At a place far away from the Human Continent, was the location of the destruction Demon Continent. Only a small island of it existed because it was the only part of the island that had escaped the destruction. The continent was once ruled by the Demon Race and home to the Calamity Titan, the mortal enemy of the Phoenix Titan and he declared war on the world and named it the Phoenix Calamity War before leaving for the Demon World to become stronger.
Two years have passed since then and there was not a single sign of any demons emerging from portals, or destruction taking place. That was all going to change when a portal opened up on the deserted small island and out of it came Serabella, one of the Demon Kings, and the ruler of the Demon Race, Calamity Titan.
His and her appearances have changed over these two years as he appeared to have matured a little in the facial features and she seemed to have become beautiful. His body seemed to be strongly built compared to two years ago and he seemed to have increased slightly in height. The most visible change in their appearance is their hair, which fell all the way down to their waist.
The two of them stood on the deserted island and stared straight ahead as the wind slowly breezed around them and made their hair flutter. Serabella turned and looked at him silently to observe him silently before deciding to open her mouth and speak.
“Master, I still think having long hair is not worth it.”
“Does it look bad on me?” he asked without turning to look at her.
She quickly raised her hands and said, “Not at all! You actually look kind of cool being like that,” and she blushed with a small smile on her face.
He chuckled and said, “I see. It’s okay. I like to keep this long hair as the record of what I’ve achieved in these two years. Besides, I want to make it perfectly clear who the handsome one is between him and me.”
Serabella understood that by ‘him,’ he was referring to the Phoenix Titan. Angered over the loss of his continent, his subordinates and the place to rule in this world, the Calamity Titan had trained especially hard to push himself beyond to reach all new heights of power. The Eight Disasters also trained with him and are still currently training while he finished ahead of them before coming directly here.
“So, what will you do now, master? Will you declare the war by alerting the world to our presence?”
He shook his head and said, “I will, but I need a base of operations. A place to start our battle, to bring forth my demon army and the place at which I was defeated previously.”
With that, he placed his hands towards the ground and said, “Ground Formation.”
In an instant, the island they were upon shuddered before the waters around it began to create waves. This lasted for several seconds before the water parted way as a huge area of land started to rise out of the sea. The Calamity Titan slowly raised his hands to keep applying energy to the rising land as it slowly rose quite a bit before stopping.
“Phew! There’s our new land!” he said, wearing a satisfied smile on his face.
“Um… Please don’t consider it to be rude to ask, but couldn’t we just have one of our retainers do it, master? I mean, if you just ordered it, even I could’ve done this without the slightest bit if difficulty!” Serabella said, earnestly.
“I know. It’s got nothing to do with you; it’s just something personal,” he said, angrily. “That man destroyed the land that I ruled and as such, I will bring it back with my own hands before destroying all that he rules!”
“Ah,” she replied, nodding her head in understanding.
With the land completed, he turned to her and said, “Sera, I want you to go up there and reopen the portal to bring forth the other Demon Kings. I order all of you to make that land habitable for our kind and prepare for war.”
“Yes!” she replied, and immediately flew into the air to head over to the newly risen land.
He watched her go before turning to face the direction of the Human Continent before he smiled a little as he said, “It’s almost time.”
Those words came out of him in a quiet voice as he stared ahead while the clouds, in the sky, slowly turned murky grey.
***
It took several hours for the Demon Kings to completely transform the newly risen land into one that can inhabit them. The Calamity Titan was quite pleased with the result upon his arrival and was most impressed to see an almost identical castle that replicated the one he used to live in two-years-ago.
“Demon Kings!” he said loudly, addressing them all and they stopped their world to look towards him. He smiled around at them and said, “You all did an excellent job! I am impressed!”
All the Demon Kings smiled in relief as they slightly feared he might not like, but they were advised it would be fine by Serabella. Seeing him look so happy made them quite happy as well and they resumed their work to quickly complete the arrangements.
“Sera! How goes the preparations?” he asked her, taking a seat on the throne line chair.
“We are nearly at completion, master. All we need is another hour and it’ll be complete,” she informed him, taking a look at the list on a piece of paper in her hand.
“Not a problem. Take your time. No rush because we have all the time in the world to get started,” he said, smiling at the progress before leaning back on his chair and closed his eyes.
He reopened his eyes and was momentarily surprised to find a lot of people gathered in the large room. The new Demon Kings were standing at attention near the door with eight other chairs lined nearly to either side of the stairs leading to him. Seated on the eight chairs were the members of the Eight Disasters, who are now recognised part of the Nine Testaments of Darkness.
They were talking amongst each other quietly when Serabella, seated next to him, noticed him wake up and said, “Master! You’re awake!”
Her words quickly carried through the chatter of the others and they soon fell silent while turning to face him. The Calamity Titan looked around and blinked in amazement at how quickly time had passed since the time he closed his eyes and reopened them, making him realise he actually fell asleep.
“I fell asleep because I felt relaxed to be back there?” He thought, chuckling to himself at the silliness.
“About time you woke up!” The man, seated closest to the stairs, said looking madly him. “I was getting mad watching you sleep like a baby!”
“Take that back!” Serabella shouted with the other Demon Kings looking enraged by his words. “He was sleeping because he had time on his hands before we all arrived and got prepared! There is no way our master will sleep in such an undignified manner!”
“Relax, Sera,” said the Calamity Titan and the Demon King leaned back while still looking angry. Turning to the man with a mad look on his face, the Calamity Titan asked, “What’s the matter with you, madness?”
The man, being addressed as ‘madness,’ instantly flared up and shouted, “Hey! I’m the Testament of Madness, I have a name! Keizer! Call me Keizer!”
“Yeah. Yeah,” said the Calamity Titan, casually waving his hand and asked, “Tell me why you’re so mad already? The war hasn’t even begun yet, so you feeling like this is pointless.”
“I’m feeling this way because I want to get out there and tear this world apart!” Keizer said and he made a truly mad expression on his face. “I hate this world, I hate everything it holds and I hate the people that turned me into this! So, start the goddamn war so I can do what I enjoy!”
His words were met with nods from the other seven, which made the Calamity Titan form a truly angry expression on his face.
“You can’t go around destroying things as you like! Our job, as the Nine Testaments of Darkness, is to destroy the Nine Pillars of Power!” the Calamity Titan said, firmly. When the eight of them seemed to disregard his words, he raised his hand up and slammed it down on his throne arm while shouting, “Do you dare to challenge my authority?!”
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The force of the slam was so strong that the entire castle shook and cracks appeared from the throne arm to the place where the eight were seated. In an instant, the pressure in the room became thick and dangerous, making the Demon Kings gulp in extreme nervousness and caused the eight to widen their eyes.
Keizer was taken aback by the sudden pressure and before he could say anything, he was forestalled by the person sitting next to him.
“Calm down, Keizer. I also hate it, but we have to follow his lead in order to get our revenge on this world!” the Testament of Hatred, Croto said, looking hatefully up at the Calamity Titan.
“Croto’s right, Keizer. As much as I am jealous of your anger, there’s nothing we can do except follow him!” the Testament of Jealousy, Cana said with a sympathetic expression on her face.
“Keizer, I’ve faced enough humiliation throughout my whole life, so stop needlessly humiliating!” the Testament of Humiliation, Lustrous said with a truly disgusted look on his face.
“You goddamn—!” Keizer began, glaring angrily at Lustrous, when he got cut off by another member of the eight.
“We’re sorry for his behaviour, Calamity Titan! Please forgive him!” the Testament of Guilty, Neerum said, facing the Calamity Titan anxiously.
The one sitting next to him, the Testament of Fear, Angst, stared at him in surprise and asked, “Why are you apologising? You know you’re not the one at fault, and yet…?”
“Ah… I know, but… um… I sort of reacted by habit…” said Neerum nervously.
Angst stared at him in surprise and said, “Have some self-confidence.”
“I think you should heed your own words, Angst,” said the Testament of Greed, Kress, with a wicked expression on his face. When Angst looked at him in surprise, Kress winked at him and said, “I saw you shaking like a leaf in a storm!”
Angst became angry and said, “Dammit, Kress! We're teammates!”
“Yes and that's never stopped me before,” replied Kress, making a smug smile on his face. He turned towards the only one who had remained silent the entire time and asked, “Do you care, Ezhno?”
The Testament of Loneliness, Ezhno, who was looking away, turned around and glanced at him once before looking away again as if he did not notice anything.
Kress smiled knowingly and turned around and said to Angst, “See? Even he doesn't care.”
While Angst gritted his teeth in anger, Lustrous eyed them with annoyance and snapped, “At least, he's quiet and keeps to himself, instead of humiliating us like the two of you!”
As Angst looked dumbfounded and Kress looked impressed when the Calamity Titan chuckled with laughter. He was finding their drama quite funny while Serabella, on the other hand, had her arms crossed and tapped her arm repeatedly with a finger, looking annoyed.
While he kept chuckling, Serabella leaned towards him and muttered, “Master, why are you laughing? They're clearly not behaving themselves! It's creating a bad image of the Nine Testaments of Darkness for the other Demon Kings!”
He waved his hand casually and replied, “It’s fine. I find it funny. Besides, this kind of behaviour is okay to relax the morale of our Demon Kings. See?”
At his gesture, she turned and looked at her fellow Demon Kings, only to find them looking relaxed. Previously, the nine of the Demon Kings had been feeling very rigid due to the tension and did not make much movement. It seemed as though the drama between the Nine Testaments of Darkness caused them to relax, staring around at the members with bemused expressions on their faces.
“Mmm,” she said, having no clue what else to say in her surprised state.
He chuckled and faced the front once more before he said loudly, “Enough kidding around.” His words were met with instantaneous silent from everyone and they turned to face him as he continued speaking. “Demon Kings! I take it the preparations are complete?”
The Demon Kings nodded and one of them, a Serprad Demon Clan warrior stepped forward and stated, “Yes, master. The land is now habitable for our kind and the Demon Gate is set on standby and waiting for your command.”
“Excellent,” said the Calamity Titan and the warrior bowed before stepping back into his rank. He turned to Serabella and asked, “What about transport? How will our armies travel between continents?”
“We are ready to activate the Demon Bridge Connection between the continents as soon as you give the word, master!” Serabella replied quickly.
“Good. What about the Orb Boxes?”
“They are placed over to there,” she replied, and pointed towards the left corner near the entrance.
“Mmm,” he said and turned to face the front once more before addressing the Demon Kings again. “Since there are nine of you and forty-five of the boxes, I will assign five boxes per each member to hold onto. Use only one at a time and that is if you feel the tide of your battle is weighed against you. I think you would know what happened to the Orb when they went rogue?”
The lined Demon Kings nodded in understanding as they remembered of the Orb absorbing their own kind to grow stronger two-years-ago. Since then, the Demon Scientists have worked really hard on improving the functionality of the Orbs and have deemed them to be stable for practical use once more.
“Why can’t we have some? You know, for safe sake?” Kress asked, looking curiously towards him.
The Calamity Titan looked down at his comrade and said, “That won’t be necessary considering how powerful we all are so don’t be greedy.”
Kress chuckled darkly and said, “Oh well. I’ll just take everything from my enemies and watch them suffer! Hahahahahaha!”
He cackled with laughter and while everyone stared at him, the Calamity Titan smiled and asked, “Right Is everyone ready?”
There was complete silence within the room as every eye in the room turned towards him while he stared at them. No words were uttered as the silence kept steady within the room as every head nodded at him in agreement. The silent unanimous agreement made him smile and he turned towards Serabella, who also nodded at him with a smiling face.
“Good,” he said and rose to his feet, followed by everyone else rising to their feet. He extended his hand towards them and said firmly, “Today, we will mark the beginning of our claim over this world! Demon Kings! Activate the Demon Bridge Connection and open the portals so our armies invade and destroy all in their path!”
“Yes!” the Demon Kings exclaimed loudly and they saluted to him before heading out of the room.
As they left, the Calamity Titan slowly descended the stairs and was met with Croto, who asked, “What are we going to do? Follow after your kings?”
“No. The nine of us will remain behind and wait for our enemies to arrive,” replied the Calamity Titan, walking past them and towards the door.
Croto blinked in surprise while Keizer demanded, “Huh? We just wait and do nothing?! Why?”
“It’s obviously to save our strength and wait for the real battle,” stated Kress, forming a wicked smile on his face. “Makes sense actually. This way, we’ll be ready to deal with the Nine Pillars of Power!”
“Ugh! I want to go out there and exact my vengeance!” Keizer exclaimed, sharply.
“Stop it, Keizer! You’re not a baby anymore, so control your temper so you don’t humiliate yourself along with the rest of us!” Lustrous said, irritably.
Keizer formed a crazy smile on his face and said, “Fine! I suppose I really can’t do anything against a tweeny little girl too scared to do anything, but cower. Am I right?”
Angst, who felt fear from Keizer’s behaviour, unintentionally had his powers activated and the entire room began to fill with a sudden chill that made everyone shudder. Neerum, Cana and Croto quickly wrapped crossed their arms in front in an attempt to fight the cold while the others stared at Angst.
“Control your powers, Angst. Everything’s feeling a little cold,” said the Calamity Titan, before walking through the door and into the hall.
“Yeah! Stop it cause’ I hate the cold!” Croto said, very angrily while shuddering.
As Agnst quickly deactivated his powers, Neerum stammered, “S-S-Sorry!”
“Why are you apologising for something that he did?” Lustrous asked, looking confused.
“S-Sorry… Out of habit…” muttered Neerum, gazing down at her feet.
Lustrous sighed wearily and said, “Get a grip, otherwise, you’ll humiliate yourself in front of everyone!”
As Neerum nodded in understanding with a disappointed look on her face, Kress smiled eerily and asked, “I wish I had the power to chill people instead of being able to rob, although, I like robbing as well!”
“I hate it how you go on and on about your stupid greediness!” Croto said, irritably.
Kress shrugged his shoulders and asked, “What else do you hate? Just tell me that.”
“Everything!” Croto replied, angrily. “I hate the world, I hate my powers, I hate you all and I especially hate my life! I just hate everything!”
“Okay! Got it! I definitely don’t want to be in your shoes,” replied Kress, sneeringly. He turned towards Ezhno and asked, “Anyway, how are you feeling buddy? Anything cold and chilly?”
“Don’t talk to me,” replied Ezhno in a quiet voice without even glancing at him.
“Okay,” said Kress, smiling at the man that ignored him.
Serabella, who was listening to their chatter from behind, inwardly groaned and thought, “What a bunch of misfits…? Are these really the Nine Testaments of Darkness that my master gathered?”
It took them a few minutes to walk out of the castle to find greenery surrounding them. This reminded the Calamity Titan of the castle two-years-ago before it got destroyed with the entire continent, making him feel proud of his return. He looked to the front and saw the Demon Kings hovering above the sky and creating the Demon Bridge Connection that connected their continent to other continents.
“Good. In the meantime, we should have towers for each of us,” he said and nodded to himself.
Turning to the right, he walked several meters in silence while only accompanied by Serabella. Once he reached a desirable spot, he smiled and clenched his fists before placing it down with his palms open on the grassy ground. The next moment, stone began to rise out of the ground until they were very tall that seemed to touch the sky.
“Why the towers, master?” Serabella asked, curiously.
Once he was finished, he rose to his feet and turned to her before saying, “As the Nine Testaments of Darkness, we need towers that represents the nine and because I have plans with these.”
“Plans?”
He placed a finger to his mouth and said, “Shush. You’ll soon find out.” As she nodded in understanding, he smiled and into the distance while saying, “Anyway, time to announce our arrival.” He raised his hand into the air and said, “Demon Judgement.”
A magic circle formed in the palm of his hand and a black ball of energy was launched from it. The sphere of energy soared very high into the air at high speed before it exploded. A moment later, a multitude of smaller spherical balls of energy burst out of the smoke and soared in all directions and covered a lot of distance before exploding upon making contact against the land around their continent.
As their surroundings were roaring with fire and explosions, the Calamity Titan smiled sinisterly and said quietly, “Let there be fire and let there be war!”
Thus, the Phoenix Calamity War was sprung into motion by the Calamity Titan as he launched destructive explosion across the land around their continent. It was time for the warriors of that world to come together and fight against this oppressive force in order to protect their world from destruction.