Chapter 17: The Demon with Cyan Eyes
As the setting sun slowly hid itself behind the mountain range in the distance, darkness enveloped the land.
But different from everywhere around it, the enormous city encircled by huge and thick walls made of steel was still brightened and lively as it was daytime.
Hei was just another middle-aged guard that was on the wall of the city while watching the sun set in the horizon with his drowsy eyes.
He had stayed last night awake until late hours watch the Magic Duels of the International Magic Olympics.
It was a thrilling final duel between the two best mages of the planet against each other for the sake of victory.
There was no way he would miss such battle, even if he had to work the next day.
The surroundings were relatively peaceful. While sometimes there would some heidous green creatures roaming around in the distance, carefully looking at the towering wall, the Goblins knew better than fight against people that could build such giant city.
Hei stood in his post with the his rifle positioned across his chest.
He yawned and rubbed his tired eyes while grumpily saying, "I should have just missed the work today and stayed home."
His job as a guard was to simply stay alert and warn the watchtowers if an unidentified object or creature approach the wall.
While there was indeed some devices to help them monitor even kilometers away from the wall, some creatures could use some magic or magical artifact to bypass such monitor devices. Thus, the reason there was still the need of guards on the wall to watch the situation.
But... nothing happened in this city for the last 50 years.
Being born without the talent to magic truly wasn't the best of fates. Because of this fate he was subjugated to get such boring and uneventful jobs.
If it was for him, he rather become a Magic Gunslinger and go the south front line to fight against the demons that keep popping out of nowhere.
Seeing that the night was close, Hei got spirited as this signaled that his shift was almost over.
Everyday was the same thing. He stood rooted on top of the tower watching the outside. Nothing happens and then he go home to watch something, sleep and begin all over again.
This day was about to the same as always, but something happened.
As soon as the last sunlight vanished behind the mountains, a chilly wind enveloped the city with almost three millions of people.
Hei shuddered at the wind that hit him upfront.
The wind was different today.
He could feel it.
The eerie feeling, the reek of blood carried by the wind and the... enormous killing intent creeping out from behind the mountains.
Hei frowned and took the binocular at his wrist to take a look.
As he searched for something on the mountains, he didn't notice the dark clouds looming over the city and the moon high in the sky slowly becoming so red that it seemed about to drip.
The chilling wind grew stronger after every second.
A foreboding feeling grew inside Hei as he lowered the binocular.
As soon as he lowered it, his eyes opened wide as he saw the situation in the sky.
The dark, menacing clouds and blood-red moon in the sky.
His eyes cleared up and he was immediately shaken awake from the drowsiness.
With a clear and awake mind, he focused on the situation outside the walls.
The bugs, animals and monsters that often create sounds deep in the forest all stopped as the trees eerily swayed with the cold wind.
Hei reached for his radio and hesitated whatever or not issue an warning.
It was just a feeling, nothing more.
His hand over the rifle clenched tightly as he decided to warn the watchtower.
"Watchtower 4, do you copy?" He asked through the device that was on his ear.
"Yes. What's the status in your area, private Hei?" Hei heard an emotionless voice coming from the other side.
"It appears that I have a... particular situation here on the west gate."
"What kind of situation? Monsters? Demons? Or humans?"
"I'm not certain..." Hei looked careful at the silent forest and mountain range, "Something is happening here."
"Wait a minute, I'll be sending a mage to your position." With those words the radio went silent.
Hei sighed in relief. He took the binocular and looked at the mountain range.
It was already pretty much dark by now, but with the few last rays of sunlight, he could see see the mountain range.
[It seems to have nothing around here.] He frowned. The moment he remembered the foreboding he felt earlier his eyes regained determination, [No! There must have something wrong around here, somewhere...]
He stood on top of the wall, watching everything in his field of view.
"Hmm?" From behind the mountains, a bright light pierced the black sky sky and dark clouds, "What's that?"
Witnessing the strange phenomenon, Hei was lost. He never something like that before.
He resolutely reached for his radio and was about to report the strange phenomenon when he saw something appearing on top of the tallest mountain in the distance.
A humanoid figure with two giant wings on his back and a pair of horns on his head.
Hei dropped the radio and quickly used the binocular to take a closer look.
It was a humanoid being with sharp, menacing cyan eyes that gleamed with bloodthirstiness.
The whole body of the figure was of a dark red color. It a male creature. He was tall and slim, but apparently very strong.
The wings were made of leather, and were pitch black just like the horns on top of his head.
On his arms, a beautiful young woman, approximately 20 years old, with silky black hair and porcelain white skin.
It really looked like a doll.
But such woman was wearing a dress completely drenched in blood, and her eyes were closed.
Coupling this with the peaceful expression on her face and the aura coming from the figure, Hei could deduce that the woman was probably dead and the man was very, very angry.
As he watched the figure in the distance, suddenly the man's eyes switched and stared at Hei through his binocular's lens.
Hei shivered when meeting with those cold eyes that were burning with anger and bloodthirsty.
He immediately woke from his frozen state and reached for the radio and spoke in hurry, quivering, "Th-there's a de-demon here!"
"What!? A demons, this deep into the province!? Private Hei, are you sure!?" The voice on the side asked in frantic.
Hei rubbed his eyes to be sure and glance with his binocular once again to have sure before saying, "Y-y-yes, I'm sure!"
"Don't lose him, I'm sounding the alarm right away. A squad of Mages have been sent to your location, don't worry."
With those words the radio went silent.
Not even a few seconds later, the whole city behind Hei was illuminated by red sirens on top of the streetlights and air-raid sirens could be heard across the city.
Hei's eye caught a movement by the demon in the mountain.
The demon slowly descended the mountain.
With each step he took, Hei could see that the shadows of the trees by the mountain all shuddered and moved like they were alive.
It was not a second later that Hei was stunned by what happened before his eyes.
The shadows of those trees slowly rose up from the ground.
It didn't take long before the shadows took humanoid form.
Those faceless pitch black figures saluted the demons and marched along with him, just a few centimetres behind him.
The demon was expressionless and just kept walking without giving a single glance at the countless shadows emerging from the forest behind him.
Only when he occasionally looked down at the woman in his arms that he would show some resemblance of emotion.
His deep cyan eyes would lovingly stare at the beautiful girl and his hand would gently clean the blood from her face.
"Where's the demon?"
Hei was awaken by a voice that came from behind him.
Turning his head, he saw five people clad in white clothes with leathery-looking armor on top of it.
They were carrying in their hands all types of weapons, one of them had a bow on his hand, three of them had a sword and shield, and lastly there was one with a staff.
[Light Mages...] Hei identified these people in front of him, [A whole squad, it must the ones the HQ sent here. Three Magic Knight, one Magic Archer and lastly an Arcane Wizard. A balanced squad, that's good, but...] Hei dreadfully looked at the demons that was slowly approaching, [Even though demons are weak against Light Magic, I don't think only one squad of Expert Light Mages can deal with that...thing. The HQ is underestimating the demon.]
"Right there." Hei pointed the cyan-eyed demon in the distance.
"Roger that." The Magic Knight that appeared to be the leader nodded and turned to his companions, "Prepare to engage with the enemy, let's set off."
"YES SIR!"
With those orders the whole squad lifted from the ground and went flying to meet with the enemy.
Hei didn't know why, but he felt that they would certainly lose. Comparing the strength only from aura, pressure and atmosphere, Hei felt that the demon was way, way stronger that the squad sent by the HQ.
Although such balanced squad could possibly fight even a Master Mages, Hei wasn't optimistic about their chances.
"HQ, do you copy?" Hei thought for a split of second before taking up the radio.
"Yes, Private Hei? Did the Light Mage squad got to your location?"
"Yes, they arrived, but..." Hei watched as the Mages were nearing the demon and spoke urgently, "One squad is not enough, send more, hurry!"
"What!? Are you sure!? What's the threat level?" The operator in the other end of the line asked.
"I don't know. From the vibes I'm getting, probably Master Mage, or maybe a Deity." Hei spoke with a grim look on his face.
"God damnit, may Hyperion bless us all. How could such monster get pass through the borders!? I'm sending every squad we have, but..." The operator stopped to take a break and spoke with his quivering mouth, "...if it is really a Deity, I fear...I fear this will be the end of us all..."
Hei also had a darkened expression on his face.
While they do had a Deity Mage on Gorgon Province, she was way too far from the city. Even for some of her strength, it would take hours to get to them.
By then, the whole city would have been razed to the ground.
All he could do was pray to the Pantheon gods so that the demon wouldn't be a Deity but only a Master Mage.
Hei took the binocular and looked again to see how the Light Mage squad was faring with the demon.
"What the-"
He swore after he saw what happened.
His mouth opened wide as his eyes bulged.
With a simple wave of his hand, the demon killed the whole squad.
Pitch black Spears surged from the ground beneath the group, and they were caught by the surprise attack.
The first move immediately killed four of the members as the Spears easily pierced their natural Mage Barrier and heads, giving them no chance to fight back.
Crimson liquid painted the sky as the blood sprayed out from the holes in the heads of the spears' victims.
The only survivor was the captain that reacted fast enough to rise his shield and barely block the sudden spear that came for him.
But it didn't end there, once he defended from one of the spears, more came for him.
"Puh..."
Soon he was overwhelmed by the quantity and was knocked towards the ground by the spears while coughing a mouthful of blood.
Before he could actually fall on the ground that was covered by more black spears, the captain was caught in the air by a huge shadow.
"Thanks-" The captain was about to express his thanks for whoever saved him from certain death when he realized something was wrong.
*Crack*
"AHHHHHH!!!!!" The captain released a loud scream of pain as he felt his chest being pierced by multiple teeth.
It just happens that the shadow that caught him midair was a wolf, a huge pitch black wolf with red eyes.
The creature didn't show mercy and continued to chew at the human in it's mouth.
Less than seconds, the captain had been completely eaten by the red-eyed wolf.
"Hyperion have mercy upon us." Hei shuddered as he saw the how easily the squad was defeated.
Although he could confirm that the demon was a Deity Mage, he was very close to become one, at least in strength.
This was bad news for the city, for the province in general.
Unaware of the threat that was getting close to the city, the people just casually and calmly followed the security toward the nearest emergency bunker of the city.
Weekly Power Status
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