Rise of the Heroes

As the sword pierced through the skin of the body, a gut-wrenching scream could be heard as red blood dripped towards the floor. Everyone looked at the sight in bewilderment as if it was something peculiar in their eyes. The killing of another being wasn’t anything new, but everyone knew that the killing of a powerful being meant that someone even more powerful showed up. 

As the man pulled his sword out of the body, the body fell almost instantaneously to the ground. Visibly stunned, one side of the army stared at the lifeless body that was just uttering commands to them. The other side of the army looked as if they couldn’t hold their excitement at what just happened. All fighting ceased as if time stood still to bring recognition to the moment that just happened. The man put his foot on top of the lifeless body while raising his sword towards the sky.

“I guess now we know that a demon’s body does bleed red like ours,” the man declared with pure confidence. He had brown hair and was taller than the average soldier. He wore a red robe with a white shirt underneath and brown pants that had a holster for his sword attached to the side. He had a toned physique that visibly displayed his charm, but it also showed he clearly wasn’t someone to underestimate.

The crowd of soldiers erupted in cheers. “Long live the Hero!” they exclaimed as they too raised their swords towards the sky. The demons cowered back towards the castle not realizing what to do in the situation after one of the generals of the castle was defeated.

“Do you really have to make awkward statements like that while we’re in the middle of a war, Tryne? And how many demons did we kill before this point anyways? We all know that they bleed red blood like ours. I mean we don’t even look any different from the stronger demons,” said the woman with a sigh. 

She had long red hair that reached far down her back. She wore grey armor that was packed with mana to condense the attacks that were inflicted upon her. She had black pants with a holster for her sword that was attached to her side. She carried a sword that was no longer than her arm, but it clearly displayed a sharp and refined appearance. Through her swordplay, she easily became the strongest female among the Human Kingdom.

Tryne turned around quickly with a bright red face that didn’t even try to hide his embarrassment. 

 “Shut up Lestia! It’s called boosting the morale of the soldiers. Besides, this demon that I killed is supposed to be one of their top generals,” Tryne said as he pointed towards the body. “I think I have the right to say what I said.” 

“Lestia is right, Tryne. The beauty of the death of the general can only be displayed by someone who is just as beautiful. If it was going to be left by some brute like you, then—”

Tryne rushed towards the man and punched him in the face which sent him flying towards a rock. “You can shut up too, Klein,” said Tryne with a visibly annoyed face.

“See, this is what I mean. I don’t see the beauty in anything that you just displayed. All just brute force,” said Klein while dusting off the debris from his clothes. The rock that was at least 10 feet high crumbled in an instant. 

Klein had blonde hair and wore a brown robe with a white shirt underneath. He wore black pants and had a bow and arrow strapped around his shoulders. He was attractive towards all of the women and even some men, surprisingly. He was a man with a beauty complex, but that didn’t mean that he was useless. He excelled at pinpointing where the enemy was and was the best archer among the whole Human Kingdom.

“Can you guys stop fighting and help us with the war already? I only have so much mana left to produce heals for everyone.” said the woman. 

She had blonde hair that reached to her neck, and she had pointy ears that represented she was from the Elf Kingdom. She wore a green robe that she described as only fitting for someone that was blessed by mana. She wore brown pants that really brought out the brightness of her green robe. 

“For all that is right, please grant me the strength of nature to save those around me,” chanted the woman. She lifted her staff straight up and hit the ground. Slowly, the troops started feeling more refreshed as their health was being replenished.

“Stara is right. We’re the five heroes of the Extermination Coalition.” said another man as he slapped the muscles on his arm. “We were blessed to support our respective kingdoms, especially the Human Kingdom you said that you were going to inherit."

“Yeah, yeah,” Tryne said as sighed. “I can never argue with you, Derr.”

Derr let out a smile as he grabbed Tryne and put him in a headlock. 

 “I knew we were destined to be heroes for a reason,” Derr said.

It was easy to see that Derr had the most muscles of the group, and his build made him the tallest amongst everyone from the group. He wore a large brown shirt that seemed to be aimed towards hiding his physique, but it wasn’t fooling anyone. He had black shorts, since pants seemed to never fit him. Those from the Dwarf Kingdom were said to be of shorter stature, but that was exactly the reason why Derr was represented to be one of the heroes.

 “Fine, fine. Everyone, let’s go conquer this castle and head back home!” Tryne weaseled out and let out a laugh

Tryne’s announcement was let out with a roar by the soldiers. The four other heroes gathered at his side with a smile on their face. The five heroes were known to have powers that were above the average soldier and were heard to be on par with the top demon generals, possibly higher. After Tryne’s overwhelming victory over the demon general, everyone started to think that he might even be on par with the Demon King.

As the war outside continued on, the inside of the castle was met with disarray as inevitable defeat seemed to linger.

“General Yor, what are we supposed to do now? General Dion got destroyed within a blink of an eye, and his power was supposed to be on the same level as you! We should call the King to come and assist us,” said the demon soldier.

Yor pierced his hand through the demon soldier visibly detested. “Are you calling me weak? I can handle them myself, there’s no need to call the King. Besides, the king is currently taking care of the Queen, since she is expected to give birth anytime soon.” 

Yor knew that calling the King for help during the Queen’s pregnancy would basically lead to his death anyways. He threw the body on the ground as he wiped his hand on his shirt.

General Yor was one of the newer generals as he had recently been promoted to be one of the two generals for the Castle on the West. He was also known as the first ever vampire to be promoted to the general position, so this clearly inflated his ego. He was tall with an older complexion that showed he had age but also experience as well. He wore a purple robe and had a sword attached to the side of his black pants.

He walked out on top of the castle walls and looked at all of the soldiers lined up. There were ogres that reached as high as the castle walls, vampires that had the ability to utilize their wings and fly, and dark elves that were some of the most agile soldiers. The other demon soldiers outnumbered the human soldiers, so General Yor felt confident in his ability to win.

“You either kill them all, or I’ll kill you all first,” declared General Yor towards the soldier. 

He released all of his energy that exerted pressure amongst all of the soldiers. His form visibly changed where wings grew out of his back and a small horn came out of his forehead.  The demons knew that horns represented power, and it was clear that General Yor had a lot of it. General Yor jumped down from the castle and landed behind the demon ranks. Everyone let out a roar as they started rushing outside of the castle towards the human soldiers.

The two sides clashed as yells and cries could be heard from both sides. Arrows were shot from the humans towards the demons, and rocks were thrown from the ogres to the humans. Blood was splattered, and it was easy to see that every side would be taking casualties. The demons clearly outnumbered the humans, and it started to look like the human forces might dwindle down.

However, the power of the five heroes started to show as the humans were able to push in deeper.

Tryne had both physical strength and swordsmanship that allowed him to conquer his enemies with ease. Even an ogre that could take out hundreds of the soldiers wouldn’t amount to Tryne’s strength. 

The ogre looked down at Tryne and let out a bellowing roar to intimidate him. Tryne let out a smirk as he realized the situation that was presented to him. Tryne took in a deep inhale and crouched down as far as he could. He exhaled, and rose up in an instant like a spring and reached the ogre’s face. The ogre, visibly surprised, did not have enough time to react to Tryne. Tryne pulled his arm back and threw a hard punch at the ogre which sent him toppling down on the demon soldiers around him. 

“Keep up the pressure everyone, we’re almost at the castle!” exclaimed Tryne.

Lestia was just as averse in sword fighting as she took out hundreds of the demon soldiers in no less than 5 minutes. With her speed, she dashed through the ranks and sliced down every demon soldier that was in her path. The human soldiers looked at her in bewilderment as even they couldn’t amount to her experience. However, Lestia hates attention, so she was more nervous as to why others were looking at her instead of how many demons stood in front of her.

Klein was an archer, so he always kept a distance from the enemies. However, he was able to shoot his arrows at an alarming speed that could reach even the furthest of distances. The only downfall is that after every shot Klein took, he would say “Ahhh” with a satisfying tone which threw off most of the male soldiers. There were a select few that did mention that they felt more energized whenever Klein let out a grunt, so it looks like it had its ups and downs.

Stara was blessed with mana, and she had the ability to heal almost the deadliest of injuries. However, Stara never got to master her affinity fully, so she still had to chant out her spells which took a toll on her. After every spell, she would call for the soldiers to guard her to allow her to drink water out of a water bottle. Surprisingly, there were plenty of soldiers who were willing to provide their own water for her, but it was more likely for inappropriate reasons.

Derr was given pure strength, and it was said that he was the only one who could barely match up with Tryne in terms of a fist fight. He was the tank of the group, and he used his large body to run through all of the demon soldiers. Even if fifty demon soldiers charged at him, Derr was confident that his brute strength would be able to overcome the challenges. However, he was quick to get tired and would let out huge exhales after taking five steps.

The five heroes dominated through the demon ranks, and it boosted the morale of the soldiers. While it looked like the human soldiers were reaching their downfall, the Heroes continued to pour out all of their efforts to change the tides.

The demon army started to dissipate slowly as the war progressed. The ogres started tumbling down, the vampires were being shot down, and the demon soldiers started to face numerous casualties. As they pushed further in, General Yor started to realize that his troops might not be enough. It was clear that the humans were at an advantage. In a panic, he let out his wings and tried to fly away.

“Why are the humans so strong? I can go to another castle, I can make up excuses. I’m definitely not going to die by one of these humans, and I definitely am not going to see the King,” he thought to himself nervously as he tried to rush away.

“Ahhhh,” a sound of pleasure could be heard.

An arrow whizzed by and struck General Yor’s right wing.

“Nice one, Klein!” yelled Tryne with a thumbs up.

“As expected,” said Klein with a smirk.

The five heroes walked towards General Yor as he tried to crawl away. Tryne grabbed the top of the arrow and twisted it while it was still stuck to his wing.

“Ahh! Get away from me, you dirty human!” yelled General Yor.

“Wow Klein, he actually still has strength to crawl even after being hit by your paralysis arrow,” said Derr as he crouched down and poked General Yor.

“I wanna try that too!” exclaimed Stara as she also started poking his body with her staff.

“Stop defiling me, this is why we hate you humans! You always think you stand above the rest even though you’re all filthy. Don’t even think about —”

A sword whiffed through quickly and sent Yor’s head flying. It flew and bounced off the floor three times.

“Why can’t anyone ever shut up around here?” said Lestia as she flicked her sword to clear off the blood from the blade.

The other five heroes looked at each other before looking back at her. They let out a laugh as Lestia looked away to hide her embarrassment.

“Lestia, I was still poking him!” said Stara as she continued laughing.

“This is why I always thought you were the best one for me, Lestia,” said Tryne while wiping the tears from his eyes from laughing. Lestia got even redder and punched Tryne in the stomach. Tryne laid down on the floor as everyone started laughing.

Tryne got up, and he grabbed General Yor’s head. He took in another inhale and exhaled again before leaping onto the castle. With a loud yell, he said, “Everyone, the last Demon General of this castle has been defeated. We have won!”

The soldiers on the battlefield all yelled in triumph as the demons were in disbelief that the person they regarded as the strongest among them had died. They all dropped their weapons and fell down at their feet. The soldiers gathered up all the demons and put them in handcuffs. They tied chains around their legs to make sure that they would all be together.

“Let us now take our spoils of war and head home!” yelled Tryne. Everyone cheered as the long fought battle over the castle had finally ended. It had become tradition to take any leftover demons from the battle to the Kingdom, so they could do be slaves or participate in the Coliseum.

This battle would be known as the Hero's Battle, since it established the Hero’s overwhelming win over the Demon Kingdom.