The demon leader has had enough.All he wanted was to get his hands on the crossbow magician so he could boost the power of his army and stop needing to fix their wounds every time they engaged in battle.
And yet, everything and everyone seemed to constantly try to conspire against him. The demon-slayers were invading his kingdom, the mage was nowhere to be seen, and now even his own underling had stolen his sword.
Honestly, until a few moments ago, he just wanted to take a nap and forget about everything, but right now, he was so angry at the whole world trying to get in the way of his goals that he decided to just vent his frustration on anyone who was dumb enough to get on his way from that point on.
"I"m going to kill all of you!!"
Daren and Lilith were the first ones to try and take him on.
The black lion monster and the silver-armored maiden leaped at him to try and stab the demon with claws and blades, but the leader simply started to release some kind of cursed energy aura that was surrounding his whole body and immediately repelled the two, making them fly against the buildings and smacking with the outer walls.
"Guahhhh!!!"
"Kyaaahhh!!"
"It didn"t have to be this way... All I wanted was the girl with recreation magic... But now that it has come to this... I"ll take every single one of you to the afterlife!"
Lilith stood up and aimed her sword at her opponent once again.
"Did you ever truly think we would just hand over Evlin to you like this??"
She swung down her sword and the leader grabbed it with his bare hand. The metal started to burn his skin but his regenerative power was so strong that he just endured the pain.
"I thought you would have at least a bit of common sense to not try and go up against me after realizing how out-cla.s.sed you were... But I guess I gave you too much credit..."
He raised his free hand and punched Lilith"s face. The impact was so strong that she ended up releasing her sword in the process.
"Ugh!!"
She fell on the snow and could only watch as the demon leaped into the air and started to fall from the sky aiming at her position.
But as he was falling, Daren jumped to intercept him and the two started to brawl while still descending.
"I won"t let you harm her any longer!!"
"Oh really?"
The demon grabbed Daren"s body and used him as a cus.h.i.+on to soften his fall. When the two reached the ground, the demon started to blast Daren with a shockwave of dark energy.
"Gaaaahhhhh!!!"
"Does this mean I get to harm you in her place then?"
"Stop it!!!"
Lilith rushed to save Daren but without her sword, she had no means to create any relevant damage against the leader. She raised her fists to try and punch him but the demon grabbed Daren and used him as a s.h.i.+eld to block her attack.
"Kaaahhh!!"
"Daren!! I"m sorry!! I- Ooff!!"
Before she could finish her sentence, the demon dropped Daren on top of her and electrocuted both with dark energy again.
"Aaaaaarghhh!!!" x 2
The two were blasted away by the dark energy and were sent flying. The demon leader prepared another attack but he suddenly was empaled by more weapons of silver metal.
"Aarrghh!! You again!!"
"You will pay for what you did to Clayton!!"
Orion had grabbed Lilith"s sword but the leader simply removed it from his back and redirected his energy blast at the slayer.
"Blargh!!!"
He returned his attention towards Daren and Lilith and was about to release another ball of dark energy at the two, when suddenly he saw a tornado of darkness slowly approaching him.
"This is..."
He adjusted his vision and could see a young green girl with leaves coming out of her clothes and vines coming out of her hair making it look like she had dreadlocks inside of the dark tornado carrying his weapon, the devourer of whispers.
"So you not only dare to steal my weapon, you even dare to try and use it against me?? You insolent demon dryad!!"
"I... Am not... A dryad... I am not... A demon!!!"
The girl raised her weapon and started to channel all her power into an attack.
"I am a human... I"m the sister of the man you killed... And the sister of the girl you"re trying to capture... And if you want to get to her... You will need to get through me first!!"
She swung down her black sword and all the energy of the dark tornado was launched at the demon leader. He could only watch as a wave of darkness started to approach him at an absurd speed.
The demon raised both his hands and tried to blast the attack with his own wave of dark energy. The two forces collided and a huge explosion was formed from the impact, destroying several of the nearby buildings.
"You little brat... I"m going to pound you into the ground until you can never even consider rebelling against me again..."
After the smoke was cleared and the demon had his vision back, he noticed the girl leaping towards him with the sword pointed at him.
"Is that so?"
"Aaaaarghhh!!!"
She slashed the demon with her blade and a huge scar appeared on his chest. Lilith and Daren saw the scene and realized that they finally had a chance against their enemy.
Lilith rushed towards Orion who was still knocked out and recovered her sword, and alongside Daren, the two joined Ashley in fighting the demon leader.
"Ugh!!!"
Suddenly the leader was being a.s.saulted by a barrage of slashes as if he was inside a shredder. Daren kept stabbing and cutting him with his claws while Lilith and Ashley kept trying to slice him from swinging down their blades.
Clayton stood up and watched the battle. He saw as a demon lion, a demon dryad, and a monster harpy continuing to gang up on the demon leader.
"They really are nothing but mindless beasts..."
He took Orion"s bow and started to throw arrows on all four of them.
Lilith saw the silver arrows approaching and warned her friends.
"Look out!!"
Daren and Lilith used their superior speed to get out of the way, but the moment Ashley tried to do it as well, the demon leader grabbed her and used her body to block the arrows.
"Aaaaaaghhhhh!!!"
"Ashley!!!" x 2
She could feel the silver metal burning her stomach. It was so painful that she almost dropped her black sword. But instead, she tried to use this chance to boost her power thanks to her suffering.
"You..."
She glared at the demon leader who was still holding onto her and with one swing, slashed his head off using all of her suffering and all the power of the blade to get past his defenses.
She did her best to avoid looking at a version of her own head being decapitated because of his curse by closing her eyes the moment the blade touched his neck.
The headless body of the demon released Ashley and she fell on the ground, dropping her sword due to the pain.
Clayton tried to launch another arrow at Ashley but Daren rushed towards him and smacked his body against the ground to knock him out.
"Just go to sleep..."
"Ashley!! Ashley!!"
Lilith rushed to help her friend who had just fallen into the ground but there was little she could do in that situation. They needed to remove the arrow from her body or the blessed energy would burn her alive.
"It hurts... It hurts so bad!!!"
"Ashley!! Just hold on!! We will find Evlin and Auren and they will- Ugh!!!"
Ashley saw as the headless body of the demon leader suddenly grabbed Lilith"s face and threw her at Daren. She expected to see her own body without a head but something was wrong with his curse. All she saw was a humanoid figure covered in dark energy.
"Aaaahhh!!"
"Gaaahhh!!!"
Once again Daren"s body started to burn from coming into contact with Lilith"s armor. Ashley watched as the body of the leader took the black sword that she had dropped. She tried to fight back but the silver arrow was making it impossible to move.
"No!! Stop!!!"
The headless leader grabbed the sword and started to absorb its energy to heal its wounds. All of sudden, his head started to reappear on top of his neck, and all of the damage he had taken from Lilith, Daren, and Ashley had disappeared.
He glared at the girl who was laying on the snow beneath his feet and started to step on the arrow so that it would go even deeper on her stomach. His foot started to burn as well, but he didn"t care. He wanted to make her suffer.
"Aaaaahhhhh!!!"
"You should have known it would end up like this..."
"Ashley!!!" x 2
Daren and Lilith started to rush to save her but the demon leader simply swung his sword to release a powerful wave of dark energy that blasted the two.
"Guaaahhh!!!" x 2
[We"re dead!! We"re dead!! We"re dead!! We"re dead!! We"re dead!!]
Drya wouldn"t stop shouting inside Ashley"s mind. It seemed like this was really going to be the end for the two of them. The demon leader raised his sword above Ashley"s heart and gave her a few parting words.
"You shouldn"t have pushed your luck..."
He dropped his sword to stab her, but the moment the blade was about to collide with her body, a glowing transparent s.h.i.+eld appeared out of nowhere and blocked his attack.
"Huh!!??"
Suddenly, a storm of s.h.i.+elds started to appear around the demon leader and started to smack him left and right to push him away from Ashley.
"Kuaah!! Ughh! Gaahhh!!!"
Ashley was confused and saw as two figures started to approach her while the demon leader kept being pushed back by the s.h.i.+elds. A strong-looking bald man and a girl with dark skin and dazzling black hair.
"Ashley!!" x 2
"Ria... Auren..."
She also saw her other two friends who looked like monsters trying to approach her despite being so damaged from the fight.
"Lilith... Daren..."
Ashley started to cry. Despite how much trouble she had caused for her team, all of her selfish decisions, all of her harsh words, all of the dangerous situations she threw them all into, they still came to save her when she needed them the most.
"Everyone... I"m so sorry!!! I"m so sorry for everything!!!"
They all traded glances at each other and almost started to cry as well, relieved that the friend they believed was lost for so long was finally back with them.
"Ashley try not to talk! We need to fix that wound!"
Auren removed the arrow from her stomach and started to heal the damage the blessed energy had caused. Luckily this wasn"t an arrow like the one Marcus used on Evlin and Ria, so treating it was much simpler this time.
"I messed up... This whole thing is my fault... I tried to prove I could be part of the team and almost got everyone killed... I"m so sorry!!"
Lilith removed her silver armor and started to hug Ashley"s head. Her arms were soft and comfortable thanks to being half-wings.
"Ashley, what are you saying? You were always part of this team. You never had anything to prove..."
Ashley started to cry even more and began to hug Lilith back.
"I love you guys!! I love you all!!!"
[I think I"m going to throw up...]
Ashley was so happy that she almost forgot she was still fused with the dryad.
"Hey... Can anyone bring Evlin here? I want to return to being human now..."
"Ah! Right now Evlin is-"
"ENOUGH!!!!!"
Ria was about to answer Ashley"s question when the demon leader finally managed to destroy the golden s.h.i.+elds that Auren and her had created.
"I will not take part in this mockery any longer!!! I am the leader of all demons!! And it"s time for all of you to fear and respect me!!"
The group watched as the leader carved his sword into the ground and started to summon his own tornado of darkness. Ria was the first to break the silence.
"I think we p.i.s.sed him off..."
The leader started to chant while the dark energy continued to circle around him.
"Where there is light... The night shall fall..."
Daren started to feel strange while the leader continued.
"When I speak... You will hear my call..."
Lilith also started to feel something wrong.
"I order you to rise... And my glory restore..."
Ashley was feeling it as well. It was almost as if something was pulling them towards the demon leader.
"Come to me now... MY DEMON HORDE!!!"
The group looked around and suddenly, all of the demons and monsters started to come out from hiding and gathered towards the demon leader as if they were hypnotized.
"The night shall fall... As we hear your call... The night shall fall... As we hear your call..."
Ashley, Daren, and Lilith started to show a weird red glow in their eyes and joined the beasts as they marched towards the demon leader.
"What"s going on?? What"s happening?? Why is everyone speaking in rhymes??"
"I- I don"t know!!"
Ria and Auren began to panic while all of the creatures continued to move while chanting.
"The night shall fall... As we hear your call... The night shall fall... As we hear your call..." x Several
Ria and Auren observed as all the demons that touched the leader were absorbed into his body. He slowly started to increase in size while taking the form of some kind of mutated combination of all the monsters he came in contact with.
"The night shall fall... As we hear your call... The night shall fall... As we hear your call..." x 3
"Guys!!! Stop chanting!!!"
Ria and Auren desperately tried to hold their friends so they wouldn"t be absorbed as well.
The dark storm created by the sword continued to grown, and just as the chanting said, the sky suddenly became filled with darkness as well as all the power of the demons from the entire country gathered in one spot.
"Everyone stop!!"
Ria created a barrier to keep her friends from moving, but they just kept walking as if they didn"t care and Ashley and Daren started to burn their skin from touching the silver energy.
"Ria, turn it off!!! You"ll kill them!!"
"But... But..."
"The night shall fall... As we hear your call... The night shall fall... As we hear your call..." x 3
"Guys!!! Wake up!!"
The demon leader was now of the size of a factory. His arms and legs were composed of demons and monsters meshed together and he just continued to grow as more beasts kept hearing his command.
Auren and Ria stared at the abomination of nature that had taken place from that nightmare. The leader raised his arms towards the sky and began to speak with the sound of thousands of demons talking at the same time.
"The night keeps rising... And my power grows... You shall all bear witness... As my rage overflows... Let the scent of darkness... Spread throughout the air... Show the whole world what it means... TO BE IN TRUE DESPAIR!!!"