We were able to come up with a new plan after a thorough discussion. Rose and Lily will be heading somewhere to cast the Revelation spell. Where exactly will they be casting it? The spell's description states that it reveals your true nature over a wide area. How wide is it going to be? We have no idea. We ended up settling for the centre of the city to hopefully cover as much area as possible. I asked Rose whether she knew how to cast it in the first place, and she said it was only a matter of chanting it. Is it really that easy? Why is this spell declared as forbidden then? Perhaps it's due to the fact that the spell is pretty useless in general combat. Very specific usage, which is what we're facing right now.
John and the Elementalist took on the role of confronting the Rick impostor and stopping the army from approaching the city until we resolve the issue with the disguised demons. They both said that dealing with Rick is their responsibility. What do they even mean by that? Since when did they take on the role of executioner?
Either way, I certainly hope that the demon was purely on reconnaissance. I shudder to think of the possibility that it has slaughtered the entirety of the eastern army by now. Something that is capable of fooling me is definitely no ordinary demon. I told them that it's of utmost importance that the demon does not survive. It knows too much information, along with Peter's involvement and the elves. This impostor—it must die.
As for me, I'll be heading towards the castle to wreak havoc there. It should be well-guarded with plenty of soldiers and heavily barricaded. I will need to be careful so as not to get surrounded, especially when the captain is involved. I doubt I can solo that powerful demon.
I told all of them to direct any reinforcements towards the castle to help me in stopping the war. Whether they are demons or humans, all shall be revealed once Rose casts her spell. I need help in tearing the castle apart as I'm not some overpowered superhero. Maybe Rose might be able to find some destructive area-of-effect spell inside that forbidden book of hers.
I had a short opportunity to speak with Lily and I thanked her for asking her siblings to spearhead the elves for us. She stared at me looking all confused.
"My—siblings?" asked Lily as she tilted her head.
"Yeah, I met them outside of the city before coming in. Your sister looked exactly like you," I told her.
"What did they say their names were?" she asked.
"Violet and Noah," I responded.
She smacked her head and gave a big sigh. "That's my parents," she told me, to which I responded with a big "Ehhhhh??!!" of my own.
Those two were her parents?! And Lily told her parents about me? Yikes!
"They—looked so young," I uttered the words unknowingly.
"My mum flirted with you, didn't she?" she glared at me.
"Umm—maybe?" I hesitated in answering.
"I knew it!" shouted Lily as she punched the air.
Rose called us over to where John and the Elementalist were.
We did a team huddle hand stack before we headed to our respective destinations with a wish of luck. The Elementalist shook my hand, while John gave me a brotherly hug. Lily and Rose each gave me a hug and wished me safe. I told them not to worry as I would not be holding back upon reaching the castle. I truly wished to see the utter destruction of that castle, even if I had to rip it apart piece by piece. Rip and tear, until it is done!
Before we left, each of us made a secret mark on our bodies, hidden by our clothes in different areas. This is our plan B should the spell end up not working. We made our way to our objectives as there was nothing left for us to discuss. Time was of the essence for all of us.
***
I had never seen Onii-chan act that way before. From the day he took me in, he had always been calm, cool, and foolish. He had never shown himself in such a panicked state before. He looked so vulnerable, confused, and—adorable? Wait, why did I think that was adorable?
What's more surprising was neither John nor Lily knew how to calm him. The two of them were just trying to talk to him down without doing anything else. I guess being his little sister comes with perks. Why didn't Lily think of proving herself with a kiss? Perhaps she didn't know about it. Elves have a different way of thinking than us. A kiss can prove yourself quite easily, and I highly doubt any demons would want to kiss him that passionately. He still has his distinct awkward kiss that's like his signature now.
Stop thinking about the kiss, Rose! Focus yourself! We're in the middle of war, and we have to make it to the centre of town for me to cast the spell. I really hope this spell doesn't take a toll on me as it's supposed to cover a wide area. Should I climb somewhere tall before I cast it?
"Thinking about the kiss, aren't you?" asked Lily as we ran side by side.
"I wiped that off my mind already," I answered.
"How sneaky of you to steal a kiss after he had placed that rule. But thanks for calming him. I've never seen him acting that way before. To think the Queen was able to spook him up this badly," said Lily.
"I didn't expect the Queen to use Rick as bait. Rick is a Dark Knight. It won't be easy to kill him in the first place. May he rest in peace. Good thing Onii-chan didn't start grieving or feel upset after hearing the news," I explained.
"I think your kiss wiped that off his mind until the end of this war," said Lily as she started chuckling.
Gah! Enough about the kiss already! I'm already feeling embarrassed hearing about it now.
We were coming onto the main road. How bad is the situation, I wonder? We stopped just shy of the main road and took a peek. There were a lot of dead bodies, but nobody was around. That's odd. Where did everyone go?
We decided to continue heading towards the centre of town. Thankfully, we started hearing chatter along the way as we headed closer. Apparently, there were still some adventurers still leading civilians to safety. We spoke to them briefly and told them to head towards the castle after they had guided the civilians and bring along any other adventurers they met on the way.
We acted accordingly and continued our journey. There were a couple more adventurers that we met on the way but decided to just announce it loudly to save time. "To any available adventurers, please head towards the castle!" the two of us shouted the exact words simultaneously. Who knew we shared the same brain cell? No wonder she felt like a sister to me.
We were stopped halfway to our destination. A couple of soldiers stood in our way, preventing us from going further. They had their weapons ready with murderous intent. My best bet is that these soldiers are demons. Should I go for the kill or do I try to incapacitate them instead just to be safe?
Just as I was deciding, Lily rushed ahead and gave a palm strike to one of the soldiers. He fell to the ground and in a split second, revealed his demonic face to us. It must have been caught off guard and accidentally exposed itself. No reason to hold back now. Time to kill them all!
Lily was brawling with two of the soldiers while I faced the remaining. These demons were certainly not pushovers. They had some fighting skills to hold us here. That is, if we're not being serious. I used Accelerate along with fast casting. I no longer need to stand still and chant my spells now. I can chant spells while running at full speed along with reduced chanting time by a third.
The sudden boost in speed gave me the advantage. I stabbed one of the soldiers through the eyes and brain. That should ensure that the demon is dead. The other soldier swung his sword horizontally, which I avoided by ducking low. I lunged myself back up and stabbed the soldier below the chin and through his skull. Two down, one more to go.
This soldier backed off and roared loudly. His eyes were bloodshot now. Shit! This demon can use bloodlust? This is not good!
I prepared myself to use another of the forbidden spells that I had learnt. The soldier ran towards me with his weapons up, ready to swing at me in a moment's notice. I readied myself to parry his attack, but before his blade even reached my rapier, a fist flew above my head and slammed on the soldier's face.
Lily did not let up and followed her attack with a punch to the sternum, which made the demon drool like a fountain. She then gave a super punch to the head, which smashed his head completely.
Yikes! Never ever get on Lily's bad side. No wonder Onii-chan didn't stop Lily from jumping on him. He had been seeing her destroying things with just her fist for the past two years. I'm sorry for doubting you, Onii-chan. I completely forgive you now. Even I'm afraid of defying her.
After making sure all the enemies were dead and were indeed demons, Lily swung her hair and looked towards my direction with a smile. She said "Let's go", which I couldn't even register. I have no idea why I started seeing flowers all around her. I uttered "I love you" without even realising I said it once again, to which Lily asked me with a very confused "What?"
I immediately slapped myself a couple of times and ran towards the direction of where we were supposed to go. I am not gay—I AM NOT GAY! She's just too attractive!!
***
The Elementalist and I decided to stop the cannons that were located on the eastern wall. It will be fairly faster than exiting the southern entrance and detouring to meet with the army on the east. According to Zen, Rick should have informed the eastern army to approach from the south; but judging that cannons are still being fired at the east, I can safely assume that he didn't do his job. That's strike one, proving that he's an impostor. I informed the adventurers who were stationed inside the hideout to head towards the southern entrance. Their duty is to inform the elves so as not to approach the city until Rose had casted her spell. I made sure all of them had secret hidden marks so they would have a way to identify themselves until then.
Both of us made it to the wall in question and proceeded to head inside to wreak havoc. The Elementalist took the higher levels while I took the lower ones. The amount of soldiers that ran at the sight of me was astounding. I didn't even use Bloodlust against them as it was too overkill against normal humans. Perhaps it was my size that frightened them along with the darkness of the interior. There was no need for me to use my axe at all, just my fist alone was enough to incapacitate them. Some even tripped over and fainted, having knocked their head against something. I never knew that I was that scary. Maybe the Dark Guild was actually my true calling after all.
It took both of us about half an hour to stop all the cannons firing. It was oddly unsettling when things went quiet. The silence was eerie after hearing the constant loud rumble from the cannons. There were a couple of demons that morphed back to their original form after they were incapacitated, which I gladly ripped their heads apart and stomped their brains. No mercy for the wicked. Sadly though, I cannot randomly incapacitate any adventurers that I come across to check whether they are demons. I will be fighting for my life when more adventurers grow suspicious of me and choose to fight me.
I waited for the Elementalist to open the gate, which was located at the higher floors. Not a moment later, a loud screeching sound can be heard, which means the gate is finally opening. Oh, hey, the Elementalist is stronger than he looks since he can turn the large wheel himself.
I peeked out of a window and saw that I could leap out of here to reach the gate below. It's a pain to climb all the way back down. Guess I'll be jumping out from here then.
Geronimo!
I landed on my two feet steady as a tree. The impact blew up some dust and knocked nearby soldiers off their feet. They were shouting and arguing about why the gate suddenly opened. The moment they saw me, some started screaming and ran away while others just stared at me with sweat pouring from their foreheads or even soiled themselves. I am not thatscary! I even have a partner who told me that I'm manly and handsome!
Something landed at my side, but it felt light. I turned to see who it was, and it was the Elementalist. It seemed like he had the same idea as me. All I needed to do was knock the heads of the soldiers around me and move out to find this Rick impostor. I will be informing the army to stay put until the spell is cast. Somehow, I had a feeling that I knew who the impostor was disguised as. I wonder if I'm wrong about it.
***
I took my sweet time walking towards the castle. No point in rushing when I will be fighting against an army of soldiers on my own. Hopefully, there will be some adventurers who can fight by my side before I start destroying the castle. You would think that stopping the war is what I should be focusing on. But my stupid head just won't stop thinking about that damn kiss Rose gave me earlier!
It was the same awkward kiss we had before. I wonder why she kisses that way? To think she would be daring enough to actually kiss me in front of everyone just to calm me down and prove herself. My heart is still racing thinking about it; which is why I'm taking my time to calm myself! Her face after she kissed me was so adorable, cute, and beautiful. I thought I knew who I'll be choosing, but Rose threw me right off! Damn it!!
I had reached the bridge that leads to the castle. Am I—still blushing? I quickly crouched behind some bushes of love and slapped myself a couple of times along with taking some deep breaths. Alright, focus on the castle and not the kiss. As soon as I thought of it, the image of Rose smiling made my heart flutter again. I pulled my hair and thought of jumping off the bridge and submerging myself underwater.
Some chatter in the distance made me snap out of my thoughts. I peeked out of the bush and saw two soldiers approaching the bridge and stopped in the middle. These soldiers must be on patrol duty. One of them had a horn hanging from his hip. I'll need to be as sneaky as possible so that he doesn't alert the others.
I crossed the bridge at a normal pace since they were looking in a different direction. The two soldiers were still chatting away and didn't even notice me approaching them. I thought of giving them a scare, but both of them were still busy chatting away even though I was already midway across the bridge. Aren't these two of you supposed to be on guard duty?
About a third of the way across the bridge, one of them finally took notice of me and was clumsily trying to blow his horn. I rushed towards them in an instant with a "Surprise Motherfucker" and incapacitated both of them. Was I—quiet enough? I crouched low and checked around. No alarm or soldiers were around. Seems like I'm safe. See, I can be sneaky if I want to. I am an innate purple kommando who is all sneaky like~
A loud horn can be heard from above the castle walls. Ah well, playtime is over. Time to get serious.
I swung Tengu-kaze towards the location where the sound of the horn was heard. The wind pressure just graced the castle walls. I'm guessing I'm going to need a much stronger wind pressure to tear this castle apart. I peeked through the front gate and only saw a handful of soldiers inside. That's—odd, shouldn't there be more soldiers protecting the Queen? Perhaps most of them had either defected or gone out to protect the city.
I stood in the middle of the gate and shouted a stern warning to the soldiers inside. "I wouldn't stand there if I were you!"
I gathered power to Tengu-kaze and lifted it above my head. I could feel a strong wind gathering around the blade before I swung it vertically downwards. A loud boom erupted and ripped apart the castle gate. The amount of destruction that Tengu-kaze caused was astounding. Not only did it rip apart the entire gate, it even sliced into the castle wall itself. I am definitely going to use Tengu-kaze as I run around the castle for maximum destruction.
***
To my surprise, there were barely any soldiers at all. I didn't even know where to go since I barely met much resistance. Guess I'll just head towards the throne room and wreak havoc there instead. There were a couple of soldiers on my way, but they certainly couldn't stop me from reaching my goal.
I used my unarmed techniques to incapacitate the few soldiers that were chasing after me and those protecting the entrance to the throne room. I stood at the door for a couple of seconds, deciding on whether I should head somewhere else instead or just head in? No, there's no point in me fighting soldiers when they don't contribute anything in stopping the war. I need to kill the Queen and the captain if I want to stop this war for good.
Alright, I need to play things right. I know full well I don't stand a chance fighting the captain alone. If things go south, I should prepare myself to use Illusion and Conceal to escape. Although I had a feeling that they had found a way to counter my spells by now. I am fairly certain the Queen will not allow me to escape so easily anymore.
A moment of truth now, I decided to stake my life and confront the Queen and Captain. I took a couple of deep breaths as I held the handle of the door to the throne room. The endgame was about to begin. Let's just kill Thanos and be done with it.
I pushed the door into the throne room. It was eerily quiet. I was expecting the Captain to immediately rush at me with intent to kill, but he was nowhere to be seen. I did not sense him anywhere nearby either. But one thing is for sure, the Queen is here. She was talking to a couple of soldiers at the bottom of her throne with her back facing towards me. Who knew the Queen would actually be willing to step down from her throne? The soldiers noticed me and readied their weapons, but the Queen stopped them and told them to go. Guess they were assigned to do something else.
"Zen Hawthorn, I knew it was you the moment you opened that door. To think the son of the great hero would end up causing me this much trouble. You are a pain in the arse," she said without turning to face me.
I kept quiet as I didn't come here to talk. Her decapitated head was all I needed. Despite me wanting to grant her a slow, painful death, too many lives were lost and at stake because of her. Announcing her death will demoralise all her soldiers, making it meaningless to continue this war any further.
"You are the only person who had actually escaped from me twice. That will not happen again, I assure you," she started climbing up her steps. Her high heels and corset satin red dress were on full display, accentuating her figure-eight body. A perfect example where a beautiful woman doesn't mean shit if her heart is rotten.
"All these deaths. All these destructions. And for what? Revenge for your mother? She's been dead for years! I had thought you had grown matured over the years, but you're still a scrawny brat. All the lives lost in this war are because of you. You instigated this war. Did you even think of the consequences of your actions?!" shouted the Queen as she sat down on her throne cross-legged.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. There was only one thing and one thing only at the back of my head.
"I don't care, you killed my mum," I spat those words, summoned Inazuma, and rushed at her with full speed. I want her dead!