Untold horros await those that dwell in the darkness. Only the ones that are ready to give up their soul and sanity may tread such a path.

Lord Inquisitor Bismarck

"BE PURGED!"

Lanius jumped forward, his fist trying to crush Kalas, but once again missing and cracking the white marble. It took him barely a second to recommence his assault, but the dark mage duo didn't think of just dodging. With the almost inexistent time they had they casted a small binding trap to stop the Lord Inquisitor on his tracks. While normally Lanius would have easily avoided such an obvious trick, they had used such little mana that he wouldn't be able to feel it if not actively concentrating on finding any source of magic. This indeed made him fall into the binding trap, blocking him, but for such little energy the spell could only hold him for a few seconds. But that was more than enough as a flurry of magic projectiles rained unto him, and Andrew ended it with a strong dark mana release that sent Lanius flying straight through the wall of the room and falling from a balcony into a massive hall, which probably extended through the whole church. Kalas looked at Andrew with a look that simply said:

"Seriously?"

"What?"

"I thought we wanted to use this small space at our advantage, and making sure not ALL the guards came in to slaughter us"

"I.... I panicked"

"You panicked?!? Listen kid, maybe you were bullshitting me, but from what you told me, you killed a lot of people. So calm the fuck down!"

"Yes, but this situation! Is kind of fucking desperate!"

"One more reason to get your shit together. Don't tell me you get scared the moment things get too hard"

"Yeah, ok, you're right. Freaking shit.... *sigh*"

Andrew hadn't noticed till then, but he was actually quite worried about his situation. His usual calm demeanor was covered by a veil of nervousness and anxiety. After all, his usual fights tended to be.... one sided, to say the least. His first real fight was against the Soprano, but he still managed to beat him without having to use his powers, even if with a bit of help. Actually, a lot of help. Still, he was pretty confident about his fighting skills by that moment, but that confidence was damaged when Lanius and his colleagues managed to stop him while he was receiving a strength bonus by Murgin. He wasn't completely aware of what happened during that battle, but he had the gist of it. He threw at Lanius everything he had, the Lord Inquisitor managed to endure it, and he was debilitated him with some kind of restraint. Quite a humiliating defeat if he though about it. Still, he knew he had to calm down and he did so, mainly because Kalas mad felt way too strange to him, as he was already used to his joking personality even after meeting him for barely a day. The next thing to think about was the concert of panicked shouts coming from below.

"LORD LANIUS?!?"

"WHAT HAPPENED?!? DID THE PRISONERS ESCAPE?!?"

"THEY MUST HAVE! GO UP THERE"

Andrew began sweating a little bit, as the battle he was about to face was against an army of Templars, Inquisitors, Lanius, Edresia.......... and Jupir. His nervousness completely disappeared and was taken over by a calm, dreadful feeling of cold hatred, as he watched the mighty hero lead the charge of the Church's soldiers up the stairs that led to the floor they were on. He expected Lanius to quickly get up and assist him, but he was nowhere to be found, nor were any Inquisitors. That was incredibly odd, but there were more important things to think about, even though the matter made him feel uneasy.

"ANDREW TENEBRIS!"

His chain of thought was interrupted by the most unpleasant rival he could think of having. He honestly hoped that he had died of an heart attack multiple times, after the first meetings he had with him, but that would have been far too convenient.

"Jupir Jalos"

Andrew and Kalas both expected the Hero to stop and indulge in some idiotic monologue, but he kept charging at them without hesitation, his retainers and templar allies behind him. The dark champion summoned Perditor to ready himself, while Kalas casted a storm of curses and debuffs on the incoming enemies, slowing their march and enthusiasm. Annoyingly enough, Jupir seemed unaffected and clashed swords with Andrew, a mad grin on his detestably handsome face.

"Ah, finally I get to meet again my favorite thorn on my side. Who knew that a random kid on the road could have caused such mayhem! But you see, I am a Hero, and that means, that I will destroy you utterly, even if you're the Arch-Cardinal's lover. Honestly I couldn't care less about that, I just want to see a desperate expression on your bloody corpse"

"Wow, such rage. Were your cheeks too sore from all that bullshitting, little princess?"

"Oh, yes, indeed. And did you just call me little princess, you piece of dirt?!? I will make you pay, pathetic cockroach!"

Their swords separated for an instant and clashed continuously, making sparks at every slash, while Kalas went crazy with the templars. He had been trapped for 150 years, and he wanted to enjoy and protect with extreme prejudice his newfound freedom. Limbs and heads flew across the white columns and walls, dyeing them in a much needed red, as the ghost flied through the crowd using his [Razor Fingers] and numerous variation of fireballs with a dark affiliation. He hadn't felt so excited and alive in years, the latter for rather obvious reasons, but he began to notice that none of the templars was putting up as much of a fight as he expected.

"What the heck?!? What is this?!? They've all gone frail like maidens! Where's a REAL templar?!? I say, youngsters this day.... Who thought it was a good idea to train them so badly? I DEMAND AN EXPLANATION!"

He shouted with anger and disdain, his voice heard even in the farthest corner of the holy palace. He looked down the balcony to see if there was a worthy opponent, and found out that were so many templars they couldn't actually all fit in. Some space had been freed, but still, so many templars packed in one place, there must have been a good one, and so Kalas launched himself into the fray, not before taking care of the last templars in the upper floor with a few calculated magic bolts.

The people who saw him falling down unto them had only the time to make a shocked expression as he slaughtered them with his fingers, which were even sharper that a sword thanks to his ability. The seemingly endless horde of white armored soldiers was in complete chaos, as they ganged up on the ghost, only to be annihilated with ease and annoyed boredom by Kalas.

"Come on, is there really no decent templar in here? You're all just a bunch of weaklings, honestly"

He said so, and suddenly his hand, which was in the process to shred yet another group of enemies was stopped by a sword.

"Uh?"

Kalas smiled in pleasant surprise, like a child who had found a new exciting toy. The man in front of him was another templar, but his armor was decorated in gold and it was much more flashy and tough looking than those of the simple Church soldiers. Kalas looked around him and saw that all the fodder was replaced by similar looking templars.

"Finally, a REAL templar! Thought they disappeared!"

"Prepare to die, undead scum! We are no mere templars! We are High Templars! The best the Church has to offer!"

Kalas sneered and chuckled, irritating the group of elites.

"The best the Church has to offer? Then that means I can fight seriously, but....."

Kalas began releasing a dreadful and heavy aura that the templars could barely bear, some of the weakest ones even fainting. But the High Templars stood still, without showing any sign of fear. But that was just a bluff: they were almost suffocated by the killing instinct released by the undead ghost.

"I assure you that you will soon regret making that statement"

He said so, and two men jumped at him from behind, their swords enchanted with great amounts of holy mana. Kalas simply stopped their swords with his pinkies, thanks to a few magic defense buffs he had casted on his hands. The men showed terror in their faces as Kalas shook his head in condescension, but another one of their comrades, who from the beginning wanted to take advantage of their distraction, tried to pierce Kalas with a spear. Just as his spear was about to pierce the ghostly skull of the dark mage, a gigantic skeletal hand appeared from the floor and grabbed him, pulling him down into the ground. The man tried to get out of its grasp, but he failed to break it even with his weapon, which cracked the more he hit the demonic fingers of whatever unholy horror that was summoned. He cried in desperation, as he disappeared into the ground, not leaving any sign.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I just thought he needed a hand"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?"

"Waaaaaait for iiit......"

A moment passed and another skeletal hand appeared from the same point in which the High Templar was dragged, but this time it was the size of a normal one, and it was covered in dark armor. Slowly, a skeleton clad in black armor and armed with a spear came out from the ground, the twisted and ruined image of the fallen warrior of light.

"A DEATH KNIGHT!"

"HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!?"

"THIS THING..... IT'S NOT A GHOST.....!"

Kalas laughed madly as his victims, even though shredded and mauled, began raising themselves from the ground and the Death Knight rampaged against his past comrades.

"IT'S A SPECTER LICH!"

"BIIIIIIIIINGOOOOOOO!"

The dead walked, killed and massacred left and right, spreading terror and confusion between the templars. Kalas was above this, as his concentration was fully set on the elites around him. He threw the men he was holding with his pinkies into the riot that was happening elsewhere, along with the Death Knight, hoping to obtain some good results, before turning against the remaining warriors.

"So, who's next?"

He looked at them with anticipation and cockiness. This enraged five members of the group, who surrounded him, two of them casting blessings and purifications at him, while three attacked at him from all sides. The blessings weren't particularly strong, but still managed to annoy Kalas. Instead of killing the casters, Kalas treated them as a challenging handicap. He happily faced the warriors that decided to throw their lives at him, dodging the sword of the first one that managed to reach him from behind, making him end up in the trajectory of one of his comrades. But instead of falling into him he jumped in the air, leaving space to the other two. One of the High Templars bashed Kalas with a shield from the side, while the other one tried to slash him with his sword. Kalas teleported out of the way and appeared behind the shield-bearer, who was the most armored, and pierced his neck armor with his index finger. The man quietly fell down, as blood poured out of his neck. The remaining two fighters, took advantage of that one second of distraction and used special skills against him.

"[Light Slash]!" The both of them shouted at the top of their lungs as rays of light slashed through the ghostly skeleton, making him disappear.

"YES, WE DID IT!"

"Hardly"

"Uh?"

He muttered his last noise, as his head fell down, along with the one of his friend. The remaining blessing casters were now trembling like children.

"Nice try, but you guys need more backbone, I mean, there must be something else than blessings that you can do, no?"

They didn't respond, and just looked at the other High Templars, who were occupied with the undead attack. They trembled even more when they realized no one could help them. Kalas looked at them disappointed.

"What? Nothing? Not even a tiny little [Holy Smite]? No? Wow, just wow. They really lowered their standard in these 150 years"

He declared his discontent and impaled the three casters with three finger-like claws that he summoned from out of the air, instead of the ground, simply to change things a little bit. He saw that the High Templars were quickly losing ground against his minions, so he didn't revive his fresh kills, for fair sport. He tried to find another worthy adversary, but there wasn't anyone worthy of his time. Then, he saw the man that first stopped his rampage, Mr. "The best the Church has to offer". His skeletal face twisted in as much of a mad grin it could, as he slowly approached the High Templar, who was panicking and wasn't sure about what to do. When he noticed Kalas he fell on his butt and started sweating heavily.

"I.... I.... I WILL NEVER YIELD TO YOU, MONSTER!"

"Of course you won't. But then again you seem pretty terrified for someone who won't yield"

"S-S-SILENCE! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU DO! WE SHALL PREVAIL!"

"We'll see"

Kalas grabbed the shoulders of the High Templar, who couldn't move his body from the sheer pressure.

"Now, don't be scared. I mean, death comes to all. And afterwards...."

His skull began shining and distorting, his hollow orbits shining brightly.

"ALL COME TO ME"

His mouth widened and a loud and will breaking scream could be heard from all of those near him. The High Templar tried to escape, constantly hitting in vain Kalas with holy energy and his sword, but his force quickly faded, his conscience dissipated and his body decomposed, as his soul was ripped out from his body and devoured by the seemingly almighty begin that was in front of him. After the meal, Kalas threw the corpse away and looked around, realizing that his forces were beginning to be slaughtered. The Lux forces in the building seemed to be endless. But even in that chaos, he managed to notice that there was a huge amount of souls right outside of the church, along with one that menaced to overthrow all the others with just how much energy it emanated. Kalas looked at the enormous main door of the holy palace, which reached right over the second floor, and saw it like the door that separated an adventurer from his treasure, a king from his crown, a knight from his sword. It had to be destroyed.

"I will not let this mere door separate me from such powerful darkness. IT WILL FALL! [Death Grasp]!"

He exclaimed so, and gigantic skeletal arms appeared right in front of the door, this time revealing a purple portal from where they reached to grab the gate. The door, which was sealed with the most powerful magic the templars had, began cracking, and dust and pieces of the building fell down near it, the floor cracked and kept shaking. The fight of dark and light mana was causing the church to collapse and everyone could see the spectacle. But the door in the end gave up, and the skeletal arms ripped the enormous metal doors off the wall, throwing them a few meters behind Kalas, crushing tens and tens of both templars and undead. And outside he saw it: the greatest source of darkness he had ever witnessed. He laughed excitedly, his impatience almost killing him for good.

"ANDREW, YOU GOTTA SEE THIS!...... Wait, where is Andrew?"

Five Minutes Earlier, Upper Floor

"AAAAAARGH!"

Andrew tried to pierce Jupir with Perditor but his attack was parried with ease by the Hero, who had been on the defensive for the last five minutes, despite his obvious hatred for Andrew. No matter what he tried Andrew could not manage to break his guard nor pass through it. But that wasn't his objective, he knew very well how inadequate he really was at actual fighting, but against so many adversaries he didn't want to waste too much mana, so he wanted to tire out Jupir to finish him easily. Though he had began to give up on that plan since it seemed to have no effect, most likely since Heroes received stamina boosts. Even so, it was still worth trying. Andrew stood still, pointing his sword at Jupir, whose face looked unnaturally calm and apathetic, almost..... bored.

"I can't believe it"

"What?"

"After I was told by the Inquisitors that you were the famous dungeon maker, and that you had managed to trick the Arch-Cardinal, I came here as fast as possible, just so that in case something happened, I would have the honor of defeating you. But instead, I find a little weakling who has no idea how to hold a sword, nor how to really fight. Is scheming the only thing you can do? There's no honor in stomping an ant. This is more like bullying. Pathetic! Argh, at least have the decency to stay still so that I don't have to dirty my armor"

"Bastard"

This was only the second time they had met, but Andrew and Jupir had already developed a nemesis relationship with each other, the former because of the other's personality and Edresia's information about him, the latter because of the interference in his plans and Andrew's unknown origins, after all a Hero should only fight the most infamous demons in existence, whose rumors surpass even the borders of continents. Not a random mage that destroyed an unknown border town.

"What a comeback. But should I really have expected anything better from a cockroach?"

"[Black Annihilation]"

Suddenly a barrage of black spheres flew towards Jupir, and he barely dodged most of them, though one got him in the stomach, even if his armor mitigated the damage.

"Oh, so now you're serious?"

Jupir's popped a vein in his forehead. He rushed to Andrew and grabbed his neck, while Andrew tried to stab him with Perditor, but just as he was about to pierce him, Jupir jumped and crashed him through the ceiling, bringing him to another floor. Andrew got up just in time to dodge another one of Jupir's attacks, but he could feel the hit he just received. Then he looked around and saw that he was surrounded by Inquisitors, and a few meters in front of him there was Lanius and another important looking Inquisitor, who instead of an heavy armor wore a long black coat, heavy boots, a tricorn hat and a bandana on his face to hide his identity. This man was holding an unconscious Edresia on his shoulder and passed through some kind of yellow portal, followed by the Inquisitors, almost emptying the hall. Only Lanius, Jupir and Andrew remained in it.

"Edresia?........"

"So you have come, Tenebris" Lanius spoke with a calm voice, as if he had already forgot his anger towards the dark mage.

"Oh, Lord Lanius, could you please stay there? I can take care of him by myself"

"You couldn't take care of a goblin, pathetic piece of scum. And certainly you can't win alone against this boy"

"WHAT?!? HOW DARE YOU?!? EV-"

Lanisu grabbed Jupir's mouth and slowly tightened his grip. Andrew was amassing mana for a powerful attack as they spoke, but the killing instinct that Lanius released unnerved him greatly.

"You will now stay silent, dog. You have made many problems for my lady, as such I have all the reasons to crush you. The only reason you're alive is because I need a meat shield. Understood?"

Jupir shook his head, his face clearly showing fear. Lanius let him go, and Jupir gasped for breath.

"Good. Now concentrate"

As he said so, a huge amount of dark energy exploded from the ground, crashing into both the Lord Inquisitor and the Hero.

"Did they really think I would have waited for them to stop talking without doing anything?"

Andrew grinned a little bit but he his face quickly twisted as he saw both of his enemies falling down alive, even though only one of them with enough balance to fall on his feet. Of course, that was Lanius. As soon as he reached the ground he dashed in front of Andrew and punched him in the gut, despite the boy's attempt to dodge. Jupir fell on his back but it didn't take him much time to get up, with blood dirtying his face. He touched his head and saw that he had blood all over his face. His rage was indescribable.

"MY FACE, HE DARES RUIN IT! THAT UNIMPORTANT COCKROACH SON OF A BITCH! I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! I'LL FUCKING MURDER HIIIIIM!"

He saw that Lanius had sent Andrew flying to the other side of the hall and ran to him as fast as the wind. His armor shone brightly as the light from the huge colored windows struck him, giving him a much more heroic aura than he deserved. He reached Andrew right as he was getting up, and kneed him in the face, launching him further into the room. He followed with a punch that hit the dark mage in the chest, making him crush into a window, which would have broken were it not for the enchantments it was given. Andrew fell down, almost unable to move. Not only he had received a huge amount of damage due to the enormous amounts of holy energy Lanius and Jupir put in their blows, but his will was wavering.

*Am I really going to lose here?*

He looked in front of him and saw that Jupir was walking towards him, a distasteful grin on his face and a pettiness in his eyes that was a clear contrast with his looks. Being in front of one of the windows made him even brighter, and even more prideful due to how heroic he thought he looked.

"And now here it ends. The hero slays the villain, just how it should be. Bards shall sing songs for centuries when they discover who stopped the ratmen invasion. And maybe sometimes they'll even sing about the little pitiful mage that destroyed Gorwyn and died at my rightful hands"

He raised his sword in the air, his grin widening more and more, giving away his true personality.

*Wait, ratmen invasion? Did Rakhs come to save me? Murgin must have warned him...... I'm sorry guys, I don't think I'll make it.... Your efforts are wasted..... GODDAMIT!*

"AND THE HERO SLAID THE BIG BAD VILLAIN!"

Jupir's sword was about to fall on Andrew' head, but something stopped him from moving.

"WHAT?!? THIS....! LANIUS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!? HE MUST DIE! EVEN YOU MUST UNDERSTAND SUCH A THING!"

Lanius had grabbed his arm and menaced to break it with just how much strength he gripped it with.

"He must live"

"ARE YOU INSANE?!? ARE YOU AWARE OF ALL THE PEOPLE HE KILLED?!? NOT ONLY BY HIS HANDS, BUT ALSO THOSE DAMN RATS!"

"They don't matter"

"WHAT?!? YOU'RE A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH! YOUR DUTY I-"

"What? My duty is to defend a mass of ungrateful peasants that believe the first thing they're told by a higher power and turn their backs to their heroes the moment they realize they're not perfect and can't do everything for them? Nobles and Bishops that are part of so many conspiracies to satisfy their own greed that they don't even remember which ones they're part of? Heroes that use their powers for their own gains? People so selfish and lazy they think that they think the Church and Lux must and will satisfy their every desire? No, my duty is to protect my lady Edresia in all possible ways and uphold the teachings of Lux as much as I rightfully can. And if this boy is dear to her, even if he strayed from the rightful path, I will defend him. Now step aside "Hero", this boy comes with me to the Empire"

"YOU! YOU'RE A TRAITOR!"

"So are you. You think I don't know about your plan to overthrow lady Edresia? What a little man you are"

"UGH!"

Jupir flinched at those words.

"What did.... di-did you say?!?" His words were an odd mix of anger, shame and fear.

"I said you're a little man. What, are you deaf too perhaps?"

"Y-you...."

He looked at Lanius, and witnessed as the walking armor turned into a sickly, pallid and thin man.

"How pathetic. You can't even scheme right. You might as well throw yourself in a river and drown"

"Sh-shut up......."

"You've been like this since you were a child. A predictable weakling who couldn't do anything right. Sometimes I wonder if you're really my son. Maybe that whore mother of yours had fun with one of my servants. I wouldn't be surprised"

"S-silence......!"

"Can't fight, can't strategize, the only good thing about you are your looks. Maybe you should give up this failing hero career and go to a brothel. I bet there would be many fat fucks that would ask for you"

"S-S-Sileeeeeeenceee........!"

"Look at you, you can't even fight for your own honor. You never could. After all, you are only a pathetic, little, sad excuse for a man. Even when that demon cursed and crippled me you couldn't do anything to get revenge. You're terrified of an old man who can't even eat by himself. You are only a pathetic. Little. Sad. Excuse for a man"

"SHUT UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUP!"

Jupir tried to stab his sword into Lanius' neck, who had been wondering who the Hero was talking to for a while and was shocked in seeing him attack him so savagely.

"HAVE YOU GONE INSANE JALOS?!?"

"SHUT UUUUUUUP!"

They began fighting with each other but Andrew didn't notice. There was something else catching his attention: a black figure that was sitting on the edge of the window where he had just crashed. For a second he thought it was Murgin but he realized quickly that it was not, mainly because it looked much more different from him. While the light coming from outside blinded him a little, he could clearly see that the figure had no broken grey halo, nor a vest. The figure wore a suit, had incredibly long and slim legs and arms and a human sized chest, giving it an almost cartoony look. Its face was similar to Murgin's but its cheekbones weren't nearly as prominent and it had a mouth, filled with spiky teeth that resembled fangs. Andrew looked at it with curiosity, wondering what it was.

"Hey, kid, you seem in need of..... a helping hand?"

Its voice was odd, deep and distorted, unnatural but oddly charming.

"Who are you?"

"That doesn't matter right about now. What does matter, is.... do you need help?"

"..... I need help"

"Very good, excellent almost"

He jumped down from the window and crouched besides Andrew, grinning.

"Now, this is just sad to see. I can't believe dad would throw you in such desperate situation without decent power or training. Even if you have that mental archive, what's the point if you're not taught how to use it properly?"

"Wait, how do you know?!? And dad....?"

"Alas, I have no time to explain. So I'll be quick. I'll give you enough power to escape this situation"

"What's the catch?"

"Oh, a smart one, aren't you. Indeed, there will be a price. And that price is...... you'll let me ask you some questions when you're done"

"What? Are you serious? What would you even g-"

"Nononono, I'm the one that makes questions. So, are you in or not?"

".....Why should I trust you?"

"Ehehehe, simple. You don't, Mr. Tenebris. From now on you should consider all interactions with me as deals with the evil. I can give you many things, but there'll always be a price, it may be small, it may be big, but there will always be one. As such, choose wisely. You can wait here for these two to kill you, or you can accept my offer and live on to do whatever you want. So, are you in or NOT?

"..... Fine, I accept"

"Then, shake my hand, Mr. Tenebris"

He showed his hand to Andrew, and slowly and carefully, as if he was dealing with a wild animal, Andrew shook it.

"YES, MR. TENEBRIS, YOU MADE A WISE CHOICE INDEED. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!"

The figure began dissolving like ooze, shadows appeared from nowhere and grabbed Andrew from all sides, as a dark chromed metal skull came out of the black ooze that had accumulated on Andrew's chest. The boy looked straight at it, before a stream of dark energy came out of it and entered into his mouth and eyes. He felt like in the fight with Lanius, but at a much more intense level. He could feel the energy ripping him apart from the inside, as he convulsed wildly and without control. Jupir and Lanius noticed this and looked at him confused.

"What is he doing?"

"Is the cockroach trying to kill himself?" It took Jupir a second to forget his made rage and delusions at the realization of Andrew's pain. After all he wanted to enjoy his demise as much as possible.

In his pain, Andrew began furiously scratching his back, causing wounds and making blood pour from them. Then his back distorted and twisted upwards, till his skin ripped apart and two black wings appeared. Jupir and Lanius backed up in shock.

"What the......"

"WHAT DID HE DO?!? DID HE SELL HIS SOUL?!?"

After they spoke, he held his head, and two black twisted, swirling horns came out*. His eyes, arms and legs blackened completely, leaving only white dots in place of his pupils. Andrew convulsed a little more and then stopped, after a tail that ended in a black fire grew out of the lowest part of his back. Then he stopped moving.

".... Did he die?"

"I highly doubt it..... Get ready, you damn madman"

They put their guards up, and just like Lanius predicted, Andrew slowly began getting up the floor. He lifted his head and looked straight at his two adversaries. His normally calm face twisted into a smile, revealing fangs. He disappeared for a moment, before appearing right behind Lanius.

"WHAT?!?"

Andrew kicked Lanius right in the head and before he could even crush into the wall he appeared again behind him, this time punching him in the chest, sending him towards the ceiling. But even this time, he got behind the Lord Inquisitor with ease and spit dark fire from his mouth, turning him into a falling fiery ball. Jupir watched in shock as all of this happened.

"How...? HOW THE FUCK?!? HOW IN LUX DID HE GAIN THAT POWER?!?""

When Lanius touched the ground, he got up in pain and extinguished the fire with his holy aura.

"This power..... it's even more than before......"

"LANIUS! WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO?!? I CAN FEEL THE MANA COMING FROM THAT.... THING! THAT'S NOT NORMAL!"

"Nothing is normal with the forbidden powers. Perhaps this boy gave up the rightful path once and for all"

"SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!"

Andrew, who was flying around, still smiling unnaturally, after carefully checking the area around him, decided to finish everything in one hit. He pointed his hand upwards, as dark energy accumulated around it, growing bigger and bigger, till it was consuming parts of the ceiling.

"WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!? WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING?!?"

"SHIELD YOURSELF!"

Andrew threw the mass of dark mana and blackness enveloped all. Lanius and Jupir defended themselves with all their strength, but instead of the mayhem they expected to hear and see, there was only nothingness. Absolute nothingness. It terrified them even more that looking at death straight into the eyes. The cold, cruel and merciless silence. It was unbearable. But just as they were about to go insane, the light began tearing through, and returned them to reality. As their eyes were blinded by the sun rays and swiftly accustomed to it, even if they were in the darkness only for a few seconds, they realized what had happened around them. The walls and ceiling of the upper floor had been completely disintegrated, leaving only the ground beneath their feet, which was cracked and on the verge of collapse, and many broken columns. And in the middle of that destruction, stood Andrew, still smiling. Lanius realized that no matter what he did, he could not win against what Andrew had turned into. He threw an amulet in the air and another yellow portal opened. The corrupted dark mage noticed this and quickly flew towards Lanius. But right as he was about to grab him, Lanius disappeared into the portal, resulting in it closing instantly. Jupir began trembling and sweating heavily, as Andrew turned his attention to him.

It slowly walked towards him, as dark smoke emanated from its body and distorted the air around itself. Its face and body were constantly twisted and deformed by the smoke, showing faces of people screaming, including Jupir's father, as shadows elongated from its feet and tried to grab the Hero.

"NO! STAY AWAY FROM ME!"

He jumped away from the demon, his very soul shaking in fear, as he foolishly tried to understand the nature of the being in front of him. That was not Andrew. It was not the dark mage that he had fought before. It was something different, something much more dreadful. It grew in power with every step, and the more powerful it grew, the more contorted and incomprehensible its form became. Its face constantly shifted between the one of the boy it possessed and the ones of untold horrors, as spikes and horns expanded and retracted from its whole body. The shadows that had tried to grab Jupir broke their bounds and moved in the air, in a mannerism so insane and sickening that Jupir felt like vomiting. He could only keep retreating in terror.

"NO! DON'T TOUCH ME! DON'T! STAY AWAY! YOU'RE NOT A DEMON! WHAT ARE YOU?!? WHAT ARE YOU?!?"

Its smile, despite its continuos mutation and distortion, made obvious to the Hero how much amusement it got from tormenting him. It twisted its body towards Jupir, getting as close as possible.

"AAAAAHHHH!"

Jupir once again jumped backwards, this time tripping on his back. Even so, he kept crawling away, as he vainly pointed his words towards it. But the unholiness that was in front of him simply made a sound that barely resembled chuckling, its enjoyment ever increasing, its cruelty never ending, its madness corrupting even the most adamant hearts. It crept forward as slowly as it could, to enjoy as much as it could the fear of the mortal that stood in front of its path.

"STAY AWAY! NO! YOU CAN'T!"

As he backed away, he finally reached the verge of the floor, only a fall awaited him. But his mana and body were too depleted from shielding himself from the blast of its previous attack, as such he did not have enough energy to regenerate himself if he jumped down. But even if he did survive, the armies of the ratmen waited to slaughter every single human they found. At least he expected so, but where he thought there were bloodthirsty beasts only the road could be seen.

"Wh-where are they....?"

Just after he said so, he was grabbed and pulled away roughly. It did not accept to be ignored.

"Ah, ah, no..... let me go.... please...."

It began making ear shattering sounds that only a madman could recognize as laughing. And Jupir could clearly ear it laughing mockingly. Its face began distorting and twisting even more, showing the Hero things that no mortal was meant to see.

"NO! NO! STOP! PLEASE! NOOOOOOOO!"

He could fell it trying to enter his head, to corrupt it and break for its personal pleasure. But it wanted something more, something that only beasts from the deepest abysses of the darkness could wish for. Jupir could feel it trying to rip something away from him. He was ready to give up, but when he realized what it was trying to do, he shrieked and tried to escape its grasp. He took his sword and embedded it in its right arm, or whatever nightmarish limb was grabbing him. It screamed in pain to what to it was barely a scratch, as if it never knew pain to begin with, and grabbed Jupir's sword, as its wounded extremity covered his face, releasing dark fire.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH! MY FACEEEEEEE!"

He escaped from its grip and slashed away its limbs yet another time. As it screamed in pain, he looked straight at it.

"You can have my face.... you can have my life..... BUT YOU'LL NEVER HAVE MY SOUL!"

He pierced it one last time, making it throw him off the building, to his inevitable death.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHAH! I WIN! I WIIIIIIIN! AHAHAHAHAH!" His last words resounded through the whole city, before the sound of the wind and a distant battle took over.

It found itself alone, and simply screamed at it dissolved slowly away, returning Andrew to the world. He gazed confused around him, not knowing what had just happened, only to then fall exhausted to the ground, fainting.

And meanwhile, a mysterious figure watched from a nearby building.

"Really now, Andrew, first the Kradlaits' madness, now this. You just can't avoid problems, can you? I suppose that monster girls will have to wait for awhile......"

He gazed with melancholy at the boy.

"Don't worry though, your mysterious friend here will make sure you don't fall in the hands of that bastard"

"Oh, come on, why do you treat me like that. I just helped him"

The mysterious being from before appeared beside the other figure and chuckled.

"I'll end you, disgusting piece of shit"

"I don't wanna hear that from the one that committed a crime so heinous their name was forbidden to utter in this world ????. See, I can't say it! AHAHAHAHAHA! IT'S HILARIOUS!"

"You won't be laughing so much when I erase you"

"AH! You will fail, just like last time. Both you and dad are fools! He will become mine and you won't be able to stop him, JUST. LIKE. Last time"

"..... Have you come just to mock me? Because if so, go. I won't waste my time with you any further"

"Please, we both have eternity to mess with each other, don't we? Particularly you"

"So you want to fight right here right now?"

"Oh no. Regrettably I don't have enough power to stay here, even less to fight. And if you fought, it wouldn't matter even if you defeated me. Though, if you want to know why i'm here, it's to see the results of my little friend....... Well, it was lovely, but I have to go now, see you ????. Enjoy your eternal punishment"

The malicious being dissolved into black smoke, leaving ???? alone on the rooftop.

"One day, he'll stop being so cocky"

???? looked at the destruction laid by the corrupted Andrew.

"One day......."

????: You'll be lucky if people even bother thanking you for the chapter.... Pff, answering questions...

Oh, here's someone that I didn't miss, you came back. Wanna enlighten us on monster girls?

????: No, I just returned to announce my return

Well, shit, WELCOME BACK!

????: Anyway, I heard you're gonna deal with the Savage Blood Alliance next....

Yeeeeeeesss, so?

????: I think it would be a good idea to make Andrew know some fine orchess, oh come on you didn't even let me finish! You know what?!? Fine, I'll leave, but I assure you

OH NO, HE HAS THE ULTIMATE WEAPON: DANK MEMES! I WILL DESTROY YOU ????, I WILL DESTROY YOUUUUUUU!......... I missed that son of a bitch.

P.S.*About the description of the horns, I wasn't sure about how to describe them, but if you didn't get a clear image, they're like this

Just much more METAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAL.

P.P.S There seem to be some bugs in the final posting of the chapter, because some letters become much bigger than what they're supposed to. I do not know how to fix it, and it even happened to some of my past chapters, thought to them that was after the messy RoyalRoad update that closed everyone out for awhile and that was cancelled or some shit like that. Anyway, I hope it didn't ruin you experience.