The assassin looked around with caution, starting to think that something was wrong. After all, while Daemonium seemed to successfully escape, the room didn't seem to reset yet. Styrofoam and cotton balls and white stuff still filled the room, and there was no sign of the key returning.

The Daemoniums seemed quite worried, running around frantically like the end of the world. Mostly Green Daemonium, with the slime running around and throwing stuff around like it was the apocalypse. Dead Daemonium threw stuff at the assassin, looking as if they were going to cry. Fake Daemonium slumped into a disappointed slumber, hiding under the styrofoam, cotton balls, and white stuff like this fox was depressed. And the golem just looked as if zhe had no idea what was going on.

The assassin sighed, slowly approaching the door once again. Looking at it, it was soon a bit clear that something was up. The door was slightly ajar, enough so that one would have thought it was closed when first looked at. The assassin oened the door, ready to shoot Daemonium if he were on the other side, but he wasn't.

The assassin stepped back out and looked around. Daemonim couldn't have gone far, he couldn't have gotten to the next floor without closing the door to the previous one. He tested it himself, he knew this tower well, there was no way Daemonium was getting past him. The assassin pulled out an assault rifle, slowly wading through the sea of white stuff in search of Daemonium.

He didn't find the half demon, not seeing a trace of him as he searched. He looked up, wondering if he climbed up and took advantage of a blind spot, before noticing that the room was much emptier than before. Green Daemonium was gone, Fake Daemonium was gone, Dead Daemonium was gone, the unnamed golem was gone, the only person still in the room with him was Sanguisa.

Sanguisa was simply playing with her doll like nothing hapenned, probably not even noticing the fight. The assassin stared at her, noticing something bubbling through the sea of white and swimming around her. A small hand tapped her leg and shocked her, before pulling her in and dragging her towards the door. The assassin followed closely, having no intention on letting Daemonium escape.

Daemonium swam into the door with Sanguisa in hand, unknown about the terror tracking him. He stepped inside and sighed, relieved that the hard part was over with. He closed the door and celebrated, only to see that the assassin already ahead of him.

Dead Daemonium kicked the assassin's head back to the door, and the group ran to the next floor. Floor 21 was littered with dead trees and tombstones, like an abandoned graveyard put in the middle of this tower. The gang instantly came bursting in through the door, the assassin coming right after with guns blazing. Daemonium went to hide, Green Daemonium and Fake Daemonium going to hide with him. Dead Daemonium, Sanguisa, and the unnamed golem, now that they were out of the confined staircase were able to effectively continue to duel with the assassin. He fired bullets in evry direction, Dead Daemonium and Sanguisa expertly weaving through each one and not getting a scratch. The unnamed golem Daemonium didn't dodge, the bullets hardly able to crack zhis rock. The assassin knew how to dispatch of golems easily however, and was about to end zhis life right there and then with a single punch. Zhis life was flashing before zhis eyes, but Dead Daemonium quickly countered while Sanguisa grabbed zhem and carried zhem to where Daemonium was hiding.

"Looks like we finally have time to talk," Sanguisa said, leaving Dead Daemonium to fend for themself. "So I have one question: who's this!?"

"The newest member of my Daemonium harem," Daemonium said proudly. "Still completely unnamed however."

"Doesn't look much like a Daemonium."

"The golem will get a new body when we get out of here."

"Fair," Sanguisa agreed, dropping the golem next to him. "Just make sure this new Daemonium stays out of the fight, this golem is just going to die at this rate."

"Alright." Daemonium waved to Sanguisa as she went to fight the assassin, comforting a disappointed and unnamed golem that was sad zhe couldn't help out.

Dead Daemonium and Sanguisa repeatedly struck the assassin's body, the assassin parrying them so expertly it was as if he were simply toying with them. He weaved through their attacks with ease, dodging each one before smashing their heads with a random tombstone next to him. As the tombstone ended up in pieces, revealing that a key was hidden inside.

Dead Daemonium grabbed the key and ran, handing it to Daemonium with a smile on their face. Daemonium ran to the door, ready to open it and get to the next floor. The assassin and the other Daemoniums chased after him, with the group quickly making it to the 22nd floor.

The 22nd floor was filled with fog, being more of a maze with the key somewhere in the center. It was quickly ruined when the assassin threw Dead Daemonium straight through the walls of the maze, causing the entire thing to collapse.

Deamonium grabbed the key and ran to the next floor, the others following. On the 23rd floor was a ceiling covered in beehives, and a key in the middle. Daemonium ran into the room, worried with how there was nowhere for him to hide.

The assassin leapt into the room, his foot coming down with so much force the wind alone blasted Daemonium across the room. He ran to follow it up with a large punch but Dead Daemonium uppercutted him to the killer ceiling. The impact shook the room, dropping all of the beehives like bombs all over the floor.

The bees swarmed throughout the room, like a living killer cloud that rushed towards the assassin clad in black. They all surrounded him, swirling around like an intense twister before rushing straight in all at once. No one could see the assassin anymore, the killer being replaced by a ball of pitch black.

Daemonium slumped and fell to his knees, expecting to feel relieved that he was safe for now. While there was some relief, there was still quite a lot of dread. While he wanted to believe the assassin was going down here, he knew it wasn't going to end here. Bees couldn't kill him, Dead Daemonium couldn't kill him, Sanguisa couldn't kill him, he had no chance. Daemonium's eyes were wide in shock as he realized no matter how much he ran he'd never get rid of this assassin. It was impossible; he was going to run from this guy for the rest of his life. Maybe he could escape the guy if he ran far enough and hid his identity, but he shot the idea down. The assassin could easily track him when he was made invisible after all, he could probably find him if he simply moved.

Daemonium just stayed there, unable to react even as Fake Daemonium shook him as hard as this fox could. Daemonium hardly reacted, reacting as much as a dead person would (which is, you know, none at all). Fake Daemonium shook harder and harder, attempting to get the king's attention in any way possible. A loud bang could be heard from the black ball, bees being splattered into the wall so hard it almost seemed like they teleported to the wall.

Fake Daemonium was shocked, this fox's jaw dropping down to the floor. The fox shook Daemonium intensely like a tambourine, Daemonium still too shocked to say anything. Green Daemonium decided it wasn't going to wait for him, grabbing Daemonium and the key before running to the door. It fumbled with the key in its hands, desperately putting it in and turning it before running into the door.

Fake Daemonium was the first to run in afterwards, Green Daemonium holding the door open for the fox. Dead Daemonium and Sanguisa ran in afterwards, leaving the unnamed golem. The golem tried running through the door, but was unfortunately a bit too slow. The assassin broke through and grabbed the golem, leaping over zhem and jumping for a still completely still Daemonium. Green Daemonium tossed him up to the next room, Daemonium lying on the grassy floor of the 24th floor like a dead body.

Daemonium looked up at the ceiling, looking at how it was styled after a night sky. Was this night sky going to be the last one he was ever going to see? He felt tears rolling down the side of his face, unable to accept his inevitable death. He had already given up on trying, far before the assassin even showed up in the first place, he knew there wasn't anything he could do. He had ran from this problem as fast and as long as he could, but now that it caught up to him he was too exhausted to escape. Daemonium closed his eyes, expecting a quick and easy death.

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That didn't happen though. The assassin attempted to strike with the force of a rampaging elephant, but Dead Daemonium and Fake Daemonium rammed into him from the side. They attempted to attack again, but the assassin rushed behind them and slammed them into the star colored ceiling with an uppercut. He slowly walked towards a given up Daemonium, only being stopped by Green Daemonium latching onto him like a rope. The unnamed golem pulled on it, like zhe was reeling in a bull with a lasso. The assassin simply grabbed Green Daemonium's hand and yanked on it with the force of a twister, pulling both Daemoniums in before uppercutting them into the same ceiling.

The assassin went back to Daemonium, only being stopped by someone pulling on his leg. It was Sanguisa, crying a river as she was dragged across the ground. The assassin shook his leg, trying to shake the bug off of his clothes, but Sanguisa wouldn't budge.

"Stop... Please don't..." Sanguisa was sobbing so much that her voice was barely audible. "Please don't kill Daemonium."

The assassin picked her up and threw her aside, not really caring about her sobs. The only thing he cared about was killing Daemonium, leaving him to contemplate his incoming death. He didn't want to die, he truly didn't, but there wasn't something he could do, was there?

Daemonium got up and ran, knowing far too well that it wouldn't do something. All he knew how to do is run, what else could he do? Would his spells even affect the assassin? Was he strong enough to do any damage? What if he failed, would he die? But he's going to die anyways, isn't he? He realized that if he was just going to die no matter what he did, there was no point in trying to run. Why not just try to confront the assassin head first for once, maybe that would end up with something new for once.

Daemonium turned to face the assassin, slapping himself in order to attempt and boost his determination. It failed, Daemonium still being just as scared as before and now with a hurt cheek. The assassin didn't seem to waver, simply pulling out his gun and being ready to shoot.

Daemonium charged forward, rushing forth as fast as possible with his eyes shut. The half demon jumped forward and embraced the assassin, climbing up and hugging the assassin as if he were his lover. The assassin stepped back with confusion, before Daemonium attacked with his signature Lovely Kiss.

He planted one. And another. And as many as he possibly could. He even released many Lovely Pheromones, but the assassin didn't seem to budge. What Daemonium didn't realize was that the armor protected the assassin from getting affected by such spells, so it was fruitless. It didn't stop Daemonium from trying though, and wondering why it didn't work.

Daemonium punched him in the face, his hand nearly breaking from the impact with the dude's helmet. He kicked the assassin, headbutt him, bit him, tried every other method of attack, but they all failed. The assassin just finded the attempt cute, with Daemonium wasn't fond of. Mainly because he was probably going to die of course.

Daemonium was at a lost. He thought this was it, maybe he was going to die. He tried fighting, he tried running, he even remembers his attempts at talking failing as well. It was all he could do now, so he might as well try once more.

"Please spare me." Daemonium bowed to the ground, tears raining down to the ground. He felt the cold barrel of a gun put to his head, shivering as he felt the close brush of death. "I'd do anything."

The assassin didn't move, his finger still on the trigger.

"I guess you're right. I don't know why you want to kill me, but it's probably for a good reason. I mean, look at me. I'm a terrible king. I only care for myself, always procrastinating and playing games instead of making the country a better place. I've killed many people irresponsibly with my horrible war tactics, and even after I left and stopped doing so I haven't been doing much to make it better. There are so many issues in the demon country that need to be addressed, and I'm just eating grapes and making a harem. It's such a blatant abuse of power that I'm not surprised someone like you didn't attack sooner. I think Sanguisa could say it better than I could."

"No no no," Sanguisa said, extremely invested in the speech. "Just continue."

"Okay then..." Daemonium wasn't too fond of someone watching him die, but just went along with it. "The point here is, I completely understand why you want me to die. If I were in your position I would probably want me to die too. Maybe it would be better for the country if I did die, and maybe some relative of mine would be a better king. But I can't die. I have friends that have been fighting for my survival for as long as they could. If I died here, all of their efforts would mean nothing."

The Daemoniums were upset at being friend-zoned, but still watched the speech emotionally. Fake Daemonium, being the only one that could cry, cried buckets watching this.

"I had a friend once before. When the first party of adventurers came to kill me he tried to fight back, but he was killed. The only thing he left me was his 3ds. You've probably never heard of it, it's a foreign thing or something, but it was eventually destroyed. I thought I would be fine after it broke, after all I had only just then realized how great my friends were. I was wrong though, as it was hard to do anything without thinking of him. It got to the point that I couldn't really function, and I guess getting out of my room and exploring this tower has helped me move on a bit in some weird way. So thank you."

The assassin just stood there and trembled, hesitating to shoot the gun.

"So I guess you can kill me. It's not like I have anything I still need to do, or any lingering regrets I have. You can kill me with no problem. But I don't want to die. I still want to live and try to make up for the wrong I've done. So please, don't kill me."

The assassin scratched his head and sighed. He really didn't want to do this anymore, but he didn't have much of a choice. "Look," he said, finally speaking. "You see, I-"

Daemonium chuckled before bursting out in laughter. Sanguisa's laughter echoed around the room, Fake Daemonium basically howled from amusement, and the other Daemoniums seemed pretty amused.

"Is that your voice?" Daemonium could hardly speak from the laughter. "That voice is squeakier than a dog's chew toy!"

"He sounds like a mouse!" Sanguisa cackled after every sentence. "The assassin that has been trying to kill us all this time is actually a mouse!"

"Awww! Who a cute widdle mousey? You are! You're the cutest widdle mousey assassin of all!"

"How many helium balloons did you inhale before coming here!?"

"Even a tower full of helium wouldn't give a voice like that! He probably inhaled a hole planet!"

"With that much helium you can probably reach one of the moons with such a balloon!"

The two laughed at his squeaky voice, finding endless amounts of amusement much to the assassin chagrin.

"STOP LAUGHING!" The assassin tried to be intimidating, but the high pitched squeak of his voice cracking midway through the sentence just made them laugh harder.

It was nearly ten minutes of laughing, laughing so much that their entire bodies felt like they were dying afterwards. Large puddles of water pooled belief their feet, coming from the large streams of tears that came from their faces. Their mouths were opened so wide one could probably fit a house inside. The assassin was annoyed, but eventually they stopped and wiped the tears from their faces.

"Sorry," Daemonium said, still smiling uncontrollably. "But thanks. Thanks to you I can die happy."

The assassin facepalmed, wanting to kill him even more now. "While that's great, I just wanted to clear some misconceptions you had. I'm not doing this because I have some personal grudge against you, I was simply hired to do so."

"Really? By who?"

"That's confidential information, I can't disclose anything about the transaction."

"Oh." Daemonium just looked disappointed again.

"Although," the assassin squeaked. "If you were to offer a higher price in order to have me cancel, I would certainly oblige."

"Really!?" As the king, Daemonium naturally owned lots of tax money, so he was basically being let off the hook. "You mean it?"

"Just accept it already! I didn't care about your sob story in any way," the assassin said with an obvious lie. "I just saw a good chance to make more money and took it."

"If that were the case you could've asked me any of the other times you had me at gunpoint."

"DO YOU WANT TO LIVE OR NOT?"

"Yes." Daemonium cried with tears of joy as he said the words. "Yes, I want to live."

"That would be at least 3,000,000 zel."

For reference, the currency of the nation of shadow people, zel, had an exchange rate of roughly 3 US dollars per single zel. Do the conversion and you can see one thing: that's a lot of money.

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General Info Stats Spells

Name: Daemonium Dissimulato Rex STR 24 Amare Ignis Gloriae Species: 50% Demon + 50% Succubus DUR 27 Lovely Pheromones Lovely Kiss Fireball Age: 16yrs 82days INT 32 HP: 40/40 SPE 33 Level: 11 LCK 94 Exp: 1269/4096 CHR 154 Spells Known: 3

End of Climbing arc