Chapter 8: Inner Workings

A figure wrapped in a crimson red robe strode forward, exciting a fantastical room made out of a dark stained marble, only fit for the most exquisite of royalty. At his side was a large sword, one that made his attendants and subjects quiver in fear at just the sight of it. The legends about that weapon and its owner were one out of nightmare.

He walked to a small room, with a large table in the center. Sitting at the table were several cloaked figures, of varying sizes and shapes. Nodding to them, he sat at the head of the table, taking his rightful place.

“My Liege, the Kingdom of Aldemar has summoned heroes to fight against us.” The figure to the right of him spoke aloud, sending rest of the figures into a state of shock. “Heroes, so soon? I assumed the Empire would be the one desperate enough to do this, but the kingdom? Never the chance!” One of them exclaimed.

The man in the deep red robe held his hand up, silencing the crowd of bickering attendants. He set his crown down, revealing two horns at the top of his head as he spoke. “Heroes are certainly a problem to our plan, but it’s nothing we’ve not dealt with before. My father fought the heroes fifty years back, and established our ever expanding territory. We will fight them again!” He exclaimed proudly before turning back to the one who spoke. “How many heroes are there? We have to know this!”

The figure merely shook its head. “Apparently sire, there are around thirty.” The quieted frenzy instantly shot up once more, and the man looked on in shock. “Thirty?! How in the Abyss can there be thirty heroes?!”He shouted angrily/

“S-sire… they messed up with their summoning. L-Luckily sire, I believe this means that the bonuses usually granted to heroes are scattered, and most of them are only slightly more powerful than normal humans. With time however, they will grow and learn their abilities, and their unique abilities will become more dangerous than ever!”

The man put two fingers on his forehead, pinching his nose in frustration. If there’s nothing overwhelmingly strong, then we certainly have a chance. I need to do something now, if possible, at least to test to see if this theory is true.

He called for one of his upcoming captains, a young and inexperienced fighter. The being spoke from the other side of the small door, kneeling to the king. “Captain Abulla, I have an urgent task for you! I want you, and only you, to attack the heroes. Kill as many as you can!”

The captain merely bowed and ran off, obediently obeying the man’s orders. The man, however merely placed his crown back on the top of his head, the darkened ruby shining in the light. “It appears that we will have to take action faster than usual. We will use the captain to scout for information, and see if we can use that to our advantage. Until then, I want no unusual activities, and nothing goes outside this room! You are all dismissed!” He said as he spun and stormed out of the room.

The remaining figures stood and bowed towards his retreating figure, placing a closed fist above their heart and shouting the chant that bestowed fear into the hearts of millions.

“All hail the Demon King!”

Two Weeks Later…

Michael rolled to the side, the blade whizzing by with a narrow thunk! as he dodged. Unperturbed, he continued his movements, quickly getting to his feet just in time to raise his arm to block the next swing, It impacted his arm heavily, causing it to ache in pain as he felt the bruises built over the past to weeks shudder. He took this moment to back away, grabbing a quick breath before he went in again, swinging his sword towards his attacker.

Another blow flew towards his head from above. Instead of taking it head on, he blocked with the side of his blade, causing it to glance off, and for his attacker to be thrown forwards, off balance. He stabbed with his sword, adrenaline flowing through his mind and body as he did so, but the man was no amateur. He bent his body backwards, Michael’s sword meeting empty air as he pulled back again.

Blow after blow came for the next several minutes, Michael doing his best to match his attacker as he desperately looked for a way to alleviate his situation. He clumsily stabbed forwards, the chance of hitting him being almost none, but he wanted it that way. The man used this opportunity to replicate Michael’s move, stabbing towards his unprotected belly. Instead, Michael dove forwards, sliding on his knees underneath the sword, and the man’s legs. As he slid, he used is sword in a horizontal swing to hit both his legs, then got up and stabbed at the man, successfully hitting his back.

“I surrender!” the man let out a pained groan, dropping his sword and raising his hands above his head. Michael let down his sword and breathed a sigh of relief. He rubbed his painful bruises and scratches, as if that would calm down their stinging. His breath was rather unstable as well, noticing that through the fight it had quickened almost uncontrollably. I’d have to work on that later he thought.

He turned back towards the man, a smile growing on his face as he saw him pick up his sword. All his hard work, the pain, the nonstop training, had led up to this moment. He saw Johan touch the spot where Michael stabbed him. It wasn’t particularly wounded, perse, because he used his wooden training sword, but it certainly wouldn’t feel very good. Michael had learned that experience the hard way. The amount of times he heard and felt the damned sword hit his flesh was almost traumatizing.

“Well done kid, You’ve certainly learned a lot from me.” Johan turned back at Michael, a smile on his face. “A normal swordsman or knight wouldn’t fall for that, and in normal circumstances, I wouldn’t either. We need to work on a few things here and there, but for the major part, you’ve done rather well.” He said as he clapped Michael on the back, leading him towards the castle dining hall. Lunch was not often a commodity Michael was used to, making today ever so sweet.

After eating their meal in the empty dining hall, Johan turned to Michael, and put his hand on his shoulder. “Well Kid, you’ve gone ahead and proved yourself to be a hard worker! Most people complain or just leave while under my tutelage, so the fact you’re still here is something in itself!” He chuckled as he said that, remembering his previous students. “These two and a half weeks were all about learning to defend yourself without the need of magic. Magic is a great tool, but without mana or concentration, a normal mage is useless. You now know at least the basics of self-defense and fighting, so I think it’s about time we take on the big leagues. I’m going to teach you how to be the best damned magician you’ve ever se-“

BOOM!

His speech was interrupted by a large explosion coming from one of the watch towers near the castle entrance. Smoke instantly burst high into the sky, launching the birds and surrounding wildlife into a state of panic, as they ran or flew away. Nothing was on fire, from what Michael could tell, but he couldn’t see anything through all the smoke anyways.

Instantly, guards and soldiers began sprinting towards the entrance, unsheathing their swords and various weapons in preparation. Several known mages made their way across as well, led by Prince Arthur himself, holding a bright platinum sword coated in a bright light. Michael looked towards Johan, who looked back in a confused manner, before taking off in a sprint towards the gate.

The screams had already started when Michael started running as well, climbing on the battlements to attempt to get a good view. More explosions rang out, shaking the nearby castle with each one. A red hue was all Michael could make out through the smoke, and he assumed it was fire. Michael couldn’t find Johan or the others in all that smoke, but he found he could see more and more of the open plain that surrounded the castle.

The nearby city was intact and unharmed, as far as Michael could see. There was no damaged buildings, or incoming destruction, so whatever this was, it was targeted at the castle. He kept climbing, finally emerging on the battlements above the front gate when he saw it.

The red hue that Michael assumed was fire, was not at all fire. Instead, the red hue solidified into a large humanoid figure, that towered over everyone. It had to be over ten feet tall, at least! It had four arms, each one equipped with a large dark black sword. It stood in the center of a ring of soldiers, each arm fighting off a horde of castle guards.

The giant creature let out a roar that shook the very floor Michael stood on, causing him to sway as the creature swung its arms, which could be described as nothing more than a tsunami of blood and death. It carved through the ranks, scattering the soldiers with deadly force as limb after limb practically disassembled themselves from their bodies. The blood followed soon after, staining the stone walls with an assortment of blood, guts, and other various body parts splattered around.

After seeing that, Michael fell to his knees, gagging. He had not eaten recently, so he could do nothing but dry heave on the floor. All that destruction… just by a single swing of its arm! His arms shook at the thought, but he quickly remembered that Johan was in there! He swept his eyes across the puddles of bodies and blood that covered the now battleground, and saw a line of magicians and soldiers, once again led by the prince.

He charged forwards with his sword, leading the squad to attack the creature head on! It tried to swing its swords at him, but he blocked it, stopping its arms to a standstill using just his own strength. His face was one of disgust and hatred as he looked at it, and he chanted a foreign language before pushing on his sword harder than before. Seeing the horrifying creature’s arm being pushed back, Michael watched in amazement. How could one man be so strong?!

As his sword came in contact with the creature’s flesh, a magical fire leaped from the sword to its hands, causing the monster to roar in pain, feeling its flesh slowly being burned off from the solar fire. Just as Michael thought the monster would keel over, its other arms swung in, one of them catching the prince in the side, sending him flying into a wall, before falling back down. The burned hand fell to its side, useless, and it angrily stamped its feet, causing the ground to shudder. Then, it stepped forwards and charged the group of magicians and swordsmen, who sent a torrent of spells and attacks in its direction. It was all useless however, as the creature merely shrugged it off, the spells barely having effect.

Just as it reached the line, a single figure emerged from behind the creature, stabbing it in the foot. That’s Johan! Michael thought excitedly as he watched from above. The creature fell on one knee, allowing for Johan to climb on its back, before reaching out his hand and unleashing a long stream of fire into its neck.

The scream of agony was one that would give people nightmares for weeks. Its cry burst the eardrums of most around it, save for a few, and caused a few bricks of the castle to shudder and fall. Michael covered his eyes, to no avail and screamed along with it, his eardrums feeling like they were lit aflame.

Round and round the fight went, the creature sending groups of what used to be people flying through the air with its remaining arms, as the now recovered Prince and Johan fought together to hurt the creature, more and more wounds and burns appearing on its body as it continued to fight. It seemed the fight would never end!

As the creature slashed and killed, its eyes flew across the battlefield, determining the incoming threats and dealing with them appropriately. For several minutes, it was in a state of extreme concentration, when its eyes suddenly fell on Michael, who stood speechless on the battlements. Its eyes widened, and its mouth pursed open. “Infil-“ before it could say anything else, Johan finally managed to slice its neck, sending it tumbling to the ground, still.

The fight was won! The creature was either dead or incapacitated and the crisis was averted! Michael couldn’t care about that though, and his face became a deathly pale. What did it just say?! He thought to himself frantically. The creature knew who he was, and almost said his job! That meant…

“It’s a demon!”