"
She reached for the chessboard and picked up one of the pawns, fiddling with it. Each time she caressed the small piece, the smile on her face grew wider and wider; as if touching the piece caused her to delve deeper into euphoria. She then placed down the pawn in its rightful spot and moved the piece two spaces forward: Pawn E4.
She let go of the piece and rested her hands at her side. Now that the pawn had advanced forward, it opened up space for her more important pieces to move; yet, the woman continued to be transfixed by the single piece she had just moved.
The pawn is the most expendable piece on the board, but if is left untouched it has the ability to completely turn the tide of the match. For that reason alone, the woman couldn't help but look on in admiration as the lone pawn charged head first into battle.
"Let the game begin."