Davarious First Born Light of the Autumn Wind:
I flew high in the sky and gazed down at the battlefield before me. It was the frontlines and the Allied armies clashed with the Miltis Empire in droves. From my position I could see the intricate pattern of movements and the commanders of both sides yelling their orders. Correction I could see one of the commanders yell their orders as the other one collapsed from a suspicious spear that had descended from the heavens… yeah that was me.
The Miltis Empire quickly became overwhelmed in panic as their commander hit the ground. Don't worry I didn't kill him, just wounded him very badly. His magicians and guards were looking up towards me aghast that I could pierce their defences. Well, time to move on. This was just one of the many battles occurring.
After I left my father and grandfather to lead our own army I teleported to the Klerical Kingdom Capital as it was closer to the frontlines. Teleportation was a tricky form of magic. I could only go to places I knew well or places I'd marked beforehand, at least for long distance. If I could I'd rather have went straight to the Heroes. Unfortunately I had to spend several hours traveling. The distance was vast and would take a normal person several days. The fact the Miltis Empire had managed to push their way through such a vast area was a testimony to their preparation and prowess. Truly even the battles we planned weren't going as smoothly as we wanted.
I continued to fly towards the border passing the other major town the Miltis Empire had captured. This one had been left to Lisanna and her knights. She was standing on the roof of the church as her knights formed a protective line outside the walls. Her eyes locked onto me as I passed and she waved. I flew down.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Nothing much," she replied. "Just wondering how the Empire managed to conquer so much of the world with knights this weak." She gestured downwards where a pile of silver armoured knights were stacked unconscious. "They did this whole 'Chosen Knights' thing but they weren't even much better than my weakest."
"I know what you mean, something isn't right," I shook my head. "They have to have something or someone in reserve."
"They have numbers but that's it. Until we discover what it is, I'm going to suggest we don't push our forces too hard."
"Before the days out I'll try find the answer. Until then, don't do anything rash."
She reached over and pinched my cheeks, "Oh how cute, worrying for me. Look who's grown up."
"Ah not here, stop," I pushed her hands away. "I'm leaving now."
"Be safe."
"You too." That was usually where I'd let out a confident parting scoff, where I bragged how strong I was but something wasn't right and my heart couldn't settle down. From what I had seen so far, though we weren't dominating everywhere, we hadn't had any major setbacks. Our only problem was that we were spread a little thin but as long as we kept pushing the advantage that wouldn't be a problem.
I took off again and went straight for the Heroes. Even though I was using up my mana supply quite a bit by flying so much and so fast, something was telling me not to dawdle anymore. After an hour of flying the town came into sight. It was still far off but a huge wave of energy spat out from the town and I hurriedly went faster. It felt like Gary's mana… and he was desperate.
The scenery became clearer. A few thousand Miltis Empire soldiers were lined outside but between them and the town the landscape had been gouged and torn apart. Huge chunks of earth were missing and trees had been thrown about like toys. Just what happened? Another wave hit me and I rushed in that direction. The mana trace was foreign but it was sure potent.
They came into view and my heart lurched. Alicia's armour was torn and cracked as she laid at the bottom of a crater. Carl defiantly stood above her with a broken sword. Gary was further away collapsed face first in the dirt and in between them all were two people. A man who looked similar to Sayuri was standing with a disgusting smirk. His armour was scratched all over and his hair a mess but in his hand was Sayuri's neck.
I charged in and landed on top of him bursting the ground apart. In surprise he let Sayuri go. She fell into my arms coughing for air.
"D-Dave?" she looked at me in relief.
"I'm here now, everything will be okay," I glared at the idiot who dared incur my wrath. "Carl if you can move, take Alicia, Gary and Sayuri to the town."
He limped over to me and took Sayuri gently away, "Dave this guy…."
"Like I'd let you leave!" the idiot screamed and pounced at us. A volley of lances launched towards him from the ground but with each swing of his sword they crumbled. The blade was a bright green, the same colour as the Monster's core. I involuntarily shivered but kept my eyes locked on his.
"Get back!" I yelled and released a simple shockwave. Simple as it was, he couldn't repel the condensed mana and was flung back. He landed neatly on his feet. "Carl now."
He gathered Alicia and Gary as well, "I'll be back, I promise."
"Don't," I said bluntly. "Rest up and defend the town."
He let out a pained expression but leaped away. The idiot tried to jump to stop him but a thick chain pulled him back down and slammed into the earth. He growled and cut it apart easily.
I frowned, "Your opponent is me." That sword was a pain. Just from our small fight I could tell how strong this guy was. The Heroes were enough together but that sword shifted the odds. A blatantly evil aura was creeping from it and as it demonstrated, it could disrupt mana from a distance when it was swung. The Heroes hadn't been trained to resist a technique like that yet.
"My aren't you a strong one," the idiot stood up. "But you let my prey get away. See I quite liked the black haired girl. Reminded me of home. I've never had one of her kind befo-."
"Shut up," I shot a lance at him. As expected he broke it apart easily. "Look you've hurt my friends and now you'll pay the price. I can see how your sword could be a problem so I'll take you on seriously." I flushed my mana out of my body, condensed it into a ball and ate it. The power rippled through my body. Now to thrash this guy before the time limit was reached.
"What are you another Hero?" he asked looking down on me.
"No I'm the Demon Lord," I replied.
He spat in laughter, "A mere Demon Lord? Do you know how many of you I've killed?"
"I'm not sure how they do things on the other continents but let me warn you, I'm different."
"That's what they all said. Soon you'll be grovelling at my feet just like the re-."
I threw a rock at him. He tried to disrupt the mana but because it was just a rock nothing happened and it hit him square in the head. He reeled back,
"Argh! What the hell? I was talking!"
"Yeah but you were annoying me. I'll be nice, before we fight I'll let you introduce yourself."
"Tch," he spat. "My name is Daisuke Sato, Hero of this world!" I raised my eyebrows in surprise. Although he did seem odd like the Heroes he didn't really give out a heroic impression, more like an immature spoilt brat. "Yes, I was summoned here from my home to liberate this world and return it to its rightful owners."
I frowned. Disregarding the mightier than thou monologue, if what he was saying was the truth that meant he had to have been summoned at a different time than Sayuri and the others. This was good and bad. For one it was good because it implied that my theory on transportation between worlds was correct and the Heroes should be able to return home. It was bad because he was sure to be a pain to deal with. Heroes had a tendency to not die. Not once had there been a recorded death of a Hero from the other world, they all just disappeared. Even in my father's time, just like I saved Sayuri, they always found a way out of danger. Of course there were punishments worse than death.
I took a stance, "Davarious First Born Light of the Autumn Wind, Demon Lo-." He rushed me before I could finish. A flush of heat went by me as his sword swung but my mana had been tightly wrapped inside my body and couldn't be swayed. In retaliation I grabbed his free hand swung him around and kicked his back.
"Now, now, interrupting people isn't very nice," I said as he regained balance.
"You! How were you able to move?" he looked at me angrily.
I shrugged, "Probably because I'm pretty damn amazing. Anyway, like I said you hurt my friends so time to face justice." I stepped forwards but appeared in front of him and launched into a flurry of boxing punches to various places of his body and then head. He bent back as the blows shook his body but my last punch didn't make it as he blocked it just in time.
"That hurt," he spat angrily and swung his sword at me again. I retreated back a fair distance. No wonder the Heroes had trouble with him. I wasn't entirely holding back with those punches.
A ball of fire rose in his free hand and launched towards me. I dodged easily only to see him face to face. The two of us danced between each other as I let his sword swing past me and continued to lay blow after blow into his body. With each one he let out a painful groan but remained standing. In a burst of anger he stomped the ground apart. My footing slipped and his sword clipped my side and sent me skidding back. My armour hadn't just cracked but faded as if it was falling apart. Certainly a fearful blade.
"You can really take a punch," I smirked. He just glared at me. Well then, if he was just going to ignore me I might as well make him do it while unconscious. I pulled my fist back and lunged. A single straight punch. His guard broke before my fist and the impact sent him smashing through a tree. Two seconds later he was right back at me. With my leg raised I brought it back down just as he reached me, catching him in the shoulder and sending him straight into the ground.
"Are you going to take this seriously or not?" I asked as I planted my foot on his back. The ground began to shake and he pushed himself back up and roared angrily.
"Get off me you insignificant worm!"
I stomped harder and forced him back down, "Say please." It was a contest of physical strength. Sparks of energy fizzled in the air as the mana he was releasing grew wild. He was putting a lot in to stand up but in pure strength I had the upper hand.
A beam of light suddenly descended and I narrowly jumped back as the ground was burnt to cinders. I looked up to see several magic circuits hovering in the air. They lit up and fired. Now this was what I disliked about not being able to use magic. Attacks like these would be nothing but as I was now they would be a pain to deal with. The beams of light forced me away from the idiot Hero.
As soon as he stood up he took flight and began to launch several different magic attacks at me. Spears, fire, blades of water and air. Bursts of force, gravity presses, the variety was quite large and seeing his expression become increasingly annoyed as I weathered or dodged the magic was also a treat. I picked up several stones and threw them. One of them managed to reach him and clonked him in the head disturbing his concentration as the magic collapsed in his face.
"That's it!" he screamed in frustration and a massive amount of mana gathered behind him. I quickly realized what he was going to do. "Say goodbye to your stupid little town!"
Damn it. At this angle I couldn't do much. I could attack him but he would release the magic at the town. If I jumped in the way even I couldn't take a hit like that unscathed. What to do…. I grabbed a nearby fallen tree and threw it up only to jump on it as it flew. As it came in between the idiot and the town I pushed off it and straight at him.
"Hello!" I shot towards him and he released the condensed mana at me. I grabbed the ball of energy and stopped it from exploding as I continued towards him. His expression turned into shock as I held the ball of swirling light and shoved it back in his face. It exploded before either of us could get away.
I ploughed straight into the earth creating a sizeable crater. Argh, that one actually really burnt. Outside the crater the 'Hero' was in a similar situation and had burn marks all over his fine clothing. The armour that the Heroes had previously damaged was shattered now. Well, no rest for the wicked right? Before he could recover I ran over to his keeled over body and punted my foot into his stomach. A cough of blood spat out as he sailed into the sky. Just for good measure I followed him and slapped him back down. He struggled to stand back up.
Was that really it? Sure I hadn't had to put this much effort into a fight for some time and he really could take a hit but he wasn't any stronger than me, my father or grandfather. Was he the Miltis Empire's trumpcard? Yes, his sword should be a pain to deal with but against me it was moot. Frankly I was disappointed.
"Are we done yet?" I sighed. "If you're the best the Empire has to offer just go home now. Seriously, take your soldiers and leave. The longer you stay here the more death there will be and as I have demonstrated you're not doing so well."
"Screw you," he coughed and straightened himself. "All of you are dead! See I was just taking it easy on you out of pity but now all of you will be slaughtered like dogs."
I cracked my knuckles and took another stance, "If you say so."
Instead of charging at me however he drew out a small canister and threw it into the ground. Red smoke flooded out. A signal? I braced myself for whatever was coming. To my surprise several silver armoured knights showed up instead. They surrounded the Hero and let him lean on them. Was this a getaway plan? Before I could act however something else fell from the sky. A large metal coffin half buried itself into the dirt.
The idiot started to laugh manically, "You're dead. You're all dead! I'm the only one who can save you now and I won't. Enjoy being torn to shreds!"
The coffin hissed open releasing a torrent of steam. As soon as it did a terrible feeling assailed me. One that I thought and wished to never feel again. A peculiar and sticky dread that clung to my heart. It couldn't be…. The coffin door was smashed away and a hideous disfigured mass of flesh bound to a human shape crawled out. I knew exactly what it was. How could I ever forget that thing? The source of my family's pain. It slowly exited the coffin and let out an ear piercing shriek.
It finally clicked. The Miltis Empire and the Mil Kingdom. Their emblems were very similar. In the old tongue the suffix 'tis' meant new or reforged. The remnants of the Mil Kingdom did leave the High continent but I never thought they took their research with them. The reason why they were able to conquer so many kingdoms in the past decade… all of it was this Monster.
The idiot Hero who had called it here ran away with his knights and the soldiers had already started to retreat. This was their trump card. Throw in the Monster let it wreak havoc and then pick up the scraps. Its eyes locked on to me and with not so much as a shriek it leapt towards me with spread hands.
I jumped backwards and immediately charged in with a fully strengthened stab aiming for its core. My hand pierced through but missed the core and came back with empty flesh. A brief moment of regret passed through me before the Monster reacted with an immense heave, twisting its body and slapping me away. Numerous trees broke against my back as I came to a halt. Blood leaked from my mouth. This was bad, this was very bad. I regretted not killing the damn idiot of a Hero. This Monster was the same and not the same. It seemed they couldn't recreate the Monster's armour which was a godsend. If it had that armour then the only thing that could punch through was our canon, which we had already disassembled. It also seemed to be slower than the one that had plagued my family. But one thing I was certain of after stabbing it was the speed of its regeneration.
The Monster turned away from me and looked towards the town with pitch black eyes. God damn pest! I shot forwards and pushed it to the ground only to be tossed away again. I couldn't let this thing go, it would ruin everything. The Heroes were in no condition to fight right now. If this thing escaped it would cleave a path straight through our armies. The Empire would sacrifice its own soldiers as well but we didn't have any in reserve. They'd be able to push to the Klerical Kingdom's capital easily. Just how many towns and villages were between here and there? I could not and would not let all those innocents die!
I wiped the blood from my mouth, "Let's see just how far I've come!"