3 The King's Ballad (Part 3)

The battle unfolding in the valley of K'iol was unlike the land of Zytra had ever witnessed. Several races, professions, and classes from all over the continent had banded together to fight a common enemy. Greater yet, the teamwork displayed by the cheering warriors was one rarely seen even in smaller units. Adventures all believed they were the best. Getting these inflated egos to work together in harmony was a gargantuan task very few could accomplish. It either required a commander of considerable skill or a foe so great, they would stand no chance if they did not work together.

Both conditions were fulfilled within the valley that night. Before the Demon King, the warriors proved the belief that before an even larger foe, all enemies unite. Minutes ago, Razznik might have gloated at being such a fearsome man, but now, he was just irritated. The adventurer's attacks had become synchronized, and they moved with strategy rather than force. The commander had obviously instructed these warriors to no longer blindly engage the Demon King directly.

Razznik did not care if they organized themselves or not. It would all be meaningless before his might.

Razznik shot an arrow of light into the sky. The light arrows split into dozens of bolts at the apex of its flight and rained down on the enemies surrounding the Demon King. The mages swiftly reacted to this threat by setting up barriers to protect their units.

Razznik glanced at the mages, but their comrades refused to give Razznik the chance to attack them. Two swordsmen lunged at the Demon King's back, but Razznik blocked the combined strikes with a staff. The Demon King spun around without pause and bashed in another warrior's skull. He dropped to the ground as arrows whizzed over him, then extended his staff while he was on the ground. He spun around again, upsetting several warriors around him.

A set of nimble assassins jumped over the staff and struck at the exposed Demon King. Razznik's eyes flashed as a black shield appeared on his left arm. He raised the shield over his head and successfully blocked the attack. The collective blow of the assassins' weapons did not gain any purchase, and the Demon King instantly retaliated.

Razznik's shield arm shot upwards, and the blow forced the assassin's weapon arms upward. The Demon King sent the fools to the Circle with a swipe of a sword that appeared in his left arm.

Razznik stabbed the warriors on the ground before they could return to their feet. There was no time for respite as ten more came in their place. Razznik snorted as they approached. He had figured out the enemy's tactic.

When Razznik attacked, a knight would shield, giving others an opportunity to attack him. This was the tactic most groups used, but it proved largely ineffective against the Demon King's incredible strength. Razznik tore through shields like a knife through butter.

Even more reprehensible was his 'quick switch' ability.

Most masters could change their weapons while in the middle of a battle and even actions. These allowed for excess combos by the truly skilled. The problem was that it seemed Razznik had been born with weapons in his tiny hands and legs. He seamlessly cycled through his twelve creations at the most opportune times. Furthermore, his method of switching renders counters futile.

Razznik's switched to his gloves as a knight charged at him with a lance. He lifted the weapon and the knight who was still holding on and flung them both into the skies above. A ranger capitalized on the opportunity and shot Razznik with arrows charmed with ice and fire. The ranger's excitement instantly died as a shield appeared in Razznik's free hand which he then used to block the bolts.

Razznik smashed his shield against an onrushing warrior, then switched to his twin blades and parried blows from several adventurers. Once an opening appeared, he changed to his broadsword and cleaved right through them.

No one could land any sort of significant hit on the Demon King, but that did not stop the frenzied warriors. They kept throwing themselves at him, with the consolation that eventually he would run out of both mana and stamina.

Meanwhile, Aileera and the masters approached Skyrm who stopped his attack out of curiosity.

"What is your name child?" Skyrm politely inquired.

"I am called Aileera great one," Aileera answered with a bow. Behind her back, she made signals to Frena who nodded with understanding.

"You desire to battle with me?"

"No, my lord. My quarrel is with Razznik alone," Aileera said, but the look in her eyes made Skyrm chuckle.

"You say you do not wish for battle, yet you make preparations for one. You, humans, are ever so interesting," Skyrm said and brought his head down to take a close look at the gutsy human.

He is impossibly large. This was Aileera's thought when he brought his head down to her level. His forehead alone was more than twice her size, and he could easily carry a village on his back if need be. Were the creators mad when they made something this large? No one could hope to match it in combat!

"Why do you aid the traitor?" Aileera asked with a steely gaze. Skyrm had to admit he was impressed by her bravado. It was no wonder she was appointed as the commander of the coalition.

"He bested me in combat." Skyrm flatly admitted.

"What?!" everyone except Aileera screamed. They had all assumed Razznik earned some favors by helping the dragons with some problems, but to defeat Skyrm?! That was something even an army would fail to accomplish!

"You already knew that, did you not, child?" Skyrm said to Aileera as he rose to his full height and took to the air with a great push of his wings. "Now you seek to raise the morale of your army even further by doing the very same."

"Forgive my impertinence," Aileera apologized, "but I need you to fall here." She signaled Freya who finished the long chant and erected a dome barrier over the valley. The old man felt a pain in his heart as he looked at the scores of manastones that had crumbled to dust. Who knew how much money he had just burned?

"If you wish to end this painlessly, you will do well to turn away now," Aileera advised Skyrm, with a confidence that did not match the situation.

"Hahaha!" Skyrm laughed loudly, but then his expression turned grim, followed by a snarl that would terrify even the bravest of men. "You would do well not to underestimate me," he growled as bright balls of light appeared around him. The lights shot down, the ensuing explosions blasting building-sized craters in the earth.

"No. Whether it's you or Razznik. You're the ones taking me far too lightly," Aileera declared and stomped her staff on the ground. A barrier formed over the Guildleaders and shielded them from the bombardment.

Aileera quickly cast several spells, and her companions experienced an unprecedented surge in power. "My apologies, but I do not have the time to have a proper duel with you," she said to Skyrm as she began to cast another spell.

The King of Dragons was not so conceited that he would let her finish her chant. Skyrm dove down to personally end her. Her shields might protect her from mana based weapons, but his physical strength would easily shatter it to pieces.

A flurry of arrows forcefully halted the Dragon King's advance. Skyrm irritatedly turned to look at the arrows' source.

Miles, hidden within the trees, locked on to his target and let loose another hail. He used a technique similar to Razznik's splitting arrows to divide his arrows into hundreds per shot. His objectives were Skyrm's massive wings. Though they were intimidating to look at, as an archer, they made for very easy targets.

Skyrm was familiar with adventurers going after his wings. He easily dodged the predictable arrow paths by twisting in mid-air and folding his wings. He fired off a volley of his balls of light, but Miles was already gone from that spot. Another hail of arrows came at Skyrm from much farther away, and like the first, he easily avoided them.

The difference with these arrows was that they turned around in mid-air and pierced his wings. This attack barely left a strike, but it greatly insulted Skyrm's pride! In his rage, he opted to fly low over the surrounding forests and soon spotted the bowman running through the thickets.

Skyrm swooped down till he was barely over the trees and prepared to roast Miles, but a blue form right in front of him gave him pause.

Blorg jumped out of a tree, ax drawn to cut down the beast, but Skyrm merely climbed above him and sprayed both him and Miles with his flames. Freya who erected a shield over both men in the nick of time, saving them from a fate of becoming human bacon.

Skyrm made a sharp U-turn when he saw they were unscathed and prepared a stronger fireball.

"Not while I live 'n' breathe!"

Skyrim heard a shout coming from his back. Before he could wonder who it was, he roared in startled pain as the voice's owner drove a sword in-between his scales. Rono pulled out his scimitar and stabbed again. He had jumped onto the Dragon King's back when Skyrm flew low with his grappling hook.

Skyrm sharply climbed into the sky in an attempt to toss the pirate off his back, but Rono was accustomed to the stormiest of seas. He calmly stabbed two large poles into the Dragon King's backside, tied himself to them, and held on for his life.

"In all the seas have I not found myself a more worthy game," Rono cheered as he continuously drove his blade into the beast's back. His weapon's effects were not as simple as a simple stab. His scimitar had several enchantments on it that wreaked havoc in the monster's body.

Skyrm performed several stunts, including barrel rolls to get the pest of his back, but Rono refused to budge. Desperate, Skyrm crashed his back into a mountain, hoping the force would knock the pirate off his back.

Instead, two extra passengers got on. Their names were Troy and Else, two assassins so deadly silent and inconspicuous, they most likely would not have been mentioned in any records including this, were it not for the feat they performed.

The assassins, whose genders were impossible to tell, split up and jumped onto the wings of Skyrm. Before the Dragon King could react, they drove their daggers into its wings, and sped towards each other, ripping the wings apart in the process.

Skyrm cried out in pain as he struggled to keep his balance, but Miles, who never missed a chance fired off two arrows that grew in size as they flew. By the time they tore through Skyrms wings, they were as thick as cathedral pillars.

Left with no means to hold himself up, Skyrm helplessly plummeted to the earth. The Dragon King righted himself mid-crash and landed roughly on his feet. Enraged beyond reason, Skyrm randomly shot fireballs into the surrounding forest. Smoke and fire chocked the air, and the earth trembled under the Dragon King's rage.

A sharp tug on his tail interrupted Skyrm's rampage. He looked over his shoulder and saw the blasted lycan grabbing onto his tail. Blorg was ranked first in the land regarding raw physical strength. He proved why, as, imbued with Aileera's buffs, he managed to drag Skyrm off his feet. He did not possess enough power to lift the Dragon King, but this much was more than enough.

With the underbelly exposed, the assassins rushed in to stab its heart, but right as their blades were about to break the skin, they instinctively retreated as a deadly glow burst out of Skyrm. The light shrunk in size and Razznik with it.

It took the shape of a man and then dissipated leaving an injured draconian in its wake. Skyrm's humanoid form took the form of a red-scaled middle-aged man with long red hair that reached his waist. He was dressed in nothing but red pants, as he had no need for armor.

"To think I would be forced to use this form twice in one generation," Skyrm mused and stretched to see if there were any complications with his body. None, it worked perfectly, and in this form, his wounds would heal faster. Skyrm's gaze hardened as he glared at the Guild Leaders. "Come!"

Blorg led the attack under Miles' covering fire.

Skyrm looked at the arrows with disgust and countered with mana bolts. Fireworks erupted as the projectiles clashed, but Skyrm's mana-bolts won out in the end. Countless mana-bolts shot into the woods and flushed out the archer from his hiding place.

An explosion sent Miles flying, and blood poured out of deep injuries as he fell to the ground, unmoving.

Blorg took advantage of Skyrm's preoccupation with Miles to quickly swing at the Dragon King. Unfortunately, Skyrm's battle instinct was not something the young lycan could ever estimate.

Skyrm's right foot blurred and kicked the weapon out of Blorg's hands. Undaunted by the loss of his ax, Blorg attempted to grapple Skyrm, but the Dragon King gamely locked hands with the lycan in a contest of strength.

"I do believe I owe you," Skyrm reminded Blorg. He pushed down, and Blorg's back bent under the Dragon King's superior strength. Skyrm snorted, kicked the lycan's feet out from under him, then punched the suspended body. Blorg crashed to the earth with the force of a boulder and struggled to catch his breath.

Determined to complete his payback, Skyrm grabbed the lycan by his tail, swung him over his head and tossed Blorg far off into the woods. At that moment, the twin assassins seemed to appear from nowhere and stabbed at Skyrm, but he easily parried their blows. He then sent the twins flying with a punch and kick to their stomachs.

"Time to end this," Skyrm stated as he grabbed Rono who had chosen that moment to launch a sneak attack at his back. Skyrm squeezed hard and almost cracked Rono's neck, but instinct drove him to let the pirate go and dive back.

Boom!

Skyrm's eyes narrowed as he examined a set of long white chains that had smashed into the ground at his previous location.

"What?!" Skyrm exclaimed as the snake-like chains sprung to life and slithered through the air toward him. He barely dodged the follow-up attack, but he could not rest as the damned chains doggedly hunted him down. Suddenly, a large pillar of light caught the Dragon King's, and he was forced to stop as a giant arrow flashed by his back.

This stop proved to be fatal.

One of the chains tore through Skyrm's left arm and pinned itself to the ground, followed soon by the remaining chains which pierced through his arms and legs. Skyrm attempted to break free, but a blinding light consumed him, and he felt all the power drain out of his body.

"Seal complete." Someone confirmed.

Skyrm turned to see Aileera walking up to him. "This was your true aim?" He said through gritted teeth.

"I warned you not to underestimate me. Razznik is next," Aileera said and turned away from the Dragon King. Sealing him was one thing. Killing him was another. They could fight for the better part of a day, and the Dragon King would remain standing. Furthermore, this seal only allowed for one attack before it shattered. Aileera was not confident she could end Skyrm in one strike, so it was better to keep the Dragon King sealed and away from the fight.

"Take him out? You do not understand that man's true terror yet," Skyrm laughed as the last of his strength ebbed. He looked up at the sky with a forlorn gaze. "I suppose time is up."

BOOM!

Aileera's expression warped with shock as a terrible earthquake shook the earth to its core. She turned to look at the valley and was greeted with the sight of a gargantuan pillar of black light that shot to the skies. Aileera paled as she realized that pillar had easily torn through a barrier made to withstand Skyrm's greatest attack.

The commander barely got her wits about her when a shadow sped past her and smashed the chains that bound Skyrm.

"Many thanks," Skyrm said to his savior and accepted the flask held out to him. He drank its contents and soon felt his power return. Skyrm looked at Razznik with hazy eyes. "So, this is it?"

Razznik released a wry smile and shook his head. "We both knew this would eventually come."

"That may be so," Skyrm muttered as wings sprouted from his back. With a powerful flap, he suspended a few feet off the ground. "But it does not change the unpleasantness of it all."

Razz laughed and shook his head. "This is goodbye old friend."

Skyrm looked like he wanted to say something, but he changed his mind, and with a large flap of his wings, he disappeared into the skies.

Razznik turned to look at Aileera, black sword imposingly balanced on his shoulder. "Enough games. Your army has been decimated. I have used up my summons. We are all low on mana and health. Let's finish this."

"My thoughts exactly," Aileera agreed as she composed herself. The Guildmasters swallowed elixirs to heal the injuries from their fight with Skyrm then joined her side to surround the Demon King Razz.

Razznik looked at the Guildmasters with mirth in his eyes. In the end, it still came down to this. The Demon King against the world. Razznik let out a sardonic chuckle behind the mask. Wasn't this the story of his life? Did he ever expect to have a different ending? "Dawn breaks in thirty minutes," Razznik suddenly announced, causing the Guildmasters to tense up. "A winner will be decided by then."

A drop of rain fell to from its birthplace in the sky and landed on Razznik's sword. Stubbornly, it egged on, rolling down the blade, until it reached the edge, then fell off. It completed its journey, and its life came to an end as it moisturized the earth.

The adventurers rushed the Demon King for one final showdown.

As always Blorg led the attack from the front.

Razznik placed his sword in front of him and used his free hand to provide support as he blocked a direct blow from the lycan. The force forced the Demon King off the ground and tossed him a few yards away while Blorg's arm recoiled sharply, leaving him defenseless.

Razznik stabbed his sword into the earth in mid-air and used it as a pivot to swing himself back the way he came. The sword dematerialized once the swing was complete and rematerialized in his hand as he lunged at the yet-to-recover lycan.

Two figures charged out from under Blorg and attacked the approaching Razznik, who responded by switching to his twin swords. The Demon King parried the assassin's simultaneous attack, then forced them back with a powerful push, just as Rono lunged at his exposed back. Razznik instantly switched to his staff and smashed down at the pirate.

Rono anticipated the attack and danced around the staff, then launched a quick thrust at Razznik's chest. The Demon King snorted and whacked Rono's ribs with the staff. He then proceeded to hit one of the assassins with the butt end then whacked the other, who barely blocked with his dagger. However, the smash sent him careening through the air like a tossed bottle.

A hail of arrows raced towards Razznik, but he paid them no heed and instead charged to their source, effortlessly swatting away all that fell close to him with his sword.

Archers were weak at close range. That was the general conception about his kind in general, but Miles was one of the very few exceptions to that rule. He parried Rex's swing with his bow, drew an arrow and made to stab the king's midriff, but the Demon King switched to a shield and blocked it.

With a confident grin, Miles buried the arrow in the shield and jumped back. Boom! The enchanted arrow exploded, and Razznik was engulfed in the blast. This was not enough to slow down, Razznik, but that was never the archer's aim.

Razznik cleared the smoke from the blast with a swing of his sword and was rewarded for his effort with an arrow the size of a hundred spears. With no time to spare, Razznik switched to his shield to protect himself, but the force launched him right out of the forest, to Freya who was waiting in midair.

The old mage's body glowed with several enchantments which he took advantage of to kick down with the force of a mad Behemoth. Razznik blocked the kick with his shield, then grinned as a rope wrapped itself around the mage's legs. Razznik pulled the raging Freya down to the earth with him

The black cord was another of Razznik's creation. When he inserted his mana, he could control like a snake. He did not really like the whip, but it had its uses and moments.

Aileera who had been out of the picture till then suddenly appeared from nowhere and lunged at him, clad in a knights regalia, shield and all.

"I thought you were a mage?" Razznik blurted out in disbelief as he engaged her in a sword battle. The commander proved to be well versed in the art of sword-play. Not only did she keep up with him, but she also found the space to launch a good number of counter-attacks.

"You are not the only one who mastered several fields," Aileera cooly replied. She kept up her barrage of attacks, apparently intending to buy time for her teammates to recover.

"Interesting," Razznik said with a sadistic grin. "In that case..." He suddenly forced Aileera a few steps back with a powerful kick to her shield, then switched to a white oak staff with a massive manastone at its head. White chains similar to the one the commander had cast on Skyrm burst out from the earth and danced hungrily as they awaited their target.

"Those won't work on me," Aileera confidently stated with a little smirk.

"They are not meant for you," Razznik snapped back and enjoyed the pale look on her face as she realized what he meant. The snakes slithered past her and pinned each of her companions to the ground.

"Fifteen minutes left," Razznik announced as he switched to his signature broadsword. He pointed his sword at Aileera and challenged, "Prove your worth."

The final two survivors of the Battle of Ki'ol rushed at each other in a flurry of swords. One used a beautiful blend of attacks, blocks and agile dodges and the other was a savage beast who swung with wild abandon and cared not for the little injuries caused by the opponent's swings.

"Do you truly enjoy it?" Aileera questioned when their swords clashed, and their heads came within inches of other.

"Yes, I do!" Razz replied enthusiastically. "There is no greater joy than that you can find on the battlefield."

"I mean is it so much fun fighting alone," she asked, and Razz faltered for a second. Her swing cut through his mask, ripping it off, and he responded in kind with a deep cut across her stomach. She fell to the ground together with the mask and looked up at the man hailed as the Demon King.

The face underneath was not one the world would have expected. The man, Razznik Y'Terlow was no demon, yet he seemed to have abandoned his humanity. A scar ran across his face from the left of his lower lip, up through his right eye.

Razznik's eyes, however, held the truth to his life. They were empty, yet laden with a heavy sorrow only a few in the world could ever understand. It was the eyes of a man who had rejected the world after realizing the emptiness of his dream. Razznik's eyes remained fixated on Aileera as she rushed up and ran her sword through his chest. "Fun serves no purpose. I only live to get stronger than I was yesterday."

"Stop lying!" Aileera shouted as she punched Razznik's chest. "Do you dare to claim you never had fun outside fighting!? Do you dare!?"

Razznik stared at the commander as memories began flooding in. However, with a shake of his head, he muttered, "Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. It doesn't matter now,. I have accomplished my mission. I am the strongest man alive, the Demon King even. I successfully built my own empire in the most feared land of all. I terrified the world so much, they were willing to put aside the hatred for each other to raise an army for the sole purpose of killing me."

"No matter how great the empire you build,." Aileera weakly said as she stared into Razznik's empty eyes. "It is nothing if you are alone in it."

In that second where Razznik's guard was down, a thousand arrows simultaneously pierced through his chest, legs, and arms, but he kept his focus on Aileera. The remaining masters broke free of their chains which had weakened along with Razznik and ran him through with their weapons.

Still, the Demon King refused to fall and kept his gaze on the woman in front of him.

"You know, this world could have been wonderful to you if you did not have so much hate," Aileera said as she looked at him with pity.

Razznik took a step towards her, but then stopped when a flood of red light appeared on the horizon and slowly drowned everything. The commander of the army stood with her back to the rising sun and a smile on her face that drained the remaining energy from Razznik.

The Demon King leaked out a weak smile. "Hey, do you think they will remember me?"

"Baka," Aileera playfully admonished as tears began to streak down her face. "No one will ever forget you."

"And you? Will you forget me?"

"Idiot! Like I could ever forget you!"

"I see." For the first time in his entire life, Razznik revealed a bright, happy grin. "Then that is enough."

Truly Beautiful... Razznik thought as darkness enveloped him and transported him to the world beyond. A white cloud appeared in the distance and floated towards him, expanding into letters as it got closer. When in full view, it said the words that let the King know his end had indeed arrived.

.

GAME OVER!

Seventeen years old Suzuki Mato swallowed a deep breath as he took off his helmet. He sighed and pushed his hair out of his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling.

"Truly... It's all over..."

Stay tuned for Chapter 1