That was the second time I was having a death experience.

It was much more pleasant than being ripped apart by Yelna’s claws, but the the blood on my mouth and the sudden coldness in my body wasn’t something that made me feel the situation was anything better. Celine drew back her sword and stepped back with a gleeful smile.

“Ceron told me you’ll try to convince me,” she spat. “He told me how you have been spying on my life so you can slowly get the Union’s army for yourself!”

“What?” I puckered out blood for a second time. My vision was dulling and the barrier around me was fading.

So there is someone in my body…

That answered my question. And I had a bad feeling about who it was.

“Ceron is the one destined to slay the demon lord. But I’ll make his job more easier by killing you first.”

She raised her sword for a second time.

I heard Ekta yelling my name in the distance. A wingedling closed in on Ekta, but she rolled sideways and split its head in half. Another two demons tried to spring on her, but she darted left and right and beheaded them before they could turn. Her last opponent - a demon with two heads - only had a moment to react before Celine dashed near it and impaled her sword through both it’s heads.

All the while she was busy, I closed my eyes and focused on the wound. There was one last trick Ekta had taught me. I didn’t want to rely on a demoness’s words to save me, but it was better than nothing.

Pyra

I focused all the energy of the spell on the wound, muttering it over and over again. The pain made me fall onto my knees and claw the soil, but I felt the effect of the spell a little later. It was as if someone applied a cool paste around the wound, and let the effect spread through the body.

“Any last words Dalos?” I heard Celine’s voice much closer now.

“You don’t understand!” I yelled with a hoarse voice. Each word made my throat hurt and my eyes ring, but I ignored the pain and kept talking. “There are innocent villagers in there. Their souls are being used to summon the demons…”

Celine stopped in her tracks, and then cocked her head in surprise. “You think I didn’t know?”

If my face hadn’t grown any paler because of the loss of blood, that did. My worse fears had come true. Celine knew all along, and she never told me. I realized why the Union had sent her instead of me to this fight. They didn’t want me to know about the innocents in the villages.

I recalled my conversation with her after she arrived from Palin.

“What’s with the blood?”

“Blood of demonkind. Nothing for you to worry about.”

“Celine…”

“That’s all Ceron. For god’s sake when are you going to start believing me?”

And I believed in her. And she lied to me. My own childhood friend, the person I trusted more than anyone lied to me.

“Your hero doesn’t know about the killings does he?” I growled.

Celine gave a snarky grin. “He is too soft-hearted for his own good. He doesn’t need to know. He has only one job - to kill you. No need to get his hands dirty on killing these Lenian monsters.”

“There are children in there!”

“Children of monsters! I’ll kill them myself!”

Suddenly everything blacked out. My memories of Celine drowned in a wave of anger and revenge. My blood boiled, and I clenched my teeth hard enough to break.

I won’t let that happen…

I raised my head at her, staring at her with a ferocity enough to tear her apart. Celine stopped in her tracks. Her look of victory faded out and turned to a look of bewilderment and fear. And in that moment I caught a glimpse of my childhood friend.

But it was too late. My body reacted on its own.

I extended my hand at her, and muttered the last spell Ekta taught me. The most dangerous of them all.

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Gasha.

I heard her bones snap. It was like the sound of breaking twigs, and despite all the chaos around me, I heard it clearly. Celine dropped her sword and fell to the ground, screaming as blood gushed out of her throat. Even as she fell to the ground I heard the bones continue to snap inside her body, and she jerked left and right rolling in the mud while screaming with a soar throat.

My senses returned a moment later.

Oh god, what have I done?

I tried to stand up. But my legs felt weak. I remembered Ekta’s words.

Vera is your fifth most powerful spell. But it also costs you a lot of energy. Use it only if the situation becomes sour.

I fell to the ground, taking large breaths. In the distance Celine still twisted, and as my eyes closed, my last view was her looking at me with bloodshot eyes, swearing revenge.

*

I woke up in a room similar to the demon king’s chamber. It was large but poorly designed. The door to it was slightly ajar, and I caught two soldiers of Selia standing beside it.

“You’re awake!”

I turned around to see Ekta looking at me, her eyes sparkling.

“It seems I am,” I pushed myself up and sat on the bed. I was topless, with bandages all around my stomach. “What happened?”

“The Union soldiers retreated. Their commander was gravely injured because of your spell.”

Celine…

I paled. “Is she dead?”

“No, they dragged her back to their camps. I’m not sure about her fate. But it’s lucky if she died.”

“Y-yes,” the words escaped like a croak. At that moment I realized the bitter truth. The demon king had swapped bodies with me and travelled back in time. He was in my body, commanding Celine not to listen to me. There was no way I could walk back to the Union and convince them I’m the hero as long as he was in there.

I looked at my hands. I had almost killed Celine from them. Those emotions weren’t my own. I was always taught how to control my emotions during battle - how to keep a clean mind before approaching any opponent. But this body felt different. It was begging to attack something. It easily influenced my mind.

But how? How could Dalos craft such a spell?

“You said there were twenty spells I learned,” I said, looking at my tattoos. “How many of them do you know?”

“I only know what I’m allowed to use. Normal bodies like mine cannot hold twenty spells like you.”

“And, what are they?”

“I can show you,” she started to strip her battle armor.

“No, no!” I rubbed my temples. “Just tell me how much spells you know.”

“Three. Blafel to create weapons, Tetra to increase the speed of my movements and Pyra, the healing spell.”

“Out of the twenty six I have, is there anything that could reverse time?”

“You have only spoken to me about a few.”

“But you said something,” I recalled our conversation during the ride to Talobell. “Kairos. Yes, that was the name. You said each spell started with a unique letter. Could it be a spell I know?”

Ekta looked perplexed. “As much as I would love to answer that, I don’t know anything of it Dalos.”

I glanced back at my hand. “Perhaps I should cast it-”

“No!” Ekta was on me like a panther. “You don’t know how much the last spell damaged you. You are still regaining your memories, you barely know how your spells work. If you are in further danger I would regret it for the rest of my life.”

I never thought demons could care for others, but here she was - the demoness with the blades - with an actual look of fear and hurt in her eyes.

I gave a sigh and leaned back on the bed. Ekta gave another concerned looked before sitting back.

“I recommend asking Malek. He is the best person to ask for spells.”

I nodded.

“One more thing,” Ekta leaned close. “What should we do to the hero’s army? They might have retreated back to the camps, and they are already weak. I can gather a small army and launch one final attack at them. I can finish off that bitch Celine from my own blades.“

Her innocent look was conquered by a murderous glare. Even I flinched and edged away from her.

That’s the demoness I know.

“No,” Last thing I needed was to do more damage to the Empire’s armies. “Leave them be. This is already our victory. Keep a few Selian guards for the defense and send the rest back home. I’ve had enough fights for one day.”

*

“Kairos?” the old mage twisted his beard as he thought about it. “I’ve vaguely heard about you mentioning it, but there is no such spell I know of.”

Another demon came towards him and knelt down. There was a similar magic circle as before. I watched as it glowed and turned the grotesque creature back to his human form. The naked man bowed, stood up and walked away.

Apparently that was the process of every battle. The mage would turned any Lenin’s soul to a demon before battle and then give them back their soul from the surviving demons. But what’s sad about it was how the dead creatures couldn’t be converted back to their human form. I saw an old woman crying while huddling a demon’s corpse. In another place two children shrugged the dead body of a banshee ripped in half. They were screaming as the adults dragged them away.

This war is more insane than I thought.

Imagine watching your parent’s souls getting turned into demons, to see them die in battle, and to watch their corpse being burned.

I realized my original assumption about these people were wrong. They came here willingly not only because they loved me, but because they had an intense hatred for the Empire. They were hunted down like dogs, forced to be trapped in a village, and then killed during battle.

How much hatred must they have…

“I could conduct a research on your spell if you wish, Dalos.”

I focused my attention back on the mage.

“Please do.”

He gave a thin smile. “My pleasure.”

I turned to walk as a wounded demon slowly fell back on the circle, started heaving, before finally turning numb.

“My son!” she grabbed Malek by his robes. “Please my lord, you need to save my son!”

She pointed at a corpse lying on the ground. The child’s eyes were blackened, but closed.

“He’s dead,” Malek said with a certified apathy. “The demon born from his soul was killed on battle.”

“Please!” she wept, inhaling a deep sob and falling to the ground. “Please! He’s my son! He’s the only family I have!”

Malek stood there in silence. The entire queue stood in silence. They all listened to the woman fall to her knees and wail over and over again.

I turned away from the scene. For a long time I thought I’ve seen war, but perhaps I had only seen one side of it.