The wind over the shattered black citadel still smelled like burnt sulfur and melted obsidian. The sky above, once permanently stained in abyssal crimson, now flickered uncertainly—as if the heavens couldn't decide whether this land belonged to demons anymore or had been forcibly returned to nature.
And indeed, it had been taken back.
Not by gods.
Not by time.
But by men.
Among the drifting ashes and cracked towers, three figures stood atop the husk of what used to be the throne fortress of the Third Abyssal King, Gehenmbel—Lord of Unending Rot. The demon king whose domain never fell for a thousand years. Until today.
They did not look like conquerors. They looked like adventurers who had wandered too far.
One wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his hand. One tapped the ground nervously. One crouched, poking some demon remains with a stick.
They were humanity's newest, loudest, and strangely most chaotic miracle-group: the Seven Great Heroes.
Well, three of them right now.
Saviola Owin
Twin-blade swordsman. Blond hair tied back. A calm seriousness that occasionally evaporated when dealing with idiots.
Beryl Kelakas
Spear genius. Tall, loud, confident. Thought subtlety was a personality disease.
Valdi Murcalla
Archer. Girl with messy hair and dangerous sarcasm. Saw the world as a giant joke that only she truly understood.
The demon corpses were still steaming.
The ground still trembled occasionally as abyssal flesh finally lost the will to regenerate.
Their battle had ended minutes ago, yet silence lingered—grand and unreal.
Saviola exhaled.
> "And… it's done."
Valdi whistled, unimpressed by the historic sight she was sitting on like a picnic hill.
> "Congratulations to us, I guess. One demon king down. Kingdom deleted. High score achieved."
Beryl planted his spear into the ground like a flag.
> "Say it properly. We crushed one of the ancient abyssal pillars! We—humanity—just wiped the Third Throne!"
He puffed his chest. A fragment of demon horn rolled off his armor.
Valdi kicked some ash at him.
> "We? YOU spent half the fight screaming that your legs hurt."
> "Strategic yelling."
> "Cowardly screaming."
> "Motivational war cry."
Saviola ignored both.
He turned around, staring across the vast wasteland that once had a billion shrieking demon souls guarding it. The barrier—legendary, impenetrable—nothing remained.
He murmured softly,
> "The legends were true… Gehenmbel's Palace of Rot really was indestructible."
Valdi shrugged, cheerful.
> "Was."
Beryl grinned.
> "Because we exist."
Valdi shot back,
> "Correction: because Michigal exists. You and I? We were side characters this time."
Beryl's pride deflated instantly.
> "Yeah… okay, true."
They all fell quiet again, remembering the impossible sight.
The fall of Gehenmbel was not achieved through brute force. Physical assault would have required a divine army or a suicidal sacrifice of empires. But instead—
One person broke it.
One mage.
One absurd, unreasonable man with sleep-deprived eyebags and a personality as smooth as rusty steel.
Michigal Asmodiris
Archmage. Arcane lunatic. World's laziest genius with the world's strongest temper.
Beryl looked toward the far edge of the ruined dome, squinting.
> "Speaking of him… where the hell did he go?"
Valdi lifted a finger as if delivering sacred truth.
> "Running away from work."
Saviola corrected gently,
> "He said he had to investigate something important."
Valdi nodded solemnly.
> "Yes. Investigating his desire to avoid cleaning the aftermath."
Beryl barked a laugh.
> "Classic Michigal. Guy can obliterate an immortal barrier with a single spell array, but can't handle sweeping rubble."
Saviola's eye twitched at the memory.
> "He didn't obliterate it. He rewrote the metaphysical boundary grid of a divine curse structure channeling abyssal eternity."
Beryl scratched his head.
> "Yeah. In normal words?"
Valdi answered, proud.
> "He hacked reality."
Saviola nodded, resigned.
> "That… is actually accurate."
They all remembered that moment.
The way the world trembled.
The way the abyss screamed.
The way Michigal drew his circle—no, three hundred overlapping circles—in the sky and muttered,
> "I haven't slept in three days. If this doesn't work, I'm quitting magic and becoming a fisherman."
And then, reality cracked like an egg.
Gehenmbel never got to speak.
A kingdom that believed itself eternal—gone.
Valdi flopped backward into ash snow.
> "Ughhh, I want to nap for a week. Demon kings are too dramatic. Why did we sign up for this again?"
Beryl raised his spear triumphantly.
> "For honor! For humanity's future! Because we are chosen heroes—"
Valdi raised a hand.
> "I signed up because they promised free food forever."
Saviola nodded.
> "Same."
Beryl deflated again.
> "Could you two not reduce our legendary status to cafeteria benefits?"
Valdi sat up, swinging her bow casually.
> "Legendary status? We just murdered a demon king and his whole city. Do you know what we are now?"
Beryl proudly puffed again.
> "Heroes!"
Valdi snapped her fingers.
> "Villains, in demon history books."
Saviola sighed.
> "We were always their villains."
The wind blew, carrying distant embers.
For a moment, the battlefield was quiet.
Then—
A distant booming sound echoed from the other side of the ruins.
KA-THOOOOOM.
Valdi didn't flinch.
Beryl jolted.
Saviola closed his eyes in weary acceptance.
> "He's still destroying things, isn't he?"
Beryl blinked.
> "Wait— is Michigal… blowing up leftovers?"
Valdi nodded casually.
> "Yes. He calls it cleaner magic."
Beryl stared.
> "Isn't that just… nuking random stuff because he's annoyed?"
Saviola patted Beryl's shoulder.
> "His methods are unorthodox, but effective."
Valdi added cheerfully,
> "Unorthodox is a polite word for 'the gods would file a complaint if they could'."
Beryl crossed his arms, thoughtful.
> "Do you think demons will retaliate?"
Saviola answered calmly,
> "Eventually."
Valdi stretched, yawning.
> "Then we kill them too. Or Michigal spams his magic circles again. Same thing."
Beryl shivered.
> "He better not spam that thing near our kingdom… I don't trust him not to miscast."
Saviola nodded gravely.
> "I will never forget the time he accidentally erased the Duke's garden because he sneezed mid-chant."
Valdi burst into laughter.
> "RIP tulips."
Beryl shook his head.
> "Still can't believe that same man broke Gehenmbel's eternal barrier."
> "And did it because he lost a bet."
Saviola facepalmed.
> "He said— and I quote— 'If I win rock-paper-scissors, I get to rewrite the laws of magic today.'"
Beryl groaned.
> "We all lost that day."
Valdi grinned with absolute wicked pride.
> "Correction: the abyss lost."
They paused.
The achievement began to settle in again.
Humanity's myth had changed. The world's balance had shifted. A demon throne had crumbled—not by time, nor divine wrath, but by a group of mortals being too stubborn to remain prey.
Saviola breathed slowly, voice firm.
> "Three down."
Valdi flicked her ear.
> "Four more unknowns. One terrifying goddess candidate."
Beryl pointed his spear at the horizon.
> "Bring them on! We are the heroes!"
They stood in silence as demon ash drifted like snow.
And then—
From far away:
> "HEY! ANYONE STILL THERE? I FOUND SOMETHING CURSED AND MAYBE ACCIDENTALLY ACTIVATED IT!"
It was Michigal. Shouting like someone who stepped on a rake.
Beryl went pale.
> "We should run."
Valdi calmly stood, dusting her coat.
> "We should hide."
Saviola sheathed his blades.
> "We should pretend we don't know him."
They all nodded.
Perfect agreement.
A second BOOM erupted, followed by swearing.
> "WHY IS THIS THING TALKING BACK?! STOP BEING SENTIENT, I HATE SENTIENT ARTIFACTS!"
Valdi whispered,
> "The world is doomed. And the abyss won't be the one to do it."
Beryl whispered back,
> "We follow him anyway, right?"
Saviola nodded slowly.
> "Of course. He is humanity's greatest hope."
Valdi smirked.
> "And greatest threat."
They sighed, braced themselves, and walked toward the second explosion.
Because in the end—
Heroes did not always shine.
Sometimes they complained, argued, and ran away from chores.
But they still moved forward.
For humanity.
For pride.
And for the chaos that inevitably followed Michigal Asmodiris.