CHAPTER 4

“We cannot stay here!” said the water clan leader.

The four clan leaders of Alsa were gathered inside the antechamber of the fire clan head.

“I know dear child but we sent all the forces that our country could afford.”

“Not all of them!” said the girl

“We cannot do what you are thinking about…we need those men to guard the country.” Said the lightning clan leader.

“If they were to lose the war we will be unable to protect this country. We have to send our clan forces. And all those that are under our banners.” Said the girl

The men inside the room fell silent for a moment then the leader of the earth golem clan spoke

“If we are to do what you are asking. We will probably lose control over the cities of Alsa…chaos and anarchy will fester within our cities.”

“We can prevent that by just showing that we are still controlling the city. Just put some regular men in uniforms and have them patrol the city to prevent anything, Even more I cannot trust the forces that the Organization had sent.”

“Hmm it will take long for them to reach the section that already went toward Alikh…”

“No, it is not Alikh that we need to help. We need to save Astarte…”

“Astarte?” said Ryouka Gaz

“Yes Gaz-sama Astarte. It is the kingdom that needs the most our help as their army is composed of but warriors and sword masters…and facing that army of gores will be their demise without assistance…”

“True…considering that Astarte is near our borders we will probably suffer too if they happen to lose. Not only will the gores increase in numbers we will be forced to fight them off alone…we should do as Yuna-sama says it is indeed a good idea and I approve of it.” said Ryouka Gaz in a tone that made Yuna feel that her opinion has worth and value.

“Then so do I.” said the lightning clan leader.

“I have no objections. We will just need the consent from the other noble houses”

“I have already asked all the houses inside our country to provide everything they can to help us.” Said the girl

“Very well. Then let’s give them a hand.”

***

The moment we saw the passing of the army under that cliff we all had the same idea.

“Let’s burry them here” said Greetman

And with those words all the mages began channeling spells and in that moment the demons bellow took notice of our presence.

The spells rocked the valley destroying the walls and crumbling giant boulders down the now fleeting demons.

Spells and rocks were showering the demons below and with that their forces were split at the cost of thousands of demonic lives lost.

The demons began then to fight back attacking our army with spells but with our power having the advantage of height it was a tall order for them.

“We need to profit from this advantage as much as we could” said Takeda and in that moment he and a group of his followers began channeling a spell.

“What are you doing?” said Greetman.

“I need to fortify this makeshift dam of stones, so that the demons find it harder to pass. This way their forces will remain split for a longer period of time, enabling us to take out the rear of the army. We will have to destroy this portion before we can go toward the other portion that is seemingly not caring that its forces were split.”

As he said so the army was split in an almost equal size

A messenger of the Alikhian forces soon came in and rallied a message saying

“The commander of our forces is asking you to provide supporting fire so that we can engage upon the enemy part that was isolated”

“Are you and idiot?” said Greetman

“I am only rallying information” said the messenger with a bit of anger in his voice.

I then spoke saying

“We will need to wither them out more before we engage. Because even if we do engage on the isolated partition, a full scale fight will only lessen our ranks while we won’t have enough force to chase down the part that had escaped. Tell the commander that he will have to wait until we give the signal for a charge”

“Understood” replied the messenger and went on his way.

“So what are we going to do?” said Midorikawa.

I answered while grinning “Pest extermination, Overdrive!”

And in that moment I was engulfed with a divine light. This was the spell that made me who I am today one of the seven. Granting me both the ability to use spiritual magic and elemental magic at once.

Rare are those that can do both and one of them being Yuna. But I a normal human that was once considered a failure by my peers and was even renounced by my house for having no aptitude toward magic. Only hard work and suffering was the way for me to regain my honor and stand on the front of the world’s strongest.

With this spell I began to summon the fire golems that dived into the demonic army. I can summon as much as I can as long as I have the mana for it. And I have an excess.

A few dozen golems jumped into the rank of the still confused demons burning them and fighting them off. Although they are strong the numerical advantage still lies with the demons.

I then casted another S tier spell that is very potent against demonic beings.

I held up my cane high up and began chanting a spell that I made myself. A spell that heavily relies on light attribute and the purifying flames.

A second later the white Mahojin that was now covering a big portion of the valley shot down its devastating ray killing anything that was unfortunate enough to be under it. While the effect of this divine light began to scorch them and dissolve their very existence into nothingness.

They died without making a sound as the attack was but an effect of light. Any demon that was caught under the ray died…silently.

“FIRE AT WILL!” I roared

Then a moment later the mages on our side began shooting down magic like there was no tomorrow.

Some attacks missed but due to the sheer size of the enemy most managed to find a target.

A portion of the demons began to climb the cliff so that they would get a better chance at fighting back. But they were instantly brought down thanks to earth magic that would only crumble more pieces of rocks under them.

It was a slaughter and our forces were the ones responsible over it. And we were certainly not going to stop.

***

Inside Alikh the Overlord was beginning his attack on the capital of the country. With but a mere two hundred thousand soldiers of his enemies his attack will surly bear fruit especially that his forces are estimated to be four times that number.

The capital was surrounded with giant walls that will prove to be useless against the incoming army.

The Organization was going on full throttle trying to fight off the beasts while using the modified soldiers and their power but it proved utterly and completely futile. As in fact while the modified soldiers were strong to begin with…they were strengthened using demonic essence and while at the presence of the Overlord…everything that is demonic is his.

The modified soldiers turned mad and berserk transforming into gruesome and horrific looking creatures that began to rampage throughout the rank of the Alikhian army.

A giant enemy force was coming to claim the city and inside the city itself was chaos…the city will fall and there is no one to stop it.

Back at Astarte however the scene was much more sever.

The army had passed within the borders of quietus that they for some reason were avoiding. They were

Marching slowly toward the capital of Astarte never stopping, never halting or resting. Marching forward with but a single thought in mind. To corrupt.

The lands that they walked through turned barren and useless. Any city that they passed through would perish and crumble to their might only increasing the ranks of the gores with each town they passed by.

Now that the capital was in reach…it would take no time for the kingdom to fall…

***

A divine explosion erupted within the ranks of the demonic beings stunning them and scorching any that was unfortunate enough to be near me.

My sides grew two extra sets of arms the same way it happened that time inside the crucible. Only this time the power coiling within me was greater.

My hair glowed golden and my muscles inflated. I was filled with spiritual energy and with each breath I exhaled a wave of energy would erupt around me.

I walked toward the now cautious looking boy and grinned. Although he probably is unable to see my face due to the mask he will certainly know.

“How is this possible?” said the devil lord. “How can you still be alive…you died that day! And we were certain that you had perished how in the world are you still alive?!”

“Who knows?” I said taunting the boy who now had a look of rage upon his face.

The demonic forces became prudent in their attempts at me as even if one decided to step too close the divine light that is radiating from me would burn them to nothingness.

I flexed my hands and charged at the boy trying to grab him from the throat but I only caught air. He moved fast.

Many demons began charging at me while the boy was hiding now within their ranks but I tore at them like if they were but weed.

Ripping the demons asunder is what I was doing while looking for the hiding boy. Without him, his forces will be for naught.

“Where are you hiding little boy!” I taunted while ripping another unfortunate devil that was barely able to hold himself inside the divine light emitting from within me.

I then sidestepped a beam of darkness that was aimed at me from the back saying

“I found you!” then instantly used Shunpo to appear in front of the boy using all six of my arms to smash down on his body only this time my hands met the ground that caved in with the might of my strike.

Another ray of death magic was shot toward me that I once again dodged causing it to hit the demons in its wake.

I followed the boy that disappears every time I got closer to him and every time he did so I would wreck anyone that I find near me.

Too many enemies…

“Let me tap in for a moment Asura.” Said the god within me. “Let me show you how we do things back in my days.”

“Go ahead I said.” And in that moment I felt myself losing control over my body.

The golden color of my hair turned white and the light emitting from my body became much stronger

“What a bliss to have a real body to move in.” said Ashura who was controlling my body. “Too bad I only have but moments…anymore and your body will crumble.”

In that moment Ashura summoned six swords made of pure light one in each hand and began stepping forward. Each and every step he made would cause an earthquake.

He began increasing his speed bit by bit slashing with all of his swords at the side of every enemy he came close to. At one point he became like a blur that would pass by the enemies and only moments after his passing that the demons would register the fact that they were already cut and were dying.

His speed became phenomenon as he now began to jump and twirl on top of the enemies slashing at them destroying them with ease.

Hundreds then thousands would die once he passed he even ignored the boy that was left stunned seeing the death of his comrades.

“More!” Roared Ashura “This is not satisfying at all. More!”

He then switched to hand combat and began punching anything that was in his way with each punch a wave of energy would follow and the enemies would die in a cone. Not a single devil was able to even approach the divine calamity as it tore at an entire army alone.

The humans were still hesitant as to whether help or just watch how the fight would unfold.

“Damn it! This body cannot hold any longer. Asura take it…”

And once he said so I regained my senses thanking the god for his help as only in just few seconds he managed to reduce the numbers to barely a tenth of their original force.

However I was feeling weakened…and tiered barely able to maintain the form

“This is an effect of overexerting the body…I cannot do anything more…if this was your older body you would have died instantly…” said Ashura.

“It is alright…I think I can handle the rest.” But once in said so

I heard the shouting of the human army behind me that were now advancing once more.

Their somehow managed to have another set of infantry and began their charge. They felt encouraged seeing that the enemies had dwindled to this number and no decided to give a helping hand.

The boy probably noticing my weakened state began shooting everything he had within him trying to bring me down.

I absorbed a bit of aura into myself to reenergizes my body. And with just that I was able to dodge and step aside from the incoming attack.

I then charged at him but he still disappeared however this time due to the fact that his forces were now but a fraction of the originals he had nowhere to hide however he was still too fast to catch and every time he disappears he would retaliate with another shot of magic that would either be a ray of death or an eruption of black magic.

My eye then began to tingle for a bit. Then a second later…time began to slow down

“Huh…it’s been long. It seems that the eye is somehow healed…it probably Ashura…”

And in that moment I began to perceive the world differently.

Looking at the boy I noticed that he was in fact made out of pure magic…

His entire being is magic as he looked like a combination of spells and Mahojin on top of each other granting him this look…why hadn’t I seen this that time…when I was back at the crucible I had both eyes but I didn’t see this complex formula…

I then noticed a string of mana that was linked to this thing’s head. It was a very thin blue string that had its origin far from this place…a puppet of sorts I think…

Before I could rush toward the origin of this thing a man approached me.

It was the same man of that time…the red head.

“My lord…” said the man “I turned to face him and he instantly gulped

“You! You are the guy from that time!”

“Humpf Yes so what do you want” I said with a voice that was imbued with power and energy and sounded like two people speaking at once.

The man shuddered after hearing me speak and said

“I being the Captain Commander of the royal guard of the kingdom of Astora thank you greatly for your help!” said the man with over eagerness and enthusiasm. He had the look of a kid that was seeing his favorite superhero alive…

“Thank me later I have to kill the one behind this.”

“Yes my lord. But he seems to be very fast…wouldn’t it be easier if we do so by combining our power.”

“No need. This one is just a puppet. I will go for the source. You will need to clean up here I will need to go somewhere else afterwards.” I said

“Yes my lord” said the man and in that moment I dashed straight ahead leaving him in the dust.

My energy was slowing being replenished while I moved toward the origin of the mana string.

Looking at my direction the puppet then soon followed casting spell after spell trying to halt my advance.

Dodging the spells easily thanks to the time slowing effect I managed to reach my destination in almost no time.

It was a small gathering of greater devils about a hundred that were surrounding a small cabinet of sort.

I placed all six of my hands forward and casted a spell

If we take in consideration the fact that I was able to channel void energy and fuse it into Osfor-sensei’s spell creating a void ray of disintegration. Shouldn’t I be able to do the same while changing the word void to the word light? Reinforcing the light attribute with divine energy?

I only willed the Mahojin and noticed that my eye began to shine.

The Mahojin was created almost instantly and the magic text began to change accordingly…

“This is going to work.” I said. “Divine ray of disintegration!”

In that moment the puppet appeared next to me trying to stop me from attacking the coagulation of greater devils that were surrounding its power source.

But it was too late as the ray that was shot from all of my arms tore at the camp with ease its power was immense and its potency was comparable to the ray I used against Arvion. The damage it dealt was enough to tore at the camp and kill the devils in an instant making the power source of this puppet perish and the puppet itself to dissipate

“Good. Finally got over with that problem.”

Once I said so I reverted back to my human self and began to walk back to where the remnants of the demonic forces were.

Once I got there I noticed that the humans were cleaning up whatever that was left.

Beside the infantry that lost their lives earlier, the newcomers and the forces that were already there were almost unscathed.

Once I got there I was greeted once again with the redhead.

“It seems that they lost their coordination and we managed to sweep them away in no time. I thank you dearly for the help my lord.” Said the man

“No worries. So tell me what is the situation back at the other countries do you have any idea?” I said

The man looked a bit wireded out by the way I brushed the ‘help’ I had offered and said

“Well…it seems that Alikh will be unable to withstand the attack of the demonic forces…looking at how much we suffered against but a small portion of their army I can’t imagine the pressure they are under…and this was with your help…as for Astarte…they are probably the ones that will suffer the most as a portion that is fully composed of Gores is heading toward them…those things are unstoppable and can corrupt anything that stands in their way…Alsa is having the least of the problems but is still reinforcing all the countries with their own forces…”

“What about quietus?” I said

“We don’t know actually. The forces are avoiding the region and going directly toward the other countries…something is warding them off that place.”

“It is the crucible.” Said the devil

I then spoke back to it

“What do you mean?”

“The crucible is forcing all demonic existences away from its perimeter. Once the crucible is down they will probably turn their attention to quietus. The Overseers had made it so that only the humans have access to it.”

“Hurry up and use the eye! I need my throne back!” said Ashura…loudly

“Can you guys please stop speaking all at once!” I screamed an in that instant man in front of me flinched.

“Ah! Sorry the voices in my head…Euh. Never mind…”

This probably just made me look like a crazy person…damn I hate those guys…

“I need my throne back now. Let me open the passage. The eye is now functioning!” said Ashura.

“If the eye is healed…I will need to do something first.”

I turned away from the man and began chanting

“Oh limitless domain, grant me privilege in seeking your attendance. Bath my soul in your deep wisdom and let me see what no man should witness. Give me right to enter the void…”

And with those words the space in front of me began to tremble.

The earth crashed and the sky shattered.

The portal of another world opened pushing the fabric of space asunder while the purple color of the world beyond shone on the lands.

In but a second the voice of a being far older than time and wiser than any, boomed throughout the space.

“YOUNGLING! YOU HAVE KEPT YOUR PROMISE!”