As the demon king's head connected to his body, a massive amount of aura bursted out from within him. As I looked at him, I could barely believe my eyes, I begged god, or anyone that would listen for my senses to be merely playing tricks on me. "Run…" I stammered weakly. "Run, before…"
In an instant, Blackish flames with purple hue encircled all of us, leaving no path to retreat. "Too late." Isaac finished my thought.
"Lina, listen to me…" I said, panicked. "Do not fight him and do not let anyone else fight him."
"Why?"
"Because he wasn't only playing nice with Tania, he was holding back all this time. His strength just reached 'SSS' class." I stammered. "Even if I was at my pyque, I would still be 100 times weaker than him."
"Just because decapitation didn't work, you think yourself immortal?" Daria asked, as she sent her blades towards the demon king.
"Yes…" He answered.
"Daria, don't!" I shouted, but it was too late. As the twelve blade array approached Isaac, those same black flames engulfed them and, as they dissipated, Daria's blades were nowhere to be seen.
All those that saw what happened, had the same thought in their hearts - they were not this monster's opponents and - seeing those same flames, that had the power to burn through metal leaving nothing behind surrounding them, they instinctively knew that there was no escape.
I could see Lina trembling, I saw the despair on the faces of my comrades, I knew I had to do something, so I stood and spoke. "Demon king, no, Isaac, we had a deal, the fight was supposed to end when I said your name, so…"
"So what?" His voice was chilling.
"So… Could you let us go?" I was about ready to fall on my knees and beg, if that was what it took to save myself and the others.
Isaac stayed silent for a while. Every second felt like an eternity, it grated on my nerves like nothing that I had ever felt. Finally he gave his answer. "A fight usually ends with one side either submitting or dying… I was planning to…"
"We submit!" I interrupted. "All of us submit! So please have mercy."
Isaac thought for a while and was about to give his answer, when a voice interrupted his thoughts. "Why?" It was Tania. "Why did you have to kill him? Why did you kill Alex?"
"Why would I have to answer to someone as weak as you?"
"Just tell me why!" Tania shouted and dropped to her knees, sobbing. "Why did you kill him? What has he ever done to you or anybody else?"
The demon king began approaching her, his footsteps resounding, until he finally stood in front of Tania. "You were in love with him, weren't you?" He asked, his voice almost mocking.
"What's… What's it to you?" Tania continued to sob. "Are you going to mock me for it?" She asked. "Go ahead! Laugh, laugh all you want, but…"
"I'm sorry…" Isaac said, dropping to one knee in front of her.
"W-what?"
"I am sorry for not being able to protect him." Isaac continued. "I am sorry that he had to sacrifice his life to save my worthless hide. If I could, I'd gladly switch places with that fool."
"But… But you said that you killed him." Tania sobbed. "So…"
"I was the reason for his death, but not the one to pull the trigger. Nevertheless, I hold some of the blame, so, if you wish to blame someone, you can blame me." Isaac stood and turned to me and Lina, sending a shiver down my spine.
"As for the ones that pulled the trigger - the ones that sacrifice us to save their pitiful unworthy lives - you should blame them." Three small circles of fire appeared around Lina, Eugene and Wade. "They are the ones that were ready to feed us to the 'Devil snake' in exchange to leave in one piece.
Tania looked at the panicking trio, then turned her gaze towards Isaac. Isaac nodded. "We didn't sacrifice ourselves, we were sacrificed" He said. "Would you like to sacrifice them?"
Wade panicked. "Bullshit! We didn't do anything, we're innocent!" He shouted. "He's lying, he…" He was interrupted with a gut punch from Isaac that had closed the distance of a 100 feet in mere moments.
"Who gave you the right to speak, trash?" He asked, then turned to Tania. "They were never my friends, so I care not for their fates, but there are two people that I've judged worthy of presiding over their court. You, Tania, are one of them."
Tania gulped and stood up. She wiped her tears and gave a passing, judgmental look to the three offenders.
"Lina, tell me that it's not true." I whispered to the 'priestess of life and death'. "Tell me that it was a misunderstanding or…" I stopped, seeing her unwilling to speak up, her eyes glued to the floor.
"Well, Tania?" Isaac asked. "What's it gonna be?"
Tania opened her mouth to speak, but I interrupted her. "Tania, listen! They had no other choice!" I shouted. "They know that what they did was wrong, but they did it to save their lives, so…" Isaac turned to me, his glare radiating so much killing intent, that I momentarily lost my voice.
I gulped down and, fighting my fear, continued to speak. "They were frightened, they were in a new world, fighting for their lives for the first time. Think about it, what would have you done in their place?!"
"Fighting with us until the very end would have been nice…" Isaac said. "Or, at least, drawing straws, or discussing, but no - they all unanimously chose the two of us."
"They were confused and frightened, so…" I continued, but was interrupted by the demon king.
"So were we, but we still chose to fight."
I didn't know what to say, so I said the most hero thing that came to my mind. "Think about what Alex would have wanted, would he really want revenge, will revenge change anything?"
"From what Alex has told me, you two were never close, so how would you know?" Isaac asked. "But you're right about that, Alex never wanted to kill them. The punishment that he had chosen for them was the constant feeling of guilt for sacrificing him."
"And you're right about vengeance not changing anything for Alex." He continued. "But this isn't about what Alex wanted, it's about what Tania wants."
There was one last thing on my mind that I could do - to appeal to Tania's consciousness and humanity. "Tania, listen to me." I said. "You are not a killer, if you kill them all, will you be able to live with yourself for the rest of your life? They are your classmates, your friends and comrades, so…"
"You talk, as if your hands weren't already smeared with blood." the masked one interrupted. "Have you already forgotten how many demons each and every one of you killed to get here?"
"That was…"
"Different?" Isaac interrupted. "Were their lives worth less than yours, or, maybe, there was some greater cause that you were all following and those demons were in the wrong?" He laughed cruelly. "Let me guess, the king what's-his-name said that killing them was the will of the goddess, and that that was the only way for you to return home."
"Yes, so…"
"Well he was lying." I was interrupted again. "The so-called goddess has no interest in destroying the demons, she says that she loves all life the same and simply wishes for peace. The king lied. And just to prove it to you…" Isaac activated his storage ring and retrieved a carton of orange juice.
"I have a little deal with the so-called goddess of this world." He said. "By maintaining peace between the humans and the demons, I get to spend every other month back home on earth, enjoying electricity, Internet and video games."
"But that's not the point that I'm trying to make. The point is that you all…" He pointed his finger through all of us. "All of you have taken so many innocent lives, killing without being provoked, you killed demons that were simply trying to defend a joke of a kingdom on the brink of ruin from invaders." He turned to Tania. "In other words, what's a few more lives?"
This revelation shocked me. I knew that he was speaking nothing but the truth, but I didn't want to believe him - I didn't want to believe that I was nothing more than a murderer. My thoughts were interrupted by loud murmuring, gasps and shouts of disbelief.
I looked behind me to see some of my comrades - mostly those that fought on the front lines with their faces etched with guilt and something else - a deep disappointment - as if asking whether or not all that they did was meaningless.
"Tania, make a decision." Isaac's voice brought me back to the present. "Do they live or die?"
"Please…" I looked at the shaking Lina beside me and dropped to my knees. "Please spare them, there is no need for any more killing. Tania, if you spare them, I'll…"
"I've made my decision." Tania's voice interrupted me, my heart began pounding like never before. She looked at the offenders and said, her voice as cold as ice. "I hate you all to my very core and I think that a thousand deaths would not be enough for you to make amends, but…" She sighed. "I don't want any more blood on my hands. Let them live."
It felt like a massive stone had dropped from my chest, allowing me to once again breath normally.
"Is that your final decision?" Isaac asked. Tania nodded. "I see. What about you?" He turned behind and asked. "I'm sure that you've heard it all, so what will be your judgement, Jane?"
From behind one of the supporting pillars, a sweet looking girl around our age emerged and looked at us. "Death…" She said.
"As you wish." The demon king said and, in an instant, three black fireballs aimed at the three offenders shot out from him.
I turned to Lina, who was still kneeling in a cage of fire. She lifted her teary eyes to meet mine and said. "Help me." The next instant, not even ashes remained.
Join me on patreon at patreon.com/BonsaiCat for early access to new chapters or buy my book 'How to rule a fantasy world' on Amazon. It's the same stuff that you read here, but I fucked up with the naming and the book is already out, so fuck it, let's go with this name for the book. I appreciate all of your support and your forgiveness for my utter incompetence. Best regards, BonsaiCat.