Daimen froze as the demon turned towards him, its eyes somehow piercing through the distance to locate him where he crouched roughly seven hundred meters away.
His grip on his weapon tightened as he prepared for battle. If this prisoner decided to earn itself a few favors by revealing his location, then there was no place Daimen could run that would put him off their radar. He was too close to easily disappear if they decided to chase.
Fortunately, the demon did none of that, yet. It curled an eyebrow, a little smile tugging at its lips as it looked between its escorts and then back to Daimen.
The message was clear: save me.
Daimen frowned and tightened his lips. Sure, he could fight these numbers. Unlike his pursuers who came in the double digits, these were just single digits, if a little bit stronger than the norm.
His thoughts ground to a halt when one of the guards unleashed its aura to force the prisoner to keep walking, and Damien's heart ran cold; Spirit King.
For the second time, he took in the other guards, eyes observing the energy they emanated. His lips tightened further. All of them were Spirit Kings.
His chances of escape should the prisoner reveal his identity plummeted sharply.
Armored demon in front, while the robed ones tailed behind with their eyes closed and their senses focused on containing their prisoner, no one was physically watching the prisoner, which explained why they hadn't detected Daimen yet. He knew that was unlikely to last very long.
He narrowed his eyes back at the prisoner and shifted his look to the guards. There was no way he was risking his life against a Spirit King for a stranger, a demon no less. But he was also in a dilemma. He could leave, but there was no guarantee the prisoner wouldn't set the guards after him.
Daimen paused, and after some thought, took his chance on the probability that the guards were not going to leave their prisoner to chase after him.
It sent him a pitiful look, but Daimen was long done falling for such trivial tricks. He made to move when the prisoner stumbled, drawing curses from his jailers. The armored guard turned around in anger, its heavyset armored form lumbering towards the demon prisoner, who kept shifting backwards even as the guard approached. Its face turned panicked, eyes widened, and face twisted in fear. And like any other foolish person with a questionable amount of power, the armored guard chased.
The others, engrossed in whatever they were doing, failed to notice what was happening until it was too late. The demon prisoner stumbled into one of them, an act Daimen easily understood was purposeful. The robed demon lost concentration, opening its eyes as it snarled something, only to come face to face with the smiling face of the prisoner.
Daimen felt a message come in then, bypassing his mental wards to slither into his mind. Before he could react, he heard a voice, soft, assured voice.
“Be not afraid, human. I require your assistance. Under the power of the Jury, I swear upon my existence to do you no harm so long as you keep to the same promise. Whatever you wish, I shall aid in its accomplishment; all you need do is await my signal. Leave the white devourers to me, keep the other occupied. I will come for him when I am done.”
The message came in an instant, appearing in his mind like it already existed. Daimen had no time to respond before whatever mental shield holding the demon snapped back in place, cutting off their mental connection.
The guard grabbed the demon by the neck, yanking it back to its feet with enough force to make the prisoner choke.
It leaned forward to speak, snarling something in infernal that Daimen could neither discern nor hear.
What the guard said must have hit a mark, because the prisoner went silent, its amused features dying into an expressionless mask, with a seething fire burning in its violet eyes.
The armored guard nodded, growled something in infernal again to the robed demon who'd been stumbled into, and then it yanked the chain binding the prisoner forward, causing the helpless creature to stumble forward.
Daimen watched all this, perplexed. Putting aside the fact that the demon had been able to easily bypass his mental wards without invitation, a cause for concern, it had spoken about dealing with the white robed demons with factual confidence. That should not be possible, considering the demon was a Spirit lord.
And the oath… Daimen was moved to discard it as false—demons should not be trusted, most especially Mind demons—but the distant rumbling across the sky signified the acknowledgement of the Celestial of Balance.
Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Even still, Daimen was of a mind to discard the delusional creature and make his way towards his actual quarries. He wanted nothing from what this demon was dishing. He already had enough problems as it was, he didn't need more.
But the demon had promised to help him accomplish whatever he wanted, and there was only one thing Daimen needed in this pit: to find a way back to the mortal realms. He could try getting an answer from another demon, maybe one of his quarries, perhaps, but what chance was there that they would have reliable information on what he was looking for?
This demon, on the other hand, seemed like it had knowledge of what he sought.
Daimen shook his head. Nevertheless, it had sworn to help him accomplish whatever he wanted, and whether or not it knew where a portal stone could be located, it would help him.
Which left the issue of its capability in escaping the clutches of its Spirit King guards. For that same reason, he also contemplated leaving. One Spirit King, they could deal with. But three? Even he could acknowledge a suicide attempt when he saw one.
Something flashed through the air, faster than even Daimen's eyes could follow, and the second robed demon was forced into a short stumble, staggering backwards more out of surprise than hurt.
The thing that attacked came back again for a second round, its form leaving a long line of air trails in its wake. It met the bladed sword of the armored demon, who cleaved the four winged bird in two, sending each part falling in a different direction.
All of it had happened before Daimen could even blink. He stared with a grim expression, about to turn away, when the forest growled, and the silhouette of malformed creatures pierced the mist.
Growls and snarls filled the air as dozens of monsters emerged through the mist, their nightmarish forms stalking dangerously towards the group.
Again, Daimen was perplexed. These were Calamity-tier monsters, and even the most foolish of them should have sensed the aura the Spirit Kings released and run for it. Yet they stayed, prowling confidently towards their death.
It was like they'd lost all senses.
All senses...
Daimen turned toward the prisoner, who stared intently at the back of the armored demon's head with blood heavily dripping from its eyes, nose, and ears. Yet the creature was smiling.
Ahh… Daimen nodded, realizing what was happening.
The demon had played its hand, a very bold move given how quickly they'd just met. It was a play that was bound to collapse without the interference of a third party.
It was left to him now.
While he watched the armored demon cleave another powerful Spirit lord monster in two, Daimen contemplated the risk and reward of what he was about to do.
There was no sugarcoating it, death awaited him should this plan fail. Winning would require he use his full might, an act that would put his newfound freedom on a countdown. It was only a matter of time before his Minder and the Harbinger came knocking on hell's door, demanding his release. They weren't the only ones who would swarm this place soon.
Daimen smiled as he rose from his crouch. It had been a while since he'd challenged something above him in strength. And death or not, at least he'd live up to his purpose.
Two things happened in quick succession. First, he unleashed his Astral image, its titanic form rising like an emerging leviathan to pierce the skies. If he was going to go into this, then nothing short of his best would get them the win.
Secondly, he blasted off the tree branch he'd been standing upon, the force of his departure shattering the whole tree and so many others around it into flying splinters.
He blitzed through the air and met the armored demon—who’d just finished tearing apart a reptilian creature in half with their barehands—with his spear, his weapon slamming against the giant sword the demon swung his way.
His spear shattered immediately on contact, and the only thing that spared him from an early meeting with the Abyssal Dragon was the minute shift of his head at the last second, which saved him from getting decapitated, but deprived him of a lock of hair.
As it was, he was simply thrown back into the air, blasted off his feet before it could even touch the ground. He unwillingly carved himself a path through multiple trees before he stabilized mid-air, jumping back into the fray as the demon turned to the other monsters, evidently dismissing him as unimportant.
Daimen would make that disregard its downfall, he promised.
Mid-air, he summoned another spear from his storage, just as he came down once again on the demon.
“You again?” The demon said as it tanked his sweeping strike. “Die.”
Daimen felt the command as it sought hold over him, a creeping word that searched for cracks within his mind to slither into, to dissolve his consciousness.
He shrugged it off.
And at last, the Demon paused, idly backhanding a monster into bloody mist. It seemed to take him in for the first time, intently observing him with a look that made Daimen smile, even as his hold over his weapon tightened.
“Thou dost not belong to DemonKind. Where hails thee?” It demanded, its voice rumbling out in cosmic common.
Daimen was arrogant, yes, but he wasn't arrogant enough to stand and chat against a demon a whole hierarchy above him, not when his life and freedom were on the line.
Six black holes materialized above him, surrounding his head in a half-formed halo, and out of them blasted incinerating beams of Destructive essence.
The Demon raised its giant sword to tank his attacking technique, its flat side serving as a shield that successfully blocked the incoming death rays. However, it couldn't escape the force of the attack, which sent it sliding backwards, its heavy armoured boot digging deep furrows into the earth.
A monster came in from behind, sharp claws tearing futilely against the metal that protected the demon’s calf. The creature's knee bent forward from the force of the attack, and Daimen took the advantage.
He came in from beneath, narrowly dodging the armored backhand sent his way. He moved through space, a single step shattering space between him and the lumbering giant. When the cracks healed, Daimen was already gone.
Another crack opened up behind the infernal creature and out came Daimen, blazing out with unstoppable momentum. His spear was gone, and in his hand was a heavy Warhammer, big and menacing. And with a wicked smile, he brought it down with his full strength against the demon's ankle.
Should I keep the current Prologue or Replace it with Chapter 34 and 35? (Damien's awakening chapter. Obv, it's gonna be melded and retouched)
