The cobblestone streets of the lower district echoed with the heavy, synchronized thud of iron-shod boots. Captain Kaelen and his squad of five soldiers marched in formation, their halberds resting on tired shoulders. The city was already unusually quiet, the populace still reeling from the devastation of the recent war. Kaelen rubbed his temple, trying to shake a lingering headache.
Then, the shadows in the alleyways began to stretch and warp.
Kaelen looked up. The late afternoon sun, which had been casting a golden glow over the slate rooftops, was being swallowed by a spreading, unnatural stain. The clouds bruised into a violently deep crimson, bleeding across the horizon until the entire sky looked like an open wound.
"Captain?" one of the younger recruits murmured, his voice tight. "What is that?"
Before Kaelen could answer, the wind changed. A sudden gust swept through the narrow street, bringing with it a stench so foul and heavy it made the soldiers gag. It wasn't just the smell of death; it was a sickeningly sweet, chemical odor mixed with rotting copper and burnt hair. It crawled into their lungs and coated their throats.
It was the scent of pure, primal dread. Kaelen's instincts—honed by years of war—screamed at him to run, his heart hammering wildly against his breastplate. The air itself felt thick, suffocating and hot.
RUUUUMBLE.
The ground beneath their boots shuddered violently as if something below them was moving.
Ring.
Ring, ring, ring.
A loud bell echoed across the empire and a blue light came from the night sky, pulsating with a deep glow.
"A-Aren't those… the demonic energy detectors that were released all over the empire? W-Why are they going off?"
The soldier's question couldn't be answered.
All across the city, deafening cracks echoed like thunder striking the earth. From the market squares, the taverns, and the crowded residential blocks, massive pillars of dark, blindingly purple light erupted. The beams shot straight into the crimson sky, piercing the clouds.
Kaelen shielded his eyes as a pillar erupted barely a block away, tearing through the roof of a local bakery. Inside the blinding purple light, he could hear sounds that would haunt him to his grave: the wet, sickening crunch of bones snapping, flesh tearing, and wet, agonizing human screams that slowly morphed into inhuman, guttural roars.
As suddenly as the pillars appeared, they vanished, leaving a suffocating silence in their wake.
The smoke cleared, and the true nightmare began.
Rising from the ruins of the bakery was a monstrosity. It stood three stories tall, its massive, grotesque muscles bulging erratically against thick, grey-green scales. It let out a deafening bellow that shattered the nearby windows.
Kaelen's halberd shook in his grip. As he stared up at the behemoth, his blood ran cold. Dangling from the creature's massive, mutated forearm was a massive, shredded piece of a white baker's apron.
They weren't being invaded. The monsters were already inside.
All around them, the city erupted into chaos. The sky darkened further as a swarm of flying abominations took to the air, their leathery wings beating a frantic rhythm. Some of them still had the twisted, agonizing faces of the city's inhabitants, screaming in a twisted cocktail of pain and bloodlust.
Smaller horrors began pouring out of the alleyways and shattered doorways—arachnid-like creatures with far too many limbs, and feral, hunched beasts that scrambled over the cobblestones.
They thought the news were making a mountain out of a mole hill by saying that an illegal drug called "Demon Punch" could mutate the biology of a human being into a demonic creature.
The news almost always fabricates things to cause panic, panic that may benefit the ones that truly run society, but this time…
They were actually telling the truth this time and weren't just using the drug to cover up what really happened in Eswick Valley town.
"Form up!" Kaelen screamed, his voice cracking as the realization broke his spirit. But as he looked at his men, he saw they weren't raising their weapons. They were staring up at the towering leviathans now casting long, terrifying shadows over the Eulia Empire, knowing they were completely, utterly doomed.
**
One the outskirts of a small village a few kilometers away from the capital, the children of St. Agatha's Orphanage were playing in the courtyard. The matrons had let them outside to enjoy the cool night breeze as she dished up the food so that they can eat outside for once.
"Where did Limiska ran off to this time?" one of the children was playing tag with her friend who just returned from some medical camp for a checkup. She was worried at first but her friend came back fine, and even with some treats that they shared earlier.
A purple light came from nearby, in the tall grass near the treeline, drawing the little girl's attention.
Thinking it was her friend who was hiding there, she slowly crept closer to scare her while chuckling to herself.
The seven-year-old Lily found something hiding in the shadows.
"Ah, kyyyuuuute!" the little girl gasped, dropping to her knees. She reached into the brush and gently scooped the little creature up, hugging it against her chest, not noticing
It was small, no bigger than a house cat, with smooth, obsidian skin and oversized, glossy black eyes. It let out a soft, melodic croak, nuzzling against Lily's collarbone. When she carried it over to her friends, it looked at the other children with an innocent tilt of its head, its tiny, clawed hands resting gently on Lily's arm. The children gathered around, cooing and reaching out to pet its smooth head.
Ten minutes later, the matron stepped out onto the porch to call them in for supper as she had already set the table outside. The courtyard was dead silent.
"Lily? Thomas? Limiska?" she called out, wiping her hands on her apron.
From the shadows of the oak tree, something stepped into the fading sunlight.
Croak.
Croaking just as cutely as before, the imp came outside. It was no longer the size of a cat. Its jaw had unhinged, revealing rows of needle-like teeth-stained crimson. It waddled forward on two legs, dragging the mangled corpse of a child by the ankle while casually chewing on a severed arm. The creature's glossy black eyes locked onto the paralyzed matron, and it tilted its head again, letting out another melodic, sweet chirp.
That day, the sun set on a graveyard. Every single person in the orphanage was slaughtered by the Imp Devil, their screams unheard beneath the violently red night sky.
**
At the edge of the valley, the wind howled through the wooden fences of the Miller farm. An old man trudged through the mud, a heavy iron lantern swinging in one hand and a loaded hunting rifle gripped tightly in the other.
"Dang it! Did coyotes spook the cattle again?" he grumbled, his boots sinking into the muck as he entered the enclosure. "Where's that darn dog that I spent a fortune on to protect my cattle?"
He raised his lantern. He could spot a few cows in the distance, but they looked incredibly distressed. They weren't just lowing; they were screaming—a frantic, terrified sound as they slammed their heavy bodies against the reinforced wood, desperately trying to climb the fence or squeeze through the narrow gaps to escape whatever was inside the pen with them.
"—Dear, can you find Rusty?" his wife shouted from the porch afar, her silhouette framed by the warm, yellow light of their farmhouse.
"Not yet, hun!" the old man shouted back over his shoulder, thumbing the hammer of his rifle. "Stay inside for now while I deal with the coyotes!"
He pushed deeper into the enclosure, following the metallic scent of fresh blood. Near the watering trough, he saw a hunched silhouette tearing into the carcass of a freshly killed calf.
"Hey! Get away from there!" he yelled, raising the rifle.
The creature stopped. It slowly turned its head to face him, and the old man's breath caught in his throat.
Instead of a coyote, he found a humanoid monster. Its skin was the powdery, lifeless color of chimney ash. It had no lips, just a jagged, weeping maw of yellowed teeth exposed to the gums, set below big, bulging, beady black eyes that reflected the lantern light. Its anatomy was grotesquely disproportionate—its arms were twice as large and muscular as its hind legs, ending in wicked, scythe-like claws.
Beside the creature's massive foot lay the torn, bloody collar of his dog, Rusty.
"RREEEEEEE!" It let out a disgusting, deafening scream that rattled the old man's teeth, hissing violently at him, thinking he was going to try and take its meal.
The farmer took a terrified step back, his finger trembling on the trigger. But before he could fire, the shadows outside the perimeter of his lantern's light began to shift.
Thud.
Something heavy dropped from the roof of the barn. Then another. And another.
Slowly, more of the ash-skinned creatures crawled out from the darkness, their beady eyes glowing in the purple ambient light. One hopped down from the second floor of the hayloft, its massive arms absorbing the impact effortlessly. Then, five more emerged from the cornfield, their lipless mouths clicking and hissing in unison. They were completely surrounded.
"A-Ah… Ah…" the man gasped, all the bravado draining from his frail body. His knees buckled, his hands went numb, and he dropped his lantern into the mud.
The glass shattered. The light went out. And the hissing closed in.
**
In the capital, Freya was looking at all this destruction with a blank face, her fingers trembling slightly.
She had just killed actual human beings. They might've been monsters but they were still once human. Some even cried like actual humans—one calling out for her mom and the other pleading to not kill them.
"…Was it just impossible to stop this from happening? Even with the combined effort of the churches and empire, we weren't able to put out every wildfire in this forest."
This was Toril City, the capital of Eulia so there were no shortage of strong mages and warriors to help them fight but how long will they be able to hold out and how many will have to die?
"I can't even think of stopping whatever's going on with the sky and stopping this strange red mist in the air."
She wasn't sure what was going on but the moment the sky became red, demons started flooding the capital.
She recalled what she knew about the demons and everything she read in Peulik's notes.
It would take considerably long and would be very difficult for them to open portals and break the "Million-Year Barrier" but there was a shortcut to skip both methods—
The Terraformer created by the Demon Gods. A strange device that even Freya didn't know what it looks like.
But wherever their strongest demons are gathered will be where she'll find it.
"I counted a few hundred pillars of purple light. Yet demons appeared where the lights didn't." one even appeared out of the manhole in the academy so Freya had to deal with it.
There were no students in the academy so it can't be a student who got injected with the drug.
--Archmage Freya, are you there?
A voice flowed into her ear.
"Librarian Lyra?"
--The sky turning red… that's not a good sign, is it? I saw pillars of purple light earlier as well.
"No. Demons have invaded."
--It's worse than I expected… Archmage Freya, this red mist can only mean one thing—demon portals can now be formed.
"What do you mean? I don't see any portals aboveground." Which was odd. She expected the demons to open hundreds of portals across the empire.
But that hasn't happened yet.
--Demon portals can't form immediately after the Terraformer's energy surrounds a mana-enriched region. It takes time to disperse. This starts underground or in the oceans at first depending on where the terraformer's influence reaches.
"!" Of course! That monster appearing from the sewer wasn't just a coincidence!
"Are they choosing not to summon their main army? If they can do so underground, then using earth magic to open a space big enough would be easy for their army to enter…"
--I can think of two reasons: Firstly, Hero Arthur possesses the Holy Sword so they are cautious. But Hero Luke also has his divine aura unlocked so handling two heroes will be difficult even for the demon lords if they fight together. The second reason is that the conditions aren't suitable for an invasion yet so they're using the humans they experimented on.
"But wouldn't the mutants also be affected by the lingering mana in the air?"
--I'm not sure what they're thinking. The mutants might also just be disposable.
--I know I said two reasons but there is a third: they don't want to give their card away. As you might know, I was once a commander so I received lots of information they'd never want to get out. So they won't expect their trump card to be revealed so soon.
"…Thank you for your information, Librarian Lyra." She didn't expect this cooperation. Despite being a conspirator in the war, she seems to hold no comradery for the demons.
Perhaps to ease any doubts of her motives, Lyra spoke again.
--If this academy is destroyed, I will die with it because of this curse your predecessor placed on me so please protect it.
"Even though you know there's no way for you to be a freewoman again, you still want to live?"
--…
No response.
It would seem Lyra has a plan. But Freya can't give that any attention now.
"I'll get going now." She cut the magic link Lyra established then descended to the ground where the elite mages of the Second Magic Tower were waiting.
"Cast mass exorcism spells aboveground and hold it for as long as you can."
"Yes, ma'am!" they all answered in unison.
While it won't close the portals underground, it will stop them from functioning properly temporarily. This will also give the demons a false sense of confidence, thinking their card hasn't been found out.
Once they summon their main army, confident that they can surprise the humans, she'll have Arthur use a skill to kill them all.
'I wonder if Lilith is here as well…' she had that fleeting thought.
After she was done giving her orders and her mages carried them out, she cast several powerful tracking attack spells that targeted the mutants without her doing anything.
The sheer number of them was quite troublesome but, individually, some weren't that strong so they could somehow hold out. Even the B-ranking adventurers could handle some of them.
That being said, things would be far easier if the Hero were here.
She glanced towards the imperial palace, "Hero Arthur, even if it means cursing you with magic to obey me, I'll make sure you don't skip out on fighting on the side of humanity again."
Saying so to no one in particular, she blitzed towards the imperial palace, noticing that the estate was flooded with citizens who came here for refuge. Naturally, this was the safest place in the capital at the moment, aside from the academy that had Arnold, Luke and Lauran.
The citizens spotted Freya descending to the ground and ran towards her.
Freya couldn't bear to look them all in the face.
"Lady Freya!" five individuals ran up to Freya when she landed.
They were Marcus von Berkley, Ariane Marldor, Vance von Penston, Jurius Eulia, Ronia Eulia.
'Where has the prince been for so long?' the haughtiness she always saw in him was completely gone, and he clung to his elder sister's hand like a spoiled baby.
"I hope you're doing well, Duke." She greeted Marcus.
"Yes, thanks to my wives taking care of me all this time and my extended family visiting so much, I'm back to full strength and ready to tackle any challenge." He said with a confident smirk.
"I'm glad to hear that. Greetings, Your Highnesses and Great Nobles."
"Hello, Lady Freya. Have you managed to figure anything out about this red mist and red clouds?"
"Yes. Something called a Terraformer is causing this. It's repurposing the atmosphere to suit the demons' conditions. As of right now, it can't go further than two kilometers away from the empire's walls so it's safe to assume it has a short range. I'm not sure if it can expand its range or how long it will take but we should prepare for a full-scale invasion soon regardless."
Ronia's pupils shook but she didn't show anyone her fear.
"…And the citizens? What about them? I thought the churches handled everything concerning the infected citizens."
"Errors are common even among professionals, Your Highness… Either that or the demon cultists found a new way to get past the measures that were put in place."
'Was it a coincidence that the bells of the detectors rang the moment the clouds turned red and the mist covered the empire? Was it due to that or the purple lights?'
Even while her thoughts were full of questions that can't be answered just yet, Freya continued:
"And the citizens… they are using the infected citizens as a vanguard to buy time for the atmosphere to completely shift before attacking, from what Lyra told me. The mana isn't completely gone from the atmosphere yet so our empire hasn't been successfully terraformed yet."
"Lyra…? You're not talking about the demon sealed in the academy?" Ronia frowned slightly.
"…The very same. I don't think she has any reason to lie."
'She wouldn't give me fake information, would she? No, there's no benefit to it.'
"…Then we have a narrow window. If we shatter that device, we cut off their invasion before their real army even steps foot in the capital." Vance glanced over the capital, his mouth twitching but knowing his daughter was safe in Arnold's city, there was no fear on his face.
"Should we really be talking about the why's right now?" Ariane grumbled in annoyance and took out her bow then shot down one of the flying demons trying to come here, hitting it right in the head, "I'm going ahead if you guys continue talking."
"Patience. We must stick together."
Anyway, that's the original plan. But since Freya knows they can summon the army underground, she should let Arthur know as soon as possible so that he can be ready to attack them by surprise.
Duke Marcus frowned, his eyes scanning the red-tinted horizon where distant roars were already echoing. "Shatter the device, huh… Easier said than done, Vance. The perimeter of that mist spans miles. The device is likely heavily guarded by those mutants. And need I remind you all—" the duke's voice dropped to a pained whisper, "—those monsters are our own people so we should expect some hesitation among the troops."
At those words, the frantic mother from the crowd pushed against the line of royal guards, tears streaking through the soot on her cheeks.
"Please, Lady Archmage!" she sobbed, reaching a desperate hand out toward Freya. "My boy is still out there! He just took the medicine the clerics gave him after being told it can suppress the drug, he didn't want to hurt anyone! You can reverse it, can't you? You have to!"
Freya felt a physical ache in her chest. She couldn't bear to look at the woman, but she knew that lying would only cost more lives. She forced herself to meet the mother's eyes.
"I am so deeply sorry," Freya said, her voice trembling slightly before hardening into the necessary resolve of an Archmage. "…We don't know how to turn them back. Your son is… gone."
A collective gasp rippled through the crowd, followed by a wave of weeping and panicked murmurs. The mother collapsed into the dirt, wailing.
"They are no longer your family! They are no longer your neighbors!" Freya raised her voice, projecting her mana so it echoed across the courtyard. "They are weapons pointed at your throats! If you hesitate, you will die, and they will feast on your remains!"
The harsh truth stunned the crowd into a horrified silence.
Ronia stepped forward, her armor clinking, and placed a steadying hand on Freya's shoulder. The Princess turned to address the terrified masses, channeling an authoritative presence that Freya had rarely seen in her.
"Citizens of Eulia, despair will only do the demons' work for them!" Ronia commanded, her voice ringing clear. "Duke Marcus! Have your knights establish a quarantine zone in the inner palace grounds. Anyone who has been incorrectly screened and is infected with the drug is to be evacuated there immediately. Anyone showing signs of sickness or mutation is to be left outside the gates and eliminated. No exceptions."
"At once, Your Highness," Marcus bowed stiffly, turning to bark orders at his lieutenants.
Ronia then turned back to Freya. "Lady Freya, can you pinpoint the exact location of the Terraformer?"
"Give me ten minutes and an elevated vantage point to cast a wide-scale clairvoyance spell," Freya answered, her mind already calculating the complex magical arrays she would need. "An artifact like that requires a large amount of energy to function so it should be easy to sense it if I can cover the entire empire with my magic circle."
The palace doors suddenly opened with a heavy thud, the sound drawing the crowd's attention.
Arthur, donned in full armor, walked down the steps, the holy sword gleaming by its own which memorized the crowd. Beside him was his known lover, Princess Shirley of the Beast Kingdom.
Without ceremony, Arthur spoke, his powerful voice flowing over the crowd.
"Everyone, I know things are chaotic out there but please listen to me for a moment. I'll be brief." Hearing his words, everyone looked silently as the sounds of the world ending echoed beyond these walls.
"I apologize for not being there for you last time, as I've been in isolation training and learning to use the holy sword properly! Now, allow me to show you just how far I've progressed."
A pillar of white aura, stretching several meters around him, shot up into the sky, purifying the red clouds for a moment and letting the moonlight hit his handsome face.
Looking at them with incomprehensible power, he declared, "I'll enter the demon realm and slay the Demon King today."