A while ago, in the capital.
The clamor of the people below, shielded by the shadow do, was still heard.
The aftereffect of the scaled demon’s previous attacks was still fresh.
Above, however, Jake floated calmly before the demon generals, shadow wings clinging to him like a second skin.
He stared at them for a while, observing all of them as if trying to understand what powers they used, but the demons, as sly as they were, didn’t let out a wisp of their powers.
In the end, Jake shook his head while his sword, slick with ichor, slipped from his fingers and clattered onto the shadow do below them.
The demons watching him sneered, their eyes glinting cruelly in the dark.
"He’s done," one hissed.
"Pathetic," another muttered.
"I already told you, didn’t I?" The scaled demon scoffed. "They are a bunch of nobodies."
Another demon laughed. "At least he knows his limits."
But before the jeers could finish, the air shifted.
A low hum filled the silence. In Jake’s hand, shadows swirled, twisted, and condensed—until a massive black scythe burst into being, its curved blade gleaming under the pale moonlight.
The sneers faltered.
Jake’s grey eyes swept across them once, cold and unshaken. Then, without a warning, he moved.
He blurred, a streak of darkness, and in the span of a blink stood before the scale-wielding demon—the sa one who had showered civilians with razored spikes.
The scythe fell like judgnt, cleaving toward him.
The demon, although taken by surprise, didn’t flinch.
With a snarl, his palm erupted with sharp scales, layering into an armored shield.
Clang!
The scythe’s edge ground against it, screeching. The demon tilted his head, smirking.
"Nothing," he spat, turning toward the other demons. "I told you all, these so-called heroes are nobodies."
The others chuckled, cruel voices rattling like bones in a crypt.
Jake’s face, however, didn’t change.
He had expected this—no, he wanted this. He wanted the demons to underestimate him.
So, while the demons laughed, the shadows around him pulsed. His voice dropped, cold and steady.
"...Fifteen percent."
His veins blackened. The blood within him burned, vanishing into nothingness.
He finally used his power of sacrifice, and power slamd through his body in a wave that made the very air quake.
The demon’s smirk faltered as the scythe shuddered.
Then, the next second, the scythe shrieked as shadow surged through its edge—before cleaving straight through the scaled palm.
A severed hand spun into the night.
"ARGHHHHHH!!!" The demon’s roar tore through the ruin. "You bastard!"
Jake’s expression, however, never changed. Only his voice ca, calm and quiet, "Nobodies?"
The word twisted like a blade in the demon’s pride.
Snarling, the scaled demon leapt forward.
Scales poured from his wound, knitting into an artificial arm, jagged and bristling like a bone saw. He slashed down in fury.
Jake didn’t back down as he swung upward to et him.
Clang!
Sparks burst as scythe t claw. The clash pinned the demon, and behind its back, a black blade ford from shadow, rising silently like a predator’s fang.
Jake was going to finish the demons, but before it could strike—
—Another demon intervened.
A torrent of fire roared, blasting the shadow blade aside, while the flaming beast lunged from the flank.
Jake’s wings snapped wide, and in a blur of darkness, a shield of shadows ford around him.
He shot skyward, dodging the strike by an inch.
"Tch. Almost lost to a nobody," the fire demon mocked.
The one with the severed hand bared his fangs, fury simring beneath humiliation.
But before either could lunge again, a sudden whoosh cut the air.
Jake barely twisted before a fist slamd into his side, hurling him across the roof in a thunderous crash.
It was the speed demon, and it seed that it had joined the fray.
It floated in its spot, its chest heaving and lips curling into a grin. "Too slow."
Yet his grin faltered. He looked down at his bruised knuckles. Blood dripped—not Jake’s, but his own.
His teeth clenched. "...Clang. Again."
The demon finally realized why it felt like it had heard a clang a mont ago.
It was because at the last instant, Jake had twisted his body, shoving the scythe’s handle into the blow.
Smoke curled as Jake stabilized midair, his eyes colder than the moonlight. The demons, one by one, stilled. Their mocking sneers gave way to wariness.
He had their attention by now, and from the looks of it, Jake could tell that tricks wouldn’t work anymore.
Above all, he was sure that all of the demons would jump at him if he moved.
Typical demon move.
It was always like that. If they can’t defeat soone alone, they will gang up on them.
But it wasn’t like Jake hadn’t expected that. They were demons, so they would do whatever they could to achieve their goals.
Finally, he would close his eyes, whispering in a voice like a tolling bell, "Left hand. Left leg. Appendix. Gallbladder. One kidney. Spleen. Tonsils. Adenoids."
He was sacrificing every part of his body that seed expendable. After all, those parts would only be gone for the duration of the fight.
Once the fight ended, his Vaise bloodline would move, healing every wound on his body.
For now, shadow coiled around him as those pieces of flesh burned into ash, vanishing into nothing.
The speed demon, however, looking at Jake, scoffed and lunged, teeth bared. "Closing your eyes on the battlefield? You’re dea—"
His words were cut short.
Because Jake was gone.
The others only saw a black flash. Then—
The speed demon froze mid-stride. His body twitched, eyes wide. A single black line split him from crown to waist.
A heartbeat later, he slid apart, his two halves collapsing in silence before tumbling toward the shadow do below.
Dead.
The remaining demons stared, their laughter silenced.
Their eyes glead, no longer with mockery, but with sharpened intent.
Jake stood there, his body cloaked entirely in black, wings of shadow unfurling wide.
His face was hidden beneath the darkness, only those grey eyes gleaming like dying stars. Even the limbs he’d sacrificed had returned—replaced with twisted shadow that flexed like living flesh.
In that silence, the night itself seed to hold its breath.
The demons knew now.
This was no nobody.
This was death, standing before them.
The halves of the speed demon hadn’t even touched the do when Jake moved again.
Not a flutter. Not a sound. Just a black flash tearing through the air.
The scythe was massive, too heavy for any human to wield the way he did. Yet Jake spun with it like it was an extension of his own spine.
He cradled it against his shoulder, then pivoted—his whole body turning into a whip.
The scythe tore through the air in a wide arc, and from its blade lashed out a crescent of shadow.
Fwoosh!
The crescent scread across the sky, smashing into the fire demon’s guard. The beast’s arms crossed in defense, flas roaring up to shield him, but the arc still sliced through the fire, carving a gash across his chest.
His roar shook the night.
"Bastard—!"
Jake didn’t answer.
He spun again, letting the montum carry his scythe low as he landed on the shadow do below him, running on it as if building up his speed.
The blade scraped sparks against the shadow do as he twisted midair, kicking off its surface, flipping, then slamming down on a demon from above.
The demon crashed into the shadow do, the impact ringing out like a temple bell as his weapon nearly split the scaled demon in half.
Inside the do, Vairan struggled to hold onto the barrier, as the power and shockwaves of the attacks above were too much, especially when he had to protect this many people.
"I’ll help," Duchess Elvarine said from the side, her ice magic flaring as ice covered every part of the shadow do that seed to be cracking.
Even Duke Astazin was ready to move in case an attack did pass through the do.
The scaled demon, smashed into the do by Jake, heard the humans inside, and his eyes glead.
"Keep him busy! Break the do!" He roared at the other demons.
As the other demons heard it, they all realized it: Jake was a storm they couldn’t contain. But the do—they could use it.
In an instant, the demons shifted.
Fire lashed downward in rivers. A barrage of scales rained like jagged hail. Claws of lightning and blades of wind slashed at the shadow do where the screaming citizens huddled beneath.
Jake’s eyes flashed violently as he saw the do ripping and cracks spreading.
The demons smirked through their exertion. "What now, human? Save them—or fight us?"
Jake’s grey eyes narrowed.
The shadows on his back surged, wings snapping open wide. The scythe spun once in his grip, then vanished into a flurry of afterimages as he blurred forward.
"Both."
He split into three silhouettes at once.
A shadow-clone hurled itself downward, reinforcing the do with writhing black tendrils that knitted the cracks shut like stitches.
Another clone intercepted the storm of scales, its body exploding into spears of darkness that t the jagged hail midair.
The real Jake—faster, heavier, rciless—drove his scythe upward into the chest of the wind demon, shadow arcs tearing the sky itself apart.
The wind demon shrieked, hurling blasts to scatter him, but Jake was already behind him.
His shadow wings bent space like blades, propelling him sideways as he cleaved once more.
The demon barely twisted away—his arm was not quick enough. It spiraled off into the night, disintegrating into embers.
The others froze.
This wasn’t a human protecting humans.
This was a predator caging its prey.
The scaled demon spat blood, fury painting his voice. "Don’t falter! He can’t keep this up!"
But even as he said it, Jake descended again, scythe trailing black arcs that licked across the demons’ defenses like hungry flas.
He landed, knees bent, scythe braced across his back like a soldier carrying judgnt itself.
The do below pulsed with reinforcent as shadow veins ran down its surface, a second skin.
It was then that the demons realized the truth all at once.
Not only could Jake fight them—he could fight while protecting the city.
That ant their ploy had failed.
That ant the human had broken the balance.
That ant—
"...Survive," one demon muttered, his voice shaking.
The word spread among them like poison. Sneers vanished. Mockery silenced.
Because they could only hope to survive right now.
Jake, as he was now, was too strong for even ten demon generals to handle him.
But of course, he didn’t have unlimited mana, so his grey eyes lifted, burning cold. His voice was almost a whisper, yet it cut louder than their roars.
"Too late."
The scythe rose again, and the night split open.
He knew that he needed to end this quickly.
Reviews
All reviews (0)