Zelotes punched and slashed his way through the demons standing in his way. As the distance between him and the leader of the demonic invasion closed, it took notice of the paladin, sending bombs of hellfire from the palm of its claws at Zelotes. Craters formed and hellspawn were sent flying from the bursts of blood-red flame. Zelotes was able to just escape the first two, but was sent flying towards the devil commander by a third, landing him face first in its range. Zelotes looked up, the commander was just about to land its flaming axe to kill him. Zelotes only just rolled out of the way before bringing himself back to his feet. The blade of the axe just grazed his armor. He quickly turned to examine himself. Part of his cape had been burned in one of the explosions the commander had thrown at him.

“Oh, come on! Do you realize how expensive that cape was?” Zelotes angrily exclaimed to the giant devil before taking a swing at it with his greatsword. His blade simply bounced off the devil commander’s armor. Zelotes tried again, seeing the same result. The wrath devil raised its axe once more, attempting another strike at Zelotes, only for the paladin to slide out of the way by just a hair. Zelotes called forth a blast of solar energy to erupt from his hand. A cone of golden light scorched the devil’s lower torso, bringing it to its knees for a moment. As Zelotes tried striking it yet again, only for his blade to be caught by the palm of the commander’s hand.

The war devil turned its head down to Zelotes, and in its twisted, demonic voice uttered, “You disappoint me, disciple of Lyosolar.” It pulled itself to its feet, readying its battle axe and stretching its wings.

Changing tactics, Zelotes called upon one of the abilities Razael demonstrated. Golden light gathered upon his greatsword, creating a larger blade of golden light around the original steel. Zelotes struck the commander, the blade of solar radiance cut through the armor, striking deep into its torso. The commander yelled out in agony with each strike, before slamming Zelotes into a nearby barn with the back of its hand, before turning its attention to the arriving reinforcements as canonfire rang out from an overhead airship.

“You aren’t worth my time!” the devil said as it spread its wings and took to the air.

Zelotes cleared the shattered wood off of himself before hearing a familiar voice “Ah, Zelotes! You’re just the guy I was looking for!” Tulbrik revealed himself. Zelotes turned his head to face the dwarf. “Now you can take this as one of my drunken light bulbs, but here’s my idea: We use this catapult here to launch you at Mr. Big and scary, and then you hit ‘em with everything you’ve got!” Tulbrik said, downing the remainder of his whiskey bottle and throwing it aside.

“You can’t be serious, Tulbrik.” Zelotes responded with disappointment.

“Oh, I’m not serious, I’m drunk!” Tulbrik answered.

“Of all times, Tulbrik, this isn’t one to be saturating your brains in that poison,” Zelotes reprimanded sternly. “And what’s a light bulb?”

“Oh, of all times, it is! I have my best ideas when I’m drunk!” Tulbrik brushed off Zelotes’ comment. “Besides, do you have anything be’er?”

Zelotes was silent, shaking his head.

“Come on, let’s give those demons a little light show!” Tulbrik pressed.

“Sounds like a challenge,” Zelotes commented.

“Do you accept?” Tulbrik asked.

Zelotes walked over to the catapult, looking at it for a moment. “Let’s see how good your aim is.” Before walking over to Tulbrik and laying a hand on his shoulder. He sent healing energy to flush the alcohol from Tulbrik’s system.

“Aye! Why’d you have to make me sober again?” Tulbrik protested.

“Only way I’ll trust you on this.” Zelotes answered. The two wheeled the catapult out of the barn, and began positioning it to aim at the commander, who was now at least one hundred feet above as it sent red fireballs towards the airship. Zelotes positioned himself in the catapult’s bucket as Tulbrik adjusted the tension.

“Let’s give it a shot!” Zelotes announced.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“Ok, on three! One. Two. Three!” Tulbrik released the catapult’s tension sending Zelotes flying towards the devil commander.

Calling upon the Sunfather’s power, Zelotes again summoned holy sunlight to his sword, creating the enlarged blade of light around it. He held it over his head, preparing to drive it into the war devil commander.

“In the name of the Sunfather, I eradicate you from this world.” The commander turned around to face Zelotes, but it was too late for it to react. Zelotes’ blade plunged deep into the massive devil’s heart, the blade of light piercing through its back as the devil was no longer airborne and began plummeting to the ground. Calling upon more than the remaining power he had, Zelotes infused more divine energy into his weapon as a bright light made the falling demon look more like a falling star before they landed as the charged smite let out a burst of blinding gold light with a thunderous “KAR-BROOM”.

Zelotes knelt, panting before his blade, in a crater where the devil commander’s torso would’ve been. Its limbs and head were scattered. With the arrival of reinforcements from the Traelendian Military, and the sight of a lone paladin destroying their leader, the remaining hellspawn retreated back into the Hellgate, closing it behind them as they left.

With the remaining strength he could muster, Zelotes stood up, taking his blade out of the ground, now depowered.

Jacqué arrived at the scene. “Zelotes! By the gods, how did you do what you just did?” she exclaimed, looking at the scattered demon parts.

“It was…” Zelotes panted, removing his helm. “...a group effort that shouldn’t’ve worked…”

Tulbrik wasn’t far behind, a fresh bottle in his hand. “Ah, times like this make me want to break out a vintage!” he announced, popping the cork and taking his first swig.

Xiyloos arrived only seconds later, accompanied by armed soldiers. One had a series of medals embroidered on a navy-blue shoulder belt, and what looked like a mechanical arm. Everyone turned to Xiyloos. Zelotes shook his head.

“Nice company.” Jacqué commented.

“Where were you in all this?” Tulbrik demanded angrily.

“Doing the rational thing and contacting the military about this,” Xiyloos answered plainly. “I’m surprised that only you and the town guard managed as well as you did.”

“We were not going to just level the town.” the decorated soldier announced.

Fredireck shyly revealed himself from behind the remains of a nearby house, approaching the group. He looked up at Zelotes. “Thank you.” Zelotes looked down at the child for a moment.

“We need to give you a title now!” Jacqué announced.

“Please, I’m just a man who acted.” Zelotes said.

“I think you did a little more than act, mon ami!” Jacqué commented, elbowing Zelotes.

“I’ll admit, she does have a point,” Tulbrik commented, before taking another drink from his bottle. “So, what should we call ya? The Flyin’ Lion? The Blast Beast?”

“The Sun-Smiter? Oh! How about Devil-Breaker!” Jacqué suggested.

“Please! This is hardly constructive. Especially when there are still people buried under the rubble!” Zelotes protested. Whether it was from the battle or going a while without resting, or something else, Zelotes felt fatigued, more and more, as he felt his strength slipping.

“My soldiers are taking care of that right now. The lot of you have done enough for the night.” The decorated soldier announced. “Perhaps you all should get some rest.”

Zelotes looked at Jacqué. “Devil-Breaker it is.” He collapsed to the ground, and the next thing he knew: lights out.