Chapter 16 The Dust Has Settled
The massive body of the color demon crashed to the ground, landing squarely on the “Twisted Magic Mirror.”
Henry seemed to awaken from a dream, his strength suddenly restored, as he witnessed something he could hardly imagine in his lifetime.
Uncertain about what had happened, the once high and ruthless eyeless succubus was now a captive at the feet of the shining knight, one of its horns broken, blood flowing everywhere.
Henry’s eyes widened as he stared at George.
What kind of creature was that?
With luminous wings sprouting from its back and encased in shining golden armor, it glimmered. When it moved, there was no hesitation in its actions; Henry could hardly catch a glimpse of its sword strikes.
Was it a messenger sent by Sigma to eliminate the color demon army?
The eyeless succubus struggled, flapping its wings, crawling on the ground, trying to escape.
George grabbed one of its wings, whipping it around, and in a violent tug, the creature spun one hundred eighty degrees mid-air. Under the immense force, its wings were brutally torn apart. The ground slammed against it like a flyswatter, rendering it motionless.
Henry thought back to the grasshopper he had killed in his childhood.
Around them, the color demon army roared and charged in from all directions towards the armored knight. They moved as swiftly as the wind, elegant yet deadly. First came the color demonesses; their claws were incredibly sharp, and under the surge of their magic, Henry saw with his own eyes as they overwhelmed the imperial knight, tearing him into literal pieces.
But George seemed to have done something else; Henry could only conclude from the simultaneous decapitations of four color demonesses that George had probably executed a horizontal slash. Before their heads even hit the ground, George’s figure burst into light and vanished. Henry shook his head side to side, trying to grasp the sight of George.
He could only catch fleeting glimpses, as George occasionally soared and leapt. Each jump left a trail of corpses behind, every attempted encirclement collapsing behind him, his armor as light as feathers.
The swift and graceful color demon army appeared clumsy before him.
Henry was at a loss, only able to catch sight of George as bodies periodically fell around him, his gaze barely keeping up with George’s form.
“Watch out in that direction!”
Kailin elbowed him from behind.
Following her finger, Henry’s heart sank as he saw a “monstrosity” barreling towards them like a wall of flesh; its body was distorted, appearing as if its limbs had melted together, twisted with tentacles, fangs, and sharp beaks—a warped product unable to withstand the dark blessings of the Four Gods.
Having lost its humanity and reason, it had gained terrifying power and a slaughtering instinct that feared nothing.
Henry had seen it before, how a monstrosity could break through a city wall, and how it could charge into a hundred-man battalion, crushing twenty to thirty men before being stopped, with many more injured.
“Retreat, quickly retreat!”
“The surroundings are filled with color demons!”
The monstrosity raced towards him like a galloping horse.
Suddenly, the head at the center of the monstrosity caved in, as if an invisible force had folded it in half, abruptly breaking it, with the two halves of its body fleeing in opposite directions.
It was him! The one called George.
Henry looked over to see George beheading a color beast, grotesque in shape, bringing it down along with the rider.
Originally, they had intended to ambush Henry’s party with a few elite troops, rather than overwhelming numbers.
Aside from the indomitable monstrosity, the remaining color demons had lost their nerve and scattered in flight.
“Did we win?”
Henry and Kailin stood back to back, hardly believing it.
Was it really over?
The gradually disappearing demon corpses on the ground provided strong evidence that what had just happened was real.
But in the sky came the cacophonous screams of furious color succubi. The color cultists surged in like a tide through the open city gates and the cracks in the inner city walls.
Almost forgot, the vanguard city now belonged to the color demons.
Henry said, “We should retreat. Where’s the dwarf?”
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The dwarf announced his presence with a series of gunfire, shooting at the color cultists at the gate, but it seemed like a child throwing stones into a landslide.
“Let me go,” the eyeless succubus on the ground screamed, “You’re not suited to deal with armies! I’ll withdraw! Take your men and leave. We succubi are born for love and tenderness; keep your swords and knives away from me. I have had enough of tasting defeat.”
“I’m afraid it won’t be that easy!”
From above came the voice of the so-called demon lord. Her voice was so alluring, as if scraping against one’s heart through layers of clothing.
But Henry didn’t dare look at her, they were all succubi, all demons; how good could they be?
Kailin lifted her head, unable to resist glancing at her; Henry quickly yanked her ponytail, shouting, “Don’t look! Be careful of her.”
The grounded eyeless succubus shouted, “Come! Save your lover!”
The color cultists, wearing Mohican helmets, revealed their muscular bodies, rushing in with color-enhanced whips, claws, and other weapons through the gates.
“Gima!” George yelled, “Stop watching the show!”
“People work hard every night to ensnare you just to reap without labor, right?” Gima languidly perched on the throne once occupied by the eyeless succubus, resting her chin on her hand.
Henry quickly turned his head to see that the vanguard of the color demon army was merely thirty paces away from him, countless heads surging.
“Fall back! Fall back to the inner city command post!”
A mocking female voice came from behind, “Go ahead! Baldy!”
A bald giant in black armor crashed into the crowd from above. He raised his hand, a bloody axe lance falling into his grip, transforming into a massive blood-red sword.
Attacks came from all directions: stabbing, hacking, thrusting, whipping—all impotently rebuffed.
The black-armored bald giant began to fight.
Henry had never witnessed a combat style like this, hard to describe; in a word, it was as if he was tearing apart the crowd with sheer violence, trampling all. Limbs flew everywhere, fallen bodies crushed and turned into flesh and blood, sticking to the black-armored bald giant.
From his back sprouted several dark bony spikes, heads adorned atop each spike, and every head opened wide, emitting terrifying roars.
Henry couldn’t help but feel his legs weaken, but remembering Kailin was watching, he forced himself to muster courage. He saw Kailin’s sword drop to the ground and turned to see her pale face, quickly picking it back up.
“Die!”
For some reason, vast numbers of color demon soldiers’ heads suddenly left their bodies, as an invisible executioner simultaneously beheaded them, clearing a wide path straight to the inner city gates.
The bald giant grew taller and larger, already four meters high, standing before the city gates where two horse-drawn carts could pass without obstruction, easily blocking the throng of miscellaneous soldiers from entering.
The terrifying light emanating from the bald giant was so intense that while some color demon soldiers turned to flee, others urgent for thrill, blushing with excitement, charged toward him, sustaining grievous injuries upon crashing down, yet emitted sounds of ecstatic enjoyment.
Seeing this made Henry’s scalp tingle.
Killing went on for an indeterminate time; time seemed to stretch infinitely yet also pass quickly.
In a dreamlike manner, years seemed to flutter by in the blink of an eye.
The battle concluded.
The corpses of color demons dissipated, while the countless corpses of cultists piled high like a mountain, nearly blocking the inner city gates, forming a half-circle outside them.
Meanwhile, the gaps in the city wall were much narrower, easily guarded by George alone; in contrast to the mountain of corpses left by the bald giant, his position appeared understated.
The bald giant, blood-soaked, dripped blood from his flesh armor with every step, and the blood-red giant sword on his shoulder even extended a tongue like a dog, licking him, and spoke:
“Good! Good! Very good, the blood god is ecstatic; from now on, you are my master!”
Still lying on the ground, the eyeless succubus, having realized she had lost her ability to cast spells, cried out in despair, “Demon Lord Gima? How can this be? Didn’t you die?”
Henry’s heart tightened.
Goodness, another demon lord had arrived. That so-called first doghead, the knight in white armor named George, couldn’t possibly have fallen under the succubus’s temptations—could he be her slave?
As if to validate his suspicions.
The bald giant grinned widely, his cracked lips splitting open, gazing at Kailin with aggressive intensity, speaking in a hoarse voice:
“Considering I saved your lives, stripping down and spending a night with me isn’t too much to ask.”
The looming pile of corpses behind the bald giant, drenched in blood, cast a suffocating fear that made it hard to breathe.
Kailin was momentarily stunned, rooted in place. Henry summoned his courage and took a shaky step forward, saying, “Only if I die first.”
“Alright then.”
The knight in white armor flapped his wings and landed beside Henry. With him there, Henry and Kailin felt a swell of courage, as the suffocating fear seemed to dissipate.
George coolly replied, “I won’t let you take any women.”
“Ha, just joking.” Luckily, the bald giant chuckled, and then he vanished, the blood and flesh covering him falling with a ‘thud’ to the ground.
The blood-red giant sword screamed, “No! I don’t want to return to that woman!”
It took flight and transformed into a straight branch, landing in Gima’s hands.
Henry quickly turned to George, “You are most gracious… esteemed first doghead, brave sir, I greatly appreciate your timely rescue.”
“Are you very afraid?”
Henry was taken aback, “Yes.”
“Now you can rest easy,” George said, “It’s all over.”
Is everything really over?
Henry felt as if everything was too light and airy; he doubted it was the doing of the eyeless succubus, that this was just a dream of his.
“I… pardon my frankness, esteemed first doghead—”
“I don’t like being called the first doghead,” George replied, “It’s a ridiculous nickname Gima made up for me.”
“Oh, what a nickname, I’m merely describing the truth.”
Leaning against the throne, Gima had somehow acquired Li’anxi Cat, perched on her lap, stroking its back, and with a snap of her fingers, dropping the dangling Acanis to the ground.
Acanis jolted awake, flipping in mid-air like a cat, landing deftly on four limbs.
“Goodness.” Without missing a beat, Acanis rushed to the eyeless succubus and kicked her face, “Is it you that dares to slap the emperor’s face?”
“Witch Hunter,” Henry asked uneasily, “What’s going on here?”
“We won, didn’t you see? I told you this task was simple; this piece of crap underestimated us.”
“And she is?”
“Oh.” Acanis looked at Gima, surprised, “Who are you? How come you’re so sexy? Are you the great mother Gima?”
Gima’s smile froze, “I am Gima herself.”
“It’s only been a year.” Acanis exclaimed, “How did you get so old? Did you give birth? Women mature so quickly after giving birth.”
“Shut up,” Gima coldly said, “I did not have a child.”
“Hi there,” the butcher engineer approached, carefully observing Gima and then George, “I think we’ve met before.”
Gima complimented, “Your musket isn’t bad.”
“Yeah, I plan to present it to the emperor; only humans are willing to produce such unreliable new weapons.”
Acanis inquired, “So what is this all about?”
“I told you last night when I visited your dream.”
“Isn’t this introducing my new friend?”
“In short, I planted a seed in Acanis’s mind,” Gima explained. “It allows me to drop in from afar, easy-peasy.”
Henry couldn’t help but ask, “Then why not appear early and attack her together?”
“Don’t you think it’s more thrilling to appear in a crisis?”
Everything a beautiful woman said felt just right.
Henry didn’t plan to dwell on that further; he felt a preliminary sense of relief, but still worried. This woman sitting on the throne was evidently a very powerful succubus.
“Hehehe…” the eyeless succubus cackled and spat blood, “So you were planning to build your harem, enticing a few slaves. Not bad.”
Henry’s heart sank; he didn’t want to become a demon’s servant.
“Absolutely,” Gima joyfully stepped down from the throne, gesturing to introduce George, “This is the brave sir. I seduced him, enchanted him, and managed to bring him down; see, he’s quite capable, right?”
George glanced at her, too lazy to speak.
Henry began to feel anxious, asking, “Is that true?”
“False.”
George’s words carried a strangely reassuring tone.
But the next statement shocked Henry.
George said, “This is my wife.”
“It’s well known that every succubus’s slave thinks of their master as their wife.”
“I have a daughter with her.”
Gima stated, “When are you coming home? Your presence wastes my magic.”
“As long as you promise me one thing.”
“What is it?”
George raised his hand, pointing at the severely injured eyeless succubus, “If possible, spare her life for judgment; if not, then make a worthy sacrifice.”
“Aren’t we siblings? Can’t we accept her surrender?”
“No, she’s utterly wicked.”
“Alright, alright, who told me to marry you?” Gima sighed and waved her hand, “Goodbye.”
George vanished into thin air.
Henry completely relaxed but still felt uneasy, though the smell of blood in the air was overwhelmingly real, and the sounds of the retreating color demons were pleasantly melodic. He turned to look at Kailin and said:
“Can you slap me again? I feel like I’m dreaming.”
“Sure.” Kailin raised her hand high, “You take off your helmet.”
“I’ve changed my mind.”
