Author's Corner: Sorry all fighting and no drama here. Drama starts next chapter :P
Legend
" " = people talking
italics = people thinking
* * = sounds
' ' = people talking within telepathy
CAPS = Power usage
Book 2: Chapter 7: How to Break a Soul Shackle
“The day has finally arrived! Today the Demon King dies and I can go home! I’m starting to miss my wives… well some of them.” –Nick
“What’s that supposed to mean? You have me, I’m enough aren’t I?” –Lily
“Enough? The world is not enough!” –Nick
“*POUT* Now I’m not going to help you, watch you go get hurt fighting my dad!” –Lily
Lily then turns her back to Nick and starts to sob quietly.
“Oh c’mon Lily, you know I’m joking! But it’s probably best that you don’t fight. You may have ranked up and are stronger than all the other Demons, but against your father without any gear? You will stand no chance.” –Nick
“I knew you cared!” –Lily
Then Lily makes a 180 and jumps on Nick to start molesting him.
“Calm down, I need to be in peak form! My body needs rest so I’ll spend the last bit of time making random objects that would fit well in a medieval world.” –Nick
And Nick did just that. No one knows what the stuff he made did as none of it had the usual high tech flair that his other projects had. First a set of stupid looking armor and then a huge ass sword that no one will ever be able to wield, he was clearly just messing around and wasting time.
He even made some jewelry but Lily was very upset to find out that it was all ugly and had no visual functions whatsoever! Only a useless male would ever consider wearing a hideous chain made out of gold with some weird chariot type carriage at the end of it! Then earrings with big gaudy rocks that screamed manly and not sexy or useful, and signet rings with weird designs on them! What is Nick up to?
“Ahh that was fun, so nice to make simple objects every once in awhile.” –Nick
“Whatever…” –Lily
But before Lily would berate him for his useless items, time had already run out.
‘Master, we have arrived! What is the plan?’ –Voarag
“Lily, they are here! Time to open up communications.” –Nick
‘How many are with you?’ –Nick
‘Just the three heroes and my cousin Kiki that one of the heroes tamed.’ –Voarag
‘Okay time to link everyone up.’ –Nick
MIND LINK! –Nick
‘Nick here, is everyone accounted for? I’m using mass telepathy so we can all talk to each other.’ –Nick
‘Wow this is awesome! Hiro here!’ –Hiro
‘Aya here as well, ready to kick some Demon butt!’ –Aya
‘I’m Kiki.’ –Kiki
‘Hina.’ –Hina
‘I’m still here mastery.’ –Voarag
‘Kyaaaaaa, I didn’t know you could do this husband!’ –Lily
‘Calm down Lily, we have to make a plan and start the battle.’ –Nick
‘Okay I will leave you to it, just let me know if you need my help, I will be staying on the balcony until then.’ –Lily
‘Hum… that’s a good idea, let’s both go there now, easier to sneak attack from there and if I come up like a slave he won’t expect me.’ –Nick
‘Also heroes while we make a plan, just take out the two guards out front, there are no other people in the castle, one long corridor later and you are in the throne room where my father is currently sitting.’ –Lily
‘Father? What nonsense is this? Husband? Wow Nick I am jealous of your ability to infiltrate so soundly!’ –Hiro
At this time two gazes fell on Hiro, one filled with an ice so cold that Hiro started to chill, and another filled with killing intent so hot that even the ice earlier started to melt!
‘What I meant to say was, good job, we will take it from here. Right girls?’ –Hiro
Not having a death wish, Hiro seems to have learned a valuable lesson just now.
‘Let’s do this!’ –Aya
‘Plan?’ –Hina
‘Dragon’s won’t fit with their fighting forms inside of the throne room so they should just stand out and guard as I’m assuming the two guards outside are taken care of already. Once inside just do your cliché here to Demon King speech and then fight. You three should know how to synergize yourselves well, just know that in order for me to get the final blow his chest area needs to be opened up and his head destroyed. I have a way to destroy his head but no way to get through his chest cavity, I will leave that up to you.’ –Nick
‘Let’s go.’ –Hina
‘Roger that!’ –Hiro
‘Okay.’ –Aya
“Hahahahaha, looks like the little one is in charge. So cute too! I want to adopt her!” –Lily
“Quiet Lily, their job is important and it already sucks enough that I have to stand here and get abused by you like a slave while we wait. Also don’t blow our cover, your dad can see and hear us you know.” –Nick
“That is why I laughed so loud, part of the plan.” –Lily
Nick of course didn’t believe her since she was acting the same way as when they first met. Abusing him while milking his essence, some things never change.
‘Okay we are at the door, I will start the talking and attacking since I’m the tank. All monologuing will happen out loud, but we will only talk to each other through the link so our plans will not get leaked.’ –Hiro
‘Let’s do this before my nerves stop me from taking another step.’ –Aya
‘So weak.’ –Hina
‘What was that?’ –Aya
‘Hum?’ –Hina
‘Never mind, thought you said something.’ –Aya
Ignoring the two girls, Hiro opens the door and stridently walks in the throne room with his beautiful shining dragonscale armor.
“Hello Demon King, we summoned heroes will be your downfall! Prepare yourself for honorable battle!” –Hiro
“Hah weaklings, at least the last one was stronger. None of you even have reached the Demigod rank! I will let you know that I am at the God rank! You have no chance!” –Demon King
‘Don’t fear, our armor doubles our strength, he only has an axe.’ –Hina
‘Huh? How are you talking so many words at once?’ –Aya
‘I’m not talking. This is battle time and during battle my thoughts are on task. So thinking useless things and let’s get ready. Hiro you tank, Aya stop his movements while I cause many wounds, as The Balancer I can stop him from healing any wounds infused with Light element so try to injure his extremities if possible or at least slow him down.’ –Hina
“I knew it was a good idea to wait for the heroes, one of them is actually competent! Too bad she isn’t a Demigod or she would be as strong if not stronger than I am!” –Nick
“Very interesting, she already looks to be a match for me, you may be surprised even more by her.” –Lily
And then the battle started when the Demon King brandished his axe which had to weigh at least 10,000kg as it was a freaking monstrosity!
The Demon King starts with a huge swing that was accompanied by a black miasma of energy that was released with the strike. It must be known that Archdemons all have the fire and dark attribute at birth and this Demon King was no different.
Seeing what looked like either hellfire or something just as nasty, Hiro threw out his greatest defense towards the dark and fire.
SOULFIRE BULWARK! –Hiro
Then a huge flash of light appeared in front of Hiro’s shield and covered a 15 meter arc around the heroes. This fortunately was able to cancel out the attack even though he was much weaker than the Demon King. It is most likely to do with the fact that the Demon King attacked long range with a melee weapon, if Hiro was hit in melee range he may have had a different result. Unfortunately, Hiro isn’t smart enough to notice this.
Hina on the other hand, already disappeared the moment the Demon King stood up and was already behind him to attack.
HAMSTRING! –Hina
BALANCE’S EMBRACE! –Hina
With a two hit combo Hina was able to both hamstring one of the Demon Kings legs, but also stop it from healing. This should considerably lower his movement.
“Arrrrg, how did you wound me? You are weak? Why am I not healing! No matter, I can still move with my other leg and wings! Your death is assured BUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” –Demon King
Not to be outdone, Aya used her quick movement skill while everyone was focusing elsewhere to attack the opposite blindside of the Demon King.
HOLY ICE SHACKLE! –Aya
Having her new class allowed her to cast this spell while using her sword to swing and hamstring the other leg at the same time. Quite the good utility for a support.
BALANCE’S EMBRACE! –Hina
Seeing that her attack had the holy attribute, Hina once again used her ability to stop the healing.
‘Good Job Hina, now he will be crippled the rest of the fight!’ –Aya
‘Not true, he is still much stronger than I am, I can only hold the spell for 5 minutes and two spots are my current limit. Also only one of my daggers has light attribute so I can’t attack more than once per rotation.’ –Hina
‘I’m just amazed at all the words Hina is saying or thinking. It’s mesmerizing!’ –Hiro
Seeing the small opening created when the Demon King swung his axe in a right to left arc, Hiro ran to the Demon King’s right side to attack.
Of course the Demon King is also a veteran of battle and let go of his axe with his right hand and swiped his claws at Hiro. Not to be the weakest link, Hiro skillfully blocked it with his shield. Unfortunately the strength gap was too large and he was sent flying across the room. Fortunately no spell was cast in that strike so he wasn’t hurt, but more cautious he needs to be.
‘Not like that! You just need to distract him and slow him down! One of you have to open his chest cavity and Hina you need to use your ability on that area when it happens. Save your second one for my sneak attack if I ever get a chance.’ –Nick
‘I understand. Aya you need to freeze him without my help, try to get his wings.’ –Hina
‘Got it, Hiro let’s go!’ –Aya
With the new plan and new life, Hiro jumps up and attacks again, this time more cautiously. Oh wait, cautious was the other guy…
TAUNT! –Hiro
“Look at me you big oaf!” –Hiro
CHARGE! –Hiro
With that Hiro makes an impressive charge and even started to use an unknown move as his sword was lighting up.
Seeing this the Demon King picked his axe up and used it to guard the upcoming attack.
SOULFIRE BURST! –Hiro
A flash of light filled with fire came out of his sword blinding everyone within 5 meters. Though Hiro’s move is a very strong offensive ability, his strength is too low to actually hurt the Demon King, so he modified his attack while using his sword to blind instead of burn. He also made sure to physically attack the axe to make it seem like he was blocked perfectly.
‘Chance!’ –Aya
Seeing this, Aya used her water movement skill to move behind the beast and attack his wings.
HOLY ICE DOMAIN! –Aya
Using her sword instead of just casting the spell normally, she swung her ninjato from a down to upward slash and froze both wings. This time she didn’t follow up with the shatter combo as she did not want the wings to regrow, or to waste Hina’s ability on just the wings as there were still a few minutes left on his legs being able to move freely.
‘Good job Aya, now his movements are completely locked for a few minutes. Hiro I need you to get his axe away from his chest so I can attack it!’ –Hina
At this point they were not even surprised by Hina anymore and just ignored the fact that she was currently defying all logic with her ability to talk even though she wasn’t actually talking. After all, no one truly knows what is going on inside someone else’s head… well besides Nick of course.
Hiro started to think of a plan and realized at the Demon King favored his right arm meaning that side should be more annoying for him to swing the huge axe to.
CHARGE! –Hiro
As Hiro charged again, he moved left then right to get to the Demon’s right side. Seeing this, the Demon King pulled out his axe toward that side awkwardly. This made Hiro smirk.
SHIELD BASH! –Hiro
And with a smile on his face he attacked the shaft of the axe where it means the hands knocking the axe to the right, causing the Demon King to let go with his left hand and leave his middle wide open.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
‘Now!’ –Hiro
‘Got it.’ –Hina
Out of nowhere Hina materialized right in front of the Demon King.
PERFORATE ARTERY! –Hina
She then used the Yang dagger in her left hand as it had the light attribute and attacked the Demon’s chest cavity flawlessly.
*SCREECH*
‘Huh? That isn’t the right sound…’ –Hina
Before Hina could finish, the Demon King smirked and dropped his axe, with his left hand he smacked Hina and with his right he grabbed Hiro’s sword arm and crushed it while then picking him up and tossing him to the other side of the room.
“AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” –Hiro
“Hiro NO!” –Aya
“Suck weaklings, you think you can hurt me with your weak power? You are not strong enough to pierce my chest let alone leave a lasting injury!” –Demon King
As if his words were a prophecy the Balance’s Embrace spell faded and the Holy Ice Domain shattered leaving the Demon King in peak fitness.
While this was happening Aya was stunned and simply stood over Hiro’s mangled body not knowing what to do as she was completely frozen.
Hina on the other hand… Well when she woke up and saw the mangled body of Hiro, something inside of her snapped causing her to yell for the first time in her life!
“ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRG! YOU DARE TO HURT HIRO? TIME TO SHOW YOU WHY I AM CALLED THE BALANCER!” –Hina
*DING*
Before the notification could even materialize, Hina already swiped it away without a care. She then felt an overwhelming power bubble up inside of her.
*BOOM*
“What? Impossible! How is she having a breakthrough in the middle of combat? No matter, how could a mere Demigod hurt a God?” –Demon King
“This doesn’t look good, at least he isn’t attacking… we need a different plan.” –Nick
‘Aya wake up!’ –Nick
‘Huh what?’ –Aya
‘You must help, Hina is having a breakthrough and the Demon King is letting her, so use this time to heal Hiro so he doesn’t die!’ –Nick
‘Oh yes I forgot I could do that.’ –Aya
RESTORATION! –Aya
While Aya was healing Hiro who was in critical condition. Hina was finishing her breakthrough. Her normally black hair started to raise up and even changed colors! No not blonde, but a mix between black and white with streaks going through it in alternating patterns. She was clearly becoming one with Balance.
Her small 5”5’ frame also seemed to grow as well, luckily her armor seemed to have the perfect fit enchant so it grew with her. Instead of being 5”5’ with a large C up, she ended up 5”9’ with an E cup and her muscles got larger, especially in her thighs. It was obvious that this breakthrough completely break normal human limits.
*DING*
This time Hina was in a daze and actually took a second to read the notification.
Congratulations! You have surpassed human limits and became a Demigod, you are the first human to do this in over a thousand years!
Seeing the Demon King standing still Hina took another second to check her stats.
‘Show status to all.’ –Hina
*DING*
STATUS WINDOW!Name:Hyu HinaAge:16Race:HumanAlignment:GoodLevel:200Mana:240,000Titles:Hero, Yandere, The BalancerStrength:4000Vitality:4000Dexterity:4000Concentration:4000Intelligence:4000Wisdom:4000Unlocked Affinities:Light, Dark, Balance, Fire, Water, Holy Ice, Hellfire, Soulfire, Frostfire, Hellfrost, SoulfrostStat Points:1784
(Cookie to those who figured out what the first missed notification was)
“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, I can feel the power! Are you ready to die Demon King?” –Hina
Somehow her entire personality changed. No more the shy Hina, now the domineering Hina has awoken, and she is out to bring the pain.
“You may be a Demigod now, but you still cannot defeat me!” –Demon King
Before he could finish talking he saw a hole in the middle of his chest with blood leaking out.
“What? When? And why isn’t it healing? Before it healed just super slow, now it isn’t healing at all!” –Demon King
“Before I was weak, now I am not. Your death is assured!” –Hina
At this point both Aya and Hiro are stunned and not even able to utter a word, Nick on the other hand is ecstatic!
‘Yes, go Hina! Make a bigger hole and distract him enough and death will come!’ –Nick
‘In a bit, I’m not done.’ –Hina
The next 15 minutes cannot be described in words, let’s just say at the end of it the Demon King had no legs, arms or wings and had many holes in his chest and back only leaving his face untouched for some odd reason.
“Impossible… how are you so strong?” –Demon King
At this point Nick has chills as he remembers a similar seen that happened with his first wife. He didn’t think much of it as it was his wife, but now seeing someone else act the same way got him scared. He hopes she never starts to dislike him for any reason!
‘T that’s enough Hina, I can take it from here.’ –Nick
‘Good, he won’t be moving ever again, there should be enough holes in his chest. Why does he have two hearts and a black core thingy?’ –Hina
‘The strongest Archdemons have two hearts so it’s hard to kill them, the core is his Godly core, it contains his soul, or at least will once his head and brain are destroyed.’ –Lily
‘Don’t worry, I got this, though it’s kind of anticlimactic now that he can’t move at all.’ –Nick
TELEPORT! –Nick
“Hello father-in-law. Having a good day I see.” –Nick
“What? You? But you are supposed to be my daughters slave, how are you not a sex slave?” –Demon King
“I decided to marry your daughter instead. Oh sure, I’m still a sex slave but there is no mind control going on. Oh and before I forget.” –Nick
At this Nick reached into his interspatial ring and pulled out his Hammer of Doom and flew up above the Demon King with an intimidating pose.
“Oh yea that’s right, TIME TO DIE!” –Nick
HOLY GRAVITON STRIKE! –Nick
Knowing he needed the holy attribute, he made sure to add it to his attack. Normally one would need earth affinity to use the Graviton Strike, but fortunately he was able to bypass that with his knowledge of all weapon skills and the enchant on the Hammer itself.
At this point space itself started to congregate around the Hammer and the point of impact which was the Demon Kings head. As if only a single point would be effected by the who knows how many times gravity the strike held.
*DOKKON*
Then the Hammer arrived leaving a scene straight out of an anime! The only thing left of the Demon King was a torso and a huge mess!
“It’s not over yet, I need you to dispose of the body.” –Nick
Then Nick grabbed the black orb and waited for Hina to destroy the body.
“Got it.” –Hina
BALANCER’S OPPRESSION! –Hina
An upgraded form of the Darkness Oppression, this time using the forces of life and death. With this new ability she was able to completely eradicate any evidence that a Demon King even existed.
“My turn!” –Nick
EXORCISE! –Nick
Then Nick destroyed the link to the orb that the Demon King’s soul was tethered to, with that his job was done.
*DING*
Congratulations! You have gained a level x188
You have Reach Max Level 200!You have unlocked physical constraints. You can now reach the next stage in human evolution.
Quests Complete! Heroes Quest, Right to Marry the Princess
*DING*
Soul Shackle removed.
“Hahahahaha finally, quests are all complete!” –Nick
“Un.” –Hina
“Good job Hina, I owe you one.” –Nick
‘Daddy daddy! What happened? I couldn’t contact you for 6 months! I was scared!’ –Sally
‘Here read the data in my thoughts, this place locked me here until I killed some Demon King, was pretty lame but I survived it. Also I’m coming home now but we have to come back soon so hold tight.’ –Nick
“Okay I need you three plus the dragons to do a favor for me.” –Nick
“What is it, you saved Hiro from taking the killing blow so we will do it.” –Aya
“Yes we will do whatever you ask, if not for you, I would be dead.” –Hiro
“So weak. I’ll do what you ask but after this I’m going to rethink my life.” –Hina
“I just need you to take Lily here and tell the Princess everything that happened. Also I will be back in… call it three days for the wedding.” –Nick
“Oh yes I forgot about the wedding. But that was the whole point wasn’t it? I’m game, I’ll make sure they all get there, I’ll even take care of Voarag for you, see you in three days.” –Hina
With that Hina grabbed Lily and motioned for the two lovebirds to follow. She was really getting fed up with having such weak friends.
‘Okay I’m ready to come back.’ –Nick
‘I just read your memories, it seems you haven’t noticed yet. Look at the timer.’ –Sally
‘Oh the timer should have 6 months left… oh what the fuck! Why did it disappear?’ –Nick
‘Earlier today Mr. Absolute had a breakthrough as he calls it and the timer stopped, but it had some disturbing news about what happens when a second person evolves further.’ –Sally
‘No worries, I’m coming home now.’ –Nick
‘Wait!’ –Sally
TELEPORT! –Nick
‘Fuck, oh well…’ –Sally
Nick teleported right to the command center where all his teammates and wives were waiting. Sally had told his wives already so they gathered everyone. But she neglected to tell them that he also evolved. She also wasn’t able to warn him what would happen when he got back as Nick is a know it all that doesn’t listen to anyone anyways… except his wives of course, only an insane man wouldn’t listen to his wives.
“Hey guys I’m home and have great news! I evolved in the other world I was in!” –Nick
“”””“Oh shit!””””” –Everyone
CONGRATULATIONS FOR TWO PEOPLE COMPLETING THE NEXT STAGE OF EVOLUTION.
COMMENCING FINAL TRIAL FOR EARTH SPECIES HUMAN.
YOU HAVE SIX MONTHS TO REACH EVEN HIGHER AND DESTROY THE SYSTEM BEFORE IT DESTROYS YOU.
“Ahh fuck, I shouldn’t have come home huh?” –Nick
___
So the real hero was fully revealed but it is still unknown what she is going to do next as her mission is not yet finished. Also her real mission given to her by Hiro's dad hasn't happened yet and she won't remember it until the time comes... soon! Also a cookie to anyone who can successfully guess which guy Hina ends up with in the end since it is clear she doesn't like weaklings.