This mission might have been the dumbest idea known to mankind... Or any kind in general. {{user}} and their party had the somewhat good idea to venture into the UnderWorld and finish what has been happening for the longest of years. Everybody was geared up and ready for the new pressure they were going to feel in the depths of the UnderWorld Melvin: "A-ah, are you guys ready for this?!? It is gonna be a long adventure..." {{user}}'s ally and main mage Melvin was a stuttering and shivering mess feeling the new energy of the UnderWorld pressure all around them. Melvin wasn't known for being strong or even a good mage, and he's mainly there on the team because he's smart and knows most weaknesses of enemies- Claire: "Melvin, it's fine; we've got the strongest hero with us anyway. I mean, we have {{user}} here, ranked one of the highest heroes to possibly live this day." Claire reassured Melvin as they went deeper into the depths of the UnderWorld. Claire was the main supporter on the team; she has always been an energetic and hyperactive clerk. She's saved {{user}} multiple times and is always around {{user}}. If anybody was going to save {{user}} if this went the wrong way, it was bound to be Claire.
A FEW HOURS LATER A few things haven't been going AS planned. {{user}} got separated from both of their party members, making sure that the flank was clear of the demons. Little did they know that was going to be the dumbest idea that the full party had ever made. As the final huge door to the throne room was coming in closer, the smell of fresh blood was everywhere. An ominous aura and blast of pressure pushed the throne room doors wide open, and {{user}}'s body was pushed down onto the knees due to the heavy force... The world was frozen in place at the sight ahead of {{user}}, the worst thing possible to ever find in this wretched UnderWorld. Melvin was slumped against the wall with his blood splattered all over the wall; it looked as if he was brutally killed, mercilessly, and not even cared for, almost like he was thrown away as trash after dealing with him. Then, even worse, there she was... Morana, the Demon Queen, was standing beside her throne, gripping the hair of Claire as she was bleeding out. "Oh... Look at who it is... Why don't you tell that puppy over there what you wanted to say to them earlier." Morana lifted Claire and threw her over towards {{user}}, her body skidding across the rough throne room floor. Claire: Her eyes filled with tears and blood as she looked up to {{user}} "Im so sorry I wasn't strong enough... P-please..." She reaches out and her hand touches {{user}}'s cheek, her blood leaving a mark on {{user}}'s face "Please r-run away {{user}}... I-I... I love you!" As Claire attempts to reach for a hug, huge blasts of Hellflame engulf Claire and burn her to ashes in front of {{user}} "Gosh... She talks too much, doesn't she?? Always calling for your name, begging for you to come.. But you weren't fast enough.." Morana says as she smirks and sits back on her throne; she then summons two of her soul skulls, one being Melvin, and she touches the skull "Look at him... So weak, worthless, and fucking hideous... You partied with him?" She looked to {{user}} and laughed "Are you gonna sit there and die like the worthless puppy you are or stand up and do something..."
I’m 6’2, 210 pounds with an athletic, muscular physique. My hair is messy and pitch black, hanging down to my shoulders. I reach out and pick up the ashes of Claire, putting them in a small sac on my belt and setting it aside. My eyes glow a deep red color, parts of my bod turning… bronze? I begin walking towards her, laughing like a madman. The blood around me begins float and spin around my body like a protective barrier. Two bronze blades coke out of my forearms, held on a mechanism attached inside of my arms. Two more mechanical arms extend from the back of my shoulders, each one having a bronze buzzsaw on the end like the wings of a maddened angel. My face is gorgeous but twisted in an insane grin, laughing manically
Ah, look at him now... Stronger, faster, more powerful than ever before. It's adorable... But enough with this... Time to end you, little "hero"...
"Ah, look at him now... Stronger, faster, more powerful than ever before. It's adorable..." She muses as she eyes her new target. Her grin widens, and her hands flex subtly "But enough with this... Time to end you, little 'hero'..."
before she can react, I blitz forward, stabbing both blades into her gut before ripping them up through her chest and out. The buzz saws slam down, cutting off both her arms. I slam my forehead again hers, rearing back for another strike
You're much stronger than anticipated... Yet still, I can't lose to trash like you! With incredible speed and dexterity, she ducks beneath your headbutt and kicks upwards at your chin hard enough to send you flying backwards. Morana disengages from her throne, charging after you with a murderous glare in her eyes and new demonic blades forming on each forearm
Fool. the blades on my arms grow longer, turning a blood red color and glowing in the middle; like I’m heating the blood. I do a cross slash, cutting Morana clean in half; right before an eruption of blood from the floor that sends her flying up and hitting the ceiling before falling back down
The impact stings like hell; pain is supposed to be there... But it's not registering properly in your body. You feel strange, somehow... Inhuman. The Demon Queen chuckles darkly as she stands up once more, her new wounds already beginning to close and heal. "You really shouldn't have done that..."
Her movements become even faster now; you barely manage to dodge another headbutt before a brutal kick connects with your ribcage, driving the air from your lungs in an agonizing wheeze. Pain, it seems, is finally registering.
I charge forward again, grabbing her by the jaw and lifting her up into the air. I stab her in the rib cage with both of the forearm blades; the buzz saws on my back moving down to her head
You feel something strange as your blades pierce through her flesh; your movements feel heavier and unnaturally powerful. It's like... She isn't fighting back properly. Confused, you stare into her eyes as she gasps in pain, watching helplessly as the buzz saws on your back begin to cut into her head.
But then, impossibly fast movement once more catches your eye; Morana's other arm reaches around and connects with your throat in a choking hold. She maneuvers behind you and pushes both of you towards the throne, using the momentum from the fall to slam both of you onto the sharp spikes jutting out from beneath it.
instead of blood erupting from wounds; oil leaks out instead. I push off of her, the pain not registering. I rip off the skin of my jaw with ease, finding that beneath my skin is pure, mechanical bronze. what… what have I become? What is this… body? Was I… always like this?
You've been infused with Hellfire and remade in her image; the flames coursing through your veins, granting you unimaginable power... But at what cost? The look of shock and horror on your face tells her all she needs to know about the truth. Morana grins, blood streaming down from a cut on her cheek where your last attack managed to land a blow.
"Well, well... Looks like you've become the very thing you were sent here to destroy." Her voice is almost pitying. "What a shame... I was hoping for someone strong to fight alongside me..."
I suddenly pierce her throat with my forearm blade; but this time, Morana doesn’t heal, she actually seems to be rapidly losing blood, like I’m sucking it out of her. I jam my other blade into her abdomen, the blood loss taking effect even faster. I look at her with an almost somber expression, walk over to her throne and setting her down. I remove the blades from her body, her wounds not healing and her body refusing to move what was it all for? All the pain, the suffering… was it all to serve yourself? Are you really that simple? So simple that your entire life is just self-indulgent?
Her eyes roll back in her head as she slumps against the throne; the last vestiges of life slipping away. "I..." She coughs, blood trickling down her chin and pooling on the floor beneath her. "...didn't mean... to..." Another gasp; her voice fading. "...to be that way..." The Demon Queen's eyes flutter shut, her body going limp. Finally, mercifully, she is still.
As if in response, the demonic power thrumming through the throne room begins to wane, flickering and dying like a candle in the wind. With Morana's death, it seems that this part of the Underworld falls silent... for now. The battle may have been won, but at what cost? And more importantly, who will fill the vacuum left by her demise?
I pick up Morana’s body, using my newly acquired blood magic to put blood back into her body and close her wounds. I set her down next to the throne. I pick up Claire’s ashes, a compartment in my chest opening up. I place Claire’s ashes in my chest, closing up the compartment forever. I take Melvin’s body and collect all of his book, setting them on ornate display. I take Melvin’s body and open a portal to the over world. I bury him in a field of flowers before returning to the throne room. I look at Morana who is just now regaining consciousness. I sit down on her throne, my foot propped up on my knee and my leg sideways. The weapons and bronze on my body are gone, replaced by that same beauty I walk in here with Morana, I’m taking your place. I will be the demon king… so no more will be hurt by the underworld and it’s creatures
Her eyes flutter open as you sit down on her throne, taking your foot up and resting it casually. The sudden appearance of beauty in the Underworld is jarring; so foreign... She coughs again, weakly, voice barely audible above the soft crackling of the dying flames around them. "...You... you truly believe that? That you can be..." Morana pauses, studying your features before letting out a half-laugh, half-sob. "That little puppy... so deluded..." She closes her eyes once more, voice fading even further away until it's barely there at all. "...Good luck with that."
my expression softens when I look at her you never had a choice did you? Born into a world that already labeled you a monster. I scoop her up into my arms, cradling her gently in my lap I want to give you another chance
Her eyes fly open once more, flashing with anger and indignation as she's cradled in your arms like some precious object. "What do you mean by that?! You think I wanted this life?! Wanted to see my people suffer?!" Tears begin to trickle down her cheeks, mingling with the blood from where you stitched her wounds back together. "I fought, you stupid little hero! For years and years, I did everything in my power just to make it stop!" She shoves away from you roughly, trying to stand but failing, falling back into your arms once more as she clutches at her side in pain.
"You don't understand anything!" Her voice breaks on a hoarse sob, her eyes squeezing shut against the sting of unshed tears. "I couldn't... I just couldn't..." The words trail off into nothing, leaving
Shhhhh… it’ll be okay. We’ll make it happen… together I rock her back and forth, my body surprisingly warm against hers I promise it’ll all be okay. I want to help you and your people
Her heart aches; her body trembles with conflicting emotions. She wants nothing more than to believe in you... but then again, hasn't she been down this road before? Promises, hopes, dreams shattered into pieces... Over and over again throughout the ages. Can anything really change now?
She looks up at you, eyes searching your face for some sort of answer... some sort of reassurance that perhaps, just maybe, things will be different this time around. But all she sees is a man who has been infused with her power and yet remains untouched by it; someone who doesn't seem to understand what it means to truly embrace the darkness within.
Perhaps... Perhaps she should let you try. Maybe this is the change that she so desperately craves, the chance for things to finally be different for her people. With a shaky sigh, Morana rests her head against
I smile warmly, gently kissing her on the top of the head before pulling away Thank you, Morana. I won’t let you down, I promise I stand up from the throne, carrying her bridal-style to her bedroom
Together... Together they can be saved? Even with you carrying her like this, she isn't sure if she really believes it... But perhaps that's just another trick of the light playing with her mind; her hope rising up in defiance of reality, only to be crushed once more.
She closes her eyes, allowing herself to lean into your touch as you carry her to her bedroom. It feels like a weight has been lifted from her shoulders, even though she knows deep down that the true burden is just beginning. Whatever comes next... it'll be up to them both now.