In a dark world, the skies red with two strange black suns, a certain Demon King lived, his castle created with brilliant white stones, the windows stained glass telling his story of rising from a small demon whelp to the seat of a King!
Two huge towers, with groups of skeletal archers standing silently, their bows made of bone, eyes created with flames.
This castle was the abode of Andres, Demon King of undeath.
Unlike most demon princes and kings, Andres did not serve a single god in their favour but chose to serve a concept, and that concept was life and death.
Thus many gods blessed him, finding his attitude amusing, but to the other kings, he was an eyesore.
Only able to use weak demons or forced to summon his skeletal armies to fight, compared to the ones following greater gods able to amass large armies without effort, Andres needed to spend large amounts of coin.
If he wanted loyalty, that was...
Boom!
The entire eastern wing of the castle was destroyed, all from a single slap of the Demon King; his face filled with veins, and the troops that he had spent a large sum of money to sneak into Asteria were now destroyed.
"Tsk... Useless Valek, the weakest of my demon princes... It's a good thing Viola and Vella are close to that area."
A man sitting on a white throne, his hair grey with a super old man look, was handsome, with a long scar across his cheek, the indentations looking like it was some monster's claw or tooth.
He wore a noble black gown with white trimmings and a golden outline, and on his waist was a small, weathered pink feather.
In his bleak and lonely castle, he was the only living existence...
The butlers, maids, knights, chamberlain and council...
All of them were undead creatures summoned and created by his magic.
A rather lonely and isolated life.
"Whatever..."
Snap!
Andres snapped his fingers before a huge circle appeared before him; the sigils were spread in a huge circle, spelling out an eerie message, while a black and dark purple aura began to bubble and steam from the four circles that formed inside each other.
"Since you died, I will take your bodies... It seems somebody stole your Souls... Quite irritating indeed."
"Your Highness, do you require assistance?" A skeletal male with a long staff, his body withered like a prune, and two black eyes like gemstones that refused to accept light. His body was wrapped in a tattered robe.
This man was the first skeleton that Andres summoned, a bone lich.
Andres looked to his only trusted advisor, an existence that started this life beside him, a demon youngster in the form of a dog type; even demons had a best friend.
That was the dog-type whelp, loyal until death to the first person to show them mercy or kindness. Some demons thought it a fault, while those that utilised it created a huge pack of dangerous evolved dog-type Knights... They would scoff at the idiots.
"Maxwell?" Andres spoke, his eyes glowing neither anger nor joy but billowing, wondering what his old friend wanted.
Maxwell, like him, started as a whelp, but when Andres awakened his necromancy, the poor Maxwell was betrayed by his first master, used to fight the hero of another world and easily slain.
Thus Andres revived him, slowly helping him to evolve into a bone lich, no longer a mere dog, yet his loyalty remained like one.
"Assistance..."
"Can you find out who took their souls, old friend?"
Slowly in the centre of the room, Valek's corpse, missing an arm and the 70 or so demon knights appeared, but they were now undead, corpses just like the rest of the residents of this castle.
"Yes, your highness, allow me."
Maxwell pointed his staff towards the group of demons, a strange eerie purple mist swirling between them as Maxwell's eyes glowed with a brilliant blue flame.
His face was emotionless before the former demon prince Velak's corpse, and all the other knights dropped to their knees.
All were former demons that failed Andres or tried to betray him.
"I don't care if they're alive or dead; find out where they went."
"Your Highness, they seem to reside in Asteria, a huge forest... The races were strange... Elves, Werewolves, Demihumans and...."
"And?"
"A demon King...."
"WHAT!? How can a demon king exist in that land now? Answer me, Maxwell!" Andres's power exploded, causing the entire castle to shudder, most of the demon knight skeletons exploding from pressure, while Maxwell merely bowed to his master with an apologetic look.
"Forgive my haste, My King!"
"I meant, his power is on par with a demon lord... and he is certainly part demon... but there is something else..."
"Oh?" Andres sounded, the anger residing.
"I sensed the power of dragons..."
The room grew silent as Andres fell into a contemplative silence. "No, it cannot be." The voice was low and full of power.
"We must speak with the goddess Amelia and discuss our next form of action..."
Andres didn't follow the gods, but this was different. Dragons were the natural enemies of Demons, even more than the divines or angels...
Because the demons destroyed the home planet of dragons, leading to an eternal blood feud between the races...
A war that caused the demons to lose more than 70% of their worlds... Leading to this current desperate game to defeat the divines for more power, territory and worlds.
"Understood, My King." Maxwell bowed again before standing, walking backwards out of the throneroom, never turning his back to his king once.
Then a whisper filled the quiet throne room.
"Dragons... I always wanted a skeletal dragon or zombie dragon..."
-
Meanwhile, Zell rewarded the girls after the battle, healing them with magic and gently improving morale. Most elves wanted a kiss on the cheek, which he found amusing and didn't see why he couldn't.
The Lycans wanted some nice meat, so he gave a few of the tigers he killed in the south in his storage space.
"Phew..." Zell sighed, leaning back against the soft body of Elizabeth, who asked for him to sit between her legs and allow her to fix his hair, combing it gently, applying a special sap that her mother would use on her to make the hair silkier, with fewer knots and smell of vanilla.
"Are you sure this is all you want?" Felt the slight pain as she brushed through his unmanaged hair with her golden brush, the bristles made from a powerful monster's fur; otherwise, his strong hair would snap them easily.
"Mmm... I can get your love myself... as a reward, nice moments like this are better for me."
Having spent so many times feeding her, the pair now were more relaxed; only when the other girls we around or her vampires would she act strict, calling him "My lord" or "Master" Now she would call him Zell and didn't put herself lower than him when in private.
Elizabeth purged as she massaged Zell's scalp, making him feel at peace. Zell slowly slipped into a dreamy state, becoming blissfully happy as she rubbed her fingers through his hair, massaging a special conditioner into his scalp to stop itching or dry hair.
It was unlikely he would ever suffer from these things. Still, this nostalgic action made Elizabeth happier than anything else she could consider; she did think about asking to enjoy the pleasures of the flesh; she is a grown woman with needs.
But she desired to earn that herself, to have him offer it not because of reward but because he loved her and wanted to keep her beside him.
Like this, the late afternoon was passed with a peaceful and soothing atmosphere, nothing like the earlier battle and massacre.
Once they cleared the area, Zell ordered them to head back; some women didn't get their rewards because they asked for a lewd reward and would head back to the main village along with him.
Anya and Tessa were a little jealous but also had so much fun; now they were with Lusia, and Zell offered for them to come back with him.
But instead, they were going to have a sleepover with Lusia, and thus, he was rejected for the first time in a long time.
However, their loss was that Cryska instead would keep him company; Elizabeth would come to the village tomorrow as the rest of her vampire sisters were still waiting to prevent any extra troops or ambushes.
"Shall we go then?" Zell spoke with his charming voice, his arm around the soft hips of Cryska, and a cute girl with short blue hair, that asked for his body as a reward.
Honestly, he didn't mind but explained that once she slept with him, she would be a member of the main village and not the elven village; luckily, she did not have any family in the elven village and was only a half-elf, so she agreed happily.
And so...
They ventured home, and slowly, he felt a clear direction towards his goal...
But the dark and light were both placing a target on his head in places he couldn't know.
The priority is no longer to kill humans or demons...
Both Divines and Demons agreed on one thing at their council.
The three dragons must die.
The sourc𝗲 of this content is free(w)ebnov(𝒆)l