Year 298, Inanis Calendar (32 years before Thanes's destruction)

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Having conquered the most difficult dungeon on the Western Continent with relative ease, we had nothing left to do. Well, not really conquered but more like plundered but you get the point. We have acquired so much power but it felt so empty. So what if we were the strongest? Who do we fight now?The Demon King?

Even if we wanted to fight him, a new one had not appeared to replace the 107th Demon King. Warren spoke of journeying to other continents and finding greater adventures but I declined. I doubt there would be any dungeons or places more difficult out there. After all, the Great Holy Empire of Bosco is on the largest continent on Armus. Anything that could not be found here is not likely to be seen anywhere else.

Of course, the Cursed Lands up in the Northern Continent would prove to be a challenge but I did not wish to fight an endless battle without meaning. No matter how many monsters we kill there, the land itself would replenish the monster population.

The Millennium Forest in the Eastern Continent? It could prove to be interesting but I did not believe it would be difficult at all for us to reach the heart of the forest. The Kingdom of Armitage would lose face if their Wonder of Armus was completely explored by foreigners.

Do not do upon others what you do not wish to be done upon yourselves, I abide by the teachings of the Sacred White Lion. It is quite funny that they did not employ any Legendary individuals to clear it even though I heard they had one quite recently.

And that left us with the Earthscraper, the only Wonder of Armus which was shrouded in mystery. There was absolutely no information regarding the interior of the place, nothing at all. For even the Adventurer's Guild to possess zero knowledge of it really intrigued us.

The Holy Order guards the entrance to it, that was the only piece of information that was widely revealed. The Earthscraper is strategically placed within a circular steep mountain range with only one small gap as the entrance. The gap is protected by Knights of the Sacred White Lion who are armed to the teeth and barriers that could withstand a few Legendary class spells aimed at it.

There was no way that we could ever break in. I had no intention to do so in the first place. The Holy Order and their sacred duty, that was a very interesting prospect for the future in my opinion. It would be a great honor to put our power to good use and join them in their holy quest.

Unfortunately, Warren was not very interested with the idea. It was no wonder due to his lacking faith, but I managed to persuade him to come along. Since we were already within Urbem de Lumine, the City of Lights which is the capital of the Empire, it did not take us long to reach the Headquarters of the Holy Order.

Warren stayed outside and put on his hood while I walked inside to register myself as a member. It was a very splendid place, built of white marble and magnificently designed by someone with a very rich taste in art. The spectacular opulence of the Headquarters was very pleasing to the eyes. It felt like my soul was cleansed just by looking at the brightly coloured flora in the gardens.

I came upon a set of wooden doors, from the rich reddish brown colour of it I deduced that it was made from mahogany. My hands trembled as I reached out towards the shining gilded doorknobs. With a delicate twist, I swung the door open and stepped onto the soft, fluffy red carpet laid on the floor within the registration chamber.

In front of me was a bald man with a kind welcoming smile which overflowed with warmth. He sat behind a well-polished mahogany table that shone with all of its marvellous intricate carvings. A full ink bottle with a feather quill resting slanted against its mouth was present on the table along with a neatly organised stack of papers. He beckoned me to come closer. I gently shut the door with a soft click and walked towards the man.

"Welcome brother, to our glorious hovel! Did you come here to join our Order?" Calling the place a hovel was too far of a stretch, but I nodded politely to answer his question.

"Wonderful, please tell me of your name and which division you want to join. Would it be the Knights of the Sacred White Lion or the Barrier Magus?" He pulled out a piece of paper from the stack and extracted the quill from the ink bottle as he said so. Looking at me in anticipation, he was ready to write the required paperwork.

"Do you not need to see my credentials on the Glyph of Evaluation?" It was unusual indeed to manually ask for my information. What if I had intended to deceive him?

"No matter who you are or what crime you have done, the doors to atonement are always open. As such, we provide the option for anyone to create a new identity for themselves and start over from a clean slate" How befitting of the Holy Order. Such mercifulness would surely soften even the roughest of hearts. My eyes welled up, I was touched by his words.

"I am Gale Tempest and I wish to join the Sanctus Leo Militis" Figuring I had little chance of possessing the talent to create barriers, I opted to enroll as a Knight. At the mention of my name, the man's eyes moved towards the sword hanging by my waist.

"Gale Tempest? Could you be the Legendary Storm Knight?" A hint of awe touched his voice as he made the connection.

"Yes"

"Today is indeed a blessed day, to meet a Legend face-to-face! The Holy Order had been waiting for someone of your worth for a long time, my brother!" He exclaimed excitedly as he cupped his hands together. He gazed above, his eyes seeing through the ceilings and perhaps looking at the Heavens themselves.

"The seat for the Commander of Light had been vacant since the previous one fell to the hands of the foul Demon King. We have a tradition that only a person of a Legendary standing may take the position. Please, lend your strength to our Order and lead our Knights" I never knew the Holy Order had such a tradition but I could only accept as the man bowed deeply in front of me.

He told me to head straight to the Earthscraper, where a portion of the Holy Order stood guard. He would send word in advance and I would go through the necessary ceremony once I arrive there. As proof that I had been selected, he handed me a silver medallion moulded in the likeness of the White Lion. I wore the medallion around my neck, tucking it safe under my armour even to this day.

Exiting the Headquarter grounds through the impressive gates, I spotted Warren leaning his back against the wall of the compound. I could not see his face that was hidden underneath his hood but it did not make much of a difference even if I was able to gleam his expression. Judging by his posture, he was bored of waiting.

After I told him of the unexpected turn of events I had just gone through, Warren grumbled a little bit, voicing out his dissatisfaction at having to saddle half of my newly acquired position. It was a good sign indeed to have Warren display other emotions beside his artificial grin. He finally took the first step towards recovery after all these years.

Nevertheless, I dragged him along with me on our journey to the Earthscraper. I was sure that after spending some time among the other enlightened members of the Holy Order, Warren would open his heart and accept the greatness of the White Lion.

We adopted a leisurely pace and moved towards the destination without much of a hurry. If we had gone at full speed, the messenger from the Headquarters is unlikely to reach the site before us. It took two uneventful weeks for us to finally make it to the promised site.

As expected, several battalions of knights dressed in full sets of white armour stood guard. Warren had already separated from me and hidden himself a couple of miles behind.

A single knight broke off from the defensive formation and approached me before I even got within half a kilometer from the passage. Palm facing out towards me, he told me to halt and state my reason for proceeding into restricted territory.

"Gale Tempest, you know.. the newly appointed Commander?" I pulled out the silver medallion and flashed it in front of the knight for a second.

"Oh my god...." He mouthed off with his eyes shining from what I suspect to be unshed tears.

"It's him! It's him! It's Gale Tempest our new commander~!!!" Abandoning his previous matter-of-fact bearing, he ran back excitedly while screaming out my alias. It pretty much confirmed that the message already arrived from the Headquarters.

The other knights' reactions were not much different. They whooped and jumped around while pointing at me and if memory serves me right, one of them fainted on the ground.

To throw their formations into disarray so easily, these people would need to be disciplined later. As I continued to walk towards them, I noticed that all of them were quite young. Over half looked younger than I was, which might have explained their behaviour.

My eyes were served with an unsightly spectacle as they scrambled to earn the rights of escorting me to the Vice-Commander. Unable to bear the scene, I almost made the decision to abandon them and make my own way inside.

A venerable looking man wearing an eyepatch came out from the opening of the gap and glared at the bustling new recruits. That was all it took for the commotion to die down. The knights snapped back to their positions like tightly coiled springs and regained their serious guise.

The man turned around and gestured for me to follow him. I strolled behind him in response and accompany him through the narrow opening between the mountains. As I placed a foot on the path, I felt a slight tingle on my skin which indicated the presence of a barrier.

I took in the view of the surroundings. Both sides of the passage were flanked by a mountain each. The natural walls were covered by steep, jagged rocks which would deter most intruders from climbing over the mountains to trespass. The route was long and flat, spanning two meters in width. A small number of well-positioned men could hold the pass against thousands of enemies.

Halfway through the mountains, the man paused for a bit and turned about to face me.

*Cough* *Cough*

"So you're Gale Tempest, eh?" he squinted his uncovered eye as he evaluated me from top to bottom. Perhaps he was doubting my identity.

"Yes" I answered with a clear and resolute voice to dispel any doubts he may have.

"....."

"OHHHH!!! I'M SO HAPPY THAT I COULD MEET YOU!" He barked as he grabbed my hand and shook it vigorously. I have to admit, I did not expect that reaction.

'Not again....' I thought dispiritedly as the man stared at me with admiration. I suppose being a famous person has its drawbacks.

The supposedly short journey through the valley took an extra half an hour due to him stopping frequently to talk. I managed to gleam some information about my job from his incessant chatter.

Apparently the members of the Holy Order in charge of guarding the Earthscraper were divided into twelve divisions named after the months in a year. Each division had three thousand members which consists of both Knights and Barrier Magus. Excepting the Vice-Commander and Commander of Light, each division is headed by a Lieutenant.

Each division would be given a one month break according to their respective months. That means only eleven division are tasked to guard the Earthscraper at any given time.

My future position as the Commander of Light entitles me to a two day holiday per month. Fantastic, I could hardly wait to serve the Holy Order.

At last, we got through the path and I saw the grounds above the Earthscraper for the first time. It was surprisingly unremarkable. Thousands of wide circular tents were pitched up systematically all around the site. Knights in armour and Barrier Magus in robes were running about in a panic. Several men that might have been Lieutenants were shouting out orders to them.

"Sorry about this, they are busy preparing for your ceremony" My escort clarified the matter as he lowered his head in apology. For them to still be preparing, the messenger must have been quite slow.

"The Vice-Commander is this way"

I continued to follow him through the busy crowd and headed farther in, pass the camping grounds and onto the open plains beyond. There, more members of the Holy Order stood guard in a vast, layered circular formation.

Seeing them, I regained my faith in the capabilities of these men. While the men at the pass were undisciplined and the campsite was utterly chaotic, these men before me gave the impression of impenetrability. With their backs straight, eyes focused and one hand resting on their weapons, it was clear that they were very alert.

Right in the center of them, a man with flowing dark blue hair sat atop a flat boulder. His hands rested on the hilt of his shining sword which was stabbed into the ground before him, right between his wide open legs. It was a no-brainer that he was the Vice-Commander.

He pushed himself up and strode towards me, a metallic clank resounded from his iron boots with each step he took. A younger version of the Vice-Commander trailed beside him, must be his son. Stopping himself a couple of feet in front of me, he held out his hand for a handshake.

"Royce Verden, Vice-Commander of Light. Pleased to make your acquaintance" He announced briefly as he grasped my hand and lightly shook it. Rather than a handshake, it felt like he was just mechanically moving his hand up and down.

Coiling his arm around my shoulder, he took me away from my escort and led me back towards the campsite without saying another word. It was a pity that I did not even have the chance to look at the entrance to the Earthscraper.

The following ceremony was brief and simple. It involved me getting doused by a barrel of holy water to cleanse away my past sins. Then, while soaking wet I took up the oath to guard the Earthscraper to the utmost of my capabilities in front of the Grand Priest. Instead of his greasy, lying successor, Pierre Florence was a decent man that was worthy of his title.

Once that got out of the way, I immediately used my authority as the newly appointed Commander of Light to take the day off. Yes, I needed to take the day off because Warren was still waiting for me outside. The Vice-Commander and Grand Priest shot me incredulous looks. I must have given a very unusual first impression.

I hurriedly dashed out past the excited knights to meet up with Warren and relay the news. I came up with a plan to switch places with him every month. He was reluctant to join in at first when he saw my new gold-trimmed white armour but once I mentioned there was going to be a daily tour inside the Earthscraper for the next six months, he immediately agreed.

I did not know where he disappeared to after that but we already chose the day to switch places before he left. Once that was done, I relinquished my holiday and returned to duty. It was quite hard to explain to Royce why I came back so early.

Over the course of my first month, I got along with a lot of people. I had acquaintances from the lowest ranking members to the upper echelons of the Holy Order. My best friend was Vern Verden, the Vice-Commander's son who was around my age. His name struck me as a peculiar one with the double V's but who am I to talk when I carry around a redundant name such as Gale Tempest. Seriously, Gale and Tempest? That is like saying a round circle.

The tour I mentioned earlier involved me following the Grand Priest inside the Earthscraper and memorizing its paths. Normally, only the Grand Priest is allowed to enter the place but for emergency purposes the Commander needs to know the way as well.

The interior was not what I imagined. Long, winding trap filled hallways. Misleading dead ends occupied by defensive golems. Magic enchantments that deter any intruders from making their way to the bottom of the Earthscraper.

Despite my amazing memory, I was not able to remember each confusing twist and turn of it over my one month crash course. Pierre insisted that I must do so before he could tell me what the Earthscraper is guarding and why we must protect this place. Personally, I thought the Earthscraper looked like a giant deathtrap.

So the promised date to switch with Warren finally arrived. I used up my remaining holiday for the month and met up with Warren to pass him the armour. Donning it on himself, he was the spitting image of myself. Well, that was to be expected since we are twins.

He was quite disappointed when I told him of what I have discovered about the Earthscraper but a promise is a promise. There was still the hidden secret to be found out which might have contributed to his passiveness.

Left alone outside for a month, I wandered around the Empire with my face hidden. I could only wonder what Warren did during the time I was on duty. Put in the same situation, I had no outlet for my boredom. Living without a goal is a hard task indeed.

I doubt you would be interested with the time I spent in idleness, so let us skip over it.

One month came to pass and I finally returned to switch with Warren. Contrary to my assumptions, he seemed to be genuinely cheerful. Apparently he was very interested with the mechanisms and golems within the Earthscraper. The time he spent outside was mostly used up for research.

As a result, upon my return my friends were courteous but aloof. Instead of their previous casual manner, they spoke with care in each and every word that escaped their mouths. It could not be helped since I was replaced by my anti-social emotionally deprived brother.

It came to the point that Pierre inquired me if something was wrong since I did not have a grin stuck to my face. I was even approached by some people I have never talked to and dragged into a conversation about the inner mechanisms of a golem. Vern was completely thrown off by my sudden change in behaviour but I doubt he could ever guess that I was a different person.

Weeks passed by with me brushing off all the technical talk and restoring my former social circle. It took some time to do that, and I had a feeling that I would have to repeat this again next time.

Thankfully, I had just managed to memorize the layout of the Earthscraper. Pierre was finally going to reveal the concealed room within the deepest level of the inverted pyramid.

When I recall the memories of that day, I wish he had never shown me or Warren the chamber.

Pierre placed his palm on an ordinary looking wall and recited an incantation with a clear voice so I could listen and commit it to memory. A square section of the wall folded inwards, revealing a cubical room illuminated by a pulsating red glow. An almost transparent barrier shimmered in the newly revealed opening of the wall.

It was not the runes etched onto every inch of the room nor the pitch black monolith in the center of the room that grabbed my attention. It was the skeleton with a golden sword protruding from its rib cage that caught my eye.

"Just what-" Perhaps I already knew the answer, but I had to ask.

"The 107th Demon King" Pierre cut me off and confirmed my worst fears.

"W-why..? How?" My throat was dry, as if all moisture had left it. This does not make any sense, the Demon King had been defeated by the Hero over twenty years ago.

"For eternal peace" It was a short reply but I understood. Killing the Demon King would only provide temporary relief to humanity because a new one would emerge. The cycle would never end and humans shall forever be trapped in their battle against Evil.

"But how?"

All the Demon Kings save the first one, are bound to their castle in the Cursed Lands once they ascend the throne. They cannot step out from their domain for some unknown reason. Their lack of mobility required them to control monsters in order to enact their will.

"Teleportation Glyph"

Pierre's eyes were glued to the skeleton which is currently writhing and clawing at the sword pinning it to the black monolith. Even when with all its flesh rotten off, it was still alive. The Demon King had a truly terrifying life force.

"There's no such thing as a Teleportation Glyph!" I retorted back in disbelief. If there was, why would anyone bother with horses or ships?

"Not anymore. It was created and used for only one purpose, to teleport the Demon King and the Hero from his castle and imprisoning him within this room" That means the Glyph had been destroyed. Of course, if it still exists the barrier and the guards would not prove to be a deterrent should it fall into the wrong hands.

I came upon a dreadful realization then. This place, the traps, the golems, the enchantments, the complexity, the Holy Order, all of it was to keep something in. It was not to protect the secrets within, it was to protect the world from what lies inside the Earthscraper. Just how many centuries or millennia did they spend to execute this plan?

"I shall repeat the incantation and close the room, make sure you memorize it this time" Even without him saying it, I had already memorized it. Nevertheless, I paid complete attention to every word uttered by Pierre.

"That sword... what is it?" As far as I know, The Hero had always used the same sword, one with a blade of blinding pure white. The sword plunged into the monolith was not identical to written accounts.

"The Hero's weapon" Pierre muttered in a low tone and emphasised the 'Hero' part. A light frown formed on his face, giving him the look of an ashamed person. I did not know what it meant, I never found out.

Things were never the same since that day. A seed of doubt had been planted inside me. The Demon King, the champion of Evil was right within our grasps and yet I was supposed to let him be.

'Is this the correct thing to do? Tell me, oh Sacred White Lion' I did not know what to do, there was a conflict between two teachings of the White Lion.To smite all Evil or to ignore it in favour of protecting lives?

The solution to my predicament did not appear before me, much to my dismay. Sworn to absolute secrecy, I had nobody to discuss the matter with except for the Grand Priest. So I was left with only one choice, to talk this out with my brother.

The days passed by in rapid succession, I could not remember the details too clearly. The burden I carried far outweighed any thoughts I had at the moment. Eventually, the awaited time of the month to switch came by and so I moved to the promised location as usual.

As soon as I met Warren, I spilled out everything. It was a necessity, Pierre would not lead me through the paths again since I finished early. It would be detrimental should Gale Tempest suddenly forgot about the paths and the Demon King.

"The Demon King would probably free himself one day, right? Shouldn't we grab the sword and kill him now? Think about how dangerous it would be if he was freed. Now that he's outside, I don't think he's bound to his castle anymore"

Warren's reaction was different from mine, there was no doubt in his eyes when he answered. It was one of the rare occasions where he did not smile. What he said was true, should the Demon King break free and restore his powers, the world would be in a state of chaos. Countless lives would be lost before he could be subdued, if that was even possible.

Yet I was unable to act. The thought that there was a possibility for the Demon King to be sealed away forever bound me to inaction. I implored Warren to give me some time to make my decision. As usual, Warren agreed.

Once I handed over the custom armour to him, I made my way to the nearest village. The name of the place I stayed at is not important, I barely have any recollections of it. What I did remember though, was the number of sleepless nights I had to go through. With my minds shackled by worry and doubt, I was forced into a state of Insomnia.

I greeted Warren the following month with distinct shadow under my eyes. He did not question my poor state, being my twin he most likely understood at first glance. Something was off on that day, I wished I had caught on to it faster but my mind was dulled by the sleep deprivation.

During my absence, Warren had managed to memorize the entire map of the Earthscraper. It was impressive because he only had my words to guide him. He got the permission for entry under the pretense that he wanted to study the golems. Pierre was far too trusting. Of course, he had seen the chamber of secrets for himself.

"Have you decided?" He was referring to the decision I was supposed to make during the previous month.

"Yes, I.. I believe that we should leave him be" In the end I took the easy way out. I did not want to be burdened with the responsibility of initiating a new cycle of the war between Good and Evil.

"Look, the Order would keep growing in strength, right? And the defenses would surely get tighter and tighter with time! There's no way he would ever break free" I was simply deluding myself. Nothing is eternal except for the Sacred White Lion.

"I see.. very well" It was not shown on his face, but the tone of his voice told me that he was disappointed with me. I was mortified but relieved that he would not criticise me.

I took away the armour from him and decided to return to my shift. Having said out my decision, some of the heavy thoughts that burdened my mind had been alleviated.

"Wait! I forgot the book" While fitting on the breastplate, Warren shouted as he knuckled his forehead.

"Book?"

"The book on our adventure, I wanted to work on it during my break" I was flabbergasted, he was still going to publish the book?

"I'll go back and take it, don't go in first" The day off was still in effect so there was no problem with him revisiting the Earthscraper.

"Okay, I'll give you back the armour" Stopping midway while putting it on, I begin to reverse my actions to take it off.

"No, there's no need. I'll be quick" He flashed me a reassuring smile, showing his pearly whites.

"Goodbye, Lawrence" He said as he shot off into the distance, blowing dust clouds everywhere as he passed through. It was rare for him to call me by my name, I wonder what got into him?

I sat down and crossed my legs to relax. Feeling the gentle breeze rustling my hair, I closed my eyes and start to reminisce.

'A book on our adventures, huh?' The thought of it brought forth a feeling of nostalgia and made me smile. All of our endeavors from childhood till now started to playback in my mind. Things like being forced to wave around a dangerous sword at the age of three made me chuckle. The crazy things we did.

Then, I finally noticed what was off. Warren had never left behind the book since he first started writing it down. I was positive about it, all the images in my head strengthened the fact. Could it be?

Scrambling up to my feet, I started to race back towards the Earthscraper.

'No, no, Warren, don't!' I hope I am mistaken but I knew there was little chance of that. Warren had a ten minutes lead on me, there was little chance that I could catch up to him now.

Moving at top speed, I made it to the first line of defense outside the mountain range. Slowing down to a jog, I approached the new recruits and smiled while I pass by.

"Commander? Didn't you just enter?" One of them shot me a deadly question but I had already thought out my reply beforehand.

"Ahahaha, you need more training. Didn't you notice I had sneaked back out just now?" I played it off smoothly, real smooth like a conman. Oh forgive me for telling lies, Sacred White Lion.

"Oooooh! See, I told you the Commander is great!" He yelled appraisingly at his comrades. Just how much of an idol figure am I to these people? Ignoring them, I pressed on through the valley and emerged on the other side of the mountains.

I bumped into a few people along the way, including my Vice-Commander and his son. With the few questions they inquired, I managed to find out Warren's whereabouts. He really did enter the Earthscraper. Sidestepping them, I opened the trapdoor and dived inside the entrance without wasting any time.

There was only one place Warren would head to, the sealed chamber. I took the shortest route possible, even busting through booby trapped passages to save even one second. There was absolutely no time to lose.

I arrived in front of the hidden entrance to the sealed room, Warren was not there. My heart started to beat faster, my body was drenched in nervous sweat. I slammed my palm onto the wall and blurted out the incantation.

Due to my haste, I stumbled my tongue and had to start over again having wasted a few seconds. The walls bent inwards and revealed the interior of the hidden chamber.

I did not pay any attention to the glowing runes nor the lone monolith, the only thing I registered was Warren desperately fending off streams of flame and bolts of ice and pure darkness with the golden sword in his hands. From the look of things, he was losing.

Passing through the barrier, I leapt into the battle while brandishing Lightning at the skeletal Demon King.

A flash of light drowned out the pulsating glow of the runes and swiftly crackled towards my target.

Defying all common sense, the Demon King moved faster than lightning and jumped back from his spot.

It was a pity that I did not manage to land a hit but at least it gave Warren some breathing space.

I continued my assault on the Demon King, pushing him back. Since things have escalated to this level, the Demon King must be slain.

I started off with a sharp trust forcing the Demon King to turn his body, then I followed up by changing into a horizontal slash. The air shrieked as I swung my sword with incredible force.

However, I could not even touch him. Each slash I executed was dodged with minimal movement. There was not even a millimeter's worth of distance between my blade and his body.

Despite raining down blow after blow at him, the Demon King had only took three steps back.

Pivoting his torso around, he smashed me away with a diamond hard fist. Luckily I managed to put up my sword before it hit me square in the jaw.

Despite blocking the blow, the impact was so strong that it sent me hurtling away and slammed me against a wall.

Faced with the vast difference in skill and power, a sense of foreboding crawled up on my back.

'This is not an opponent I could defeat' I realised the cold, hard truth from our brief exchange.

Thin blades of highly compressed water whistled through the air and flew towards the Demon King.

Warren had stashed away the golden sword and took out Squall instead. I did not know why.

The Demon King looked away from me and defended himself. His hands moved so fast that they blurred and left afterimages.

Identical blades made out of pure darkness whizzed towards the incoming water and hit them at the exact same orientation, just a foot away from the Demon King.

Once they clashed, the water blades dispersed into harmless drops of water and sprayed the floor.

To counter the multitudes of attack with magic at such a small distance, there was no doubt the Demon King could instantly invoke spells.

The Demon King did not just stop at countering, he continued to lash out more blades of darkness at Warren.

*Sh-sh-sh-sh-sh-shaaa!* The continuous flow of attacks screamed into my ear.

Warren kicked the floor strongly and ran along the side of the room, outrunning the flurry of death that tailed closely behind him.

The blades of darkness were broken into wisps of shadow by the runes on the walls just an inch before it hit them.

Forcing my fear and anxiety down into my abdomen, I rejoined the battle and closed in on the Demon King.

I was stopped before I could reach a meter around him.

He diverted one of his hands and used the same technique on me, compelling me to back off and parry the spells.

It was impossible to win, the both of us could not even scratch him.

I finally understood why the 107th Demon King is the most fearsome of all. Even in this weakened state, he was nigh unbeatable.

There was no other option but to retreat and inform the Holy Order of everything. It would require the combined might of every single Legendary individual to take this walking nightmare down.

The Demon King's attacks were not as numerous as before because he had to divide his attention between the both of us. That allowed me and Warren some room for movement.

"Warren! I'll hold him back, you open the door!!" I shouted through all the screeching sounds in the air.

Without replying, my brother slowly inched his way towards the concealed door.

With one great kick, I propelled myself towards Warren and landed right in front of him.

Gripping my sword tight, I swung it forward, sideways, diagonally, every direction possible to cancel out the Demon King's shadow barrage.

My hands protested in agony as I forced it to move at never-before-experienced speed.

Warren understood the signal and immediately turned around and made for the hidden entrance on the wall ten meters behind me.

Without any pause, he muttered the incantation under his breath as he placed one palm on the pulsating stone.

*Rumble*

A portion of the runes stopped glowing and the walls folded inwards, revealing the long stone passageway outside.

"It's open!"

"Get out, I need space to jump back!" I was already perfectly aligned with the door so all I need is to leap backwards and land behind the shimmering barrier.

The sound of footsteps moving away told me that Warren had successfully moved out.

'Now!'

Holding my sword above my head and closing my eyes tight, I brought it down like a falling star.

A wall of lightning crashed down in front of me and dissipated the blades of darkness.

The flash of light was so bright that it pierced through my eyelids.

I gathered my strength into my feet and attempted to jump backwards, but..

I did not make it.

*Thunk*

A soft impact hit my breastplate.

Opening my eyes in slow-motion, I saw the Demon King's skull in front of me.

Half of his body had emerged through the lightning field. The lightning seemed to have simply slide off his body.

His bony fist was thrust forward and had struck me right on the spot above my abdomen.

A violent wave of force bypassed my armour and flowed directly into my body, tearing out my organs to pieces.

Spurts of blood gushed out through my mouth, eyes, nose and ears and painted a section of the stone walls red.

My sword dropped to the floor with a profound metallic clang as my hands dropped limply to my side.

My body fell backwards onto the floor, causing me to lay down in a sprawl.

With my head tilted back, I could see the upside-down image of Warren through a thin film of blood on my eyes, screaming with his mouth wide open.

He reached out his hand towards the barrier but the walls resealed itself before he could make it.

My vision started to blur and soon enough the world began to darken.

People say you see flashes of your own life when you approach death.

What about me? I am already dead.

Simple, I see it all the time. Just like now.

It is time to leave, stranger inside my head.

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So, that ends the story behind the Gale brothers' past. Well, actually there's going to be a short flashback later but that would be weeks from now.

I promised three releases for this batch, right? Sorry, this first person view writing really ate up my time. I'm not accustomed to this style at all, but it was a necessity. So next release would take at least 3 days time.

I hope the quality is at least decent. By decent, I mean by reading this you didn't have blood gushing out of your eyes and fell down your chair onto the floor and splash around like a Magikarp out of water.

:blood:

By the way, this is my first time writing a 1st person battle scene. Were you able to picture it out? I'm not quite sure whether I was able to convey it properly.

[th_118_.gif]

Three year olds brandishing swordsArmus Back to blessed third person view

For The Curious Mind