I was running through the darkness of the caves, panting as despair crept into my heart.
"Guys! Henry! Oliver! Vice-Captain Julian!"
The echo of my voice faded, returning to me in disappointment. "I wonder how long I have been searching for them. And what is this place? The trap set for us was by no means ordinary. I wonder what its true goal is. How many caves are left that I haven't checked? This is the last cave in this tunnel... I hope it's the right one."
I entered the cave cautiously, and my stomach tied in knots when I found a massive goblin, sitting quietly on a rock, sharpening his long sword with a grating sound against the stone.
I asked, trying to hide my tension, "Are you the one who transported us here?"
The goblin did not look at me, and continued sharpening his sword coldly. "So... you are the person I am supposed to kill. You are a bit late, but since you are finally here... shall we begin?"
I shouted angrily, "Where are my friends?!"
The goblin raised his cruel eyes to me and scoffed, "You worry about your friends while you stand before me to meet your end? Really? Why are you shouting like that? If you want to know where they are, you must face and defeat me first... though your frail size and weak power do not show much promise."
I gripped the hilt of my black sword tightly and attacked with all my might. I aimed a swift strike at his neck, but the goblin blocked it easily with just one hand!
"Oh... you are excited! I like that."
With a simple motion, the goblin pushed me away, sending me crashing onto my back. I got up immediately and attacked again, but he blocked it once more without the slightest effort.
He asked with boredom, "Is that all you have?"
I stopped to catch my breath, then started pacing slowly around him.
He said mockingly, "Slowing down now?"
But I began to gradually increase my speed, using the footwork I learned from Volak, until I practically vanished from his sight and attacked from a blind spot!
"Maybe this is better," the goblin said as he blocked my strike with the back of his sword. "But for you, human..."
The goblin vanished from my sight in the blink of an eye, appearing directly in front of my face. He punched me in the stomach with a brutal blow that made me stagger back, coughing up blood and clutching my abdomen from the intense pain.
The goblin said as he wiped his fist, "Now, human, either fight me with honor and do not look so pathetic, or die and be done with this humiliation. You landed a few light hits and you think you won? Do not joke with me."
I wiped the blood from my mouth, gripped my sword with both hands, and took a serious offensive stance.
The goblin attacked with insane speed and slashed my face. He looked at me, trying to strike again, but I dodged his attack with extreme difficulty and punched him in the face with my fist, forcing him to take a step back.
I said while panting, "Now... we are even."
The goblin looked at me in astonishment. He whispered to himself, "That power he just used... it wasn't the boy's power! Is that the power of someone else? Does this mean there are two entities inside him? Even if he absorbed mana from the air, I felt the power flow faster than it could be gathered, and I felt a hidden terror from the entity supplying it."
The goblin asked me seriously, "Boy, what is the source of your power? Do not play the fool, I know something resides inside you and provides you with those bursts. I felt it."
I answered with bitter honesty, "A demon resides inside me."
"A demon? Yes, and I use a part of his power."
The goblin furrowed his brows. "So you made a pact with a demon? And you humans call them your enemies!"
"No... it's not a pact. He lives inside me against my will, just like that."
The goblin said with a tone closer to advice, "So that is why he allows you to use his power carefully. Boy, I will give you a piece of advice before I kill you. Do not rely on that power, for your demon is more malicious than you think. No one grants power without a price."
I shouted as I dashed toward him, "Advising me now? I have no time, I must defeat you and find my friends!"
The goblin attacked with lightning speed before I could finish my sentence. He suddenly grabbed my leg, lifted me into the air, and began smashing me into the rocky wall left and right like a ragdoll! Then he started spinning me like a windmill in the air.
"Aaagh!" I screamed, feeling as though my leg would be torn from its socket from the intense spinning, my body shattering with every impact.
Was he this fast from the beginning and was just holding back? As I spun in the air, I gripped my sword, gathered some energy into it, and struck the blade into the ground against the direction of his motion. The spinning stopped violently, and I grabbed the fist holding my leg, kicking the goblin's head with my other foot until he let me go.
We backed away and clashed fiercely. Our swords collided, one slashing the other, the other stabbing back. The goblin grabbed a giant boulder and hurled it at me; I split it in half with my sword, but I found the goblin lunging from between the two halves to strike me with his blade!
I took a deep cut to my chest, but he didn't stop there. He grabbed my left hand and, with a savage motion, sliced off two fingers! Then he did the exact same thing to my right hand!
I screamed in pain and terror. As for the wound on my chest, the goblin used his sharp claws to widen it, tearing the flesh mercilessly.
While I was agonizing, falling to my knees and seeing my end approaching, a demonic shadow appeared in my consciousness.
The Demon Lord said with biting sarcasm, "What is this pathetic sight, hero? Do you need help? This is truly shameful. Even after that so-called Volak taught you how to draw power in amounts I cannot control you with, and you thought it was enough... this is disappointing. You are dying now like an insect."
I screamed in my mind as I bled, "Who said that, you cursed bastard?! I am not someone who is defeated this easily!"
While my chest was being torn open, I raised my mutilated hand with difficulty, shoved my remaining fingers into the goblin's ear, and pierced it forcefully until it bled! The goblin screamed and let go of me out of sheer pain and surprise.
The goblin said, his eyes burning with rage, "You bastard! I won't just kill you, I will eat you, human, and hang your bones in this place as decorations!"
Drops of blood were pouring from me profusely. The pain in my chest was unbearable, and my severed fingers couldn't even maintain a proper grip on the sword's hilt.
The demon whispered again, "Well done, my host! You resisted the goblin a bit. It seems you have a spark of madness that I like. But... what will you do now? Shouldn't you give up and die? You cannot even hold your sword or stand on your feet."
I answered him with defiant weakness, "Fool... don't you know that we humans, when cornered and feeling death approaching, bring out all the hidden potential we have? So... watch closely, you cursed demon."
I tried to grip my sword, but my severed fingers made me want to scream in agony. My hold on the sword was weak and trembling, and my stance swayed like a drunkard.
The goblin said with sadistic amusement, "So, this is what they call clinging to life? I will not end your life quickly then... I will cut off every limb on your body slowly, boy!"
The goblin attacked. I blocked his first strike with extreme difficulty, but his second strike completely disarmed me.
The goblin struck a third time, slicing my Achilles tendon, dropping me to my knees.
And the fourth strike... he severed both my hands from the forearms!
He didn't stop there. The goblin grabbed his sword and ruthlessly drove it through my severed right arm, pinning it to the ground like a stake. Then he grabbed my black sword and drove it through my left arm!
"Now, human, I will beat you until you breathe your last breath!"
The goblin began pummeling me with his fists and feet, not aiming for my open wounds, but intentionally targeting every remaining unbroken bone in my body! I screamed and screamed, blood filling my throat, until almost every bone in my body was shattered... except my jaw.
The goblin stood panting over my broken body and said triumphantly, "Now, boy... beg for mercy and I will kill you."
I gathered what saliva I had left, mixed with blood, and spat on the goblin's foot. Because my body was shattered, the spit was weak, but it was full of contempt.
"Boy... you truly know how to anger me!"
The goblin raised his massive fist and brought it down on my face to finish me off. But... the moment his fist collided with my face, a terrifying cracking sound echoed!
The goblin screamed, stumbling backward while clutching his hand... it was his hand that had broken from the force of the impact!
Suddenly, the goblin felt something terrifying, a heavy black aura like death emerging from within me. And what truly horrified him was that all my severed parts began to regenerate! Bones fused together, flesh grew, and fingers returned to their places in mere seconds, in a horrifying display!
In that very moment, everyone inside the caves and the magical portals (Henry, Oliver, Julian) felt an indescribable terror. They felt as though death itself had manifested and was about to claim them.
The goblin backed away, trying to escape this nightmare. But before he could take two steps... his left eye was pierced and exploded!
A voice that had no connection to humanity thundered, shaking the very foundations of the cave. "Where do you think you are going, insect?"
The goblin screamed in pain, looking at me with his remaining eye, only to find me standing before him completely intact, my eyes glowing with a blazing crimson light. "How?! How did your parts return? How?!"
The Demon Lord smiled coldly, grabbed both swords pinned into my regenerated arms, and pulled them out. There wasn't a single drop of blood on them.
The Dark Lord attacked like a hurricane, and with two crossing motions, severed both of the goblin's arms!
When the goblin found his arms severed, he turned to run, but the Dark Lord sliced off his legs too, dropping him to the ground. Then, he drove the two swords into non-vital areas of the goblin's body to pin him down.
The Demon Lord said in a low, demonic voice, "You clenched your fist to break my host's bones... try to endure my fists if you can."
He began brutally beating the goblin with his bare fists, blow after blow, until the goblin's face turned into a pool of blood... no bones, no features, nothing but utter destruction.
In the midst of all this massacre, Maurice emerged from his hiding place in the dark corner of the cave, clapping slowly.
"This is it for sure. You are the Demon Lord... the greatest and strongest of all demons."
The Demon Lord turned slowly, looking at him with disdain. "Who are you, you bastard? Are you next to die?"
Maurice smiled cunningly. "No. I am the one who saved your host at the last moment, and restored his body as it was with a quick time-reversal spell."
The Demon Lord's eyes narrowed. "So it was you. Yes, sir... and you are also the reason he was trapped here in this pathetic trap, aren't you?"
Maurice raised his hands in feigned innocence. "No, I..."
The demon interrupted him with a growl. "Do not lie to me! For I do not care about that boy or what you do to him; I consider him a mere fragile vessel, nothing more."
Maurice smiled widely. "Then, this makes things much easier. I wanted to talk to you about a deal."
And after minutes of Maurice whispering his plan...
The Demon Lord fell silent for a few moments, then said coldly, "It is a good plan... but there is one fatal flaw in it."
Maurice asked confidently, "And what is that, Great Lord of Darkness?"
The demon slowly raised his sword, and a massive, devastating power began to radiate from him, so intense that the cave began to crack. "When you tell me your plan and ask for my cooperation, it means you are indirectly implying that I must follow your orders and work according to your schedule. And I... follow no one's orders, and I am not one of your pawns!"
The Demon Lord roared, "And your attempt to tell me this... means your death!"
That dark power surged through the space, piercing the magical portal and shattering it into scattered fragments, unleashing true chaos.