Chapter 9

“To think asura had such an ally…” I said

“Well, I am honestly amazed…with something of this might we could outright kill all of these things at once”. Said Ousay who was heaving from tiredness

“No.” said the dragon

Yes a dragon a red big scary dragon was what helped us…no helped us would be an understatement the thing just outright killed every devil demon in sight.

The moment he landed…he said but a single word. Die

And every single one of the demons here just fell unmoving.

Was it death magic? I think not. It was something much more powerful.

The scary thing is that only the demons died and we humans had felt nothing…it was as if the word he spoke was directed at them.

The dragon then continued

“I cannot help you anymore than this or else it would get complicated” whispered the dragon inside our heads.

Yes he didn’t say anything. I was amazed at a creature being able to speak at first but really he is a dragon you have to at least expect this.

“You will still have to kill the Overlord yourselves. This is the only help I will offer. You should however not forget that the Youngling is on his way…he may be your salvation even though you were his fall.”

Said the dragon and with a strong flap of his wings he ascended to the skies.

Taking a look at the deaths that the dragon had left with but a mere word made me feel how insignificant and powerless I am…not only me but every single one of us…where was this being hiding? Was he the same thing that Asura mentioned that day…he called him Youngling and this was the same word Asura said to me when he first opened a path to the void…

What is the reason behind this being’s help toward us?

“Not a single soul is left…I actually feared for my life for a moment there…”said Takeda

“Well I can’t blame you…it seems that the only one that is unperturbed is Greetman…” I said

“No, Osfor…” said Greetman “I can barely move…to think that he had the power to kill an entire army with just a command…not even the devil lord himself that I, using all my strength could not even harm was left alive…they all died at once…this is terrorizing beyond belief…and if Asura is truly alive…what did he do to earn the favor of something this strong…”

Truth be told…even I am unable to comprehend this…

“We still have more things to worry about…”said Midorikawa whose cloths were in tatters…”We need to gather up and head toward Alsa. The dragon said it himself, he will offer no help against this Overlord that is or whatever was his name…we are on our own. The army is probably still headed toward us…we need to get back.”

***

Within Alikh and only a few hundred kilometers where the dragon had just shown, the overlord’s army was headed toward Alsa.

However in but a single day the Overlord had lost three of his closest and dearest…

He was agonized and felt sadness and wrath.

The Overlord had never thought the humans to be capable of such a feat. Even defeating one devil lord would have been an utmost surprise to him. But three? It was unbearable

Not only they. Even Lerdakh who was supposed to be an undying creature had lost his light.

The Overlord would feel the pain and loss of every one of his followers…would feel their agony and their strife and would also feel their death. Because it was he and only he, that gave them a life and a purpose.

The Overlord had seen the battle near the borders of Alsa and Alikh. He had seen the descent of a primordial being and was considering to retreat at once…he lost connection to every single one of his kin at once the moment the primordial spoke…in that moment he knew his chance at getting to the true world with that being in play was nonexistent…he would have retreated then and there but thankfully he managed to get a hold of a hidden contractor. One of his many spies that would broadcast what was happening.

The being spoke inside his mind and disclosed that he would have no hand in taking down the Overlord.

This would give the leader of the demonic army the chance and hope that he may be able to exit this prison. Although having lost his precious devil lords…he was more than enough to obliterate the humans to the last one.

The leader would then screech and command the army to continue on with their march. Heading to where Vasbokh had died.

Too sad and too sorrowful yet vengeful and decisive. He marched knowing that their sacrifice would not be in vain.

The devil lord had yet to find out that the death of one of his strongest being Lerdakh was caused by another being of immense might and strength…

His unawareness of the cause of death of Lerdakh was caused by the very presence of the Everlasting silence that cut off every, and all connection to where he had descended.

***

“Alright…now that that is done we should probably head back to Alsa…I guess that by this time Drakhsis would have managed to get there in time.” I said to no one in particular.

The devil within me then said

“Wait” he said

“What is it?” I asked

“It’s been long since you last fed your weapon.”

I immediately understood what he meant. Before all this started I would have fed the weapon any demonic weapon I managed to get my eyes on. It would give it a small boost of power and make it sharper and if lucky will grant me another transformation to the sword. However that task was rare as not many demonic weapons were present…but now there is an abundance of them and I would make sure to feed mine the best, and the tastiest

I got closer to the scythe and ordered the blade to feast

Once again the blade transformed into a giant mouth made of living flesh and fangs and engulfed the whole weapon despite its weight and size.

It took but a second before the blade had managed to eat the scythe and another second for me to receive a shock from my own blade. The thing became lighter and felt sharper while it brimmed with power.

“You unlocked another transformation for the blade. I will show you how to use it later.” Said the devil

This is going to be interesting…I should probably do this a few more times but it seems this battlefield is deprived of demonic weapons…only this devil lord’s weapon is here…what a waste that I never thought about feeding it back at Astora…

“It would have been useless anyway. A devil lord’s weapon would have more power than the combined energy of all of those you had slain before in that battlefield…furthermore too much time had passed since they died. And getting their weapons now is pointless. As the energy within it had long before dissipated…”

What a shame…

An envoy of the Astartian army soon arrived and knelt in front of me.

“My lord!” said the man…and I have no idea why I am being called lord…”We are most thankful to your assistance and help…I still cannot understand how the dead rose back, but it must have been you that managed to do so and in this act I and every single one of our brethren thank you…we are all in your debt and would like to repay you with our lives once more…”

Hmm…to repay me with your lives once you just lost them…

“It was not I that brought them back” I had to say this otherwise they would probably confuse me with some deity or something and that is something I don’t want “The one that did so left and would certainly not do it again. The people who have died should consider themselves lucky and go back to their families. I have a demonic army to destroy and I don’t think that they should risk their lives once more.”

“We will!” said the man “We knew that it was you that helped the Astorian army that time…and you still came to help us here…we will follow you Alsa and would be honored to give our lives to you a hundred times more…”

…it is like he is a fanatic devotee…

“Do what you want.” I said and began walking toward the fortress

The red haired man soon appeared next to me and said

“My lord…that was an amazing display of strength…can we ask of you to follow you one more time?”

I shrugged at him and walked away saying the same thing

“Do what you want.” Only adding “the fortress will move in one hour. Make sure that if you want to come to be there.”

And went away leaving all and everyone behind me

I also failed to mention I used the partial transformation to sprout out two draconic wings and flew toward the fortress.

Leaving many of the spectators in awe.

***

(Yuna POV)

Once again I was unable to say anything…

He just came, saved us all and went away without waiting for praise or thanks…

It is the same…he never expected to be praised when he helped us back at school…he never gloated with what he had done when he helped us all back at the fairy forest…he never even said anything even though I betrayed him the cruelest and harshest of ways…why is he doing this…why is he not mad? Why is he not angry? Or even upsets why is he treating me with indifference?

Perhaps this is my punishment…being ignored is more than I deserve.

I then saw a man I met that time back at the crucible…it is the redhead man that left at the twenty fifth level.

He noticed me too and with a gleeful smile he approached.

“It is good to see you again...I actually was shocked at first when I knew that the girl I had met that day in the crucible both left at the fiftieth floor and was in fact the new clan leader of the water dragon clan in Alsa…congratulations on both your achievements. Miss Yuna.”

I gave a small bow to the man saying

“It is good to see you again Captain Commander. Can I ask you something though?” I said

“Yes please.” Politely said the man

“How do you know Arvion-san?”

“Arvion?” said the man then in a moment he said “Ah you mean that person…so his name is Arvion…well he was the one that helped us back at Astora and was the reason that we managed to defeat the army that invaded us…and now I am serving him until he releases me or the king himself asks me to come back.”

…so he was the reason behind the unexpected and fast victory of Astora.

“But can I ask you something back?” said the man “How do you know him? You seem to know his name too…”

I then answered

“We met back at the crucible…he helped me clear the first fifty floors…”

The man nodded to my statement and said

“Then I will be leaving you. The Astorian army had decided to follow this person…Arvion you said his name was. To battle against the Overlord. The Astartians have probably reached the same decision seeing that with his help not only they managed to win the war…their dead rose back…quit an amazing thing I could say…”

Yes the dead rose back…I have no idea how he did it…but he did it

Even the man from the Verda clan was back up as if nothing had happened to him…I saw him jotting about how he was sure to have seen some sort of light in a tunnel but he was forced back here…

“I will need to discuss this matter with the other clan heads to see if we are to follow you all. After all we have to. The final fight will probably be inside Alsa’s borders…”

“Very well” said the man

And then he left. Almost skipping in his steps while he headed toward the city that came from above.

I turned toward the Lightning clan head and looked at the girl in his hand…she was recovering her spirit and was probably sleeping at the moment.

I said to the man

“What do you think?” I said as I knew he must have heard what the redheaded man said

“I don’t need to think about this. The final battle will be at Alsa or its borders…we need to be there.”

“I thought the same.” Said the fire clan head who just appeared behind me along with the earth golem clan leader

“We will follow this…Arvion…”said the clan leader while giving a conspicuous look towards me. “However we will need to meet with him first before we understand his motive and desire for aiding us…there is nothing for free in this world and fighting wars for others is expensive…”

“What do you suggest then?” said the earth golem clan leader

“We will meet him back at that flying city…he should be there shouldn’t he?” rhetorically asked Ryouka Gaz

Within minutes the entire army of Astarte that was composed of more than one hundred thousand soldiers was moving toward the city.

Our own forces climbed back to our own flying ships and waited for orders.

We however the clan leaders and all the envoys from the different countries walked toward the city.

It took us some time before we got there but we managed to do so before the waiting period that Asura gave would end.

Once we got up the golden stairs and pass the great gate of the fortress we saw an enormous crowd of people inside the city…both admiring and fearful.

The city was almost ruined but the walls and the crumbling building would almost tell a tale of a battle that happened here long ago.

The streets were packed with warriors and soldiers wearing different uniforms and are from different countries…exchanging pleasantries and humor to lessen the stress and the anxiousness that they were all feeling.

The path to the main building or the central building that was a giant pyramid was opened to us once we reached the main street leading to it.

Warriors and mages would bow and walk back giving us way to get to the pyramid with ease.

Once we climbed the stairs of the pyramid we reached its halfway point where an open red gate was.

There were numerous statues made of gold and jewels showing some sort of deity that had several arms.

Getting inside the room we saw him.

He was siting like a king on a throne made of bones skulls and swords.

He had both his hands and legs placed on hand and leg rests of the throne making it feel like if he was born to be there.

The room was littered with those same golden humanoids that were…cleaning the place obviously as one of them was holding three sweepers and doing housework. Interesting…

Ryouka-sama chuckled at the sight and said

“Asura…You grew strong” said the old man.

“How did you know” modestly replied asura

“The Devourer my son…only you should be able to wield it…” said Ryouka Gaz

“Humpf…quite observant of you” said Asura and this time he placed his hand on his mask and removed it.

He did not change…not by one bit. Even though he looked muscular and had purplish strands of hair…his face was the same…if not for the indifferent gaze he was giving all of us…

“So what do you want old man?” said Asura

“Nothing really…I am here to thank you for your help…and have some questions for you but it seems that you are busy…” said Ryouka-sama while looking at the ‘servants’ still doing their job at cleaning the hall.

“Not really…I am just not in the mood for answering any questions now. Maybe later, once we kill the Overlord that is.”

The lightning clan leader then spoke

“Would you allow us to go with you?”

“I do not care. You can do whatever you want. I will be heading there anyway so if you like you can enjoy the ride as I was about to take off right now.”

Once he said so, his right eye began to shine in a golden light and the whole city began to rumble.

The fortress began to levitate and rise to the sky while I did my best to not lose my balance…not like if any of the other leaders budged from their position or even showed signs of losing their footing.

“We will reach Alsa in matter of hours. So enjoy the stay.” Said Asura

I opened my mouth to say something but had my shoulder grabbed by the fire clan head

“Let’s go my child” said Ryouka-sama “it is not time yet” he added while whispering.

I gave him one last glace before I turned my back and walked away with the other clan leaders only leaving some of the envoys from the other kingdoms with him.

“Why did you stop me” I asked

“You need to choose your words carefully young lady. It is not the time nor the place to speak about the past. We will need to do so after this whole ordeal is over…he is just a kid and you need to understand the weight that he is carrying. It is not the time…not yet at least”

I have no idea what the old man was speaking about but I still moved away…hoping that I might get the chance to redeem myself…