The King quivered in fear. His hand shaking on the throne as sweat dripped down on his face and back. His shoulder was hunched, and his eyes were red as he did not have enough sleep. The past week has been terrible for his heart.

At first, he thought not much of it as the sacred tree held in place, but when the first sacred tree was destroyed, his thoughts about the city’s safety drastically changed. It has gotten to the point where he knew that the other sacred trees were at risk.

“My King! The second sacred tree on the southeast side has been destroyed!” A messenger ran in with huffing breath. His face was pale and distraught in what he had just blurted out.

With a slam of his fist, the King stood up. “What are the soldiers doing!” He yelled in anger as blood rushed up to his face. “Why haven’t you slain this demon!”

“Sire, we are being pushed back.” Then, the messenger said with a fumble, he tried to stand up, but his knees were too weak to keep him up in place.

“What about our allies?!” The King waved his hand in front, shaking in his body. “What are they doing!”

“They are also having trouble keeping the Demon King back!” There was desperation in the

soldier’s voice.

“Useless!”

Suddenly, the ground trembled, shaking the castle.

Wavering, the King looked around in panic. His heart was drumming up his throat, pounding in his chest and in his head.

For a moment, he thought he heard the Demon King’s footsteps heading straight to the castle.

He dearly hoped that the Demon King would be stopped. However, the fear of the prophecy coming true terrified him.

A powerful hum shook through the very walls as the light energy shimmered all around him. Then, suddenly, pervasive dark energy invaded the area.

The King felt his throat and chest compressed. His mind froze in fear as he dropped to his knee. Racking his fingers against his throat, he tried to breathe.

With a flash of powerful dark energy, the doors of the castle burst open. The wooden splinters of the door were thrown all over the ground.

With arrogant but proud steps, the Demon King leisurely walked.

Large groups of powerful demons trailed behind him, taking out the soldiers in the room one by one. Shouts of fear and screams of death could be heard all around them as they died underneath the demons.

“The puppet is here.” The Demon King folded his hand. Then, he stepped toward the King in confidence and with a big smile on his face. “I thought you would have run away.”

“I would never.” The King replied with a wavering voice. His face paled.

“False bravado.” The Demon King chuckled. “I give you credit for that as well.”

The King slowly reached up toward the necklace around his neck, gripping it tightly.

“I wouldn’t try that if I were you.” Demon King replied with a smirk on his face. “It’s not going to change anything.”

The King furrowed, glaring back. “You don’t know that Demon!”

Ripping the necklace off his neck, a bright dazzling light erupted from the necklace, temporarily blinding everyone in the vicinity.

It took a while for the light to die down, allowing the King to open his eyes. He blinked a few times, trying to refocus.

What the King saw shook him to the core.

The bright light eradicated most of the demons inside the room, but there was still a handful left.

“How is this possible?!” The King replied in distraught. “That was our sacred treasure. It should have eradicated all of you?”

The Demon King scoffed, “That was a child’s plaything. What do you expect something like that to do to me? Such thing does not even have half of my powers to harm me.”

Walking forward, the Demon King stopped in front of the King. He grabbed the King by the cuff of his neck and threw him down onto the ground. Then, looking at the seat, the Demon King sat down, where the King once sat.

“Now, that is more like it.” The demon King folded his legs, comfortably leaning back. The arrogance in his demeanor when he took the previous King’s seat was apparent. The defeat in the King's eyes was present. The Demon King gazed down at the King and gave him a nonchalant reply, “that is where you are supposed to be, not here where I sit.” he folded his hand in front of him.

The air around the dais became heavy while the other demons that survived the attack circled the King on the floor.

Hunching over in fright, the King tried not to show his fear, but he couldn’t. They were encroaching upon him closer and closer, laughing and goading him for his failure.

“Sire, what shall we do with this human?” One of the demon generals spoke. The demon walked in as he bowed before the Demon King. He gazed up, curious in what the Demon King would say.

“Do whatever you want,” the Demon King waved his hand. “He’s no use to us anymore.”

“Yes, Sire.” The demon general got up. He walked briskly over and grabbed the King by the neck, dragging him back.

“Let me go! Let me go!” The King screamed and panicked, flailing around trying to get away but failing. “You can’t do this to me!”

“Shut up, human.” The demon general punched him squarely in the face. His teeth and nose broke, bringing with it a stream of blood down his face. Still, the King moved in the hope of a getaway. Once more, the demon general knocked him in the head, knocking him out with one hit.

Satisfied with the silence of the human King, they dragged the lifeless body of the once King out from the very hall.

Silence descended upon the hall as they left.

The Demon King watched with a lazy expression as he propped his head on his hand. Then, with a bored frown, his other hand tapped at the wooden throne.

One of the generals, who survived the light attack, spoke. “My king, would we be going to destroy the sacred tree?”

The Demon King thought it over for a moment. He then got up. “I have forgotten.”

The other generals gaped.

“This fight was too easy. I was giving the humans a bit more time.”

“I see, my lord.” The demon general nodded their head. They, too, all believed that this invasion was too easy.

“Should we take out the other humans before we destroy the tree?” Another demon general asked with a wicked smile and replied.

“No.” The Demon king shook his head. “We are going to destroy the tree and watch them lose hope.”

The demons all smiled with an evil expression. It was something that they never got tired of watching.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, sir!” The demon saluted, excited at the prospect of the death of the sacred tree. They were all waiting for this day.

The Demon King turned around at the throne. He willed up powerful dark energy in his hand.

With a blast, energy flew toward the throne and eradicated it in seconds. A large hole was left on the ground and the wall. A stream of white light blew through the opening, flooding the whole area with light energy.

A few low-level demons who didn’t expect such a vicious blow of light were eradicated instantly, turning into dust.

The others who could temporarily deal with the flood of energy for a split second were able to push back by placing their own dark energy barrier around their body to lessen the blow. Even still, the power of the light weakened them immensely.

Still, the Demon King wasn’t phased. Instead, he stood in place, bringing vigilance and stubbornness to his own people, not wanting to be left behind.

With heavy steps, the Demon King headed straight through the hole that he had created. Every step, he had to increase his magical power to ward off the light that got stronger and stronger.

Even still, the demon King did not waver.

The pressure around the Demon King becomes stronger, allowing the other demons to breathe a little bit easier.

Everyone followed, heading through.

Squinting, the Demon King tried to see through the bright light. What awaited him was beautiful scenery.

In the center was the massive white sacred tree, shooting up and out of the castle as the shades cover it. Pure green grass and beautiful colored red and blue flowers littered the whole ground.

Birds of different colors flew through the sky and even sat on the branches. They squawked and yelled in alarm at the sudden intrusion of a foreign force, but they did not fly away yet.

“Disgusting.” The Demon King stated. Each step he took, the ground flooded with darkness, completely drying up the grass. Death was apparent, and the stink of his energy was only just getting stronger.

The demon king sent out another flash of darkness straight toward the tree with a blast of energy.

In seconds a powerful barrier around the sacred tree hummed with power, completely eradicating the demon king’s energy.

“It seems that wasn’t enough.”

Suddenly, forming in his hand, a mighty swarm of energy dizzyingly created in his hand. The birds squawked in fear as they burst out of the trees and flew into the air.