“Well… this is interesting.” Arthur’s words were said in a kind of monotone as Einherjar looked to the door, ignoring Sidhe rubbing his cheek from his shoulder.

Said door leading to the fifth Demon Lord.

“How the heck did we end up here first?” John could be heard asking, even he didn’t quite get how Einherjar arrived to the fifth Demon Lord before the other Chosen teams.

“I honestly have no idea… well, the last three floors have been odd.” Odd was right, as once more the Ruined Kingdom proved a bit different from previous Areas.

Floors forty seven to forty nine were filled with traps and backtracking as they were forced to look for switches to continue forward, and they couldn’t brute force their way past the blockades because the blockades were covered with those red runes that prevented both Adventurers and monsters from passing.

It was like a platform/adventurer game… puzzles included.

Traps were pretty scary though, as unlike in video games, getting hit with spikes would pretty much mean instant death unless their Endurance was high enough.

Because of this fact, it was only the faster members of Einherjar, namely Emilia, Arthur and Alice, who would go try and move past traps to get to switches, as the one time Matt tried he ended up needing to use his magic to turn his skin into metal to prevent him from being cut in half by a trap.

He was bruised even after exiting his metallic form, though luckily it faded away as they travelled due to his Vitality stat.

“Maybe they got bogged down there somehow…” Arthur wondered aloud to himself as they looked to the stairs before looking amongst themselves.

Unknown to Einherjar, the other Chosen teams were actually trying to disarm said traps or had not quite understood what they were supposed to do… as for Ichiro’s team, they went in a different direction by trying to split up as they went for all the switches.

It was a strange series of mishaps which resulted in Einherjar, who made the least mistakes, reaching the Demon Lord room first…

Were Agent George to be there, he might have said something about ‘divine intervention for the sake of plot’.

“Regardless, we have a shot at the Demon Lord before our competitors, obviously we’re going for it.” Arthur finally declared, staring at the stairs for a moment in thought.

“Well that’s a given since Demon Lords give awesome benefits for defeating them.” Michael reminded the group, thinking to the other Demon Lords they faced.

The first Demon Lord, Blade, left behind his sword, Soul Flame, Willow the second Demon Lord left behind a staff for magic users made of seemingly her body as she was a Treant.

The third Demon Lord, Despair, left behind the Skeleton Knight Chest Plate which John wore underneath his cloak, a skeletal thing that was tight but allowed free movement.

Einherjar had also managed to get the Goblin War-blade, a strange claymore type weapon dropped by the soulless husk of Guldan, the fourth Demon Lord.

“Yeah… between the items and the huge Souls they possess, killing them grants us a much higher chance of levelling up.” Matt’s reminder had Einherjar collectively could not think of a time they hadn’t levelled up after fighting a Demon Lord, though they fought each only once.

Some fought them multiple times in the hopes of getting an item or more Soul, but the rewards dropped slightly each time, and it was rare to get an item after the first team killed a Demon Lord.

“Killing huh?” Arthur mumbled to himself for a moment, looking to the door with a sigh.

“Arthur?” Emilia managed to catch his look, placing a hand on his shoulder as the leader of Einherjar looked from her hand to her face.

“Sorry… no sympathy for the enemy until they’re gone.” Arthur reminded himself, unknowingly drawing frowns from his team as they heard his words, following behind him as he walked to the stairs.

Einherjar was well aware that Arthur did not consider Demon Lords to be monsters but instead thinking beings with intelligence on par with other humans, and he disliked the idea of killing such things.

It had no effect on his ability to fight though, so Einherjar didn’t mind the belief.

As they walked down the stairs, Einherjar took the moment to calm their minds and hearts, looking at the styling of the steps and walls around them.

Arthur claimed that the stairs all seemed to be calm and peaceful places perhaps as a breather for Adventurers as they stepped through floors.

So far they had yet to think he was wrong, as each Area’s stairs had some form of beauty to them, even the third Area with its many undead had stairs which seemed to head into a kind of enchanting fog.

For the Ruined Kingdom, the stairs were seemingly made of bronze, shiny with patterns engraved all over and vines growing along the walls, not enough to catch on any of their equipment let alone them.

As someone who enjoyed antiques or just about anything that felt ‘old’ Arthur quite enjoyed the different styling in each Area.

Exiting from the stairs, Arthur and the rest of the Einherjar found themselves with raised brows, looking around as they walked into a large circular hall, at the end of which there was a throne, behind it a massive door with red runes signalling that they could not pass.

Of course, their focus was more drawn to the being that sat on the throne… a familiar being.

“Ah… Hello there, Adventurers… no, I suppose that isn’t the appropriate greeting with my current status.” The ‘Crow Spectre’ sat upon the throne, though it still possessed seemingly no lower limbs, just leaving a black fog below where its feet would be, staring at them.

“I was under the belief that you were looking for the Ruined King.” Arthur said, surprising a few members of Einherjar who had forgotten the mumblings of the being they had originally called the Crow Spectre…

“I stated no falsehood. I am but a shadow of my former self. I do not consider myself the Ruined King anymore… not as I am. So yes, I searched, wandering the halls of this Kingdom, searching for the me of before… the me before I was sacrificed to Chronos.” The being was clearly the Ruined King, but also… not, at the same time.

“Judging by your appearance, I assume the search was… disappointing?” Arthur’s question drew a glance from the sandy gold eyes of the being on the throne, and Arthur could immediately tell that, if before it was looking into space, it was now focused on him.

“It was. One cannot regain the past after all. But I found something else instead of what I wanted.” The being had been talking with Arthur this entire time, and yet it only seemed to really care now, straightening up in the chair before it ‘stood’ while staring at Einherjar… no, at Arthur.

“I wander the halls away from other Adventurers, but you… you are curious…” The being held out its right hand, a broad and powerful looking scimitar appearing in its hand.

“Tell me Adventurer… Are you aware of the taint in your Soul, that your Soul has been coloured by others of my status?” Arthur notably ignored the stares of his team as they looked to his back in question.

“I… I have my suspicions, but yes. My battles against Demon Lords change me slightly each time.” Arthur was aware, some of the changes subtle, others less so.

His battle against the first Demon Lord Blade had resulted in Arthur gaining his Sword Sage Unique Skill, and while he seemingly did not gain any ability from Willow, he did feel that something had changed.

Against Despair, Arthur gained a greater control for his Darkness Element… magic users found their base element granted them a ratio of one to one with magic to output, and any further Element would be something like a two to one ratio.

Arthur’s Darkness Element was closer to a… eight to five. Something to that effect, though no one but Arthur would notice that.

As for the Fourth Demon Lord, Arthur gained nothing from that Goblin, having only fought it after it lost everything that made it… a living thing, rather than a machine.

“Intriguing. You interest me… no doubt, should you kill me, you will gain my taint as well…” This time the being held out its left hand, another Scimitar appearing as it floated forward, weaving side to side almost lazily.

Einherjar was immediately combat ready, Arthur only moving slightly back as Matt stepped forward, ready to block.

“I am the fifth Demon Lord of the ninety nine, the Rusted King… return me to my slumber.” And thus the fight began, with the Rusted King stepping forward and launching a cleaving blow at Matt, who had intercepted the being.

Unlike Willow or the Goblin King, the Rusted King was smaller, despite how the Rusted King was stronger than the other two, Matt found it easier to stay stable against this being.

“Move.” Matt’s eyes barely had time to widen before the other blade struck his shield, as if using the Anima as a percussion instrument, making Matt stagger before the Rusted King spun, the fog that made up his legs coalescing into a solid form, kicking Matt flying to the side.

“Matt?” Alice shouted in question, getting a groan letting them know that Matt didn’t get knocked out from the bad landing, the Rusted King took advantage of the opening in their group to charge in, slashing once more at Arthur.

It was quite clear that the King found no interest in the rest of Einherjar, only moving to Arthur, knocking away all who would approach.

Einherjar wasn’t so weak as to just let the Demon Lord do as it pleased though, and Michael was launching arrows of Fire and Light concurrently, not using any of his other Skills to boost his attacks as the archer knew that no major blow could be struck just yet.

While Michael did this, Alice and Emilia both stepped forward, the latter hiding behind the former, stepping into the path of the scimitars.

“I… said… move.” Each word was punctuated with a swing of the blade, and Alice was most definitely not a tank like Matt was, having to instead parry the blows, only possible due to her Anima which allowed her to use all weaponry with reasonable skill.

She was still clearly struggling, and her blade was already showing signs of wear, an impressive feat by the Demon Lord as Emilia tried to attack in gaps of the Demon Lord’s form.

A hit by the Bloodletting Daggers on the side of the Rusted King had the being pause for just a moment, the wound dripping golden sand before it closed, and the battle continued.

Arthur was taking the moment to watch and observe, he was the leader/tactician of Einherjar after all, and once he figured things out a bit, he spoke out.

“He’s like Blade, but more durable, his fog can form into legs for kicks, he doesn’t really slash so much as cleave when he attacks, he will bounce his weapons off of your guard if it means he’ll get a chance to continue the attack…” Arthur mumbled to himself, looking at Matt got ready to get back into the fight.

“Matt, you’ll get tired quickly if you have to perfectly stop each of his blows, try and keep them from happening, Michael, aim for his head and torso, John… okay, he’s gone.” Arthur noted that their healer was once more using his Sneak Skill to go into hiding and disappear from sight.

Not entirely, but it was a subtle thing, where your eyes would just happen to slide past where he was.

It was useful, especially as it didn’t take much to keep active, though John would get tired the longer he had to Sneak, and it made their healer much less of a target.

Against thinking beings, obviously they’d target the healer to make sure that Einherjar wouldn’t heal, John knew this, and the rest of Einherjar knew this.

It was why he vanished so often during fights, and Arthur even encouraged it.

Hearing the orders snap off, Matt was there, taking a blow which was about to hit Alice and twisting as the blade hit the shield, now causing sparks to fly as it continued, unbalancing the Rusted King for a moment.

Said moment was long enough for Alice to slash out with a sword, chopping at the extended arm of the King, only unlike most normal people, the blade only managed a slight cut as Alice leapt back, the common sense of an Adventurer was that against new enemies it was best to be cautious, doubly so against a Demon Lord.

“You all stand in my path…” the Rusted King practically growled out as he spun in place, black feathers covering him…

And then he reappeared in a burst of those same feathers, slashing at Alice, surprising the group at the teleportation.

Alice had managed to get her shield up, a simple and light buckler, only for her to be sent flying to the side of the room and impact the wall.

There was a sickening crunch when the sword hit the shield, so the group winced, knowing that her arm was probably broken.

No one ran to help her though, as the Rusted King once more floated, aiming towards Arthur who was also stepping forward now.

It helped that John was near invisible and probably healing Alice at the moment, so Arthur had to distract the Rusted King.

“Why are you aiming for me this much?” Arthur asked, stepping forward and swinging his Dagger of Hunger against the approaching scimitar, the sparks going off of his form signifying that he was using Spark Step, or at least one of its three available variants.

“You do not realize how terrifying you are, do you?” The words got Arthur to draw a blank surprisingly as his eyes lost their focus.

A child, staring at him, bruised with blood trickling from his mouth and kneeling… fear in his eyes. Afraid of him. Afraid of Arthur.

“No, I don’t see what you are getting at.” Arthur’s response, if Einherjar could hear it, was the most dead they’ve ever heard his voice, even when he aimed for monotone it was never this bad.

“…So you say… you must understand how strength is gained in this world of souls?” The Ruined King asked as the two began to attack one another, Arthur only managing to stay in the fight by shocking the King through his blades, as well as trying to parry before the King could get a complete swing.

“We kill, and we take a part of the soul.” Arthur’s response was just as dull toned as his previous line, and the Rusted King’s glowing eyes narrowed slightly behind his veil.

“Exactly… we all take of the soul when we kill… but you, you take more than is given.” The Rusted King finally changed the tempo of the fight, twirling his blades into a sort of reverse grip, swinging upwards and almost into Arthur’s chest if it weren’t for Soul Flame blocking the blow.

It still lifted Arthur into the air and tossed him back, Arthur only managed to land on his feet due to his high Dexterity stat.

The words of the Rusted King had Arthur glancing towards his own Dagger of Hunger, aware that something wasn’t quite right with said Dagger.

“Not only that, but you possess two manifestations of the soul… that should say enough about how strange you are.” The King only had enough time to say that before an arrow of light approached the King.

The King scoffed, knowing the arrow could be parried as he swung his scimitar… only for the arrow to explode in brightness, blinding the King.

Arthur was smirking as he opened his eyes… a flash-bang arrow? Michael had mentioned trying something new with his arrows, and well… it definitely surprised everyone the first time they saw it.

They all got a good hit in when their vision returned.

Taking the opportunity for what it was, Arthur had his Dagger fade away, raising his left palm and sending tiny bolts of lightning towards the Rusted King, the other members of Einherjar attacking as well…

Alice attacked too, as she was now healed, with John still suspiciously missing.

The Rusted King screamed in both anger and pain as Emilia, Matt and Alice all hit, and the King found two swords going where lungs would be in human anatomy, and stabbed in both sides.

The King spun, vanishing, leaving the three stumbling after being wrenched to the side, Einherjar looking for where the King had vanished to.

They found him easily when he appeared near the throne he sat upon before the fight began, wobbling unsteadily as he fell back into the chair, staring at them.

“I see that I am still weak…” the King’s statement was said with a huff of pain, and Arthur could only think one thing.

It couldn’t be this easy.

“I suppose I can’t let myself die… not like this at least.” The King’s wounds slowly closed, his voice still sounding pained despite the lack of any visible wounds, and then his scimitars vanished…

The Rusted King then grabbed the armrests of his throne, and seemed to pull… then a clicking sound was heard.

What happened next was, while awesome, also terrifying, as the throne the King sat upon seemed to make a few clicking noises… and then the spikes hit, piercing through the body of the King, keeping his arms and chest in place, shocking Einherjar.

From the wounds of the King flowed golden sand, leaking onto the throne which began to make creaking sounds.

“Michael, shoot, now!” Arthur warned, not wanting to be idle as the King clearly did something dangerous, and his second-in-command was quick to launch a fire arrow…

Only for a shield of runes to appear, drawing a curse from Arthur… of course Chronos managed to add a transformation sequence that couldn’t be interrupted.

The runes were only there for a moment before vanishing, but that was enough as the throne morphed, the carvings in the throne now having golden sand flowing through them as the throne no longer looked like a seat… now it looked…

“A golem… you’re shitting me.” Arthur’s curse was both surprising and understandable as they stared at what was essentially a metallic hulk.

This one wasn’t green, though it may be angry as the sand flowing finally reached its empty black eyes, pooling there in a golden stare as its jaw moved.

“Now you see why I am the Rusted King… I searched for immortality, hoping to rule my kingdom for eternity… the result was that I cursed all of my subjects and myself into becoming pseudo undead…” the Rusted King’s voice was now much deeper and notably metallic, which made sense.

The Demon Lord was also correct in that his moniker was now easily understandable given the rusted copper/bronze which made up the golem’s form.

“My subjects became mindless puppets, obeying my will… and I immediately regretted my actions… I tried to kill myself, as penance for my actions. I’m certain you’ve heard of an ‘iron maiden’ before.” Those of Einherjar who understood what he meant blanched as the Rusted King curled his massive fingers into a fist.

“I failed to kill myself even then… the golden sand that flowed through my veins instead flowed through the metal that killed me, clinging onto life even when I wanted to die…” The Rusted King then looked from its hand to Arthur.

“Then Chronos came, and put me out of my misery… only for me to wake up after a time, in my original undead body… now, I once more see a chance to gain eternal slumber… hopefully this time, I won’t be awoken.” The golem form of the Rusted King stretched, its back straightening as it looked down upon the members of Einherjar.

“Your name. If we are to battle, I will have your name.” Arthur felt it was a bit late for introductions, but nonetheless spoke back, in his commanding tone.

No one really caught the blush on Emilia’s face.

“I am Arthur Clive, strongest Adventurer, and these are my comrades, and we are Einherjar!” Arthur shouted back, and the Rusted King seemed to somehow smile even with a metallic body.

“Excellent. Come, Arthur Clive… kill me.” The Rusted King’s words said one thing, but his actions said another as the golem leaned forward, jogging towards them…

Well, jogging was the operative term. Something that big moving at that speed was more like having a slower truck heading for you.

Understandably, no one, not even Matt, stood in the King’s way as they all jumped out of the way, not willing to risk a head on collision with what had to be more than a few tons of metal.

The Rusted King, despite lowering his speed in exchange for what had to be strength, was still intelligent, once he had seen Einherjar jumping out of the way he leaned further down, shoving a hand down, creating sparks as he twisted, now facing the original spot where the throne was.

Arthur momentarily had a lapse in his concentration upon seeing the Demon Lord essentially pull a one eighty break turn, and could only think that the throne was terrible… because he had contemplated sitting on it after the fight.

Yeah… that would have ended horribly.

Back to the fight, the King aimed for the closest enemy, swinging a backhand at Matt who dropped to a knee, his skin shining with metal as the Rusted King found his arm bouncing back from the blow.

Matt had also been knocked back a bit, but much less than Alice was when she got hit… by his normal form…

Arthur had already finished a basic analysis of the enemy and shouted out the info he had gleaned.

“He’s slower but hits harder, obviously, but I also doubt he can teleport like before!” Arthur’s words were based on the fact that the Rusted King ran at them instead of just teleporting towards them.

Arthur could be wrong, but the idea of something that big being capable of instantaneous movement was terrifying.

“No idea what other things it can do, but be careful!” Arthur reminded that even slowed down, the Rusted King was still a Demon Lord…

“Good leadership. You would have made a fine general.” The King complimented as he aimed a hand at Arthur, a glowing circle of sand appearing at the palm of the metallic golem, making Arthur’s eyes widen as he dived out of the way.

His choice was correct as a massive stake pierced where Arthur was standing just a moment ago, still connected to the Rusted King as the spike retracted, making its hand seamless once more.

Arthur was internally complaining about the unfairness… the Rusted King wanted to die but also seemed perfectly fine killing the person he wanted to kill him.

Maybe it was a Demon Lord thing? Willow hadn’t wanted to fight either…

Arthur would have thought all giant Demon Lord’s to be pacifistic if it weren’t for Guldan being a murderous rapist, according to Albert at least.

Regardless, the group now knew that the Rusted King could summon spikes, likely from anywhere on his body and not just his hands.

It could just be his hands, but better to think the worst while hoping for the best.

“Quick too…” The Rusted King said, seeing the sparks flittering off of Arthur’s body, letting the King know what Arthur’s element was…

And immediately Arthur wondered if maybe Lightning was an unfair element to bring to such a fight?

Experimenting, Arthur launched a few smaller bolts at the Demon Lord while making sure his magic reserves were still acceptable, only to see the Rusted King’s metallic body spark slightly.

No, Lightning was not truly a good element here… Arthur had forgotten most science classes as he was actually pretty bad at chemistry, but he was pretty sure that copper was extremely good at conducting heat and electricity… and bronze was mostly copper in the first place… he might shock his friends.

Maybe they could have overloaded the metallic form if there were multiple lightning users, but as it was, doing so would be nigh impossible.

“If I still had a beating heart that probably would have worked.” The Rusted King spoke true, the reason Lightning was so effective against most monsters offensively was because running electricity through a live creature usually caused spasms and muscles to lock, stunning then while burning them internally.

With no biology, lightning was a bit less damaging, let alone the tiny bolts Arthur was throwing around due to his lacking reserves of mana.

His mana regeneration was very high, but gaining ten per cent of one hundred was obviously less than ten per cent of a thousand.

Clearly, Fire and Lightning were not the answer…

Jumping back and allowing Emilia and Alice to step in and attack, Arthur watched while trying to think… he had already figured out the abilities of the Rusted King, but…

The Rusted King was now basically a walking slab of metal… tough, durable, damaging it would be difficult…

Silver-lining was that it was bronze. Bronze was kind of tough depending on the composition, though modern steel typically beat bronze if it was a ‘sword vs. sword’ situation.

This was not such a situation… Arthur eventually decided to screw the technical stuff and use video game logic.

That being:

“Use blunt weapons, smash him to pieces!” Arthur’s call was met with more than a few blinks, but then Alice and Matt smirked, Alice swapping out her current one handed sword for a war-hammer.

For the record, she hadn’t used the Goblin war-blade because she needed a shield at the time.

As for Matt, he either used a short sword or a hammer when fighting, though Arthur was thinking about asking him to swap to a spear… he could even get inspiration from Spartans if he did that.

But Arthur’s war cry did have a bit of truth to it, it was probably easier to dent the metal than cut straight through it anyway.

While Arthur’s call got that done, Arthur looked to Michael, who caught the look, raising a brow.

“Michael, I need you to use fire, consistently. Don’t care about where you hit, but I need you to hit that thing as much as you can as fast as you can… bronze has a lower melting point.” Arthur got a nod from Michael as the arrows started to fly.

Arthur once tried checking the temperature of Michael’s fire arrows and they typically burnt at about two hundred or so degrees Celsius, about three hundred and ninety degrees Fahrenheit.

While Bronze melted (typically) at around nine hundred and fifty Celsius, this would at least help a bit… or it could make the golem impossible to touch and hurt them all, but hey, they handled damage better with higher Endurance, burning or freezing counted as damage too.

Or so Matt said as he stood in a short sleeved shirt in early spring.

Arthur unfortunately did not have a blunt weapon, feeling that it was pointless to give the swordsman a hammer, especially since he wouldn’t get the boost Sword Sage gave his every action…

Maybe he’d try doing what knights did in that other video game, grab the blade and use the pommel as a hammer… probably best done with gauntlets on though.

But for now, Arthur simply swung Soul Flame, adding the innate fire damage of the blade to the already growing temperature the Rusted King was operating at.

“This is uncomfortable.” The King claimed as the metal slowly reddened, still attacking the group as he sent another stake at Alice, giving Arthur a chance to actually cut the stake off…

The metal then fell to the ground, vanishing, making Arthur smile a bit… maybe that’s what they were supposed to do, counter the stake attacks to weaken the total mass of the enemy?

It sounded like it would take too long, so their original plan continued, up until the moment where a huge amount of magic circles began to cover the Rusted King.

Then there was a scramble to get out of range or in a blind-spot, the King doing a decent imitation of a porcupine while Arthur focused on his magic.

Feeling the ebbing and flowing of his magic, Arthur activated Greater Spark Step, focusing on his energy as he prepared a killing blow, much like the one he used against Willow…

This one would need to be slightly different of course, as the Rusted King’s form was much denser than the Treant they had fought back then…

The Rusted King had noticed the growing sparks as the stakes retreated back into the reduced and dented mass of the golem, and a hand was raised to stop the focusing Arthur…

Only for a sword to clang against the raised arm, making the spike miss as the Rusted King widened his golden eyes, turning to stare where the sword came from…

And slowly, the form of John appeared in his vision, focusing on the sword which began to slowly float.

“A mind mage…but multiple magic?” The Rusted King’s question was answered by a quiet meow, the form of Sidhe appearing on John’s shoulder.

The two still disliked one another, but Sidhe would always be the same level as Arthur, even if she didn’t fight with Einherjar.

As a result, she was currently level sixty one like Arthur…

Sidhe (Owner: Arthur Clive)

Level: 61 (D-Rank)

Race: Nekomata- Grants an extra Element and one point in Intelligence per level

Elements:

Fire

Wind

Mind

Stats

Strength: 8

Dexterity: 8

Intelligence: 62

Wisdom: 38

Endurance: 8

Vitality: 8

And her third Element was Mind, like John’s. Sure, she was still pitifully weak in regards to her physical stats, but when it came to the magic based ones, she could do almost as well as Michael…

Despite only getting one free stat point per level, with a dedicated stat point to Intelligence.

“A familiar… how careless of me… I hadn’t even noticed.” The Rusted King heard a slight popping noise, turning to look back as Arthur who had his Dagger of Hunger floating between his hands, sparks shooting off of it.

Arthur had tried this trick once or twice, and he was quite certain he’d get it right eventually… now he was at his peak, and a bit stronger than the last time…

Besides, it wasn’t like a real rail-gun.

It still shot forward at an extreme speed though, the Dagger acting like a buzz saw as it impacted the chest of the Rusted King, making the giant stumble back from the unexpected force.

And it was during this stumble that Arthur ran forward, jumping while aiming both feet at the handle sticking out of the Demon Lord’s chest, his body still sparking with lightning.

“I’m too old for this…” the Demon Lord said as the kick connected, the blade blasting even further into his body as he landed on his back.

The Dagger of Hunger was now sitting in his chest, likely piercing his real body… and Arthur stood upon the Demon Lord, staring down at the enemy.

“That you are. Do you have any last words?” Arthur asked, out of respect for the being that respected him.

“Just a few… you remind me of him.” The Rusted King’s final words were met with no reply, a silent acknowledgement that he could continue.

“Charismatic at times, violent at others, so, so lost… not only that, but your ability to eat souls… yes, you’re just like Chronos.” Arthur’s eyes widened as a frown set itself upon his face.

“I’m not.” Arthur denied, only for the golem to chuckle.

“Sure you aren’t… Chronos wasn’t human after all.” And with that, Arthur had heard enough, using his connection to his Dagger to activate the Void ability of his Dagger…

And much like when he had killed the other Demon Lords, he blacked out.

You are a repeat visitor… can’t you wait until your appointed time? Must you challenge the powerful over and over again? I suppose that was the wrong question…

No? What would the right question be?

Why do you need power?

I have answered this before, have I not?

You have. But answers can change. Why do you need power?

To protect my friends and family.

I no longer feel that is quite correct.

To destroy my enemies.

That is also not quite right…

Why must I answer these questions every time?

It’s just the way it is. Why do you need power?

Am I not allowed to ask you questions of my own?

No, you are not… but I answer nonetheless. Why do you need power?

Will you keep repeating that question until I answer?

Yes, yes I will. If you would just keep quiet, I would stop asking… after all, you do not need to answer immediately. Why do you need power?

…

You are learning. Now find your answer. I’ll wait.

Arthur blinked as he fell into a crouch, his Dagger appearing in his hand as he looked around the room, realizing that he blacked out again… though for a much smaller duration this time around…

And that was a good thing, he didn’t quite want the rest of Einherjar to notice the pattern of him losing consciousness every time he killed a Demon Lord.

“Yeah!” a cheer went around the group as Matt shouted, and indeed, killing a Demon Lord was cause for celebration, delaying the attack on humanity while edging closer to killing Chronos, it was in all ways a good thing.

Sure, it was getting more difficult… but they were getting stronger.

Einherjar looked to their leader as he walked to the podium in the centre of the room, turning to them for a moment.

“We’re getting everyone a blunt force weapon along with piecing and slashing. Other than that, I’m happy. Let’s go.” Pretty simple speech…

But they were happy with their leader like that, watching as Sidhe jumped onto his shoulders with a meow.

Meanwhile with Shaun, the guild-master sat glaring at two criminals from behind one-way glass…

The two were speaking, but it was what they were saying that was the issue. The Adventurer Killer… had apparently had a gang, not just support. Shaun had only one word to say.

“Shit.”

Arthur Clive

Level: 62 (C-Rank)

Class: Linked Swordsman- Grants one stat point to Strength and Wisdom per level

Gives Soul Sight (Unique) Skill

Anima

Dagger of Hunger

Cloak of Will

Anima Skills

No Change

Primary Element: Lightning

Other Element(s): Darkness

Personal Skills

Tactician IV (3/200) - increases Wisdom by 25% (total 155%)

Sword Sage II (154/300)- Any bladed weapon deals 30% extra damage

Soul Sight II (290/300) - Allows insight beyond mortality

Dual Wielding IV (17/200) - Greater use of two weapons

Lightning Elemental III (45/300) - Use supplementary lightning spells

Quick Reflexes III (36/150)- Increases Dexterity by 20%

Stats

Strength: 78

Dexterity: 94 (112)

Intelligence: 53

Wisdom: 104 (161)

Endurance: 53

Vitality: 78