In the newly formed crater at the heart of the battlefield, Liam and General Malakor stood locked in place.
The fight began.
Malakor was a creature of overwhelming force. Every swing of his colossal axe was a cataclysm, melting stone and vaporizing anything it touched. He couldn't match the General's raw power blow for blow. Instead he became a blur of motion, using his superior agility and teleportation to his advantage.
He would appear behind Malakor and attack, then vanish.
For a time the strategy worked.
Liam was a ghost on the battlefield. Malakor couldn't land a single hit.
But Malakor was more than a slow powerful demon.
He began to adapt. He stopped trying to hit Liam directly and instead focused on controlling the battlefield. He slammed his axe into the ground, sending out waves of fire, limiting Liam's ability to teleport and forcing him into the open.
Caught in the blast radius of one such attack, Liam was sent tumbling.
Malakor was already there in front of him. The General swung his axe and slammed it directly into Liam's belly. The pain was blinding. Liam felt his ribs shatter as he was blasted into the city wall.
The taste of blood in his mouth. He healed himself immediately, bones back together, but the cost was immense. This took too much energy.
Malakor landed before him, his laughter echoing through the ruined structure. "You are fast, mortal. But you cannot win."
He began a relentless assault. Liam was forced onto the defensive, using every ounce of his skill just to stay alive. He parried with light, dodged with agility, and struck back with dark, but he was losing. He took another hit, then another. His movements grew slower.
The General saw his opening. He roared.
"You have been an amusing distraction, mortal. Now die."
His axe slammed into Liam again. A crushing blow that drove him into the ground, leaving him in a shallow crater, broken and unmoving.
The battlefield fell silent.
The human defenders on the walls watched.
Liam lay still. He couldn't breathe. He felt his life slipping away. He was broken. His magic was so low he couldn't even use basic healing. He had failed. He felt the darkness closing in. He fainted.
General Malakor stood over Liam's body, his chest heaving. He let out a roar of triumph that shook the entire city. The demon army roared with him. Victory was theirs.
Malakor turned his attention to the true prize. With a single powerful leap he vanished from the battlefield and reappeared atop the highest tower of the Royal Palace.
The guards there were killed before they could even draw their swords. He smashed through the stone wall and stepped into the chamber where the King was with Lyra.
He grabbed the King, sending the old man crashing into a wall, and grabbed Lyra by the throat, lifting her into the air.
She struggled, her fingers clawing at his armor.
"I was given orders to kill everyone in this pathetic city. But I will not kill you. A prize such as yourself should not be wasted. You will become my servant."
"LIAM!" Lyra screamed.
Down below, in the crater, Liam heard it.
He reached for the ability Valerius had used before him.
Dark Healing.
It was a violent, agonizing reconstruction. Tendrils of pure shadow erupted from his wounds, forcefully stitching them together with threads of darkness. His broken bones snapped back into place.
He stood up.
With a thought he was gone from the crater and standing in the tower chamber.
Malakor spun around. "Impossible. You were dead."
Liam lunged.
He appeared before the General and stole Lyra from his grip, gently placed her on the ground.
Wait a little longer, Lyra.
"Give me the dagger."
A vortex of shadow appeared and the poison dagger flew into his hand.
Liam moved, and Malakor, the great Demon General, could not even track his movements.
The poisoned dagger was buried in the General's gut. Before Malakor could react Liam was behind him, driving the dagger into the back of his neck. He lifted the massive demon off his feet and threw him from the tower. The General's body landed in the street below, lifeless.
The human defenders erupted in a cheer.
Liam stood on the edge of the broken tower. The chaotic energy around him exploded more and more. He shot down from the tower. He became death moving through the demon army. He moved so fast he was just a blur, a reaping shadow that left only dismembered corpses in his way. He killed them by the hundreds, then the thousands. His attacks were so wide and chaotic that some of his own people, the very soldiers of Oakhaven fighting nearby, were caught in the crossfire, cut down by his attack.
He didn't stop until every last demon in the city was dead.
When the last enemy fell, Liam stood in the center of the corpse-strewn street, perfectly still. The terrifying aura around him slowly receded.
He stood frozen for a moment, then collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
For a moment there was only silence. Then a single voice cried out. "He did it. He saved us." Another voice joined, and another, until the entire city was chanting.
They had won.
He was their savior.
He was their hero.
The royal guards approached his unconscious form. They lifted him and carried him through the cheering crowds to the palace, placing him in his bed.
Later the King stood by his bedside with Lyra.
"Father. That wasn't Liam."
"I know it wasn't. His power did this to him."
....
After two days .
the King was sitting by the window when Liam woke up.
He rushed to the bedside.
"You're awake. You're fine. We worried so much for you. Liam, I don't have the words. You saved us. You saved everything. The city. My daughter. My people. They are calling you the Savior of Oakhaven. You are a true hero."
Liam looked past the King. Lyra stood in the doorway. She was smiling.
"What happened? After I killed the Demon General — what happened?"
The King's smile shifted slightly. "You finished the job. You eliminated the rest of the demon army. It was a terrifying display of power. But you saved us all."
Lyra's expression told a different story.
After the King left them alone Lyra slowly approached the bed.
"Lyra. What is it?"
She looked at him.
"The demon army is gone, Liam. You destroyed them all." She paused. "But the Royal Guard and the city's adventurers — they took casualties after Malakor was already dead. Thirty-seven of them. They weren't killed by demons. They were caught in the blasts of your attack."
The blood left Liam's face.
He remembered the rage. The loss of control. Moving through the chaos. Seeing only enemies.
He had killed them. The very people he was trying to protect.
"Liam." Lyra stepped closer. "That man who came down from the tower — was that you?"
She wanted him to deny it. To say it was the power, not him.
It had come from inside me. It was part of me.
"Sorry, Lyra."
"I really don't know. I lost control. It was just rage. I couldn't stop it."
Lyra left the room.
"Rest now, Liam. We just wanted to know you were fine."
Later Liam stood at his window looking down at the city.
In the main square a huge crowd was chanting his name. Celebrating.
But he could also see a group heading to the graveyard with coffins.
He went to walk with them.
He stayed in the graveyard until the burial was over, then sat by the fresh graves.
.....
In the Demon Lord's throne room a guard knelt.
"My Lord. General Malakor has failed. He has been killed."
"The mortal is stronger than I thought. He has now killed two of my Generals and one of theirs. This is becoming more interesting than I anticipated. The game requires a more personal touch."
The Demon Lord stood.
"I will go and talk to him myself. I want to see this boy."
Liam stood alone in the Oakhaven graveyard. He stared at the fresh graves. Each one a reminder of his failure.
"Isn't it beautiful?" a voice came from behind him. "Death. It is the only true justice in the cosmos. Everywhere you go something is dying at this moment. Stars, humans, monsters, rich, poor, powerful, weak."
Liam spun around. He created a dark sword.
The man standing there was the Demon Lord.
"Don't worry. I came here just to talk. You don't need that."
"I cannot use force to make you believe me. Let me show you a little of my power so you understand who I am."
He let his aura out.
Liam fell to his knees. He couldn't move an inch.
If I was here to fight I could kill you before you saw me.
Liam was terrified. His mind searched for a way to survive.
"It is amazing that you are alive. If a human or monster stood near me they would explode. Nothing can hold my full aura. Only my true subordinates can stay near me. The fact that you are alive — I am amazed."
In an instant the Demon Lord was beside him. "Come with me. Let me show you something."
A magic circle opened in the air. Liam followed.
In a second the graveyard was gone. They were in open space. Billions of stars before them.
"Let's visit some of them."
They moved through ten worlds. In every world Liam saw different races living in peace. But the Demon Lord showed him the dead worlds too. Buildings still standing. Everything inside dead.
"When the creator god Zingard the World Dragon created this cosmos he thought if everything was perfect everyone would be happy. Every race lived two hundred and fifty years or more. But after some generations no one was happy. It failed. There was nothing to make them love their lives. Everyone was equal. No one was hungry or poor. The worlds were dying. Zingard saw the problem and created the other side of life."
He looked at Liam. "He created me and the Light God. He gave us power to influence these worlds and make them better to live in. My master was right. That struggle made these worlds flourish. Do you know how much a soldier in a war loves his life when a sword is at his neck? He would give everything just for one second to say goodbye to his family."
They returned to the graveyard.
Liam shook his head. "Then what. What does this have to do with me. I am nothing in this game you play."
The Demon Lord laughed. "You are different. This is the first time someone has spoken to me with that voice. I like you. Let me do you a favor."
He raised his hand toward Liam's face.
"I will break your system seal."
The seal was gone.
"Goodbye, Liam." He began to fade. "We think you will be better than us. You can do it better."
He was gone. The graveyard was silent. But everything felt different.
Liam stood alone looking at his hands.
He understood now. He thought of the snake in the cave.
Now I understand why it was hiding there. It could stay forever because it had no one to save. No one to care about. It didn't want to face the gods or be anything. It could just hide.
I can't do that. I have people waiting for me. People I have to protect. People to go back to.