I sat on the throne, waiting for the hero that, for so long, fought his way to me. I had watched him defeat all five of my elite demon generals, and he was coming to challenge me. Maybe he will be the one.

  He wasn’t alone. He has fought with a party of heroes his entire adventure. A mage that cast high level summoning and protective magic. A bard who’s sole job was to motivate the party. A hunter that lived with the animals and able to morph into any animal that was advantageous for the scenario. A tank that could hit and take a hit. And the knight himself, with a magical sword crafted by his own hand, and blessed by the gods.

  Everything about him screamed hero. He never looked down on anyone and when he was called, he always helped those in need. It makes me jealous how loved he is, when I was casted out for being the one who cared. I was isolated, but I always wanted to help people. I was blessed and cursed at the same time.

  My parents were two slave farmers. Their magic was so weak that even a simple cut on them could kill them. They lived normal slave lives and were okay with it. Their owners treated them well and even paid them. But they knew that this was the exception, not the norm. Their owners were even excited when my mother was pregnant.

  But things took a turn for the worse. The village they lived in was attacked by barbarians and my parents tried to run, only to get captured by them. They killed my father in front of my mother and through her eyes, I could see it. All I felt was her pain. I protected her by flowing my magic into her.

  But all I did was poison her. Her body wasn’t able to handle the magic I gave her so after saving her, she grew very sick and was dying. They had to force my birth and my mother got to hold me, but she died while holding me. Or so I was told by my owners, the ones who raised me.

  I was special. I was blessed with so much power that I could do anything. I expelled so much mana that the night sky would glow from lights in the sky from the magic I gave off. I was attracting so much attention, a local master came to investigate why so much light was being produced. Only to discover that the lights weren’t from a monster but from a child.

  The owners let me go because they thought it was best to learn from real masters and not low magic wielders. That would be the last time I saw them, because they would die of natural causes before I could return to them. They left me with everything they owned. Well, what was left of it.

  Learning from the masters truly helped me control myself. I was able to control the mana I used and had complete control of my magic usage. Within three months, I was a master. I was the youngest master ever at that monastery, and I never once believed I was special.

  I was there for 20 years. While there, I was always looked down upon because I was an outsider. And a child master. But when it came down to getting things done, I always was the first to fight, or to talk, or to walk a lady across the street. I never turned down the opportunity to help people.

  But my power haunted me. My strength always had people second guess my actions. They always believed that I did this because I was looking down on people. But I was always looking up. Listening to people’s stories about their adventures, about their families, about themselves, always put a smile on my face. But it was soon to be naught. Because I was the outsider, I was always looked down upon.

  The grandmaster, who always was hesitant about my ascension, was finally convinced that I was after his spot at the top. The ones I considered peers were the ones who told him to banish me. When I received my sentence, the people rioted, but I calmed them, and told them that this was expected. I told them not to hurt a hair on their heads, and to live their lives in peace, and I was exiled.

  I never stopped helping people. That was what I wanted to do. Every village, every home, I was greeted with the cold shoulder, and a look of disgust. But when I left, I left a warm impression, and happy cheers. I always helped people, and they never knew who. Because of my ability to conceal who I was.

  I traveled west, as that was the direction where most of the help was needed. As five demented archangels, the five who would become my generals, were raveging the western lands. In their wake, people began flocking east to find refuge. I travelled into the warzone to save them.

  The skylines of the western cities were fewer and far inbetween but they were bigger and nicer. In the city of Mesquite, the massive skyline was burning from a recent stop by one of the archangels. The arrival of a new advisory sparked the interest of the self proclaimed “King of Mesquite”, the Archangel of Wraith, Alec Pierce Claremore. He arrived to challenge me as I was helping people escape.

  “Someone who isn’t afraid of death. This should be fun to cut you down.” He attacked me, flinging me into a building downtown. I looked to see him turn his fury towards the people I was trying to save. “You should’ve just died.” He raised hand to slash through everyone when a skyscraper slammed into his exact spot. I summoned a shield to protect them from the debris of the building. I float down to where he was and go back to trying to save those people.

  I felt the rubble shift under me and I covered the little girl when the ground under me melted and exploded out from where Alec was. I hold her close and protect her from the nuclear blast that Alec gave. I cover the girl in a cloth that could protect her through anything and everything. It conformed to her body and I sent her on her way with her parents.

  I turn to see Alec rising from the crater he just made. I could see his bright red face and all it did was make me laugh at the sight of his tomato red cheeks. Seeing me laugh only made him more angry.

  “No one humiliates me and gets away with it!” He screams and he explodes out from himself again, this time as an airburst nuclear blast. I’m happy I protected the parents with a protection spell as well. The spell was temporary, unlike the little girl's cloak.

  “They don’t call you ‘the Archangel of Wraith’ for nothing.” He launched at him and dodged at the last second and slammed his face into the ground. He tried to get up but I just put my foot on his head, causing the ground to shatter from the force of my boot on his head. “Now, apologize.” He tries to get up but I’m too strong for him.

  “I WILL NOT!” He tries to explode out again but I catch his energy and point my finger at him. All the energy from his nuclear blast concentrated into a little ball at the tip of my finger. “WHAT?! WHY DIDN’T I EXPLODE?!”

  “I collected all your energy and rerouted it to the tip of my finger. Now apologize.”

  “NEVER! I AM AN ARCHANGEL! I WILL…” I released the energy into his arm, completely destroying it and seeing him bleed from him. “GAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

  “What did I say?”

  “How did you…”

  “My first master taught me; that everything can die. Even gods. You just got to know what buttons to push. As an archangel, you are incredibly strong. But do you want to know your weakness?” He just stares at me. “Your own magic.”

  “Impossible.”

  “You heal incredibly fast, so the effects are usually negated. But if enough magic is put onto a single point…” I blasted his leg as I watched his arm heal. “...you can damage it. But you will heal in time.”

  “Who…are you?”

  “A man.” I turn to walk away. “The next time we meet, I want an apology to give.” I heard nothing happen, then I heard him scream. I turn to him and a sword impales into my stomach.

  “You just like the others. The ones who believe you are better than everyone and look down on us.” I look at him with my eyes.

  “If only you knew.” I flick him. My flick sends him out of the city and into orbit. I pull the sword out of me and wait for his return. I see him flying back down to me and I use his sword to stab into him. He looks up at me with a confused look. I looked at him and turned and walked away. I had beaten him senseless.

  That was the theme for all the other Archangels as well. I would enter their territory, they would challenge me, I would beat them, they would try a sneak attack or bargain for something only to try to trick me, I would finish them, and leave them speechless. I did this, while also saving others.

  But my strength made me a target. When I got back to the east, the rumor of a hero so strong that he could defeat all five archangels in one strike, made the top nobility fear me. I was being casted out, not because of my character, but because of my strength, and the fear that strength would be the end of them. After I was exiled, I said my goodbyes, told the citizens to behave, and left.

  After that, I set up in the west my own little settlement. I brought the manor I was left by my owners and set up my homestead around it. I just wanted a little bit of peace after years of saving the west from the archangels that plagued it for the past century. But peace wouldn’t last.

  Each archangel would challenge me again. On my home soil. I would turn them away, they would hit me, self defense would kick in, and they would be, how do I say it, forcibly removed from my home. But each time, they would return. Each time would change tactics, and I would always win. One encounter with the archangel of Fate, doctor William Sallisaw, I finally asked why they kept fighting me.

  “Demons live in a ‘strength rules all’ environment. When a powerful foe appears, we have to fight, and we usually die. But not you. You haven’t killed us.”

  “I don’t need to. If I ever needed, I could put you back into place.”

  “That is why we challenge you. You are not a demon, but any demon who were to defeat you, could claim the title of king. So, we challenge you. And lose. Badly.”

  “Wait, wait, wait. So, your saying, the archangels challenge me, to become king. Like the final boss of a video game?”

  “Exactly.”

  “Why don’t I just become king?” Doctor Sallisaw hesitated. Then answered.

  “They may not answer to a human. Even a powerful one like yourself.”

  “But no demon could defeat me.” I had a thought. “I have an idea.”

  “What is it?”

  “Why don’t I make up a facade of a demon who then defeats me, becoming king?” Doctor Sallisaw ponders that idea for a moment.

  “That could actually work.” Thus, Demon King Bishop Atoka was born. That was two and half centuries ago. And now, the hero was coming to stop me. And I was ready for it. Because I was done being the Demon King. I enacted so many things to change the demons and they changed, but I wanted war to end. The archangels had pledged undying fealty, but the nobility I put into place started to scheme against me, and the demon people didn’t care.

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  Only the Archangels knew of my real identity. Because they knew my magic signature and pledged to keep it a secret. Doctor Sallisaw, the archangel of Fate, knew of my plan. He knew of my desires to leave the throne. We discussed it before his encounter with the hero party.

  “Is this hero the one to slay you?”

  “Yes. I have waited 250 years for someone like him to come. I wanted someone who was kind but strong. Gentle but stern.”

  “Someone like you, sir?” His words made me stop and realized that I have been waiting for myself to come defeat me.

  “Yes. Someone like me.” I could see him lower his head in the reflection of the glass.

  “As you wish sir, in three days, the hero will be here to defeat you.” Then he sat out to test the hero. That was three days ago, and his timeline was right on schedule. I watched as the double doors at the end of my throne room opened and 6 people ran up to me with their weapons drawn. They couldn’t see me, but I was smiling under my demon style armor.

  “Demon King Atoka. You have caused damage and destruction in your quest for power. It ends here!” I stand up from my throne and walk down to them. I looked at them to scan them and understand what they could do. The hero immediately recognized what I was doing and put up a magic barrier, distorting my scan.

  “Was he scanning us?” The mage behind him asked. She began to amplify the barrier around them to block more of my magical eyes. The tank moved and stood in front of them. He bowed his head in prayer.

  “Oh dear heavenly father, please grant me the power to protect my family.” He began to glow from a holy light and his blessing began to radiate out to the whole party. I knew of the tanks blessings from his previous fights, but this one was new. It made me smile an even bigger smile. I threw my hands up.

  “Do your worst!” I gave them an opening to strike. They all came in and attacked me. I was restrained by the mage’s spell, the bard played a song to put me to sleep, the hunter came diving down in as an eagle, and pierced its big talons in my chest, and the tank charged at me. I could only smile. This is perfect.

  I broke free from the mage’s chain and grabbed the hunter and threw him at the bard like a drone. I broke my other arm free and summoned an energy shield as the tank charged at me. I challenged his strength with my own and swung my shield, throwing back to the mage. I instinctively made the gravity for the mage heavier to help her dodge him. Right as that happened, the knight stabbed me with his sword.

  “You are everything I thought you would be.” I blew him back a bit and stared at them. They all looked at me with confusion and anger as they stood up to challenge me again. “I do not wish to fight.” My words stunned them.

  “What?” I took my helmet off revealing who I was. “Wait? You're human?!”

  “Yes.” The rest of my armor disappeared, showing my normal clothes and my normal body. I was completely fine. I gave them a smile. “And I wish to come home.” The mage spoke up.

  “How could you wish to come home after the hell you brought the past 250 years.” I turn my gaze. She immediately began to feel the weight of my gaze, making her struggle to stand up and kneel down to me.

  “You should’ve seen what it was like before I took the throne. How do you think the archangels are so restrained?”

  “Be…cause of…your strength…your…majesty.” She didn’t need to say the last but it will suffice. I let go of her and she fell down. The tank ran over to her.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah. I think...” She spat out blood. Whoops. The tank turned to me. His deathly gaze was a little frightening to normal people. “What did you do?”

  “My apologies. I did not mean to use so much power.” I began to walk over to her but the entire party got in my way. I moved my hand and they slid out of my way. “You lot have so much potential.” They tried to reach for her but my movement caused them to reach a wall. “No! Julia!” I touched her head and I could feel her magic. She wasn’t dying because of me.

  “When were you going to tell them?” She looks up at me. The other looked at us confusedly.

  “What?”

  “When were you going to tell them?” Her face went pale. My face was stern. “Tell them.”

  “Tell us what?” I see her look so scared. I heard her speak to herself. “I can’t. They are my friends. If I tell them, they will isolate me.” I began to whisper into her thoughts.

  “Do you believe in them?”

  “I do.”

  “Then why fight them? I understand who you are now. But they do not. They should know. It’s killing you.”

  “GET AWAY FROM HER!”

  “Tell them.” She took a deep breath before saying what I wanted her to say.

  “He didn’t hurt me.” Her voice was soft and I could hear the sadness in her voice. “I was hurting myself.” The hero took a step forward towards her.

  “Why is that?” She looks up at him and sees the sparkles in her eyes. I could tell the relationship between these two was close.

  “The magic I use is toxic because…I am part demon.” The revelation caused a commotion between the other party members, but the hero just stared into her eyes. All he did was smile at her.

  “And I will love you just the same.” The spark in her eyes grew from his words. His eyes never left hers as her heart was won by him.

  “Heiliger Segen.” Her body began to glow as the blessing started to be absorbed into her body. I could see the color of her body return and could see his skin tone was slightly different from the others. But the hero never looked away. “That should do it.” I heard the tank walk over to us. Not as violent as he used to, but out of curiosity.

  “What did you do?” He began to look over her body and see that she had a lot more strength. “How is this possible?”

  “I gave her a holy blessing. All holy magic can be used at no penalty to her very life.” But that didn’t change his tone.

  “How can you be a demon?” I looked at them with confusion.

  “Well, when a demon and a human…”

  “HOW CAN MY TWIN SISTER BE A DEMON?!” The sudden outburst made me take a step back as the room shook from the outcry. His strength was unmatched, even amongst the tanks. The knight looked at me.

  “Doctor Sallisaw may know.”

  “I don’t want a demon to look at her. Not anymore.”

  “How can her own kind…” His hatred burned even brighter as he sized me up. The others took a step back and readied themselves to attack their own party member. But even with him towering over me, I refused to flinch.

  “She isn’t a demon. You're only saying that to make her join your side.”

  “Her blood says otherwise. She is a demon.”

  “NO SHE’S NOT!” The entire castle shook. I just stared at him. “My twin sister is a holy woman, blessed by the gods. How can a lowly demon be blessed?”

  “Being born a demon, and being a demon are two different things. I wouldn’t say she was a demon to just say it. I FELT her magic. It was killing her. And judging by your reaction, you knew.”

  “Knew what?”

  “That your actions were killing her. Yet you did nothing. You forced her to use holy magic, which in turn poisoned her.”

  “If she was poisoned, how could she be here…Alive?” The knight chimed in for me.

  “Because I was healing her.” The tank turned to the knight. “I have had to heal her after every battle and even during the battle. Your blatant disregard of her life has gone too far.” The tank turned his anger towards the knight.

  “I am her brother. I know more than some low life we found on the street.” He tried to size up the knight, but he too did not flinch.

  “I am her fiance. And I choose to walk down any path that life takes us. Together.” Awww. He punched the knight, sending him flying. He begins to walk over to the knight, who was fighting his way out of the rubble.

  “You will die before I give you the chance to marry her.” I floated in between the two.

  “You will turn and walk away. If you do not, you will not see the sunrise.” I wasn’t having it. If I were to kill anyone, it would be him.

  “And what are you going to do about it? We defeated your archangels. We came here to kill you. And that’s what I’ll do!” He thrusted his fist at me. He was laughing the whole time but when he saw his fist stopped he was confused. This 7’3 foot 300 pound behemoth was completely shocked to see his fist stopped by my pinky finger.

  “Before you start spitting words as facts, make sure they are true.” I flicked his fist with my fingers and he went flying to the opposite wall and embedded himself. I turned to the knight and offered my hand. He took it and I pulled him up.

  “I didn’t know he was going to do this.”

  “I did.”

  “How so?”

  “I’ve been watching you. After every battle, he would berate her. She would apologize as much as she could.”

  “I guess I have been so blind to that.”

  “It’s okay. He doesn’t deserve the title of hero anyway.” I began to hear movement from the opposite wall and hear his laughter.

  “So. This was your plan from the start. To corner me.” He began to laugh harder. I turn back to see him climbing out of the wall he was lodged in. “I should’ve known. My own party would betray me.” His armor began to change to a more holy suit of armor.

  “Brother, no. Don’t do this!” I turn to see him rise and hold his arms out. I could see the smile on his face.

  “It’s too late. I knew I couldn’t trust you.” He began to glow brighter. “I bring down the holy judgement from the heavens to all the heathens that stand before me.” I watched as he grew brighter and brighter. “BEHOLD! THE HOLY JUDGEMENT SPELL, ICARUS LETZTER WUNSCH!” Finally, A chance to truly spread my wings. I rose to match his height. He didn’t look at me. “You're too late, Demon King Atoka.”

  “Did you think I need to prepare anything to defeat you?” I closed my eyes. “That holy spell has that name for a reason.” I opened my eyes, revealing my glowing red eyes, contrary to my normal hazel blue eyes. “I gave it that name, because the people who used it, always did it as a way to commit genocide without feeling any remorse. Well that ends..TODAY!” I spread my phoenix wings out and could hear the call of the phoenix behind me. I grabbed the neck of the tank and all his power left him. His eyes stopped glowing from the fear I was putting into him.

  “I hate it when people look down on me.” I started to squeeze my hand around his throat. I could see him try to break free but my grip was too strong for him. He started to lose consciousness and go limp.

  “STOP!” His sister’s voice echoed throughout the throne room. I released part of my grip and turned to her.

  “He deserves to move on.”

  “Let me do it.” I look at her with a curious look. “I should be the one.” I drop him to the ground, causing the ground to crack under him. He coughs as he tries gasping for air. I float over to watch her do what she said was going to do. Kill her own brother.

  “Please. Julia.”

  “I can no longer turn away from your actions Julius. You belittled me and told me how worthless I was. Then your continued belittlement of demons was something that I kept close to me, because I was one of them. I held it in my heart because I wanted to make you proud. But what you said about me and then hurt my fiance, I cannot overlook it anymore.” She summons her staff and it turns into a spear.

  “Julius Marietta. Today, you repay the heavens for the sins you have committed.” All Julius does is laugh.

  “You will be the one to pay for the sins. Demon.” She stabs him into his chest. She goes to pull it but I stop her.

  “No. You deserve better.” I form a new staff and hand it to her. When she grabs it, it morphs into her old one.

  “Thank you.” The knight walked over and kneeled before me.

  “I pledge my undying fealty to you.” I held my hands in protest.

  “No. I must ask you for a favor.”

  “To kill the demon king, correct?”

  “Yes.” He stands up and draws his sword. “When we meet again, I wish to share a glass.”

  “That would be wonderful.” He readied his sword and stabbed me. Causing my magic to spill out of me, reverberating out from the castle. I could see the Auroras above the castle. Showing the world that I had been slain. From this day I made a vow.

  I will hide my strength from the world. I wasn’t going to be casted out anymore. I was going to hide my strength and live normally. And when I felt the time was right, I was going to give my congrats to the hero that saved me. Until we meet again, Marcus.