Territory

     We had begun to move again. As we traveled, I tried to get used to the new abilities I possessed. Crab abilities? Shell armor, can make crab legs and claws pretty much anywhere. Weird finger thing abilities? Just...really long and sharp fingers? They had longer reach than the crab legs, but only came from my hands.

“You can stop playin’ with yourself over there. We’re getting closer.”

     I looked over to Libero, then around. It all looked pretty similar to everywhere else thus far, but then I realized that we were on an incline. It had all been mostly flat up to this point, but here there was this tall hill. What’s more is that Libero was right, the place we had been heading, the demon suit’s territory was getting closer.

“How did you know? I didn’t even say anything.”

“The only places with bodies stacked this high are settlements. I figured our lead might’ve come from one, seein’ as he was working with others.”

     I thought so. The ground was never made of rocks or soil or anything. There was no wind or microbes to break anything down. This whole land was made of dead demons, and as we climbed the hill, the corpses seemed more and more fresh.

“Eyes forward.”

     Down the hill came yet another corpse. I moved aside to evade the mangled mass of whatever that creature was supposed to look like, then looked forward again. I could hear sounds now. Clashing, crushing, grunting and groaning, smashing and tossing, all kinds of violent sounds mingling together and growing louder as we approached.

     As we crested the top, even Libero halted in place, followed by Siti and myself. It was a battlefield. Demons of all shapes and sizes fighting each other. Giants using their immense size and strength to crush smaller ones, only to be swarmed by flying and crawling monsters that cut and tore its huge body apart. Some were more beastly in shape with claws and fangs, moving with speed and power, others seemed more insectoid with odd shapes and hard carapaces. They all were ferociously tearing at each other madly, and for what?

“What is all this?”

“The outskirts of a settlement. Demons are drawn to other demons. They try to kill each other, take their territory and grow stronger, only for another demon to come along and kill them too.”

“I kind of felt it, but I still don’t understand, what is a demon’s ‘territory?’”

“It’s everything down here. A little piece of the demon realm that holds power. The us demons are just a product of our territories. A tool for the territory to defend itself or conquer others. When a demon gets killed, they just come back to life in their territory, as if nothin’ happened. Now enough chatter, we’re going through.”

“Wha- through THAT?! Hey!”

     But he had already started running through. I was going to follow, but as I watched, I noticed that the demons around him seemed to vanish. They just...disintegrated. It was as if just getting near him erased them. No, there were demons in random places around the battlefield disappearing too, ones that weren’t even near him.

“Don’t just stand there, follow him!”

     I looked back to Siti, then followed her as she rushed past on her mount. We aimed for a clearing created by Libero, but what few demons got in the way were trampled or pulverized by Siti’s creature.

“What’s happening to them? What is Libero doing?”

“Right, he never told you about himself. He’s consuming their territories. Normally, one demon’s territory would have to be touching the one they’re trying to consume, and even then, it’d only consume a little at a time. But Libero is different. Libero is the demon of freedom. According to him, he’s the only demon who can move his territory and with it, engulf and swallow another demon’s territory as long as it’s smaller than his own.”

“How big is his territory? He’s destroying them all over the place!”

“Ah, you probably never noticed since you’ve been inside his territory from the very beginning.”

     She was right. I had no idea. Among all the other strange things I could sense with the demon suit, I couldn’t really tell territories. But, thinking back, when I integrated the crab and finger demons, I could sense their territories and, from them, that they were completely surrounded by another one that was so much larger. As if an elephant was pressing down on an ant. He could have swallowed them at any time, but must’ve left them so that I could still use their power. Even now, when I concentrate, I can feel dozens of smaller territories from the demons around us, but they were quickly disappearing, like bubbles popping under an enormous pressure over all of us.

     Yet even with demons vanishing left and right, the ones that remained charged at us with no regard for their own lives. Their territories must have been somewhere else, somewhere beyond Libero’s boundaries. Claws, fangs, spikes, horns, and bodies were thrown at us as their previous opponents vanished.

     I just kept running. I ran, I leapt, I ducked and slid, I used the crab legs to push myself up and the long fingers to reel myself in, only retaliating if there was no other option but to knock them out of the way. I felt stronger, like my senses were sharp, but if any one of these caught me or stopped me, I’d be piled on in an instant.

     To my side, I witnessed how Siti dealt with her problems. Those in front were trampled or knocked aside, but those that came from the side were met with numerous whips that her arms had morphed into. She’d slap them away or wrap them and toss them into others. I had never seen her personally take action, but the beautiful, fragile appearance she took on hid how strong she was.

“How much longer do we have to run through this?!”

“Not too much further, look ahead!”

     I looked ahead and after avoiding a few more attempted attacks, I could see something beyond the endless battle. It was long, flat in color, and stretched out to the left and right. I wondered how I missed it before, but I must’ve been distracted by the battle around me. It wall. It seemed about two stories high, and it seemed like its exterior was either composed of, or covered with, various kinds of shells and scales from the demons that lived and died around here. Even the gate seemed to be made of giant slabs of carapace that must’ve come from one large demon. The area in front of it seemed clear of demons, but there was a familiar smell, something different from the surrounding air and blackened smears across the ground.

“Wait, don’t get too close!”

“But what about all the demons around us?! What about Libero?”

“Wha-? That idiot!”

     As we slowed down, I saw the crowd of demons encroaching upon us, but through them, I saw Libero charging towards the wall, not caring to stop. But the moment he stepped out from the crowd, a thunderous clap ripped through the air and a bright flash of lightning struck him where he stood and blinding all who once gazed upon him.