Tales of the Old World Demon Lord

Chapter 46 – Better than you

[Eternum Calendar 1972]

[Magma Pillar], it was the name of the spell Nicholai had used to complete decimated one of the masked men. Even after the initial descent of the pillar of hellfire the spell’s effect continued to linger in the form of a burning piece of terrain that prevented opponents from approaching. Yet ignoring their comrade’s utter destruction the rest of the masked men continued in their attempt to pursue after the prince.

Annoyed by their mindless devotion to orders, Nicholai dropped even more Magma Pillars on top of them in order to seal their movements, even killing some of them in the process. Eventually a long line of burning pillars had been erected to prevent any of the masked mean from leaving the area. Despite his warnings, one of the masked men still continued to give chase and came into contact with the inferno pillar only to burst into flames.

The masked man looked down at his own body that was being burnt to cinders but didn’t even utter a sound to acknowledge the intense pain that should have been. Standing in his own pyre he simply looked back at Nazarym before slowly being consumed entirely and made into ashes. Seeing this, the remaining masked men also turned to Nazarym having decided to cease their pursuit and futile waste of their own lives.

“Tch, useless damned puppets. Whatever, I’ll just kill the prince by my own hands later, first is you.”

Nazarym pointed his black dagger towards Nicholai who was wearing a satisfied expression on his face. Seeing the arrogant demeanor he frowned once more as he bit the side of his lips to calm himself of his seething anger. A small amount of yellow blood dripping from his lips, since he wasn’t able to feel pain the entire act was pointless and his anger had not subsided.

“You’ll kill the one I’ve sworn to protect? I see, so now that you’ve made that very real, legal threat this means I can finally consider you a true enemy of the West Tetrarchy. Normally I would’ve had to capture you partially alive in order to extract information but since you’ve elevated yourself into a fully fledged enemy of the state I can take my time in killing you to my heart’s content.” 

Said Nicholai as he pushed up the frames of his glasses, a sinister smile and gaze hidden beneath those innocent features of his youthful face. At this moment he was acting neither a Praetorian Knight nor a friend of the First Prince of the Tetrarchy, right now he was just a bloodthirsty monster with a prey in sight. 

“Bastard, you really want to die don’t you? Even arrogance should have its limits.” 

“Yes, and for once I completely agree with you that you should shut the hell up before I decide to part you of that shitty little tongue. You’ll kill the prince later? Are you for real?” 

Nicholai glared back, the final reflections of light fading from his eyes. For the sin of having threatened the life of the prince, the only thing he could think about was the complete and utter destruction of the fool who stood before him.

“Tch, whatever… just die!” 

Seeing as any further talking wasn’t going to yield any productive results, Nazarym shifted tactics and charged for a direct assault instead. In order to prevent Nicholai from simply defending against a very obvious head on attack, Nazarym strafed from side to side as he quickly closed the distance.

In retaliation Nicholai lobbed the low level spell [Fire Bullet] from the tip of his sword. They weren’t very powerful but their almost instant cast time and immediate effects served very useful for a quick paced battle. Yet even then, Nazarym’s speed proved a little too difficult to land any of them. 

“Die!” 

“Right back at you!” 

Nicholai shouted as he swung down his sword once Nazarym stepped into striking distance. His sword burst into flames with an applied spell known as [Flame Enchantment], barely missing the opportunity to cleave off a piece of the enemy’s face. 

Seizing the chance where his opponent had just slightly lost balancing after finishing his attack Nazarym went in for a swift counter attack. After sweeping Nicholai's leg with a low kick he went in for a direct attack, preferably in a vulnerable area or his arm to make the opponent drop his weapon. However as he got close he noticed Nicholai's subtle smirk, sensing some sort of imminent danger he once again switched tactics and opted to make distance between them instead. 

An erratic burst of flames exploded from within Nicholai, with Nazarym only just barely managing to get away with small burns. Parts of his clothes were instantly seared off, making Nazarym briefly internally panic at what could've happened if he decided to go through with the counter attack. 

"Tch, [Flame burst]? You know some extremely annoying techniques." 

Nazarym commented, spitting out a bit of blood that was swimming in his mouth. 

Flame Burst was an advanced level defensive fire spell that uses the caster's position as the center and sends out a shockwave of flames. While it was indeed a powerful attack, since most mages tend to stay at the backline and away from the enemy, there were many who decided to forgo learning this skill. Yet as a combination fighter/mage it was an extremely useful spell for close quarters combat. 

‘This bastard is so annoying, dammit!’ even though Nazarym clearly held the speed advantage, they were all negated by the sheer proficiency and utility of Nicholai’s magic.

In order to rethink his strategy Nazarym shifted backwards, but Nicholai had no intentions of letting this momentum die. He decided to go on the offensive as he summoned another Magma Pillar at Nazarym’s location, of course knowing full well that it would be evaded.

“Bastard!”

Nazarym yelled as he jumped to the right in order to dodge the falling pillar of death. However taking this moment of panicked movement, Nicholai leapt into the fray directly with his burning sword, slashing at his opponent wildly because even a single scratch would have been fine. The Flame Enchantment on his sword would also start to burn the opponent so he could just count on that residual damage to finish of the enemy.

Unfortunately all of the attacks had been parried or evaded by Nazarym's agile movements. Flipping backwards with his impressive acrobatic prowess, Nazarym kicked Nicholai away, ending the close skirmish. 

“Goddammit! A flame mage who’s proficient at close combat, are you for real? You’re such a pain in the ass!”

“My, I didn’t expect you to praise me all of a sudden, but thanks.”

“I wasn’t praising you, dickhead. You’re an eyesore!”

“Really? That’s good to hear, I was seriously starting to wonder if anything I was doing even got to you. Since you’re so fast, like the rat you are. Well then, now that I know you’ve been struggling why don’t we step this up a notch?”

Conducting his hands in the air, Nicholai summoned several series of Magma Pillars. Hellfire crashing down onto the earth as Armageddon played right in front of the two, turning the once lush greenery into a volcanic radiation zone. The clear blue skies were now blanketed by sickly thick smog of ash and dust, the grounds beneath them turning charred black and even the trees petrified white. Breathing was proving to become quite the challenge and seeing even just a few meters ahead was near impossible due to the black smog around them.

‘This bastard… is he trying to suffocate me to death?’ Nazarym thought to himself as he continued to evade the falling cinders.

Seeing his opponent ruin around like a headless chicken, trying to avoid instant death, Nicholai couldn’t help but flash a bemused smirk. This kind of mockery and arrogance did not escape Nazarym’s notice as he shouted, now more angrily than ever.

“Why the hell are you smiling?”

“Hmm? Oh. No reason.”

Responded Nicholai, still wearing his smirk he continued dropping even more Magma Pillars, enough to seriously creating a maze within the battlefield. Not only that but the battle had entered ‘sudden death mode’ as the destructive force and scale of the pillars had suddenly taken a substation increase. ‘What the hell? His spells are getting stronger?’ Nazarym’s eyes widened as he was seeing something that shouldn’t have even been possible.

Typically the power of a mage’s spell tended to gradually lose power as the battle dragged on since their mana reserves were being drained… ‘yet the power of his spells are increasing in strength?!’ The blast radius and size of the Pillars increased to double its original version, making it even difficult for Nazarym’s speed to dodge.

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“Bastard, what did you do?! Why the hell are your spells getting stronger?!”

“I honestly don’t care to explain it to you. Why should I?”

Nicholai slashed down with his sword despite the fact that Nazarym was nowhere near striking distance. This action caused confusion in Nazarym for a brief moment until he saw the real intentions behind it, a fiery shockwave shot out form the blade, slicing and burning everything in its path. Being caught by sheer surprise, the attack had unexpectedly scored a direct hit across Nazarym’s upper torso.

Like a violent fountain, yellow blood gushed out from the large wound. However Nicholai didn’t relent from just t his single attack, he sent a few more waves of fiery blades, all managing to hit Nazarym without much trouble.

Nazarym fell to his knees as he tried to grip the wounds. He did not feel the pain thanks to being infused with the power of the [Golden Monolith] but he could feel his very essence escaping him. Nicholai took this moment of weakness and leapt in to pierce through the enemy's chest with his sword.

“Guh…!”

Yellow ooze trickled down the blade- a direct hit through the chest.

“Now then, I’m going need you to die here.”

“Guh… You… You… You idiot~”

With a cruel and chilling smile that could freeze time itself, Nazarym forcefully took a hold of the sword that was firmly lodged into his chest. Taking it by the blade he shattered it completely, putting Nicholai temporarily off balance and with swift low kick he fell to the floor.

“Kuh!”

Nicholai coughed as Nazarym stomped on top of him with his right leg. He glared down with a sinister and triumphant smile.

“Too bad~ just like you, I wasn’t actually a fighter either! I’m really a cleric~ kekeke~”

Placing his hands on his chest a light shines from his hands. Near instantly all of his wounds and even his clothes that were charred off were healed and repaired, [Greater Healing]. A silvery light swirling around him in a protective manner, Nazarym cast the light type magic known as [Holy Barrier] upon himself, a skill that increases the caster’s resistance to elemental attacks.

Nicholai raises his trembling hand and unleashes several volleys of Fire Bullets, yet they prove ineffective as they rebound off of Nazarym’s Holy Barrier.

“Tch, you piece of- Kuh!”

Before Nicholai could even finish his thoughts, Nazarym stomps on him with enough force to cause him to cough blood.

“I don’t think you get what’s happening here but, it’s over you idiot, you’ve lost. So after I kill you I’m going to go kill that stupid prince buddy of yours, then that kid, then everyone in that village, then I’m going to raid the entire goddamned West Tetrarchy… and there’s nothing you can do about it! Kekekeke~”

Nicholai’s heart starts to rush as blood pumps forcefully into his brain. With a bloodshot glare he stares up defiantly at the figure lording over him, the worlds ‘I’ll kill you’ failing to escape Nicholai’s tongue.

Seeing the anguish and hopelessness in his arrogant victim’s eyes, a feeling that could only be described as ‘ecstasy’ courses through Nazarym’s body. Nazarym continues to stomp down without mercy and beats the downed Nicholai to a bloodied pulp, and as he suffers more and more damage the effects of his persistent magic, namely the Magma Pillars, start to dissipate from the battlefield. The black smog, dust and ash in the air all clear leaving nothing but a charred battleground.

In one last response, Nicholai attempts to escape the situation through the activation of his defensive fire spell, Flame Burst. A massive eruption of hellish flames release from his body but even this final desperate move proves ineffective against Nazarym’s Holy Barrier.

Once more Nazarym stared down with a bone chilling smile- everything was over.

All the cards in Nicholai’s hand had been played and defeated.

“No matter how much you pretend to be a warrior by swinging around that sword, in the end you’re still a mage. Once you rid a mage of their effectiveness they turn into a punching bag… like this!”

Nazarym stomps down and kicks Nicholai to the side.

“What? No more words from that incessant tongue of yours? Well whatever, it was fun while it lasted… fool.”

While he was freed from being beneath Nazarym’s boots the pain coursing through his body was too much to overcome. Struggle to even stagger away all Nicholai could do was crawl through the blackened ashes he himself created through his magic, choking violently from the dried air.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Nazarym asked, snapping his fingers to command the masked men who had been quietly watching the entire battle from the sidelines. They moved on his orders and restrained Nicholai to the floor.

“Why don’t I send you off to the afterlife with a bang?”

Nazarym pointed to the sky in preparation to cast another light type magic spell. After a short delay a small ball of light had formed gently floating in the sky, a spell known as [Heaven’s Wrath]. Like a second sun in the sky it illuminated across the entire area with a searing brightness and marking Nicholai as its intended target, it quickly descended with breakneck speed.

Upon just the smallest bit of contact the orb of light exploded, the entire battlefield bursting into a bright whiteness that seemed as though it was erasing existence itself in a local area. Everything had been annihilated, the ground beneath them turned from ashes to just dead sand and the tall trees that survived the inferno pyre of Nicholai’s magic no longer even existed. Even the masked men that were supposed to have been Nazarym’s allies were not spared.

Still, somehow Nicholai had managed to cling onto dear life but even that wasn’t likely to last long. With his final moments of consciousness he looked up to see the overbearing figure of Nazarym cruelly smiling back.

“Considering after all the blabbering you’ve done in this fight it’s an ironic way to die isn’t it? Not even being able to utter your final words you’ll die in the middle of nowhere with the knowledge that there was nothing you could’ve done from the beginning. Well don’t worry, I’ll be sending your dear prince over to you after I’m done with him too.”

For the closing act, Nazarym held up his dagger as though he was about to sacrifice a lamb to the gods. He prepared to take the opponent’s life.

“Farewell, idiot.”

Nazarym lowers his dagger, yet just before the final climax was about to be attained, it had been interrupted.

“Eh? Wh- what… when, how did you?”

A ghastly black metal hand ripped and burst through his chest, crushing his heart, lungs and anything in between. For a solid few seconds all thought in Nazarym’s head had been erased by the sheer surprise of this turn of events. The fact that someone was able to sneak up on him was inconceivable.

Shifting his head slightly to the left he tried to see the identity of the person who just attacked him. Yet all he was met with was a black helmet with a single red glowing eye staring back at him with contempt. It spoke to him.

“Hoh~ I’m impressed you haven’t died after I just crushed your lungs and heart, you can even still speak. Is this the kind of immortality you youngsters achieved nowadays? Though I can’t say I’m too fond of this method, it lacks any sort of elegance.”

A voice that didn’t even seem like it belonged to anything organic, Errick Rommel.

“W- who are…”

Nazarym asked, vomiting up his own yellow life fluid. It would have killed just about anyone else, but Nazarym was special as he held the power of the Golden Monolith’s immortality. That being said, it was still a daunting sight to see a hand stick out of his own chest. Unable to keep composure he hesitatingly asked for the man’s identity.

“Ah yes, how could I have forgotten my own introduction? I am Grand Admiral Errick Rommel of the USSC… but you already knew that, didn’t you? Dagda…”

Retracting his own hands from Nazarym’s chest, Errick started to clean the disgusting yellow liquid off of his shirt with his handkerchief. No longer being supported by Errick’s arm, Nazarym’s body fell to the floor with a loud thud, though not completely dead he had been heavily incapacitated for a time.

Turning around Errick finally acknowledges the figure that has been waiting for him across the charred battlefield. A hulking figure covered in dark grey, almost iron colored skin, smiling with excitement. The figure speaks…

“Fufu ~Yes… it’s been 100 years, Errick Rommel.”