No more chances

There is no moon on the sky tonight yet the night is bright today. The darkness is stained by the fire's light all over the place. Sometimes a lighting crossing across the battlefield brightens the night even further with its strong brightness. Many demons are actually burning all over their bodies with a never ending fire that does not consume their bodies at all. I originally thought that such demons would make easy targets but looking at how they are doing it seems to be alright. They are indeed easy to spot but what isn't in this battlefield? Furthermore they take all the attention to themselves leaving the ones lurking in the little dark of this battlefield to attack oblivious enemies.

The night is full of sounds tonight. Men scream and cry. The sound of weapons clashing against each other. The dust and rocks being tossed around. Fire. Ice. Water. Thunder. Everything creates different sound.

Somehow I feel the night is beautiful today. It is not a night like any other night one. It's brighter. It's louder. It's just different. But somewhere deep in my soul I know. I know this night is tragic. I know this night is the last one for many and a new beginning for many more. The determination on the men eyes is clear. They fight believing in a better tomorrow. My demons fight for a worse one. We fight for ruin. They fight for a future.

The hero in front has a strong determination in his eyes, stronger than any other person in this place. Despise the hard battle he has fought till now his strength seems just the same as we started. No it may even be more. There is only another place where I have seen such a thing. Hell. There one had to fight constantly. One becomes stronger with each fight. That's true in every place but in hell it's taken to the extreme. In hell one has to fight without any rest. There's almost no time for any reflection or thoughts. An immense anger keeps one fighting. Learning in such condition isn't easy. But we got no other choice. Those who kept a bit of their reason were able sometimes to learn faster than any other. They forced themselves to prove new moves and learn the better ones from the countless enemies. They eventually lose their sanity too. I know it well. But they were able to learn fast and they did so with anything but pure determination.

The same determination I can now see in his eyes. I never thought he was this good. I was mistaken. I know well the price of being mistaken. There's no way I haven't learnt after all this time. I know it well.

I look to the side. The heroine is struggling to defend herself from all the demons around her. A little further away I can sense people approaching. The sound of battle gets more chaotic. Under such a dark night illuminated by the fire of battle and raging by the sounds of many battles this place now does almost resembles hell. Who thought hell couldn't be bring to the world? I surely didn't.

Seeing me standing still for a while the hero is somewhat worried. He's reading to attack. It's better to attack now than afterwards when he will not know what I'll do.

The hero comes with an intense murderous intent. I glance once more to the side. The heroine is now attacking the demons around but she is not going to help the hero's attack. I see... it's already too late.

The hero and I clash swords one more time. He is stronger than before but not for that he is stronger than me. Oh no. He's still too weak for me.

"You have learnt a lot. Pity."

The hero remains silent as he keeps coming at me with his sword. Not a single attacks lands. Every single one is either blocked by mine or avoided. I will give him one last lesson.

"You are still too bold. Try to understand your power and that of the enemy. No good will come out of rushing like you do."

The hero in anger strikes with most of his might. I avoid the slash moving to the side but at the same time I move forward and grip with my left hand his hands.

"See."

I crush his hand with my overwhelming strength. His look express his clear pain but he restrains himself and letting go of his long sword he picks a short sword at his hilt and tries to stab me. I let go of my sword too and catch the incoming blade with my hand. The hero lets go of his short sword too and tries to punch me. I avoid it while bending his hand backwards. The hero uses magic immediately. He makes an explosion between us. We're blow away by the explosion. He sure is drastic.

"Time is up I see."

Five people break through the demons surrounding the place. They reunite with the heroine and look for the hero. He is on the ground a little bit away from me. He's struggling to get up but he is pretty tough.

The humans are coming closer too.

"Who are you?"

The heroine in front of the five asks me.

"I'm their commander. Their leader. Their lord. Who may you be?"

"We are the seven protectors. We have come here to destroy the doors. If you oppose us we will have to kill you."

"I already am."

"... I see then I shall."

I take my sword and ask.

"Tell me who the old man from before is."

"... He is one of the previous seven protectors. He as well has the same mission as we do. He has come to help as will do every other ex-protector and those who once aimed to be one for this mission of us is in true one of all of humanity."

"I see. Unfortunately I must tell you that my mission is to keep that door undamaged and open it eventually. If you oppose me I will not hesitate one bit to kill you all since there's no going back for me."

"I think neither side has a choice now, do we?"

"Right."

Without waiting anymore I run directly at them.

The first one to react is the heroine in front. She unleashes her lighting aiming directly at me. The lighting is the fastest magic there's but one can defend against it if one already knew it was coming. I knew well.

With my sword I disintegrate the lighting back into magic. It looks pretty much as if I cut through the lighting. The heroes are taken aback by my action but nonetheless they act quickly. The two heroes to her side move to block my advance while she prepares for some kind of attack. The two heroes behind are still helping the other heroine to get rid of the demons nearby.

"You got one enemy."

I use magic to conceal my movements. I revert some of the left over magic from the lighting in the sword back into lighting effectively blinding the heroes for a second. With that time I use earth magic to stop both of them and to raise enough dust to conceal my next move.

The heroine was able to catch some of my movement but unable to follow me. I'm on their rear between them and the other three heroes. I slash at them with my sword using fire magic. They avoid my sword but are completely hit by the fire released.

"I'm your enemy."