Rey unleashed his strongest Lightning Bolt at the demon lord Zarius, but the S-Tier Demon teleported to the side. Rey bit back a curse as he huffed. He had been trying to get in a solid hit, but the Sovereign was too hard to pin down.

  "Is that all?" Zarius asked.

  "Not at all. Mind if I summon a breeze? Your Royal Flatulenceness left a cloud thicker than your ego."

  Rey held up a hand, and the winds started spinning in a circular motion. They spun rapidly by the second, and it was good that the demon was giving him free rein to attack however he wished.

  "You know, you shouldn't just let me throw everything at you," Rey said as the tornado grew in his hand. "That's typical villain fault number six. It's going to end up costing you in the end."

  Zarius's upper lip curled down in a sneer. "Oh, once I'm done with you, I'm going to let my dog have his way with your mouth."

  "Yeesh." Rey made a disgusted face. "I don't go for demon dogs, Z, unless they're dinner. But if you have any succubus on hand, I wouldn't mind showing them what this mouth does."

  Zarius vanished and appeared before Rey, just as he expected. He deflected the demon lord's spear with his sword, whipped his hand at him, and unleashed his Tornado with a big smile.

  The winds caught hold of the demon and spun him around. The chairs, paintings, and even his mighty throne were caught in the raging winds and spun round and round, smashing into each other. The heads he had collected as trophies crashed into the tumbling objects and were ruined beyond recognition.

  Oh, he's not going to be happy about this.

  Rey couldn't help grinning. After all, this was the first good hit he had gotten since their fight started. Never mind that they were both at the same tier and rank, but the Lord of Hell was incredibly difficult to hold down.

  The worst part about it all was that Rey's reinforcement was still stuck cleaning out Zarius's knights, which shouldn't have been too much trouble as they were all A-Tier chumps.

  The throne had been thoroughly thrashed by now. It looked or used to look like a standard throne room with lots of pictures of Zarius looking snobby. There were some chairs for his knights and advisors, and they, too, had the standard hellish vibe to them, just like his massive throne, which was made of bedrock. It was raised from the ground, with stony spikes and massive demon teeth.

  Rey doubted the demon lord cared about all this, as they weren't even close to the most important thing in the throne room. That would be the Eternal Heart, which rested in a massive glass dome, which, too, was spinning in the tornado.

  Rey couldn't help but laugh at Zarius's pathetic attempts to teleport through the tornado to the Eternal Heart. He would get close, but by then, the Heart would have moved on, just a little out of his reach, or an errant piece of furniture would hit him and throw him off course. One time, he even swung his arms around in windmill fashion.

  But Rey couldn't keep the tornado going indefinitely. He had to stop sometime, as his Mana was plunging, and he felt he would need it for whatever came after.

  He stopped shoving Mana into his tornado, and slowly, it whizzed out. Zarius vanished and was undoubtedly going for his prized treasure, but Rey wouldn't let him have it so easily. He thrust a hand towards it and shot it out of the dying tornado with a massive gust of wind. It was a testament to the thickness of the glass dome that when it hit the wall, it cracked but did not shatter, keeping the Eternal Heart secure.

  Zarius let out an audible gasp and teleported to it. He righted the dome after ensuring his precious treasure was secure. Then he snapped his head towards Rey, looking absolutely livid.

  Looks-wise, the Sovereign did not appear so different from a human. The only difference was the bony crown on his head that emerged from his forehead. He even wore clothes like a medieval monarch. His jacket was a bony white and decorated with a red thread, but it could only be something like entrails. But the most unsettling feature was the slitted eyes. He had living eyes that looked about everywhere—two on his head, one on each arm, and one on the back. They made sure he had no blind spot.

  "Hey, one of your eyes is smashed," Rey commented, motioning to the eye on his left arm, which had been squished and oozing down his arm. "You really should see an optician for that."

  It seemed Zarius was in no mood for jokes. He vanished and did not reappear. Rey tightened the grip on his sword and snapped his head around. He activated his skill, Steaming Winds, and formed a cocoon of hot air around himself, hoping to throw off his enemy's spear.

  He was right and wrong. Zarius appeared behind him and thrust his spear. The cocoon helped a little as the demon winced as he thrust the spear, and the hot winds burnt his arm. Rey dodged to the side but not fast enough. Zarius's pitch-black spear cut through Rey's side, just below the ribs.

  Before Rey could retaliate, Zarius had teleported away again. He reappeared to Rey's side and thrust his spear through Rey's shoulder, where it lodged in deep. Then he tried to stab him through the spine, but Rey dodged in time, so it only left a slash across his back. After that, he ran—by ran—he hobbled and stumbled across the littered throne as each step sent agony arcing through his body.

  Something hit the back of his neck like a truck and sent him sprawling to the ground. He turned to see the demon lord towering over him, spear at the ready.

  "Hang on, I need a minute…or a healer." Rey tried to move and flinched as pain erupted in his side. "Definitely a healer. You wouldn't happen to have one on hand, would you?"

  "You insolent mongrel."

  He thrust his spear downward. Rey tried deflecting with his sword, but he moved too slowly. The wound in his side would not let him move fast enough, but before he could be speared through, a monstrous hand gripped him by the shoulders and yanked him out of harm's way.

  This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "I'm not late, am I?" Zalathar asked as he deposited Rey by his side.

  "Oh no, I was just getting to know your brother intimately," Rey said. "He was about to poke me with his rod. Though I should've told him that I didn't have a hole where he was trying to penetrate me. So, he made a few of his own."

  "Oh, that's too bad," Zalathar shook his head. "One ought to ask permission before they start such intimate play."

  "Right?!" Rey cried.

  "You rest up and bleed all over his nice floor," Zalathar said. "I'll go teach him which holes he should be poking you in."

  "Okay." Rey sighed. "Huh? Wait, what?"

  Looking at Zalathar was like giving yourself a migraine. Rey only advised to look at him for a long time if one wished to go cross-eyed one day. The demon's face was constantly changing shape. A myriad of colors melted in and out of each other. He was one walking, talking psychedelic trip.

  The S-Tier demons clashed against each other while Rey got some much-needed rest. The brothers railed against each other. They had a similar move set for the most part, though Zalathar's skills were a little more chaotic and harder to predict.

  Rey patched himself with some of his internal core of Hellfire as the two demon lords unleashed their rage and animosity. But even Rey could see that Zarius would eventually win. Rey needed to do something drastic, or Zalathar would lose his life, and Rey would follow him shortly.

  He looked around the room and found something that would more than distract the King of Hell. The demon had a dark silhouette around his body, which meant he was burning with Hellfire and could explode and unleash his true form.

  Even if Rey could survive that, he didn't want to face him in that form, and neither did Zalathar. He crawled to the Eternal Heart. He got to it without any incident. Without wasting any time, he got to his knees and ran a hand over his blade. As he did, lightning crackled over his blade, and he slashed at the thick glass dome. It cracked open in one slash, and his blade got lodged in the Eternal Heart—something he hadn't intended to do. Cracks arced out from where his sword was stuck in the crystalline surface of the Heart.

  "What are you doing?" Zalathar thundered from across the room.

  "Trying to—"

  Rey never got to finish his sentence as Zalathar materialized next to him. Then the demon lord—his supposed partner—stabbed Rey in the ribs with a dirty hooked blade.

  Rey gasped loudly as he staggered forward.

  "How many times did I say—do no harm to the Heart? I should've let you die," Zalathar seethed. Then he leaned in and whispered. "It was me. I sent the demons that killed your grandmother. I should've let them kill you, too, you fucking imbecile."

  Rey's eyes snapped open. His pain forgotten, he gripped the collar of Zalathar's coat. "What did you say?"

  The demon didn't bother replying. He shirked off Rey's hand as if it were the hand of a child and back-handed Rey with such force that he blasted back through the room and right into Zarius's spear. The dark metal point erupted out of his chest.

  Rey was so shocked by the revelation about Zalathar's betrayal that the pain didn't even register. He simply watched Zalathar reach for his sword and try to take it out of the Heart. The crystal that was supposedly the most powerful thing in Heaven or Hell.

  "Careful," Zarius warned.

  "I am being careful," his brother snapped.

  "If you break it, it won't matter who sits on the throne."

  Zalathar glared at his brother. "I fucking know. Now, shut your trap."

  Rey's curved saber inched out slowly. The demon was being so careful as if he were disarming a bomb. All the while, Rey still hung from Zarius's spear. The demon lord held him there as if he weighed nothing at all.

  "You killed my grandmother," Rey croaked.

  Zalathar didn't bother looking at him.

  "You killed my grandmother." Rey tried again, louder this time, and still no reaction. "Look at me!"

  Darkness crept up on the edges of Rey's vision. He knew he was dead. There was no coming back from this. Blood was leaking out of him in droves, but he wasn't about to die without getting his revenge. He raised a trembling hand, aimed it toward his sword, and activated Lightning Bolt Storm.

  Bolt after bolt erupted from his hand and laid devastation to the throne room. More than one bolt hit the Heart, but he needed just one to hit his sword, and it did. The Heart began to glow from within with a blueish light.

  The Sovereign of Chaos stepped back and screamed something at Rey, but his ears had already failed him. His vision was dimming. Then someone jerked him back, maybe it was Zarius, and flung him toward the crystal that would explode at any moment.

  The brothers ran while Rey flew towards the Eternal Heart, laughing like a maniac as he got his revenge in his final moments. The Heart exploded in a brilliant flash right before he crashed against the shockwave.

  Then everything went black.

  Rey jolted upright with a mighty gasp. It was like one of those moments where he felt he was falling as he lay asleep and then jerked awake. He looked around and he was in a restaurant. People sat at their tables enjoying their meals and making conversations. Servers walked around taking orders or bringing food to their tables.

  The evening sun was setting in the west. That gave Rey pause. It was the sun, the actual sun, and not some red, veiny sky like the inside of a giant’s belly.

  He felt around his pocket and found what he was looking for—his phone. He clicked it on. A sense of relief washed over him when the time flashed on his screen over the picture of his dead parents. He quickly brought up the camera, and relief flooded him. He looked like himself again. He didn't have the red irises set in inky black eyes. He checked his ears, and they didn't have the Dragonsteel earrings. He was rather sad about that as he had hunted two vicious dragons for those. He looked like an average mid-twenties office worker with a little duskier skin.

  He ran a hand through his hair and couldn't believe it. What happened? Was I sent back in time, or was that all a dream?

  Everything was just like that day.

  "Reyan," said a voice that he knew all too well. It belonged to the woman who had raised him after his parents met their untimely end in a car crash. "Reyan, have you been eating well, dear?"

  Slowly, he brought his eyes to the person whom he loved above all else–his grandmother. She was a slightly bent woman who needed a cane to walk, but still, she refused to get any help to do the chores around the house. She was a strong woman, and seeing her alive brought tears to his eyes. She was whole, without bite marks, missing hair, or a disemboweled gut. She had her white hair, those round glasses, and that dimpled smile.

  It was like the last five years were a nightmare, and he had finally woken up.

  Her brow furrowed. "Reyan, why are you crying?"

  She caressed his cheek. He held her hand and kissed it. Tears spilled from his eyes. She put an arm on his shoulder, and he pulled her into a tight hug.

  "What's wrong, dear? Why are you crying?" She sounded concerned. Just the sound of her voice made him tear up even more.

  "I-I'm just so happy to see you," he said, and he was telling the truth.

  He didn't know if all that about demons and the King of Hell was real or just a dream, but he was more than happy to see his grandmother, especially after how gruesome her death had been.

  No, that was all a lie. He comforted himself. That was just a nightmare. Just a very vivid, long, fucking nightmare..

  "Well, I keep telling you to visit more often," she scolded him, and he didn't mind.

  He smiled and held her hands. "I promise I will." He had made that promise a hundred times, but this time, he meant it wholeheartedly.

  How am I back here? Was the chief question on his mind? He had a hard time believing it, but decided to leave it for now and enjoy dinner with his grandmother.

  Then, a server ran into another and dropped her tray. The clang of the tray ran loud in the restaurant, and hardly anyone looked her way, for Rey's nightmare had become a reality once more.

  The floating black words, tinged with fiery crimson that flickered like the embers of scattered torchlight or a just-contained inferno, seared his vision, and Rey’s heart dropped. The language of Hell, floating in the air before him.

  [The gates of Hell yawn wide, and its children march forth.]

  [The Apocalypse begins.]