Imp to Demon King: A Journey of Conquest

Adam assessed his wounds, feeling Excalibur's scabbard churn to expel the light magic contaminating his shoulder and eye to regenerate them.

As Ikarion implied, his vaporised left eye would take a while to regenerate—perhaps it would never. But he could feel the tingling cold, soothing water energy roil to mend his arm. Still, he knew regrowing an entire limb, as incredible as the legendary scabbard was, would take time—something he didn't have when Vrashnak's icy blade was ready to separate his head from his torso.

"What last word do you expect from me? Curses? Threats? Congratulations? Meaningless." His eyes narrowed, and a disturbing smile, unfitting to his situation, split his face. "You seem determined. But you have no idea who you're messing with."

Vrashnak chuckled, dismissing his warning with a cruel smirk.

"And who that might be? A demon king unable to leave his realm, or is it a god? Hahaha! Indeed, meaningless." His fingers tightened around his broadsword as he raised it to chop down. "It's nothing personal, you know? I'm grateful you rescued me from the lich's temple and respect your achievements."

Adam raised his palm to shut him up.

"We both know it's not true." Yet, he returned his cruel smirk. "That's the difference between us. I could have plotted behind others' backs for quick gains. But I took the roundabout way to ensure my subjects were loyal. To sleep without worries at night, to fight without watching my back... and to avoid shit like this."

"You avoided nothing. But don't worry, I'll rule this realm long-term after your death."

Like an executioner, Vrashnak's blade blurred down.

The demons watched through Ifrit's burning wall, their knuckles whitening and teeth cracking. The sparse elves bit their lip and shook their heads with desperate sighs.

Even the enemy humans' greaves clanged against the ground, their breath catching in their throats and a knot of terror tying around their guts. After all, between a demon lord renowned for his search for peace and good treatment and an opportunistic orc warlord who hated humans with a vengeance, they knew who they preferred to surrender to.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

WHISTLE

A whistle, sharp and deafening, seemingly coming out of nowhere, rocked the air.

The only thing most saw was a flash of light, as blinding as the sun, dart to Vrashnak before an agonising roar pierced through the tense atmosphere.

BAM

"Argh! Who?!" Vrashnak's broadsword dived to the ground, shattering the melted slabs like glass and missing Adam by a centimeter as his bloodshot eyes scrutinised the smoke rising from his right forearm.

"One of those loyal to me, bastard." Adam spat as he flung his notification panel open.

[You and your subjects have defeated the tier six level 85 boss: Oikos' King, Ikarion. You have gained 2.000.000 experience points.]

[Promotion quest completed. Channeling the gods' authority to break the tier barrier.]

With the promotion quest complete, flames crackled to engulf his battered body. A delicate warmth spread, relieving him of his pain before the potent life energy licked his wounds. His left arm came first.

The light magic slowing its recovery dissipated into a push of smoke before fresh bones sprouted from his shoulder like healthy vines. Muscles followed, their fibers weaving themselves into sophisticated patterns. A layer of rosy skin covered them before it glowed orange and solidified into hard scales.

However, a sigh escaped his lips as the veil of darkness shrouding his left side didn't fade into bright colors. A few theories flashed in his mind: perhaps the nerves connecting it to his brain melted, making it impossible to heal? Or were the gods interfering to weaken him?

He shook his head and leapt to his feet. He had no time to think about the reason. Instead of mourning about his empty eye socket, he summoned his chaosbringer back. Before the healing flames could dissipate and in a fluid movement, he plunged it into Vrashnak's torso.

He felt the dense muscles shatter under the scarlet edges and heard Vrashnak's surprised grunt.

"A fitting end for a snake." He sneered as he felt the blade slow and instantly struck it with his freshly recovered left fist.

With the added motion, it shot to its target, threatening to pierce it, but not before he returned the bastard's taunts.

"You suffered a hundred years in a lich's basements. You endured experiments and mutated to survive, all to die because of your greed. But, hey! It's nothing personal. I'm grateful for the soldiers you provided for this war."

Vrashnak's lips quivered before blood rushed up his throat as he felt the cold bite of steel dig into his heart. The pungent taste in his mouth, the pain... they were nothing! He had survived worse, much worse. Adam had no idea what it felt like to have his blood drained every day, to feel life seep a little more with each added curse added to your body. No! This would not kill him. Instead, he would behead the smirking fool cleanly and retreat to recover.

Acting on his idea, and his strength exploding because of his gruesome wounds, his left forearm shot up. The broadsword glinted with the movement as a guttural cry thundered. Explore more at empire

Yet, his distorted grimace only met Adam's fiery left palm and cold sneer.

"Rule number two in my territory: Kill your enemies swiftly."

A torrent of dark flames burst outwards, fiery tongues engulfing the towering orc and melting his blade.

"ARGH!"

Vrashnak roared as his skin turned to ash. Yet, even that wouldn't kill him. That's what he thought before Adam's merciless fighting style sent his mind into a swirling vortex of despair.

The strike... it wasn't a mere burst of flame. Dark spears glinting purple formed and impaled his limbs, depriving him of any chance to turn the tables.

The tongues turned into fiery blades that sliced through his armor of muscles. Dragons plunged into his wounds and melted his inside in a harrowing experience even the lich had not put him through.

As he roared in pain, Adam drew his blade back like a bat and raised his left leg.

"This is goodbye, traitor."