by George Fry
Nothing happened.
It was just a tree.
“See!” Drifter called. “No divine retribution here!”
Pad hurried to join him.
“I don’t understand… I know I saw it when I was little. Embedded in the tree, burning with pure white flames...”
Drifter was intrigued by Pad’s tale. She seemed so certain there must have been some truth behind it. Looking up at the colossal plant, he quickly discovered an interesting detail.
“Was it in that hole there?” He pointed.
“Yes. That must be- what are you doing!?”
“What does it look like!?”
Already clinging to the bark, Drifter was scaling the trunk of the sacred tree.
“Are you insane!? You can’t just climb the Tree of life!”
“Says who!?”
“The King!”
“I don’t see a king around here! Besides, I gotta check something!”
Eventually reaching the imprint on the bark of the tree, Drifter confirmed it was in the shape of a sword. He unsheathed CORE and placed it in the indentation. The moment the flaming sword was mentioned, he had to confirm his suspicions.
He placed CORE in the indentation, but it didn't fit.
It was too small.
“Damn…” He muttered. “Worth a shot.”
He immediately jumped back down.
“But, if that’s not the flaming sword of Eden, then what have we been protecting all this time?” Pad asked.
“It’s the Legendary Demon Sword, CORE… that’s all I got...”
“They say that, but other than its power, nothing is known about it, not even its origin. Even stranger, how did a human end up wielding it? When did it appear in the human world? And how? Drifter, where did you even find this?”
“Wow, that’s a lot of questions I can’t be fucked to answer.”
“After the heartache you've put me through, I at least deserve to know this much.”
“Thought you’d use that as a bloody excuse.”
She gave Drifter her determined glare again. Pad wasn’t going to back down no matter how many times he tried to wave her off.
“Fine… but I don’t owe you shit after this, you got that?”
“Thank you.”
Drifter tossed his sword high into the air has he began his tale.
“My memory’s kinda fucked, but this I still remember. It must have been at least five years ago…
It was a clear, sunny day, which was pretty rare for England, but other than that, there was nothing out of the ordinary. I was just walking home, minding my own business, the streets were completely clear, when suddenly…”
On cue, CORE dropped between them, lodging itself into the ground, perfectly upright.
“This thing fell right out of the sky.”
“It just fell?”
“Yep, scared the shit out of me. If I walked just a little faster, I’d be dead. I looked up to see where it came from, but saw nothing, other than the same blue sky. Naturally, I inspected the sword and pulled it out of the ground.
That’s when I felt it, the rush of sheer power flow through my body. I was filled with otherworldly energy, beyond my wildest imaginations, I felt unstoppable, invincible and... fucking terrified.
I threw that shit away immediately.”
“You threw the Legendary Demon Sword away!? Why!?”
“I didn’t need it. I wasn’t interested in having that kind of power. It was a responsibility I just wasn’t prepared for, so I tossed it. But, as I was leaving a thought crossed my mind:
‘What would happen if someone else picked it up? What if that someone else was some kind of crazy sociopath? Could I really live with myself knowing I let a power like that fall into the wrong hands, just because I was too scared to wield it?’
I couldn’t let that happen, so I went back and took the sword home with me. I promised myself to never use it, to keep it a secret from the world, that way my life and the lives of others wouldn’t be destroyed by it. That idea lasted about ten minutes before a huge monster showed up and I was forced to use it.
Disposing of that demon was only the beginning. No matter how hard I tried, more and more of those fuckers kept showing up to take back the sword.
They’d try every trick in the book to lure me out, so eventually I just left home. That way, the only person who was in any danger, was me. Of course, they just retaliated by taking the entire country hostage instead.
To think, after all these years, I'd finally tell my story to a demon of all things...”
Pad started to understand, the source of the sadness in Drifter’s eyes.
“I had no idea. All this time, I just assumed the wielder of that sword was blessed with powers so great, they would never have to worry about anything ever again.
But, that’s only because the wielder inevitably loses everything that had any meaning to them in the first place… If Chain really did succeed in taking that sword, would he lose me and Key, too?”
“Without question.”
“Thank you, for sharing your story. Reliving that harrowing experience must have been quite taxing.”
“Honestly, it was more irritating…”
“Fascinating!” A voice called, followed by the scraping and clanging of rusted chains. “But, that’s not the full story, is it?”
“Hey, Locke! You actually showed up. So, what cryptic bullshit are you gonna drop before running away, this time?”
Locke stood atop a hill , behind him a stairway leading up a rocky spire.
“Aren’t you going to continue, Drifter? Surely there must be more.”
“There really isn’t.”
“Oh? Not even about Nahas?”
Drifter’s fist clenched, angered at the mere mention of the name.
“Did that strike a nerve?”
“What the hell do you know?”
“Enough to know that the fruit from the tree you’re standing under was his favourite.”
“I DON’T CARE ABOUT HIS DAMN FRUIT!”
Drifter’s cry echoed throughout the garden.
“They say consuming the fruit from this tree will grant you great power. Evidenced by the fact that all those who have eaten from it, all became indomitable elites.”
“What’s your point!?”
“Perhaps you should give it a test. See for yourself if the rumours are true.”
“You can’t do that!” Pad interjected. “We’ve broken enough laws already, you cannot eat the sacred fruit!”
“Or what?” Drifter countered.
“Or… I don’t know… I have just have a really bad feeling…”
“You always have a bad feeling.”
Drifter kicked the tree, knocking loose several apples. As they plummeted to the ground, he held his hand out to catch one.
The forbidden fruit was in his grasp. Would eating from it grant him new powers, or curse him for all eternity? There was only one way to find out.
He took a bite from the succulent, juicy, fruit, chewed for a moment to really savour it and swallowed. His face was bitter with disappointment as he callously dropped the apple in the dirt.
“Thought so…”
“That’s… you can’t just toss the sacred fruit aside like that!” Pad decried in shock. “Have you no respect!?”
“There’s nothing sacred about it. It’s just an apple.”
“Just an apple? I… don’t understand…”
“We’ve got plenty of these things in the human world. Besides, I hate apples. I prefer strawberries.”
“Does that mean, there are trees just like this in the human world, too?”
“Tons of them. All over the world. I mean, where do you guys even get your oxygen?”
“The luxuries of the Demon World, are nothing but common essentials to humans...”
Pad was shook over the revelation. She had spent her entire life living in her dusty canyon home, dreaming of a chance to join the
elites in their sacred paradise, but instead feasted on whatever lesser demons her family could hunt, completely unaware that there was a world that made the beauty of Eden look trivial.
Suddenly the decay of her homeland was beginning to make sense. She didn’t want to believe it, but Pad suspected that the people ruling over this land weren’t the spiritual and just leaders they made themselves out to be. It wasn’t just selfishness and violence, but apathetic neglect that lead this world to its ruin, never to reach its full potential under the elite's rule.
She fell to her knees in utter shock.
“Hey, careful!” Drifter called. “You’ve got a baby, remember?”
“It was all a lie?”
“Um… Pad?”
She laughed to herself.
“Of course… those monsters humiliated my father and executed him, not as divine punishment, but for their own amusement. Now that I think about it, I’ve never even seen the Demon King. We all assumed he was too important to make an appearance, but truthfully, he never cared for us at all…”
After coming to terms with the truth, Pad felt liberated, she was no longer scared and rose to her feet.
“You! The one in chains! Tell me! Who was the Demon King!? Did he even exist, or was he a lie, too!?”
Locke answered, without hesitation.
“He exists. In fact, he is the most vile, gluttonous and dangerous creature to have ever existed. I’m sure Drifter is already familiar with him.”
“That piece of shit was the Demon King?”
“Indeed. The former king of the Demon World, is Nahas.”
“So, you lured me all the way out here, just to tell me that?”
“Don’t be foolish. Drifter, I need your sword.”
“Oh, right. That...”
“Meet me at the Castle Gates.”
“Fine, but after I’m done beating the hell out of you, you better tell me everything you know about Nahas!”
“If you can…”
“GOOD FUCKING LORD, WHAT HAPPENED!?”
Dale screamed from the horrific sight he and his comrades had discovered. An entire roadway laid to waste, with sliced corpses piled up on the roads, along with collapsed signs, foliage, lamp posts and a river of blood circling a roundabout. All topped off with a creature in the center, equipped with twenty foot long, razor sharp, meaty appendages, that simply slipped off their arms like gloves.
The creature turned around, revealing their face.
“Catherine?” Dale questioned.
Her appearance had radically changed. Her skin was a crimson brown, her eyes were blood red, her fangs protruded just past her lips, her hair was frazzled and her tail was lashing at the ground. She was completely consumed by her demonic nature.
With a single flick of her arm, Catherine tossed something straight at Dale. Still overcome with confusion, he barely reacted. Thankfully, the Bigger Bastard’s arm blocked the sharp piece of debris, aimed at his face.
“W-what?” He muttered.
The large demon pulled out the sharp tree bark, lodged in his mighty arm.
“Pay attention. That thing is on a completely different level to the fodder we faced earlier.”
“They’re all dead…” He muttered again. “I turned my head for, like, ten minutes and all the demons we spared are all dead!?”
“Calm down.” Stolz replied. “Those creatures have always been scum. Your mercy was wasted on them.”
“Dammit!” Dale punched at the ground. “Why don’t they ever learn!? When someone spares your life, you just leave!”
“Stand strong! Here she comes!” Stolz cried.
Catherine walked through the flowing river of death, anxious to break her new toys.
“Let me take charge.” The Bigger Bastard requested. “She won’t get past me.”
She accepted the challenge and scooped up a pile of viscera from the bloody pool, forging it into a large, meaty fist. Catherine dashed at full speed, leaping and appearing before the large demon’s face in seconds. He was completely unprepared for such blindingly fast movement and ate the giant fist to the face, sending him flying, clear across the motorway, crashing into the bridge, miles away.
Catherine landed in front of the group, pleased with her display of strength.
“Spinal! Tap! Go help him!” Dale ordered.
“But, we’ll have a higher chance of winning if we all stick together!” Spinal argued.
“No! You’re the only one who has someone waiting for you to come back! And she’s gonna be real pissed off if I let anything happen to you!”
Spinal understood and reluctantly retreated, along with Tap.
“You stay back too, Amanda!”
“No way! I’m gonna-”
Catherine suddenly charged at Amanda, with Dale just barely able block her off, raising his arms to defend himself, she grabbed onto them, squeezing them viciously.
“You need to stay back, she’ll kill you before you even get a shot in!”
Having just nearly died, Amanda decided this was a good time to not get stubborn and backed off.
Catherine’s tenacity was unyielding. Dale repeatedly kneed her in the gut to throw her off, but the pain didn’t seem to bother her. She kept a tight grip on his arms as they started to crack under the pressure. Receiving great enjoyment from watching Dale struggle, slowly giving in to the pain.
However, just when she thought she’d won, Dale threw his arms apart, throwing hers open as well and with her face exposed, he went straight for the headbutt, smashing his forehead into her nose. The brutal blow finally knocked her back.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, Catherine!? Why are you doing this!?”
His pleas went unanswered. Catherine turned her fists into a long sharp blade that jutted towards Dale, but, this time, he was ready. He dodged to the side with such speed he left an afterimage, temporarily fooling the mad demon.
In that brief moment, Dale swiped his blade, cutting off the meat spike, rendering it useless. She tried using her second hand, but Dale slipped past that one, too, cutting it off just as easily. In an instant, Dale appeared beside Catherine, triggering her defensive instincts.
She swung her stubby rods at Dale but once again, he demonstrated how slow she was and ducked underneath them, rising back up with a counter uppercut.
Despite his effortless mobility, he was still lacking in raw power, as Catherine’s face felt hard as rock. His counterattack only reeling her back slightly. It was no wonder his head throbbed so intensely from the headbutt.
Realising she was at a disadvantage, Catherine retreated to her crumbled sanctuary, protected by her ring of blood.
“Alright, let’s keep piling on the pressure!”
Dale was ready to keep fighting, but Stolz halted him.
“Stop! She’s doing something.”
“What? How can you tell?”
“The sky is darkening.”
On cue, the clouds turned black, with crimson linings, literally painting the whole town red.
“Only an incredibly powerful demon can affect the atmosphere like this.”
“Really? I’ve never seen this before…”
“Then you’d best brace yourself.”
The river of blood boiled in anticipation for what Catherine had in store next. The others watched on, unable to ascertain what she was attempting to do. Then, a large, demonic hand rose from underneath a car swimming in the blood, and tossed it at the trio.
Dumbfounded by what he just saw, Dale once again, gawked at the sight, only for a missile to meet the car halfway, blowing it to pieces before crushing its target.
“Hey! I thought you were supposed to be the fast one!?” Amanda chided.
“Where in the shitting hell did that hand come from!?” Dale questioned.
“The blood I assume.” Stolz answered.
“But, how!? How are we supposed to get close to her with that thing roaming the waters!?”
“If you've lost your compos
ure, then I'll take my turn now.”
“Hang on, hornhead! What makes you think you can get through that death moat?”
“My swords are far more powerful than your toothpick. I’ll force my way through and then, once she’s sufficiently distracted, you two follow after me.”
“Fine, just don’t get killed.”
“HA! Perish the thought!”
The lumbering armoured warrior, leapt straight into the river of blood. With his mighty zweihanders at his front and back, he slowly edged his way towards his target.
The rose plasma was shallow, going only up to his knees, but it was riddled with chopped, decaying body parts which seemed to have softened into a mushy state, from the blood. The revolting state of the corpses didn’t faze Stolz, he simply kept pushing through.
Just then, another meat claw burst out of the blood and swiped down at the caped warrior, but with one massive swing of his blade he cleaved the hand in two and simply walked around it. The cut pieces melted back into the blood.
This was only the first act of Catherine’s assault. Three more hands rose from the moat, and stretched their fingers at Stolz, firing them like arrows. He reacted accordingly and sliced them all before they hit.
Confident he disarmed them, he continued on, but the moment the chopped fingers fell into the blood, they shot out again, like sharp tendrils. Stolz leant back, the piercing appendages just barely scraping the front of his helmet.
“Sneaky devil!”
He stomped the fingers, before they could attack again, but the three hands from earlier had already regrown their claws and fired again. Stolz predicted she’d go all out and fire them all at once, so he went on the offensive.
Using his zweihanders, he vaulted himself over the extended claws, crashing down behind the towering hands and quickly got to work.
Swinging his enormous blades, he hacked off all three hands in one swing, but just to be safe, he continued hacking away at them until they were in tiny pieces.
Then, he placed the handles of his two swords together, holding them like the hands of a clock and spun them in his hand like propellers. Using the wind of the propeller blades he blew the pieces away before they could launch any sort of counterattack.