Chapter 20- The demon king

The demon could faze, and it had alertness. It had what I thought was unique only to me. It copied what made me… me. The way it grinned at us, seeming like it was having the time of its life, just looking at its smug look made me mad.

Cocky bastard.

It had all the skills I used. Does that mean it copied my energy and attributes? If it didn't, it means it should be reaching its limit.

I checked on Jacob. He was breathing heavily, with steam leaving his body. His skill seemed to take a lot out of him.

With quick steps, I closed in on the demon, kicking its leg off the ground and slamming my fist into its chest with internal destruction. It spits blood on my face and wailed in pain.

It held its chest, seemingly shocked at what had happened. Then I unleashed a barrage of attacks on its chest, its body writhing in response, pain written across its features.

My foot slammed into the ground, and with essence as my base, I ripped through its chest. It's dead, I thought.

I pulled out my hand and smiled at how I had caught it off guard. But then something clicked. It had alertness, so why did it take my attack? Then I heard Jacob cough.

But why would he cough? I looked at him. His arm was missing, a disgusting wound was on his head, his eyes were red, and he was coughing up blood.

I then looked at the demon I killed; it turned into flames.. One of the towers of flame bent at the demon's will, it created a dragon, a beast made out of flame. I could swear I heard it roar. The dragon came at me. I lifted my hand covered in essence.

The dragon landed on the wall. My arm was burnt to a crisp, the pain was staggering. With quick steps, I closed the distance between us.

The demon dropped to its knees. That was its last attack. The demon wasn't like me; it didn't have high attributes.

To burn through so much essence and mana push its body to the limit, I walked toward him, hatred and rage filling me. Jacob was probably dead by kow; he didn't have a healing skill. Fire couldn't heal.

No, maybe it could, but his fire couldn't heal him. His death was his fault as much as it was mine. Which saddens me, but not enough to make me cry.

In the demon's eyes, Connor was a demon, a demon of death. The aura he released was evil. The demon saw a monster with large fangs, black abyssal eyes, and a towering body, with blood running down its eyes.

Before it knew it, Connor had pierced its heart. It wailed in pain, trembling at the thought of a monster like that existing.

15 minutes until the final boss

The pain I was facing was something else. With my right hand burnt to a crisp, and my chest and head hurting from the demon's internal destruction, I could barely stand.

"I am lucky," I thought, as a smirk rose to my face.

Some wouldn't survive this. My bloodline made me durable; my body didn't fall apart under pressure, which is one of the only attributes that separated me from the rest.

Blood ran down my nose. I wiped it away and looked at Jacob. I stood up, my knees hurting. I fell on my side.

I spat out blood and said, "I take back what I said. The dungeon is here to kill us; it's not here to teach us shit."

I spat out more blood. The fucking demon hit me in the head. "It lied. Those demons weren't fire warriors. None of them were. They didn't even spit a drop of flame."

But I didn't hear anything. I cried out, fearing that Jacob didn't hear me. I crawled to the hole he was in. Tears welled up in my eyes.

He looked dead.

His arms were missing, one of his eyes was gone, blood leaking out of his mouth. I lifted his head to my face, and I could hear his cry. Small, but still there.

"Old man," he said, with tears running down one of his eyes as he grabbed my hand.

"Do not cry for me. I have paid for my sins." He spat blood with those words.

I pushed healing essence towards his wounds, but he pushed my hand away. "Do not waste your essence, old man. I am afraid, its no good.

"Many said it's more comforting than life, but it's not. I love living. I love fire, and I love you." His hand dropped lifelessly to the ground.

I stared into his red eyes. The bright flame was out. He didn't keep his promise; he died on me.

I hardened my finger with essence, hardening it to the point where I felt the essence destroying my finger. I pushed into his chest, held his heart, and transferred all the healing essence I had.

It wasn't working, until I heard a cough. It was Jacob. The motherfucker was alive. I pulled out my hand.

I looked up into his eyes and said, "You know, kid, I have seen my share of death. I have seen so much that I wonder how I'm not dead yet. I have killed so many that it surprises me they haven't killed me. But I've come to understand that I love life more than anything. And I shouldn't have thrown it away. I should have killed everyone in that fucking Wayne family, but I chose the easy road."

I raised my hand and willed my skill, Essence Absorption. Right in front of my eyes, the dead withered, from headless bodies to bones and skulls. Then I transformed the abundance of essence into healing essence, The wounds I had on my body healed, and the injuries I had sustained closed.

I then touched Jacob's head and transferred that same energy. His wounds started to close at a rapid speed. His arms began to reappear, his eyes were brand new.

The skulls and bones started to turn to dust. He jumped up and shouted, "I'm fucking alive! Old fossil, you didn't tell me you had something like that. What is that skill called?"

"Essence Absorption," I said as I read the timer. Just 10 minutes remaining. "Jacob, do you have any more skills that you haven't used?"

"I have four skills I got from my class: True Fire, Twin Flame, Transfer, and lastly, Overheat and one I bought which is fire manipulation"

"Most of my skills are something I can't do by myself. Based on what I understand about skills, they make us achieve the impossible. They break the barriers."

"For example, I knew a man who could turn invisible. None of us can create a skill like that at this stage. As a matter of fact, none of us can perform our skills without the system."

"So skills are a way to achieve the impossible," I said.

"Yes. I looked at your skills, Faze and Essence Absorption. None of them make any sense, but still, you can do them, and that's what skills are."

I nodded in understanding, readying myself. I had healed, and the amount of essence I possessed had been replenished through essence absorption.

A demon king exited the portal, holding two heads in each of its hands. It had a crown-shaped horn and wore a cape reminiscent of those worn by Eastern kings and queens. Despite its menacing appearance, it seemed more like it was greeting its subjects rather than coming to fight us.

The demons dropped their heads, and I watched them roll across the ground. This guy was putting on a show, and I had no interest in being part of it. Raising my hands, I prepared for battle, determined to use everything at my disposal without holding back.

The demon lifted its right leg, and suddenly I was kicked, my body crashing into the ground. If it weren't for my boxing stance, I would have been dead. Blood dripped down my face from my head as I pushed myself out of the crater, staggering backward and struggling to maintain my balance. Everything around me was spinning. The demon was a true copy of me, always aiming for the head.

I pushed myself to the side just as it lunged at me. I ducked, feeling a strong pressure pass over my head. With quick steps, I dodged three blue spears of flame. This motherfucker. I could feel the heat from where I stood and knew I'd be dead if they hit me.

The demon king came at me again, likely knowing he couldn't catch me with quick steps alone. The thing about quick steps is that there's a split second between using the skill and attacking. This time he punched at me, but I jumped backward just out of his reach. To my surprise, he followed up with a spin and a right hand. Timing it perfectly, I got into his zone and used internal destruction, landing my right hand on his chest. But he fraze through it, and before I knew it, my hands were turning blacker. He touched my left hand.

Fear gripped me as I looked at my left hand. Fuck. He got me good. Death mana began to invade my hand, and for the first time, I felt true fear. There wasn't any pain, or so I thought. I could feel an invasion, something foreign. My body screamed at me to stop whatever was happening.

Immediately, I covered my right hand in essence and ripped my left hand off, throwing it to the ground. Death mana began to corrupt it. Looking away from my hand, I focused on the demon king. Throughout everything, it hadn't attacked me, waiting to see me succumb to death from my own skill.

I laughed. That was its mistake. If I were it, I would have attacked. Why wait?

Straightening myself, I started walking towards him, blood dripping from my missing hand. I was ready to use external destruction—my term for it anyway. Then the demon king created a copy.

I began to walk backward. This guy was clearly cheating. It used phase, blue flame, death mana, quick step, and now twin flame. If that wasn't cheating, I didn't know what was.

But to my surprise, his clone began to turn into flame. It was Jacob. I could hear his laughter in the background.

"That's my nigga," I nodded in approval.

I blasted myself at the demon with a quick step, punching at its head. It dodged easily, but I had expected that. I spun and swung my hand, predicting it would duck, and slammed my foot into its chest. The demon flew back, rolling on the ground. With alert, I dodged three fire spears, giving it time to heal its chest.

To its surprise, Jacob appeared behind it. The demon was so focused on me that it forgot about Jacob. A wall of blue flames enclosed the demon, forcing it to jump into the air. At that moment, I struck it with a soul strike. Blood ran down its nose, and its eyes lost focus. I hit it with internal destruction, sending it flying back into the blue flames. My hands were already covered in black mist. I pushed death mana outward, combining it with internal destruction. It turned into a pink ball, which fell on the demon, wrapping it fully and expanding, tearing it apart.

I dropped to the ground and said, "Finish him." Jacob's blue flames enclosed the demon, sealing its fate.

Everything started to turn to dust, and my tent stone flowed towards me—something that had never happened before. Then my surroundings turned white. My body shook with fear. It had just happened. I looked around, but Jacob was nowhere to be found. I was alone again.

Pillars began to appear out of nowhere, falling from the sky in an amazing display. These massive structures reached into the sky, seemingly piercing through it into space, beyond the clouds that block the ceiling.

Picture of Pillars 

Did someone build this place? Was it gods? Maybe it was God. If it was God, there had to be a reason, or perhaps it was just to show off.

I stopped my train of thought and began to walk. I had no reason to walk, but it was better than standing still and doing nothing.

Then something changed. The pillars were no longer smooth; some had cracks, holes, or sharp surfaces. The more I walked, the more varied they became. Some had water on them, while others had flames flickering in and out. Some were wrapped in veins. The pillars seemed to represent something deeper, though I had no clue what that meaning could be.

A pillar in front of me cracked and fell from the sky. I expected a domino effect, but it crumbled inward and turned to dust. I walked towards it and grabbed some of the pebbles, which immediately turned into dust in my hand. I looked up at the sky. Beyond the white clouds, a hideous creature with a large forehead and mouth but no eyes gazed down at me.

Then something struck my eyes. They burned, and the pain travelled to my head. I held my head in agony, blood running down my face. I struggled not to cry out. The pain lasted for a few minutes.

System protection enabled.

Then the monster was gone and the pain disappeared. My vision was blurry for a short second until I sent healing essence to it.

I exhaled in relief, glad to know that the system had my back.

Then, all the pillars disappeared.

Question of the day, what do you think the pillars signify?