Jin dreamt he was back home with Lacey and Leon, he was sitting in his kitchen and helping Leon with his homework while Lacey made pancakes.
Then a deep thundering voice spoke to him. “Don’t trust the Old Gods.”
Jin popped up out of bed, startled by the warning. He looked around the room, but it was empty, and he could see daylight. He wiped the drool from his mouth and patted down his wild hair, so it didn’t look like he had been electrocuted.
Shadow sat in a black chair watching his Fallen fight some low-level Fire Devils. He spawned another chair for Jin beside him.
Jin sat down and leaned back, “How long was I out? I’m starving.”
Shadow threw him a bag of chips and held up 2 fingers.
Jin started eating. “Only 2 hours? That can’t be right.”
Shadow looked up and then held up 3 fingers.
“That still doesn’t sound right.” Jin said with a mouthful of chips.
Shadow shook his head and pointed up.
Jin almost choked on the chips. “Wait, I was asleep for 3 days?!”
Shadow nodded.
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”
Shadow just shrugged.
“Well, aren’t you mister helpful.”
‘I tried but you wouldn’t wakeup, I even had one of the Fallen dump a bucket of water on your head like 4 times.’
Jin leaned towards Shadow. “Why the hell did you do it 4 times?! I feel like once or twice would’ve been enough for you to figure out I wasn’t waking up!”
‘I was bored and worried, actually I think it was 6 times.’
Jin ran his hand through his hair that messier than usual. “At least now I know why my bed felt damp.”
As they talked about their next move a 10-foot-tall demon with 2 giant horns and red wings landed in the middle of their camp. He had a mouth full of sharp teeth and green eyes, his skin was a dark red and he had hooves for feet, along with purple steel pants. The Demon summoned a fireball into each of his clawed hands.
“Bow before the Devil King of Fiends, mortals!” He bellowed.
Jin was still yelling at Shadow; both were completely ignoring the Devil King. “Seriously dude, why didn’t you just shake me or something? Why was your go to trying to drown me!”
Shadow remained silent to the perception of the Devil King but was arguing with Jin in his mind.
“Fine, die in ignorance!” The Devil King prepared to blast the 2 heroes with the balls of Hellfire.
Before he got the chance, one of the Giants stepped on the Devil King.
Jin and Shadow looked at the Fallen Giant’s foot.
“I could sense he was weak, but that was just sad.” Jin said as he shook his head with pity.
The Giant moved his foot revealing the Devil King of Fiends was still barely clinging to life. “I yield!”
Jin got up and walked to where the Devil King was laying, his horns had been broken and he was covered in cuts that were oozing green blood. “You yield?”
“Yes, I will be your servant after witnessing your great power.” The Devil King pleaded.
“No thanks.” Jin summoned his sword to kill the Devil King, but Shadow stopped him.
‘Wait, I think we can use him.’
Jin sighed and relinquished his sword. “Use him how, this guy is weak as shit. I say we kill him; he would be more useful as a Fallen.”
“I have information that may be of use, master.” The Devil King struggled to get up and knelt before them.
“Like what?” Jin asked.
“I can guide you to the fortress of the Great One.”
“The Great One, you mean the Devil Emperor?”
“Yes, I know his forces and I will tell you more if you spare me.” The Devil King desperately bargained for his life.
Jin looked at Shadow who gave a thumbs up. Jin rubbed his eyes. “Fine, but if I feel like you’re going to betray us then I’m going to kill you.”
“The Devil King of Fiends always keeps his word.”
Jin summoned a sword of lightning and held it pointed at the Drvil King. “You better hope that’s true otherwise this is going up your-“
Shadow stepped the back of Jin’ head.
“What the hell was that for?”
Shadow motioned for the Devil King to stand. ‘Heal him before he dies on us.’
The Devil King stood as blood continued pouring from his wounds.
Jin mumbled to himself, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.” He healed the Devils wounds.
“You are a kind master to the Devil King of Fiends.” The Devil King bowed his head as Jin healed him.
“Yeah thanks, but enough of that Devil King stuff. From now on you’re horn because you have one horn and it’s easier to say.” Jin sat back down, and the Devil King looked sad rubbed where his other horn broke off. Shadow patted the Devils shoulder then sat back down next to Jin.
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“So Horn, where is the Devil Emperor.” Jin asked.
Horn pointed in the direction they’d already been going. “That way.”
Jin closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. “We know that, but how much further and what’s the fortress you mentioned?”
“Approximately 600 miles and his fortress is a tall castle of iron surrounded by Hellfire, the castle is the domain of the Devil Emperor. It follows them wherever they go.” Horn watched in horror as some Fallen in the distance were massacred by the wandering Giants that guarded the camp.
“Great, that place sounds lovely. What is his army full of and how big is it?”
“His army numbers over 10,000, it is filled of Wyverns, Lave Giants, Devil Elves, and Blood Orcs as well as other Devils created by the Emperor.”
“Damn, even Devil Elves. Those guys would hunt heroes when they popped up in Canada, an army of them alone is a headache. To throw Devil Wyverns into the mix too….”
Shadow rubbed his chin. ‘Yes, I agree. With an army of 10,000 our Fallen will be crushed in a head on, he even has Giants to combat our own.’
“I understand Master’s hesitation, you would also have to face the Blood Orc Emperor and Devil Elf Emperor before getting to the throne of the Great One.” Horn shivered as he remembered his encounters with the Emperors and their overwhelming power.
“Damn there is another Emperor there too? We barely killed the Orc one.” Jin reclined and looked up at the sky.
Horn looked at the Heroes in horror, “You… you killed the Emperor of the Orcs?”
“Yeah, that bastard with the gold shield, right?” Jin continued pondering what to do, they could kill the Elf Emperor but then the Devil Emperor would just wipe the floor with them when they were drained of power.
Horn felt a new overwhelming fear for the 2 beings in front of him, he silently thanked Fate for sparing him this day.
“Horn, if you had to compare the strength of the Orc Emperor to the Elf and Devil Emperor, who is the strongest?” Jin asked, slightly worried of what the answer was.
Horn thought for a moment, then answered. “I’d never thought about it because their power dwarfed my own. But if I had to guess based on their accomplishments, the Orc Emperor ranked the lowest of the 3. He only conquered 2 realms, whereas the Elven Emperor conquered 11 before the Devil Emperor subjugated the 2 of them. The Devil Emperor has conquered 7 realms, but after defeating the other 2 Emperors he controls a total of 20 realms.”
“Really? I’d think that the Devil Emperor had conquered the most.”
“The Devil Emperor saw it as less effort to take the Emperors than to take the individual realms, it requires a large amount of time for armies to be moved between realms. The larger the army the more time required.”
“How much of his army is here now?”
“Of his total forces, close to 10%.”
Jin felt his heart skip a beat. “There’s still that many coming?!”
“No, Master. This is just his personal invasion force, the rest are scattered throughout the realms. Some are maintaining a presence in the conquered realms and others are attacking new realms in preparation for the Devil Emperors arrival to conquer them after this realm.” Horn clarified.
“Well despite how unnerving all that information is, well need to Kill the Elf first.”
Shadow nodded in silent agreement.
Horn raised his finger. “That may be difficult, Master.”
Jin looked at horn, “Why, are you doubting our strength?”
Horn trembled while checking around for any nearby Giants. “No, Masters! I just meant that the Devil Elves always stay close to the Devil Emperor, they are what you would a call his Elite Force. They are only dispatched in times of emergency or great threat.”
Jin got a devious smile, “I’d say that if he learned of an army that defeated the Orc Emperor that would qualify, wouldn’t you say?”
Horn knelt, “If you’d like, Master, I can send one of my own minions to report this information to lure him out.”
“You have minions?” Jin found it hard to believe that such a wimpy Devil had any followers.
“Yes, Master. I am the Devil King of Fiends after all.” Horn looked up at Jin.
Jin leaned forward in his chair. “Alright, but not yet. We will need time to prepare, until then go patrol with some of the Fallen. Don’t think of running though, Shadow here will be able to sense if you leave the domain and we’ll send those Giants to finish you off.”
Horn nodded emphatically. “I would not dream of betraying my new Masters! I will do as you command without question.” Horn flew off to patrol with a group of Fallen Orcs.
Jin continued to think about their current situation. “So, what do you think?” He asked Shadow who had been sitting there the whole time looking bored and tired.
‘I think this is a tomorrow problem, not all of us slept 3 days and I still feel drained from raising this army.’ Shadow got up and rubbed his eyes.
“Fair enough, I’ll think of something and let you know when you’re up.”
Shadow went inside their shelter and fell asleep almost instantaneously.
Jin stayed up and spent the day scouting the surrounding landscape and killing stray Devils while thinking of a plan to kill the Devil Elf Emperor.
Shadow came out of the shelter and the day had turned to night. He looked at the stars and they were beautiful; it was nothing like when he grew up in the city and there was so much light pollution that you’d be lucky to see even a handful of stars. But out here they were like thousands of twinkling diamonds in an ocean of bluish black.
His wonder was cut off by a booming laughter, Shadow looked at the campfire and what he saw shocked him. Jin was sitting with Horn and the 2 looked to be having a pleasant conversation filled with laughter.
Jin was in the middle of sharing his stories in the Devil Realm with Horn, recounting the time he killed the Devil King of Power.
Horn listened with fascination. “I thought your arm seemed familiar; I am impressed that you were able to face him without your powers. The Devil King of Power ranked among the strongest heroes in life, but when he became warped as a Devil, his power faded. Had he remained at full strength he could have been an Emperor.”
Jin imagined how differently things would’ve turned out had that been the case. “Thank the Gods he wasn’t. So Horn, who were you in life?”
Shadow lingered in the doorway and listened it, not wanting to be involved in the conversation, he figured he’d have to talk if he joined in and that seemed unpleasant.
Horn tried to remember his life before becoming a Devil, but only snippets remained. “That was many centuries ago, from what I recall I was a rather young mortal when I was blessed with a minor healing ability that is all.”
Jin couldn’t believe he was empathizing towards a Devil. “Have you ever missed being a human?”
Horn laughed. “Not once, as a Devil we are incapable of such emotions. We feel only loyalty to the strong and a lust to enact their will, that was what the Devil Emperor etched into our Spirits upon rebirth.”
Jin always thought that Devils acted based purely on violence and hatred, so this came as a shock. “Do you guys need to eat, sleep or any of that stuff?”
“No, Master, we are beings created above such simple needs. A Devil can eat others to grow their power though.”
Jin yawned then got up. “Well it’s been fun Horn, but I’m going to bed.”
Horn bowed. “Then I shall return to my duties, Master Jin.” He flew off and rejoined some Fallen to patrol with.
‘Remember, he’s still a Devil.’ Shadow stepped from the shadows.
“Yeah, but we shouldn’t rule out everything he says. What if everything he says is true? That would mean we just have to kill the Emperoes and we can tell the rest to stand down.”
‘I’m just saying that this is the first case of a Devil being friendly of all our years since fighting them, so don’t let your guard down.’
“Obviously, I’m not some amateur. Why are you being such a hard ass about this. You’re the one who wanted to spare him in the first place.”
Shadow had a disapproving look as he was led outside. ‘I spared him because he seemed useful to us, not to befriend him.’
“Alright, jeez I get it already so let it go.” Jin put his hand on Shadows shoulder.
‘I hope you mean that. Remember this is War, nows not the time to be going soft on them. Given the chance these monsters kill innocent men, women, and children without hesitation.’ Shadow turned invisible and left to patrol the area.
Jin reflected on his past for a second, Shadow was right, but he had to hope there was a better solution then killing them all otherwise how would they be better than the monsters they hunt.