Tales of the Old World Demon Lord
Chapter 45 – Insurgents to the state
[Eternum Calendar 1972]
Gentle winds brushed past her face, carrying with it an unfamiliar, but not at all unpleasant, scent. Her hair swayed to the rhythm of the breeze, she stood in quiet contemplation with her fists clenched and breath held as she mentally prepared herself. Before her was a blinding light- the light of the ‘new’ world, of ‘this’ world.
It was a light that was not of her own. She moved her hand over to her chest, laughed dryly at the racing anticipation and anxiety of her own beating. Such a melancholic emotion was not something a former super soldier should have felt, or so she thought but she couldn’t help herself. ‘Nervous…’ was an understatement, there had only been one other time she had felt in a similar manner.
“[It feels… just like the time I met ‘him’.]”
She sighed to herself.
Sovereign, the mastermind behind the Confederacy; she wasn’t quite sure if these evoked emotions that sweltered within her were overall positive or negative. For certain, her first impression of the ‘almighty’ leader couldn’t be any worse. An overbearing man who’s cold and calculative gaze could drain even the most hardened of soldiers. Illusive and enigmatic; he was the most overwhelming villain that the world had ever seen, so it was naturally that no one would actually have the pleasure of meeting him.
Yet first impressions were useless for that man, because in the end everyone was converted over to his side. Only stubborn and ignorant fools would oppose him.
“[It’s really all gone… isn’t it?]”
She asked herself in vain, knowing all the answers beforehand yet not being able to truly accept them. She wondered to herself if this was a weakness, to dwell upon something that cannot be regained. Or if this was a strength, to strive towards rebuilding a goal once long lost.
“[Haa~ it’s not use.]”
Perhaps if she was someone like Sovereign or even Testament, who had the necessary will and intellect to regain the lost, then it could have been a boon. Right now her thoughts and emotions were simply needless nostalgia. Instead of constantly looking back at the world that no longer existed, for her it was better to move on with just the knowledge that the old world had existed.
She sighed once more, releasing her fists and slowly her relaxing her muscles the tension in her body was eased.
She took one small step forward…
Then another step…
One more step…
Before she even realized it herself she stood staring out from the entrance of the cave. The small breeze evolved into a fully fledged gale carrying the scent of an organic world, along with it a picturesque view to a lost paradise. Just as she was released from the cavern’s entrance she was met with boundless expanses of a world that could only be seen in fiction.
Looking down below was a sea of greenery. Being the first time she had seen, smelt, heard, felt something like this Nemesis was completely mesmerized. Before this, the only kind of world she knew was of heaven defying citadels that were a testament to humanity’s ingenuity. Compared to the monuments erected by human hands that scraped skies, this fragile sea of trees was nothing impressive, yet she couldn’t help but stare dazedly at their tranquility- a monument to nature.
Lost in the moment, it was unknown even to her own self of how much time had passed since she started to stare out into the vast unending open. By the time she had recovered enough consciousness to turn away from its gripping mesmeric illustration the sky had already started to burn orange.
“[Ah… I should get going.]”
She told herself as she started to descend to the base of the mountain. Looking back one last time at the final piece that was once her own home, she smiled bitterly before turning away.
…
“[What… is that supposed to be? Another one of Testament’s creations?]”
As soon as she got to the base of the mountain she had already encountered a resident of this new world. Bearing its teeth and claws, it clearly had no intentions of talking things out.
“[No, his monsters should have at least a bare minimum amount of intelligence to know not to attack a USSC member. This is just… a wild beast.]”
A large snow colored bear; upon its hind legs it stood over three and a half meters, claws the size of a person’s arms that looked like it could easily decimate through steel, even its fur seemed to have the tensile strength of steel but more prominently along its chest and arms it wore a plate of steel armor, or what appeared to armor was just a heavily fortified patch of skin and to top it all off a black horn pointing forward protruded from the left side of its head.
It roared with the ferocity of a hundred thunders, shaking the forest to its core with just the echo alone. Towards Nemesis, looked down at her through its burning white eyes, and although she couldn’t understand the speech of mere animals, she got the gist of what it wanted to say. ‘You’ll die for stepping onto my territory,’ as far as mindless beasts and animals go that was most likely the extent of their thoughts.
Exerting power through violence and if things didn’t go their way they immediately retaliated. Nemesis flashed a smirk; she didn’t hate these kinds of direct opponents because they were at often times the easiest to deal with. She didn’t know what other locals of this world would call this monster but for this kind of direct beast a direct name was fitting.
“[A Horned, armored bear… I suppose that’s the best it deserves.]”
Without a losing a moment to hesitation the ‘horned, armored bear’ charged straight for Nemesis. Rushing on all fours and only when it got within striking distance it shifted back to two legs and prepared its hideously sharp claws. With its large steel girder like arms, it swung down carrying with it massive wind pressure that distorted the very air around her making it hard even to breathe.
However it suddenly stopped, just a few millimeters short of actually landing a direct hit on Nemesis. With the simple flick of her left hand, Nemesis’s unfairly powerful [Telekinesis] was activated, forcefully stopping the bear’s massive and overbearing body. This disparity was made even greater by the fact that Nemesis’s current body was that of a child’s, yet their overall strength was apparent in this single moment.
Telekinesis was not an ability that could easily be used on other living beings, however Nemesis was different- she was a ‘First Generation’. Nemesis smiled once more, a pure smile that was filled with happiness. ‘This is the difference between adaptation and mastery,’ between monsters that evolved through nature and a weapon created through human technological mastery, Nemesis was happy to know that humanity was still far superior.
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Ecstasy coursed through her entire body, exhilarated she almost lost herself in her own internal pleasure. She cleared her throat and started once more.
She gazed back at the burning white fury of the bear as it struggled to move an inch of its body, her own eyes gleaming blue as she activated her psychokinesis. She smirked once more, mocking the efforts of this monster as it tried to exert its strength upon her- a mistake worthy of capital punishment.
“[Then in accordance to USSC laws… as an insurgent to the state, you shall be duly executed without delay.]”
It growled back at her angrily, still unable to comprehend what she was saying or what was happening to its own body. Of course it couldn’t, in the end the opponent was a mere mindless beast that acted on instinct alone.
Slowly the bear’s body started to float off the ground. The heavy pressure upon its body had lifted and it managed to regain control over its own body, however being imprisoned in midair it couldn’t escape from its position. It roared furiously trying to get down, flailing its arms and legs, its sense of balance being lost as it was now in a position it was never meant to be.
With her unoccupied right hand Nemesis displayed more psychic abilities. [Psionic Javelin], as the name implied it was a very forward skill that created a javelin of pure pisonic energy. A long, transparent silhouette of a spear appeared floating just off of her hand.
Though it was still just a beast it sensed an overwhelming sense of impending danger to its life. It struggled even harder than before trying to shake off this mysterious spell but no matter how much it tried its feet never touched the ground.
Still with her Telekinesis, Nemesis toss the hulking body of the bear into the sky and with her other hand she simultaneously threw the Psionic Javelin. Time slowed down and its entire life flashed before the bear as the spear pierced through its thick, steel plated chest as though it were tissue paper. It was pinned across a large tree, unable to move and heavily bleeding out it couldn’t even utter another growl.
“[Still alive? Quite the tenacious one… then as a mercy I shall send you off painlessly.]”
Despite having said that, the bear was already in a considerable amount of pain. Nemesis prepared one more Psionic Javelin and tossed it straight through its head, destroying any chance that it could perhaps survive through this doomed encounter. The second javelin not only pierced through the bear’s skull but even completely disintegrated the tree it was pinned to as well as decimating parts of the land behind it.
The bear’s lifeless corpse fell onto the floor with a disgusting flop. A pool of blood slowly dying its snow colored fur into an abhorrent wine color.
This was how the terrible legend of the king of the forest had come to an end.
…
“None of you move! I will take on that bastard by myself! For having insulted the Order of Light I will utterly destroy this fool!”
Nazarym shouted with pure unadulterated rage, loudly echoing through the trees. His sharp, Elven face distorting horribly with his anger, he drew the two black daggers attached to his waste and pointed one of them towards Nicholai. His frown being caught in the reflection of his own dagger he gripped even more tightly, ‘I’ll kill him!’
“Milord, I suggest you take that child and escape while you can.”
Nicholai whispered back to Leon was clutching onto a scared little girl.
“But I can’t just leave you here with all these enemies! You’ll die!”
“So you’ll let that child die and possibly even yourself just so you can stand with me? No, at the very least don’t forsake the life of that child, please leave this to me.”
“But…”
Prince Leon was unable to respond to that kind of cold and logical response. Truly the child’s life will be lost if he decided to fight here and possibly even his own life wouldn’t be spared. As a person who was dutybound to protect the lives of his citizens, even if it meant abandoning a comrade, he needed to place them first. However his heart was conflicted, how could anyone abandon not just a comrade but a friend who he had grown up with his entire life?
It was a cruel decision to make.
Yet sensing his hesitation Nicholai offered a few more words to alleviate his guilt.
“Milord, it will be fine. I have no intentions of falling here.”
“They’re enemies from the [Heaven State], there’s no way you can take them all on!”
Nicholai smirked.
“I don’t blame you for doubting me but rest assured. I have a small trump card up my sleeve for just these kinds of occasions. I’d also rather not have you see this if possible.”
Leon stared back at Nicholai for a solid few seconds before sighing and turning away. Being friends with him almost since birth there shouldn’t have been anything that Leon didn’t know about him, much less some kind of special ‘trump card’. However this situation had gotten too out of hand so the only choice was to place his trust in his friend.
“Is that so? Then, don’t die… that’s an order.”
“… Of course, milord.”
Carrying the small child under his arms, Leon made a dash for it into the thicket of the forests. Under the orders of Nazarym the masked men did not even attempt to give chase, standing perfectly still as though they were mere puppets. Seeing their lack of initiative Nazarym lashed out them angrily.
“What are you fools doing?! Chase after him!”
The masked men all nodded in sync as they prepared to leave. However as they turned to give chase one of the masked men was instantly crushed under a burning stone pillar that suddenly dropped out of the sky. Buried under a pillar of stone and fire, sinking in a pool of yellow blood the man died without even getting a chance to struggle. He soon disintegrated with not even a speck of his corpse remaining.
“Hmm, so those men were also infected by that urine colored crystal. No wonder I couldn’t feel anything from them, and since I can’t feel your presence you must also be the same way, huh? Well, no matter because I won’t let a single one of you escape.”
Nazarym turned to look back, clenching the two daggers in his hands to the point blood dripped from his palms- a sinister yellow liquid.
“You… you’re not a knight, you’re a mage!”
“Aha~ I guess the secret’s out. That’s right I’ll crush every single one of you who dares to give chase… no, on second thought I’ll crush every single one of you regardless.”