The sky was redder in Hell today than usual. I stood by, looking up at the sunless sky become engulfed in burning flames. I have gone over so many monologues in my head, that all I could do is wait around. Footsteps hurried themselves along the stony floor, accompanied by heavy armor rustling as they slowed to a halt before me.

“Demon Lord!” Three of my Generals knelt before me. Even in this final hour, they remained loyal. Do I even deserve them when it has come to this point? I looked gloomily outside the window, only to catch glimpses of destroyed fields and burning cottages.

“Is everything prepared?” I gestured for them to stand and give the report. The middle Demon, General Wrath, saluted and nodded.

“Preparations are completed, Demon Lord,” His voice wavered, as he bowed his head. “Evacuations are complete. Our soldiers are ready to buy you time.”

“Excellent,” I waved him off. “Get going, then. General Wrath, General Pride, and General Lupe.”

“A-Are you certain you want to do this?” General Lupe blurted. General Pride nearly drew his massive greatsword upon his interruption, but stopped as I gave him a strict look. “It’s just, that, you know.”

“It’s the only way the portal will seal itself. You don’t want to lost in the blast, as Wisdom says,” I told him. General Lupe hung his shoulders. I gave him a weak smile. “I have high hopes for you in your Reign.”

At my reassurance, General Lupe put a fist over his heart and began to move out. General Pride saluted, and left with General Wrath. They were a handful, I supposed, but loyal to the bitter end. I will miss them, and pray for their survival. Lupe, the youngest Greater Demon to defeat a Primordial, cared a lot about his post for the past fifty years. General Pride would not admit it, but he cared a lot for the boy. I watched General Wrath’s fluttering cape exit swiftly. The Greater Demon I respected the most and have entrusted the House of Dueling with will survive and thrive without me.

I sighed, and sat back down on my makeshift throne and looked out the windows towards that glowing portal ominously hanging where the raging sun should be. It was conjured by strange Skills and magic human wizards used. I did not have to wait long, for a horrific humming cacophony echoed from beyond the main entrance. The watch tower had fallen, which means that he is coming for me. I sigh, feeling the nervousness bloom under my chest. Have I always been this fearful and weak? I even caused his friends to retreat! In the face of losing everything, I used to never back down. Now all I could do is sit here and wallow in anxiety. The end was near.

The commotion culminated in a fiery explosion, destroying my makeshift castle’s front gate. Hasn’t he heard of knocking? I drummed the armrest of my throne with my fingers in irritation. This castle took weeks to construct! The wood snapped apart as smoke began to clear as I began to see the horrible carnage of what has happened outside, and who was responsible for the calamity.

My heart began to beat rapidly as I watched the Human Hero enter. He stood tall across from me, his sword glimmering with numinous light from its sheath and piercing the smoky air with its holy aura. Only a long table draped in silken cloth but barren of any food stood between me in my throne and him. He was silent and unwavering, though not tireless, having fought through the burning countryside of Hell where countless bodies of my fallen subjects lay dead by his hands. His army was not untouched either, laying amongst the casualties with gore splattering their silver armor. The flames flickered in the sky behind him as he stood at the gate, rising to the hunched-over sun in its blood soaked sky.

I studied him silently, and he drew in a deep breath with intention lacing his lips. This Human was like none of the others I have faced before. So this is my Destiny, the one spoken by the Demon Oracle Wisdom; The one who will slay me. I stood up from my skull laden throne, unfolding my wings and releasing my powerful aura.

“Haven’t you had enough trespassing inside our home, Human? Have your kind not killed enough?” I shrieked at him.

As expected, the Hero stood silently as I screeched at him, spitting out the rank air of the devastated landscape as he began to recite some kind of holy magic. His sword arm began to share the same light emanating from his blade, coruscating with complicated and consecrated runes. The energy spread through his arm and chest, until he was a true Being of the Divine.

“I call upon you, Everbright, Bringer of Brilliance!” He spoke evenly as he drew his sword.

As if in response to the call, the putrid aura and mewling whelps of the dying outside faded away. Even the darkness of my home began to shrink away from the holy weapon. Every fiber of my being snapped straight, and though I kept my failing composure imperceptible, the Light of his sword bore its true strength even far from its Home.

“Everbright, Bringer of Brilliance? More like Bringer of BS,” I scoffed, though the crackling storm before me grew more intense.

I knew I stood no chance. I was a failure of a Queen. Those Humans had been making incursions along the borders of the Demon Land, pushing deeper and stretching my forces thin. Divine was Hell’s anathema, a poison going by the name of Skills, extended by the Heavenly Forces to the mortals. We had no such powers. Skills annihilated us settlement by settlement, city by city, each fell gradually until I came up with this plan with Wisdom. I knew it was only a matter of time that the prophecy would come for me. That Portal would not seal itself until my existence was no more.

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Yet, I had a small hope budding within me despite my doom walking towards me. I planned for this, and my own strength has brought me this far! This cannot be the end without a fight! A Skill, I divined from heretical knowledge from the former Demon King. Summoning my strength, I stamped my tail into the ground and unleashed my tendrils after him. Shock took over his face for a moment, as if he recognized what I was trying to do. Go! My tendrils moved to intercept him. I needed my own magic to buy me time as I began the spells necessary to make use of the Skill. The attacks lashed out at the Hero’s sword, and yet they were no match against the runed magical power he brought with his charge.

He cut one down, causing searing pain and blood to escape my mouth while the taboo magic swirled around me. Thank goodness I designed this hall to be long enough to take a few seconds to cross! What now, Hero! You have three or more candles to hop over before reaching me! I wiped the blood off my lips, and ignited my Second Spell, Blood Magic. From the sliced tentacles, flaming blood erupted in jets directly at the Hero. Got to keep him away for a few more seconds! I clawed at my skin to produce more blood, and soon the entire castle hall was engulfed in waves of explosions created by my blood’s ignitions.

Something was stirring as the forbidden Skill spell circle began to split into four individual spell circles, rising in front of me like pitiful and colorful magic shields. Wrath’s weakest soldiers could cut through those flimsy things, I scoffed, but remembered I had to do something about the Skill. Since the spell circles activated, that must mean it is working!

A triumphant humming suddenly boomed from within a sea of manipulated flaming blood, and the Hero burst through completely unscathed from my magic. He was cocooned within a translucent golden shell, his cold eyes fixated on me as I tried to resolve the Forbidden Skill.

“You will be no more, Demon Queen!” He declared. “Your ashes and this plane shall scatter across the night sky as shooting stars of hope!”

The bolt of Everbright lanced through my spell circles, and straight through me! Coldness enveloped me rapidly, as my mind raced for more time to complete the Skill. I stumbled, as one by one the spell circles of the Forbidden Skill evaporated into mist and all the doubts rapidly doubled down inside my head. Have I always been this weak? A failure of a Queen?

I stood tall and attempted to block the blade with my reinforced claws, but now with the excruciating pain of Holy magic as it began to tear my insides apart. My body was flaking apart in diaphanous sparks, but my will to live burned in desperation like a candle in a rainstorm. I heard the Hero’s heavy steps come up the stairs slowly, and the clinking of his burning blade. I figured he was going to inevitably finish me off. Let him, I did not hold his duty against him. Perhaps, if I was not such a useless Queen I would be in his same position on the other side of that damn Portal. If I were as powerful as him, I would close it myself!

“Tell me, Hero,” I coughed up blood. I felt my knees give up, buckling as I began to crash to the floor. My head landed on armor, much to my surprise. The Hero caught me in his arms? Was that pity in his eyes? “Have I always been so… unlucky? Even this so called Skill failed to activate!”

It was apparent to me that the Hero could not understand what I was saying all along, but it was too late for that. Don’t pity me! I smiled weakly at his unchanging and calculating face. Congratulations, Hero, you and your overpowered sword beat me on this fine day. My vision failed me, the feeling of the odd yet tough metal plates of his armor engulfed me until I became apart of the darkness.

It felt like awhile, but I remembered Wisdom mentioning that Demons do not truly die on the surface beyond the Portal, but rather are reborn from flesh down in the Underworld to fight again. This Skill was supposed to revive me in the deepest part of Hell so I could rule once more when I succeeded in defeating the Primordials and the Generals of Sin again. Though the opportunity slipped through my grasp within the swirling sands of the Hero’s Light, I pointed at the Portal above my ruined castle. It was sizzling like my own body…

Ah. This is how death feels like.

It must have felt like eternity, I was sure I no longer had a form and the details of how I became this way were quickly eluding me. I floated within a vast and pitch black chasm. Perhaps this is what all Demons go through before they are reborn back in Hell, I wondered.

As I continued my aimless journey, a sudden ray of light burst from way above me with its trajectory barreling straight down to where I was. I could tell it must be dangerous, but I had no legs to run! I had no mouth to scream for help! The beam blasted through me, or the Formless Being that was Me, but surprisingly I did not feel anything. I wondered why I should be surprised, considering I did not have a real body. A voice, feminine and otherworldly, echoed above me, but it felt like the voice came from within me.

Forbidden Skill: [Demon’s Blessing] Activated.

Forbidden Skill: [Demon’s Blessing] Failed to resolve.

Forbidden Skill: [Grasp of Rebirth] Activated.

Forbidden Skill: [Grasp of Rebirth] Failed to resolve.

Forbidden Skill: [Wisdom’s Intervention] Activated.

Forbidden Skill: [Reincarnation] Activated.

Forbidden Skill: [Reincarnation] Respec Failed. Rerolling…

I sat up suddenly with sweat beading down my forehead. I patted myself all over and felt coldness settle on my skin. The only thing that was still sweating were my feet, covered by sheets I kicked off myself. Was it all bad dream? What was a bad dream? I looked at my hands, realizing my beautiful and powerful claws were missing. Well, he probably sliced them off when I attempted to block his stupid, overpowered and oversized sword… Wait a minute, I stopped my complaints. My skin was pale white, instead of red.

Waah! What the hell? My forbidden Skill activated? There was cheering outside. From below me? Where was I? More importantly, what was I? I sprang up, but based on the cheering the answer was creeping upon me. I crept over to a door, but realized it was risky to reveal myself, so I tried the curtains. It was not cheering, it was screeching. I pushed them open and was greeted by the night sky. Stars screamed across its velvety bluish borders, a sight both mystical and foreign to my eyes. They streaked like golden tears under a singular bright moon. In Hell, I never experienced a sight like this. I knew what I was.

A teardrop splashed on the back of my hand as I watched the remains of a dying star scatter into numerous lines across the indigo sky, then vanish into nothingness. My hand trembled as I peeked down at it. The Forbidden Skill turned me into a human!