Chapter 134: The Demon King of Atla.
"Soon comes chaos... Soon comes death, ha ha ha ha ha!"
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Sol had been exhibiting signs of going off his knockers for weeks, horde after horde, he singlehandedly led the elite farther into demonic territory than they had accomplished since the start of the war and it had happened in under a year, but on this the second year of the Goddess's absence, the nature of the war would change forever, and the nature of the hero would be repurposed forever.
(So... I don't remember the demon god from Atla's name, ಠ_ಠ I have to comb through all the chapters because there's mention once somewhere. I'll make all the edits after I find it.)
Close to the end of the second of the two darkest years, the elite army had been halved once more, now only a few hundred people remained, they had been hardened and hardwired to hunting and killing demons, the sense of individuality they all once possessed had been reduced to the basic instinct of hatred and violence, in short, they were all replicas of sol, moulded through his hatred.
The only few who held a sense of self in the army were his closest friends who by now knew very clearly that his mind was close to being completely derailed, but they remained by his side because he needed them; Griffon because he and Sol were best friends, The nameless priest because without a goddess, Sol had become his focus of worship, and Jun through endless adoration, she stuck with him even more than Griffon did.
"What is the meaning of this?" Sol stood with the rain pouring down on him, before him instead of an army there was only one opponent.
"Who is that?" Griffon shadowed his eyes from the rain staring at the winged figure in the distant. "We were on our way to the lairnof the bile demon right, where did this one come from?" He asked.
"It's kind of creeping me out, y'know." Jun shook her head and rubbed her arms, casting Huff's of fire from her palms to warm herself as she usually would. "I know they're suicidal, but the generals usually have some kind of plan to counter us, this one isn't even trying to be inconspicuous," She added. "It's unnerving."
"Agreed." The priest nodded.
"Maybe... It's not a general." Sol's eyes narrowed, his hair was by now tall and touching his back, so he made a ponytail out of it using one of Jun's accessories and wremoved the strands that stuck to his face. "What if it's the demon king?" He asked.
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"That would make no sense, the demons domain is thousands of miles away from here, it will take at least another year to get there at out current pace, why would-" Griffon was in the middle of refuting Sol when his only arm fell next to him.
The rain became silent on the rocks and mud.
"Huh?" Sol stared at the arm confused as did everyone else.
"Ikaris has abandoned you, thwarting my plans of ascension into godhood, so I feel an urge to change the dynamic a bit out of clear spite, so bare with me... Warriors." The being that had been miles away was standing next to Griffon with his hand on the man's head and staring down at Sol with a smile.
He had eyes of crimson, and light tanned skin, horns that protruded from his forehead and curved upward, and sharp teeth that fit in perfect rows in his mouth, on his sides there were swords, and on his back there was an axe, and his hair was an odd shade of pink.
Sol's face contorted slowly as his hand trembled, while Jun and the priest reacted at a snails pace in contrast, aside from Sol they were all too weak to even lay a scratch on him.
"If you would all kindly give us a moment to converse in private..." The demon raised Griffon by his head and used him like a bat to smack Jun and the priest away before raising his hand toward the army and clasping his fist.
"Ah.. aahhh!" Sol's scream slowly escalated as the entirety of the remaining survivors vanished in explosions of blood and gore, in just a moment they were all dead, friends he had known for years named and unnamed, his followers, those who regarded him as a pillar of hope.
"AAAHAAAAAA!" Sol summoned his sword and swung it at the demon, but was sent flying from a kick to his gut that rendered him incapacitated as he tried getting up and fell back to his face.
"Get away from him!" Sol screamed after the last thing he saw before hitting the ground was Jun and the priest madly approaching. "That's the demon king!"
"Get up-get up-get up!" He willed his body to move through the pain, pushing off without the use of his hands, tearing the side of his face as he rapidly built up speed, but when he was finally able to raise his head again he was sent flying a second time by another projectile that cracked like a coconut on his chestplate.
Seconds passed with his eyes blurry as he laid on his back, staring at the priests half caved-in head that had hit him unable to process anything that was happening because of the speed at which it was happening.
Griffon was now completely handicapped, Priest was dead, and Jun... "Jun." Sol's eyes bulged as a moment of clarity slammed into him.
The skies cried out, and a great bolt of lightning crashed from the clouds, parting them for a brief moment as Sol arose and caught it with his bare hand, staring ahead at the demon king that had casually waited for him, holding Jun suspended in the air by her arms with his tail while he used a pile of corpses as a seat with his cheek in his palm and a small smile on his face.
"Good, after a few minutes I started thinking you had given up on your will to live, Sol. He sat upright and applauded the hero.
"Let go of her!" Griffon screamed from behind the demon king, and at the same time as he screamed out Sol moved with the lightning in his grasp he traversed the air like the wind stopping short of the demon king and moulding that bolt into a physical sword, burning his hands unrecognisable as he swung it.
"Um." The demon king caught the blade of the lightning sword and held it there staring at Sol.
"Not yet, you still have too much hope, and not enough trauma." He yanked the burning blade from Sol's hand and then blocked a spear, a hammer and another sword as Sol went mad with his summoned weapons attacking so fast that the rain was avoiding them by several metres from the shockwaves being generated.
"I see," The demon king caught the hammer and smashed it with his bare hand and then grabbed Sol with his other hand and pinned him to the ground, tossing Jun to the side and creating a portal next to them.
"Get off!" Sol blew against the string of guts and blood on the ground when he nearly inhaled it. "Let go!" Ha struggled vainly as the demon king chuckled and pressed his knee in his back, looking forward as a large flaming sword demon with two extra arms in its abdomen walked out of the portal cackling.
"You and your army have advanced for years trying to save a world that we already annihilated." The sword demon spoke. "Misjudging those weaklings for generals and feeding your self-confidence, how pathetic." It walked over to Griffon's hand, picked it up and bit into it as it caught aflame. "This might be my last chance to enjoy human meat, master, what shall I do?" your chapter source NovelFire EMPYR
"Just put on a show, I suppose." The demon King took a seat behind Sol and drove his tail through his folded arms and body, skewering him and keeping him pinned to the ground.
"Now that we have killed everything else, with the goddess gone this world is useless to me, I want him in his best condition before I can enjoy devouring his flesh as well, it is only right that I get a proper sendoff after suffering because of that stupid bitch." He rested his head on his fist as a throne arose from the ground he sat on and the surrounding environment was purged of the rain and mud as a small temple of stone emerged and shielded them.
"Understood." The sword general devoured the rest of Griffon's hand and then raised the man off the ground, holding him like a doll by his head as the King had done. "Then, I can do as I please with this armless thing?"
"No!" Sol struggled through his pain. "Don't you dare, don't you fucking dare, I'll kill you, I'll kill you dead!!" He screamed, banging his face into the stone ground and smashing up his mouth and nose as he tried and failed to escape the Demon King's control.
"Let go of him, I swear, you'll regret- graaahhh!!" Sol bit into the ground with his newly grown teeth breaking them again as he tried everything to get away. "Don't do it, don't you fucking dare!!"