I said,
"Next week, expect a full-on attack.
Not a sneaky one.
A straight siege on the land we just claimed.
Be ready."
He asked,
"How do you know that?"
I replied,
"My teleportation helped me spy in.
And…
we have traitors here."
He stiffened.
"Who?! What do you mean?"
I said,
"Listen.
I'm not here to accuse — I'm here to warn.
You make your plan.
Announce an attack for next week.
Act first — don't wait.
Let your generals handle the details."
"And after that?"
"Leave the rest to me."
There are over a hundred strategies to win this war.
But I'm going for the most effective one.
The traitor, the mastermind…
he thinks he's a genius.
And that's exactly what'll make this easier.
---
The King looked at me and asked:
"Tell me your real plan."
I smiled.
"It's already begun."
He narrowed his eyes.
"So… hurting Fysal.
That was part of it?"
I answered,
"He's out there now, fighting hard,
pushing his limits,
hunting, surviving.
It's shaping him.
You've been watching too, huh?"
He nodded.
"He reminded me of my younger self.
Now I know how it feels,
watching someone change from the sidelines."
Then the King took a deep breath.
"I believe in you.
But be honest with me…
Are you a spy?
Are you really not here to harm us?"
I looked him in the eye and said:
"I have no ill will.
I just came to thank you…
and soon…
I'll be leaving.
Because the curse I brought?
I need to end its consequence too."
He paused… then smiled faintly.
"Surprisingly enough…
You're not lying.
I believe you."
---
The plan was set.
The general, the one who brought us here as slaves —
he was the one who organized the battle strategy.
His job:
Protect the castle from inside.
Sit tight.
Meanwhile,
the King himself would lead the outside army,
just like in the old days.
Me
, Zephyr, Fysal, and Hana —
we were assigned to protect the princess,
stay by her side, in her room.
We all agreed.
And so —
the war began.
The moment the war began,
the king called for reinforcements.
The four of us—Zephyr, Fysal, Hana, and I—left the princess in the care of the general and joined the battle.
Meanwhile, the general took the princess and used his squad to escape in a carriage.
These carriages were more advanced than cars;
they could fly, glide over sand, and even move like regular vehicles.
He placed the princess inside and returned to cast a curse barrier—one that only demons could pass through.
When he opened the door of the carriage again,
he was stunned to find us already inside:
me, Zephyr, Fysal, Hana, Layla the princess, the king, and the grandmaster—the ruler of the royal house.
I looked at him and said,
"You've been played. Give it up, nice guy."
Shocked,
he realized
too late that every member of his squad had already been taken out.
What we did was simple.
I had asked Alpha to order the demons to test the defenses by sending weak demons first.
This strategy allowed us to observe the enemy's strength, leadership, and tactics from afar.
Just half our army was enough to defeat them.
I also gave the princess six marbles infused with teleportation magic.
I swapped our positions using those marbles,
playing the general at his own game.
Unknowingly,
he helped us identify other traitors.
As we prepared for the next phase,
three high-level demons advanced,
assuming the general had outsmarted us.
I said to the king and the grandmaster,
"The three of us will handle the next wave.
Let Hana, Zephyr, and Fysal deal with those demons."
We used the marbles again and teleported out,
leaving the trio to protect the castle.
The king asked,
"Are you sure they'll be okay?"
I answered,
"Believe in them.
They have incredible potential, even if they don't know how to use it yet.
Sometimes that uncertainty fades when a life must be protected.
You'll see their true strength soon."
Then I unleashed my chains and used my signature move,
Carmatic Fangs: Soaring Chain Slash.
I pushed myself past my limits,
moving faster than a dash,
with instinctual turns, flips, and direction changes—
my chained dagger weapon enhancing every motion.
Back at the castle,
the demons arrived.
Bat demons.
They looked humanoid,
with purple skin, dark eyes, tufts of fur, and leathery wings.
Their combat style was mostly close-range.
One of them teleported behind Zephyr
and launched an explosion at his back.
But Zephyr stood still, unfazed, and said,
"Don't tell me that's all you've got,"
looking over his shoulder with calm confidence.
His dark-blue attire glowed faintly.
He had trained just like I had—
through long meditations,
physical rigor,
and mental clarity.
He had awakened his aura to the point of projecting it as a presence.
You could feel his strength just standing near him.
A man who has nothing to lose is dangerous.
But a man who fears nothing... is unbeatable.
Then the one who caused the explosion said,
"What a shame."
That's when everyone got shocked —
except me.
Let me explain why it was such a huge shock.
Demons are monsters, and they are terrifying —
scary to the core.
But not all demons are evil.
As I've said before, some demons belong to specific creature types.
Take these bat demons for example.
They have bodies like humans —
And those demons who look human?
They are demons with intelligence.
Demons with intelligence are just monsters with demon powers,
but with human-level thinking.
They talk.
They eat.
They wear clothes.
They play.
They're practically human in behavior.
But...
Once they become anointed by the Demon King,
once they receive his direct power —
They change.
They transform into a monster so powerful,
they lose their intelligence completely.
That's what we call:
> "Insanity."
So we're always on alert.
Because if a demon ever sacrifices themselves to tap into that state,
they lose all sense of logic...
They become a force of destruction —
a weapon with no mind.
And that's why...
this battle just got way more dangerous.
They are two male bat and one female bat demon.
The female bat demon said,
"I will take the girl, you two take the boys."
Then the other demon said,
"You go ahead and beat the one you began with, and I will beat the all high and mighty guy."
Then they separated and began to fight.
They all got out to get 1 vs 1 fights, and there they began the fight.
Zephyr and the bat demon started their fight.
The moment they both ran and clashed hand to hand,
the demon would have the power if it's hand-to-hand because Zephyr is a human,
and his hand is naturally weaker than a demon's,
and the bat demons are more solid.
So the other girl came and attacked Hana,
and the other demon attacked Zephyr.
So there they began to fight.
That's when Zephyr ran faster and faster and clashed with the one who attacked him,
and he said,
"You're using your barriers on your hand so that you won't get hurt."
Then Zephyr said,
"It won't even repel the force of our clash—
it returns it twice!"
And just like that,
they both began to laugh.
At the very least, they are doing it right.
While that was happening,
the other demon and Hana were fighting.
Hana specializes in creating manipulation of sand—
that is, creating what she wants from it:
shapes and other forms.
And that's how she manipulated the sand
and created a huge hand out of earth and sand magic.
She began to fight with the demon.
The demon—
she is just avoiding her attack and playing it safe,
and that's just how it went.
She felt bored as well.
And Fysal felt so humiliated seeing the barrier user fight like a pro.
So he said,
"I won't use my realm. I'm gonna fight hand to hand."
And the demon felt really bored and said,
"Aren't you a magician or something? Hit me with your spells and stop playing around, kid."
Then Fysal continued.
After a while, he used his realm:
Earth Realm: Upside-Down – Shattered Ruin.
And then the demon evaded everything
and started to begin the real fight.
The demon said,
"Now that's impressive, but it's weak.
A weak mind and a weak spirit kill a strong spirit.
What a waste of talent.
You call this a realm?
(To be continued)