Chapter 40: The Reawakening Of The Demon King

"Your eyes, they tell me that you've seen death itself."

Reaper stared right at Kaya's deep brown eyes. It was like a never-ending well, one could not tell how far and deep it was but if one dived in deeper, it was uncertain if they'll be able to go back up.

"Battle not with monsters, lest ye become a monster, and if you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." Nietzsche's quote above has become very much a part of who I am. When you gaze into that abyss, it gazes back, and it tells you what you are made of.

"You also give off the same bloodlust as a ferocious beast."

Kaya replied. He pushed Reaper away from his body as he slowly walked back to the city. He had no intentions of being close to a cowering predator. He had no belief in both could benefit from each other as this was the way of the jungle.

"I hear you want to destroy the entire dark guilds? You do know that's impossible right?"

Reaper spoke calmly. Kaya simply stared back at him and slowly walked farther away.

"I know, so I'll just wipe out the Blood Carnival Guild's existence. If you wish to stop me, then it's better if you do it quickly."

Despite the obvious threat from Kaya's words, Reaper simply chuckled. He stared right at the demonic brand on his chest and placed a chained seal that caused him to writhe in pain and only disappeared a while later.

"Recklessly breaking through the center of the capital is suicide. I'll help you destroy the Blood Carnival Guild. Now that I've found my true love, why would I ever let you go?"

"How will you help me?"

************

Back in the city capital, millions of players were disguised as nothing more but normal travelers but each one of these players was an elite guild member of many opposing guild factions against the dark guilds. These guilds had a huge grudge against the dark guilds and had been fighting nonstop with them for many years and yet they were unable to succeed. Not until now, with the existence of a powerful player that is Vagabond, did their hopes of defeating the dark guilds shined yet again to end their cruelty once and for all. This ambush had been planned by these opposing guilds for months and now that an opportunity was given to them, they wouldn't waste such a great offer.

"Silver Eyes, have you found any news about Vagabond?"

"No, not yet, but one of our scouts found a mysterious player scurrying around the palace and we believe it might be Vagabond."

"I don't understand what's going on in that guy's mind."

"Well, experts had always been guys with a few loose screws in their heads, but let's be grateful, without this Vagabond, we wouldn't be able to commence our master plan. Once we get the signal, we'll move."

"Affirmative."

"Yes, guild leader."

Currently, inside a pub, this was a gathering of all the higher-ups of 5 guilds, led by the guild leader of a First-Rate Guild, Green Lancers, Viceyan. A level 260, Spartan Descendant whose guild only compromises of 300 members but each of these members was elite of the elite that could rival even a Super-First rate guild's strongest upper echelons. The only thing that stopped them from becoming a Super-First-rate guild was due to the lack of members and resources but overall, when it comes to fighting prowess, these players were second to none. Each compromising of level 200-250 Spartans, they were one of the most feared battle militants in the game.

"We can finally get the revenge we've been looking for! From the humiliation we suffered after the great demon war, I will not tolerate their cruel actions anymore."

Visayan gritted his teeth in exhilaration.

************

After Reaper gave his plan showing that he had no bad intentions against Kaya, Kaya simply accepted his offer. All Reaper wanted was to be Kaya's partner in the exchange, he'd assist Kaya in not just defeating the guild leader, Butcher, but also the destruction of all the dark guilds, well most of it. What Kaya understood of the word "Partner" however did not coincide with Reaper's definition.

'All he is asking is to be a companion, well that's not a bad offer considering this guy is an expert of the Abyssal Realm.'

Kaya nodded in thought as he stared at Reaper who stared at him back revealing a smile that looked a lot like a flirtatious pick-me girl wanting attention on her crush.

'My love is looking at me with those dark pupils of his. Why is my heart beating so fast? Calm down, this is the first time I've felt this way.'

Reaper blushed as he retracted his gaze coughing as he went forward.

"L-lets go..."

"..."

Kaya simply nodded in response and followed on with Reaper. They traversed through the lands and arrived swiftly at a hidden entrance back in the castle. Even with the arrays set up, Reaper used a specialized key to temporarily weaken it allowing Kaya to slip through using his blink skill, Blink.

"Is it really fine with you? You know that what I'll be doing is full destruction of your guild."

Kaya asked in curiosity. What Reaper was doing is treachery, he was now a rebel that allowed the biggest threat of his leader inside their territory. If Butcher found out about this, Reaper was good as dead.

"I've been with the guild for 2 years now and although he's a ruthless guild leader, he's sly and does not have that same deathly aura that you exude. If I was to compare both of you then you'd be a tiger while he's a fox. Both predators of prey but motives are different from each other."

Kaya was still confused about what Reaper meant but he didn't want to think it through deeply. He still had something more important to do now and although he managed to enter the enemy's stronghold, if he wasn't careful, he'd simply be committing suicide. No matter how strong he was, his knowledge of this game was still very limited, who knows what ambush might lay on his path, or maybe, Reaper is planning something devious behind his back but it was unlikely since his perception had always been accurate and his hunch on the guy told him he was being genuine with his words and actions.

'Even if he does backstab me in the end, I'm confident I can get out of here alive.'

Soon after, both arrived at a door that was engrained in silver linings and gold designs. Obviously from the looks of the door, the room was for someone of high status and no one else comes to his mind other than Butcher, the leader of the Blood Carnival Guild.

"Let's go, Butcher is inside his secret chamber performing a ritual."

"A ritual?"

"Yes, I haven't told you this but we are contracted with Mammon, the demon king of greed. I am only an external contractor which means I am not an Apostle. I gave 20% of my immortal soul to the demon king in exchange, I am allowed to wield a fragment of his demonic powers."

"Why didn't you choose to become an Apostle?"

"Becoming an Apostle means being granted unimaginable demonic powers but in return, my immortal soul would be chained by the demon king. This would mean that he has full control of me, and if he finds out I've rebelled against his orders, he'd most likely consume my soul and I would have no choice but to delete my account and start all over again."

"So it's a double-edged sword."

"Yes, now let's go, Butcher should have already anticipated my return, you'll have to act as my prisoner and once he lowers his guard, I'll raise the signal, and then you can kill him. He's a very dangerous and meticulous bastard that not even I could defeat him. I still don't know much about his full power but he holds 50% of the demon king's power. Remember, that enough could destroy this entire kingdom on a whim."

"I understand, I'll be careful."

Reaper then controlled his chained sickles to coil around Kaya as if binding him but Kaya could tell that the chains were barely holding him back but decided to act it out for their plan. They strode inside the room and entered a trapdoor just below the king-size bedroom. They passed the gloomy spiral staircase and then arrived at a giant chamber filled with gold and treasure with one giant statue of a demonic entity. Its head was a pigeon with 10 eyes, and its body is that of a humanoid being but with 10 arms with each hand reminiscing a claw of a bird. It had 7 wings, 2 sets in its talon-like legs, 4 on its back, and one behind its nape. It was truly a disturbing being and from the demonic aura it emanated, Kaya could tell it was most likely the statue of Mammon.

They found the butcher in the center of the ritual circle in a lotus position as he was absorbing the demonic aura around the area and when he noticed the presence of two beings, he slowly stood up and greeted them.

'What a powerful pressure! This man is at the very least a Middle Primordial stage. Despite his rather bulky stature, his prowess might be stronger than mine in the base level.'

Kaya felt the murderous intent surrounding Butcher, he wanted to fight the guy so badly but decided to hold back a bit since he knew very well he was the center of the enemy's stronghold.

"Guild Leader, I've brought back the cause of all this ruckus. This is Vagabond, the man you are looking for."

"Good job, the demon king will be pleased with your actions."

Butcher grinned as he slowly walk towards Kaya who looked cold and unmoving despite the strangling pressure he was emanating.

"No wonder the Demon King, Mammon was interested in you, not only do you have an item of one other demon king but two of it with each owned by another demon king. Hmm....very interesting...I have a proposal to give."

"..."

"Option A, do you wish to become an Apostle of the demon king, Mammon, or option B, do you want to be consumed by the demon king? Your soul is plenty enough for the demon king's awakening."

Butcher grinned as he summoned a demonic circle around his palm, swiveling it around on Kaya hoping to get an answer. And of course, the answer was obvious, he was simply testing out Kaya's intuition. It was either a, do you want to live or do you want to die type of question. There was only one correct answer.

"Your proposal is very interesting, then I'll choose option C"

"Option C?"

Reaper quickly threw out two holy hand grenades from his inventory and shot one at the ritual circle and the other at the statue.

Boom!

Boom!

With the holy properties of the grenade, a giant explosion occurred destroying the ritual circle and cracking the demon king statue with three of its limbs turned to rubbles. The demonic aura that surround the chamber had been noticeably weakened from the power of the grenade and both Butcher and Reaper puked out blood.

"Reaper you fucking traitorous bastard!!"

"Heh...I've never liked you, you fat piece of shit! Alon, now!"

The chained sickles unchained themselves around Kaya and he immediately pulled out his purple sword from his inventory activating layers of skills in instantaneous motion.

Overdrive!

Overkill!

Destruction!

Consecutive Strike!

[Retribution is in Effect!]

[Arianna' Stigma- Third Skill- Divine Rapier has been activated.]

[Divine Rapier- Envelopes the user with a powerful holy aura that increases the holy damage by 1000% and increases the attack range by 100 meters for 15 seconds. Also gives 90% immunity against demonic or any unholy attacks in the duration of the skill.

Cooldown: 14 hours

Skill Cost: 2 Shards]

In an instant, Kaya struck his blade towards the red dot in Butcher's chest with multiple more after images following it up.

"Shit!"

Butcher could from one glance that the attack was very dangerous so he tried to defend it with demonic hardening skill but he was one step too late. Kaya's speed was blindingly fast and before the skill could take effect, his purple sword emanating a white glow brandished from the center that left a giant hole from the exploding power of both the stacked skills.

Boom!

[-900,000,001!!]

In an instant, Butcher's health went from 100% to 1%. He was only saved from death due to his passive skill Demon King's Abduction which gave him 5-second immortality.

"Kheeook! Your Highness, you can have your full control over me. I ask you to kill that man!"

With one single breadth of his words. The unmoving statue suddenly revealed a devilish grin as the entire surroundings shook.

"Shit!! He's pre-awakening the demon king! Let's run away! This kingdom is fucking doomed!"

Reaper screamed in thought. He knew there was something bad that would happen if Butcher was to die but he didn't think that the demon king, Mammon would possess his body.

Kaya could also very well see that something scary was about to happen but he still had a goal to finish.

"I have to kill it."

"You're bat shit insane! That's why I chose you!"

Reaper's tone quickly shifted back to awe and didn't retreat. Both of then we're crazy when it comes to killing so it was only normal for Reaper to also fight to the death.

"You are crazy, well that also includes me."

Reaper smiled as they watched Butcher's body floating in the center of the already destroyed ritual circle. Then the entire statue turned to an ashen gray aura that was sucked inside Butcher. His body floated in the air and started deforming. His guts, his limbs, his head, every part of his body was being ground in a very horrid fashion and soon as he turned to nothing but a mush of gore, it reformed back to its humanoid form but now with three arms in each side, a talon legs, a pigeon head with a crooked beak, two broken wings in the back and a reddish skin filled with cracks.

"Finally, the surface dimension is mine to conquer!"