“He coughed up blood straining to his feet. “I can’t give up here, not now not ever,”

“Why are you being so stubborn Garn?” He was unbelievable despite the clear danger that we were in he wouldn’t listen to me.

“Listen to me for once, I understand that you loath me and don’t want to listen to a word that I say because of what my mind-controlled self did but you need to tend to the others and get to a safe distance!”

He didn’t respond.

“You may have your reasons for hating me but I didn’t ask for this, I didn’t ask to be sent to this cruel world. I didn’t ask to be mind-controlled and kill innocent people!”

I felt my rage building up inside of me.

“You may have suffered more than me but that doesn’t mean that you have the right to trample all over me. I have been nothing but abused and mistreated ever since I came here. I didn’t want to be your saviour, I didn’t want to let people die, why can’t you realize that!”

Garn finally spoke.

“If — I,” His voice was slow and laboured. “If I give … up now, who will fight for … us,” he managed to get out.

“I can’t rely on … someone else, I need to take over after … Gilgamesh. When you showed up we thought we were saved, maybe it wasn’t your fault but I can’t let the past repeat itself. I can’t rely on someone else again,” he said.

Garn straightened himself. “I have people to support, As the next generation I need to fight!” He gasped for breath while tears slid down his cheek.

“I have lost nearly everyone that I have ever known, I don’t care if I have to fight the demon lord himself I won’t back down!” He shouted gutteraly.

I placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I’m sorry,” I couldn’t help but feel shame.

He was an asshole but an earnest asshole at that. He had been carrying the weight of his entire world. The pressure must have been overwhelming. In hindsight it didn’t surprise me how all that tension could turn someone sour.

“I could have done better to understand you,”

I felt him loosen under my grip. “Please leave this to me this time, you need your help as well. They need to be safe,” I said referring to Casper and Jasper.

He nodded slowly, his sword lowered.

A loud yawn pierced the room.

“I’m getting bored of this,” said the demon general.

“Hurry!” I shouted putting my back against him. I unsheathed my sword. Apart from some minor chips and blemishes, it was in surprisingly good condition.

I took a few cautionary steps forward. The demon remained unmoving.

I took a deep breath and charged forward. A maelstrom of light projectiles flew toward me. I pushed through them blocking them with the tip of my blade. My blade vibrated from the force of the deflections. I slashed down on the demon on the throne.

In the blink of an eye, it raised a hand and caught my sword. The blade rattled in the midst of us both. I couldn’t move it back. He hadn’t actually caught it with his hand like I thought. He had used his claws instead. If he didn’t use his hands that must mean I can cut him, right?

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“You’re the first person in a very long time to make it this far,” he said casually.

“You have piqued some of my interest,” the demon paused. “Very well, I will reveal to you my name,” he said.

“I don’t need it,” I said. To be honest more information would have been better but the more time that passed the worse chance everyone had of surviving. Casper and Jasper were bleeding out and needed urgent care. Garn was still standing but not for long. Not just that…. I steadied my shaking arms. I don’t know how long my nerves can keep up with this.

“My name,” began the demon, “Is Beelzebub beholder of the floating castle of Diptera!”

“Beelzebub, what kind of name is that? Sounds like beetle or something,” I said.

Visible disdain crossed its face.

“The insolence. .., how dare you,” the demon said. A hint of red may have been coloring his cheeks.

The demon dashed toward me.

I parried the blow staggering back. I ducked the next swipe of claws. The claws hissed angrily through the air.

He swiped at my legs from beneath me. I redirected my momentum with my left hand springing back to my feet. He was strong, really strong.

He fired a volley of light. I dodged most of them but one grazed my shoulder.

The impact of that spun my off my feet. I got to my feet swiftly breathing hard.

How can I beat him? Is it even possible?

My sword clashed against his claws. He switched his stance now using only one of his hands to block my sword. With the other hand he swiped at me.

He’s too strong, is this my end?

My fist connected against his stomach. The general stepped back clutching his stomach. What just happened?

The moment had been a blur but it was coming back to me. I had ducked his fierce claws and hammered him in his midsection. It seems my body hasn’t given up on me even though I have.

I can do it. I clenched my fist tightly. He blends just like anyone else, if that’s true it means he’s not unbeatable.

“How dare you strike me!” snarled Beelzebub.

He sat down in the throne. He picked at the armrest.

“This castle was bestowed to me by the almighty demon king, this castle is more than just lifeless metal its very being is interwoven with mine own.” The ground seemed to shift beneath my feet. He raised his hand toward me.

I crouched slightly. What was it going to be? Another volley of beams, claws? Perhaps a raging inferno?

“Its very being,” he went on. “Is mine to control!” he shouted rotating his hand.

I heard the grinding of what might have been gears and the clanging of chains but that thought was swept aside. I fell to the side, or rather the ground fell to my side. The room had rotated 180 degrees.

I felt the gravity shift in my ears as my world was literally turned upside down. I swung my legs to turn my body mid-air. I landed softly on the ground.

I looked at where Garn had gone to. Me and Beelzebub were the only ones in the room. He must have gone out. The gates had still been open although they were closed now. Hopefully, this was the only place that had been moving.

My best bet would be to travel through the air. If I went along the ground I would be flung around too much since those are the parts that move the fastest and the most. For the same reason, the outer part of a circle spins faster than the area near the center of the circle. I leaped through the air towards him.

Beelzebub scoffed.

My surroundings moved and whirled at impossible speeds, my head spun just from looking at it. The gravity changed accordingly flinging me around. I ricocheted off of walls and ceilings. The hard surfaces knocked the wind from my lungs. Whenever I tried to soften the fall I would be hit in the opposite direction. It was too unpredictable for me to react accordingly. I was relying too much on my eyes. I closed my eyes. The flashes of mana around me sparked within my mind’s eye. It was only now that i was able to notice it. Within the walls, enormous amounts of mana were circulating. A wall rushed toward me. Crap I got distracted. It hit with what felt like a thousand tons of weight. I flew backward. My back jarred against the metal. I could sense the absence of light through my eyelids. I opened them. It was dark around me. I wasn’t being flung around anymore but the world was still spinning. I was in the dungeon. The same one Gilgamesh had been in judging by the broken chains in one of the cells. The metal bar doors raised making me fall backwards onto my back. They rammed downward nearly decapitating me. Did he intend to imprison me or kill me? I could still feel the rumbling of machinery as the castle rooms moved around. The rumbling grew louder under my feet. I felt the gravity shift as the room rotated once more.

The floor opened, I could see the throne room below me. My body thudded painfully against the ground.

“At first I decided to imprison you and experiment on you until you rotted away but on further thought, I decided to just kill you now, and experiment on you then,” said Beelzebub.

“Why thank you for your kindness,” I said hopping to my feet.

My body was aching but at least I had gotten some time to collect my thoughts from the utter maelstrom that was the rotating flurry of rooms.

“Perhaps I should slam you against a couple more walls,”

Said Belzeebub raised his hand.

I felt the room begin to rotate.

.I’ve been meaning to try this out. I focused my attention to my flow of mana. The mana within the castle bled through the surfaces. It rushed toward me, pooling and swelling inside of me. I don’t remember exactly when but i discovered that I could use the same ability the ogre could.

I had picked up a skill since that ogre fight.

“If I combine that with this . . .” I said

I slammed my foot into the ground. Tendrils of mana threads rooted my feet into the ground. More mana was sucked into me through those.

The room stood still.

Beelzebub’s mouth was wide open.

“You can’t win now,” I said. The mana rushed through my arms condensing in the palms of my hands. A high-intensity beam of mana burst out straight toward him.

“How … How dare you stop my castle!” roared Beelzebub as the light enveloped him.