The two Paladins approached cautiously, passing by the several supporting pillars, towards the Demon King who sat comfortably on his throne in the middle of the hall.

Their armours had definitely seen better days, their swords tainted by the blood of the demons they had killed along their way. The echoes of their heavy breaths muted the sounds of their footsteps, their bodies visibly tired.

The Demon King remained passive, motionless.

“Two parasites…”

A hoarse voice greeted the Two Paladins, which seemed to have come out from the Demon King’s large nostrils rather than his mouth.

“No… parasites prey on others because they have to survive. You humans do it because of greed.”

The Demon King slowly stood up and began his terrible transformation. His skin turned bright red and two large horns emerged from his forehead. His body size doubled, dwarfing the two warriors in front of him.

“Shut the fuck up you vile abomination,” Wilbert yelled as he assumed his defensive stance, holding tight against his sword.

“For centuries you and your armies have terrorised our cities… killed our children… defiled our women just to please your wicked desires!”

“But not anymore… not anymore… for this ends today!”

Wilbert rushed towards him. He knew this was going to be a difficult battle and that there was no room for complacency. He rapidly raised his sword and flung a powerful swing, hitting the Demon King’s arm with all his might.

The sound generated by the clash rattled the entire hall.

But all Wilbert could do was to keep staring in incredulity at the Demon King’s fiery eyes. His hands were numb as if he had just hit a large block of steel. The attack had barely scratched the demon's skin.

The Demon swiftly waved his arm, sending the preoccupied Wilbert flying against a Pillar, falling defeated on the floor. He then slowly walked towards him.

“We demons are born evil, and it’s natural for us when we act evil. But look at you humans, playing these little heroic games, thinking you are some kind of paladins of justice.”

“I have lived through countless of eras. During this time I've met and slaughtered thousands of your kind. And one thing I’ve learned from all these encounters is that you humans are a bunch of hypocrites.”

He then let out a disturbing cry. His muscles enlarged again, and a large bump began forming over his belly. It gradually grew, and pieces of flesh fell one by one on the floor below. Fresh blood poured like a stream.

Richard gazed terrified at the unfolding scene, and the only thing he could do was to hear the individual sounds of falling flesh, distracted only by the powerful smell of the Demon’s blood.

The pieces of flesh then began coalescing, forming a large sword.

Its grip was pitch black, shaped from the pool of blood while its blade formed directly from his flesh. Several eyes, mouths and protruding veins appeared all over the blade as if it was alive.

The Demon’s body quickly healed. He graciously kneeled and grabbed his sword, then he glanced towards Wilbert.

He tossed himself with incredible speed, intending to finish him off with one strike. But Richard intervened half way and blocked the Demon’s advance with his shield. The Demon appeared irritated, slashing his sword against Richard instead.

Richard defended the attack with great difficulty and was forced to take a couple of steps backwards, blood leaking from his mouth.

“To be able to block me while I am in this form…,” the Demon said emotionless as he pummelled him with several sword strikes. But Richard managed to hold his own, much to the Demon’s surprise. Truly, this Paladin was something else. A rare gem.

The Demon kept attacking, though it was evident he was just toying with his adversary. Richard began to struggle, and soon he ended up kneeling on one foot and resting on his sword.

But his eyes were still undefeated.

He slowly stood up again, whispering, “Pride… Courage… Faith...”

Then he threw his sword towards the Demon.

The Demon appeared confused. Either his opponent was up to something, or acting out of desperation. Whatever the case, he had nothing to fear.

The Demon deflected the sword with ease, then slashed towards Richard. Richard’s left hand ended up rotating in the air together with his shield.

But Richard kept charging ahead and smashed a bottle made of glass on the Demon’s face.

“Water from the sacred lands?!” The Demon roared. He twitched, bend over holding his face in agony. Several mouths emerged and appeared all over his body, screaming and spitting blood. They cursed and swore.

The Demon’s distraction provided the perfect opportunity. Richard ran to recover his sword, now losing blood heavily from his severed hand. He charged against the head of the Demon and managed to pierce a part of his neck, thanks to the weakened resistance caused by the holy water.

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He pressed with all his strength. He knew that it’s their victory once the Demon loses his head. He struggled, hoping he would find a way to chop off his head. But there was only that much he could do with one hand.

A large spike emerged from the Demon’s belly, tearing through Richard’s armour like it was made of pieces of paper, and hurled him away with incredible force. Richard coughed out blood, his face visibly frustrated that he failed to kill him.

He stared at the slowly approaching opponent. He remembered the legends about how formidable the Demon King was, and confirmed that they weren’t exaggerated in the slightest. Maybe they were over optimistic when they challenged him just the two of them. But there was no turning back now.

The Demon arrived before him, then his lower body started melting. His flesh slowly surrounded Richard, engulfing him and trapping him inside his body, leaving outside only his head.

“I’ve taken an interest in you. You are the first human to damage me to this extent.”

A heart emerged from the junk of flesh and moved towards Richard’s mouth. It compressed and expanded like a real heart. A surge of evil desires surfaced in Richard’s mind, calling upon him, trying to consume him.  

“Taste me. Eat me. Desire me.”

Richard stared at the heart, struggling to suppress his evil desires. This must be what the historians called the demonic ritual, in which living beings are transformed into demons.

The Demon tightened his grip, preparing to squeeze him to death.

Richard writhed in suppressed fury. At that moment he could only think of two possible outcomes. Either he ate the heart and became a demon, or die. The choice he had to make was obvious.

 “I’ll be… your minion…” Richard replied with immense difficulty.

The Demon appeared stunned. He wasn’t expecting him to cooperate so easily. Not killing him off immediately had paid off after all. Once transformed into a demon he would become one of the finest.

The fragile Richard leaned forward his head and was about to take a bite. “Forever… together… in the depths of hell!”

The explosive device in Richard’s right hand suddenly went off.

The blast wasn’t of particular big magnitude, but it was enough to disintegrate the lower part of the Demon’s body into several pieces.

Richard too suffered grave injuries, losing two of his fingers. But he was still alive, ironically saved by the Demon’s own body which offered protection from the explosion.

Richard remained motionless on the ground. He may have killed the Demon King and saved the world, but with this disabled body of his, his dream of becoming the greatest paladin was as good as over.

But he still daydreamed about how he will be remembered in the history books and how his name is going to be praised by this generation and the ones to come. He was Richard, the paladin who defeated the terrible Demon King. He was the Paladin who saved the world and ended the demon’s blight that had plagued these lands for thousands of years. And that made him happy.

But his happiness faded away as quick as it had come, shattered by a towering shadow that almost blinded his vision.

“Unlike the others… as long as my head remains intact, I will not die,” the Demon said as the lost pieces of his body began merging back into him.

It didn’t take that long for the Demon to regenerate again, then he raised his sword, preparing to kill him.

The only thing Richard could do is laugh at himself. He had played all his cards. There was nothing else he could do. He accepted his faith, though not without regrets as his life and dreams were going to end here.

But just when everything appeared lost, the Demon’s head split in two, slashed by Wilbert’s strike.

The Demon’s entire body shivered. It punched Wilbert straight into his chest, sending him flying again.

Wilbert fell on the ground, unconscious.

The Demon began leaking blood from everywhere, the several mouths yelling all kinds of obscenities. Then his body shuddered multiple times and dropped dead on the floor.

Richard remained still, watching the unfolding scene with shock. But there was no time to waste. He was losing blood heavily. He struggled to stand up, then limped towards his storage bag. He rested against a pillar, wrapping himself with bandages and taking care of his wounds.

Silence had taken over, and he could now hear a faraway raging sound. He suddenly remembered about the ongoing battle and felt the urge to hurry back outside and reveal the severed head of the Demon King, thus effectively ending the war.

Just when he was about to stand up, he noticed Wilbert standing before him. Surprised how his companion had already recovered, he was about to ask him if he was alright. But Wilbert spoke first.

“Come with me Richard, there is something I must show you.”

Richard found all this too sudden and strange. They had just defeated the Demon King. Wilbert’s mood should be more joyful. Surely something grave had happened.

He followed him inside a small entrance located in the same hall, walking through a long tunnel. They stepped on paved tiles that slowly turned into rough ground, then they found themselves inside a cave. They were forced to a halt at the end of a cliff.

Richard leaned forward, visibly shocked by the view of the pit below.

A sea of black swirling energy raged, waves fighting and pushing against each other, producing an eerie squealing noise. It looked like black lava, but it wasn’t lava as no heat was being felt.

He couldn’t believe what he was seeing. He wondered what the hell this place was, and was about to ask that to Wilbert.

“You think that’s shocking? Then look up over there.”

Richard raised his head, and what came next, was the shockest moment of his life. His mind went blank, and countless memories surfaced.

He reminisced about his harsh days at the orphanage. The days and nights he spent training with a wooden sword, practising his favourite hobby while the other children made fun of him.

And the day when his old man happened to pass by the orphanage and instantly realised his potential when he saw him training outside. To this day, he is forever grateful towards that man, for adopting him and taking care of him.   

He remembered when he joined the Order of the Paladins. How scared he felt when he saw all those senior eyes staring at him, and his disgust at the impossible training tasks they had demanded. But it is thanks to those bastards that he turned out to be a great paladin he had come to be. A reputation that didn’t go unnoticed.

He worked hard and joined the Diamond Wing branch of the Order, placing him amongst the most elite. He had good friends in that group, but nobody was as close as Wilbert. They fought and won countless of battles, slew so many foes and made up the perfect fighting team. Wilbert was his best friend, and he would be willing to give up his life for him.

But why, why did this happen? Why did Wilbert stab him?

He fell on his knees. He wasn’t stupid, he knew he was stabbed in a vital organ. He knew he was going to die. He turned around, greeted only by Wilbert’s cold eyes. As cold as ice.

Wilbert then threw a kick, sending Richard flying down the pit. The only thing Richard could do is staring upwards, seeing the fading image of Wilbert, as tears flew upwards from his eyes until he vanished inside the whirling black energy.

The detached Wilbert then headed back towards the hall. There he noticed a heart, alive and still beating, the same heart the Demon King had offered to Richard. He placed it inside his storage bag, also grabbing the two head segments of the Demon King.

He then proceeded his journey outside of the stronghold.