The Fall

The Demon Lord was a being closer to a God than a Demon. That was the lie she and the Seven had spread when she took the throne. Only her Seven generals knew the truth. She was a Demon with immense power, who through various experiments could change the age of her body. Other than that, she was just a regular Demon. Right now she had the appearance of a young girl, no more than 10 years old. She liked that young appearance, for some reason and when why she would say "It is very convenient". Lust and Envy seemed to agree with her but the others didn't seem to understand what she meant. She was warped in white robs, showing only the bottom of her face and her golden hair slipping through the improvised hood.

'Truly nothing special' Pride thought as he tried to hide his anger that resurfaced when he was refereed to as "dear". He was in a foul mood to begin with and this made him even more unstable. He didn't notice that the others already knelled before their Lord.

He took his place next to Wrath and knelled before the Demon Lord... Or he tried to.

"Dammit... again...?" he muttered to himself. His knees were slightly bend and trembling. His mind knew what he had to do but his body did not answer to him. This has happened before, a few times but it has been getting more frequent the past years. When his heart was unstable his body would not move as he wished it to. Right this moment he was unable to once again kneel to the one he had swore his loyalty to.

"PRIDE!!" Wrath's voice rang to his ears. "Stop screwing around and kneel to our Lord" her anger could clearly be seen through her voice. The other Seven, didn't mind though. It wasn't anything new. It wasn't something to get mad about in their eyes. "He will kneel soon, as he did before" they all thought.

Pride was ignoring Wrath once again and focusing to calm his emotions and bend his knee. At that moment he heard a voice that would make all his efforts invalid.

"It is fine, Wrath. Pride is doing his best in his own way. Do not aim your anger towards him. He is after all your elder brother and one of my dear children like you." the Demon Lord stopped Wrath in her kind voice.

Pride was frozen. He stopped trying to kneel and stood up straight. He eyes glued to the ground and his clenched fists trembling.

"Y... b... ch" Pride barely managed to mutter in a very low voice. The others didn't quite understand what was going on, expect from one. Sloth who has been sleeping this whole time, in the opposite cornet to Pride, suddenly opened her eyes and revealed her 2 purple - bloodshot with anger - snake like eyes.

Blood-lust.

Pride did not even notice it. This time he would not force himself. He would say everything that was on his mind for everyone to hear. He looked at the one named Demon Lord with animosity. He was sweating, not because of fear but of rage.

"YOU DAMN TRASH" he shouted with all his strength. "How dare you? 'He is doing his best' you say? YOU! You have taken my castle, made my soul your plaything, twisting and warping it as a test subject to satisfy your curiosity. Took my comrades away from me and made me unable to care for anyone other than myself. ME! And now you are trying to play the role of an affectionate mother? Know your place you TRASH!"screamed Pride. Pride extended his right hand towards the Demon Lord and made a fist "Mα-clayar, come to me."

The air of the meeting room changed. Pride's fist was enveloped in a black and purple light. It felt like that light was generating heat and the room temperature started to rise. The light extended and then disappeared. In it's place there was a long-sword with a black edge.

At that moment a white line appeared in front of the still kneeling and dumbfounded Generals. The line stopped in front of the Demon Lord. It was Sloth, her usual lazy demeanor was nowhere to be found.

"Arm el Aerch" Sloth chanted and a faint green barrier appeared in front of her and the Demon Lord. As soon as it appeared though...

CRACK!

Pride's sword met with the barrier and shattered it almost instantly. The black magic surrounding the black sword, made the whole castle shake when met with the barrier. Sloth did not stop there though. She was a mage so she could not let an enemy get close since she would be in an disadvantaged.

"Arm el Aerch, Arm el Aerch" Instantly two more barriers appeared in front of her. That was supposed to be the strongest shield at a mages disposal, that could even stop a young dragons breath.

The second barrier came down as easily as the first one but Pride's charge was stopped by the third barrier.

The rest of the Seven generals, finally came to their senses. "A rebellion" everyone thought. Pride who was knocked back by the barrier, landed at his feet and took his stance. At the same time every one of the now Six generals jumped in front of the Demon Lord and Sloth. Pride smiled at the sight.

'What's with this stupid faces?' he thought as he laughed inside.

Sloth looked exhausted. She used three high level spells. Her mana reserves were probably half empty while Pride used a minor amount of mana to surround his sword with magic power. Whether it was quality of magic power or quantity of mana it seemed Pride was overwhelmingly above Sloth.

"PRIDE!" the loud as always Wrath shouted angrily at him. But then uncharacteristically her voice started to tremble. "What... What are you...?" Her mind drew a blank. She did not understand anything that was happening right now.

"Shut your trap trash. I am done taking orders from that phony Demon Lord. Any trash that gets in my way I will step on." arrogance, pride, jealousy, anger... all those feelings that were boiling for a long time inside of him were directed at them as killing intent. He was prepared to kill them all here and now. No. There was no other choice than to kill them all.

"Pride... Please, I know you have been suffering but we are a family. There is still time for us to talk. Do not..." the Demon Lord tried to plead with her ever changing kind voice.

"SHUT UP" Pride screamed once again. "I have rebelled against you. I will kill you and everyone in this room. What kind of..." 'What am I saying' he thought mid sentence. Then finally as if gears clicking together it came to him. 'Ah... So that's how it is for everyone'. He finally came to a the "why" he has been longing for. Why did he hate all of them, why couldn't he see them as anything more than garbage, why couldn't he follow the Demon Lord's orders with a calm mind. He continued with a calmer voice than before. "What kind of King is willing to forgive betrayal and talk things out. Get angry. Punish me for pointing my sword to you. You can never be a leader that I can follow. You can never be..." Pride took a short pause and a small breath, before saying the words he had been suppressing for so long. "You can never be my pride".

The Demon Lord's mouth was shaking after hearing these words and Envy closed her eyes with a bitter expression. They both seemed to understand perfectly what he meant and what was going to happen next. The rest still seemed oblivious to what he was thinking.

'I've hurt them both' Pride thought. He was prepared to kill everyone in this room. For some reason though he hated the expression on Envy and the Demon Lord right now.

'No, it is over. There are no more words for us to trade. All that's left is...' Pride griped his sword with both hands, lower his stance and focused his power to his legs. He was ready to charge at his previous companions anytime.

"Pride, if that's the case... I will..." Wrath once again with a trembling voice took out her axe and prepared to activate her skill.

"No" the Demon Lord stopped her. "You will not fight your brother, I won't let you" she stepped forwards. The others all tried to stop her but suddenly a strong pressure pushed them back. The Demon Lord has released her seemingly bottomless power and was going to do battle.

"Pride" the Demon Lord called. Pride didn't answer though. He believed himself to be stronger but a moment of carelessness is all it took for him to lose the battle. "I wish you be happy and fulfilled in your next life." the Demon Lord said with a smile and a tears falling from her eyes.

Pride did give any thoughts to her words. The one thing he understood that he was that this was the announcement of his death.

'As if I'll let y...?' he paused mid thought. He could not move. His body was heavy and without him noticing there were heavy chains coming from nowhere particularly around his body.

'A spell? When? She did not chant!' He could not understand what was going on. The heavy chains now glowing with with a faint purple light were getting tighter by the second.

"JUST THIS...." Pride tried to say, but he had no time.

"Arie, Kas, Elchto..." the Demon Lord started to chant her spell.

Pride immediately activated his Skill. He had a few skill which only he could use, but he always said that skills are for the weak. The only one he ever used was this.

"Hell's Path: PRIDE" a skill named after him. All of Pride's magic power left his body and surrounded him. By controlling the magic power directly he could move and fight beyond his limits. Even if his body was broken, as long as he moved it through magic power, he could keep fighting. A tyrannical skill fit for the one known as the strongest. He managed to break one of the chains that held him. His arm also seemed to be broken but that did not matter. Right now he was a cornered animal with nothing to loose. After breaking one chain, he started on another but before that, two more chains warped around his freed hand.

"What the hell is this spell!" Pride screamed, his ever arrogant face now filled with despair. At the same time...

"... Erla, Nave!" the Demon Lord's voice stopped and a small black sphere slowly approached the immobile Pride. "Goodbye my beloved son" Then... Everything faded to black. Those words were the last thing Pride could remember...