Purple paints the blue sky, and the constellations floating in the Empty Sea arrange themselves into dancing patterns across the stars. Descending from its stellar abode, the storm at the center of the archipelago unites heaven and earth in a gigantic tornado. A faint and distant aura pulses in its bowels, revealing the imbecile deity who decided to paint it over creation as he daydreams of death and destruction. Islands stretch to the end of the horizon and make their own infinite world, reminiscent of the same kind of magic that Hilda created to make her private dimension. Mountains and volcanoes rise through archipelagos that can no longer be crossed by distance, but by intention. I feel an itch deep in my brain, and ancient magic takes place in the construction of the environment. The earth is black, and blue flowers complete it. Pillars of stone and iron form thorns, while small floating islands descend from the skies, behaving differently in relation to gravity.

  The wood of the caravan creaks and warps to create a large hut on its highest floor, storing the magicians' supplies and serving as the mobile base we will use to rest. Wander defends our rear and Cloud jumps off the ship to patrol the perimeter, crossing the cold fog while the Omega team prepares their equipment to attack the Clown. Magnus accompanies me, and together we jump to solid ground and face the immensity. It seems empty, but this is a lie. Entities grow and disappear, unable to manifest themselves with so little attention. Clouds wriggle and mimic the dance of the daytime stars, fish and dragons engage in battle as the crew guess their shapes. There are rivers and lakes, greenery and large trees, but most of the terrain is flat and Rocky, as if a child without geographical knowledge would draw a map and imagine it.

  They watch me. They want my attention. I hoped I could avoid confrontation so Wander wouldn't worry about violence, but this world doesn't care about kindness, and the truth that concentrates inside will only come out against a worthy challenge.

  "And who is better for this than you?" The woman says.

  She suddenly appears in front of me. We're on the edge of a cliff. I don't remember how or when I got here, but it doesn't matter anymore. Her hair is long and purple, and even against the cold fog of the archipelago, she remains naked, Conjuring illusions to alter the perception of her image and blur her parts as if they were erased by an eraser.

  "Who are you?" I say.

  She puts her hands behind her back and bends over. "My name is Lilith. You must be Sieghart. He warned us about you. The Demon King.”

  I feel the mana of mages collide against the Earth, in an endless journey of a few meters to the right. Team Omega begins their duel in search of the second chaos user against two powerful beings - even more so than the very guardians who promised to guide us. They came from afar, these warriors of humanity. Far, far away. A barbarian watches me, and his heart burns with violence, his roars cross the infinite distance, and his brutality echoes through the earth in tremors. Obstacles separate us. Mere objects that need to be pushed. Blood to be shed, iron and fire exploding.

  But Lilith approaches and squeezes my shoulder.

  "Hey. Don't mind them. I'm here, aren't I? Everything else is boring."

  "Why wouldn't you be boring, too?"

  "Huh? Of course I'm not. Why would you go there and suffer the pain of battle?" She smiles. "Unless you like it. Do you like to suffer, Sieghart? No."Lilith sharpens her gaze. “Do you like to hurt people?"

  "I do what I have to do."

  "Boo. Boring." She turns around and walks around me. "I went far to meet you. Far, far away. We all walk. I will admit that some more than others, and that they are even more excited to find you. They want to talk to you. Fight with you. I intend to do something else. Something more fun, to say the least."

  I frown. "What are you talking about?"

  Lilith smiles, then takes the last turn and wraps her arms around my neck. She presses her body against my back and breathes warm into my ear.

  "You promised us a perfect world. No pain or suffering. I'm here to take it for myself. Leave everything behind. Be mine. I will adore you, and you will adore me."Lilith's skin turns blue, and other arms wrap around me with silver threads. A familiar, cold, calm voice of Morgana speaks. "Nothing will prevent us. Nothing will be able. We will burn this world down if we can stay together forever, scarred or not, and we will burn together if that's the price. Forever, and ever, and ever."

  The sounds stop. My chest beats harder, and blood concentrates on my face. The feelings I thought I had stored away in the back of my mind return. Incessant screaming. As warriors fight, inner power shapes the world divinely to rival Magnus ' ability. Death. Soon, but surely, from someone, from something. But do I need to make it stop? Do I really need to stop something after everything I've done?

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

  "Me..."

  I swallow it dry, then spit out a laugh.

  What am I thinking?

  "I'm sorry, but I have to do something more important."

  Lilith grabs my neck, but it doesn't affect me. I free myself from the clutches of the scarred woman as she is paralyzed for a few seconds in an illusion, turn around and Channel. "Fireball."Charm, and the glowing sphere tears the ground and turns it into a shooting star. The impact hits a mountain and charred half of the structure, the tremor sending rubble of Masic stone crashing to the ground - but never falling completely. Telekinesis lifts the rocks, Lilith stares at me in anger and hurls them at me like meteors. From the fog, ice solidifies and rises around me, pillars and walls grow and reinforce to nullify the impact. Morgana emerges, rebuilding herself into flesh. Before she can question me as to why the pleasure-loving illusionist would take her form to tempt me, I turn to the other side and let the fight between the two take place.

  I see the distance from the land merge as the island conforms to my mind. There's someone waiting for me. I feel their presences battling, and then their bodies. Magnus reverses the causality of an attack, but the bone blade continues its path and almost hits him. Consequently, the attack also hits the chest of the one who did it, since the metamagia is absolute and the two effects take place simultaneously. The barbarian staggers back as his chest bleeds, then smiles. He is as tall as Hoffstein, with red hair and dressed in a thick white robe and torn black pants. Bound by vines, its blade is made of its fangs, and its eyes are empty like those of a blind man. I land in the middle of both of them, and they both stare at me.

  "Magnus, help the rest of the teachers. I will fight him."

  The priest breathes in, ponders, nods, and then disappears. There's a reason for that. His battle against the barbarian is a mere maybe, while helping the other teachers would be a sure victory. Morgana will occupy Lilith, and the temptation of pleasure will not affect someone so focused on anger. The main reason, however, is something different.

  I walk to the other side and stretch my limbs. The barbarian turns his blade and then advances, but summoned from aura solid as steel, he parries the attack.

  Silence.

  "Is it you? The Demon King?”

  "You wanted to find me, didn't you? Leave them alone, then. Tell your subordinates to leave. Your job is with me."

  He ponders. "Tell me, what's your name?"

  "Sieghart Morningstar."

  "Our only leadership is Deimos. They will die and kill for themselves. Just like me. I'm Maruk, the Great. I walked and walked and walked until I got here, in the distant lands. I fought and fought and killed and robbed and battled and killed... And none of that satisfied me. It's only natural that you found us. It is destiny, according to the orders of this island. Lilith wants the distraction of the flesh. She is uneducated, and does not realize that true glory can only be achieved by battle."

  "It seems like a tragic existence."

  "I thought this was a tragedy. A world of misery and war. But the truth, Sieghart, the whole truth, is that war is divine. I love war. The warm blood. The steel. The battle. I love war. It is through war that there is courage, that there is merit, that there is technique and strength. It is through her that there is brotherhood, and the tragedy of falling blood makes the soil new to prosper. The cranks that operate behind time will turn, and humans will still be at war. War is God, and I will be his Herald. You, Demon King, are the one who started the war between men, and for that I have you as appreciated. But she's beyond you. If I subdue you, I will take your place and declare myself as God. I will be eternal, and I will bathe in the eternal. You, against you, only against you..."

  "Liar."

  He frowns.

  "You say that... But you're not much different from Lilith in the end, are you?"

  The barbarian grinds his teeth, and then moves forward.

  I solidify a blade with aura and the pressure of the attack sinks me to the ground. Dust reaches the sky and the tremor spreads across the island. I am thrown against the sea, then I accumulate its moisture, warm up and return to the Barbarian shrouded in steam. I grab his face and drag him to the ground, throw him against one of the pillars and take him apart. He attacks fast - faster than anyone I've fought so far. I temporarily paralyze him using illusion, blast him against the rock, but he remains standing, regenerating as he fights.

  There are only two ways to beat a herald of violence. The first is to be smarter, and the second is to be even more violent than him. Marduk's metamagic allows him to surpass natural laws with physical strength. Without Chaos, I will have to defeat him with pure arcanism. Earthquakes and lightning overhead, clouds envelop us and my senses focus on his figure. External struggles are forgotten. If I die now, everything will be in vain. I join my hands and concentrate solidified blood, pressurize it until it becomes dense like steel and explode it like a hypersonic projectile. He moves his body an inch out of reach, then changes his posture and stares at me.

  Tsc.

  I fix my feet to the ground. I didn't think much of the reason for calling him a liar, but my stomach knows the reason. It's somewhere in my memories, lost under the pressure of my past life. But as I step into the shadows, deviation and charm, more and more I realize the truth.

  The divinity of violence, and the vain sacrifice that is made to replace order with something useless and worldly. There is nothing a creature does for no reason. What made him think that? What does he want to prove to himself? What is the justification you want to have the answer, even though you know it would be ineffective? I don't know. I don't need to know. I've enjoyed the battle before, but I can't hold on to the illusion of blood.

  I breathe in. The already destroyed terrain rebuilds to form a colosseum of sharp rocks. There is no escape but death. So, I grind my teeth.

  "Come. Fight." I say.