Dreams of evil nature had been haunting Percy for weeks. They skulked behind him whenever his eyes shut closed. Even when Percy wasn’t tired, the nightmare would follow him, unraveling pictures of its nature to him the instant he blinked a moment longer than the norm.

Sleeping had neve been as difficult as in the last few weeks, but today was different. Tonight’s nightmare was far more realistic than it used to be. And, to make things worse, Percy couldn’t do anything to change them, let alone wake up. He was caught in the nightmare, forced to witness the horrors unfolding before him.

He levitated above a grand battlefield filled with the pained screams of the injured, puddles of crimson blood, and ripped-apart body parts. Percy would have shuddered at the sight of such battlefields hadn’t been common in the last nightmares. However, the grand battlefield was nothing special.

Only the location was different. It was in a large plains region connected to several smaller forests and one massive forest—the Moonlight Forest, to be precise.

The grand battlefield spread across the Meiso Plains.

Percy had already seen the battlefield dozens of times, but his hair stood up to its end whenever the hordes of demons swept mercilessly across it. There were tens of thousands of them, maybe even more. Percy couldn’t capture all demons in a single frame, but he could say one thing for sure.

There were enough Demons to bulldoze most cities in the Kainesh Kingdom. And that did not even include the Elite and Greater Demons. The Lesser Demons were numerous, capable of tearing apart everything the Kainesh Kingdom had achieved in the last few decades.

Percy was pulled closer to the ground without warning. He was drawn to a familiar place, where he was forced to watch the death of the people he had known, people whom Percy owed a lot.

He was back in Raewood, hovering above the small town, where half a dozen Lesser Demons wreaked havoc. The Demons squashed everyone in their way with ease, crushing tens of townspeople with their bare hands and hooves. However, they didn’t grant the people Percy knew a slow death. No, they gathered everyone Percy had talked to on several occasions to rip them apart slowly and painfully.

Percy was forced to watch it all.

Merchant Erdwin’s tongue was pulled out in a fit of rage before his fingers were pulled off his hands, Butcher Kevin’s hands were cut off with his butcher knife, Leonhard was punched through and through, and his gut was pulled out at once.

There were far more victims, but Percy couldn’t watch it anymore. He couldn’t take it anymore.

It was terrifying.

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Yet, Percy was unable to escape. He wasn’t in control of his body. His eyes were glued to the scene unfolding before him, and it was as if he would never wake up again.

That was until an unknown yet oddly familiar voice filled his head.

[Do you enjoy my present?] The voice, eerily cold and seemingly detached from the mortal realm, asked.

Percy felt something caress his back, scratching him faintly as the voice continued.

[The last year has been an incredible experience, hasn’t it?]

Percy swallowed hard as he regained some of his senses.

[That’s good. Grow stronger. Much stronger!] The voice thundered suddenly, [Only the strong make a good meal.]

The voice began to laugh like a maniac for a few seconds as black mist gathered before Percy’s face. It swirled across his face, and he reached for it, almost like trying to pull his face off by force. However, the black mist pulled back, and the laughing resumed. But this time, the presence around him intensified drastically as the laughing resounded.

All of a sudden, a devious grimace burst through the black mist, filling Percy’s field of vision.

It was the massive face of a demon with red-glowing eyes and pitch-black skin.

No…It wasn’t a demon. It was a Devil.

The Devil grimaced at him in hunger.

[I am coming for you!]

…

Percy gasped for air and shot up from the bed. He was drenched in cold sweat and breathed heavily.

His eyes widened in horror as he looked around.

Nothing…is here…right?

He swallowed hard, used [Hawk Eyes], and pushed the blanket aside to jump up.

Percy was certain nobody was in his room, but the temperature had dropped drastically.

“Was that really just a dream?” He murmured, scratching the back of his head. Percy groaned in pain and pulled his hand back when something hot burned his fingertips.

“What the…” He cursed louder than before and rushed to the bathroom, where he checked out the back of his head.

There it was, the mark of the Devil, glowing eerily through the thick cover of hair. It was both eerie and hot, demanding Percy’s attention.

It wanted to be noticed.

Percy’s eyes were glued to it. He had noticed it. However, Percy wasn’t sure what to think of it.

Was it a warning, telling him to stop wasting precious time and to start working on his power to face what lay ahead, or…was it a threat? A threat relayed by the Devil, who’d marked him?

One way or another, Percy couldn’t ignore the Devil’s Touch. It was too important to ignore, especially after today’s dream.

He had to prepare for war.

[End of Volume 2: Devil’s Touch]