n

n

nI dusted myself off and cracked my knuckles, spinning the two blades in my hands.

n'Shackles Release.'

nThe familiar exotic feeling engulfed my body and a rush of power ran through my blood. My dark hair turned blood red and flowed with the wind. Two dark horns propped from my forehead and my canines sharpened.

n

"Th-That transform-

" I didn't let him finish and covered the distance in a flash. Chunks of rock blew into the air with every step.

nI sliced down with the short sword in my right hand. Perfect! I finally felt a satisfying connection with his body. A deep diagonal cut appeared on his torso and he grimaced, throwing a counter punch at my face.

nI dodged, swinging the reverse gripped short sword in my left hand at his head.

nHe leapt back a couple metres and tried to regain his breath. He seemed to be running out of stamina, something I could utilise.

n

"Arise!

" He shouted, lifting both his arms up.

nUndead soldiers appeared out of the ground and charged at me. The same trick wasn't going to work a second time.

n'Purgatory.'

nI spun the blades in my hand and zoomed past the countless shadow soldiers cutting and slicing them into pieces. 'Purgatory' was a skill I created in my past life; it made my dual swordsmanship deadly and mixed all my elements into one.

nTime to finish this battle.

n'Zeus's Wrath!'

nI lifted my right blade into the air and swung down causing countless lightning bolts and thunderclaps to decimate the area.

nThe shadow candidate roared under the millions of volts travelling through his body. His shadow soldiers had all turned to dust.

nI just had to deliver the final blow.

n

"Arghhh!!!

" I roared my battle cry and leapt up into the air. Lightning wrapped around my body as I swung down with both my blades in an X shape.

n'Drago del Fulmine!'

nTwo dragons conjured out of lightning mana, twisted around and bit down at my strike.

nBOOM!!

nMy blades shook as I made contact with someone's blade. The shockwave dissipated and I examined the new figure standing in front of me.

n

"You're quite strong.

" The man shrouded in darkness mana said in a sinister voice, it sounded deep and reverberated at every syllable. The darkness candidate lay on the ground behind him, unconscious.

n'That's a Demon King's vessel! Run!!' Voadhailis roared in my head, making me jump in shock.

nI instinctively leapt back and got into a fighting pose.

n'What are you doing?! Run! Use 'Godspeed'.' Voadhailis shouted through our mind link, panicking.

n

"The mana waves are coming from there! Hurry! Demons inbound!

" I could hear a stern shout from what sounded to be an Elf. It was followed by dozens of footsteps.

n

"I won't kill you, Lucifer's descendant. You have defeated my disciple fair and square but I do warn you, prepare yourself well for the heritage wars. You are still too weak to sit amongst us.

n

"I'm Beelzebub. Remember my name, little demon.

" He said, disappearing into a puff of smoke.

nImmediately I dropped to my knees in exhaustion. My red hair shortened in length and turned black again; my horns receded and I quickly put my eyepatch on my right eye covering the red glow.

n'That guy was one of the 3 demon kings controlling the Demon Kingdom: Beelzebub. Including this encounter you've met 2 demon kings so far: Astaroth and Beelzebub. You need to get stronger!

n'You were weak! If he wanted to, he would've chopped your head off with a snap of his fingers and the heritage wars, we'll talk about that later.' Voadhailis sighed in my head.

nI didn't reply as all my energy was drained, mentally and physically.

n

"There's someone there! A survivor.

" One of the elves yelled pointing at me.

nThe group of elven guards finally came to my side.

nThe leader crouched down to my level and waved his palm in front of my eyes. I was in a frozen state.

n

"Anyone there?

" He knocked on my forehead making me flinch.

nI shook my head, picking myself up. Everyone looked around at the destruction around them, forgetting I was even there.

n

"What's your name kid?

" The leader asked, scanning the surroundings.

n

"Zeref Amara.

" My answer came out dull.

n

"Did you fight those monsters by yourself?

" The leader glared at me, folding his arm.

n

"Yes.

"

n

"WHHATT?!!

" The rest of the guards shouted in unison. They looked at me in shock.

n

"Well, we're taking you with us. We need to report what happened here.

" His voice faded towards the end as my vision blackened and I fell head first towards the ground.

n**

nI rushed down the stairs.

n

"Aaargh!!!

" I roared holding the 2 holy grail short swords in my hands.

n

"Get out of my f*cking way!

"

nMy killing intent and magic energy shook the foundations of the tower. The dozens of guards stepped back at the beast standing in front of them.

nI blitzed through them, amplifying my speed with wind magic. Blood splattered everywhere leaving dead bodies and gooey bits all over the floor as I danced swinging my baldes around.

n

"Nina! Where are you?!

" I shouted rushing down the next flight of stairs.

n

"Jaaamesss!!!

" Her voice was muffled but I found her location. I rushed for her location, killing anyone who came in my way.

nI blasted the walls in front of me creating a direct path to her cell.

nI felt a momentary feeling of joy when I finally spotted her. The feeling of joy was temporary and soon dissipated when I saw her ragged state.

nShe was chained to a wall like an animal and her white dress had turned red and muddy from the constant torture; there were bite marks around her legs and arms and blood dripped from her head and mouth. Her stomach looked bloated and I didn't want to know what that meant.

nI closed my eyes at the thought, trembling in anger and bloodthirst.

nWHAT DID THEY DO?!!!! WHAT DID THEY DO?!!!

n

"NINAAAAA!!

" I roared, charging for the fat ugly bastard standing outside the cell.

nHe smiled at me before pulling a lever. The ceiling came crashing down on Nina, crashing her under the rubble.

n

"NOOOO!!!!

" I tried to reach her but I...I… couldn't MAKE IT.

n...I couldn't save her.

n

"Zeref! Zeref! It's okay honey. Wake up, we're here for you.

" Mother's soothing voice woke me up from my heart aching nightmare. She stroked my hair and kissed my forehead before giving me a hug.

nI breathed rapidly, before opening only my left eye. These stupid nurses got rid of my eye patch.

nI laid on a hospital bed with a clear tube connected to my arm. Only my mother was in the room with me and some nurses, who monitored my health with healing magic.

n

"Zeref, how are you feeling? I'm really worried about you. You were shouting in your sleep.

" Mother sat beside me and smiled, speaking softly and her voice a little shaky from worry.

n

"I'm fine mother, it was just a nightmare.

" I said, hugging her back.

n

"Zeref, you have a lot to tell me. Starting with your right eye, I've cast my diagnosis spell on it countless times but nothing came back from it. Are you missing an eye?

"

n

"Something like that.

" I said, smiling before letting go. I needed to get out of this hospital room; I hated hospitals.

nI got up, my feet shaky, mother grabbed me immediately as I wobbled.

n

"You need to rest, what are you doing?

" She replied frantically as other nurses helped me by grabbing my arms.

n'Rapid healing'

nMy HP slowly rejuvenated and I felt my strength returning to me. The battle wounds that I received didn't heal when I tried during the battle. It must have been a special ability of darkness magic, the same way lightning magic was the most destructive and most penetrating.

nHowever, the healers' magic must have dampened the effects allowing me to heal myself.

nI stood without support now. Ripping off the clear tube connected to my arm I went to grab my clothes. I put my eye patch on first before anything else.

n

"Zeref, you need to rest!

" she ordered.

n

"Sorry mother. I have things to do; I still have a report I need to fill in. Scan me with your diagnosis spell, my body's fine.

"

n

"Since when have you been this rebellious?!

" She smacked my arm playfully.

nShe did as I told her and her face paled,

"Zeref, I can't see anything. What's happened to your body? All the injuries have healed.

" She shook me violently, demanding an answer.

n

"I have my own skills and spells that have kept me alive. How do you think I survived on the battlefield?

n

"I'll explain everything when I'm done with work. I still have to fix the bank's issues and report the details of the demon infiltration.

" I explained trying to reason with her.

n

"Please, take it easy. Don't overwork yourself, you just recovered.

" She hugged me, knowing she wouldn't be able to talk me out of it.

nThunk.

nI closed the door behind me and was met with a group hug from Allefin, Jace and Naz.

n

"Zeref!

" they yelled in unison as they jumped on me in glee. Mother exited the room trailing behind me, wiping her tears.

n'Bit dramatic. Are all human mothers like that? My mother kicked me out and told me to fend for myself.' Voadhailis rolled his eyes in annoyance.

n

"Guys I have to leave to do someth-

"

nNaz grabbed my collar, pushing me against the wall,

"What's wrong with you?! Do you know how worried we were and you're leaving again on one of your missions? Do you even care about us? Our feelings?

"

n'Did she just say feelings? Bahahaha! What's that?' Voadhailis mocked in my head laughing.

nI looked up at Malia who was leaning against the doorway eating gummy bears. She looked at me with no hint of emotions in her eyes and the same look of confliction in her eyes. After she had woken up, she had noticeably changed. I'm sure everyone else had noticed too.

nHer facial expressions, reactions and tones were all different. If I listened really closely, I also noticed she had an accent that sounded way too familiar.

n

"I'm sorry…

" I smiled warmly at Naz.

"I'm glad you all are okay.

" I said hastily.

nJace stepped forwards, recognising the look on my face.

"Don't tell me you're going on another one. And you kept secrets from us AGAIN! You're a demon!

" he grumbled as Naz's face turned bright red from anger.

nAllefin stood awkwardly, watching it unfold. I stayed silent, only the sound of Malia's loud chewing filled the room.

n

"Bank's matter. You guys can't come. I can't risk it.

" I replied, ignoring Jace's attempt to talk about my demon side.

n

"Yeah well how do you think we feel?! You can't risk it and you think we can?! You're being selfish!

" Naz fumed, smoke practically blowing out from her ears.

n

"Correction. How YOU feel. I feel he should go so he can earn more money and get me more of these delicious gummies.

" Malia smirked, shaking the empty packet of gummies before burping.

n

"Okay- What the hell is wrong with you Mal?! You're acting so weird.

" Jace turned to face her, also starting to get angry.

"First the bread, then you jumped over Zeref when he fell, then you left us to fight while you ran to the safe zone. You're being lousy, being rude and rolling your eyes every second!!

"

n

"Chill my dude. I can't feel my legs.

" she swirled her hair, pushing herself off the doorway and walking past Allefin's parents.

n

"That has nothing to do with what I just said!

" Jace yelled after her, also leaving the room.

n

"Why are we all leaving?! This is off topic!

" Naz ran a hand through her hair in a frustrated sigh.

n

"Bye… I guess.

" I shrugged, smiling at Naz before sprinting out of the room.

n

"ZEREFFFF!!!

"

n