Alex swung his sword with the last ounce of strength in his body, slicing it through the Demon Knight to deal the final blow. The monster reeled back before disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

Another demon finally slain. The bastards were strong, requiring multiple hits from even a legendary-grade weapon before going down. But that foe was the last of the bunch. Alex could finally take a much-needed breather from the endless onslaught.

To his left, Luke battled against the two remaining Demon Knights at once. He held a battle axe in each hand and used them to expertly deflect the enemies’ strikes before slashing at them with a thunderous fury. His mythic blades pulsed with energy as they struck the demons down, making it look easy in the process. And no wonder. After all, Luke was the greatest Berserker in the world. But even he looked tired. The duo had fought swarm after swarm of demons with little aid, and it was all starting to take a toll on them.

Out of everything they had experienced during their ascend up the Dominion Tower, this was by far the most dire situation they had found themselves in. The final floor was not the place to get caught with only two people. It was all so different from what they had expected. The sweet talk of the strongest alliance ever formed heroically clearing the final floor seemed so distant now. What was supposed to be humanity’s most triumphant battle had turned into an utter catastrophe, the image of victorious heroes replaced with desperate, scrambling failures. And with every second that passed, defeat became more and more certain.

“Crap, there’s a few more coming.” Luke said, fatigue audible in his voice. “I’ll handle them. You take a break and assess the situation.”

Alex nodded and shifted his weight onto his sword. He hunched over as his chest expanded aggressively against his gold-plated armor, fighting hard to stabilize his breathing. He was completely out of stamina, and he couldn’t do much in this condition. Still, he hated that he couldn’t keep up with Luke. But it couldn’t be helped. Luke was one of humanity’s greatest warriors, even ascending so far as to gain the title of Chosen. Even though he hated lagging behind his best friend, it was moments like this that Alex was grateful to have Luke on his squad.

Alex crawled over a small hill and scanned the battlefield. The demon dominion looked exactly as mankind had always pictured hell to be. The black clouds that lingered above created a dark curtain over vast stretches of land engulfed in flames. Human bodies lay scattered all around as demons left them for dead to prowl for more victims. Among the dead were members of Alex’s squad; Milly, Damien, Sarah. All killed before his eyes. His heart burned with pain at the thought of their deaths, but he didn’t have time to mourn them. By the way things were going, he’d be joining them soon. In the distance a small squad was engaged in battle with a group of demons. He could only watch as they fell one by one to the vicious monsters.

Further in the distance, red and black castle walls stretched all the way up to the clouds. The Demon King awaited humanity behind those walls, his death being the condition for clearing this floor. Unfortunately, those walls remained unpenetrated.

As members of the third wave, Alex’s squad was supposed to be inside the walls right now, killing the Demon King. That was how the Three Star Alliance had planned everything: The first wave would create a clearing to the walls and hold it. The second wave would do the same inside the walls, making way to the Demon King. The third wave would fight and slay the final enemy.

But when Alex’s squad had entered the final floor, they found their alliance mostly dead, the first two waves failing to even make it to the castle entrance. Rather than an epic fight with the boss, the entirety of the third wave found themselves quickly overrun by monsters.

Not only were the demons strong, they were also smart. They broke apart his squad’s formation and targeted the back line one by one, quickly killing them. They targeted the healer first, followed by the mage and the archer. It was Alex’s job to protect them, and he’d failed miserably, his Taunt ability proving to be completely useless against the demons. Now his squad only had a Berserker and a Knight remaining.

Alex gritted his teeth. How the hell did this happen? All the hard work we did…

A ringing tone from his communication bracelet interrupted his train of thought. Alex tapped the barcelet to answer the call.

A voice came from the other line. “Alex, it’s Buddy. You dead yet?”

“Just barely alive, but it’s only me and Luke.” Alex said in between heavy breaths. “What the hell is going on? Why was everyone dead when we got here?”

“Looks like we had some rats.” Buddy said. “Terrance and Danica moved their squads in before everyone else. And according to Mikhail, Sergei did the same. My guess is they thought they could clear the floor on their own before everyone else.”

Alex furled his brow. “And they rushed in so they could claim the reward for themselves? Idiots! Now we’re all screwed.”

“If it makes you feel better, it’s mayhem out here in the real world, too.” Buddy said. “Hell gates have opened up all around the tower, and countless monsters are flooding out of them. The whole city’s overrun. To top it all off, the Crystal Dragons have awakened.”

“What?!” Alex said in disbelief. “That’s impossible. They haven’t moved since the towers appeared.”

“Imagine my surprise. It seems like entering the final floor made them finally wake up. I see the Ruby Dragon not too far from here, and it’s completely flattening the city. I got word that the Sapphire and Emerald Dragons are attacking Europe and Asia, too.”

Alex slammed his fist on the hill. Damn it! Inside and outside the tower. What the hell did we unleash?

“Listen.” Buddy said. “I have to go on the count of a giant, red fucking dragon coming straight for me. You two need to get to the Demon King and kill him. It’s the only way to stop all this.”

Before Alex could reply the line disconnected.

Alex took a deep breath. It all felt like a bad dream. The Three Star Alliance, the greatest force ever formed, had fallen, fractured by greed. The monumental effort they exerted over the years, the countless tragedies they had to endure, all of it wasted.

“Uhh, looks like we just got a lot more trouble.” Luke said as he pointed to the sky.

Alex looked up and saw a group of winged demons descending from the sky directly above. He recognized them immediately. Demon Flares. They looked like winged grim reapers that had replaced their scythes with swords engulfed in black flames. Their humanoid head and torso were entirely featureless, and everything below the hips trailed off in a black smoke. Their dark wings flapped as they descended directly for the two young men.

As they got closer Luke threw an axe at one of them, but the weapon went straight through it’s body, as if they were made of mist.

“Damn it!” Luke called out as he equipped another battle axe to replace the one he threw. It materialized immediately in his hand. “Get out of here, Alex. I’ll distract them.”

“And go where? We have to get to the Demon King. I can’t defeat him on my own.”

Luke charged at the winged monsters, both axes at the ready.

One of the Demon Flares released a pulse of dark energy that froze Luke in his tracks. Immediately, one of the other Flares swooped in and thrust a flaming sword into Luke’s chest.

Alex’s heart sank. He already lost his other squad members. He couldn’t lose Luke here. He sprang to his feet and charged with his sword in hand. Another pulse of energy rippled through the air and Alex’s muscles froze, stopping him in his tracks.

Damn it! We can’t get rid of these status effects without Milly. There has to be another way… maybe I can-

A sharp, searing pain interrupted his thoughts. He looked down and saw a sword covered in black flames jammed into his hip. He felt his life force deplete. Another flaming sword entered his back and ripped through his chest, pushing him forward. He crumbled to his knees as his body collapsed. He could only watch as the demons up ahead repeatedly slashed their swords into Luke until finally, the world’s greatest Berserker fell.

And with that, it was truly over. Their last hope of completing the final floor and ending this nightmare was gone.

A Demon Flare approached Alex and lifted it’s sword up in the air. Everything went silent as the sword came crashing down towards his head.