After a month of travel through occupied dwarven lands moving around the outskirts of every settlement, we had finally made it to the outskirts of the Imperial Daemon Capital. It laid at the base of a large mountain, on the mountain, within the mountain, and underneath the ground surrounding it. The whole thing was lit like a Christmas Tree, with what I could only assume to be torches or some other magical means. We stood on a hill overlooking the outer walls. We were exhausted. While I had been eating and drinking my fill thanks to the Mark of the Hero. The women in my group had long since run out of rations and had been surviving by their mana strengthened constitutions alone.

Dean, “I say we blow up the mountain.”

Catherine, “And poke the proverbial wasps' nest?”

Dean, “Yes, but hear me out. Say we blow up the area near the peak, it will cause a rock slide that kills most of their forces and draw out the Daemon Emperor. Not only will his mind be clouded by anger and possibly grief but he will be injured as well.”

Catherine, “Fuck it. Let's do it. What do you say, your Holiness?”

Aria, “Huahh, fine but we’re getting a few hours of sleep first. We attack at the darkest hour of the night.”

Dean, “So four hours past midnight?”

Aria, “Yes! Now sleep.”

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I got up off the ground then watched as Talia and Aria got up after me, Catherine was already up overlooking the Imperial Daemon Capital. I walked up to her right and stood overlooking the city, in the calm yet near-deadly peaceful moment. Like standing a few steps from the edge of a cliff on a clear day without wind. The calm before the storm you could say.

Dean asked, “Say you guys like praising your god, the great storm, but what kind of god is he?”

Catherine, “A god of creation, mana, and magic. He, himself is the source of all magic or at least mana. A distant god, a calm one. Always watching at least he used to before he went to sleep, after getting wounded by the vile serpent Or’crox. Ya know they say Razyl passed onto us the divine language, supposedly the source of that knowledge was the great storm. I can’t help but wonder what it’d be like if Ethereal did it himself. If he felt more invested in us as a species, you know they say we are one of the favored races. Somehow I don’t feel very favored.”

She said as she crushed a rock in her hand and let its dust slip through her fingers into the wind. She then turned around a walked back to the group and as she did so I couldn’t help but wonder what kind of god left their creations to this…..

Catherine turned around facing me and said, “Let's get ready okay.”

Dean replied, “Ya sure thing.”

I drew Ethereal’s Blade, Talia drew her sword and shield taking a defensive position in front of Aria as she began to chant different buffs. We each glowed with cyan auras after each chant. Catherine’s hands began to glow and she asked, “Everyone ready?”

Aria, “Yes, Sister Catherine.”

Talia, “Without a doubt.”

Dean, “Yup.”

Catherine, “Good, because this is gonna burn through my whole cultivation in one shot.”

Aria, “Wait! What! Catherine don’t.” She said with an outstretched hand towards Catherine, as Talia held her back.

Catherine’s hands glowed cyan, becoming brighter and brighter as her hand came close together in front of her. A cyan orb appeared in between her hands grow bigger before being condensed and becoming slightly brighter. This continued over and over each time the orb growing brighter. At a few points, it couldn’t condense and grew sightly bigger until there was a bright ball of mana kicking up strong winds randomly. Catherine’s hair moving chaotically in the gust of wind. The orb slowly became a cone then began spinning faster and faster.

Catherine, “Here goes fifty stages of cultivation.”

Catherine then released the spell, her feet creating grooves in the ground from the sonic boom. I stumbled and Talia shielded Aria, as the spell flew past the speed of sound into the mountain. I watched and waited a few seconds, before suddenly with the sound of a thousand thunderclaps, the lower middle of the mountain exploded and came tumbling down onto the city. The palace going with it.

A red light flew out of the giant palace as it tumbled down and hung in the sky, before shouting in rage, “Who dares challenge Regent of Or’crox, Descendant of Arachnoc, 5th Monarch of the Daemon Throne, Daemon Emperor Xaches Dunderes Arachnocez?!!!!!”

I summon my arc and cast a spell of levitation and fly up towards him. He looks like a seven-foot tall man, with massive bulging muscles, a slender long pointed tail covered in black exoskeleton like scales, two massive bat wings on his waist flapping in the air, abyssal black skin like the void itself, four crimson blood-red glowing eyes, and a really ugly mug. All he wears is a pair of black baggy pants with a loincloth over it embroidered in red thread.

I float in the air in front of him, and said, “Me!”

Before throwing an arc bolt his ways which he dodged only for me to come in with Ethereal’s Blade for decapitation, but he blocks with his hand and I end up slicing off his fingers, along with half his palm. He backs off quickly the tip of the blade only just cutting his skin and drawing blood in a diagonal line along his neck. He touches his neck, then stares at the blood before looking back at me, his eyes glowing brighter in his anger, he yells, “YOU DARE!!!”

However next thing he knows he’s falling from the sky because I fired off arc bolts into one of his wings creating a bunch of holes. While he’s in a free fall I dive in taking his other wing in a single slice. I go in for another attack but a red spherical shield of corruption is thrown up around him, his arm extended. I stab his shield and I am able to penetrate but only half the blade gets through and the shield stays intact. I notice he’s almost landed and pullout before flying off. He crash lands into the black craggy ground and makes a crater.

I land on the edge of the crater softly and slide down to the bottom. I reach out with my firing five arc crystals and twist my hand then swipe it away, materializing a hand from the arc crystals stuck in the shield that pulls and breaks off a huge chunk that's almost half his shield, before the rest flickers then disappears. The Daemon Emperor charges forwards swiping at me with his still good right hand. I dodge back and cut down taking his right forearm. I move in for a stab before I get tackled from the side out of nowhere.

The Daemon Emperor Xaches, “Ancestor!”

I look and see a Voluptious Daemoness with lavender skin two red eyes and black armor-like scales extending from her back toward her front, two horns, medium wings on her waist, and a black armor-like scaly tail ending in the shape of an arrowhead, on top of me. She bares her rows of pointed teeth and four large canines before attempting to swipe at my neck with her claws. I grabbed her wrist and twist snapping its bones. She shrieks and jumps back off in fear. The Daemon Emperor kneels toward her and says, “Please forgive me, Ancestor Mendes!”

Ancestor Mendes, “SILENCE!!!! Fool, did I not warn you never to speak that name!”

I rush at her open left side and decapitate her in one fell swoop. I see the Daemon Emperor’s open mouth and roll away, before crouching as he appears right in front of me I slash diagonally at his chest creating a great gash in his chest that bleeds profusely. He opens his mouth and blasts corruption at me in his rage and I don’t even need to dodge because of the Mark of the Hero. Instead, I swing Ethereal’s Blade and send a blade of Mystic at that same gash. He doesn’t even dodge and is almost cut in half diagonally. However, he protects his heart at the last moment with a shield of corruption. Unfortunately for him, I already cut several arteries and internal organs, including the bottom of his lungs, the man can’t even breathe. He doubles over bleeding out on his knees. I walk up to him perfectly calm, despite the intense adrenaline pumping through my veins, threatening my calm focus. I cut off his head. My thoughts slipping out my mouth I say, “Always confirm the kill.”

I go over to his head and stomp it with my Ursine Strength, crushing it. I take arc in my hand turn into flames and burn the remnants of the head and the body. I then turn around and do the same to this supposed ancestor of his. Next thing I know I’m climbing out the crater with my adrenaline wearing off. I meet up with my group and we head out back the way we came.

Catherine asks with an exhausted look on her face, “So you kill him?”

Dean, “Ya, I burned the bodies and everything. What about you? You gonna be okay?”

Catherine, “Ya, my body is still strengthened from decades of cultivating mana all the way up to stage fifty. I’ll be fine just need a few decades to rebuild my cultivation base.”

Dean, “Damn, how old are you? Oh sorry, that was rude.”

Catherine, “I’m 45 and yes it was.”

She proceeds to lightly punch me in the arm as we all walk off into the distance.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

In the end, we returned Ethereal’s Blade to the dwarves after I insisted and headed back to a Kingdom in ruins, luckily after the daemon army heard about the capital they pulled back. Both the Dwarven Empire and the Ori Kingdom would be able to make a full recovery while the daemon’s fought among themselves for control.

We were standing where I was summoned when I decided to ask the question that was bothering me since I got here.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………

I stared at the hero with the Ethereal Tome open reading its contents my paladin Talia at my side when the hero asked me a question.

Dean, “So is there a way to send me back home?”

I looked at the page with the instructions to send him back to his world and shut the Ethereal Tome.

Aria, “No.”