Chereads / Born in flame / Chapter 3 - The demon battlefield

Chapter 3 - The demon battlefield

[Name: Apollo Hart]

[Race: Hellfire human]

[Age: 18]

[Strength: 981]

[Agility: 3451]

[Sense: 4021]

[Vitality: 1022]

[Power: 5543]

[Attribute: Hellfire]

[Attribute mastery: Beginner «0%»]

Apollo's attribute mastery was now beginner, with 0% progress. He wondered if he would have to go through that torture again when he reached 100%, shuddering at the thought.

As Apollo studied his stats, he couldn't help but feel a sense of confusion as to why only his agility, sense, and power had increased. It seemed strange that the other two stats had not improved along with the others. However, as he thought about it more, a realization dawned on him. He had always wished to be a glass cannon, a character with high offensive power but low defensive capabilities. Could it be that the Hellfire had somehow granted his wish, increasing the stats that would make him more suited to this role? It was just a theory, but it was certainly worth considering. Regardless, Apollo knew that he needed to be more careful in future battles if he wanted to survive with his current setup.

Apollo's eyes widened even further as he saw the new [Race] column. The new column, instead of saying "Human", said "Hellfire human" instead. Could it be that the body evolution he had undergone was so powerful that it had completely changed his genetic makeup? It made Apollo even more excited for what's next and the power he could attain, but also frightened of the possibilities.

Looking around his body, Apollo saw no visual changes other than tiny scars where the large bolt of lightning hit him, spreading outward until fading into his skin. Thinking back about the Oni, Apollo could still feel their presence inside of the castle, waiting for him.

Getting up, Apollo closed his eyes, willing Hellfire to pass through his body as his consciousness shifted to a state of cold, calm wrath like it always has. The chilling feeling of Hellfire coursing through viciously wanting to get out, hunters fighting the Oni, and a massive, overwhelming presence on the end of the castle, presumably a throne room, that was previously completely invisible, he could feel it all. Smirking, Apollo could feel almost an inhuman level of confidence welling up within him as he took but a single step forward, launching off towards the castle at previously unattainable speeds.

In the small amount of time he was away, the wind Oni had managed to charge up another large lightning bolt, sending it straight towards Apollo.

Stopping just meters in front of the lightning strike, Apollo calmly raised a single hand, keeping the other in the pocket of his tattered hoodie, his heightened senses coupled with the much more powerful body augmentation using his evolved Hellfire letting him see it in slow motion, practically not moving.

Hellfire burst from Apollo's hand, forming a barrier around him. His control over the Hellfire had greatly improved, allowing him to maintain a level of control that had previously eluded him. He was now able to create a barrier with little effort, a far cry from his earlier attempt that had ended in a massive explosion.

The Hellfire barrier and lightning collided, the clash creating massive shockwaves. The Hellfire created a vortex at the impact point, consuming the lightning. It functioned as a solid shell encased in a raging inferno of Hellfire, the blue lightning and purple tint of the Hellfire clashing and mixing into a blue violet color.

The solid part was inspired by the light Oni and its solid light constructs, creating an ultra-dense ultra-thin layer of Hellfire that solidified.

The lightning attack finally finished as Apollo dispelled the barrier, launching himself towards the wind Oni. He created a solid Hellfire construct in the shape of a katana, slashing at the Oni's stomach.

Apollo's expectations were however broken, just like his katana, which crumbled into small shards, creating explosions as the massively condensed Hellfire rushed out, un-squishing itself.

The earth Oni suddenly clasped its hands together as Apollo's weight multiplied many dozens of times over. Gravity manipulation, the advanced form of earth magic. Some animals also possessed plant manipulation, but it was quite rare. Apollo struggled to even keep standing, his strength being his lowest stat.

The Oni picked up two bricks and, with a devious grin, began manipulating their gravity. It divided the bricks weight multiple times and hurled them towards Apollo, increasing their weight back up and more just as they left its hand. The result was two bricks that weighed more than a bus flying towards him at massive speeds.

The other Oni also launched their own attacks, the water and wind Oni combining their attacks to rain a huge amount of electrified water droplets at Apollo, effectively creating a net. An ominous fog approached Apollo, coming from the shadow Oni.

Two Hellfire bullets started orbiting around Apollo, launching themselves at the bricks. They collided in a brilliant explosion as Apollo once again used his Hellfire as a jet engine, propelling his heavy body towards the earth Oni.

Eventually, Apollo got out of the radius of the gravity magic's effect, greatly speeding up. Blurring, Apollo appeared behind the earth Oni, delivering a massive punch to its ribs and quickly running around it, catching it by the face and slamming it into the ground.

Amplifying his body even further, Apollo then kicked the earth Oni at the water Oni, sending them both tumbling onto the grass below the castle. Extending his index finger, Apollo conjured a large sphere of Hellfire, sending it towards the two Oni laying in the grass.

Switching his attention over to the wind Oni, Apollo dodged the blades of wind and lunged towards it. A black mist appeared around him, the room suddenly disappearing as Apollo found himself floating in darkness, surrounded by Hellfire.

With every second, the Hellfire creeped closer, licking his clothes, Apollo realized.

'An Illusion?'

Closing his eyes and concentrating his mind, Apollo found himself in a mental battle with the shadow Oni. He knew he had little time before the other Oni launched their attacks and killed him. Apollo steeled his mind, concentrating on the outside rather than illusions. The Hellfire's pain subsided as Apollo won the mental battle against the shadow Oni.

Feeling his consciousness shift, Apollo opened his eyes, finding himself in a blank white space in front of the shadow Oni, standing completely still with fear evident on its face.

Closing his fist, Apollo punched the Oni as hard as he could, finding himself back at the castle as the illusion crumbled to dust.

Multiple attacks were approaching him, blades of hardened light from behind, and wind bullets from the front. The other Oni were all incapacitated, so it was now a two on one.

A majestic explosion sounded, no doubt caused by the large sphere of Hellfire Apollo sent at the earth and water Oni. Apollo knew this wouldn't kill them, but merely take them out of the fight.

Apollo had decided to spare these six Oni, not wanting to deprive the Oni castle of defenders without a good reason as well as feeling guilt for thinking them to be merely stupid fighting machines incapable of complex emotions, which he couldn't feel from the lower ranked Oni. Eventually, an A-rank or S-rank would come and take care of them, but Apollo had decided he didn't need the cores. The power disparity between B-ranks and A-ranks was so great that a single A-rank could take on even 10 of these Oni at once without breaking a sweat while a B-rank would be stuck at one, barely managing to do damage.

The light Oni shifted its attention to the water and earth Oni, immediately rushing to heal them with its light magic.

The only one left was the wind Oni, who was now massively outmatched by Apollo. It imbued its halberd with lightning and wind, the two elements harmoniously circling around it. Fearlessly, the Oni rushed into battle, unleashing lightning strikes coupled with wind blades with every swing of his halberd.

Apollo maneuvered around the attacks, backhanding the Oni in the face to deliver a massive kick to its stomach, sending it flying out into the rain.

Before the wind Oni even had a chance to adjust, Apollo unleashed a kick from above, sending it tumbling into the ground, creating a crater.

Apollo watched as the light Oni healed its comrades, taking glances at him to confirm he wasn't going to attack again. Apollo made his way back into the castle, walking towards the massive source of power.

He felt multiple weaker presences walking the castle, meaning the hunters have broken through the wave or low rank Oni. As soon as the six Oni he beat up recover, they will have many hunters to kill. Apollo fundamentally hated hunters, the fact that people were sorted into categories of strength and the weaklings were discriminated against had made his life hell in certain moments of the past. He had seen this with his own family, as they were sometimes prevented from doing even the smallest of tasks because they were low-ranking.

Standing in front of the throne room, Apollo saw the group of hunters fighting a single Oni, similar to the one Apollo killed in the castle courtyard. He wondered how they got there, looking around until he noticed a broken window. The hunters were seemingly struggling, and Apollo decided he would not be showing this Oni the same mercy that he had done to the six Oni.

Apollo accelerated to a massive speed, punching the large Oni straight in the chest. The punch was so powerful that it created a massive hole in its chest, launching the core out of it at fast speeds. Sprinting around the Oni, Apollo snatched the core in mid-air and retreated into the next room, leaving the hunters confused as they couldn't comprehend what happened.

Apollo finally reached the throne room, and in it he saw an Oni sitting on the throne, leaning on its arm with its legs crossed.

It was no ordinary Oni, however, as it had an even smaller stature and wielded a greatsword longer than its own body. Its height was only about 7 feet, its body lean and muscular. The aura it gave off was many times more intimidating and powerful than that of the six high Oni combined.

"So, you're the one who's been beating up my guards?" The Oni chuckled, looking Apollo over with a careful gaze.

"You can talk?" Apollo asked in shock as he had never heard of an Oni speaking.

"Yes, I learned your race's language. It was quite tough, but I got it. Now, I believe introductions are in order. I am Jorogumo, a duke of the Oni." Jorogumo bowed, waiting for Apollo to respond.

"Apollo, a normal human."

Jorogumo chuckled, seemingly seeing through the lie. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a proposition that I believe could benefit us both.

"A proposition? Why? I just beat up like half your guys, aren't you at least a little mad?"

"Mad? Not at all. Humans have attacked our world since before the age of Cataclysm, but you are one of the first I have seen who has spared our warriors. Most humans think we are mere mindless war machines, and while I half-agree on this due to our lower ranked members being like this, our higher ranked members are comparable to your race in intelligence, sometimes even surpassing it." Jorogumo pointed at himself. "Now, would you like to hear my proposition?"

Deciding to listen to Jorogumo, Apollo responded. "Sure, why not."

"Alright, follow me."

Leading Apollo into a large dining room, Jorogumo merely snapped his fingers as servants brought food and utensils. It really felt like a civilized society, far from the picture humanity has painted.

Jorogumo sat down, preparing to explain the background of the situation. "It was about 100,000 years ago, during the age of the Cataclysm, when Hell still held significant power over the various worlds. The demon king of Hell decided to launch an invasion, hoping to replenish Hell's dwindling energy by consuming the energy of the other worlds. They have since used up all this energy, and Hell has once again found itself running low on energy. Now, they have started invading again. I understand this is big news for you as one of your biggest libraries that contained this vital information burned down, was it not? I believe it was called the library of Alexandria."

Jorogumo sat up, pacing around the room. "And here comes the part that really interests you. The capital of this world has recently gotten attacked by a massive wave of demons, that is why there were only 6 high ranked Oni guarding this castle. I need you to help the capital fend off the demons with your unusual power."

Apollo took a while to process all this new information, finally speaking up. "I have quite a lot of questions. How are gates created, why is hell running out of energy, and most importantly, what will I get for helping you?"

"Yes, I expected you to ask. Gates are created when two worlds physically touch one another in higher dimensions. I cannot answer how they are created by Hell, I don't know. It's a mystery, even to me. As for your second question, I do, in fact, know this. In hell, the demons don't procreate. Energy fluctuates wildly as the demons battle, creating ultra-dense spots of energy which create demons. When the worlds were created by primordial forces, Hell had such dense energy that each being born easily possessed enough power to topple thousands of worlds by itself. A natural disaster happened, funneling the energy to one spot, and that was how the first demon king of Hell was born, and most subsequent ones too. Of course, a massive amount of training has to be accounted for as well. Anyways, I got off topic there. When these demons die, they don't release their energy back completely, only a large portion of it. Over these 100 thousand years, entropy increased, meaning hell has gotten colder and demons have started spawning weaker and less often."

Jorogumo shifted in his seat, putting up a finger. "As for your reward, I noticed you have quite the appetite for monster cores. In the past, my family helped in taking down a massive dragon which almost made our race go extinct, and as a reward, we were granted one of the 9 cores the dragon possessed. We have since been using it to create weapons and armor, but I will be glad to give it to you if you help turn the tides in the capital's favor."

Apollo's eyes sparkled at the mention of dragons, some of the strongest beings in existence. "You're giving me a dragon's core for simply killing some demons? Of course I accept." Nodding, Apollo accepted the Oni's terms and conditions.

With a chuckle, Jorogumo responded. "Well, if the capital falls, sooner or later I fall as well. For the preservation of this world this could barely be called compensation. Well, you might get something from the king of the Oni."

Jorogumo got up, pointing out of his window. "That is the direction in which the capital lies. Please, arrive quickly. This world relies on you"

"What will you do about the hunters?"

"Don't worry, I can handle them. It's been a long time since I've been in a battle, I'm actually quite excited." Jorogumo's expression turned to a smirk as he took out his greatsword, the aura around him intensifying to uncomfortable levels.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Take this." Jorogumo said, taking out a silver insignia with his name and title carved into it.

With a handshake, Apollo departed towards the capital.

The entire way Apollo spent practicing his solid constructs while running, using them on occasional beasts that attacked him. His control got much better, to the point where he could cut trees using them without them shattering.

Maneuvering through a massive forest, much larger than those on Earth, Apollo noticed quite a few beasts stalking him. It was a group of black panthers who swiftly made their way throughout the thick foliage around them, encircling Apollo.

Apollo has been attacked multiple times already, but these beasts were different. Apollo would actually have to try somewhat while facing them, he could feel it.

Dark spheres of shadow gathered through the forest, following Apollo wherever he went. The panthers never came too close, keeping their distance while creating more and more spheres of darkness.

Apollo augmented his body to the max, preparing for whatever may come next. The next moment, however, a black panther jumped out of a bush without warning, not felt even by Apollo's sharp senses. Its claws, encased in the same darkness of the spheres, dug into Apollo's back. Apollo felt as if a small part of his magic power was sucked out of him as his Hellfire slightly weakened.

Turning around swiftly, Apollo delivered a swift kick to the predator, sending it flying through a tree. The panther suddenly dissolved into the shade of the tree, ready to pounce again.

Not having time to be surprised, Apollo found himself assaulted from all sides. As if dancing in a formation, the panthers attacked from different angles one right after the other, not even giving Apollo time to breathe.

Chuckling, Apollo let Hellfire burst out of his hands.

Slamming his fist into the ground, Apollo let out a massive wave of Hellfire, traveling in all directions. The forest quickly started getting consumed, the massive trees falling and splintering as the massive storm clouds were visible yet again. "Where are your shadows now?"

The panthers were all forced out of the shadows as Apollo spared no time in charging at them, stabbing them using the daggers he had created from Hellfire.

When Apollo was done, he let the fire engulfing the forest dissipate, leaving a burned and barren meadow behind.

Apollo ran through the forest for another hour before finally drawing near its end. As he approached the edge of a cliff overlooking the capital, he finally caught sight of the city in all its glory. The sun shone brightly, its rays casting a warm glow over the city, the colossal storm nowhere to be seen, not even a cloud blemishing the sky.

The capital was a bustling medieval metropolis, with dense clusters of houses interspersed with parks and large stores, a huge castle towering over it like a sentinel watching over the inhabitants. Oni guards were busy trying to stop the wave of demons breaching the castle walls, the women and children safely stashed inside the castle.

Apollo called upon Hellfire, ready to attack the demons when his senses suddenly screamed at him, feeling three extremely powerful beings launch off from the battle field and approach him at speeds much faster than he could ever hope to achieve as he was now.

Bracing himself for impact, Apollo could tell that the three beings stood next to him instead of attacking him.

"Who are you?" One of the beings asked.

Opening his eyes, Apollo saw three Oni. Each was about the size of Jorogumo, all wielding katanas with the exception of one who wielded daggers.

"I said. WHO. ARE. YOU." The Oni said again, this time much louder.

Apollo snapped out of his trance, stammering out "A-apollo. I-I've been sent here by Jorogumo to help you with the demon invasion." Taking out the insignia, he showed the three Oni who finally put down their weapons, giving him a mistrustful look.

One of the Oni snatched the insignia, looking it over carefully before returning it. "Alright, I believe you. We will relay this information to His Highness, you should go help quickly."

As quickly as they appeared, they also left, leaving Apollo standing alone, still in shock at the difference in their powers. Shaking his head, Apollo set his sights on the demon horde and launched towards them.

The demons were abominations, each different from the other. Some had claws, some stood on two legs, some stood on four, some a whole different number entirely. Their heads were deformed, and so were their bodies. The weakest ones were the most deformed while the strongest ones were the least deformed, with something akin to a demon general standing behind them all, watching as more and more charged in from the massive gate. It had four large wings and six arms, standing about eight feet tall with four eyes on its face. The metal on its armor was wiggling, almost feeling alive with fur lining its neck, exerting a pressure Apollo had never felt, surpassing even the three Oni, who he was now in battle with.

One thing was for sure though. Each of these demons was strong. What they lacked in body capabilities they made up with raw power, each of their attacks leaving behind tremendous craters.

Apollo had set his sights on the weakest ones first, needing to power up before facing the more powerful ones as he predicted his attacks would at most make a dent in them.

He really wanted to perfect his solid constructs, which he dubbed "Weapon Manifestation", deeming the name solid constructs to be too boring.

Apollo slashed at the demon endlessly, constantly feeding his daggers Hellfire to repair them. The demon, looking like a hippo with a face where the base of the neck was supposed to be with deformed legs lacking even basic vulnerability, failed to dodge or block any of his attacks, basically acting as a target dummy. As Apollo slashed, he noticed his daggers had started leaving tiny scratches and broke less frequently.

He could tell the demons were quickly overwhelming the Oni, and that he had no choice but to participate in the fight as well. Apollo kicked the demon into the horde, knocking many of them down. Extending his hand, Apollo sent a pulse of hellfire, scorching multiple weaker demons. Taking their cores, Apollo shoved them in his mouth while continuing to wipe out the weaker demons.

While in the process of killing more, a stronger demon approached Apollo. It possessed a dog's body with stubby legs, the skin and head of an alligator and 8 eyes running along each half of its top jaw.

With a roar, the demon charged at Apollo, who swiftly dodged the attack and delivered a blow to its jaw. It wasn't as strong as he would have hoped as he was massively creeped out by the eyes, each one watching him intently, not even blinking. Apollo's waves of Hellfire only scorched the skin deeply, regenerating quickly as the demons possessed a powerful regenerative ability. Approaching again, in the interest of energy saving Apollo instead picked the demon up by its tail, swinging it around and using it as a mace to destroy other demons. Every time the demon snapped at him he got in a punch in its head and jaw, slowly but surely damaging it as the demon was running out of energy to heal itself.

Creating his two daggers again, Apollo tried slashing at its tough shell. With every slash his daggers got sharper and harder, and it was only a matter of time when his daggers could penetrate this demon's tougher-than-steel skin.

When Apollo willed it, the dagger quickly changed into a greatsword, and with a slash Apollo finally penetrated the demon's skin, albeit very slightly. Apollo slashed the demon countless times, quickly changing from dagger to greatsword and dodging its jaws.

The demon then jumped into the air, opening its massive jaws as wide as it could. Massive amounts of magic power coalesced inside its mouth, almost to the where it was about to burst. Apollo's shadow doubled as the light energy inside of the demon's mouth illuminated the battlefield in brilliant light.

It was clear this demon had no idea how to use magic but possessed a massive amount of magic power inside of its body, so it decided to shoot it all out in one tremendous attack.

Suddenly, Apollo got an idea.

Grinning, Apollo ran below the demon, picking it up and turning it towards the demons, turning its destructive attack against its own kind. A beam of pure light magic power shot out, aiming straight for the other demons. Apollo watched as the crocodile demon annihilated a portion of the weaker demons, not being able to turn its neck far enough to hit the Oni or Apollo and struggling to contain its power.

When the attack finally finished, Apollo finally scorched the now tired demon with Hellfire, taking its core and collecting the cores of the demons it killed while laughing to himself. He had collected about 15 cores just from that one attack, satisfied with the power boost he gained from eating them all.

Launching towards more demons, Apollo started slashing with his daggers, learning and honing his control with each slash. He had to create a much sharper edge as mowing through these demons with punches and kicks was futile and their regenerative ability started overwhelming Apollo's Hellfire.

Pushing even more Hellfire into his daggers, each slash generated a wave of ultra-concentrated Hellfire that tore into the flesh of the demons, scorching their bodies to the point where even their regeneration couldn't keep up.

No matter how many demons Apollo killed, the waves were unending. Apollo was starting to tire quickly and knew that without him the Oni would quickly fall. He needed to quickly master his weapon manifestation, otherwise he would quickly lose power.

The Hellfire within him resonated, his consciousness shifting just like it had when he was fighting the fire Oni back at the castle. His focus narrowed only to the fight as the Hellfire burned any worries he had away.

His greatsword sharpened, cutting deep wounds into demons. Every slash dulled its edge, but Apollo quickly corrected it. The violet gleam of his flames intensified, each slash cutting into the demon with more precision, speed, and vigor.

One of the demons swiped its massive claws at Apollo, but instead of cutting him in half it found its arm cut off, the tip of a large blade approaching its neck.

With each core consumed, getting the next one got just a little easier. After mowing down the majority of the weaker demons, Apollo found himself face-to-face with one of the stronger demons present on the battlefield. A three headed wolf with bright white flames burning around the neck of its middle head, looking like a lion's mane. The wolf stood at least 3 meters tall with powerful claws on all of its paws, its black fur waving in the wind.

Apollo noted that white flames were much hotter than the regular orange or red flames. He knew he had to be careful approaching the demon if he didn't want to be burned to a crisp. Confident in the barrier always protecting his body, a habit he gained in the forest when he got attacked out of nowhere while he was eating, Apollo readied himself with his Hellfire daggers in hand.

One of the three heads growled at Apollo, snapping its jaws threateningly. Sparing no time, Apollo launched toward the wolf, which dodged by running towards him, suddenly changing direction faster than Apollo could account for.

With a swing of his sword, Apollo sent a horizontal wave of Hellfire chasing after the wolf, which quickly counterattacked with its own wave of white flame. The two waves of fire crashed, fighting for domination and trying to quench the other, but it was clear the Hellfire had an advantage. Apart from stripping the white flame of energy quickly, it also absorbed part of that energy, maybe even gaining a surplus, and continued on towards the demon wolf.

The ground suddenly opened up and the wolf quickly vanished inside it, quickly Approaching Apollo from below.

'Double affinity? Eh?'

The wolf jumped out of the ground right in front of the confused Apollo, spewing fire from one mouth and tiny, extremely sharp ice shards from the other.

'Does each head have a different Affinity?' Apollo thought as he jumped back, conjuring a wave of Hellfire which devoured the wolf's attacks.

Jumping in the air, Apollo propelled himself towards the wolf, stabbing his dagger in its thick hide. It penetrated, but created only a surface wound, dancing Hellfire preventing the wolf from regenerating. Taking control of most of the Hellfire left in his body, Apollo let it flow from his palms, bathing the wolf in glorious dark blue flames. With the rest, Apollo created a greatsword, stabbing it through the wolf's skull as it attempted to shield from the Hellfire.

With the last of its energy, the wolf shook violently, launching the now exhausted Apollo into a group of demons. With no energy to dodge or attack, Apollo watched as the demons came closer, opening their massive jaws and looking at him with their numerous eyes.

Before the demons could approach Apollo, one of the Oni violently stabbed its sword into them. A larger wave of Oni poured onto the demons, overwhelming them. A sizeable Oni approached Apollo, extending his hand towards him. "Get up brother, we got your back." He said as he picked Apollo off the ground, fumbling in his pocket for a few seconds and taking out three cores.

"The large dog over there that ya killed, these are its cores. Rest a little now, we got this." The large Oni said as he quickly charged into battle, wielding a large mace with which he quickly bashed a few demons' skulls in.

"What's your name?" Apollo called after the Oni.

"Kappai," he answered, launching further into battle.

Hey, ty for reading. Just so you know, I appreciate every comment, good or bad. please comment, I love to read it.