“Titus! What are you doing?!” Jake called back.

However, Titus still wasn’t moving.

“Come on, Titus! Run!” Jake called out and started back towards him.

He was interrupted by 2 messages from the System.

System: Titus is no longer eligible to be in your party

System: Titus has left the party

Then Titus started screaming.

The screams were normal initially, but as he continued, they became deeper and more guttural. Jake froze and watched in horrid fascination as Titus’ body caught on fire and then started growing.

However, their enemy hadn’t been sitting idle while all of that was happening. The dragon rushed Titus and whipped him with its tail.

No! He doesn’t have enough HP to survi-

Jake watched on in confusion as the tail bounced off Titus’ growing form without a single hint that the attack had occurred.

The dragon wasn’t going to leave off with just that, though. It charged forward and attacked with its foreclaws, making sweeping attacks that also bounced off harmlessly. When all that failed, it bit down on him, but that also had no effect.

Meanwhile, Titus no longer looked human. Skin and clothing had been replaced with black and red that looked like molten obsidian. The only recognizable feature left of him was his horns, and those had lengthened a great deal.

Titus… What are you? Jake asked.

Titus finally stopped growing, and he burst into an even greater inferno. He raised his head to the sky and gave a primal roar.

No. Jake watched in horror as the boss health bar appeared.

“NO!” Jake shouted.

It appeared, and it was labeled, “Demon Lord of Wrath.”

Jake had been frozen in one place for too long, but as the dragon took a deep breath, he finally convinced his body to move.

He managed to dive behind a tree just as the gout of flame incinerated everything around him. The tree that he used as cover was also burning and fell over in short order.

And that was just collateral damage. The dragon had been aiming at Titus… No. At the [Demon Lord].

Jake was at a loss for what to do, so he decided to retreat and regroup with the party first. Meanwhile, the final words of the prophecy kept playing in his head.

One to betray, and one to die.

---

I was seeing red. Literally, the entire world through my eyes at that point was a red hue. If I had been able to stir up any conscious thought, I might have wondered if that was because of the dragon fire pouring all over me or because of the new form I had been forced into.

However, wrath form didn’t leave much room for conscious thought. The closest that I had was…

Kill… Burn…

Fortunately for the party, my ire was directed at the scaley beast that had just attempted to light me on fire.

It growled at me, and I roared back. Then out of an instinct that I didn’t understand, I stretched out my hand. At the edge of my reach, a floating cloud of liquid darkness appeared. I reached in further and pulled out a giant great club that looked as if it was made from obsidian.

I roared at the dragon again as my club also lit on fire. It tried to back away from me, and I charged.

---

Jake located the rest of the party hiding behind the lip of a hill and looking down on the two monsters.

Sam was the first to call to him. “Jake! Where’s Titus!?”

Tim sighed and said softly, “You truly haven’t figured it out yet?”

“Shut up and listen!” Jake shouted. The party stared at him in shock, and that bought him the chance to calm slightly. He clenched his fist and said, “We’ve been betrayed. Titus is the [Demon Lord].”

He was interrupted by a roar, and the entire party turned to look.

The [Demon Lord] had pulled a giant great club out of nowhere and was charging the dragon.

The dragon tried to back away, but it was outpaced by the [Demon Lord’s] lumbering footfalls. It gave a devastating two-handed swing of its club and knocked the dragon over on its side.

Sam whooped. “Yeah! Kick its asp, Titus!”

“Quiet down!” Emilia hissed. “And why are you cheering for him? He’s the [Demon Lord]! He’s our enemy!”

The dragon had just risen unsteadily to its feet when another two-handed swing tossed it the other way.

Meanwhile, Sam shook her head. “So what if he’s the [Demon Lord]? He’s still Titus, and he just saved our lives!”

“So what?” Emilia asked. “So what?! If he’s the [Demon Lord], he caused all of those monster waves! He activated the earth dungeon right under our noses! And he’s been lying to us this entire time!”

Another roar from the dragon put the conversation to a brief halt. Apparently, it was tired of being knocked over and tossed about. It charged the [Demon Lord]. It got close and then whipped its tail around in the move that had nearly killed Titus. It was a direct hit, but it only caused the demon to stumble a bit, and Jake saw that its HP bar just went down a sliver.

The [Demon Lord] swung another reckless attack. However, the dragon was ready this time and managed to leap backward out of the way. Its tail shot forward from the other side and scored another hit.

Another sliver of HP was shaved from the [Demon Lord’s] health bar, and it bellowed in rage. The fire that had been surrounding it turned into a nova that shot outward from it. Everything in range was turned to char.

The dragon turned and ran, and Jake was worried that it would focus back on them. However, it took to the sky and started harassing the [Demon Lord] from the air with fire breaths. The dragon apparently hadn’t realized that it had no effect.

Turning back to the party, Jake said, “Okay, everyone. We need ideas for how to take that down. Now might be the best time since it’s distracted.”

Sam nodded in contemplation. “Alright. Since it’s flying, that means that it should probably just be me, Emilia, and Tim who shoot at it. We can hide behind trees-“

Jake cut her off. “I meant the [Demon Lord].”

Sam’s look changed to one of horror. “But.. That’s Titus! Jake, why would we kill him?!”

“That… thing is an abomination!” Jake snapped.

Garrett walked up and put a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “Jake, do your breathing.”

Jake almost turned his anger on Garrett, but years of conditioning made him instead shut up, breathe, and think.

Garrett continued. “I don’t know why Titus wouldn’t tell us about being the [Demon Lord]. I also don’t know why he would be trying to complete the quest. What I do know is that [Identify] puts both that dragon and the [Demon Lord] at level 25. We’d get killed in the crossfire if we tried to interfere.”

Meanwhile, Jake was picking through his emotions. There was hurt. Betrayal. Sadness. Anger. Those all were expected. However, the anger was… Off. He couldn’t quite place how.

He looked back at the monstrous dark-red and black form and shuddered.

Meanwhile, the party was slowly devolving into bickering and fighting when Jake realized there was one vital perspective they were missing. The perspective of a particular [Thief] who was currently hiding away from the conversation.

“Megan, come out right now,” Jake said. When she didn’t, Jake repeated himself. “Right. Now.” When she finally appeared, he asked. “How long have you known?”

She started sniffling. “I… I didn’t know that he was-“

Jake cut her off. “That won’t work twice.” He paused and stared her down. “How long have you known?”

Her tears immediately stopped. She sighed. “Would you believe me if I said after the earth dungeon?” At Jake’s doubtful look, she frowned. “That’s what I thought. I found out after our [Cleric] over there almost killed him interrupting his duel. He was talking to himself on the way back to Faroff, and I overheard.” She continued before anyone else could interrupt her, “Though, in our defense, neither of us knew about… That.” She gestured off at the monster in the distance.

That drew the party’s attention back to the fight. Apparently, the [Demon Lord] had gotten fed up with the dragon circling around it out of reach. The demon hefted the great club like an awkward flaming javelin and threw it at its aerial foe.

The throw went wide, but the [Demon Lord] didn’t seem deterred. It reached out and pulled another great club out of the cloud of darkness that appeared around its outstretched hand.

Jake watched the old club disappear but was still concerned. How many times can it do that? If the [Demon Lord’s] figured out a way to have an infinite number of ranged attacks… Jake was internally liking the odds of fighting it less and less.

This time, the demon waited for a better opportunity. It threw the club during one of the dragon’s dives.

This time, the dragon wasn’t able to maneuver out of the way. The club hit one of its wings, and it crashed heavily to the ground. The [Demon Lord] lumbered over to it, tackled it, and just kept beating it in the face and side.

The dragon eventually managed to shake its assailant off, and then it turned and leaped at the off-balance demon. It was the dragon’s turn to take its foe to the ground. It raked the [Demon Lord] with its claws and bit it in the neck.

The demon bellowed and sent out another nova of flame even as it kicked the dragon off.

Jake could tell even from that great of a distance that the dragon was afraid. It turned to run from the [Demon Lord] and almost managed to take off.

That was its last mistake.

The [Demon Lord] caught hold of the dragon’s tail before it could take to the air. Then the demon turned, swung the dragon by the tail over its shoulder, and slammed it bodily into the ground. The impact was hard enough to create a crater around the fire-breathing reptile, but the [Demon Lord] wasn’t done. It turned and did it again. And again. And again.

All Jake could do was watch as the Demon Lord of Wrath treated the dragon that nearly wiped his party as a plaything for its temper tantrum.

Eventually, the dragon stopped its struggling against the inevitable. After a few more slams, the [Demon Lord] bellowed out its victory. It then immediately turned in Jake’s direction and started lumbering towards the party.

That shook Jake out of his stupor. “Ship, it knows we’re here.” He had to decide between run or fight, and he made his decision in a heartbeat. “Run! Back to the caves!”

The party needed no second prompt, and they were off. “Megan,” Jake called. “We’ll deal with you holding back that information after we get out of this mess. Don’t think you got out of it.”

Her only reply was a non-committal grunt.

Based on how lumbering and slow the Demon Lord of Wrath had appeared, Jake had thought they would be able to outrun it easily. Especially since they were in a forest and had trees to slow it down. However, he was wrong on two counts.

First, it was indeed lumbering, but that didn’t mean that it was slow. It doesn’t matter how slow your strides are if they’re big enough.

Second, the trees didn’t help at all. The [Demon Lord] simply ran in a straight line as if they weren’t there and left a trail of felled, burning trees in its wake.

Together that meant it was slowly gaining on them, and Jake was worried they wouldn’t be able to make it to the caves in time.

His concerns were well-founded. The [Demon Lord] wasn’t content to just chase its prey. It levered its arm back and threw its flaming club once again.

Jake saw it coming and immediately warned the entire party via [Enhanced Party].

He wasn’t fast enough. Sam was directly in the line of fire, and she couldn’t dodge in time. Jake frantically tried to think of a way to help, but he was too late.

The club was just feet from her…

And Lindsey made it in the nick of time.

She grabbed Sam with her right arm and pulled her in while she raised her shield in her left. Her [Guard] skill paid off, and though the attack sent both Lindsey and Sam sliding twenty feet, she kept upright and lost almost no HP.

After that, Lindsey let go of Sam and slowly walked in the demon’s direction.

“What are you doing, Lindsey?!” Jake called. “You need to run!”

It was then that Jake heard Lindsey speak for the first time. Even with the chaos, he could still hear her subdued yet strained voice. “Titus… Please… Stop.”

Jake thought that she was foolish. That there could be no reasoning with that… Demon.

However, at Lindsey’s words, the [Demon Lord] paused. It was difficult to tell since its eyes were merely giant red orbs and its mouth was a jagged maw of obsidian, but the [Demon Lord] looked… Hesitant?

Sam also noticed. She ran up next to Lindsey. “Titus!” she called out. “It’s us! Your friends! Don’t you recognize us?”

The [Demon Lord] took a staggering step backward and raised its hand to its face. The flames dimmed momentarily. Then they returned full force as the [Demon Lord] took a heavy step forward. It roared, but the roar died in its throat as it stumbled backward again.

It’s… Fighting it. Titus is still in there!

Jake put his sword away and ran up next to the duo. “Titus! This isn’t you! You need to fight it!”

Titus looked his way. Then he bellowed. “[Hero]… [Hero]… [HERO]!” At the last roar, the flames erupted, and he pulled another club out of the ether.

Sam ran in front of Jake. “No, Titus! He’s Jake! A friend!”

The giant took one step forward and then paused.

“Jake,” Sam whispered. “Back off, and let us handle it.”

“[HERO]!” the [Demon Lord] roared again.

---

I had completely lost myself to the rage. It had overshadowed me, and my rational thoughts seemed so quiet and far away.

No! Stop!

KILL. BURN.

I don’t want to hurt them! They’re my friends!

However, I couldn’t hang onto that thought long enough for it to matter. I was also deluged in all of the reasons I should be angry with them.

They didn’t understand what I had gone through.

They hurt me.

They tried to kill me.

Lindsey’s plea reached me, though, because it forced me to focus on her and… there wasn’t anything I could hold against her. Sam was similar. I had no grudge against those two.

Stop!

KILL.

I SAID STOP!

I was able to silence the rage for all of a brief moment when HE ruined it all.

Jake came forward and called to me, and it all came rushing back.

[Hero]? What does he know about what I’ve been going through?

KILL.

Who is he to tell me I need to fight!?

KILL.

He doesn’t know anything!

I pulled out another great club and prepared to charge the [Hero] and end him forever.

---

Jake watched warily as the [Demon Lord] seemed close to charging them when an unexpected form ran into the gap.

“Titus!” Megan shouted. “Stop!”

The [Demon Lord] stared down at the tiny form of the [Thief] in front of it. “Meg… an,” its voice rumbled softer.

“Yes, it’s me, you idiot,” she replied. When the [Demon Lord] took one step closer, she continued. “Stop, alright? Remember your promise.”

“Prom… ise,” the demon replied. Its flames flickered. It grabbed at its head as if in pain, and it staggered backward.

Meanwhile, Jake tried to keep a low profile. It’s working, Megan! You’re reaching him!

---

No, no, no. I cried internally. Not her!

KILL.

No! Anyone but her!

Megan was my girlfriend. My love. Fighting back my rage for her sake should have been the easiest of all.

It was not.

Wrath form brought to mind everything that I could possibly hold against her. Her almost killing me when she first found out when I was the [Demon Lord]. Her attempt to steal from me in the tutorial. Even her deadpan statement that she would leave me to wolves the next time I got drunk was interpreted in the worst possible light.

Then she reminded me of my promise.

I promised to never hurt her! Please! Stop!

---

Jake watched as Megan stepped even closer to Titus.

“So stop being a demon and come back already,” she said. “Because…” She lifted her hand up to his colossal form.

He slowly reached down and took her hand. Though, the size difference meant that his hand engulfed the majority of her hand and forearm.

“I love you.”

---

Love is powerful. I won’t argue that point.

Maybe that’s why so many stories rely on love to bring people back from the edge of destruction, to calm a raging beast, or to bring about a last-minute redemption.

…

However, that’s not my story. So, maybe I simply didn’t love her enough.

All I can say is…

Megan…

I’m so sorry.

----

Jake watched in horror as Titus reignited.

Megan screamed. “Titus! No, stop!” Her HP that was already partially depleted from the dragon attack was dropping rapidly, and she tried to pull away but couldn’t.

Megan frantically pulled out her knife and stabbed it into the flaming hand.

Jake didn’t have time to react before the [Demon Lord] let go of Megan’s hand, raised its club, and brought it down. Megan HP bar was dropped to nothing instantly.

Jake was no longer willing to try to calm the [Demon Lord] down.

“Andrew! Get her back up now!” Jake shouted as he charged.

Andrew only hesitated half a second before he cast. “[Heal]!”

It wasn’t enough to bring her back up, so Jake called, “More!”

Andrew started his chant. “Power of light restore health to-“

He didn’t get to finish. The [Demon Lord] raised its foot and stomped the [Thief] into the ground.

Jake screamed in rage as Megan’s name disappeared from the party. “[SUNDER]!” he shouted. He dumped nearly half of his SP into the single attack.

He blinked forward with a thunderclap and sliced the [Demon Lord’s] leg.

Jake felt grim satisfaction as the hit landed.

It was short-lived. The demon backhanded him, and Jake was sent flying and then tumbling.

When Jake finally rolled to a stop, he noticed that he was at a third HP after the dragon attack and a single hit from the [Demon Lord]. Meanwhile, the [Demon Lord] was only missing a third.

The distance also gave him clarity. He had let wrath aura get the better of him, and he hadn’t even tried to counter it. Most of the party also looked on the verge of following his mistake and charging in.

He had a split second to decide on a plan, and he came to the first part of it immediately.

“RUN!” he shouted both aloud and through the party.

However, his enraged party members weren’t listening to him.

Emilia and Tim were attacking the [Demon Lord] from range. Andrew finished his [Cure] spell off and directed it at the enemy too. As for Garrett, he had literally entered [Rage] and rushed straight towards the demon. Only Lindsey’s timely [Guard] saved him from the first strike.

Meanwhile, Sam was sobbing and yelling at Titus, “How could you!?”

Jake needed to stop the aura. He ran towards the party even as he tried to summon his own aura to fight back. However, he struggled. Jake’s aura ran on positive feelings like friendship, courage, or hope. It was safe to say that he didn’t have very many of those to draw from at that moment.

He found one in the strangest of places. The prophecy that had been keeping him awake at night. One betrayal. One death. That part of the prophecy’s done. I refuse to lose anyone else!

Jake charged the [Demon Lord] while batting away its aura with his own. He watched as Lindsey was unable to protect Garrett, and he was smashed into the ground with a devastating swing. He had a small chunk of HP remaining, but the second club attack was on its way.

Jake reacted instinctively. He reached Garrett and swung his sword upward with all his might. “[POWER STRIKE]!”

There was a great clang as sword met club, and both [Hero] and [Demon Lord] stumbled backward.

Jake took the reprieve to beat out the wrath aura with his own and then shouted once again. “RUN!”

This time, the party listened. Jake helped Garrett to his feet, and they narrowly avoided another attack that made the ground shake under their feet. The one fortunate thing was that Garrett’s [Rage] had deactivated, so Jake didn’t have to literally drag him away from the fight.

However, Jake still had no plan aside from running to the caves. He wasn’t even sure if going through the portal was wise. We can’t just lead the [Demon Lord] back to Vir! Then inspiration struck. Wait… We don’t have to!

Jake relayed the plan through the party, and everyone was immediately on board.

Emilia fired one of her enchanted arrows at the ground. It made a simple smokescreen that caused the [Demon Lord] to lose them just for a bit. That was enough to get them the headstart they needed, and the party began their flight to the cave.

However, that makes it sound much more straightforward than it was. After the party picked up enough distance, the [Demon Lord] was back to throwing its improvised ranged weapon. Between Jake and Lindsey, they somehow managed to weather the storm. Jake used [Power Strike] or [Sunder] whenever they were off cooldown to stop the projectiles in their tracks, and Lindsey took the hit either with [Guard] or without it. Between Andrew healing her, health potions, and the blows that Jake managed to bat away, they managed to get to the caves with Lindsey at half HP and dangerously low SP.

When they finally reached the caves, they got another reprieve. The [Demon Lord] struggled to fit inside.

“Hurry, everyone!” Jake shouted.

The entire party sprinted through the portal, with Jake entering last. They then immediately turned and unloaded on the right portal arch. Jake [Sundered] it, spells flew, they threw everything at it.

If they couldn’t fight the [Demon Lord] and couldn’t outrun it, their best bet was to leave it trapped in the Dragonlands. All told, it was a good plan. There was one detail that ruined it, though.

Each and every one of their attacks bounced off with no effect. Not even Jake’s [Sunder] did anything to it, and he had dropped himself to -50 SP in the attempt.

Jake almost gave in to despair. They couldn’t fight it at their current level, and they couldn’t run forever. However, he noticed something odd. He wasn’t getting the level of detail that he usually got from [Enhanced Party] when they were in combat.

Tim must have noticed it too. “Did we… Did we lose him?”

“I… think we might have,” Jake replied slowly.

The entire party stared at the portal for about a minute. Then Lindsey finally stepped forward.

“No, it’s too dangerous!” Sam said.

Lindsey ignored her and strode through the portal with her shield at the ready.

She came back a moment later, walked over to Sam, and whispered to her.

“She said there was no sign of him… We’re… safe.”

Jake breathed a sigh of relief.

He also let go of his aura. The emotions it had been holding at bay hit the party full-force.

Tim’s brow furrowed, and he muttered, “I just don’t understand it.” Andrew came up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

Garrett sat down heavily as if he was a puppet with its strings cut. His expression didn’t give away anything, but Jake knew from experience that that look meant he was hurting a great deal.

Sam started sobbing, and Lindsey came over and wrapped her in a hug, even as she began crying too.

Emilia simply scowled at the portal and said, “I should have known.”

Jake’s emotions were in turmoil. He was hurt. Betrayed. Angry. Sad. He didn’t bother trying to control the anger, and it won out. He looked across the cave and saw Sam’s pet slime that she had left behind on this side of the portal. A slime that was summoned by him.

Jake yelled in frustration and drop-kicked it across the cave before squatting down and burying his face in his hands.

---

After the party had left through the portal, the wrath side of me apparently decided I had won.

I stopped trying to squeeze into the cave and instead went back outside. I roared my victory in a challenge to all around me. However, there were no enemies to oppose me, so I wandered aimlessly.

Until I received the System message.

System: Time Limit Reached. Wrath Form Deactivated

My body shrank back down to normal. The rage and the reddish haze slowly faded away. I felt as if I was coming out of a dream.

I looked down, and my hands that were shaking verified that it wasn’t.

“No,” I whispered. I immediately took off. It had to have been a dream, a vision, some type of hallucination.

I tore through the charred woods and eventually found it. The clearing of my nightmares. I walked up to her body as if in a daze, and fell to my knees next to her.

“No,” I whispered again. All I could do was repeat that same word, over and over again.

My heart was being torn into a thousand pieces, and I couldn’t stand the anguish anymore. I fell on top of her unmoving body and cried.

I don’t know how long I stayed in that state. However, I do know the first coherent thought that I had after it.

This… This is all my fault.

That paused my downward spiraling train of thought. However, it took it in a much worse direction.

No. I realized. This isn’t my fault. I stood up and then shouted at the sky, “Altsys!” When there was no answer, I yelled again, “Altsys! I know you’re there! Answer me!”

System : What do you want?

“You know what I want,” I growled. “Bring. Her. Back.”

System : I can’t. When I said there were no respawns outside of the tutorial, I meant it. Not even an admin can bring back the dead in Placeholder

“No,” I whispered. After a few seconds, I grit my teeth. “I have one last question for you then.”

System : Sure. What?

“Did you know?” I asked.

The silence was deafening.

“I said… Did. You. Know!?”

System: Attempting to activate Wrath Form

System: Wrath Form on cooldown. Cancelling

When he didn’t respond, I continued. “Why am I even asking? Of course, you knew! You knew exactly how this would play out all along. Didn’t you!?”

System : Titus, calm down and let me explain

I ignored him and clenched my fists as something inside of me snapped. “You took everything from me! My family, my friends, my job, and even my memories of home! But that wasn’t enough for you, was it!?” I shouted and shook my fist at the sky. “You let me make friends here. You let me think I had a chance at happiness in this new life. Just to tear it all away from me again!”

System : I assure you, there’s a reason-

“I don’t care!” I snapped. “I’m done listening to you! If I had a way to reach you, I would see you burn!”

Then, I finally realized something. I did have a way. I started laughing—a long, humorless, unhinged laugh.

System : Titus, no. You don’t want to go there. Please st0*$(!---------

This time I decided I didn’t need to verbally cut him off. I did it with a [Disrupt].

“The solution’s so obvious!” I laughed humorlessly again. “I’m sure Admin would just love to get his hands on the person who messed up his plans.”

System : Admin is literally a demon! And there’s no way he’ll come back unless you complete the quest! You don’t want to do this!

“Even better,” I said. “It looks like I’ll be able to leave this godforsaken world behind after all.” I laughed again. “And if you didn’t want me to side with the demon…” I leered up at the sky, “Maybe you shouldn’t have turned me into one.”

Altsys sent several more messages after that, but I completely ignored them.

I looked down on Megan’s body and whispered, “I couldn’t keep my promise, but I’ll keep this one, I swear.” I paused and choked back some of my tears. “AltSys will pay for this.”

I bent down and gingerly scooped her up. I wasn’t going to leave her body out to rot. She deserved a proper burial, at least.

The main question was how I could give it to her. I refused to leave her in an unmarked grave in the middle of nowhere.

Absentmindedly, I wandered back to the cave that housed the portal to Vir. I wandered aimlessly in the tunnels until I found a suitable room. “This will do.”

I gently laid Megan on the ground and began [Earth Striking] the wall to prepare her mausoleum.

I could only chip part of the wall away at a time, and the work was monotonous. However, I was grateful for that. My emotions were numb, and I didn’t want to feel anything. I didn’t even want to think of anything. However, that was a luxury I couldn’t afford.

The goal is back to completing the quest. Both so I can tell Admin about AltSys and so that he’ll be forced to take me back home because of the quest reward. I paused my attacks on the wall briefly. But how am I going to do that? The [Hero] and the rest of them will try to stop me. And if it ends in a fight, I’ll be little more than a speed bump to them without wrath form.

I shuddered at that. I already killed… No. I was already forced to kill someone with wrath form. I will not let that happen again. I went back to punching the wall, but it was a bit absentminded.

I need to be stronger. Strong enough to fight the party to a standstill and not get dropped to critical HP again. A bit of anger flared up at AltSys. Automatic transformation on critical HP after level 10. That was the feature you mentioned back then, wasn’t it? But you couldn’t even bring yourself to warn me what it was, could you!?

I buried my fist into the wall with an [Earth Strike] as the System gave me the same spiel about wrath form being on cooldown. I pulled my hand out of the wall and wept for a bit.

Then, drying my eyes, I focused again. “If the party attacks me, I’m no match for them without wrath form,” I muttered. “So, I can’t afford to go out until that is back up. But I also need to be stronger so that they can’t force me into it.”

I realized the solution to both of those issues and gave myself a curt nod. I began preparing for my plan even as I continued carving out Megan’s grave.

---

Jake had the party take turns watching the portal that night. If anything came through, the party was camped right outside and prepared to fight this time.

Fortunately, nothing came. Unfortunately, no one woke up the following day rested. It was hard for any of them to sleep after all of that.

The party ate breakfast in silence.

Jake was the first one to break it when he saw Sam still clinging to her stupid slime. “I thought I told you to get rid of that thing!”

Sam gripped it tighter. “This thing is named David Junior. And I won’t get rid of it!”

“Even though it was created by the [Demon Lord]? Grow up, Sam! It’s not a pet. It’s a monster, made by the enemy! A single word from it and that slime will turn on us!”

“I know!” she shouted. Then whispered softly. “I know he lied to us. I know I’m not-“ she paused while looking for the words. “I know that I act like a kid sometimes. I also know that you all were just humoring me about David Junior.” She looked back up at Jake. “But I can’t believe Titus would do this! There has to be a mistake! Or something has to be forcing him! The Titus I know would never betray us!”

“Did any of us ever really know him?” Jake asked. “He lied to us this entire time. He looked me straight in the eye and told me that he wasn’t the [Demon Lord].” Jake shook his head and whispered. “I trusted him. He was my friend.”

Garrett came up and put a hand on Jake’s shoulder. “He was a friend to all of us, Jake. We’re all hurting.”

Jake looked up at the sky. “I just want to know why. Why didn’t he tell me? Why did he claim the earth dungeon? Why did he-“ Jake choked up. “Why did he become a monster?”

“He might not have had a choice,” Tim said slowly. Jake looked up at him, and he continued. “You mentioned that he told you to run previous to the transformation, right?”

Jake nodded.

“Then perhaps he saw that transformation as the only way out.” Tim looked uncomfortable. “I hate to say this, but without Titus’ metamorphosis into the Demon Lord of Wrath… We all would have perished in the conflict with that dragon.”

“So you’re saying that… He became that to save us?”

Tim held up his hands. “It is only speculation. There could be other explanations, and we will only know for sure if we ask Titus himself.”

“You think that we should just… Ask him?” Jake laughed incredulously. “You actually think that will work?”

Tim sighed. “I do not know. I have tried using [Message], but I haven’t gotten a response. Either [Message] cannot reach the Dragonlands, or…” he whispered. “He is still in that form and cannot respond.”

That was at least something that they could test. They entered through the portal on high alert, and Tim attempted to send a [Message]. When that failed, they immediately turned around and went back to Vir. The party didn’t want to stick around in the Dragonlands in case the [Demon Lord] managed to hone in on them again.

They had no way of knowing that Titus was no longer in that form and that [Message] simply didn’t work on him because he lacked a last name.

Because of that, they came to the wrong conclusion that the form could last longer than they thought. Or perhaps even indefinitely.

So, the party discussed what they were going to do about the [Demon Lord]. It turned into a shouting match, but they eventually came to a decision.

---

Meanwhile, I continued working on my plan and on Megan’s grave. I eventually finished the latter and had a carved section of wall to place her body in.

I placed her in there gently and with no small amount of tears.

As I did so, I also softly took the emerald necklace off her neck. I clutched it in my hand.

So that I never forget what happened here.

I tucked the keepsake into my pocket and slid a piece of stone into place to seal her grave.

With that, I took a step back and looked at her stone mausoleum and the clumsy words I carved above her grave.

HERE LIES MEGAN POPE

BELOVED ROGUE AND THIEF

MAY SHE REST IN PEACE

I hadn’t trusted myself to write anything more. Anything else and my anger at AltSys would bleed through, and I didn’t want that to mar her resting place.

With that, I exited out to the hallway, where I had dumped a dave every time I had the mana for it. I added another one and then nodded. That should be enough. Now, to test the last piece.

I walked outside the cave and prepared to activate wrath form again. I needed to know how long the cooldown was because that was vital to my plan.

As for my plan, the first step was to get angry… Which wasn’t exactly difficult.

Sure enough, the message came once again.

System: Attempting to activate Wrath Form

However, this time there was no message stating that it was on cooldown. Satisfied, I used [Disrupt] and got the other message I was hoping for.

System: Cancelling

Good. I can stop it myself. I thought back to how I had been frozen in place when it had auto-activated and frowned. But that might only be the case when it’s voluntary. I need to stay above critical HP at all times.

I had decided on doing that test because I needed to know when it was back up. The worst-case scenario was that I wandered around the Dragonlands in wrath form and beat up dragons until it wore off. However, I was glad I didn’t waste the cooldown because it was the backup plan for the next step.

“Alright, time to hunt a dragon,” I said.

A level 10 hunting down a level 25 dragon. It should have been a glorious affair. It should have been a David and Goliath story. It should have been an epic tale that could be told for generations of the strength it would take to do that.

It was none of those things, and I couldn’t have cared less.

I placed my daves, went outside the cave, and made as much noise as possible to attract a dragon. When I eventually succeeded, I ran back to the cave as the dragon gave chase and uselessly tried to roast me with fire breath.

I ran inside, and the dragon was forced to squeeze in after me.

That was when I sicced the daves on it.

I had them spread all around the cave, on the floor, on the walls, and on the ceiling. It had no way to deal with all of them attacking at once.

Not that it didn’t try. It breathed in and was going to immolate the entire squad at once, but a simple [Disrupt] left the dragon breathing out nothing but hot air.

I had once calculated that a dave did 12 damage per second. I had summoned approximately 3 daves an hour for 24 hours because that was wrath form’s cooldown. Even with the daves that the dragon managed to kill, that was still easily 600 damage a second when they all latched on.

It didn’t have a chance for a second breath attack before it died.

System: New Achievement. Dragonslayer. Class Perk Points Gained 5

System: New Achievement. First Dragonslayer. Class Perk Points Gained 5

If I had seen those numbers before the trip to Dragonlands, I would have probably shouted for joy. Instead, I just nodded and took a numb look at things. Good. I’m up to 14 perk points. I can get an inventory, weapon use, and armor use. Then I took a step forward and felt wildly off-balance. It was much worse than the last time I leveled, and I knew that was a great sign.

Status.

Status

Name: Titus

Level: 18

Class: Demon Lord

Race: Demon Lord

HP: 330/330

MP: 60/247

SP: 390/495

Age: 24

8 levels. 80 HP, 60 MP, 120 SP. I guess I’m also not showing as a [Half-Demon] anymore. I shrugged at that part. Not that it matters. That cat is out of the bag anyway.

With that, I rested until my MP was back up to full. After testing my newly leveled body and getting used to its speed, I walked to the portal with the dave army in tow. I was sure that the party would be waiting for me on the other side. That I would have to fight my way past them to complete the quest.

That was the second reason I had prepared so many daves. I knew I was still no match for them alone.

However, as I strode through the portal, I saw an unexpected sight.

No one was around, and the tunnel leading to the portal room was completely collapsed.

I stared at that in confusion for a minute and then burst out laughing. “Well played [Hero]!” I said to thin air. “If you can’t beat the [Demon Lord], seal him away, right? Even worst-case scenario, you bought yourself a head start, didn’t you?”

I immediately set to work clearing a path for myself, and I enlisted the daves too. Even with their help, it took hours to finally get through. When I finally did, I took all of the daves back to the Dragonlands and set them in front of Megan’s tomb.

“Attack anyone or anything that comes here,” I ordered. I was not going to allow her resting place to be disturbed by anything.

With that, I said one last goodbye and went back to Vir.

I made my way out of the cave and [Earth Striked] the ceiling near the entrance until I caused another partial cave-in. Hey, I may have been on a quest with terrible ramifications for the entire known world, but that didn’t mean that I had to just let dragons come out of that cave and roast people whenever they wanted.

I looked to the north. “Well, [Hero], you may have bought yourself a head start, but you’re up against a level 18, untiring [Demon Lord].” I chuckled. “Good luck.”

I took off at a quick run. The race to the ice dungeon was on.