In the middle of the dark arena, surrounded by the shadows of the silent judges, the Demon Lord gripped the hilt of the sword embedded in the center rock. He raised his head and called out to Andre with a voice dripping with arrogance:
"O contractor... come and grasp the hilt of the sword to begin your suffering."
Andre moved with heavy, calculated steps and grasped the other side of the sword's hilt. The moment he touched it, the sword glowed with an ominous crimson light. Thick chains moved from within the stone, wrapping and binding the wrist of the Demon Lord to Andre's wrist.
Then... the rock shattered completely, and the true sword emerged from beneath the ground. It was a sword as black as the darkness of the abyss, its hilt designed in the shape of a white dragon's skull, pulsating with a terrifying dark power that almost choked the breath.
The Demon Lord gripped the sword with one hand and said triumphantly: "Now, Andre, I would like to present to you the sword that terrified this world for long centuries... the Dark Sword of Doom. Now, draw your sword so we can fight."
Andre gripped his sword and drew it, readying himself, but the Demon Lord did not draw the "Sword of Doom" from its scabbard; instead, he left it hanging.
Andre asked warily: "Why did you not draw it?"
The demon answered with a disdainful smile: "This sword is drawn from its scabbard only when it respects the one it fights. But you... neither I nor the sword respect you. Because you are merely a worthless vessel, you are nothing! Ever since you wielded me and my sword, you have not done a single thing worthy of attention. You always resort to me or the Ice Lord to save you; you cannot do anything on your own. But it does not matter..."
The Dark Lord grabbed the sword and returned it to the holder at his waist, then gripped the chain connecting them and said: "I will use your physical body for something useful."
A massive demonic power gathered in the Demon Lord's hand. With a lightning-fast motion, he pulled Andre by the chain with immense force and delivered a crushing punch to his face, sending him crashing into the arena floor so hard that his body bounced upward from the impact.
The demon did not give him a chance to catch his breath. He grabbed the chain again and began to swing Andre left and right, smashing him into the ground at times, and shattering him against the arena walls at others, as if he were a ragdoll. Then he threw him to the ground, smiling with sick amusement: "Come on, hero... you must get up. It is inconceivable that you are finished this easily."
Andre lay on the ground, blood covering his face, his nose smashed, and his teeth broken. But he gathered all his willpower and tried to stand up over and over again until he straightened up on his trembling legs.
The demon clapped with biting sarcasm: "Well done! This is how the so-called hero should be, well done."
Andre gripped the chain and screamed with all the breath and anger left in him: "If you were truly a man... you would fight me without all that magical power you have!"
The demon was surprised by his audacity and said mockingly: "Power? I have not even used one percent of my power! What? Are you a child complaining about getting hit?"
Andre replied while spitting blood from his mouth: "I have never cried in my life, not even once! My bones were broken in the past when I was a criminal called 'Olaf', my bones were broken in prisons while fighting human monsters, and I never cried. And I am confident... that if you were without your demonic powers right now, you would be the one crying before me!"
The demon was infuriated by the insult to his pride, and shouted: "You say I would cry? Then let you have what you want, you despicable brat! You want me without magical powers? You have it!"
The demon gestured to one of the shadows in the stands. The shadow grabbed its blue lantern and blew into it, extinguishing its flame. A strange light began to emerge from the Demon Lord's body, heading toward the lantern and replacing the flame until it lit up. The demon's magic had been sealed.
The demon spoke with arrogance and haughtiness, cracking his neck: "And now, little mouse... come to me."
But what the demon saw made him freeze for a moment. Andre was smiling. He was laughing genuinely, with a terrifying glare burning in his eyes, blood leaking from between his shattered teeth. It was the look of a beast unleashed from its cage.
Andre said with a rough voice: "You say I am a fool? Do not joke with me... if I possessed your terrifying energy, I would never have given it up in a fight. But I am wiser than to do that."
Andre began to wrap the iron chain around his bare fist, adding with dark eyes: "There, in prison, I learned one thing... that the blood that leaves your body will never return to it. So... it is time for the exact same amount of blood to leave the one who caused it to spill!"
Andre pulled the chain with both hands with sudden, brutal force. The demon tried to resist and pull back, but he was surprised! The demon, who had spent his eternal life relying on his supernatural magical power, now found himself merely a body without true physical strength to match the hardness of street fighting.
Andre yanked the demon toward him and delivered a crushing punch with his chain-wrapped fist, knocking him to the ground. Andre jumped on top of him and began to beat the demon's face with the chains in a severe, maddened frenzy. The bloody punches rained down endlessly until Andre's hand was covered in the demon's blood.
Andre screamed as he continued striking: "Now, demon! Who is the trapped mouse, huh? Tell me! For every punch I took from you... you will take it thousands of times!"
The Wrath of Doom and Breaking the Rules
But suddenly... a strange, unexpected power manifested in the demon. He grabbed Andre's neck with one hand and lifted him off the ground, choking him.
The demon spoke with a smashed and bloody face, his eyes blazing with the fire of vengeance: "You bastard... I cannot believe the face of a great demon has been smashed and disfigured to this extent by a human. I congratulate you, for you have truly struck a nerve."
The demon pushed Andre away, throwing him far across the arena. He stood up, leaving Andre in disbelief, coughing and shouting: "How is this possible? This violates the contract and the court's agreement! Shouldn't you lose and be punished for using magic?"
The demon spat black blood from his mouth and said with deadly coldness: "I did not violate the contract, you fool. Rather, I drew some physical power from my sword... not from my sealed spiritual power. I cannot believe a nobody like you managed to beat me in such a humiliating way... I swear I will make you taste absolute agony! And those hands stained with my blood... I will tear them off you!"
The Demon Lord grabbed the "Sword of Doom" and finally drew it from its scabbard.
The moment the blade emerged, a massive, ear-piercing scream was unleashed, as if millions of tortured souls were crying out from the sheer terror of this sword's power. Its raw power alone was enough to make the dead air roar in the place, and the shockwave threw Andre away, smashing him against the wall.
The Demon Lord advanced and swung the sword coldly. Just by "swinging" it from afar... the sword's power severed Andre's right arm! Then he swung again, severing the left arm! Then he swung with two consecutive strikes, severing both of his legs!
Andre fell to the ground, a limbless body swimming in a pool of his own blood. The demon grabbed the chains and began to drag Andre toward him very slowly, pulling him across the rough ground, blood pouring from everywhere, until Andre reached beneath his feet.
The Demon Lord slowly sheathed the sword. He dropped to his knees, wrapped the chain around his fist in the exact same way Andre had done, and began to punch what was left of Andre's face with all the wrath and cosmic malice he had. Punch after punch, until he completely shattered Andre's nose, crushed all his teeth, and made his eyes bleed.
Then he stood up coldly, drew the Sword of Doom, and stabbed Andre through his heart.
The Dark World
In the real world, with the Ice Lord and the frozen others. They were waiting in tension. Suddenly, the demonic portal opened, and "Andre" walked out calmly.
Without a word, Andre raised his hand and commanded the cursed demonic power to return. The cursed power exited the bodies of the villagers and the Ice Knights, returning to enter the sword. The village returned to its human state, and the comrades regained their consciousness.
Overwhelming joy spread among everyone at the village's recovery, and Volak breathed a sigh of relief.
But suddenly... the shape of the ordinary sword Andre was carrying changed, transforming into a black sword with a white dragon's skull... the "Dark Sword of Doom"!
A massive, cursed, and deadly power erupted from Andre's body, pressing heavily on everyone's chests, making even the bravest knights and the Ice Lord fearful, smelling the distinct stench of death.
"Andre" raised his head; his eyes were completely pitch black, and he smiled the Demon Lord's smile. He turned toward the Ice Lord and spoke with terrifying calmness:
"Did I not tell you not to involve me in your plan? You did not understand my words back then... and now, I have to tell you the hard way."
The demon (in Andre's body) raised the Sword of Doom high, and a terrifying aura appeared, covering the sky. Then he swung his sword in a single strike.
A wave of destruction launched forward, slicing through everything standing in its path in the village as if it were foam. The overwhelming wave reached the hill where Maurice stood. At the very last second, the mysterious observer quickly grabbed him and pulled him into a spatial portal to escape.
And when Maurice and the observer teleported to another safe place, Maurice fell, screaming a deafening scream. The observer was shocked to see that the sword's wave had completely severed the right side of Maurice's body before he entered the portal! Were it not for the power of time reversal that the observer immediately used to heal Maurice with extreme difficulty, he would have been dead.
As for the village, and the possessed Andre... the sky suddenly drowned in pitch-black darkness, blocking the sun forever. Heaven and earth split open, and seven massive hellish gates appeared... without any chains binding them!
Two long black horns protruded from Andre's head as a sign of absolute sovereignty. The Demon Lord looked at the dark sky and said with a voice that shook the pillars of the world:
"Now... this world will drown in eternal darkness."