When I was young, I used to dream of excitement and adventure.
I wanted to be somebody better than who I was. The boy who was abandoned and raised in an orphanage. I didn't want to be the person who left his friends behind. But, I wanted to leave the Royal Capital and make something of myself. I wanted to leave my worries behind and change somehow.
When I traveled the world, I used to think of my purpose in life.
Who was I really? Was I a thief and a treasure hunter to a fault? All I did was steal things and live on from that point. I wanted to know that I could do something more, be something more. I acted for money and fame but something was not right to me.
When I was with the Hero, I used to think I was making a difference.
I thought I had finally found my place in life. That I was saving the world, helping people. I thought that Heroes did exist and I was a part of a new family. I did think I was a hero and I did think that I was making a difference. But, I was nothing more than a fish trapped in a pond worrying around his little world.
When I had killed the Hero, I had only thought of surviving.
We were making a difference and we were doing things for the greater good! Those were the thoughts I had until I saw what we did was nothing but for our own selfishness. I was horribly wrong and now I could only suffer in shame. I fled and left more people behind me dead. My companions that I once called my family also suffered and some to the worst degree. Some even died to my hands and my heart mourned for it.
Then I had made a pact with a devil and had become something I once hated.
I had become the Demon Lord and my power is too great for me to even imagine anymore. The black ring that I took as a token had become my burden. I met with Liz again and she even called me a Demon King. I'm nothing but a man who followed his own whims and the burden that came with it. Fate and destiny had done nothing but filled me with hate and despair.
The Demons that were in front of me were no longer themselves.
They didn't want to suffer in my so called reign and wanted to fight me to their dying breath. The black ring on my hand was willing to oblige them and end their lives. Only less than half of their army remained as the rest were scattered on the once white field, dead for all to see.
The red armored Demons raged on with supernatural strength and fanatic fervor.
A black cloud shaped in my hands from the black ring I wore and transformed into a scythe. It felt natural and right in place on the grip of my hands. With one swing, I decapitated a row of Demons that dared rush me with their murderous aura. In another swift moment, I began swinging the scythe wildly and slicing through the armored Demons like butter. Once these Demons had emotions and nerves but it was all gone.
The Demons had some sort of madness in their eyes and I didn't care as I reaped their lives from them. More and more Demons died to my hand like it was squashing ants. I felt invigorated at the sight of their deaths but I tried to keep myself from going into a blood frenzy. The Demons sacrificed their life force and their minds in trying to stop me but it was for nothing.
They had kept coming for me and I ended their lives with a swing of my scythe.
I had killed all the red armored Demons and had left only Lancaster standing.
Lancaster stared at me with the same madness in his eyes.
"You will never be our Demon Lord!" Lancaster screamed.
Lancaster kept some of his sanity but the berserker armor seemed like it was giving him the drive and determination to fight. Lancaster leaped off his horse and thrust at me with a spear. We locked in our weapons and collided our heads together. Blood dripped from Lancaster's eyes as the veins on his body protruded.
"Never will we let humans rule us!" Lancaster said.
I looked down at my body for a quick moment and then back to the face of Lancaster.
"I don't believe I'm human anymore," I said.
I pushed Lancaster away with force and he slid about ten feet away from me.
"You wish to rule us!" Lancaster said.
My breath slowed as I looked up into the cloudy sky and then back to Lancaster.
"I don't wish to rule anyone," I said. "I just want to live."
Lancaster growled in anger and charged at me with his spear.
The spear in Lancaster's hands was large and fearsome. It moved with precision and grace as he darted it around aiming for my vital points. My body moved instinctively and I just floated around Lancaster. I felt no fear for my life as I easily avoided his moves. I could tell that Lancaster was in a hurry to finish me off.
Berserker armor used the blood and the life force of its wearer to strengthen themselves. The armor stabs and grips into its wearer as it drains them. Sooner or later their life will end if they don't stop it. Lancaster would forfeit his life for his fight against me.
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I too know the feeling of sacrificing yourself for power.
"NEVER! NEVER! NEVER! MY FATHER AND HIS ARMY WILL DESTROY YOU!" Lancaster screamed.
The blood was drained from his face and his skin had become a pale white.
"That witch of yours and that damn Marquis! You all will never get away with this!"
Lancaster kept his attacks and I started to deflect his spear with my scythe.
"I wasn't going to do anything but listen to the Marquis," I said.
"Liar! You wanted to kill the Demon race just like all those humans before you!"
I held my tongue in that moment.
I had known what I wanted to do before I came to the Demon Territory. I had wanted to stop the Demon race. I had thought that they were the evil in the world. I wanted to kill the Demon Lord and stop the Demon race by any means necessary. I didn't know that I had become the very Demon Lord I sought to destroy. I didn't know or believe that Demons were just like any other race living on the prime continent.
"You hold your tongue like you know I speak the truth!" Lancaster said.
"You are right," I said. "I did want to destroy the Demon race before."
"Ha! Just like that Witch, that leads those rebels! You all will end!"
Lancaster attacked me with increased fervor.
I blocked his blows but his strength had increased a great amount. Cold frost surrounded his spear and Lancaster had thrust it at me. I dodged and part of my cloak gets stabbed only to be frozen. The wind blew my cloak around and the frozen part of my cloak had burst apart under the pressure into little icicles. I stepped back and Lancaster tried catching me with a thrust into my gut.
I grab the Spearhead with the palm of my free hand and felt the freezing power of the spear.
"I know you think what you are doing is right," I said. "But, you did one thing wrong."
I broke my hand free from the ice spear and broke the head of the spear off as well.
"You attacked Liz and you wanted to kill her," I said. "For that, you will die."
I used the scythe in my other hand to send Lancaster's head away from his body and armor. Lancaster's body dropped to the floor and the berserker armor crumbled without any life force to sustain it. Red blood mixed on with the white landscape as snow started to trickle down once more. Soon the red armor and the blood will be covered by the white snow. Nature would take its course as the bodies were left strewn across the field.
I looked at the black ring on my finger as it glowed white and heard the last laugh of the devil in my mind. I twisted the ring on my claw and felt the darkness burst away from me. Dark shadows vaporized from my body like a black mist. My body reverted itself slowly back to normal and I felt a stinging ache on my body.
My face felt pale as sweat started pouring from my body like a flood. I was feeling the fatigue and the blowback of using the black ring already. Like a stinging pain on my skin while my body boiled up as if I was on fire. I crumpled down on my knees as a pain surged within me and I struggled to breathe. My gaze looked back to Liz and the other Demons who followed me.
They were quite a distance away but had a clear view of the battlefield. I knew that they heard and saw everything that had happened. But, they didn't look at me with fear and contempt at all. The Demons had a sense of awe and revelation on their faces. Only Liz had looked worried and afraid of me.
I looked away as I just felt bitter and sad at what I had become.
Suddenly, Liz ran over to me and held me close in her embrace.
"I'm sorry Demitri! I'm sorry!" Liz said. "I'm sorry that you had to do this!"
I was in pain but my worries seem to drift away.
"No," I said. "It was my own choice."
I gave Liz a weak smile as I tried to fight through the pain of my body. Liz tried to hold me up as I felt weak from the pain. Liz gave me a smile with some tears in her eyes and then only darkness covered my eyes. The pain had become too much and I had slipped out of consciousness.
The pact with the devil Nyarlathotep had given me incredible power but at what cost?
I had lost myself for a moment and killed all those Demons who faced me.
A power that I never had before and I had enjoyed the bloodlust that I felt.
I was now a Demon Lord with the power to end lives as if they were nothing.
I felt like a God but I knew I was a Devil.
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Sorry for the late chapter, got really busy during the week. I'll try to do more updates quickly.