THE FALL OF A BEHEMOTH

The thin streams of blood slowly rose off the ground, converging under his feet.

"What is going on..."

"What's he doing..."

The human soldiers looked at Francesco in awe and fear as the blood of their fallen comrades gathered under his feet.

The gathered blood floated under his feet, its shape alternating like an amoeba.

Francesco continued to mutter words under his breath until all the blood of the deceased was drained from the battlefield.

Undead and the living halted in their attack on one another. The undead were unable to move due to the cut-off supply from their master, while the living stood there with fear-ridden faces, slowly praying to me and the other gods.

I don't know about the other gods, but I, for one, turned my back on them. How could they do such wickedness and ask me for help? Whether they knew what they were doing or not, it's not right for me to interfere either way.

The amoeba-like blood under his feet engulfed him, forming a sphere of rotating blood.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING... STOP HIM... WHATEVER HE MIGHT BE DOING WILL NOT BE GOOD FOR US, STOP HIM," the king's voice echoed, anxious and panicked.

"Huh... Was I frozen by fear?" William thought to himself as he too was frozen by fear, snapping out of it following the sound of his king.

"Never knew Master was this dangerous. He is not even using his full power... and what is this, I've never seen it on the battlefield. He never used it, not even when we fought the demon king..." William's thoughts rang, his calm, indifferent demeanor completely shattered as he gazed upon the rotating sphere of blood.

*BOMB!!! BOMB!!!*

Wyvern troupes, soldiers who claimed the sky as their battlegrounds, bombarded Francesco's blood sphere with their wyverns' fire breath.

The sphere shook, dispersing the blast, nevertheless, they continued to shoot as they noticed it shook.

"Do not be afraid, he is vulnerable in this state, his army has stopped, victory is at hand," a handsome youth in a suit of armor similar to that of William shouted, giving morale to him and the rest of the troops.

*ROAR!!!* Battle cries echoed through the field as they readied their spears and arrows, aiming them at the sphere of blood in the sky.

"This is not good. 'ossis cavea,'" Francesco, who was slowly absorbing the blood in the sphere, muttered to himself.

The bones, in response to their master's call, gathered from the battle and, like a whirlpool, formed another sphere around the sphere of blood, but this one was for defense.

"He is protecting himself, that means we have a chance... Continue to bombard him. If we break through, victory will be ours," William exclaimed as he took an arrow embedded with light elemental magic and aimed at the large spherical whirlpool of bones. He shot.

True to its mark, it flew, hitting the armor and creating an opening that quickly disappeared.

"See, we have a chance," he shouted, his actions giving morale to the rest. They, in turn, took out their light elemental weapons and shot at him, each chipping at his defenses.

"Logan, contact them, whatever he is doing, I believe he will come out stronger than before," the king instructed, as his instincts were screaming at him that if Francesco were to get out of the sphere, they might not win.

"No need, we are here," they heard a voice behind them. Turning towards it, they saw men clad in black hooded robes, demonic energy oozing from their bodies.

"What can you do with this meager number?" The king retorted, not surprised by their presence or the aura that oozed from their bodies.

"Tch... Do you think we need our whole army to take care of an injured man," the one who stood in front of the 11 men gathered there said, disdain in his voice.

"That injured man brought down five of your demon generals and your former king single-handedly. So, if you know you will not take this seriously, then leave. The truce will be canceled," the king retorted, turning his back to them.

"Tch, who does he think he is."

"... Give him what he wants. I gave you more than a hundred of our best soldiers..."

A sweet but seductive voice sounded in the ears of the leader of the new group.

"Sorry, my liege..."

"We will cooperate with you, but... That light barrier has to come down," he said, heeding his master's command.

"No can do. If it goes down, our combined forces will not amount to anything," the king said with his back still turned to them.

"You underestimate us..." the leader retorted.

"Yes, I do..."

"Gentlemen, no need to fight... We will handle it. When the light barrier falls, you can join," a man clad in hooded white robes said. Unlike the kingdom's Seven Circle mages, his robes had no designs, just plain white.

The robes of the mages have intricate designs on the cuffs of their sleeves, their collar, and the symbol of the Lux Kingdom adorning their chests.

"It seems she finally agreed... You guys can go on ahead," the king said as he recognized the new group.

"Thank you, Your Majesty. This marks the beginning of our long relationship together," the man exclaimed.

"Let's go, for the queen and our new brothers," he shouted before rushing into the light barrier, followed by individuals who seemed to have been hiding in the trees.

"You!!!"

"What!! Tell that princess of yours that it's not yet time for you guys to join," the king said as the man oozing demonic energy tried to speak.

"Damn, you," the being oozing demonic energy cursed, his teeth gritted as he felt helpless.

Meanwhile, in the light barrier, the human army was still bombarding Francesco with their attacks, trying to break his bone defense and get to him.

"Tell your men to move out of the way," William heard a voice in his head, one he did not recognize. But his battle instinct kicked in, telling him to heed the advice of the strange voice.

"Move out of the way," he commanded.

"Only elves can use telepathy. I guess His Majesty signed a deal with them... Are we really that incompetent that we need outside forces to take care of one man?" He thought to himself, gritting his teeth in frustration and shame.

As the men cleared the way, three tornadoes glowing with a subtle green hue hit the bone defense of Francesco, completely shattering it and exposing Francesco, who was covered in a thick layer of blood as he was almost done absorbing it.

"Elves... And is that demonic energy... Hahaha... He is working with elves and demons to get rid of me," Francesco laughed internally, a sorrowful laugh as he saw the twelve beings levitating in front of him, their white hair flowing down to their waist.

Despite being men, they had beauty that rivaled the princess of the Lux Kingdom, who was recognized by many as the most beautiful woman in the kingdom.

Their pointy ears, the signature of their race, twitched as they sensed danger from the being before them.

"Why would your queen put you in danger?" Francesco inquired, his tone full of ridicule and mockery.

"Arrogant much! She did not put us in danger. All twelve of us are the best of the best, the elite..." He paused abruptly as he felt a sharp pain in his left shoulder. He slowly turned to look at it, and to his horror, his left arm had been ripped off.

"Arghhh!!! Arghhh!!!" The elf, who seemed to be the leader of the twelve, screamed as he looked at the blood spewing out of the ripped arm. He quickly grabbed it, healing and closing the wound.

He and the rest of the twelve stared at Francesco in horror. He, on the other hand, ignored them, holding the ripped arm.

"Yeah... This light is a nuisance," he said, throwing the arm at the barrier. The barrier, which he had failed to break, shattered, exposing the real sun and the outside world.

The demons, taking this their cue, jumped towards Francesco, brandishing their demonic arts as black arrows and torn vines shot toward him.

The humans, elves, and demons started to bombard him with magic and weapons as their hair stood, their instincts telling them to kill him immediately before it was too late.

But it was too late. Their bombardment was defended by giant flesh golems, something they had never seen before, as Francesco only controlled skeletal minions.

"So I guess it's time to destroy the world, as Mom predicted," Francesco smiled menacingly. His eyes glowed red as he floated above an undead army numbering half a million. The soldiers and people who had died in the vicinity were all turned, joining his army.

"This is ridiculous."

"We are done for."

"The God of Death has descended."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Soldiers fell to their knees, all hope lost, as they looked at Francesco, not as an enemy but as a deity who had come to reap their lives.

"What made you think you could win?" Francesco mocked.

"This!!" The king exclaimed as he stabbed himself, golden blood spewing out.

"Sol, I sacrifice everyone in this vicinity, the blood of the three races, bring down this heathen," the king cried out.

"Never knew I had to resort to this, that witch is a quack. Good thing I have a plan, they would die, but I will be able to come back... He has to die, good thing all of the races are gathered here, the ritual can succeed." the king thought.

His blood fell, causing a huge bright light to rise from the ground.

"What does he think he is doing?"

"He is using us as a ritual to summon Sol."

"How dare he betray us."

"Arrghh... It's hot."

"Mom."

"Argghh."

"Help."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Screams reverberated through the land as everyone in the estate and an area of 2000 km² were caught up in the light, catching flames as they burnt to death.

[FRANCESCO, YOU ARE BEING CLOSEST TO BECOMING A DEITY. IF YOU HAD MORE TIME OR HAD NOT HELD BACK ALL THESE YEARS, YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN MY COLLEAGUE. BUT IT SEEMS THIS IS YOUR END]

A voice echoed, and its source revealed a huge three-legged flaming crow that looked down at Francesco. He was lying on the ground, his bone armor shattered, exposing his scarred body. His undead army, unlike the living, stood there unmoving.

"Hahaha, Sol, isn't this funny? They betrayed me and now sent a god to kill me... Before I die, I want to ask, is he really dead?" Francesco inquired.

[NO... HE WILL REINCARNATE IN A FEW HUNDRED YEARS AS HIS SACRIFICES WERE GREAT, GRANTING HIM ANOTHER LIFE]

"Got it... I respect you a lot, and I know I have to die because of him, I know it's not your fault but his... I ... Have ... To... So I am sorry for this," Francesco said as he drew a magic circle with his blood. Reacting to it, his minions rushed towards Sol, the sun god.

[ I AM SORRY TOO ]

Sol's flames increased as they engaged Francesco's minions, destroying the lot of them.

"Renasci, revivere...aptitudo... " As Francesco chanted, Sol shot out a crimson flame from his opened mouth, incinerating him.

[IT'S OVER ... TO SHOW MY RESPECT, THIS PLACE WOULD BE FORBIDDEN, A RESTING PLACE FOR YOU, ONE WHO COULD HAVE BECOME THE DESTRUCTION OF HIS RACE BUT CHOSE TO FIGHT HIS DESTINY ]

As he said this, the 2000 km² changed into a forest, one that would later be known as the Forbidden Forest.

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Sorry for the long chapter, wanted to bring volume one to an end with a bang.

Thanks for sticking with me through volume one!; Prelude I hope you enjoyed the finale.Your support means everything.

If you liked it, show some love with gifts, power stones, or a thumbs up. Your feedback matters, so let me know what you think.

Volume two starts now. Let's keep the adventure going together!