Demon Lord

There was tension in the air. The Demon Lord stood confidently on the opposite side of the arena, waiting for his opponents to close the distance.

Calum, however, did no such thing. He held tightly onto his sword but did not move. Kia stayed by his side, anticipating an attack.

“We can’t stay like this forever, Demon Lord!” Calum raised his voice to make up for the distance between them.

The Demon Lord threw his arms out. “Then it seems we’ve reached an impasse!”

A bolt of lightning crashed down on Calum’s location, and he rolled out of the way, narrowly avoiding getting struck.

“Just kidding! I have magic, you know! If you don’t come to me, you’ll lose!” The Demon Lord laughed and sent another bolt hurling down at Calum.

Calum tumbled to avoid the attack and clicked his tongue in frustration. “Looks like we don’t have a choice.”

Kia dodged a lightning strike that was aimed at her. “He’s baiting us, Calum.”

“I know, but we can’t do anything from this distance.”

“Can’t you use divine magic? Hit him with a Divine Smite or something!”

During the conversation, Calum and Kia continuously dodged lightning bolts. “It’s hard to use those spells when I’m constantly on the run like this!” It’s true. Divine magic requires concentration to use, and he can’t concentrate when he’s dodging lightning bolts every few seconds.

He looked back at Tilaya and Erik who were several paces behind them. Tilaya was crouched next to Erik, clutching her staff and whispering a spell.

“Are you two chatting over there? Did you forget that you’re supposed to be fighting me?”

Calum jumped out of the way of a lightning bolt and charged at the Demon Lord, quickly closing the gap between them. The Faestinger glowed brighter the closer he got to him.

“Calum!” Kia groaned and jumped into the fray, assailing the Demon Lord from the opposite side of Calum.

“That’s more like it…” The Demon Lord raised his hand and a blood red katana appeared in his hand. Bright red flames engulfed the blade.

A fireball launched itself at the Demon Lord, announcing that Tilaya was ready to fight. Erik sprinted down the middle to join the fight.

A barrier formed in front of the Demon Lord, blocking Tilaya’s spell. With a downward thrust with his flaming sword, a wave of unnaturally red flames headed toward Erik, who skillfully dodged to the side. It continued until it hit the wall.

The flames continued to burn, separating Erik and Tilaya from Calum and Kia. With another strike, fire cut off Erik’s advance, completely separating him from the fight.

“Don’t touch the fire!” Kia grit her teeth. “I heard about the Demon Lord’s fire… it never extinguishes on its own, and it instantly incinerates anything it touches.”

Calum rushed at the Demon Lord and struck. Whenever his sword glowed, it cut through anything like butter. His opponent made no attempt to dodge.

An ear-piercing ring accompanied the collision of the hero and Demon Lord’s swords.

His eyes widened. The Demon Lord blocked his attack without his weapon taking any damage.

A grin spread on the Demon Lord’s face. With a kick, Calum was sent flying.

Kia followed with a speedy attack to his back, but the Demon Lord spun around and sliced low with his burning sword, launching a wave of fire at her legs.

She immediately jumped back, scarcely avoiding the flames.

Calum recovered and plowed toward his enemy with a yell. His weapon radiated a gold color on top of the usual purple–the telltale sign of Tilaya’s weapon enchantment. The Demon Lord blocked his first blow, and then the second, then the third. Calum continued his onslaught, hoping he would get a hit on his opponent.

While their blades clashed, Kia swept in from the back and silently rushed the Demon Lord from behind.

The Demon Lord turned around to attack Kia. He attempted to kick Calum away, but he jumped out of the way. The Faestinger glowed brighter than ever before as it made a deep cut in the Demon Lord’s upper arm.

With a howl, the Demon Lord punched Calum, but his fist never made contact. Calum had leaped back and was now preparing to attack again. He turned toward Calum, but daggers pierced his skin the moment he turned his back on Kia.

A giant ray of golden light shot from behind the wall of flames, aimed directly at the Demon Lord. A smile crept on his lips and he held his arm out. The light stopped at his palm, and the air around him darkened. He stood up and chuckled. “Thanks for the magic!”

A shockwave threw everyone to the floor as the Demon Lord launched off the ground and flew high into the sky. He raised his sword in the air. A black cloud emerged from the tip and swirled above the arena, rapidly increasing in size.

Calum unleashed an enormous wave of light at the Demon Lord.

When it looked like his spell was about to hit, the Demon Lord warped safely to the side. Calum launched another attack, but it was evaded the same way. Several more waves of light shot into the air, but none of them were able to hit the Demon Lord. Calum breathed hard. He was running low on Divine Power.

The wounds the Demon Lord had sustained from Calum and Kia magically closed. “It looks like this is the end for you, hero!”

Hundreds of jet-black bolts shot out of the cloud.

Tilaya placed a barrier over everyone. It took all her willpower to maintain it.

The black spears rained down, pounding against the barriers. Calum chanted, and a bolt of light crashed down on the Demon Lord.

When the blinding light disappeared, the Demon Lord stood where he was, completely unscathed.

“Divine Smite didn’t do anything…” Calum fell to his knees. He only had enough Divine Power for one more spell.

Tilaya’s barrier wore off as soon as the deadly rain ended.

Looking back up, Calum’s eyes widened. The Demon Lord was gone.

That’s when he heard it.

The sound of a blade piercing flesh.

The gargled gasp of the victim.

The sound of blood splatter.

Calum looked to his right, afraid of what he’d see.

The Demon Lord stood behind Kia. His fiendish blade had stabbed through Kia’s back and emerged on the other side. He yanked it out, splattering more blood to the ground.

Kia fell to the earth with a thud.

Tears streamed down Calum’s cheeks. “KIA!!!!!!”