Chapter 26: A Hero Has Arrived

Hey guys,

Here's another chapter for today. This one is my longest chapter to date. More than 5000 words! I also wanted to thank Granville4554 for correcting every mistake I made and giving feedback. I always welcome feedback on my chapters for mistakes I have made. Feel free to leave comments.

So enjoy today's chapter.

Peace!

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As soon as the robed men started their attack, Isaiah gripped his dagger and sprung into action. With (Reinforcement) increasing all of his body's functions efficiency, he dashed towards the first enemy and slashed. The latter didn't know what hit him before he simply dropped dead. Using his Mystic Eyes, Isaiah had cut his lifeline. Seeing their comrade dead, the cultists finally launched another wave of projectiles. Hundreds of red projectiles were launched at him, Tina and Wong. Tina and Wong conjured shields while the boy intensively observed the projectiles. With (Thought Acceleration), he was able to increase his perception of time to a ratio of 5 seconds to one. It means that five seconds for him is one second on the outside.

As he observed the mana bullets heading toward him, he noticed red pulsing lines in them. In instinct, he cut the line of the first bullet aimed at him. To his pleasant surprise, the bullet simply fizzled out of existence. Grinning wickedly, he started hacking at the bullets. Even with his enhanced perception and physique, he couldn't target all the bullets, so he dodged or blocked those he couldn't slash. Those that passed him hit the ground and he saw the bullets either explode or melt the ground or even corrupt anything it touches. The boy recognized the effects.

"Watch out! The bullets contain curses!"

Both adults acknowledged his words.

Isaiah then went into auto-pilot. With his Mystic Eyes wide open, they gave off an eerie glow adding to his intimidating aura. His grin didn't help one bit. One would think that an eleven-year-old child wouldn't give off such an aura. But that's just it. The cultist looked at the child who fended off all of their attacks. They gritted their teeth as they saw their bullets having no effects on the sorcerers of the order.

"Fuck this! We have to get rid of them. Do everything it takes!" one of the cultists said.

"YES!"

At that moment, some of the cultists took off their robes and masks showing their appearances for the first time.

Isaiah widened his eyes as he observed the features on the bodies of their enemies. They looked like humans, however, there were many features distinguishing them from normal humans. For one, their skin had a slightly reddish colour. They also had black eyes as well as small fangs poking out of their mouths. Isaiah could also see small bumps on their forehead.

"Demonic humans!" shouted Wong as he threw a tao mandala at a cultist severing its head.

"What!?" asked Isaiah.

"They're demonic humans! Humans who were bestowed with demonic energy after making a pact with a demon!"

"I see. So that's what that energy was."

Isaiah tried to sense the energy in the cultists once more. It felt slimy and murky. If he were to compare it to something, it would be mud

"That's right!" spoke the one who seem to be the leader. "This power has been bestowed upon us by the very Demon Lord Mephisto! And you will not stop us from accomplishing our mission."

"And what exactly is your mission?" asked the boy.

"To bring Hell upon Earth!" the leader answered gleefully.

Isaiah looked around and saw some of the demonic humans continue chanting. The energies in Stonehenge were getting increasingly chaotic. Isaiah could almost feel the space starting to distort.

"Yeah, I can't let you do that."

"Than you shall make a decent sacrifice for our Lord!"

At that moment, a crimson flame-like aura wrapped around the bodies of some of the enemies as they grew bigger. The boy could see their fangs increase in length as well as their nails which turned into claws. They were becoming more and more demon-like. Once their transformation ended, they barreled toward Isaiah.

"ISAIAH!" shouted Tina when she saw the monsters running towards the boy.

"IT'S OKAY! Focus on rescuing the hostages! I'll keep them busy!" the boy replied as he dodge a claw swipe from one of the cultists.

Isaiah sidestepped another downward claw swipe from one of the demonic humans. However, he saw another cultist right behind the one attacking him aiming to punch him. To a normal person, the first was coming at an inhuman speed however, Isaiah was not down the count. He accelerated his thoughts to a ratio of 10:1 increasing his perception of time. The world seemed to slow down even more.

Using the principles of Tai-chi that he learned at Kamar-Taj, he redirected the massive fist. Instead of letting it harmlessly pass beside his head, the boy used the force of the punch to deal damage to the previous attacker.

*BAM!*

The vicious strike of the second attacker landed on the back of his comrade's head. Without stopping, Isaiah quickly slashed his knife at both men. To the others, it seemed like the boy slashed randomly, however, to him, he slashed one of the lines on the body.

*Slash* *Slash*

They both dropped dead enraging the leader. Isaiah gave a glance at his teammates and teammates and saw that they were making their way to the hostages. Unfortunately, there were so many enemies blocking their path not to mention the magicians chanting their spells to open a dimensional bridge to hell. The fact that it was working didn't help him at all.

'Should I use it?' he thought.

He could end it all if he wanted it in a single thought. But that would mean exposing his abilities to powers far beyond what he is capable of and he was not ready for it. He had heard about them from his teacher and read books about them in the library.

'No.'

Putting the thought away, the boy looked in front and saw one of the cultists had a crimson fire floating above his palm.

"DIE FROM THE HELLFIRE GRANTED TO US BY LORD MEPHISTO!" the minion said before pointing his palm towards Isaiah.

Isaiah could feel the massive heat emanating from it as the fire shot out like a flamethrower toward him. As the hellfire continued on its course, Isaiah saw the lines of death in the fire. Unfortunately, he couldn't cut it due to the intense heat. He conjured a massive dome shield and covered himself. As the fire made contact with the shield, there was a resounding explosion as the boy was being pushed back a few meters back from the force of the hellfire alone right outside of the Stonehenge formation. Let's not discount the blistering heat of the fire. The shield conjured by Eldritch magic could only protect Isaiah from physical attacks or magical ones that require force to deal damage. It didn't block attacks from intangible forces like temperature.

Gritting his teeth, Isaiah saw the line of Death in the attack up close. Reinforcing his body even more to at least have a semblance of temperature resistance, the boy dismissed the shield that was barely hanging on due to Isaiah's sheer willpower and slashed the line before the fire could reach him. The Hellfire disappeared in motes of crimson particles before they also disappeared leaving only a scorched land as well as a burning field.

"What!? How was fire from the very pits of Hell so easily blocked!?" the leader shouted enraged.

Isaiah held up his arms and saw the first and second degrees on them. Although the fire didn't touch him, the heat did.

'This is nothing compared to that place.'

A slight annoyance seeped into him and he took another glance at his teammates.

Wong and Tina were making progress but they were soon going to be tired. Isaiah saw the man bring out his sword and started slashing his enemies. It must've been an artifact since he could see the sword glowing green. Tina had her quarterstaff and was assisting Wong.

Isaiah then had an idea.

'Root, Shine!'

He projected a large number of daggers and knives and kept them afloat behind using telekinesis.

"Go."

Before the cultists could act, the weapons shot forward and embedded themselves into the lines of Death of several of them instantly killing them. Unfortunately, not all of them reached their targets, some simply embedded themselves in the flesh and some blocked it using other means.

He counted the remaining enemies and saw that there were around 70 people left to kill.

'Alright. Let's not hold back anymore.'

"Overflow"

The leader of the demonic humans was saying something but Isaiah ignored it. Universal energy flowed into him pushing his body past the limit and (Reinforcement) enhanced the efficiency of his body allowing it to accept more Universal energy creating a perpetual motion of ever-increasing strength.

After activating the spell, Isaiah dug his right foot into the ground and assumed a runner's position before launching himself.

*BOOM!*

In the blink of an eye, the boy reached from one end of the national monument to the other end. A second later, five demonic humans simply fell to the ground dead like strings cut from a puppet.

"What! What is this? Where did this power come from!?" the leader asked.

Isaiah didn't answer as he turned his gaze towards the chanting magicians. The leader, seeing this, widened his eyes and shouted.

"Protect the casters! Don't let that brat near them! Until, Lord Mephisto's realm descends upon Earth, protect them at all cost!

The rest of the demonic humans followed the orders and dashed toward the casters to protect them. Isaiah frowned.

'Why does he want to protect the casters at all cost? Aren't the hostage needed for the ritual?' he thought as he saw the ones guarding the unconscious hostages.

The boy shook his head. Now was not the time to think about stuff like that. He projected two daggers and gripped them in his hands and started to perform a frightening dance of slaughter as every cultist tried to block him.

A punch?

He parried it before stabbing a line of Death.

A kick?

He let it soar over his head before slashing another line.

A magic attack?

He simply slashed the attack causing it to disappear into motes of magic particles.

Wong and Tina had their eyes wide open in awe at Isaiah's massacre. However, they were also a little disturbed. Who wouldn't be when you see a wickedly grinning child slaughtering people left and right? Although Tina wanted to help him, she saw that he could stall for the moment so she redoubled her efforts to save the hostages.

"Let's go, Wong!" she shouted.

"Hm!"

There were now only four demonic humans guarding the victims. One of them attacked by shooting a crimson magic bullet at Wong who blocked it using a tao mandala before throwing it toward the attacker. The latter couldn't react as the tao mandala sliced his head off.

"JAMES!" its comrade shouted.

Gritting their teeth in rage, the three remaining cultists attacked the duo. However, Tina passed Wong and stabbed her quarterstaff forward and in the stomach of the one who shouted. As he bent down, she swiped the staff up smashing the end of it into the man's chin instantly knocking him out. There were now two guards remaining. Wong sheathed his sword and brought his hands together before shouting,

"By the Bolts of Balthakk!"

Electricity began to spark around his fingers before thrusting his hands forward towards the two enemies. At that moment, giant bolts of electricity discharged from his hands and travelled toward the cultist instantly frying them with massive amounts of electricity. Even the one knocked out by Tina wasn't spared. Wong quickly went to the victims and checked their conditions. He sighed in relief when he saw none of them injured and only unconscious. The man turned to Tina,

"Guard me while I bring them to the London Sanctum."

"What about Isaiah?"

Wong looked at where Isaiah was and only saw a grinning boy decimating the cultists one after the other. The enemy wasn't even paying them attention due to the little boy's rampage.

Wong deadpanned Tina,

"What do you think?"

He looked back at the hostages,

"I'll open a portal to the London Sanctum. You guard me while I call for Sol Rama. Once you see him, go help, Isaiah."

Tina nodded and gripped her quarterstaff before assuming a combat stance. Wong opened a portal and quickly started bringing the people inside not before assuring that they would stay asleep.

Once inside, Wong quickly called for the master of the London Sanctum.

" Master Sol Rama!"

The man in question quickly appeared and saw the situation.

"That's happening Master Wong!?"

"There's no time! Help me bring the civilians in. I already put them to sleep using a spell."

Understanding what he wanted. They started using telekinesis to bring in the civilians inside the Sanctum.

Meanwhile, Isaiah continued on his dance of death. glanced at the portal at the center of Stonehenge where Tina was guarding it. At this point, less than 50 cultists remained. Isaiah had no idea what the leader of the group was doing.

'Is he some sort of idiot or does he have a plan? I have been killing his subordinates since the beginning, but he didn't even move from his position.'

Isaiah shook his head. He had to kill the casters first. He ducked under a punch before kicking with his reinforced leg destroying his enemy's stomach. Grabbing their shoulder, he jumped over them and made his way towards the first caster. The latter continued to chant but stopped when she saw the boy run towards her. Isaiah projected a knife and manipulated using telekinesis and launched it at the woman. However, a red barrier appeared in front of her blocking the knife. Without losing a second, the boy projected another knife and launched himself forward and slashed the shield's line of death. The shield "died" surprising the caster and before she could react, the boy had thrown the knife right at her head killing her.

'That's one down. Four more to go."

One of the flaws of (Overflow) was that it was near impossible to turn while running using this spell. The inertia created whilst using the spell stopped him from making turns or being agile. That's why Isaiah wanted to change direction, he had to stop, turn, then run again.

The next target was on the north side of Stonehenge. He looked behind,

"Fucking brat!"

'Yup, they're still after me.'

Isaiah conjured a whip and wrapped it around one of the bigger attackers. The latter tried to break the whip, but it was too strong. To his surprise, Isaiah stomped the ground and pulled the whip hard. Letting out a grunt of confusion, the enemy was now in the air and the boy started turning. He turned faster and faster until the centrifugal force of the demonic human was high enough.

"And off you go!" the boy shouted before releasing the whip. The victim of his improvised attack was flung at a very high speed toward the other pursuers and they fell like bowling pins. Due to the massive amount of force created, Isaiah had literally made a living projectile. Even if the others were enhanced, they weren't able to stop the man from crashing into them.

"FUCK!"

"THAT LITTLE BASTARD!"

Lots of verbal curses were thrown at him although Isaiah didn't know the meaning of most of them. He then created a spear before jumping into the air and spearing them to the ground. They died instantly since Isaiah speared them right in the lines of Death.

'Now onto the second caster.'

Isaiah simply blitz toward the man and slashed his neck and killing him.

"ACK!"

'Three more to go!'

"AARGH! YOU BITCH!"

Isaiah whipped his head towards the voice and saw Tina fighting the third caster as well as Wong fighting her pursuers. Isaiah then looked at the leader who was looking at the battlefield, but he still didn't join in the fight. Now it was getting weird. There were less than 40 henchmen and three casters left on his side.

"Are the civilians safe!?" Isaiah asked.

"I brought them to the Sanctum!" Wong shouted back.

The boy nodded and eliminated the fourth caster. There was now one caster remaining as Wong and Tina killed the third one.

"Isaiah! Wong and I will get the leader, you kill the rest of them!" shouted Tina.

Isaiah nodded. He was starting to feel the strain of (Overflow) as he was getting stronger and stronger. At this point, he didn't even need to dodge his enemies since he could just run into them.

'Alright, last one!'

He looked for the last caster and saw him still chanting. It was apparent that the latter was getting desperate seeing his fallen comrades. Once more, he blitzed towards the last mage so fast that it seemed like he teleported and slashed his line of Death. At that moment, the boy dispelled (Overflow) since he had reached his limit. Ever since his return from his pseudo-quest of saving Artemis, he had trained this spell to increase his time limit. The first time he had created the spell he could only last at most three minutes, but now he could last ten. He looked back and saw that there were still around twenty of them remaining. He activated (Reinforcement) and eliminated the last of them. He did sustain injuries, but they were minor at best. ]

Isaiah now looked at Wong and Tina trying to subdue the leader. He could see that the latter was stronger than the rest. He quickly went to assist them. He gripped his dagger and was about to cut him down when he heard Wong shout,

"Wait, Isaiah! Don't kill him! We need to capture him!"

Isaiah stopped in his tracks. The enemy jumped back and immediately schooled his enraged expression. At that moment, a nagging suspicion started to buzz inside Isaiah's head. It seemed like everything would be over when they would capture the leader, but something felt off. The boy narrowed his eyes at the demonic human. The latter had a neutral expression as he looked at the carnage mostly caused by Isaiah. All three sorcerers had their guards up, but it was obvious that they were exhausted. Even Isaiah.

Suddenly, the sole leader started laughing.

"Hehe he he-"

The trio was caught off guard by the sudden burst of laughter.

"What are you laughing for!? It's over now. Surrender now!" Wong said.

The man didn't say anything and continued to laugh harder and harder.

"Let's just capture him. The Ancient One is busy with the other location right now." Tina said.

Wong nodded,

"By the Crimson Bands of Cyt-"

Before Wong could finish his spell, a sudden burst of crimson aura burst out of the leader as he hunched forward,

"What!"

The laugh was becoming more and more demonic as he started to transform. His robes were ripped apart revealing a human body. However, that soon changed. The skin turned crimson. He grew talons on his feet. His nails became claws as their eyes turned pure black. Horns grew out of their forehead. the leader then closed their claws into a fist before screaming,

"RRAAAAAGH!"

At that moment, something burst out of his back in a shower of black blood. Wong and Tina watched in horror as bat-like wings burst out of its back. The creature's teeth grew into fangs as his body bulked up into a massive body towering above 3 meters.

"A demon," whispered Wong.

Isaiah who had a neutral expression turned to Wong,

"A demon?"

Wong nodded,

"That's a genuine demon," the older sorcerer said in horror.

It was then the demon stopped screaming and looked at the trio.

"I must thank you." its guttural demonic voice echoed throughout the ancient monument.

The words put the trio on edge,

"What do you mean?" asked Isaiah as he went into a combat stance.

The demon gave a low chuckle,

"Since you've helped me, I shall reward you by answering your question."

The demon then spread his arms at the carnage.

"All of this was a simple setup for the gateway between Hell and Earth. I needed the sacrifices of what you call "demonic humans" to open a path to the realm of Lord Mephisto. I would have done it myself, but you made my job easier and I must thank you for that."

Wong and Tina paled at the realization of what they have done,

"Th-Then what about the civilians. Why did you kidnap them?" asked Wong.

The demon gave a chilling grin,

"Why? To call you here."

"What?" asked Tina

"That's right. I knew that the mysterious disappearances of the humans would catch the eye of the Order and here you are! Three sorcerers are ready to be sacrificed to Lord Mephisto. Souls of sorcerers are always the most delightful. And if you hadn't come, they would have been served as an additional sacrifice for this ritual." He then turned to Isaiah," But to my surprise, they send someone possessing mana. Humans possessing mana are the most sought after by our Lord."

"We won't let you!" shouted Tina.

The demon chuckled,

"Sorry dear, you already did," he said and snapped his fingers.

At that moment, a crimson glowing magic circle appeared on the ground. The circle was a crimson star pentagram mostly seen in the satanist cult. The spilled blood started to flow towards the lines of the magic circle and the corpses of the dead dissolved in the blood leaving no traces of them. The ground trembled and Isaiah's eyes widened as the chaotic energies of Stonehenge suddenly started to go haywire.

"WHAT ON EARTH IS HAPPENING!?" shouted Tina trying to get a grip on the ground.

"We were played as fools! We did exactly what that demon wanted!" Wong shouted back.

Surprisingly the stones of Stonehenge didn't fall as the magic circle suddenly started rising into the air.

'This is bad. The gate will soon open and we're all tired.' thought Isaiah as he observed the glowing circle.

He tried to create magic platforms to catch up to the circle with the goal to cut one of the lines of Death when he was suddenly blindsided. Pain erupted on his back as he was sent back to the ground.

*BOOM!*

"ISAIAH!" shouted the adults.

The boy hissed as he got up from the ground. The hit was unlike anything he had ever received. Even with (Reinforcement) activated, it hurt a lot.

"Now, now. I saw what a little spitfire you are little human. Isaiah, was it? You will make a delightful sacrifice for lord Mephisto."

The boy looked up and saw the demon in the sky where Isaiah was a second ago flapping his wings with a vicious smirk on his face. The young sorcerer looked at his comrades and saw them panting. The fight with the hundreds of demonic humans had considerably sapped their strength.

"Wong! Tina! I need your help immobilizing this guy! I can kill him if I get one slash in!"

The adults nodded.

"By the Crimson Bands of Cyttorak!" chanted Wong.

"By the Chains of Krakkan!" shouted Tina.

Silver chains as well as glowing red whips appeared out of thin air and shot towards the demon. The latter smirked before simply holding out his hand. A crimson shield appeared and blocked the attacks.

"Huh? It seems you have gotten considerably weaker. How perfect." the demon said with contempt.

The circle was now ten meters above Stonehenge when it started to rotate on itself. Crouched to the ground and reinforced his legs to their utmost limits. He could feel almost feel his muscles about to rip and his bones about to crack due to the massive amounts of mana injected into them. He was about to jump up towards the forming gateway when out of nowhere, a spike of energy appeared beneath him. Before he could do anything, glowing crimson chains appeared from the ground beneath him.

"Wha-"

The chains wrapped around him and he couldn't move anymore. Not even his arms so he couldn't "kill" the chains. The chains then wrapped around his mouth so he couldn't speak.

"Now, that's a good boy. Stay put and we won't have a problem anymore." the demon taunted.

"Isaiah!" shouted Tina.

She stopped attacking the demon and ran to the boy. However, the boy's eyes widened and tried to warn her, but he couldn't speak nor move. The demon lifted his arm toward the woman and shot a massive ball of mana bigger than a human body.

"Watch out, Tina!" shouted Wong.

The woman looked at the mana ball flying towards her. She gritted her teeth and chanted,

"BY THE SHIELDS OF SERAPHIM!"

A large green and intricate magic shield appeared before her. The ball crashed into the shield and it was now a battle between the two spells. The shield was holding strong as the ball dug into it, however, Tina was tired from all the fights so her mental strength was not the best which resulted in a weaker shield.

*Crack* *Crack*

Cracks appeared on the shield when suddenly the sound of mirror breaking was heard and the shield of Seraphim was destroyed freeing a path for the ball of malicious demonic energy straight towards her.

"TINA, RUN!"

The woman saw the attack, but couldn't come up with anything to defend against it. She was tired. Her mental strength was almost depleted. So she simply stood there looking at the attack slowly approaching her in her perspective.

'So this is how I go, huh?' she thought before a bright light appeared encompassing the entirety of Stonehenge.

A few moments ago, a muffled shout was heard from the boy as he strained against the chains that dug on his skin. Tina was fighting with all of her strength against the attack with her shield of Seraphim. The boy looked at his teammate who was about to die in front of him. He saw the attack get closer to the woman. He wanted to help her, to simply slash the attack out of existence.

Isaiah didn't want her to die.

At that moment, it was as if time had slowed down. The boy had to check if he cast any spell, but he came up with nothing. Suddenly, he felt something in his chest. It reminded him of that time when he wanted to save Bianca. It was as if sparks had appeared, once more, within his being. As if fuel had been added to the sparks, they soon turned into flames. Flames that are being fueled by something unknown yet familiar. He remembered this feeling. He had felt this when he "killed" that automaton. He had felt this when he saw Ares, the god of war. They were the Flames of...

'Anger' thought the boy. 'Am I... angry?'

Suddenly he heard his own voice with an echoing effect resounded in his head.

[I am Nothing]

On an impulse, he thought of those words in his mind,

'I am... Nothing'

He suddenly felt his mana stir in his magic circuits.

[Yet I know Everything]

Once more, he recited the words on an impulse in his mind,

'Yet I... know Everything'

His mana began to spill out of his body straining against the demonic chains so much that the ground below cracked.

[Falling deep into the never-ending Void]

His voice spoke again and the boy recited once more.

'Falling deep... into the never-ending... Void'

The boy's mana began to spill even more out of his body. He could feel his body heating up due to his magic circuits overclocking. Isaiah looked up and saw cracks appear on Tina's shield.

[Only to lose everything]

'Only to... lose everything'

At that moment, His eyes rolled back as the mana in his body was circulating through his body at a very fast pace heating his body even more. In his mind, however, images began to spill into his mind. A man combating shadow monsters one after the other. Another image was one where he was fighting an entire army. A single 17-year-old against an army of men. Another vision was of the same boy fighting against a humongous dog which he killed by throwing a hurley ball down its throat. Finally, the last one was a vision of the same boy learning some form of symbol magic from a beautiful woman.

At that moment, Isaiah heard a male voice with a heavy accent in his head,

"So ye chose me for yer first try, eh boyo? Or should I say o King? Very well, then this hound shall not disappoint!"

Suddenly, a blinding light erupted from Isaia. Tina who had her shield shattered and accepted her death instinctively closed her eyes due to the intense light suddenly appearing out of nowhere. Once it subsided and finally disappeared, the woman could still feel herself.

'Am I not dead?' she thought.

She gingerly opened her eyes and was shocked to see the back of Isaiah in front of her. However, he seemed different. For one, his sorcerer's clothes were replaced by a blue marine bodysuit covered in symbols that she could recognize as runes. The boy had silver pauldrons as well as a metallic plate on his stomach. His black hair had turned blue and his ears featured a pair of silver earrings. However, what took the cake, was the weapon the boy was holding. In his right was an ominous-looking crimson spear covered in runes that, when looked afar, looked like a barbed wire. The spear glowed sinisterly. When Tina laid her eyes upon the weapon, she felt a sense of dread as the killing intent emanated from the spear was so massive that she had trouble breathing.

The boy looked back to Tina and the latter saw red eyes as well as a cocky yet mischievous grin on the boy's face.

"Isaiah?" she asked, but something told her that wasn't him.

"Sorry, little lady. The lad is up her' right now, observing." the entity inside Isaiah's body said as he pointed his head. "He's a li'le banged up so he needs rest. Let this man protect you right now."

"Wh-Who are you?" Tina asked shakily.

"Do not worry, little miss. Since I, Setanta, shall protect you now."

The cocky grin widened when he said that.

"Setanta?"

"You may know me under a different name. Cú Chulainn"

Tina's eyes widened when she recognized the name.

The demigod son of Lugh. The Child of Light. The Blue Spearman of the Wind. The Hound of Chulainn. The legendary hero of the Irish myth, Cú Chulainn, now stood in front of her.