Belzu looked down at the sphere in his hand, seeing the two Infant Demons make a break for it. They ran from the other Demons chasing them. They fled, unable to fight back. The Primeval Demon cackled in his victory. He glanced back down at where Mori Gladius and the Salvos clone had been standing. They were both gone.
That was right. He hadn’t been lying. Or maybe he’d lied a little bit.
It was an illusion in a sense. But an illusion so powerful it warped reality— that it became real. That it trapped Belzu’s targets in a world of his own creation. And they were forever cursed to live through the Desolation. Through the hell that was the Netherworld.
Perhaps they could break out of it, given time. And that was why Belzu hadn’t sent them alone. A small portion of his army was sent along with them to the Primeval Demon’s world. And he’d given the monsters bodies of powerful Demons. They would kill both Mori Gladius and the Salvos clone. Eventually.
Perhaps both the Salvos clone and Mori Gladius would retain some of their abilities. But it would only delay the inevitable. There was nothing more for Belzu to do. His biggest threats were trapped, and he was free to continue his razing of the city. And… bolstering his army.
undefinedThe Primeval Demon looked over beyond the city walls. He saw the adventurer army retreating. And he moved for them.
“Retreat! We need to leave now!”
A voice shouted. Zack glanced back at the rest of the adventurer army. They were already pulling back. The army had taken severe losses. Thousands of adventurers were dead. But they’d managed to take out just as many— or even more— monsters than that.
But the horde of monsters just kept coming. They didn’t stop. And it was time to leave. Zack agreed with that, but his teammates weren’t as easy to convince.
“Jaakko, you heard them! Let’s get out of here!”
The Cyclops crushed a Saeve with one of his four arms. The ape-like creature went limp. Jaakko turned back and faced Zack with his one eye.
“We cannot retreat.”
He spoke simply. Zack gestured exasperatedly at the burning city.
“There’s not a chance that there’s a single civilian left alive there! Why are we staying?”
“Because…”
Jaakko paused. He looked over at one of the few adventurers who were still fighting close to the city’s walls. Zack followed his gaze and saw Scarlet. The Red Rose. One of the Elites of the Remembered Order Company. She fought alongside another Elite. Tyrian the Brightsbane Archer. They didn’t back up, even when the rest of the company fled.
“What are they doing?”
Zack asked, utterly befuddled. Helen walked up behind him, pursing her lips.
“Mori Gladius hasn’t returned from the city. They’re waiting for their leader.”
“What?”
It took a moment for Zack to process this. That meant they were all waiting for Mori Gladius to return. Zack shook his head.
“Mori Gladius is the Champion of the Human Lands. He can handle himself. And if he can’t, we have no business being out here. Let the Elites handle it.”
Jaakko remained silent. Helen protested.
“But we can’t just leave!”
“We’ll just be in the way.”
Zack spoke, voice level. Still, she wasn’t convinced. She turned to the Cyclops— the leader of their team.
“Jaakko!”
The Cyclops didn’t speak for a moment. It looked like he was in deep thought. He stared at the city as another burning building collapsed. Finally, he sighed.
“Zack’s right.”
“Of course I am.”
Zack snorted, glad his leader was finally seeing some sense. Helen blinked. She opened her mouth to argue, then she looked at her two team members. Her shoulders slumped.
“I… see.”
Jaakko nodded.
“I do not wish to leave the Champion of the Human Lands alone. But our help is not needed here. Let us go—”
He started, only for a blinding light to cut him off. It tore through the battlefield, slicing through the first ranks of adventurers before they could even react. Dozens of Platinum Ranks and a few Diamond Ranks just vanished, killed by the giant blade of light in an instant.
Jaakko, Helen, and Zack would’ve fallen victim to the attack too if they hadn’t been saved. Zack blinked as he found himself floating, being carried by the Salvos clone that had been protectively hovering over them.
“W-what…?”
The [Mage] stared at the ranks of dead adventurers. Both Scarlet and Tyrian managed to escape in time too. They were tense, weapons at the ready for whatever it was responsible for that attack.
The Salvos clone slowly lowered Jaakko, Helen, and Zack to the ground. She hurriedly gestured at them to leave. Zack stumbled to his feet, still in shock. Then he looked at what the Salvos clone was looking at. She stared into the raging flames. At a bloated figure slowly flying out of it.
“No…”
He gasped. That was when he saw it. For the very first time, Zack caught sight of the Primeval Demon.
It emerged from the flames, followed by its army. Monsters of all kinds. Undead of all Species. Zack was almost certain he saw Humans amongst them too, but he was too transfixed on the Primeval Demon to even realize what he was looking at.
The Primeval Demon’s presence weighed on him. A creeping sense of dread crawled over the battlefield, smothering any spark of fighting spirit that had previously been there. A sick grin spread across its face as it spoke a simple order for its army.
“Kill them all.”
And Zack screamed. The adventurers fled as the horde of monsters gave chase, led by the Primeval Demon itself.
This was it. Mori Gladius had found himself in many dangerous situations throughout his life. As an adventurer, he was no stranger to death. Many of his friends and allies had died throughout his adventures. Throughout his journey to become the Champion of the Human Lands.
He knew that a time would come when he, himself, would eventually fall in battle. He was prepared for it. But he didn’t expect to go out like this.
A Greater Demon swung for him as he barely scuttled out of the way, using his little nubs to carry himself as fast as possible. It missed, instead striking a Lesser Demon. The Lesser Demon snarled in anger. It struck back, only to be crushed by the Greater Demon.
Mori Gladius sighed internally in relief, grateful for that brief reprieve— for that delay it had bought him. The Demons continued to give chase as he could only crawl-scurry back. Behind him, the Salvos clone followed. She matched his speed, although it wasn’t very hard to do so.
They were both slug-like creatures that barely had any appendages or limbs. The Primeval Demon’s Grand Skill trapped them in these bodies. It had placed them in this world. In the… Netherworld? Or a recreation of it?
He didn’t know. It didn’t matter to him. All he knew was that he was going to die in some unknown place with the body of some grotesque creature. It was a shameful death. He couldn’t even fight back. He tried, oh, he did.
But when he threw himself at these larger creatures, all he did was flop over and fall to the ground, barely even stalling them. So all he could do was run. But he couldn’t run forever.
A Lesser Demon intercepted him— a kind of [Djinn]. It towered over him, and he swiftly crawled around its legs. The [Djinn] kicked once, sending him flying in the air. The single hit battered his body. He landed on the white ground with a thud, bleeding a black blood that mixed with the rain from above.
He grimaced.
No… He got back up, immediately taking off running again. Not like this—
And an Archdemon caught up to him. Its claws raked his back as he recoiled in pain. He wiggled around the Archdemon’s arms as it picked him up. It had a demented head— that of a monster’s skull. And its jaws unhinged, revealing a hundred razor-sharp teeth. It held him over its mouth as he struggled to break free.
I can’t die like this, he thought as he gazed into the bottomless pit of the Archdemon’s maws. It easily kept back the Greater Demons and Lesser Demons. It slowly lowered Mori Gladius down, closing its jaw.
He shut his eyes, accepting his fate. This is how I go, huh? It was bittersweet. He took solace in knowing that he died protecting Humankind, living up to his Title as the Champion of the Human Lands. But he was going to die in another world. In a reality-warping illusion. As a Demon.
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