Towers of deep purple twisted up toward the amber sky like jagged needles. There was something remarkably gothic and arcane about the architecture of the demonic palace that felt as though it was physically assaulting me, even from this distance.

The remainder of our journey to this place had gone mostly uncontested. Several small villages near emptied already, as if hell itself was running dry. I knew that couldn’t be the case. Most likely, the king had drawn all those nearby demons in to build an army to stand against us.

Even more probable, as we gazed down from our high ground at the roving throngs of monsters in loose regiments. A few hundred, maybe - I didn’t even care to try to count them.

“I’m exhausted just looking at them,” Ren said, pulling a face and leaning against her rifle.

Wolf grunted to signal that he agreed, but said nothing further.

For me… I was mostly glad that Ren had received that skill that made us immune to a few mental debilitations, including Trauma. No doubt it was the only reason we were still sane and functional at this point, otherwise the slew of violence would have had us crack from the pressure weeks ago.

[Max: We’re making our final stand.]

[Max: I’m not sure how the time translates… but shouldn’t be long.]

[Tanya: We’re all rooting for you, Max.]

[Quinn: You can do this^]

[Quinn: Don’t die without me there to avenge you!^]

[Ren: I won’t let him die.]

[Tanya: See you all soon then, godspeed.]

I gave the elf a smile as we both closed down the chat messages. After she had taken my Mana Manipulation skill, her protective abilities had become as broken as my offensive ones. Barely even registered the heals and shields she provided, but they allowed me and Wolf to go all out to an even greater degree than before.

It was one of the reasons I looked down at the hordes of demons down the valley and felt completely neutral at the prospect of carving our way through them to get to the palace.

“Tougher bastards will be inside,” Roger mentioned, sniffing at the air. “The two other princes, elite guards, and anything else capable of being more than fodder.”

“And the king himself, of course.” I stretched out my arms and sighed.

The end was so close and yet still a rough battle ahead to get there. My hope was that we could actually go home after usurping the throne, but who knew at this point? Too tired to make a second plan if the first fell through.

“Alright, troops.” I put my hands together and drew their attention. “This is the fight we’re been stockpiling for. All those buffing potions and scrolls, we want to use every boost and advantage we can. Save anything rare or short supply for when we get to the palace, but otherwise, let's roll through the chaff as quickly as possible.”

“A speech without reference to showmanship.” Ren gave me a wry grin.

“Hell has… ruined me,” I said and shook my head. Would be nice to get back to the point where the normal me had more control than the demonic side. “Although that was partially you as well, no doubt.”

“Don’t pretend you didn’t have an equal share in the debauchery, trickster.” She rolled her shoulders out and lifted up her rifle. “Almost a shame that we’ll go back to something more grounded soon enough.”

While I gave her a nod, I wasn’t so sure it was a shame. There was only so much punishment I could take. Our more normal love life from before was… well, actually thinking back to the tower - we’d always leaned on the side of slightly unhinged.

“We’ll run through this nice and simple.” I let the thoughts over our relationship dwindle away so that I could focus on the battle plan. “Chew through and clog up the front using the valley, while my ace and Ren batter the ones near the back. Idea is to break them and cut through the palace gates as soon as reasonable.”

“Understood.” The elf gave me a nod. “Let’s get buffed up.”

My eyes rolled around my Inventory window at great speed. While I could draw most things from there with just a thought, I wanted to take stock of what potions I’d have to hold my nose and drink. The first consumable would make that more bearable - a type of cheese that made everything taste like… more cheese.

A pretty [Gouda Buff] if you asked me.

Next up were all the ones that increased my magical damage, crit chance, and mana regeneration. Followed by Intelligence boosting, a minor all-stats boost, and then something to give me a bit more defense and evasion. At that point, my stomach felt pretty full, so I saved anything niche for later.

Switched to spell scrolls and buffed my Illusion magic, skill range, and health regeneration. A couple of party-wide auras to further increase defenses and attack power. Ren and Wolf finished off their preparations, both of them now shimmering through several different colors.

I felt calm now. Perhaps one of the side effects of a potion. One last final push and…

“Ren.” I turned my head to the elf. “You know what the worst part of this whole venture has been?”

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“There’s… just so many things. I wouldn’t know where to start.”

“I’ve grown tired of the taste of Sweet Cakes.”

Her brow furrowed slightly as a tear sprung from her right eye and traveled down her face. “You’re a fucking bastard, Max. You’re lucky I love you.”

I smiled, reveling in the rebellion. Yes. Somebody had to love me, and despite everything we’d been through in hell, we still wore the rings exchanged. A binding vow that not even this cursed place could undo.

“Everybody look sharp. We only get one shot at this, and missing is not an option.”

At their murmurs of readiness, we surged forth.

The palace itself sat at the bottom of a valley, three or possibly four long pathways leading downward to an open area where the gathered demons were sitting right in front of the building that housed the king. Gaps in the lowered ground revealed small pits of lava, the air waving from the heat as the amber glow illuminated patches of deep red rock.

Without a way to teleport the bear, we had to make most of the distance on foot. Surprisingly, we got within a decent distance before bright eyes started to turn our way, and the gathered horde murmured that we had arrived.

It was showtime.

With still a way for Wolf to go, Ren started proceedings with a shot into the closest demons, entangling roots grabbing at a wide handful and preventing their easy surge toward us.

“Kneel, pathetic maggots,” she called out. “Bow your heads and worship your future king.”

As her buffing skill washed over me, I switched with my demonic ace in the air and activated at the same time as my shadowed card cast three held spells. [Growth Scroll] increased my size by 20%. [Anti-Venom Shell Scroll] made me shimmer a deep purple color, and was mostly for the aesthetics. [Quake Scroll] did no damage, but vibrated the ground in a wide area. As horns burst from my head, two large wings cracked at the air as they snapped open behind me.

The sea of Dazzle icons washing through the demons was pure bliss.

A second blast rang from Ren's location as a radiant shot blew through two demons before bright gold lightning flickered around a dozen more, her new skill scouring and burning the blight before us.

Wolf collided with the front row of the pinned regiment, trampling several before his claws cleaved another group to shreds. Pulses of stunning and dazing effects washed through any close to him.

I looked up to see a cloud of arrows moving through the air toward me. My sharp teeth upturned into a grin as the projectiles burst through , the shield provided by Ren, and all my other defenses. Arrows pierced my body, far too many to avoid fully. I continued to glide down towards the horde below. The grin remained on my face despite the eight arrows in me and countless cuts from other near misses.

started to overcome the injuries, my bravado not even caring to use to avoid the piercing points of the lobbed arrows. One by one, they were pushed out of my body - ejected to fall inert to the ground below. As soon as I was free from them, I turned invisible.

Near silent, I dropped and landed on the warm, rocky ground. Righted myself and brought my wings in as my hand extended. [Ice Spear Scroll] burned away from my gauntlet and a five-foot long piercing beam burst from my palm, cutting through the head of the nearest demon. As my invisibility faded, purple cards bloomed and encircled my left hand. I had thirteen additional scrolls of the same spell, and I rotated them into the holster on my arm every time one was cast.

I whirled amongst the maelstrom. Spears of ice jutting out from me in intervals as I ducked and followed-up any damage I caused. Magic cards spiraled out around my left like a reactive shield, lashing out to cut through opponents like a whip. Mundane cards spun around me like an obscuring cloud, causing the demons to wince away from the fluttering cardboard.

A hiss emerged from deeper in the army, and I turned my head just as a fel green orb snaked through the horde and struck me. I slid backward across the ground getting slicker with the blood of those beneath me. They had magic casters, and reasonably proficient ones for a change. Decent damage and some minor debuffs.

I didn’t really have the range or line of sight on them, so I flashed my wings to buffer the demons away from me and reveal a chair. Hopped atop it and gave them all a bow. Weight pressed on my back as Ren appeared, switched with her dove - straight into a crouched position. As soon as her rifle blasted, she was gone, and I dropped back to the ground on my feet, chair put away.

To follow up on her picking the brains of the spellcaster, several explosions of green gas rocked the middle of the army, as my ace spun through the regiments setting off [Noxious Blast Scrolls]. While the System had originally pinned me down to Illusion and Demonic magic, my new card made me a fully-fledged arcanist, limited to only what scrolls I had in stock.

I heard Wolf’s roar from behind; he was catching me up already and the first third of the army was starting to collapse.

Perhaps it was time I helped them along. With a grin, I clicked my fingers and cast .

The cheers of the crowd gave us the energy and drive to slaughter halfway through the middle third of the army. We were… an overwhelming force. They brought out larger brutes and Ren’s rainstorm skill scoured them into melting piles of demonic flesh as the constant bolts of radiant light burned through to the rock below. Warmachines rumbled forth and my ace spewed acid and rust spells, before covering what remained in oil so that the elf could light them up with a flaming shot. Packs became enraged, but were broken and mashed beneath the unstoppable presence of the bear. Roger helped a little too, I assumed.

I dropped to save my humanity from tearing away and going on vacation. Body was soaked through with blood - some of it my own. Without the ability to stun any of us, they just couldn’t put out enough damage to win out. Any cut or slash I received was quickly patched up with Demonic Regeneration. A spear that impaled me all the way through was healed over with a spike from Ren’s Mana Manipulated burst heal.

There was… fear in the demon’s eyes.

We had become something of a nightmare to them. Unrelenting. Constant slaughter through scores of their number. My brain was too far gone to care about the System, or why these Monsters were capable of more emotion than the ones up in the real world. If that even existed anymore.

Maybe this was it. Just continuous carnage.

I loved it. Hoped there would be no end to the demons. Perhaps we could just wait out here and hope that some more would be along shortly - we hadn’t completely scoured hell, of course.

A chain lashed out through the crowd, bursting through my shoulder and dragging me towards whoever had thrown it. I slid across the ground, blocking a handful of attacks from the onlookers while a couple more struck me. A large elite had been the one to grab me, and now stood ready to hit me with a large axe once his chain had brought me into range.

Not a big deal. I’d just use when he…

Weapon flashed down as my brow furrowed at the new debuff icon over me.

A spellcaster off to the side had disabled all of my skills.