Chapter 5: The Devil’s Mark

Chapter 5: The Devil's Mark

Late at night, several robed figures leapt from rooftop to rooftop.

Behind them, was a single man chasing after them with a blade in hand.

The robed figures looked at each other and signalled to attack.

They pulled out their weapons and lunged at the man pursuing them.

Each one of these robed figures were very skilled and powerful, enough to become an elite figure in any place they go.

Yet, they were all sliced apart.

Their heads went flying into the air, blood spewing out like a fountain.

Pethnor, the one who was chasing after these robed figures, wiped the blood off of his face.

The remaining robed figures were hesitant to attack, they realized that the man in front of them was powerful.

Although Pethnor had been permanently injured during the fight against Lenier, losing a leg and his ability to use his demonic magic, he was still the former demon lord and one of the 17 heroes.

These bozos aren't much of a threat to him.

However, they were stronger than he expected.

These hooded figures were part of the cult of Lenier.

He didn't expect random cult members to have this kind of strength.

Pethnor quickly killed all the cult members and headed off towards their main base of operations that he had discovered.

He had tried torturing some of the cult members for information, but they just wouldn't say anything.

As a demon lord Pethnor encountered many strong-willed people who were able to resist torture, but the fact that not a single person in this entire cult revealed any information is very strange.

Pethnor entered the main base that the cult of Lenier had been residing in, which was a large building that would've costed several hundreds of thousands of gold to purchase.

The fact the cult of Lenier's base was located here meant that they not only had great influence but also had access to vast amounts of wealth.

This was obviously concerning, and Pethnor needed to find out who was backing them because clearly they couldn't have amassed all this without the aid of someone.

Pethnor looked around the base and there wasn't anything that was out of place that would give any clues or hints.

Suddenly, Pethnor sensed someone nearby and quickly pulled out his blade.

Out from the shadows, emerged a familiar figure.

"Sword King Ragnar…"

Ragnar, one of the 17 former heroes who had fought alongside Pethnor, appeared from behind Pethnor.

He was holding a bloody sword in his prosthetic arm, with an eyepatch on his face that covered his missing eye.

"Are you here to investigate the cult of Lenier too? I've been tracking them for a while now," Ragnar questioned Pethnor with some suspicion in his voice.

Pethnor nodded in response, before they stared at each other in silence.

They were both quite wary of each other.

Pethnor felt uncomfortable. His instincts were telling him that something was strange here…

"Well. This place is empty, so I need to investigate some other locations. Feel free to look around," Pethnor said as he stood up and headed towards the door to leave.

But before he could step out, a sword silently flew towards his neck at supersonic speeds.

Pethnor's sharp senses detected it and quickly moves his head away, narrowly avoiding having his head decapitated.

And the one who swung the sword was none other than Ragnar himself.

"What… are you doing?"

Pethnor asked as he raised his own blade.

Ragnar's eyes glowed dimly in the dark room.

"What do you think?"

"…"

"…"

"Ragnar… are you part of the cult of Lenier?"

Ragnar didn't reply.

His silence was confirmation to Pethnor.

Pethnor now had no reason to hold back and charged at Ragnar.

Their blades clashed, sending sparks flying in all directions.

The room exploded from the force as they both emerged outside.

Pethnor's mind was racing. Hundreds of thoughts rushed through his head, trying to calculate and figure out everything that was going on.

How long had Ragnar been part of the cult of Lenier? Before or after they defeated Lenier?

How and why did Ragnar become a part of the cult?

Ragnar literally lost an arm, a leg, and an eye. And yet, he's in a cult that worships the person that did this to him?

These questions won't be answered unless Pethnor defeated Ragnar first.

They jumped at each other again, exchanging blow after blows, causing severe collateral damage to the buildings around them.

There were already casualties, and many people were fleeing.

"Hm. I guess we should change locations. Wouldn't want to get bystanders involved, do we Mr. Former demon lord? Or should I call you Mr. Demon representative now?" Ragnar said with a smirk on his face.

"As if someone in the cult of Lenier would care about the survival or others. What are you trying to do here?"

They stared off at each other again, before disappearing and reappearing in front of each other.

Despite being injured, both of them were extremely powerful causing devastating damage to their surroundings.

As the two of them continued battling, Pethnor realized something important.

After the battle with Lenier, he had lost a leg, so he had gotten a prosthetic one in its place.

However, since then he hasn't fought many strong opponents, he still wasn't familiar with using the prosthetic efficiently.

He treated it carelessly as if it were a real leg, causing it to crack the more he fought against Ragnar.

'Tsk. I have to be more careful.'

Although it was looking bad for Pethnor, it wasn't going too well for Ragnar either.

Ragnar also had prosthetics.

Back then, he used to swing around a massive greatsword like it was nothing, but with a weaker prosthetic arm, he had to use a small sword instead.

Ragnar narrowed his eyes in frustration.

The damage that Ragnar took from the battle with Lenier severely weakened him even more so than Pethnor.

Every time he moved, his muscles ached and resisted against his commands.

As a warrior, being unable to draw out your strength properly is detrimental, and he knew that.

If this went on, he wouldn't be able to win.

Ragnar had to no choice but to use it.

After pushing Pethnor away, Ragnar jumped back and activated his last resort: the sigil mark on his arm.

As he did so, a burst of energy surged throughout his body and a wave of magic swept across the entire city.

Pethnor didn't even have time to react before Ragnar appeared in front of him and slashed deep into his flesh.

If Ragnar had been using his old greatsword, Pethnor would have been sliced into two pieces.

He was sent flying away and crashed into the side of a building.

"Argh!"

Pethnor stomach was sliced open and various organs were slowly slipping out.

While enduring the pain, he grabbed his intestines and pushed it back inside before focusing his energy on regenerating the wound.

"You know what I find funny Pethnor? After Lenier died, you were the one who suggested that none of us should use the sigil mark. You were very cautious, and rightfully so. But you were wrong. Lenier won't come back. He wanted his death. But if you had just allowed Mary Sue to use the endless power within these sigil marks, she would've been able to heal all our wounds. But she's dead now. It's too late."

Ragnar was brimming with energy as he slowly walked towards Pethnor, step by step.

In a single moment, Ragnar had turned the tides of the battle.

As the former demon lord, Pethnor was arrogant, but he knew to pick his fights carefully, and Ragnar is too strong for him to handle as he is now.

So Pethnor decided to run away,

No matter how strong Ragnar had become with the sigil mark, the one thing Pethnor was confident in was escaping.

Afterall, he spent the entirety of his early years of life running away and it's the thing he knows best aside from fighting.

Ragnar chased after him, but Pethnor skillfully weaved around obstacles, misdirecting Ragnar and managed to escape Ragnar's sight.

But before he could get away, Pethnor suddenly felt his body grow increasingly heavy as he dropped to his knees.

'What?!'

Pethnor tried to move, but arms felt feeble and his bones cracked under the pressure of his own body.

When he looked up, he saw another familiar figure.

Hex Mania Lyla.

She was standing in front of him.

"Ah shit… you too?"

Pethnor felt so weak, he was unable to even crawl.

He had to focus just to breath, and speaking made him hurt even more.

"How many of the 17 heroes are part of this damn cult of Lenier…"

"Well, there's me, Lyla, Sage Gruther and Elemental Moore. I guess that's 4 of us."

Ragnar answered as he caught up from behind.

"God damn… 4 out of the 17, what a fucking disgrace…"

Lyla's curses and hexes were incredible potent, and since Pethnor was unable to use his demonic powers, he was unable to resist.

Just like Ragnar before, Pethnor now only had one option left.

The sigil mark.

Pethnor didn't want to use the sigil mark. He hated the very idea of having to borrow strength from elsewhere.

He believed that his strength needs to be his, and if it's borrowed, then it's worthless.

However, his pride is also worthless if he's going to die anyways.

So, he made the choice to use the sigil mark.

The curses on his body shattered from the mere force of the mark being awaken, and Pethnor stood up.

Neither Lyla nor Ragnar were surprised since they had expected this.

Using the sigil marks, they had regained their former strength… no, they had gained strength surpassing even that.

The scale of the battle drastically increased.

Every attack was strong enough to destroy cities.

The town they were in was already gone, and few managed to escape.

Pethnor had no time to focus on containing the damage, as his opponents were equally as powerful as he was and took all his attention to stay alive.

Black chaos orbs materialized around Pethnor and flew towards Ragnar before being sliced apart.

A black mist formed by millions of tiny mosquitoes spread through the area, contamination anything within it with lethal curses.

Hex mania Lyla efficiently controlled the mosquito mist towards Pethnor's location.

'Fuck…'

Lyla's curse powers were more dangerous to Pethnor than Ragnar was.

Ragnar was more physically powerful, but the curses and hexes hindered his every move and caused very annoying side effects.

Lyla's curse powers scale with the amount of hatred she feels towards the target. The more she hates her target, the more potent her curses will be.

In the battle against Lenier, Lyla had casted several absurdly deadly curses, yet she not only didn't hate Lenier, but worshiped him.

This means even with zero hatred towards her target, she was able to cast cripplingly intense curses. So against a target that she actually hates, her powers soar even higher.

Pethnor's body drastically slowed as if his limbs were being shackled.

His joints rang out in pain, as his every swing caused immense pain.

Every attack he inflicted on Ragnar was also reflected back onto himself.

He needed to take out Lyla first.

Pethnor parried away any incoming attacks and summoned a wave of demonic energy to obstruct Ragnar.

Using this chance, Pethnor dashed away towards Lyla.

Before his sword could reach Lyla though, he was knocked away by a powerful attack.

'Who is it now? Is it Moore? Or Gruther? Perhaps both…"

But who he saw next was not who he was expecting, in fact, he didn't even recognize them.

A small child, who looked around the age of 6, took a step out from behind Lyla.

"How… how dare you try to hurt my mother…"

The child pointed a sword towards Pethnor.

"I didn't realize you had a child, Lyla… to think you'd let your kid fight me. Ha. I'm the former demon lord, and even I didn't do that," Pethnor scoffed.

But what Lyla said next genuinely shocked him.

"This child is Lenier's child."

"You… what?"

"You remember when Lenier died right? He ejaculated all over us. I took some of that… and used it for myself… this here is Lenier's only son, David. Say hello."

Lenier's son, David, didn't say anything.

Pethnor immediately noticed something on the child's arm.

It was a sigil mark. The same one on Pethnor's arm.

"I gave up my sigil mark and gave it to him. No one deserves Lenier's sigil mark more than his own son," Lyla said softly as she stroked the child's head. "Be a good boy, and take care of that bad man for mother, okay?"

David nodded, before staring at Pethnor with anger burning in his eyes.

'How dare this man attack mother…' David thought to himself.

His fury turned into power as the sigil mark glowed even brighter, and he charged at Pethnor.

CLANG!!!

Pethnor blocked the strike, but an immense force pushed down on his body.

'Holy shit, he's fucking strong.'

Pethnor parried away David and launched his own series of strikes that were also swiftly deflected away.

It hasn't been that long since Lenier had died, so if this child really was Lenier's son, he'd no older than a few years. And yet, he was already strong enough to go up against Pethnor, a veteran warrior and former demon lord?

Sure, it might have been because David had been given Lenier's sigil mark, but it's still impressive how he managed to use and control the power to such a high degree of effectiveness at such a young age.

Imagine what kind of threat he'd become when he grew up.

This child needs to die.

Pethnor no longer viewed David as just a mere child anymore, but an enemy that must be eliminated.

The sigil's power flowed through Pethnor's veins, doping him up as black lightning surged around him.

Pethnor disappeared, leaving only a dent in the ground where he once stood, and reappeared above David.

David quickly reacted to the attack by blocking it, but he didn't notice the dozens of chaos orbs that were flying at him from behind.

KABOOOOOMMMM!!!!

The chaos orbs all collided with David and propelling his burning body into the sky.

Although David may be strong, he was still a child in the end, and he lacked experience.

Compared to Pethnor with decades of fighting and life-threatening battles, David was nothing.

Still, he was durable enough to survive several of Pethnor's chaos orbs.

With his sword in hand, Pethnor leapt at David swinging it at his neck.

CLANG!

"Oi. Did you forget about me?" Ragnar growled as he stopped Pethnor.

From behind, Lyla grabbed David's falling body and gave him a supreme healing potion, restoring him back to full health.

Pethnor clicked his tongue. This was more difficult than he had expected.

There was three of them, and only one of him.

Running away is an option, but if he left David as is, he'd only grow up to become a monster.

He needed to finish this now.

Pethnor surrounded his entire body in demonic armor, and then charged into battle.

Ragnar and David clashed with him as Lyla stood afar using her curses.

The ground burst open as a black dragon summoned from Pethnor's demonic energy flew into the sky, spewing chaos fire.

Ragnar gathered all his energy into his sword, and swung it down, slicing the fire itself along with the dragon into two pieces.

The clouds dispersed from the attack and a wave of air blew in all directions.

Although the battle wasn't on the same level as when they fought Lenier, it was still an intense battle radiating with power.

Every attack tore apart the elements of the world.

Pethnor frowned.

Something was strange.

At first, the biggest threat to Pethnor was Lyla due to her dreadful curses, but slowly, that changed.

It was subtle at first, but as he continued clashing blades with Ragnar and David, he began to notice it become increasingly more difficult to counter their attacks.

He had thought maybe Lyla was using more curses, but that wasn't the case.

It was David.

He was growing stronger.

Sweat poured down Pethnor's face.

Even now, during this short battle, David was growing at a rapid pace. Just like his father once did, David was adapting.

Adapting, and evolving.

Until finally, David landed a hit on Pethnor for the first time.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANGGG!!!!!

After three consecutive parries and then a blade lock, David twisted his body, and redirected his body's flow of energy, flicking away Pethnor's blade and knocking him off balance.

This gave David an opening to land a strike.

With his hyper condensed magic sword, he slashed deep into Pethnor's flesh.

It wasn't a fatal wound, but it was still deadly.

The wound that David caused on Pethnor refused to heal no matter how much he focused.

David's magic was blocking Pethnor's regenerative abilities…

Flashbacks to the battle against Lenier rushed through Pethnor's mind.

This is bad.

Very bad.

Very very bad.

If this went on… he's actually going to die.

Pethnor had his fair share of life-threatening moments, but he now had a reason to live. He had a goal.

He didn't want to die.

At least… not yet.

Pethnor gulped, swallowing all the saliva and fear in his throat deep down, as he braced himself for what was to come…

Meanwhile as this was happening, Steve was in a different country, investigating an underground tunnel suspected to be used by the cult of Lenier.

Steve used some minor light magic to brighten up the area as his every step echoed in the silent tunnel.

He had already killed a few hooded figures so he was certain that this would lead to one of their bases.

Despite walking straight into enemy territory, Steve wasn't nervous at all. Compared to everything he's been through, this was a casual Tuesday for him.

But then out of nowhere, he saw someone walking towards him. This person did not seem to have any malicious intent, as if they did, Steve would've felt it.

It was a woman, wearing a large robe.

She casually walked up towards Steve and stood there.

"Why hello there, good sir."

Although Steve felt no malicious intent, he was even more wary than if he did.

There were numerous skilled individuals who were capable of hiding their bloodlust and presence.

She was almost certainly related to the cult of Lenier.

She removed the hood that she was wearing, revealing a pair of demon horns on her head.

Not knowing what to do in this situation, Steve just asked, "Who are you?"

"My name is Serena. I'm the original demon lord. Nice to meet you, hero."

She smiled.

Steve didn't waste a single moment.

The moment he heard those words, he unsheathed his sword and immediately swung it.

"Attacking me right off the bat. Sheesh. All you heroes are the same."

She shook her head as she casually took a step back, avoiding the attack completely.

However, Steve wasn't done yet.

He slammed his crutch onto the ground and using the crutches as his center of rotation, he swung his entire body and kicked the robed women.

As far as Steve could tell, it had no effect.

Who was this woman, and where did she come from?

She said that she was the "original demon lord", but what does that mean? And why did she suddenly tell him that?

Regardless of the answers, she definitely wasn't normal.

Steve activated his heroic abilities pouring his divine energy into his sword and shot forth several magic imbued air slashes.

The robed women, Serena, flicked her wrist as a wall of black energy exploded against the attack and neutralized it.

"Hero, I didn't come here to fight. I just… want a chat. Regarding Lenier's sigil mark that is."

She pointed at the hero's hand with the mark.

"All I want is that. You aren't using it, am I correct? So why not just give it to me? Makes no difference to you anyways. So how about it? You give me the mark and then we'll both go our peaceful ways." Serena offered.

What an idiot, Steve thought to himself.

If she was going to make such an absurd offer, then introducing herself as the "original demon lord" is the worst possible thing she could've done.

"Well, I was just being honest. I am the original demon lord after all."

Steve stepped back in shock.

Serena had just answered something that Steve was thinking and not spoken out loud.

"Yes hero, I can read minds. It's one of my abilities."

Steve frowned and fortified his mind, blocking out any mental magic from intruding.

"Anyways, that's besides the point. Give me the sigil mark, okay hero?"

"Fuck off bitch. I'm definitely not giving this sigil mark to a self-proclaimed original demon lord."

"I told you that I'm the original demon lord so it could help you make your decision wisely. You do know what's going to happen if you… refuse, right?"

As Serena said that, the entire tunnel was engulfed in darkness.

Tentacles covered the walls as miasma oozed out.

In the sea of darkness, only Serena's two glowing red eyes could be seen.

'Well. She wasn't bluffing. She's got the strength of a demon lord…'

Despite facing off against such an ominous foe, even now, Steve felt no fear.

Even while being severely weakened, he still had some of his heroic skills, meaning he would not lose no matter what happened.

Plus, compared to the overwhelming might of Lenier, Serena felt like lukewarm water.

Thus, the battle commenced.

Steve was obviously at a disadvantage and was beaten up almost instantly.

His body impaled by several tentacles at once, as pure evil seeped into his body and corroded his mind.

But through sheer plot armor, he resisted and sliced them all apart.

Using his working leg and his crutches, he pushed himself forwards and attempted to impale Serena, but to no avail.

The self proclaimed original demon lord Serena was a tough opponent, her every attack contained immense power destroying the space they were fighting in.

Steve had no choice but to tap into more and more of his heroic powers in order to defend himself.

He was so engrossed in the battle that he failed to notice the sigil mark on his hand starting to faintly glow in response to his heroic powers awakening.

Eventually, he did notice, but by the time he did, it was too late.

The sigil mark on his hand shone brightly, washing away even Serena's vile darkness and illuminated the entire vicinity with it's blinding light.

The light was so bright, it permeated through Steve's hand and his eyelids, filling up entire vision with nothing but white.

As the light died down, and Steve reopened his eyes, he saw something.

There stood a humanoid figure, glowing brightly.

Even though Steve had never seen this person, Steve instantly knew who it was due to the many statues and images of him in books.

The original Hero Xavier.

"Where… am I?" the original Xavier asked.

He looked up and saw Serena.

"The demon lord?! How are you still alive?! I thought I killed and sealed you away!"

"I was. But a certain someone released me."

Serena surprisingly answered his question honestly.

Steve looked back and forth between the two of them, confused. What in the world was happening right now?

"You there, you summoned me, correct? Are you the hero of this generation?" Xavier quickly asked to which Steve nodded.

"I think so. It wasn't intentional though; my heroic magic must've activated this sigil mark by accident."

"What absurd power… to be able to revive me despite me being dead for so long," Xavier muttered, before turning to glare at Serena and pointed his shining sword at her. "What's she doing here?"

"I'm here for that sigil mark. It was nice seeing you again Hero Xavier, quite frankly, not even I expected to see you again. But I am a busy woman, I'll just take the sigil mark and leave."

She smiled and took a step towards Steve, but Hero Xavier blocked her in her path.

"I don't know what you're up to demon lord, but you aren't getting it. It clearly holds powers that you shouldn't possess."

"I'll have you know I haven't been idle for the entire time you've been dead, Xavier," Serena growled with a hint of malicious intent in his voice.

"Oh please. I defeated you once before, I'll do again."

"Go ahead. I'd like to see you defeat me without your party of heroes and as a mere summoned."

Serena sneered and unleashed a wave of tentacles.

Hero Xavier's body momentarily flashed before his body surged forward.

Steve was pushed away by the force of the powers colliding.

He had tried to join in the fight as well, but Hero Xavier was using up Steve's energy to fuel his attacks so Steve couldn't do anything.

Steve's powers originally belonged to the original Hero Xavier after all, it only made sense that Xavier would be able to use the powers more effectively.

Both Serena and hero Xavier were leagues stronger than he was.

At this point, they were no longer in the tunnel.

The tunnel had long been destroyed as intense rays of magic and energy illuminated the skies.

It was battle between titans.

As Steve was running away, he also noticed that in the far distance, he could sense absurd amounts of energy as well equivalent to the battle between Xavier and Serena.

'What in the world is happening today…'

Little did he know that the energy he sensed was the energy of Pethnor fighting against Lyla, David and Ragnar.

These two colossal battles raged on, indiscriminately wrecking havoc on the land.

And yet, contrasting to all this chaos of battle, in a far far location elsewhere, a certain individual was in a dark quiet room, very close to finishing something…

This individual had run out of ink to write with, so he used his own blood to continue drawing the magic circle onto the ground.

The magic sigil on his hand glowed brighter than ever before as he was so close to finishing.

The man had suffered severe brain damage resulting in memory loss and cognitive disorders, which slowed his progressed significantly.

Before he had received these injuries, he was formerly known as the Arch mage Lumal.

Lumal had spent the last several years trying to complete a single 11th tier spell, which would have taken him only a mere couple minutes to finish casting during his prime.

He constantly made mistakes, forgot important details, and failed several times.

But when completed, this spell will revive Lumal.

To more exact, it will reverse his body back to his original uninjured body prior to fighting Lenier.

He will return to normal.

All of his disabilities and injuries will disappear!

However, Lumal still can't use magic, so it should be impossible for him to activate this spell even if he did complete it…

That is, if he didn't have Lenier's sigil mark.

Lumal intended to use the absurd power stored within the sigil mark to activate the reversal spell.

He was well aware of the risks that were involved but he did not care. He was that desperate. He had lost everything and is willing to lose more to bring back what is gone.

And now, after so god damn fucking long, years of blood sweat and tears, he was now moments away from finishing.

"Yes… yes… YES. YESYESYESYESYES!!!! I'm… I'M DONE!!!! OH GOD… I'm finally fucking done…"

Tears swelled up in his eyes as a feeling of relief and hope rushed through his body.

But the moment of truth was yet to come.

Now, the most important part: Activating the spell itself.

Lumal took a deep breath, raised the sigil mark on his hand, and then placed it gently on the magic circle.

Then, he focused.

The sigil mark instantly flashed a bright light, burning off Lumal's hand with heat equivalent to that of the sun.

The energy from the sigil mark poured into the magic circle, activating it all at once.

All his life, Lumal had been a denier of God. He believed in himself and his endless knowledge. He believed himself to be superior to any god… but for the first time in his life, he prayed to every god in existence to let this work.

"PLEASSSEEEE WORRRKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

His scream was drowned out by the intense sound of the magic spurring to life.

A bright light burst forth, engulfing the entire building Lumal was residing in.

It did not stop there though, that light began to spread.

It spread all through the entire world.

Pethnor, David, Ragnar and Lyla all looked over towards the source of the spreading light. They were unable to do anything as they were consumed by this light.

Hero Xavier and Serena didn't even notice the light until they were completely consumed by the light as they were so focused on battle.

Steve, who was fleeing, watched as everything before him disappeared him.

And he too was consumed by this light.

The light did not stop and engulfed the entire planet.

It still did not stop.

It spread into the universe itself, reaching into the furthest corners of time and space.

Everything turned white.

Everything was silent.

Everything was gone.

Until suddenly, it wasn't.

Time began to flow backwards, the universe began to reconstruct itself and space reverted to it's original position.

The magic circle which was supposed to reverse time on Lumal's body had accidently reversed time for everything due to how much magic was put into it from the sigil mark.

This small accident would lead to enormous consequences and effects.

Deep in a forest, a child opened his eyes as he awoken from what felt like an eternal slumber.

That child looked around confused, not knowing what was going on.

He wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes, before stumbling upon a lake.

He looked into his reflection on the clear water surface, and he saw himself.

He was… young again.

Lenier was young again.