The emperor panicked at Cinhard's sudden disappearance. He turned in the Siren Queen's direction and yelled, "Move, get away from there."
Then another pair of circlets appeared on his feet, and he dashed, the fastest he could, in Kizhaia's direction.
However, Kizhaia, who had seen the death of her comrade, didn't hear what the emperor yelled. She just stared into the infinite darkness. She was originally against the subjugation of the Demon King. She admired him deep down in her heart since she grew up listening to the stories of her elders about how great the Conjurer of Blue Flames was. But she could not ignore the pleas from Calix and Salamander.
To overcome this war, the allied force secured two factors, and one of them was to convince the Ruler of the Ocean to side with them. They very much needed the sirens' healing capabilities to last from the hordes of demon creatures.
The Emperor reached for the Siren Queen's arm and pulled her closer to him. Kizhaia was surprised by the sudden action, but she just shrugged at the situation. The old man was glad that he made it on time, but he still couldn't feel Cinhard.
'Where is he?' He thought while he continued to scan his surroundings to detect Cinhard's presence.
. . . . .
Inside the woods, the army of undead was marching towards the castle when a silhouette appeared in the middle of their ranks, and then blue flames erupted without warning. Hundreds of bones were burned into oblivion. Then after, a scene of a man carrying a woman appeared as soon as the flame diminished. He gently placed his hand on the woman's face and wiped the stain of blood at the corner of her lips.
Several undead knights lounged at him, but they tumbled upon themselves when Cinhard and Anelia vanished without a trace.
In that short instance, Cadaver was petrified at his place due to what he had seen. Before Cinhard disappeared, Cadaver saw his death the moment their eyes met. Then he cast a large-scale spell in the blink of an eye. The middle skull on his staff emitted a bloody red glow, and then thousands of undead appeared. Ghouls, death knights, and spectres were summoned one after the other.
Cadaver knew that Cinhard would return to avenge his dearest vampire, so he raised his staff and drew a magic circle above him. This looked like the one that appeared when he sealed Anelia's ability. Afterwards, the space surrounding him became vague, and he disappeared on sight.
"Coward," Calix, who saw the entire scene, commented behind.
Cadaver, who was still standing in the same spot, ignored Calix's remark. He knew that there was no way he would win against Cinhard if he did not hide. He understood very well how Cinhard's domain worked. The Demon King's Legacy: Absolute Darkness. He used it as a domain to sense all the beings inside the affected area and as a means to move through the shadows.
This was the exact reason why he placed the same magic on Anelia before, to fool Cinhard's domain. He just altered its properties this time to camouflage and suit himself. Cinhard would try to find him through his undead energy, but he would have a hard time locating his presence in this sea of undead.
"Now come to your graveyard, Cinhard," Cadaver said before smiling with menace. The next moment, like what he predicted, Cinhard appeared above his army. He looked at the thousands of undead as if he were looking at mere ants that were ready to be crushed at any moment. His cyan blue eyes were void of emotions, and his previously gleeful and confident aura was replaced by a wretched and cold-blooded one.
. . . . .
After Cinhard disappeared from the sea of undead, he appeared inside the room at the Demon King's palace. He placed Anelia in a large bed, and then he kneeled by her side. Tens of seconds had passed, yet still no words were coming from him. He just stared blankly at Anelia's face while holding her hand when countless memories of her surged in his mind, and for the very first time in his life, the Demon King felt powerless.
He believed that Anelia was capable of standing on her own, and she did. But Cadaver's betrayal that caused Anelia's death left a bitter taste in his mouth. Before standing up, he gave Anelia a gentle kiss on the lips and looked at her one last time until he vanished into the darkness.
. . . . .
Cadaver smirked upon seeing Cinhard's state. "That's a wonderful expression you've got there, Cinhard. You look like a true demon now," he laughed for a second before he yelled,
"What do you feel now, ha? Failing to save the only person you care about." His voice echoed in the sky, but Cinhard didn't utter a single word; instead, he stretched his right arm forward.
And with a snap of his finger, blue flames engulfed the whole army. Most of the undead were caught in the sudden outburst of flame. Those who could fly flew in the air, but they were shot down by balls of fire that were falling from the night sky before they could reach some distance from the ground. Different eerie cries echoed in the forest. Some did their best to attack the demon responsible for this hellish nightmare, but their spell couldn't even pass the blazing sea of flames.
"Damn demon, he really did it this time," Calix, who was still carrying Ren, complained after he escaped from the sea of flames.
After a few minutes, the sea of undead was nowhere to be seen; even their ashes were purged into nothingness. Cadaver, who had witnessed his creations burn into despair, couldn't believe what happened. As far as he remembered, Cinhard never used his flames like that. He always fought with his sword.
"How in the world can he wield such power?" Cadaver questioned himself while doing his best to conceal his presence. He knew that he would be dead the moment Cinhard found him, and he needed some space and time to rebuild his army.
"Show yourself, Cadaver; you're not that frail to die just like that," Cinhard said while still looking into the now-sea of flames. However, Cadaver didn't respond to his provocation, and this made him knit his brows, and then he faced Calix's direction.
Calix noticed the Demon King's gaze, and the tattoos on his body glowed in a greenish color before an armor made of lightning covered his whole body.
. . . . .
The Human Emperor and the Siren Queen flew in the direction where they heard faint cries from afar.
"Those are the cries of ghouls and spectres," Augustus said to Kizhaia.
The second factor they secured finally arrived. They made a pact with the Undead Summoner not to participate in the war.
The humans believed that without the General of the West, they could easily defeat the hordes of a demon. Their fear of Cadaver was greater than the Demon King himself. This was also the reason why they didn't try to conquer the Forest of Nightmares even once. The simple thought of battling thousands of undead made their spirits drop. Even if they deployed all the warriors of the Human Empire, they wouldn't last in a war with a demon that had endless summons of ghouls and spectres. If not for the prophecy of the Celestial Seer that happened a few years ago, they wouldn't have waged this war where hundreds of lives were sacrificed.
They enticed Cadaver with the proposal to be the ruler of this place after they killed the Demon King. They just wanted him not to get involved in the upcoming war, but he insisted on lending his army and joining the upheaval. They rejoiced at his sudden declaration, which solidified their victory in the war.
But upon the arrival of the emperor in the place where the cries came from, he and Kizhaia couldn't find a single undead. Instead, their eyes were startled upon seeing the sea of blue flames that covered a kilometer radius.
"What in the hell..... happened here?" Augustus gulped while Kizhaia covered her mouth due to sudden shock.
The emperor looked for the culprit behind this destruction when he located two beings that were fighting not too far from the scorched land.
. . . . .
Calix was doing his best to evade Cinhard's attacks, but the continuous disappearances of his opponent made him lose his temper. His tanned body was now full of burned marks made from Cinhard's punches and sword attacks. His lightning armor couldn't stand the blue flames, and after a few blows from Cinhard, they dissipated in thin air.
"Hey demon, fight me head-on," he yelled before lightning exploded from him in all directions, but after a second, Cinhard appeared behind him. He ignored the explosion of lightning and stabbed Calix from behind.
The Spirit King grunted in anguish when Cinhard pulled his sword, leaving his flesh burning from the remnants of flames. Cinhard was ready to kill Calix by slashing his sword into the Spirit King's neck when the blade was blocked with a single fist. Then a bubble made of water enveloped Calix and dragged him away from Cinhard. The next second, the wounds of Calix were regenerating at an incredible speed. The same went for Ren, who was still unconscious now.
The emperor made it this time; if he were even a second late, the head of the King of Spirits would be rolling on the ground by now. He tried to punch Cinhard with all his might, but he vanished again, and then he felt a heavy kick land on his head. This made him kneel on the ground, but not strong enough to make him fall. When he tried to recover by standing up, he received a direct hit to the chin. He endured the pain and glanced at the demon in front of him, but all that he saw was a fist coming straight at his face.
The next moment, the Emperor found himself lying in a sea of flames. He was sent flying there by Cinhard's punch. If not for his Legacy, he would be a pile of ashes by now. Then he was whacked again on the face, and the Demon King stared at him with his sharp eyes. His head rang in pain due to the series of attacks from Cinhard, and it made him realize one thing.
'A single warrior meant nothing when surrounded by a legion of soldiers,' he thought about the same words that he stated before starting this war, and then laughed at himself inside. The man before him was an anomaly, an existence that defied logic.
'A legion of soldiers is nothing against absolute power,' he added to his thoughts. It looked like he accepted his fate as it was now, yet he refused to give up; for the sake of the future, he tried to stand once again, but the demon in front didn't let him do so.
Cinhard stepped with great force on the emperor's chest; his ribs broke down, and some of the bones pierced his heart and lungs, making him cry in agony before coughing up a lot of blood.
"The lives of all of you here were still not enough as payment for what I had lost," Cinhard declared, his voice so cold that the Emperor felt the sadness in his words. Then he thrust his burning sword into the emperor's head.
The emperor stared at the tip of the sword that was coming directly at his head before closing his eyes. He was ready to accept the impending doom that was waiting for him, but a couple of seconds had passed, and he was still alive. He opened his eyes bit by bit to see what had happened. The sword was still hanging on the top of his head, but the Demon King was looking behind himself, and a sword was impaled on his chest. He moved his head to see the man who stabbed the Demon King. Then, he smiled upon seeing the golden eyes and hair.
"Ren," the emperor whispered before his consciousness drifted away.
. . . . .