The Price of a Wish

The demon regained some clarity, coughing up a mouthful of bloody foam. “Cough, cough, cough… He’s truly a monster. Even wounded… he’s still pressing forward… towards… the Throne Room…”

His voice faded to a whisper.

Sovenia’s voice rose sharply. “Are his injuries severe? Is he alright?”

The demon’s lips trembled slightly, but no words escaped him. Sovenia plunged her sword into his throat, fulfilling her promise.

The last word he uttered before death, however, hammered itself like a nail deep into Sovenia’s mind.

‘He’s still alive… That’s good.’

Sovenia unconsciously let out a sigh of relief.

At that moment, Black Horn Centurion spoke. “Haelana, are you Battle Maid to Lord Jimi?”

Sovenia’s placid golden eyes turned to Black Horn Centurion. “Questioning a superior? For what reason?”

“The Hero is clearly the murderer of Lord Jimi the Cruel, yet you show concern for his safety, like a lover.”

‘Lovers?!’

Sovenia’s pointed ears flattened back, forming ‘airplane ears’. Her pale eyebrows furrowed, and her fair face flushed with anger. “Centurion, he is not dead yet; he is still pressing forward. This means that until the various factions have exhausted their trump cards against each other, he can continue to exist as a perfect disruptor.”

“The longer he lives, the more chaotic the situation becomes. The more chaotic the situation, the greater our chance to retrieve Lord Jimi the Cruel’s head.”

“This foolish dog still has value, and is easily manipulated. I have him thoroughly deceived. How foolish is he? He’d even stop to tie my hair while fleeing for his life.”

“He’d risk his life for the foolish vows he made to me. All of this is for the ‘resurrection’ of Lord Jimi the Cruel, for the First Heavenly King, the Butcher of Humans, the Nightmare of Elves, the Demon Blade…”

Sovenia, usually a woman of few words, unleashed a torrent of speech.

It was almost too much for Black Horn Centurion to process, and the surrounding demons were bewildered.

The other Demon Warriors and soldiers couldn’t help but whisper. “As expected of Haelana VIII, she even remembers all those titles.”

“Do you understand, Centurion?”

“…” Black Horn Centurion snapped back to attention and nodded. “Understood, Lady Haelana.”

“The Twenty-Second Military Rule, do you recall it?”

“Disobeying a superior is punishable.”

Black Horn Centurion stood at attention, drew a dagger from his waist, and forcefully slashed his own face twice, tearing his cheeks open to reveal faint shark-like teeth.

Sovenia straightened her posture. “Everyone, heed my command! Follow me. We go to retrieve what belongs to Lord Jimi. The ultimate victors of the ‘Demon King’s Supremacy Contest’—will it be us, or those self-important fools?”

The soldiers responded, “As you command!”

Sovenia strode forward. With every step, the stinging pain in her rear reminded her of her recent humiliation. Yet, at this moment, that very pain transformed into fuel.

‘Just you wait, you foolish dog.’

‘If you dare to die in some forgotten corner before I can exact my revenge with my own hands… I will absolutely find your corpse, dig it up, behead you, and then beat your backside.’

Sovenia’s golden eyes were cold as ice. With a fluid motion, she hooked Wawalde’s helmet onto her waist and began to run forward.

Their path was unobstructed.

Traversing familiar passages, they soon saw the distant doors to the Throne Room, gaping like the maw of a colossal beast, beyond which a fierce blaze raged.

On either side stood ‘glass’ pillars, scars left by the ‘Conflagration’, where even solid rock had been vitrified into a semi-molten state.

Sovenia perked her long ears, analyzing every roar that echoed from within the doors. Her long legs, encased in leather boots, moved with rapid, alternating steps, carrying her forward at immense speed.

Behind her, a squad of approximately twenty fully armored Blood Skull Legion soldiers, despite their heavy plate, managed to keep pace with her swift advance.

****

“ROAR—!”

A roar exploded from within the doors, wet, viscous, yet deafening.

Sovenia immediately recognized it as the sound of a Chaos Spawn. She also heard the Demon Queen’s furious rebuke, indicating that the mindless Chaos Spawn was lunging at the Demon Queen.

‘Excellent. Fickle fate has finally favored me for once.’

Sovenia’s mind immediately began to strategize: if the gold-card enemy, the Chaos Spawn, could tie down the Demon Queen, then the tactics should be—

“Weaklings, disperse!”

A female voice suddenly rang out, majestic and cold, as if crushing down from the depths of one’s soul, followed by a dull, colossal thud that made hearts stop.

“BOOM—!”

A massive shadow, trailing debris and dust, shot backwards like a cannonball from the ridiculously wide doorway of the Throne Room.

Sovenia fixed her gaze.

It was a mass of flesh still writhing furiously, covered in eyes and mouths—the upper half of a Chaos Spawn. It slammed heavily onto the ground, dragging a long trail of gore, as dark red viscous fluid splattered everywhere.

Sovenia’s running steps abruptly halted, her boot heels scraping a short mark across the charred floor, kicking up a few wisps of ash.

She stared intently at the still-twitching mass of flesh.

‘That was a Gold Card-level monster, blasted away like mere refuse?’

‘The Demon Queen appears virtually unharmed. Just how much power does she still wield?’

Sovenia, gripping the Moonpetal Blade with both hands, approached the Chaos Spawn’s remains, which continued to writhe, not yet dead.

“Lady Haelana?” Kamos, the Black Horn Centurion behind her, lowered his voice. “Are we to charge in?”

Sovenia turned her head. Her exquisitely beautiful, indifferent face betrayed no hint of panic, only an icy calm.

“No,” she replied, her voice sharp. “As the commander, I will personally scout ahead.”

“Yes! At your service, my lady.”

Sovenia crouched low, moving like a silver spirit cat, silently hugging the edge of the doorway.

Beyond the door.

Lay a veritable Asura field.

A field of carnage that was rapidly expanding.

Wawalde the Hero had never felt each breath so agonizing; his lungs burned as if aflame, and every sprint felt like an overdraft of his very soul.

The once spacious Throne Room now seemed boundless.

The Demon Queen, by merely flipping a page, had forcibly stretched the spatial distance, transforming the fifty-meter-long and wide chamber into a battlefield resembling a vast wilderness.

This alteration was not merely a display of power, but also to grant her Maid Squad an absolute advantage in range.

Upon the high platform, the beautiful and seductive Maid Squad stood like rows of Death’s fingers. Their longbows were drawn taut, the vibrating strings creating a continuous, teeth-grinding hum.

“WHIZZ—WHIZZ—WHIZZ—!”

Countless Shadow Arrows, wreathed in black mist, rained down. They moved like venomous snakes tracking the scent of the living, carving eerie arcs through the air.

“GRAHH!”

Wawalde roared, his Demon Claymore swirling into a whirlwind of steel. The clang of metal echoed like a torrential downpour on a rooftop. He could block direct attacks, but not the curving malice that sought him out.

“THWACK!”

A Shadow Arrow cunningly bypassed his sword’s edge, embedding itself fiercely into the joint of his left shoulder armor.

The moment the arrow’s tip touched the armor, the once-hardened steel rapidly became brittle and cracked like weathered rock, as a chilling energy seeped into his flesh, corroding muscle fibers.

Wawalde grunted, his body swaying. On his chest, the magic lamp hanging from his shattered plate armor flickered violently.

It was the second wish he had made to the ‘Bird Claw’, now counting down. He had wished to regain his full strength, and the Bird Claw had granted it, but with a time limit.

Yet, he was not fighting alone.

“ROAR!!!”

Beside him, a colossal, pitch-black demon dragon roared. It was Skullcrusher’s ‘comrade’, but it looked exceptionally battered.

Its hardened dragon scales were riddled with holes from the Shadow Arrows, many spots revealing the raw red flesh beneath.

“Useless! Fly! Tear those wretched women to shreds!”

Skullcrusher, a cyclopean ogre with a body as strong as a hill, wielded a massive flail as thick as a palace pillar, roaring in fury. Jimi’s former head now protruded from his broad trapezius muscle like a tumor, its empty eyes staring at the ceiling.

The demon dragon let out a pained shriek, spreading its wings, their immense membranes obscuring half the hall’s light. It beat the ground forcefully, its enormous body slowly ascending, attempting to lunge towards the high platform.

The Demon Queen raised her still-unburnt finger and lightly tapped the empty air.

“Here, no flying.”

That was a [Royal Edict]. It was a rule, a law, a divine command.

The ascending demon dragon suddenly seemed to hit an invisible ceiling, or perhaps it simply forgot how to flap its wings. An irresistible force of rules instantly stripped it of its right to fly.

“CRASH—!”

The tens-of-tons beast lost all lift, plummeting straight down like a meteor.

It slammed heavily onto the floor, the hard marble shattering like biscuits. The dragon scales, already brittle from the Shadow Arrows, cracked into pieces with the impact, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

Skullcrusher was flung away, but being thick-skinned, he rolled a few times on the ground and got back up as if unharmed. He then brought his giant hammer down, smashing a large piece of flying flagstone, which he hurled fiercely at the Demon Queen as a projectile.

The Demon Queen merely touched the ground with her toe, then glided lightly across the floor, shifting over ten meters horizontally.

Wawalde seized the opportunity, seeing her approach his hidden clone.

“Switch!”

No incantation, just a thought. In the distance, the clone vanished, replaced by Wawalde himself, now less than ten meters from the Demon Queen.

Within arm’s reach!

Wawalde pushed off the ground with both feet, charging fiercely at the Demon Queen.

The Demon Queen turned her head as if by telepathy.

Wawalde could clearly see the Demon Queen’s half-charred face and her other half, a red-skinned face. The golden holy light of his greatsword instantly surged, transforming the dark demonic blade into dazzling platinum.

“HOLY SMITE!!!”

This strike gathered all his rage, all his sorrow, and the hope of the maiden awaiting him in the cave.

Light poured down like a waterfall, carrying the will to sever all evil.

A flicker of surprise crossed the Demon Queen’s heterochromatic eyes.

She raised her hand, attempting to summon a shield instantly, but the Holy Smite’s edge was too sharp, slicing through the shield in an instant. A thunderous crash followed, and a translucent shockwave exploded outwards from her center.

Black blood splattered.

“AAAAAHHHH—!” The Demon Queen let out a piercing shriek. “Human! You amuse me.”

Her facial expression instantly twisted from agony to a sneer, and her right hand clamped down fiercely on the still-smoking blade of Wawalde’s greatsword.

Sizzzzzzzz—

Flesh met holy light, producing a sound like roasting meat, but she remained unconcerned.

“I command you to burn!”

Wawalde felt as if his wounds had suddenly been doused with boiling oil.

The lingering shadow flames in his wounds ignited without warning, bursting forth from his flesh, burning his body, searing his nerves and soul. Even the most resilient warrior would succumb to this agonizing pain.

“Ugh, ahhh!”

Wawalde gritted his teeth, his mouth filled with the taste of rust.

He trembled in the flames, but he did not retreat. He twisted his hand, breaking free from the Demon Queen’s grip, and his greatsword glowed anew, vowing to slay this demon, even if it meant mutual destruction!

However, a mocking arc curved on the Demon Queen’s lips. A strange purple light flickered in her eyes.

“I command you to kill the vermin!”

Another [Royal Edict].

Wawalde erected a mental barrier, attempting to resist, but no attack came.

At that moment, Skullcrusher’s massive flail, thick as a pillar and originally meant for the Demon Queen, abruptly changed trajectory in mid-air. With immense force, it swept towards Wawalde, who was burning like a torch.

“What?!”

Wawalde had no time to react. His entire focus had been on the Demon Queen before him, completely unprepared for a back-attack from his ‘ally’.

“CRACK—!”

A bone-shattering sound ripped through the air.

Wawalde felt as though his ribs had been struck head-on by a battering ram. He flew sideways like a broken kite, crashing through a stone pillar, then sliding over ten meters across the ground, before finally slamming heavily into the wall, embedded in a pile of rubble.

“Useless trash!” Skullcrusher recovered, and seeing he’d hit the wrong person, cursed, “How could you not dodge?! How dare you not dodge!”

“Cough… cough, cough…”

He struggled to prop himself up, his vision already blurring. The lamp on his chest now flickered wildly with red light, as if ready to extinguish at any moment.

It was the signal that his full power was about to expire.

“Hehehehe… Hero… how pathetic…”

In his mind, that evil voice spoke again. It was the ‘Bird Claw’ in his embrace.

“Make a wish… This is your third wish… Just speak, and I will make you the strongest being here… stronger than the Demon Queen… you could even become the new Demon King…”

Wawalde’s hand trembled as he reached into his embrace, touching the chicken-claw-like ‘Bird Claw’.

He raised his head, looking through his blood-stained eyelids at the triumphant Demon Queen in the distance, at the controlled Skullcrusher, and at the wailing demon dragon.

This was hell.

But accepting the third wish, and its price, meant he could not accept being reborn as a new Demon King. He understood the Bird Claw’s ploy.

“No…” Wawalde spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. “Even if I die… I will never become such a thing.”

Before his eyes, the faces of his teammates, who had died tragically to cover his escape, seemed to appear. The priest Elly’s final smile, the warrior Bart’s last roar—they would all sacrifice themselves here together.

Finally, his gaze settled on the face of the elven maiden, as pure as moonlight, with a hint of cool detachment.

‘Sovenia… It’s good. I’ve given you all my valuables, even my keepsake. You’re so clever, you’ll surely escape… You’ll surely use my inheritance to cure your mother’s illness and send your younger brother to school…’

‘It was worth it.’

Wawalde gripped his sword hilt, rising to his feet once more. “Come!”

He let out a final, roaring challenge, ready to meet his honorable death.

“Foolish Skullcrusher… and this stubborn Hero… both shall become my sustenance.” The Demon Queen raised her hand. “Maid Squad, volley fire!”

However, the anticipated rain of arrows did not fall.