“Stop! We’re supposed to be on the same side!” A young woman in a purple robe shouted at the 2 men currently engaged in conflict with each other.

Dark human shaped figures emerged from the shadows to defend their master who was a tall man clad in tattered black robes with a black steel dagger in each hand and black half mask hiding his face. His eyes covered by the shadow from his hood.

He continued avoiding the slashes of his attacker by using the shadows as human shields.

The man slashing through the shadows was a giant among men and stood at almost 7 feet tall, his hair and beard were a deep red almost as if it were drenched with blood of his enemies. He wore ripped blue jeans, golden metal boots, and golden claws that covered his hands. His torso was covered in black tribal tattoos. His claws continued tearing through the shadow men as he chased down the dark robed man.

The rest of the heroes present didn’t dare get involved in this fight out of fear of becoming collateral damage. They continued pleading for the fight to stop, but it was pointless.

“Quit running and fight me yourself, COWARD!” The giant man screamed as he continued slicing through the shadows.

The dark robed man ignored him and continued to avoid the attacks, not daring to look away from the fight for even a second.

Finally, the shadows overwhelmed the man with there vast numbers, they piled on the giant man and held him down. The man’s muffled roar could still be heard underneath the pile of shadow men.

“Is it over?” One of the younger heroes in silver armor asked.

The man erupted from the pile of shadows; his eyes filled with murderous intent as he lunged for the dark robed man.

But before he could grab him, Jin appeared to stop the fight. Catching the men off guard, Jin drove his fist into the giant man’s face, sending him across the room and crashing into the wall.

“I was gone for barely an hour and this is what happens?!” Jin shouted at the 2 fighting. “I expect this from King, but c’mon Shadow.”

Shadow just shrugged and sheathed his daggers.

King stood up from where he landed and spit some blood out from his mouth. “Your punch isn’t as good as it used to be, are you sure you can lead this raid? You should just leave it to me.” King said with a bloody grin.

Jin laughed mockingly, “I pulled my punch, I don’t need you broken before the raid.”

King grunted and stormed out of the room.

Jin looked to the group of heroes, “One of you healers go fix him up, I want him in top shape when we head out tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir!” A young lady said and then went off to find King and fix him up.

“The rest of you, someone tell me what happened because Gods know Shadow won’t.” Jin looked at Shadow who summoned some minions to start cleaning up the warehouse they were using temporarily as a base.

The hero who texted Jin stepped forward, “King was shouting about how he should be the one in charge of the raid and how all other heroes were inferior to him. Then Shadow ‘accidentally’ spilled his coffee on him.’

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Jin buried his face in his hands and mumbled. He then looked at Shadow, “You can’t even hear, so I’m honestly impressed he was able to annoy you. If you don’t like what he’s saying, just look away and stop reading his lips.”

Shadow rolled his eyes then left the room. His shadows looked at each other, confused if they were supposed to keep cleaning or follow him. But before they knew what to do, they evaporated.

Jin sighed and looked at the heroes who all looked disheartened after watching their superiors fight right before the raid.

“Look, I know everyone is on edge about tomorrow, but this is just a normal thing with King. He doesn’t work well with others, just in case you that haven’t figured that out yet. Let this inspire you to keep growing stronger after seeing their strength and let their strength give you confidence that we will succeed in retaking the city.” Jin’s speech brought the motivation back for the dozens of wide eyed young heroes gathered for the raid.

“Now, you should all know the plan by now so be ready to head out tomorrow morning at dawn. Those of you blessed by the Goddess of Magic, check everyone’s enchantments on their gear. Then for those of you blessed by the Goddess of Creation, make sure everyone has the highest-grade gear that you can create and prepare backup weapons as well. The rest of you, have your minds and bodies ready for the coming fight. Make sure you all eat and get some sleep.” Jin finished speaking and dismissed the heroes, then retreated to his room.

He laid in his bed, an hour passed and he just stared off into the darkness. This raid would be hid 13th raid he participated in. It never got easier; he knew that few of them would survive the retaking of the city. He wasn’t even sure that he’d survive this time, that’s why he went as far as to recruit King for this raid.

Many cities across the world were taken when Devils first started emerging. Berlin, London, Tokyo, and even his hometown was conquered by Devils. But those who first remained to fight the monsters were recognized by the God’s and granted powers to fight them. Many only received blessings after doing valorous acts, but there were a few that were chosen for an unknown reason and blessed by the Gods.

After the emergence of these heroes, they started to turn the tide against the invasion of the Devils. People were able to return home, but as time went on, stronger Devils kept emerging. It seemed as if the heroes could not keep up with the rising strength of the Devils.

That was until Jin rose to fame, the first and only hero to receive 2 blessings from 2 different Gods. He brought new hope into the world as he led the charge to retake numerous cities and slay Devils that had been thought to be unbeatable.

Jin began to feel unbeatable, that was until his fight with [Red Death], when he got closer to death than ever before.

Red Death had been the scourge of Japan, this single Devil had devastated Japan. A ghostly reaper that was the size of a skyscraper and a scythe that was capable of destroying a city block in one swipe.

Jin was only able to defeat it after a past heroes' raid attempt failed, but one of the survivors discovered a core in the middle of the reapers ghostly body. The heroes managed to crack it with a lucky shot from an enchanted bow.

After the core cracked, the reaper shrunk slightly, but his speed increased exponentially.

With this information, Jin created a basecamp outside of Tokyo where the Devil had moved to and prepared to attack. Knowing he was the only one who could get close enough to the reaper because of his teleportation ability, he went in alone and launched a surprise attack.

Jin plunged a magic bomb into the core and when it blew, the reaper shrunk down from a skyscraper to barely 8 feet tall.

But it’s speed rivaled Jin’s teleportation, Jin could make out what remained of the reaper’s core in the middle of its skeletal chest.

Their fight was beyond what even the top heroes could comprehend. Jin was barely able to avoid the reapers attacks by teleporting away, even then he still was receiving damage from the Devil's speedy attacks.

The closest call was when the reaper got behind him and narrowly slashed his throat, Jin managed to teleport just in time to avoid a deeper slash that would have no doubt taken his head.

Realizing the fight was a stalemate, Jin teleported within arm's reach of the reaper and reached into his chest. He clutched the core, but before he could fully crush it, the reaper swung its scythe and plunged it through the center of Jin’s back.

Jin crushed the the core, successfully bringing an end to the scourge of Red Death.

Now he was going to face an even stronger enemy, the Devil known as [Fallen Angel]. A Devil that had singlehandedly fought off the might of the US military and the numerous heroes that formed raids to hunt the Devil down.