Oracle knew that the end was near. He knew that soon, the capital would be brought to its knees, that soon the entire kingdom was about to undergo a shift. The upheaval of a new era, one with a brand new world. The Kingdom of Cytel was merely the first step of many, but perhaps the most important.
Once Cytel was gone, the gates to a vast new world would open. To a world where demons serve humankind, to a world where fearing monsters was something of the past. It was time for humans to be their own gods, it was time for the Primordial Spirits to be replaced, and through the demons, it all was going to be possible.
Of course, it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, sacrifices were required. But it was a small price to pay in the large scheme of things. Those that were killed, those that were sacrificed, all would be venerated as heroes in the future. They would be the ones that paved the way for the new era to begin.
Demons had once been beings of fear, but people were wrong. They were beings that could be controlled, beings that did not belong to this realm and had restrictions due to them. Restrictions that could be exploited. He had passed his knowledge to those in the inner circle, but soon enough it would become available for anyone to access.
And when that happened, when everyone had access to such strength, all of the fear of the world would be gone. He would act as the arbiter of the new world, and with such a system in place, peace soon would come.
However before peace, there must be turmoil.
Oracle raised his head looking at a gigantic ritual circle. It was the biggest they had ever created, and it was to summon a single demon. A powerful one, one that even the Arcane Council would have trouble dealing with. With all the preparations complete, the time to call them forth was near.
A demon from the depths, a demon that soon would be part of this world, and when that happened—
“The new era will begin,” he whispered to himself, his voice only for him to hear.
He had prepared for so long, and at last, his efforts were about to be rewarded. In the past, he had been called crazy, he had been told that his research was fruitless and taboo, and that more anything it wouldn’t succeed. But they were wrong, he had succeeded, and now he was about to achieve his magnum opus.
And it all began by summoning this demon. A Demon of Genesis. One of the first demons. And now, it was going to come to this world.
He stared at the circle.
“Soon…”
And he paused, an alarm had been triggered. Oracle had lived a long life, a very long one, he wasn’t stupid enough to underestimate the capabilities of the kingdom he was planning to take down. Through one reason or another they had found out about the plan, and now they were acting to stop it.
But he couldn’t let that happen.
He swept his gaze across the room of people, they all stood at the edge of the summoning circle and all of them were channeling their mana into it. Then, finally as his gaze landed on the man right next to him he made his decision.
“Emil.” His voice reached his disciple who immediately tensed and turned towards him.
“What can I do for you master?”
“The knights have invaded this sacred place,” Oracle said simply. “Take care of it, you are one of my most trusted disciples and most capable ones.”
Emil paused, even though his face couldn’t be seen from his robe, Oracle could tell the man was happy.
“Right away master.”
Emil nodded and with those words he turned and departed. Oracle nodded and turned to regard all of the people present.
“Sound the alarms, expedit the ritual, and let’s take the captain down once in for all!” His voice boomed. “The knights are here, do not fail!”
A booming yes came in response and various people moved.
Oracle shook his head, it was all pointless, it was pointless for the people to try to stop what was happening, the ritual wouldn’t be stopped. This wasn’t the only summoning site, far from it, even if it this one failed, hell would still be unleashed upon the capital.
He closed his eyes.
“The capital is going to fall, and the start of the new era will begin.”
And he continued the ritual as his disciple went underway.
* * *
It was time.
It was time for Emil to prove his worth, or rather for him to truly shine. He had trained for a very long time just for a moment like this. For a moment to serve Oracle. He had been devout in his research, and while it was a shame that he couldn’t directly aid to the ritual circles himself, he arguably had a much more important task.
And that is to fight the knights that dared to try to stop this ceremony. And he wasn’t going to only fight, he was going to exterminate them. He was going to annihilate them. He was going to fulfill the order he was given with the greatest efficiency he could.
Ever since he was a child, he had been guided by Oracle. While the man hadn’t always been by his side, his teachings had accompanied him all his life, and now it was time for him to serve his purpose.
Emil pulled his staff out of his cloak, while he had a talent in summoning demons much like the people here, his main strength resided in a different school of magic altogether. And now, it was time for him to show this prowess.
He had heard great things of the Royal Knights, and now it was time to see how he compared to them.
A smile crept up his face as he strode forward. He could already hear the sounds of battle, he could feel the blood in the rooms ahead, and he could just tell already that he was going to have so much fun.
Immediately, Emil stepped around the corner and had a knight come at him. He stepped to the side and tapped his staff to the ground.
“Nice try, but I can sense you.” His staff began to glow. “[Dismember].”
In a moment, blood exploded all around the extremities of the knight that had just attacked him. The knight with white armor stumbled forward, blood leaking from his armor. Emil snickered and turned away. Perhaps he had expected too much—
And he stepped to the side as the knight’s sword barely missed. He raised his brow and smiled.
“Perhaps I underestimated you a bit.” He pointed his staff, and began to channel his magic. “[Fall].”
A purple grow encompassed the knight and made him hit the ground. Just like that he was incapacitated. It was a pity overall. Even though the knight had trained a lot and was even higher level than him, he couldn’t actually do anything.
Such were the difference between their powers and classes after all.
Emil raised his staff at the man again and this time a savage grin spread across his face.
“I had been so wary of you, but turns out that you are this weak— [Rebound], [Swing].”
A purple light tethered onto the man and then Emil swung. He slammed the knight into the wall, and then he bounced off and hit another wall with a splash of blood. And just like that, an unstoppable chain of bounces started one that caused more and more blood to come until—
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
[You have defeated a [Warrior. Lvl. 143].]
Emil blinked. “Oh he died.”
He hadn’t expected that, he thought that the Royal Knights would be so much more powerful, but it turned out that they weren’t. It turned out that they were weak. They were only human. He on the other hand, had surpassed what it meant to be human. He had changed his body, demonified it, all to surpass the limits of his own humanity.
And he knew that soon, he would do that, soon he would acquire a Legacy Branch, and by then he would become unstoppable. That said, he had been worried about having to use his strongest spell, but it seemed that his worries were unfounded.
Though now, that didn’t exactly matter. This was his ticket at leveling, this was his ticket and ganining more recognition from Oracle. And more than anything, it was something that allowed him to further his goals while helping Oracle’s.
He was going to protect the ritual, do it in the most effective way possible, and grow stronger.
And these people were his fuel.
He smiled and cocked his head— an arrow flew by.
“Come on now, do you really think that will work on me?” he asked with a grin.
He pointed his staff ahead into the darkness and with a burst of magic he called.
“[Pull].” A purple tether went ahead and then there was a moment of thrashing before a knight was brought over— going past him and hitting the wall. A loud crack resounded and Emil raised his brow. “A shame that there aren’t that many knights here, you all are spread around like insects.”
The archer knight huffed and slowly stood up, raising his bow at Emil.
“Well at least you got willpower.” He pointed. “[Deflect].”
A moment later the archer shot and— his shoulder exploded with blood. The knight collapsed on the ground with a sharp grunt, he raised his head looking at him with hatred but Emil just raised his brow.
“So you were aiming at my shoulder? What happened to aiming at my head?”
The knight in response glared but was unable to move.
“You can’t heal yourself either?” he tilted his head as he walked forward. “I guess you are only here to give experience.”
He stood before the angry knight and with a swing of his staff— the knight’s head snapped the other way. Just like that yet another knight had been felled. Emil was disappointed, but then again they weren’t the products of rigorous and torturous training like he had endured. It wasn’t for nothing that Oracle had entrusted him with this.
It was because he was one of the top disciples! He was one of the strongest ones! And while he had been cautious of the knights at first, now he knew better, now he knew what they truly were:
Trash.
There was a lot of disappointment, but at the same time a big rise in confidence. In the end, he had been downplaying his strengths, he had always been taught to be humble, but there was no reason to do so. At least not here.
Emil smiled and turned towards the darkness, he turned to the darkness ahead and immediately walked forward. This was going to be fun. There were knights to hunt after all. His walk quickly turned into a small jog.
But just as he was about to round the corner, he paused. His head craning towards a wall.
“So that’s where more of you people are?” A smile formed on his face, then he raised his staff. “[Reposition]”
And he slammed it.
In a single moment he found himself in a different room, where some of his fellow companions were getting slaughtered by two knights. The ritual in this room had been interrupted, which was—
“Unforgivable!” Emil screamed and pointed at the first knight. “[Pull]!”
The knight was tethered and thrown towards him, but that wasn’t enough to kill him, no far from it.
“[Dismember]!”
Blood exploded from within the knight’s armor cracks as he screamed, then a moment later he hit the wall with a loud bang and a cracking sound. But Emil knew better than to stop there, instead he continued his spell casting.
“[Swing].”
Another tether hit the knight, and with the movement of his staff he swung the knight against the wall again and again and again. Blood began to litter the surroundings and now he was going to finish it—
“[Deflect].”
A swing came from behind before a loud grunt resounded. Blood exploded behind him and he looked to see a kneeling knight captain. It was a woman, surprisingly.
“I see you are eager to die, but wait for your turn,” he said and then he turned to the fallen knight. “[Distort].”
And he blew up. Chunks of armor and flesh streaked across the hall. Then, he dodged a sword swing from the captain and he pointed his staff at her.
“[Fall].”
The knight captain collapsed onto the ground with a loud thud. She was gritting her teeth, and if he was honest it was an admirable effort but it wasn’t enough. It most certainly wasn’t enough. The fact that he didn’t so much as consider using his trump card, was proof of it.
He would only use it against an opponent that seemed untouchable, one that felt untouchable.
A chuckle left him as he looked at the knight.
“Really? I heard such great things about the Royal Knights, and this is all you can do?” he scoffed. “Disappointing.”
He raised his staff at the captain.
“I can’t believe you are the strongest here.”
“The strongest?” the woman chuckled. “I’m not the strongest here.”
Emil paused at that and raised his brow, that had certainly gotten his interest. The knight captains were supposed to be the strongest, was there another captain roaming? That in itself wasn’t surprising, but somehow, he had a feeling that the woman wasn’t talking about that.
“Then who is the strongest?”
She looked behind and a moment later a wave of flames erupted from the end of the hall. Three of his companions went flying, combusting into flames before even hitting the ground. Emil blinked, looking at the raining ash. And the captain spoke.
“She is.”
With her words, Emil saw a woman with a flaming sword walk out. And she was—
[Warrior. Lvl. 119]
Weak.
He laughed. “Is this some kind of sick joke—”
And he moved to the side, a phantom slash passed by his arm from behind him. Emil grunted as embers ignited on his arm. He felt as if he had been cut multiple times from that slash. He looked behind only to see the brown haired woman already swinging his sword at him.
This time with better dexterity he dodged the swing and the after attack, and then he raised his staff and pointed.
“[Fall].”
A purple light enveloped the woman and she— continued her assault. Emil was forced to block with his staff as his chest was cut open and he frowned.
What was happening? He didn’t understand it. Why didn’t my spell affect her.
He backed off. “[Deflect].”
And she swung— her sword bounced and he smiled except— nothing else happened. Emil was forced to take another step back as he pointed.
“[Dismember], [Distort]!”
Two of his most powerful spells went off back to back. However, aside from causing ripples across the woman’s skin they did absolutely nothing.
“Why does nothing work on you!” he screamed.
The woman swung and he was forced to block. His shoulder was sliced open, even though his previous wound was already healing he still suppressed a scream in pain.
“Guess you’re just not strong enough,” she said.
Not strong enough!?
Emil continued to fight a losing battle and that’s when he realized— he had no choice but to use that. His final attack. His ultimate move. The thing he had to use against those he couldn’t touch. Against those that threatened his life. He was bleeding from all over, and he knew it was only going to get worse.
He had thought he wasn’t going to need to use that, but it seemed that he was wrong. A smile spread across his lips, his magic charging into his staff.
“You have gained my respect, you must have a Legacy Branch,” he said simply.
The woman didn’t visibly react as she tried to behead him, but Emil endured, charging his attack. His glowing staff continued to build up its magic, the light coming from it increasing by the second.
This attack would even vaporize those resistant to this school of magic— it was his ultimate trump-card.
The woman teleported behind him but he saw her moves coming.
“[Bind]!” He slammed his staff.
At that, thorny vines spread across her legs as she paused there and Emil turned with his staff, pointing at her point blank.
“Got you.”
He smiled wickedly, the rest of his mana concentrating on his throat as he used his strongest attack.
“[Cursed Extinction].”
And a blast of purple light engulfed the woman. It broke through the wall as flames, cuts and explosions alike all went off. Emil’s boots slid on the ground as the blast from his continuous attack gradually pushed him back. Everything that was touched by Cursed Extinction would cease to exist. Oracle had dubbed it his ultimate weapon, and one of the strongest skills that could be obtained.
The blast of purple gradually turned white as the ground and ceiling cracked. Even the knight captain seemed to be gaping at what was happening, and for good reason. Even the ground nearby was beginning to get cut by the concentration of energy, it was beginning to explode in chunks by the supernatural energies at play.
And that was just from being nearby, the person on the receiving end would be erased from existence. The attack began to fade, as smoke billowed. There was nothing that could potentially survive such a powerful attack. There was absolutely nothing, not even a level 150 could—
And Emil’s eyes went wide.
“What the fuck…”
There, the woman stood, and she was… unscathed.
“Are you done?” she asked, cracking her neck.