(Tyler)

I'm not sure how long I spend staring off into the distance before I turn around and begin to make my way back to the Frost Giants' capital.

I couldn't even give him a funeral.

I'm a bit confused by him turning to ash, but I guess that blazing nature of his took over. It's weird, though. The entire time he was fighting, it wasn't like he was draining himself of Mana. It wasn't until the end that his Mana depleted rapidly. Or rather, when he manipulated the Elemental's fire. When he did that, he lost probably 2/5's of his total Mana.

I don't understand it, but I shouldn't dwell on it. I need to get stronger, so I can do what he dreamed of doing. It sounded like fun, and now I need to do it.

"What happened?" The King greets me when I enter the throne room. "You returned without Firebrand."

"Colt died in the last stage of the Advancement," I respond. "We had to fight a Fire Elemental, and he sacrificed his LIF in order to manipulate its flames, so I could kill it. On the Second Stage, we had to fight a Lich and some strong skeletal warriors, and he sacrificed LIF there as well, to manipulate the Death-Fire. If he hadn't done that for even one of those, we'd both be dead."

"I'm sorry," the King lowers his head.

"Don't be," I shake my head, putting on a smile. "He died with a smile on his face, and happiness in his eyes. He died having fun, and that's all that matter. For now, I need to get stronger, so that I can handle the job we were both going to do."

"We can push the assault back a couple of weeks," the King nods. "Past that, we'll need to act. Know that, now that you're in the Third Tier, it will take a great deal more for each Level you gain."

"I understand," I nod. "How high do you think I can hit, before we go?"

"In two or three weeks?" He thinks for a moment. "Possibly Level 10, fighting Frost Ogres."

So 50 AGI, 30 INT and STR, and 20 WIS. Not too huge of a boost, but it's still a good boost. Then factor in whatever other Classes I'll take on, hopefully a couple of good combat ones, and I'll be a decent bit stronger.

Oh, right. His Mana Pool is massive, and probably at least half mine more, or more than that. And he probably increased Gravity Manipulation at least once or twice, so it only makes sense that he'd be able to sustain the gravity field that long.

But even while using other magics, and making his gravity act differently and actively control it? How did that not drain him too much?

"You okay?" The King asks, and I realize I was shaking my head.

"My thoughts aren't entirely clear," I answer. "Colt was my first friend ever. He's the first person who didn't change how he acted to me after finding out I was a prince, the first person who treated me like a friend, the first person who was willing to compete against me for the sake of fun. The first person who'd compete with me, despite me being a prince."

I slap myself with both hands at the same time.

"There!" I say. "Better! I need to train some more. When do you think I can go hunt some?"

"There's a group of a hundred demons," he says. "Nearing one of our camps. You can reach there in two hours, which should coincide with their arrival. After, the squad accompanying you can take you to a nearby Frost Ogre camp. There are around forty of them, just like in the fight you had before. However, remember that this time, Firebrand isn't there to watch your back, Blizzard. You cannot be as reckless as you were then."

I nod, then he arranges for a group of ten Frost Giants to accompany me to the other tribe.

When he said 'two hours', he meant with a lot of speed. Damn were they quite the distance away. The mountain's a lot, lot bigger than I thought.

When we arrive, the Frost Giants are beginning to charge at the demons.

Visualizing a spell from my Tome, I lift a hand up into the air, feeling my magic swirl around my hand.

"Icebolt Fury."

The moment I say that, more Mana begins to drain, and a storm of Icebolts begin to descend from the sky, slamming into the demons. I hold the spell until every last Demon is dead, the Frost Giants staring at them and the sky in wonder.

Once the final demon dies, I release my spell, and the Frost Giants look over at us. I drop my hand back to my side, feeling a grin form on my face as they stare at me in shock.

Kosar, the Frost Giant I'm riding, laughs, walking over to the otheres.

"There is a human on your shoulder," the largest of the Frost Giants in this group keeps his eyes on me. "And he just used magic to aid us."

"Blizzard is a prince of the Kielvarn humans," Kosar says. "He has come to assist us.

I gained 87% Experience from that.

"Humans? Assisting our kind?" The other Frost Giant snorts. "Since when? What sort of magic has he-"

"None," Kosar interrupts him. "Blizzard came with a friend, Firebrand, on his Quest of Heirs. He has come to aid us against the demons. Firebrand died during their Advancement to the Third Tier. His Majesty has ordered us to protect Blizzard as he hunts Frost Ogres, to gain as many Levels as he can before the time comes to battle the demons and clear out the cave. He and Firebrand possessed knowledge we hadn't."

"I don't trust humans," the other Frost Giant snarls. "He may have fooled all of you, but humans are all the same. He likely wants to find a way to kill our kind, and-"

"Make your Title public," Kosar instructs me, so I do, and the other Frost Giant's eyes widen.

"I already can," I say. "And so could my friend. In fact – he did it first."

"Firebrand," Kosar says. "Was also a Gravity Mage. When these two fought, they came out unharmed against Frost Ogres, and killed ten each in a single match by themselves."

"I will not allow a human in my vill-"

Kosar doesn't allow him to finish, lifting up a hand, a spear of ice forming and thrusting through the other Frost Giant's chest.

"Why'd you do that?" I ask.

"Majesty's orders," he says. "You are our ally, and he," he gestures to the now-dead Frost Giant. "Would have attempted to kill you, had I not ended him. That is why he sent us to accompany you. You are our most powerful ally, Blizzard, and so he has ordered his most powerful warriors and magicians to accompany you, to ensure your survival. We will rest here for a few hours, to recover the stamina and magic we lost on our travel, and for you to recover your magic. Then, we will go hunt down that tribe of Frost Ogres."

The other Frost Giants allow us to enter their village, and we rest for a couple of hours.

Over the next week and a half, we travel the kingdom, killing demons and Frost Ogres. Kosar also speaks in private with several Frost Giant Chieftains, and some of the Frost Wolves, who I cannot understand.

Each day, before bed, I use Mana Shroud as strongly as I can, then once I run out of Mana, switch to Aura Shroud. Though both will likely be useless once we're a little bit into the caves, it'll help in the beginning.

After that, we meet up with the main force of the Frost Giants, which has begun to gather near the caves, the King himself present. I reached Level 11 in that time, and feel more powerful.

A lot more powerful. I can't help but wonder just how powerful Colt would be, if he were still alive. I'm at over 500 Mana and 200 Aura. He'd probably have over 800 Mana and 500 Aura.

We wait for the rest of the troops to arrive, and the demons gather outside, tens of thousands of demons of all varieties in an encampment around the caves.

I feel powerful, but I don't feel that powerful, and I wish Colt was here, especially now that the mountain's passed away. It may take me longer to revive him, without Colt assisting, and I can't use Shroud, in case the demons decide they want to attack us before we're ready for war.

We can't attack them now, either, lest they attack us, and the battle begins early.

So for now, we watch, and we wait, and I meditate.

On the third night before the planned battle, a powerful presence wakes me from my sleep. I can sense the sheer force of magic within it from here. The sheer force of magic within it, and the sheer hopelessness we have at fighting it.

How many Frost Giants will die just to kill whatever that is?

I wait in my tent, but no one comes to me, so I turn back in, sleeping uneasily the rest of the night. In the morning, I sense some sort of barrier, and the King tells me that they put up a shield to block the miasma.

"Miasma?" I ask. "What's that?"

"An unpleasant feeling caused by the power of demons," he holds a hand down. "Step on."

I do, and he begins to walk. The air doesn't look any different, but as soon as we pass through their erected barrier, it feels hopeless again.

He leads me near the demon army, and the unpleasant feeling turns to horror when I see what's standing there.

A demon twice the size of the King, his skin pitch-black with crimson lines flowing across it. Two massive horns spiral out of its head, its molten red eyes glaring at us.

"He hasn't attacked us, no matter how many times we approach," the King says as I finally tear my gaze away, looking to the caves' entrances.

They were anywhere from six feet to twenty, but now, their main entrance – the one that was twenty feet – is now a hundred feet in height. Will there be more coming?

"Brother," the massive demon says, looking at the entrance, and a second demon just as tall walks out. This one has a similar body to the first, but scaled across his body, save his face, unlike the skin of the first demon. "Welcome out of your slumber."

"The others still sleep," the second one greets him. "It will be a couple more days before we've all broken free."

There are two of them, and that miasma whatever is only stronger with the second one's arrival.

"That is fine," the first says. "The mountain is dead, and even the god wouldn't dare interfere with us."

"The god?" The second one asks, then looks at us. "Frost Giants and a human. How interesting."

"Leave them," the first says. "They can't do anything to us, so we might as well save it for when the others wake. I do not believe there are humans alive anymore who possess the power to send us back into slumber."

"What god?" The second one asks.

"There is a god," the first one points to Shira's Peak. "On the highest peak of this mountain range."

There is? No one's ever managed to climb all the way up, there are too many monsters around, and it's said that, the higher up we go, the colder it gets, and even our people become affected by the cold, there.

The Frost Giants told me that they can go a little bit past where we can, but even they do not know what lies at its peak.

"Are you sure the god will not interfere?" The second one asks.

"He hasn't touched us yet," the first responds. "And while he has the sheer power needed to kill us, his lack of doing so tells me that he doesn't care. He feels like an Old One."

"An Old One?" The King mutters. "Never heard of them."

"Never heard of them," the second says.

"I am, perhaps the only Demon Lord sealed here who would," the first nods. "The Old Ones are gods of unimaginable power, far more than any other. They possess no Divine Aura, unless they so with it. I know of two by power, and five, total. Kielra, the God of Fire and Rebirth, and the Father of the Phoenix. Neasi, the God of Everything Cold and Dark, including the wind. Toura, the God of Wastelands. Shiis, the God of Learning."

"I'm assuming it's Neasi on the peak?" The second Demon Lord asks.

"I do not know this one's power," the first Demon Lord responds. "It could be Neasi, could be Kielra – though I doubt it – or could be one I haven't heard of."

"You said you knew of three by power," the second Demon Lord comments. "But listed two you didn't."

"I know of this one by power, in technicality," the first Demon Lord nods. "He was here before we were sealed, and didn't bother to participate, which is why it is safe to say that he won't this time, either. Though I was referring to the fifth Old One I know of, who I didn't list."

"Who is he?"

"One so far above the others," the first Demon Lord looks up at the sky. "That to call him an Old One is to understate his powers. Not even the other Old Ones could compare to him. This Old One is Tyr, the God of Fun and Games, Riddles and Mysteries, Hopes and Dreams, Challenges, Creativity, and Imagination."

So the Old Ones are older and more powerful than the gods, and Tyr is even older and more powerful than them?

"What is this in my vision?" The scaled Demon Lord asks.

"The System," the first Demon Lord responds. "It appears that Tyr got bored, and implemented it."

The King turns and walks back to camp. The twenty thousand Frost Giants that will be gathered, along with fifty thousand Frost Wolves, doesn't feel like enough, especially not with those things here. Those two could probably wipe us out by themselves, and there were at least two hundreds thousand demons in their encampment. The ones standing twenty to thirty feet in height were bad enough.

I also saw at least a dozen around forty feet in height.

We're doomed. We're absolutely, positively, utterly doomed.

The next two nights, three more of the Demons Lords appear, along with another two hundred thousand demons. Maybe three hundred thousand. There are too many to keep track of.

The miasma is powerful enough that the barriers don't alleviate their effects at all, and I'm scared. I'm really, really scared. I wish Colt was here. If he was here, we could merge our magics together, amplifying their effects. It might not be enough to wipe them all out, but it'd give us a surviving chance.

On the final day, our troops begin to move, and when we arrive, the two forces stare at each other, the Demon Lords watching us. Waiting for us to make the first move, probably.

There isn't a chance in the world that we're going to survive, so why even bother?

Though the Demon Lords move slowly, all five of them jerk their heads to look at Shira's Peak at the same time.

Then, the first one raises a hand, a shimmering, crimson barrier forming in the sky.