“Ah fuck… Ah fuck…” Mylos muttered under his breath as he dragged the two women with him into the kitchen, slamming it shut behind them.

He grabbed the sword he had dropped there when he discussed with Sylvia about the family — after the fight with Arthrax, that is.

Mylos turned around to see Karen and Alissa staring back at him with worry in their eyes and he patted Karen’s head to calm her down, muttering assurances to Alissa.

“Should I not just give myself up to them? I see no reason in endangering yourself for me.” Alissa asked, turning to Mylos. He fell silent for a second.

He opened his mouth to speak when —

Bang!

The door burst apart into numerous shards, and a demon stepped into the kitchen. It wielded a sword in both hands, two massive ram like horns grew out the back of its elongated head.

As it took steps further into the room, Mylos unsheathed his blade and stood before Karen and Alissa.

“You reek of worthlessness, just like the receptionist.” He taunted as he pointed his blade at the frowning demon.

Mylos grinned noticing the vicious reaction he drew from the demon, leaping forth and entering a spin — his blade following in a deadly curve, “Die!”

The demon parried expertly, staggering to the side as Mylos leapt past. He turned to the easiest target but before he could attack, Mylos spun around and with him came his blade.

In a swift motion, the head of the demon was sent rolling to Karen’s feet.

“How can you kill your kind so apathetically?” Alissa questioned. She wondered why this was even happening because of her in the first place.

She was a normal human that was not even meant to be alive, why were these creatures suffering because of her?

“This bothers you?” Karen picked up the demon’s head without a shred of empathy in her gaze, turning to Alissa and speaking in her soft voice, “I was raised by a demon and I can tell you this. The lives of demons like these aren’t worth wasting empathy for. Their lives are fickle and expendable.”

“How can you say that?” Alissa questioned further, turning to Karen, “Demons are cruel and I can never refute that, but why are they this apathetic to one another? Should that hatred not be directed to an even greater cause? Do they have to join others in butchering their kind?”

“Yes.” Mylos answers without hesitation, “Karen is right and she understands this more than a human ever could. No matter the race, showing forgiveness to an enemy is suicide to oneself. To the demons which I have encountered — and have been encountering since birth — this rule stands above all.”

He sighed calmly, “Rape, cannibalism and manslaughter is common amongst demons even more than it is between other races. There are demons who parade themselves as morally superior to the others of its kind but that does not remove their lack of empathy for other demons. It fuels it greatly.”

Alissa held the side of her head, stumbling to the side and relaxing her back on the kitchen walls, wondering what this was. Killing others of your kind — was it right or wrong? Or did it only apply to demons? If these demon lives were so expendable because of how fickle it was, what about humans?

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

She was never anything special — neither in life, nor in death — but was her life dispensable as a human? She watched Mylos as she sheathed his blade, clenching her fist and lowering her head, an eerie light slowly developed within the confusion: “Would she have to get used to the ideology now?”

——

“Haha!” Aysla flung Lisa around, the latter’s legs dangling mid-air in a helpless futility. She stood calmly whilst the Hero dealt with the demons — one at a time, over and over again. Invisible blasting of energies rent their forms to ashes, until there was nothing they could regenerate from.

“I understand that this wonderful technology still owns its limitations…” Arthrax sighed calmly as he sheathed his blade, turning to glare into Lisa’s — the receptionist — eyes, speaking in a voice that was cold and soothing, “Yet, it is quite sad. They are unable to regenerate if all cells die in an instant.”

“Ah, so that’s why they aren’t getting up!” Aysla chuckled then drew the receptionist in for a wild headbutt that sent Lisa’s head spinning. As Aysla released her, Lisa saw not only stars, but an entire galaxy populated with planets and asteroid belts, “Just give up and spill all the details already!”

It took Lisa some moments to regain her senses, and when she did the receptionist burst out in a maniacal laughter! Aysla cringed, resisting the urge of punching a hole through Lisa’s chest. It took Lisa moments to snap out of it, opening her mouth to speak calmly,

“Wait —you think that I am going to give up?” her shoulders trembled, stifling back another outburst of laughter as Aysla glared apprehensively.

Lisa sighed as her expression twisted, “Using codec technology on demons like you can be quite demeaning, but I will let you have more than a taste of my power.”

In a flash of black and red, a tail stabbed through Aysla's chest as blood was spilled. Three more codecs formed, and Aysla's hand was severed — freeing Lisa instantly. As the receptionist landed on the ground, Aysla staggered back in shock.

“That’s the thing with arrogant fools like you and your brother. You cannot yet fathom how big this world is and believe you have the right to stand above it all…” Lisa giggled, stepping forward and standing before a stunned Aysla fearlessly, snapping her fingers.

Even the last destroyed cell revived, and from it — life developed. The ashes birthed the rise of a stronger, angrier group of demons. Their eyes burned in bright red lights, and their bodies brimmed with strength.

They all turned to Aysla once again as Arthrax took position behind her.

Without any warning, they all charged at the duo. Arthrax chuckled as he looked around, noting their locations as he entered a stance, his sword remaining in its sheath. His glasses flashed in a light as he waited patiently, observing the enemy calmly.

As one of them leapt forth into his attack range, a bolt of lightning collapsed from the sky upon it and the demon was rendered paralysed.

Arthrax’s gaze gleamed, “I am not a Hero blessed by heaven for show. I care little for the lives of these demons, but take your fight elsewhere!”

Lightning rained down across the area in a sporadic succession, and all of the other demons also got paralysed.

Those that proved themselves to be quite tenacious would be struck by lightning over and over again, until they were completely frozen from the shock.

A tail — codec — shot out and poked at his skin but rebounded upon impact. In that instance, an eerie light flashed and that codec was divided into two separate halves.

Arthrax turned around, there was no evidence of his sword being unsheathed except the cut tail.

“Sigh…” Lisa groaned mentally in frustration. Heroes were always so meddlesome in issues not a bit related to their existences, especially towards demons! It annoyed her greatly and she prayed that they all get rewarded for that. A miserably painful reward.

“The thing is that I am not trying to be a busybody, but the heavens reward Heroes for being the Heroes they are with something all crave in this world — Power. The power to summon miracles that can change the tide of any battle…” Arthrax said that in a loud voice that sounded very heroic.

After all he had practices this in front of a mirror for years. The number of demons he had faced under the command of the heavens allowed him to perfect the performance over the years.

As Lisa’s eyes twitched from hearing it, he knew he had achieved the desired effect.

Aysla rolled her eyes, stretching both arms as they popped right out — regenerating instantly. An extreme rage developed in her gaze as she cracked her neck, her fingers elongating into claws, and a sole wing shooting out of her back.

Her left eye twitched, turning pitch black, “My ears hurt listening to you, Hero. Can we get this done with so we can get back to not trying to kill one another?”