Chapter 5

  The drone was a quiet little contraption, and I risked flying it closer, hoping the demons were absorbed enough in their demonic activities to not notice the intrusion. Twenty metres up in the air and twenty metres from the edge of the demon gathering, I deemed it close enough. I had it hover in place, aimed the camera at the center of the crowd of creatures, and zoomed in.

  The huge form of a demon stood there on hooved legs, dark green armour covering its body, only its monstrous, vaguely bovine head exposed. It held something that looked like the giant, ungodly offspring of a sword and an axe, pointing it at four kneeling figures. Now I knew who had lost and who had won this battle. Or maybe an entire war. The four red-skinned, more humanoid demons knelt with their heads hung, quite clearly prisoners of war. Three of them were large, probably over two metres tall when standing. Two of them wore similar armour as their demon lord had, the third wore some sort of robes. The fourth one was much smaller than the others, the size of a human child perhaps, and I had no idea if it was wearing anything as it was on fire. Literally. It. Was. Burning. And it didn’t seem to bother it. Or anyone else for that matter.

  ‘Just what the hell is going on over there?’ I muttered the question, feeling reasonably safe among the pillars in this humongous building, far from the ongoings out there. ‘Button, can you see my camera feed?’

  [The Demon Lord of the Third Ring is attempting to take control of the Fourth Ring.]

  Button reported, informing me of the nature of the events, and I surmised this would be something any stray demon lord would somehow know. Otherwise, I didn’t think my demonic help button would have said it.

  ‘We … are in this Fourth Ring then?’ I asked.

  [We are.]

  ‘Okay. So … hasn’t that bull fellow taken it over yet? It looks like he has won the battle, and even if he doesn’t know it, the local demon lord is … well, dead.

  [The military subjugation of a ring of Hell grants only temporary and incomplete control of the ring.]

  ‘So? What does that beast have to do to get full control? What’s he doing?’

  [The ruling Demon Lord of the Third Ring is attempting to force the ruling Demon Lord of the Fourth Ring to willingly relinquish control to him.]

  ‘Yeah? Is that some kind of local rule? Isn’t killing the lord not enough … wait!’ I said, having a sudden realisation. ‘I have killed the Demon Lord, haven’t I? Wasn’t that guy the ruler of this place? Wouldn’t that make me the king here or something?’

  [You gained the title Demon Lord, therefore you are a demon lord, but not the ruling Demon Lord of the Fourth Ring. That title and authority had automatically been transfered to the Demon Lord’s heir, making her the current ruling Demon Lord of the Fourth Ring.]

  ‘Her? So … demons come in male and female varieties?’ I asked, rather shocked by this, squinting my eyes at the camera feed showing the four kneeling prisoners. ‘Which one is her then?’

  [The current dynasty of demon lords possesses the dynastic trait of Wreathed in Flames. Wreathed in Flames is a defensive trait which, upon activation, will make the individual demon near invulnerable to physical attacks for a set period of time. For the duration of the trait being active, the individual will also be wreathed in fire.]

  ‘Of course, why not. Hm. So it’s the little flamey one.’ I hummed, not finding it in me to be shocked or surprised again.

  In a sudden turn of events, the bulky bull demon seemed to have lost all patience and brought his weird axe-thing down on one of the kneeling reds. The poor demonic sod had no chance whatsoever; the blade split him in two right in the middle with ease, armour and all, the two halves falling to the ground in a spray of black blood and guts. Well, I didn’t think I could expect Hell to have conventions regarding the treatment of prisoners of war, but this was somewhat excessive to my taste. The remaining two “adult” reds wanted to jump up, presumably to fight back, only to receive vicious kicks and punches for their effort from the bullheads around. The current ruling demon lord, the little, flaming demon girl, probably just a kid by demon standards, simply curled up into a ball on the stone tiles, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she was trembling. I had no sound coming through the drone, but I could just hear the whimpering. Poor kid with the weight of a falling kingdom on her shoulders. Well, there was nothing I could do, nothing I wanted to do. Best thing was to wait this out. Once these horrid creatures finished their evil business here and retreated to their city, or fort, or base, or whatever they had, I could then venture out and have a look and see if I could make it out of this Fourth Ring place undetected.

  [Burning Darkness expresses its wish for you to intervene.]

  ‘What?’ I almost screamed in surprise. ‘He’s expressing what?’

  [Burning Darkness expresses its wish to intervene and prevent the ruling Demon Lord of the Fourth Ring from relinquishing control of the realm to the … “Third Ring scum”.]

  ‘Are you serious?’ I was incredulous. ‘You want me to waltz over there and snatch Flamey from the bull guys? There’s a hundred of them at least. And how do you even know what’s happening? Button, can the sword see my camera feed? Or what?’

  [Burning Darkness, over its millennia long existence, had developed its own, long range senses. Also, he can see your camera feed.]

  ‘Yeah, good stuff, but it’s not happening. I feel bad for Flamey and everything, believe me, but that’s just not feasible. We’ll be dead the moment those bastards see us. Well, I’ll be dead. You’re a sword.’

  [Burning Darkness suggests there are enough bullets in your inventory to dispatch all Third Ring scum present, including the invading Demon Lord himself.]

  ‘Yeah, fuck that!’ I yelled angrily.

  And at that very moment, the invading demon lord decided it was time to dispatch another one of his prisoners of war in the same, gruesome fashion as before, leaving only one of the big reds, and little Flamey to go. And if I wasn’t mistaken, her flames were getting smaller. That trait of hers was running out of juice, wasn’t it?

  [Burning Darkness understands your hesitation, but it is asking you to do this as a favour to him. He would like to present a plan that you might find more acceptable than “waltzing over there and shoot everyone”. Saving a child from minotaur scum is something you should be willing to do.]

  ‘Damn, damn and damn!’ I growled. My brand-new demon sword was a clever bastard with a heart, and it certainly knew the art of the guilt trip. In other words: it was a manipulator. On the other hand, it would reflect badly on all branches of the Allied Systems military if one of their service members turned a blind eye to war crimes happening right in front of his eyes. Damn. ‘Fine, I’ll hear you out, but no promises.’

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  ***

  I almost couldn’t believe I was doing this. It was a stupid plan, I didn’t even know why I had thought it could work. And it was a sword that had made that plan. A sword! Most ridiculous. No amount of army training or combat experience could possibly prepare anyone for this kind of insanity.

  The plan itself was simple with a high chance of a sergeant’s demise. According to Burning Darkness and explained by Button, demons these days had a “might makes right” attitude to most things, so if I could establish myself as the most powerful of them in the room — something they assured me I could do for a short time — I could give them a temporary shock and thus giving myself enough time and space to snatch Flamey. Apparently, their nature made demons predictable, so there was very little chance they would or could surprise us in terms of their reactions to my timely intervention. According to a semi-sentient sword, which I began to suspect was fully sentient. And a bully. I just hoped that in the unlikely event of the hellspawn bastards surprising me after all, I could run fast enough with my own 17 levels as well as my SAC’s 20 bolstering my legs. I needed to get a grip on how levels worked and what kind of feats my stats could translate to, and I was as sure as hell that this was the worst possible time and method to test it out. Regardless, a few more steps and I’d be out of the arched passageway, then there’d be no turning back; there was no way they wouldn’t notice me marching out into the open.

  I had eight mags for my rifle, seventy rounds each, against a hundred or so weird looking, tree bark skinned bull demons. Minotaurs, apparently. In theory, I had an average five rounds to spare per demon. I had asked Button how strong and durable the bastards were, but it had only given me an overall average of their kind at level 25, so I really had no clue. Sure, a few bursts had mowed down the Demon Lord of this god forsaken place, so I had every reason to believe I could do the same with these guys, but … would I be fast enough? Or would they chop me to bits before I could pull the trigger more than a few times? I didn’t want to find out, but as I stepped out into the open with my heart beating in my throat, I was committed. I had no choice but to stick to the plan made by a damn sword. Good stuff. I should have brought some grenades.

  [Burning Darkness urges you to remember and follow the plan quickly and efficiently.]

  Button conveyed my sword’s words to me.

  ‘Right. Shock and awe, then snatch and grab. Easy,’ I grumbled.

  I saw the burning sky with my own eyes now as I took my first steps into the outside world of this ring of Hell, and of course, as I had predicted, a few demons noticed me immediately. I took my rifle from my back and held it at the ready as I walked forward. I could hear the rumbling sounds coming from the infernal crowd of minotaur beasts as they all stirred and turned to face me.

  ‘Hey, assholes, why don’t you pick on someone your own size, eh?’ I yelled at them, my voice amplified by my helmet's PA system.

  Well, that did it: the surprised crowd turned into a noticeably angry one, axes, maces and meat-cleaver looking things were out, and their collective roar filled the air. I levelled my gun, the little red dot steady on the closest demon, ready to shoot. I didn’t have to wait long; I could only take one more step as a group of seven minotaurs charged. It was time to show them what it felt like to be on the business end of an assault rifle. I pulled the trigger. Boom-boom-boom. Short, controlled bursts. Boom-boom-boom. My SAC-assisted aim was steady, so I wasn’t surprised the demonic assault came to an end as quick as it had begun, seven minotaurs buckling to the ground with several holes in their wide chests. What surprised me was the streaks of fire the rounds had left in their wake, glowing lines tracing the straight trajectories of the AP flechettes. They weren’t tracer rounds, that was for sure, so how and why? Was this something to do with my gun being an article in the so called “bonded item set”? Something to do with Hell Mana? I would have to figure it out later.

  [You have defeated minotaur warrior, Level 22. You receive EXP]

  [You have defeated minotaur soldier, Level 23. You receive EXP]

  [You have defeated …]

  Messages popped up on my NeuroHUD one after another, distracting me for half a second.

  ‘Shut it Button, I’m busy!’ I yelled, not interested in whatever this crap was at the moment.

  My seven minotaur victims collapsed the ground, as dead as they could get, but there was no shortage of reinforcements. Having confirmed their hostile intent, I did not wait for them to charge this time; I did the charging, and I did so guns blazing. I broke into a sprint, firing into the enemy crowd on full auto, emptying the mag in seconds. Thanks to my SAC, my aim was as good as ever, rounds hitting, demons falling left and right before they could even react, the air filled with dozens of quickly fading streaks of fire, creating the surprise and chaos the plan had called for. Shock and awe part, complete. Those still standing jumped and scurried back, away from my comparably small, armoured figure rushing towards them, opening a path to the middle of their circle where the huge, ugly, horned demon lord of the Third Ring towered over the two remaining red-skins, the last flickers of fire dying around the smaller one.

  All of the enemy combatants fled as I slid a new mag into my rifle and fired again. The Demon Lord, the giant minotaur, however, stood his ground, brandishing his sword-axe hybrid, roaring like a wild beast. That was unexpected. And I should have known. Too late for second guessing now, I barrelled towards it, running faster than I had ever before, sending three rounds into the enemy commander before crashing into him with my considerable weight and momentum. Crunch! I felt like I had hit a rock wall, even though the minotaur boss went flying.

  [Bonded Item Set, Machine Armaments of the Hellfire Lord: Durability -17]

  ‘Not now, Button! For fuck’s sake!’

  It happened all so fast I couldn’t see if my shots had wounded the big horned fellow or not, but I didn’t have the time to stop and examine the results as the bastard landed a couple of metres away. I shook the blurriness caused by my abrupt halt out of my eyes, and I peered down at the two prisoners of war. I ignored the bulky, robed demon, and I reached down to grab Flamey, her namesake flames all but extinguished now. I didn’t think twice: I lifted her up, threw her over my shoulder while sending a few more rounds out into the still shocked crowd of bull-demons, then turned tail and ran as fast as I could. Snatch and grab, complete.

  I ran through the same archway I had before, back into the building then through the square, jumping over the numerous dead demons on the ground, until I reached the relative safety of the Forest of Burning Pillars. I didn’t stop there, I kept running. I set the reccie drone on autopilot, instructing it to follow me thirty metres behind to keep an eye out on anyone who might be pursuing me and my catch. I ran like hell, surprised how fast I was; a combined 37 levels and corresponding stats between me and my SAC were no joke. Overall, I was happy I was alive and hadn’t suffered any injuries while knocking that sturdy minotaur king aside. And I hoped they were all still standing there in utter astonishment at what had happened. At least until I made it back to homebase. Without the mapping function I doubted even I’d be able to find my way back among the countless, evenly spaced columns, and I fervently hoped the demons, if they even attempted to follow, would get lost and give up.

  The drone sent a beep my way, alerting me to something. I pulled up the camera feed without slowing down, and there it was: pursuers. Or pursuer, singular. The red demon, former prisoner of war to the bullshit brigade, now free and after me. Damn. I had not taken into account how that guy would react to me snatching the current, and rather small, lightweight and very quiet demon lord of the realm. I had kind of hoped he’d just use the chance and scramble away to safety. Did it matter? Hell Mana infused flechette rounds seemed to be extremely effective against demons, so I was sure I could deal with this one if he attacked me. The only problem was that I didn’t have an unlimited supply of ammunition.

  ‘Button, please ask that damnable sword why the hell did we do this!’ I panted.

  The answer didn’t come instantly this time, long seconds passed before Button relayed whatever the manipulative weapon had to say.

  [Burning Darkness explains that he dislikes Third Ring scum, so anything to piss them off is a win.]

  ‘Bloody hell, man, that’s it? Pissing them off?’ I screeched incredulously. Why the hell I had agreed to bond with the idiot I’d never know. ‘Good news, we have done that. What’s the plan now?’

  [Burning Darkness explains that the plan is: “run”]

  I didn’t know how to react to that. Should have seen this coming. One thing was for sure: long term planning wasn’t the strong suit of that stupid, glorified kitchen knife. I decided there and then that the only thing I’d ever use the bladebastard for was to cut vegetables — if I could find any in Hell — or as a paperweight. To hell with him and his anticipation for swordsmanship and glorious duels!

  I peeked at the camera feed again. The robed figure of Big Red was not slowing down, running as fast as he could, but at least twenty metres behind the drone and fifty metres behind me. Maybe I had managed to shake the minotaurs, but this guy was going to follow us all the way to homebase. Damn.