“Is this not a bit fast!?” Listamati had never moved at such speeds, so she was feeling uneasy.

“We need to find the place quickly. I don’t want to delay.” He replied. They had already been flying for about an hour.

Caeldaemos slowed and came to a stop and had her get her bearings. After pointing out a small mountain in the distance, they jetted off in its direction.

After another hour of traveling, she panicked.

“Stop! STOP!” Listamati shouted.

Caeldaemos came to a stop, and she sighed in relief.

“We can’t fly above the forest.” She informed him while pointing out a dark and ominous location.

“What the hell?” Caeldaemos looked over at the forest.

The Ever-Night Forest was a cursed place where nothing was capable of flying above it due to the massive amount of miasma that rose into the air. The miasma above was so thick it blocked out any sunlight from ever entering the woods, thus the name.

He flew down to just outside the edge and placed her down on a stone since her knees were weak from the sub-sonic speeds. They didn’t feel any of the wind force, but it was still terrifying for her.

“How is the sky more dangerous?” He asked.

“There is a purifying barrier around the place to keep the curse from spreading. The miasma is concentrated near the top, so that is where it is most deadly. You might be fine, but I would likely die of mana poisoning.” She replied.

“Who made the barrier?”

“One of the heroes who helped to defeat Dawnfrey the Cursed.” She stood and did a few stretches.

“Right, I need to explain how the SMG works.” Caeldaemos showed her the switch function that would allow her to change from semi-auto to fully automatic.

Listamati tried a single semi-auto shot first. “Wow.”

A fine hole appeared in the tree she shot.

“It also uses a clip for solid rounds. But I had an idea of using a clip that could also store mana. Instead of draining yourself off your mana, you can use these.” Caeldaemos pulled out a clip that had a blue stripe down the spine.

After showing her how to change out clips, she tried the automatic with mana rounds. When the clip ran out of mana, it stopped firing.

“Right, to use your own mana to fire, just remove the clip. It has the function that if a clip is installed, it will not use the holder’s mana unless they are solid rounds.” He explained.

She removed the clip and test-fired the weapon using her own power. “Ugh. This thing is quite draining.”

“Maybe stick to semi-auto when using your mana.” He suggested.

He transferred all the pre-made clips into her personal storage for her to access.

They turned toward the forest. As they walked toward it, he had a thought and copied the idea of the purifying barrier to a domain that would surround them.

“Ah! No! Don’t isolate me from that sweet miasma!” Geon shouted from around his neck.

“What do you mean?” He asked her.

“That is part of what us dungeons do! We consume miasma and purify it! It is worth so much more than spiritual energy! Besides, you’re a Demon-Lord. You are immune to miasma.” She explained.

He shrugged his shoulders and removed his barrier, and they entered the forest.

Thanks to their demonic biology, both of them could easily see into the distance.

“Worgs!” Listamati trained her SMG and began firing at the large wolves.

Caeldaemos pulled up his shield and covered Listamati as she fired away.

Four worgs saw Caeldaemos as the more significant threat and ganged up on him, pinning him away from her.

“Lista! Behind!” He shouted.

A worg pounced toward her from behind.

She rolled backward while unloading a solid round clip into the beast. In a single motion, she kicked up her legs and launched the beast over herself. Dropping the magazine and switching to semi-auto, she plugged three mana rounds into its head, finishing it off.

“Damn.” Caeldaemos was impressed. The worgs were trying to chew through his armor or rip something off, but they could do nothing about him.

He quickly dealt with the four attacking him while she used quick bursts of auto fire to support him.

“That Baba Yaga class is nuts.” He commented as he stored away the corpses.

“I wasn’t that bad with combining martial arts with gun combat, but now it just feels natural,” Listamati commented as she changed clips.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“Any gun requests?” He asked as they continued into the forest.

“Hmm. I don’t think I want to continue using dual wielding. A couple of pistols, one low caliber and one high. A blunderbuss would be nice for groups like this. Then perhaps a couple of long-range weapons. Can you make one that is like this SMG?” She asked.

“Yeah. We had things called assault rifles. Only the military was allowed to have the automatic ones, but you are basically a soldier in the Demon-Lord’s army, so it should be good.” He joked.

She laughed. “Sounds good.”

They continued battling through the forest for several hours before arriving at a large ruin.

“This should be it.” Listamati shivered.

“I can feel it! There is a fragment here!” Geon cried.

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

“Leroy Jenkins?” Listamati asked.

Caeldaemos laughed aloud. “You got it. Hah, hah, hah. I am glad I taught you girls that.” He wiped away a tear.

“You still have yet to tell us who this Leroy Jenkins is.” She commented.

“A legendary man.” He smiled as they entered the ruin.

It was not long before they arrived at the ruined throne room. Looking down the long hall upon the broken throne sat the Demon-Lord Dawnfrey.

“How?” He asked as Caeldaemos and Listamati approached.

“What do you mean?” Caeldaemos asked.

“How are you two still alive? I know many have battled in the forest, but any who came into the ruins died.” Dawnfrey hugged himself like he was reliving a trauma.

The voice they heard coming from the adult body was like that of a young child.

“Well, I am a Demon-Lord, and she is under my protection.” He answered.

“A Demon-Lord? Oh dear, another unfortunate victim of the gods.” Dawnfrey wept.

“Yeah…” Caeldaemos could not argue that.

“Oh, to be driven by madness and destruction, only to be destroyed by Heroes.” Dawnfrey continued.

“Madness? I feel I am perfectly sane.” Caeldaemos replied.

“Huh?” Dawnfrey observed his successor. “Indeed. You were not corrupted! Hah, hah! You are the first of us to not be corrupted!” He cheered.

Caeldaemos then remembered what happened back when he first changed. “I almost did get corrupted. They wanted to change me, but I refused and won.”

“Amazing! Truly!” Dawnfrey floated down to them. “But alas. You are still hunted?”

“Yeah. I am trying to change my image so that the people of this world know I mean them no harm.”

“A difficult task.” Dawnfrey shook his head.

“Still, I want to be free.”

“Free…” Dawnfrey’s eyes seemed to gaze far off into the past. “I once wished for freedom as well. Before I became a Demon-Lord. They kept me in a cold place. Treated me poorly. Ostracized. I was abandoned by everyone until they came.” Dawnfrey shivered and began to weep.

“The spirits of the Demon-Lords.”

“They hurt me! Tore at me! I just… I just wanted to experience what it was like to have a family. But they corrupted me, made me into a true monster! I didn’t want to hurt people…” Dawnfrey fell to his knees.

Lily’s voice played in Caeldaemos’ mind. “He looked like he needed a hug!”

He smiled and knelt.

“What are you-?”

Caeldaemos hugged Dawnfrey.

“What!? No! You will only be harmed touching me!” Dawnfrey struggled to break free, but Caeldaemos didn’t let him go.

“It’s okay. I’m okay.” Caeldaemos stroked the back of Dawnfrey.

“I… So… Warm…” Dawnfrey wept.

“No one else accepted you. But I will accept you. You went through so much pain because of the others.” Caeldaemos comforted Dawnfrey.

Dawnfrey’s form began to fade away. “Thank you…”

Caeldaemos held him until he was gone, and only the fragment remained.

“What is the truth behind the Demon-Lords?” Caeldaemos asked, reaching out to the fragment.

“Sniffle. I will convert it….” Geon was crying over what had happened.

Listamati placed a hand on his shoulder. “That was strange, but you did good, Cael.”

Caeldaemos absorbed the fragment.

“Hick. Um, I have enough to immediately unlock Break Curse. I will also add Destroy Curse, but I don’t have enough power to unlock it for you. Leave me here for a few days, and I should be able to absorb enough miasma to unlock it for you.” Geon stated.

“Okay, thanks, Geon.” Caeldaemos used mana to create a pedestal place for her.

He increased her size to that of a basketball and placed her on the pedestal.

“We’ll be back for you, Geon. Will you be safe here?” He asked.

Just then, a couple of ogres appeared.

“I’ll be good,” Geon replied.

Under Geon’s guidance, he established a domain barrier within the purification one to keep all the miasma inside. She would draw it to her over time and purify it. He set a small domain for him to return to the location and teleported back to the temple with Listamati.

Caeldaemos pulled off his helmet and went into the room. “How is she doing?”

“Cael. She looks like she is in pain.” Rana answered.

He checked her face, and she was indeed in pain and sweating. He checked her status and found she was receiving commands to return from the Evil Eye holder.

“Alright.” He placed a hand on her forehead. “Break Curse.”

“AHH!” Liara screamed and jolted in pain as a blackened mist came out of her mouth and dissipated into the air.

Caeldaemos checked her status and sighed in relief. “It’s gone.”

The others cheered and hugged one another. He cast Panacea on her, and her complexion greatly improved.

Caeldaemos, finally relieved, collapsed onto the bed asleep.

They rushed to check on him, but Listamati stopped them. “He is exhausted, just as I am. Let us sleep.” Listamati laid down on another bed and fell asleep herself.

“Let’s let them sleep for now. We will check on them later.” Rana stated.

The following morning, Caeldaemos woke up early to find Liara still sleeping. Getting up from his position, he left the room to grab a bath and change.

“Taking a bath?” Sophia asked him in the hall.

“Yeah. I probably reek after all those fights.” Caeldaemos sniffed himself.

“I’ll join you,” Sophia replied.

He suspiciously eyed her.

“Only in a support role. Sheesh, I am not horny all the time like Liara and Rana.” Sophia scolded.

Caeldaemos laughed, and they went inside together.

She softly scrubbed his back for him as he sat on a stool.

“Sophia.”

“Hmm?” She stopped what she was doing.

“I want to kill the bastard that did that to Lia.” He stated.

“Hmm.” She continued scrubbing.

“Every one of you is important to me. Honestly, I feel like the world is working against me. One after another. Who’s next? Lista? You? Hallibrush?” He trembled. “How can I protect everything that is so important to me?”

She hugged him from behind. “Maybe it is time to show the world more.”

“More?”

“Show them that even though you are a Benevolent Demon-Lord, you are not to be trifled with.”

“And how am I to do that?” He stood, facing her. “Build an army of monsters?! Be like the damn Demon-Lord they want?!” He shouted.

She remained kneeling on the floor, looking up at him with a serious expression. “Who are you?”

“What?! You know-.”

“Who. Are. You?”

Her words sunk into his mind. The question he was once asked before.

He gritted his teeth. “I… am Caeldaemos, the Benevolent. A True Reverent Demon-Lord.”

“And?”

“I am the first Demon-Lord who does not wish for destruction.”

She stood, facing him head-on. “What else?”

“I want to live in peace. I want to have a happy life with my family and friends!”

“And how will you achieve that?”

“Allies. Power. Strength. Bonds. I will have it all.”

“How will you protect it?”

His eyes flared with his mana within. “I will show them that I cannot be trifled with. My existence will never be denied!”

Sophia stepped forward and hugged him. “See. You had the answer the whole time.”

He hugged her back without a word.