“Brother. Show your face, you weak excuse for a demon! Come prove that you are still superior to me!”
We heard a loud roar and the sound of something slamming, and a tall slender demon ran out of the building. Fury was painted on his face and he had a dagger in each hand as Denoches rushed toward his sister.
“You pathetic bitch! How dare you speak to me or even show your face near me! I will cut out your tongue and make you swallow it, you stupid cunt! I will-”
As he moved within her reach, she interrupted his string of profanities with a fierce backhand to the side of his head. It wasn’t strong enough to knock him off his feet, but the force of the blow stunned him into silence.
“Denoches… for once in your miserable life… shut the hell up.”
“HOW DARE YOU! You serve me! I am your superior, and you would dare to-”
She backhanded him again.
“Shut. Up. I don’t serve you anymore! I serve her…”
After unequipping my disguise I spread my wings and flew swiftly to Tesrif’s side.
“Who the fuck are you? You don’t look like any demon lord I’ve ever-”
It was my turn to backhand him as softly as I could, which sent him crashing to the ground below. I reached down and grabbed him by the throat, yanking him up and holding him in the air. I held him aloft in front of Tesrif, and allowed her to lean in close to speak right in his ear.
“You are a pathetic worm. I will enjoy running my blade through your heart…”
She turned to me and spoke in a voice that was eerily calm.
“Mistress, please allow me the honor of fighting him. I will show him once and for all that I am no longer being held back by him.”
I nodded and released my grasp on his throat. He fell to the ground and looked up at me with a look of terror. As I glanced around the area, I noticed that a significant number of demons had emerged from the various buildings, but they seemed more interested in watching what was happening instead of fighting. Denoches staggered to his feet and did exactly what I had anticipated he would do; he spun around quickly and started to sprint away. I sighed softly and focused on my speed as I moved. The world blurred around me as I ran to block his escape, and I stopped when I was directly in front of him. He ran right into me, stumbled, and hit the ground.
“How the- That’s-”
I narrowed my eyes at him and pointed to the massive warrior who had readied her broadsword.
“You’re going to die… at least do it with some dignity instead of crawling around in the dirt like the worm you are.”
He drew his blades and slowly turned around. Instead of lunging forward, however, he spun on his heel and stabbed both daggers at my face. I grabbed both of his wrists and pushed him backwards. He hit the ground hard and his weapons flew out of his hands. I shook my head slowly as I walked towards him.
“You really are pathetic… I gave you the chance to fight for your life… and you chose to waste that chance by attacking me?”
I glanced at Tesrif and sighed.
“Tesrif… end this miserable whelp’s existence.”
“It would be my pleasure, Mistress.”
Denoches attempted to scramble away on his hands and knees, and I placed one boot on his back and pushed him to the ground.
“Wait… Please… I’ll serve you! I’ll pledge my loyalty to you… please just spare me! I’ll do anything! ANYTHING!”
As Tesrif readied her sword over his neck, I held up my hand to have her hold. I pressed my knee into his back and moved my face very close to his ear.
“There is something you can do for me, worm...”
“Anything! Just tell me and I’ll do it!”
“Die.”
I moved off of him and nodded to the massive warrior. With a powerful swing she cleaved his head from his body, letting out a piercing roar as she did.
I moved away from her and faced the crowd of demons that had gathered. Not a single one of them had their weapons drawn, and an idea occurred to me.
“I have an offer for all of you! I have no problem slaughtering every last one of you… In fact… I would take pleasure bathing my new swords in your blood. If you pledge your loyalty to me, however, I will grant you mercy.”
Tesrif moved beside me and shouted out.
“I know there is not one among you who had any love for my brother. I have seen firsthand the power of the demon lord that stands before you. Don’t throw your lives away for the worthless piece of trash that thought himself superior to all of you. Come forward, throw down your weapons, and pledge your loyalty to the demon lord Allexus.”
Tifa and the others had moved on the other side of me and the shapeshifter spoke quietly as she shifted back to normal.
“What’s happening? Why are they not fighting?”
“They hated my brother just as much as I did. If they do attack it will be out of fear for their own lives, and not out of retaliation.”
Weaponless demons poured out from everywhere, lined up in front of me, and knelt down on one knee with their heads down. I hadn’t expected all of them to comply, but I also hadn’t expected to extend the offer in the first place. As a warrior that was only slightly shorter than Tesrif marched right in front of me, I held up my hand to Tesrif as she started to draw her sword.
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“Lady Allexus, the rest of the 17th Legion of the Damned, all 200 of them, will pledge their loyalty to you on one condition.”
“And that is...?”
“I wish to challenge you in combat to prove you are who you say you are.”
Tesrif scoffed loudly and stepped forward.
“Driht, she felled a Hellfire Demon in less than a second…”
“The rest of the 17th didn’t see it… if this demon lord is as powerful as she claims to be, the legion wants to see it for themselves.”
The large warrior moved directly in front of me and inspected me closely. I never broke eye contact with him as he looked me up and down.
“Would I be correct in assuming this would be a duel to the death?”
“Need you even ask?”
“Very well… I accept your terms. Just know that I have no intention of holding back.”
He turned wordlessly and moved closer to the line of kneeling soldiers. He spun on his heel before drawing his axe and shield. He dropped into a combat stance and nodded to me he was ready. I unsheathed both of my swords and held them out in front of me. After releasing my grasp on them, they hit the ground with a tremendous impact and a small cloud of dust flew up. I quickly removed my outer armor until I was only wearing my chainmail shirt and leggings. I spread my wings and flew at him at top speed as he moved to defend himself. Instead of attacking him from the front, I blurred around him and shoved him from behind. He stumbled forward a few steps before quickly regaining his footing and turning to face me. He lunged with his axe and swung his arm in a wide arc with his shield. I zipped nimbly out of the way and grabbed his shield arm with one hand. I snagged his belt with my other hand and threw him over my shoulder.
The loud crash from his armor hitting the ground was joined with the sound of his cry of pain. I spread my wings again and grabbed the collar of his armor on the back of his neck. I flew upwards, lifting him with a surge of my strength. When we were roughly a hundred feet in the air, I folded my wings and let gravity pull us back down. As we plummeted towards the ground, I grabbed his belt again with my free hand and maneuvered him so that he would hit the ground on his back. Right before the moment of impact, I pushed down on him with all the strength I could. The resulting crash was tremendous and I felt the bones in his body shatter as I caved in his armor and ribcage. His body had absorbed most of the blow, but I still took a decent amount of damage from the fall. I stood up from the wrecked remains of my opponent and walked calmly over to my swords. With them safely stowed in their sheathes, I reequipped my armor and turned to face the remaining demons.
“Do you require any further proof?! Does anyone else want to throw their life away to try and best me?”
Deathly silence was my only answer and I moved over to the first demon in the line. I removed my gauntlet and pressed my hand against his head. I watched a small black diamond form as I moved to the next one and did the same thing. I went down the line quickly until all 200 had the mark of corruption on their foreheads. My body felt sluggish and drained of all energy as I made my way back to my new companions with my new demon army behind me. I could see the stunned looks written on all of their faces, and I gave them a tired smile and a thumbs up.
“Tesrif… Kneel.”
She knelt down in front of me and I opened up my minion menu with a swipe of my hand. I clicked on her name and smiled down at her. I made an adjustment to her title and some minor modifications before closing the menu.
“I am promoting you to the general of my new army. I know you will lead with the same strength and dedication you have already shown today.”
“Th-thank you for this honor, Lady Allexus. I will prove to you that I am worthy of such a title. If I may inquire… what would you have your new army do?”
“I’m going to rename them The 1st Legion of the Corrupted so we don’t have to keep calling them my new army. I would like you and your Corrupted to guard my castle with your lives. I will have need of you further when I intend to attack en masse, but for now, remain in the castle and familiarize yourself with it.”
She saluted me with a fist to her chest and I nodded slightly. I waved my hand and dismissed her and the 1st Legion; sending them back to the castle instantly. With my need to keep up my fearsome demon lord persona gone, I staggered and fell to my knees in exhaustion. Judas rushed forward and caught me before I could fall forward, and I leaned into him and laughed softly.
“That took a lot more out of me than I thought… I feel like my arms and legs are made of Voidsteel.”
“Using your [Corrupted Touch] ability takes a tremendous amount of energy. Using it over 200 times consecutively puts immense strain on your body. I would have advised against it, but I understand the need to keep up the pretenses. To think… We started out today with the intent to level up your “noobs” as you called them, and now you have an entire demon army at your disposal. Tesrif will make a fine general… if she can put her past behind her and get over her insecurities.”
“Allie… that was absolutely badass. I knew you were going to beat that guy… but to do it barehanded without him hitting you once was fucking awesome!”
“So… what now? I don’t think there’s anything left for us to fight…”
Because the boss and his army had been either killed or removed from his service, there should be a chest or vault with rare items that my companions could put to good use. Ghost cast a few healing spells on me and I was able to move without assistance. I checked Denoches’s body for any useful gear and motioned for Areandra to join me. The light armor he had worn would provide her a substantial defense bonus, and would also greatly enhance the stat that rogue types used for damage. The daggers were worth a decent amount of coin, so I suggested she take them to sell later.
We inspected the area for anything else of value, but found next to nothing worth carrying back to town. Inside of the large building that had been the demon’s main fortress, we came across a heavily locked door. The others called Judas and me over to inspect it, and we inspected it from top to bottom.
“I don’t suppose one of you happens to have chosen lockpicking as one of your skills... “
I turned to Judas and he shook his head. He moved closer to the metal door and studied it intently.
“It’s a very thick door made of Hellforged Iron.”
I was about to ask if it was sturdy enough to withstand an attack from me when he anticipated what I was going to say and answered my question before I could ask it.
“It would take you several hours for even you to bash your way through it, m’lady.”
“Well… shit.”
I summoned Tesrif after a thought occurred to me, and she appeared in front of me.
“Lady Allexus! I was not expecting to see you so soon! How can I be of service?”
I pointed to the door.
“Any ideas on how to get in here? Did your brother have a key hidden somewhere maybe?”
She looked at the door for a moment before turning back to me.
“My lady… I’m afraid I won’t be of any assistance in this regard. I have only been in this building once before, and this is the first time I’ve seen this door. I- Wait… by any chance did you retrieve his daggers?”
Areandra handed them to the massive warrior and she studied each one closely before handing one of them back to the archer. She twisted the handle on the other until a hidden compartment in the hilt slid out.
“When he was cutting me to show me how inferior I was, he would often say that these daggers were more valuable than my life and the lives of his soldiers combined. Back then I thought it was just another way for him to disparage me, but now I see he was being more literal than I realized.”
She handed the key to me and returned the other dagger to Areandra.
“Tesrif… you are worth more to me than anything in this vault. I wouldn’t have asked for your service or promoted you to the general of my army if I didn’t completely believe that.”
Tesrif blushed and stared at her feet.
“Your words are too kind, my lady. I will strive everyday to prove that I am worthy of them. Was there anything else you required of me?”
I shook my head and bowed it slightly. She saluted as I dismissed her with a wave of my hand. I moved over to Ikelos and handed him the key.
“Would you like to do the honors? If it wasn’t for your stellar snark and sarcasm skills we wouldn’t be here today.”
“Awww… you really know just what to say to warm my heart, Lady Allexus.”
He stepped up to the door and pushed the small key into the keyhole. He struggled to turn it for a second before a loud click sounded and the grinding of gears turning filled the narrow space. The door swung open slowly and we peered inside. A large worn chest surrounded by an even larger pile of gold was in the middle of the room. Along the walls were weapon racks with countless weapons that looked rare and valuable. I motioned for Ikelos to go first and he stepped into the room, the others only a few steps behind him.