At last the ice hero Emeral had reached the chambers of the Demon Lord. There is where he will fight his final battle against his greatest nemesis.
"Are you sure you want to rush to the Demon Lord Emeral?" asked the ice spirit Skadi. She is glued to the soul of Emeral. So no one but Emeral can hear her voice.
"Of course," replied Emeral. "The demon generals were easy to kill. No need to waste time on the remaining generals."
"They were easy because of my powers," said Skadi. "Had it been without my powers, it would have taken a large raid of humans to take them down."
"I know, and I know that you were only using a mere 20% of your powers so far. But are you stronger than the Demon Lord herself?"
"The Demon Lord is weaker than me. It is like killing a fly. But do not forget that your body can barely handle 25% of my power. Your frost resistance has been growing over the years. But it is nowhere near as enough to handle my full powers without dying on the spot from frostbite."
"Geez do not repeat the lecture Skadi. I promise we will beat the demon lord with only 25% of your powers."
"Fine, be careful. This fight will probably be our last Emeral."
"Yes, it has been one heck of a journey. I cannot wait to see my sister Lora and my fiancee princess Dia after this."
With that, the hero opened the chamber gates to confront the demon lord. A sharp, bright light assaulted the hero's eyes once he had opened the gates. He then saw the Demon Lord sitting on a giant golden throne. Her skin was dark red, had four arms, two horns, and wings. In contrast, the hero Emeral wore a white Mythril armor, white cape, and his beloved longsword Krista.
"Woah she is huge," said Emeral. "About ten times my size?"
"I was hoping to see at least a single demon wearing clothes. I am disappointed."
"That is why her body will make a fine bed, hehe—"
In that instant, the Demon Lord swung her large arms like a whip at Emeral. He could not react in time, but Skadi did. She had created a hexagonal frost barrier around Emeral that stopped the demon lord's attack. But the impact crashed Emeral against the golden walls of the chamber. Luckily the Mythril armor had absorbed the impact, and the hero received no harm.
"Geez, why is she so impatient?"
"She is not responding to your words... The Demon Lord can't speak? That is weird."
The demon lord swung another huge hand at Emeral, but he jumped in time to evade it.
[Ice Coat]
A blue ice coating of covered Krista while Emeral dashed toward the Demon Lord. He jumped and slashed at her belly, but the slash merely tickled the belly of the demon lord and caused no damage.
"What the ice? Did I forget to sharpen Krista?"
"No, Emeral, She did not even get affected by my ice coating on the sword. The Demon Lord armor and frost resistance are just too high."
While Emeral retreated, the Demon Lord shoot a fire breath from her mouth, and that activated the frost barrier once again. The fire breath had covered the whole frost barrier was and was trying to crack through it.
"I can't see a thing,"
"Shut up and let me focus Emeral, maintaining the barrier is not easy,"
The Demon Lord had noticed that the hero was struggling against her fire breath. So she used that opportunity to pour even more fire out of her mouth. The Demon Lord covered the whole chamber in fire, even the golden walls melted.
"Holy ice, her fire breath is hotter than magma. Emeral, my barrier is about to crack. You will have to come up with something fast."
"Sure, I was starting to feel the heat growing inside the barrier. Start using 30% of your powers then create a second barrier underneath this one."
"What? 30%? Your body can't handle it for more than two minutes."
"20% is not enough against the demon lord, and I cannot afford to lose this battle Skadi. I have two ladies waiting for me at the capital."
"... Fine, do not blame me if you turn into a block of ice."
Under the flood of fire, the hero Emeral jumped toward the demon lord once again. The demon concentrated her fire breath at him, but the enhanced frost barrier blocked it with ease. Once the demon lord realized this, she stopped her fire breath and instead swung all her four arms at Emeral at once.
[Explode]
The frost barrier exploded, knocking back all the four arms of the Demon Lord. The explosion further created a thick layer of ice that immobilized her four arms. The hero then took this opportunity to slash the demon lord's torso left and right. He kept doing it until the tail of the demon lord whipped Emeral flying against the golden walls.
"Ouch."
"Emeral, are you fine?"
"My back hurts, but we managed to land some good hits."
"You should have retreated after landing a few hits. Do not be too greedy."
"Sorry, I could not stop once I noticed that my attacks had worked on her. So your 30% power not only strengthened the frost abilities but also made the sword sharper."
"Yup. Do not underestimate my powers."
Emeral stood up and was about to strike the demon lord once again, but he felt a sharp pain in his chest.
"Emeral? Oh, it is frostbite from using 30% of my power. I will return it back to—"
"Don't," Emeral shouted.
"But your body cannot handle it anymore."
"It is alright. Just a few more hits and the demon lord should die."
"RAAAAAAAH" the demon lord suddenly screamed.
"What is happening?" wondered Emeral as he cupped his ears with his hands from the piercing sound.
"Anger? No, something is wrong."
The wings of the demon lord doubled in size. She then used her wings to cover up her whole body like a giant ball.
"Why did she cover her whole body?"
"It is like a cocoon… Emeral hit her right away. She is evolving."
"Shit… "
Emeral dashed at the demon lord and hit her with all his might with his ice coated sword. But all his attacks were futile. The wings the demon lord had used to cover herself were much sturdier than Emeral's sword.
"It won't budge," Emeral said as he was catching his breath. "What do we do now?"
"Emeral… We should run away. Let us regroup with a large human army, and we will surely win now that we know much about her powers."
"No."
"Just look at your body. It will soon be fully numb from frostbite. You won't be able to beat her after she evolves. Run now and do not waste any more time."
"I will beat her on my own."
"You stubborn kid. How much will your sister grief for you if you died? Haven't you promised her? And what about the princess Dia? Do not want you to want to see her again?"
"I will never be able to face these two if I ran away. The disgrace these nobles had given me, you know it quite well."
"Your hatred of the nobles have messed you up."
Suddenly, the demon lord's cocoon glowed red in a heartbeat pattern. The change startled both Emeral and Skadi.
"We are going to die thanks to your stupidity. Now I doubt why I even bothered to fall from the sky to help someone like you."
"I had always wondered the same. Thanks for helping me anyway Skadi."
"Idiot."
Light shone from the cocoon of the demon lord, pushing back the body of the hero backward due to its strong force. The demon lord was hatching from its cocoon.
"We are done for Emeral. I will keep using my powers at 30% even though it will harm you because it will get much worse from now on."
Emeral readied his sword stance in anticipation. Then the cocoon had shattered, revealing the new form of the demon lord. The demon lord's body became smaller, closer to the size of Emeral.
"Huh? Is that it?"
"This does not make sense."
A loud, sharp laugh was heard from the demon lord. She instantly jumped at Emeral and punched him at a speed he had never seen before. Emeral could not react in time and his ice barrier shattered. The punch sent Emeral flying all the way against the golden gates. Emeral coughed blood, and his Mythril armor was broken.
"Emeral, Can you hear me? The demon lord focused her strength into a smaller body. Her attacks became much stronger now."
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
"Set… Your powers at 50%… Quick."
"May the Gods of Ice curse you. You will die Emeral, how many times do you want me to say this? Once I hit the 50% mark, your body will transform partially with mine. Use [Escape] and let's beat her another time."
The demon lord leaped with an evil smile at the semi-conscious Emeral and kicked him. A booming sound was heard as Emeral's body flew and hit another wall and puked even more blood. Four of his ribs were broken.
"Hurry up use [Escape], please, I beg you."
Emeral felt he would only receive shame, sarcasm, and insult if he retreated from this battle. The nobles of the human capital would be overjoyed to see him withdraw from a fight for the first time. His hatred of the nobles back when they had thrown him and his sister homeless outside their warm home was mightier than his death.
It is either my death or the death of the demon lord, Emeral thought.
"No... use 50%..."
"Why are you this stubborn? Whatever happens after you escape can be fixed. But your death cannot."
Emeral's brain was numb from pain to process Skadi's words and the demon lord did not give the hero any time to think. Again, she leaped at the half-dead Emeral, and instead of hitting him she pulled his right arm out of his own body.
Fountain of blood had gushed out of Emeral's body and torn arm. Emeral screamed with the loudest voice he could muster, while the demon lord enjoyed the scenery. She squeezed Emeral's torn arm till it broke and then stepped on it till it no longer resembled an arm.
"What cruelness is this? Why did she have to go that far?"
Emeral was too engrossed in pain to respond to Skadi. But he repeated the only thing his brain his instinctively needed to survive, "Please… 50%"
"I do not get you. You lost your arm, about to die from blood loss, and you still do not want to use [Escape]? Has your hatred of the nobles blinded you to kill yourself for it? Fine, I get it. I will use 50% of my powers. You will die either way. So at least you could take down the demon lord and your own life along with it. I am quite disappointed."
The demon lord was about to tear off Emeral's right leg, but something close to a miracle interfered.
[Transform]
The Demon Lord backed off when she noticed the abnormal change in Emeral's body. It would be more accurate to say she got scared as enormous magical energy exploded of Emeral's body as it turned crystal blue and emitted icy air.
"This feels… different. Skadi, what have you done?"
"Are not you the one who asked for 50% of my powers? Well, here it is. My body will partially merge with yours."
A thick layer of ice covered up Emeral's body. An icy arm grew to replace the one torn by the demon lord. Emeral's head was covered by a frost-like helmet, his chest which also had a similar icy cover also showed a sign of the spirit of Skadi.
He stared at his different body and new armor. “I can’t feel any pain Skadi.”
“I know. When you blend with my frost power, your pain gets numbed until the transformation goes away. Well, once it goes away, the pain will hit you back. You will be struck by severe frostbite that would kill you in less than a minute.”
“I see, Skadi thanks for listening to me and using 50% of your powers.”
“Shut up.”
With this, Emeral stood side by side against the demon lord. The tension between the two was building up. Both sides transformed, but they didn’t know how capable each was compared to the other.
“Oh I forgot, what kind of abilities can I use at this point?”
“Much of your human limitations fades away. So the limit is your imagination.”
"Awesome."
The demon lord made a sharp growl, as she released black balls of fire from her mouth hotter than magma. In response, Emeral placed his hand in front of the incoming fireballs. And upon contact the fireballs evaporated, releasing noisy steam.
[Ice Claws]
Emeral dashed three times faster compared to before his transformation. The demon lord gasped as he slashed the demon lord’s chest with his new frost claws. The wound released blue blood from the bosom of the demon lord.
“I told you the sky is the limit and you merely slashed her like a cat? Don’t disrespect my powers.”
“Haha, you really want to see the new powers in action?”
“It’s been five years since I had used them.”
“Alright, I will think of something.”
[Blizzard]
Tiny icicles appeared around the demon lord. The icicles grew in number and were spinning in circles around the demon lord as more icicles kept appearing at an exponential rate.
The demon lord blew black fire from her mouth and swung her claws to stop the accumulation of the icicles. But the icicles appeared at a much quicker rate than the demon lord could destroy. Soon enough, Emeral could barely see the body of the demon lord hidden behind layers of icicles.
Upon realizing that she was in danger, the demon lord tried to jump outside the snowstorm. However, Emeral had predicted it.
[Chains]
Five icy chains sprouted from the ground like plants. They spun around the thighs, arms, and neck of the demon lord and kept her from leaving the [Blizzard].
“I think I can invade the whole human capital with this power.”
“And the moment you try doing that is the point where I will kill you with my own hands.”
“You really can’t handle jokes Skadi.”
“Invading the human capital is not a joke.”
"Anyways. time to end this."
[Freeze]
All the icicles surrounding the demon lord had merged into a single large block of ice. The demon lord could be seen inside the clear ice block. She could not move or express any emotion.
Emeral placed his hand on the large ice block. "Beautiful."
"See? This is why I kept saying that my real power is a work of art. Anyway, are not you forgetting something important in here? The moment I release you from the transformation your body will look much worse than the Demon Lord's body you see right now. So the quicker you finish her, the better."
"Alright… Or perhaps not, the ice is melting."
The block of ice that trapped the demon lord was melting. The demon lord was boiling in anger.
"Be ready Emeral, the demon lord now knows more of your tricks."
"Then I will simply bring up new tricks."
The ice block had shattered and sent sharp ice cubes all around the chamber. The demon lord seemed angry that hot steam was emitting out of her.
"Hey, it seems that the demon lord had gotten stronger."
"I can feel it as well Skadi. I think she keeps getting stronger the tougher her foe is."
"So at this point, you cannot let this situation keep to going forever. We have to finish her quickly. Otherwise, the Demon Lord would overpower us."
The demon lord had sent a giant ball of black magma from her mouth. It is much stronger than the previous shots of fire she hurled at Emeral.
[Ice Spear]
Emeral had sent as well an ice spear from his hand. The ice spear and ball of magma collided. But the magma ball had absorbed the ice spear and was about to burn Emeral.
"Shit."
[Ice Spear]
[Ice Spear]
[Ice Spear]
Emeral generated three ice spears in one-fourth of a second. They stopped the magma ball, and noisy steam was generated from the collision. But the demon lord was not satisfied, she sent multiple balls of magma nonstop. She was furious at what Emeral had done to her. Noticing this Emeral replied with the same.
[Giant Ice Spear]
[Giant Ice Spear]
[Giant Ice Spear]
....
Emeral sent countless giant ice spears against the black magma balls. Their collision shook the chamber and pushed both the demon lord and Emeral backward.
"Keep the offensive Emeral. Do not miss this opportunity."
"Yeah."
[Arrows]
Before the Demon Lord launched an attack, Emeral manifested a hundred arrows from every direction at the demon lord. The hundred icy arrows dug into her body and splashed blue blood all over the room.
[Arrows]
Emeral kept the assault ongoing. Another hundred arrows stabbed the demon lord as she groaned from the pain. She was too distracted by the pain to launch any offensive.
"Kill her."
"I know."
[Arrows]
While sending the third batch of icy arrows to keep the demon lord weakened, Emeral picked up his beloved sword Krista from the floor. The moment Emeral touched the sword its shape altered. The sword shone light blue and made a hissing noise implying that it was bursting with energy.
The demon lord had hundreds of wounds dripping blue blood. Emeral rose his sword high beside the demon lord and then lowered it in one quick sweep and split the demon lord's body into two halves. The demon lord made a weak cry, and with that, she fell on the ground and turned lifeless.
The demon lord got defeated.
After a few seconds, the demon lord's body disintegrated into brown ashes. It flew little by little into the air, but at this moment a queer thing had happened. A red ball the size of a fist showed up under ashes of the demon lord and was rising upwards into the air. Emeral tried to slash the red ball, but it did not affect her.
"Do not touch the red ball Emeral, that is her soul. It is harmless. It will simply return back to where it originally used to be. If you touch it, it will corrupt your soul."
"Got it. But I have never seen a soul before in my life. Is this the result of my [Transformation] with you."
'Yup."
"So there are many things that we humans cannot see."
The red ball had was rising slowly toward the sky. But after a while in its ascension to the sky, it abruptly flew westward at an incredible speed.
"Did you see what had happened Emeral? Why did the soul of the demon lord turn westward?"
"It is moving to the direction of the human capital. Is it weird?"
"Of course it is weird. It is my first time seeing a soul turning westward in my entire life. No, in fact, this is against the laws of nature. Not a single soul is supposed to behave this way..."
"Then what do you suggest we should do?"
"It is too late to do anything at this point. Souls are much faster than your feet. Instead, it is more appropriate at this point to look your own body."
Emeral's felt his body growing weaker with Skadi's notice.
"You should be feeling the side of effects of using 50% of my powers by now. I will remove all my powers from your body, from 50% to zero. The longer I keep it, the more it will harm your body."
Emeral fell on the ground, and he lost his grip on his legendary sword. The icy arm that had replaced his torn right arm had melted away. The icy armor protecting his whole body also melted. Water droplets fell on the sand already soaked with the Demon Lord's blue blood.
"My body is not responding to me… So these are the side effects huh?"
"You won't be able to use your arms and legs anymore. Though, it is still quite lucky that you are still alive. I have underestimated your frost resistance."
"Yeah… So with this everything will end. My journey, the pain of losing another adventurer, the fear of the constant demonic invasion, and even you will leave."
"..."
"In any case, what I had just accomplished is worth thousands of lives. Even though it was a mere two-year journey with you Skadi, they were undoubtedly the best years of my life."
"Stop it... You will make me cry."
"Haha, sorry."
"You still have your sister Lora, and your fiance princess Dia. You have not seen them much over the past two years, and are still 22 years old. Even if you are in this weak state, there are countless other experiences in life that you are yet to taste."
"None of these encouragements will fill the gap with you leaving."
"Spirits are not allowed to accompany lower beings forever. You know this quite well Emeral, just accept it."
"..."
"And you will be hailed as the hero who killed the demon lord. Your name will never be forgotten in history. And you will live the most privileged life alongside your sister and wife till you die. This kind of life is quite envious as well."
"I do not think so. You think the nobles will leave me alone? They will only see me from now on as a disabled and a useless human. They will eventually throw me homeless on the street with my sister the same way they did it five years ago."
"Emeral, you should put have more faith in your fellow humans."
"No, you are overestimating them. I am saying this based on experience."
"Well, I do not think discussing your past will change your view about it at all. You are quite stubborn in this area, no, in fact quite stubborn in a lot of areas."
"Do not hurt my feelings, I am a disabled man now."
"You are already exploiting your weakness? Hey Emeral, what is this brownish gem you are holding on your left hand?"
"A gem?"
Emeral turned his head to his left hand and saw a brown-colored gem on the palm of his disabled left hand.
"No Idea, did it drop as loot from the demon lord?"
"Could be, inspect it."
[Inspect]
[Gem of Rust - A crystallized concentration of the demon lord's blood that had gone foul after existing for 200 years. It provides you with the following option: Reset all the ailments that had affected your body for this day at the expense of using only rusty weapons forever.]
"Holy ice."
"Are they kidding me?"
"If you use this gem you will end up as a worthless piece of ice. But if you don't, you will end up as an even worse piece of ice."
"So you are implying that I should use the gem? You want me to end up known as the rusty swordsman?"
"Look, you will still be able to use your arms and feet at least. So you should just become a martial artist instead of a swordsman. I have read many stories where they were a lot more powerful than swordsmen."
"If that was true then why did humans invent swords in the first place?"
"Well… Maybe because... they liked using metal?"
"You are not making any sense."
"I know, I will come up with a better answer just wait."
"Haah… Looks like I have got no choice. Using a rusty sword is better than not being able to move my limbs forever."
"Finally you are thinking."
"You should be happy that I am a very gentle gentleman Skadi. Otherwise, I would have slapped you real hard."
"I do not mind getting slapped."
"You sure?"
"Sure, you may slap me, if you can haha."
"Grrr, [Activate Gem of Rust]"
The rusty colored gem sitting on Emeral's palm shattered. It released a thick brown smoke that covered the entirety of Emeral's body. After a minute the brown smoke dissipated and Emeral emerged from the smoke as good as he was before he fought the demon lord.
"Hmmm..."
Emeral opened his eyes and tried to move his limbs, and they moved flawlessly as if nothing happened to them. He then tried to grab his sword Krista just beside him. It worked but the moment he did so the legendary sword got covered with rust.
Emeral gave a long sigh.
"I guess this means goodbye to my days as a warrior and a hero. My journey has ended. But at least I made everyone live in a happier world."