236 Surprise Attack
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As Aberno saw all these Green Skins marching and fighting, and dying against the enormous power of the heroes, he realized they were slowly slowing down in their speed, the troops were too many and they were slowly being moved back to a corner, Aberno smiled a bit, believing his tactic was working. There was a big portal behind him leading to the demon continent, where more green skins were marching towards here, flooding the entire jungle, thousands after thousands of them. Heroes were powerful, they were incredible and capable of defeating the mightiest of monsters, but they were not invisible, they had a limited amount of energy, and could get tired ultimately, as they were still mortals and not gods.
They were not able to fight near endless hordes of thousands of green skins enhanced with the power of a blue demon for as long as they wanted. They were able to defeat the demon king through cooperative effort and even various sacrifices... There were many of them that were not able to see the world after the war and died on the journey. Their sacrifices were not wasted, as each of such sacrifices helped them push forward into ending this war once and for all...
But... what did they get at the end? The world didn’t magically became peaceful, demons are still resentful of humans and waging wars against them in the demon continent, the greedy humans are trying to overtake the continent, bringing even more bloodshed than the demons had ever brought, and the Demon Lords that served the Demon king were still alive, lurking in the shadows for the time to strike down the heroes and avenge the demon king... and demons as powerful as Aberno were still alive, threatening their lives right now.
They defeated the “big boss” at the end, but they didn’t got a happy ending, there was no conclusion to their lives, life simply continued moving forward, conflicts continued emerging one after the other, and the period of peace after the demon king only lasted a year or two before wars resumed once more. The heroes themselves knew this, and this is why they decided to not get involved into any more pointless bloodshed anymore, selfishly choosing to live their own lives away from the war that had marked them forever... That had traumatized their minds and hearts. They simply wanted to survive and to make their offspring thrive and live happily.
But the world was an unwelcoming place, even for the strong heroes, hardships and suffering was the only thing ahead of their path, and even for their children, it was not different... challenges at each corner, and dangers everywhere... This was the chaotic world that the gods left behind, a world without order, and only selfish people leading more selfish people into wars, taking one another’s riches, all while countless innocents suffer. Aberno was merely a result of this world, someone born in this world to kill and avenge, incapable of experiencing any love, he grew cold and ruthless... partially, his own existence and his own problems, his own anger and more... it was all fault of the heroes.
They knew it deep down, and somehow, they couldn’t bring themselves to easily face him, because they knew that this blue demon had grown without a father because of them, because they killed his father, that had also come to avenge his previous father, which they had also killed... perhaps they knew all of this now and couldn’t bring themselves to kill the grandson now. It was like an endless cycle of slaughter, of murdering... would it ever end? They would slay him but then what’s next? Would they have to slay his son, or his daughter in the future? And then the child of his child? And then the child of his child of his child?
Such thoughts ate away the minds of the heroes, who were carrying the thousands of burdens of a war where countless people died, many of them had also perished both indirectly and directly from their own doings. They once thought they were doing it for a greater good, they once thought they were doing it for an end goal that would save everybody, but at the end, the only thing they got in exchange for all of this suffering, for all of these burdens, and for all these innocent lives they had taken was... nothing.
But Ninhursag was different. She was not a hero; she was a protector of the forest. Her family had died because of Aberno’s grandfather, and Zack’s parents died because of Aberno’s father. She had no burdens like those that the heroes carried, she didn’t felt guilty, she only wanted one thing, to let her parents and Zack’s parents... and everybody that died in such incidents to rest in peace knowing the evil that had taken away their lives was vanquished. And well, she had a very strong personal grudge against this family, taking away the life of the bastard trying to take away her precious family was something she’ll take pride on. Unlike the heroes, who were too affected by the war, she still had a youthful heart, and was filled with the will to kill.
.....
“Soon, I shall descend and slay all of you personally- Eh?!”
TRUUUUUMMM...!
Suddenly, as Aberno was thinking about beheading the heroes once and for all, he was greeted by the thunderous sound of a giant hitting the ground, he looked down and found at the distance a monstrous being resembling a three-headed lion, with draconic wings and a long tail with the head of a snake, it was in fact almost as big as his mammoth!
“W-Wha...! What the heck is that?!” He asked in surprise. “S-Such an ominous aura! What sort of aberration is that monster?!” Aberno had never seen such a creature before and felt overwhelmed by its enormous aura... Ninhursag had shapeshifted into her Three-headed Chimera Form and rampaged the backlines with her powerful magic and claws!
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