The moment Arlosse saw the horse and took in its deep desire to protect its master despite being injured, a thought rapidly sprang up in his mind; it was something that he had been introduced to rather recently.The Bond System.After completing the First Floor, he was given a new privilege that allowed him to create bonds with living creatures and have them accompany him on his trials to become the Hateful Demon Tyrant.At once, the Incarnate imagined himself astride the large white horse as its master, having completed the conditions required to earn its loyalty and invoke the Host Guide’s Bond System. It was a fleeting image, but it was wonderful indeed.The Incarnate felt a tug at his heart… hearts. Perhaps, a greater contributing factor to how he was suddenly compelled to charge forth and kill the demons now attempting to breach the tall walls of ice the white horse had created, was that he had also had a loyal horse he had known for a time in his previous life.The horse had bee
The tall demon was adorned in a scale armor that featured bursts of rugged, brown fur at the joints on his steel bracers and just above his greaves. What looked like a scarf of braided blonde human hair was wound around its neck, pairing beautifully with his pale, yellow skin.The demon was rather handsome. He had sharp features on his face that were all nearly human-like except for two small extra eyes on either side of his face. His long, dark hair cast a shadow over his face and as he looked from the hulking warrior to Arlosse, his fury was unmistakable.The great, bloody battle axe in his hand was suddenly suffused by a raging crimson tide of energy the likes of which the Incarnate had yet to see on any demon much less a weapon.“What is going on here, hybrid?” he said in a sharp tone, his blood-red eyes constricting on Arlosse’s figure. “I desperately wish, for your sake, things are not as they appear.”Arlosse stammered.He wanted to speak and quickly explain, but something abou
A young human soldier had appeared, begging for his life, tears spilling from his eyes which bulged at the sight of Arlosse.He shook and retreated to the wall of the protrusion, looking as though he’d seen a ghost. The degree of terror in his eyes intensified tenfold.Arlosse raised a brow.What had this young man expected to see when he leaped out pleading for his life? Was he, Arlosse, that ugly?The Incarnate looked closely at the trembling mess of a man.The young man had dirty blonde hair, a square-ish face and downturned, brown eyes. He was wearing a surprisingly high-quality armour. It didn’t look as though it had weathered through any conflict at all in the last three hours and however long the battle had been raging on before Arlosse showed up.Curious…The Incarnate didn’t let his guard down at the sight of this human, but he didn’t feel enough of a threat from him to keep his sword pointing at his face.He scoffed and muttered, “You look like you haven’t spent a day on the
Arlosse snorted.“Now’s the right time?” he said, but his thoughts were busy with everything else that the young human warrior had said.A great human Emperor?The mention of another authority figure spurred Arlosse’s mind. This place, the entirety of the ten Floors he was supposed to go through, was called Bahathraden, the Compound Demesne of Fallen Authorities. Did it mean that the nature of each Floor would revolve around an authority figure? A King, a Queen, an Emperor, a Lord, a Prince and whatnot?That seemed to be the theme.But this Triayt the Unbecoming was long dead. Did that mean Arlosse didn’t have to interact with the authority in focus within the Floor? Was he, perhaps, meant to grapple with the ideals left behind by Triayt? The story the young warrior had shared so far, was livid with Triayt’s ideals. The bastard had actually informed the demons about this relic, the Last Shard, which he had hidden away to ‘deliver the world’. What did that even mean?But then…‘I’m a d
(A/N: This is the only chapter written in First Person)."Please, I beg of you! Please spare my family! I'll do anything! I'll give you anything!" the man whom I presume is a husband to the quivering woman behind him, and a father to the ghastly pale boy of probably no more than ten years, clutching his arm viciously, screams.I sigh.There is nothing this man can offer me that can change his fate, after all, I am after his and his family's lives.His pleas only make me grip my saber tighter. Let me get this over with.The longer they stare at me like this – with terror and dwindling hope – the more upset I become. But I do not show it with my face.I raise my saber and take a step forward, an action that the man before me responds to by burning away the pathetic, torn visage he has had on all this time, and donning a feral one.A desperate one.He lunges at me while calling for his wife and son to escape, but his attempt, while admirable for a common man, does not amount to much.I
Incarnate ^8001.He didn't know what that meant, but he was more concerned about the bizarre phenomenon happening around him. What was that voice?What was happening to him?What was that light?He wanted to speak, but it seemed his form of existence at present was too abstract. Not abstract enough for him to exist without emotion though.He began to panic as a normal person placed in this situation would.Thankfully, it didn't seem like he was trapped here.The dark surroundings suddenly whirled, and by some identifiable metric, he managed to understand that he was moving. He was falling at a controlled speed.A moment later, everything changed.An odd space covered his entire view.It was what seemed like a small room. All of its dimensions – which assumed a perfect cubical shape together – spotted the same twilight fog hue, with no distinction from anything up, down, left, or right.Bizarre.Really bizarre.There was only silence in this place for a while.An uncomfortable silenc
The ambiance of an expanse registered. Then a slight cool. Something was prompted to react to the environment, which had a coolness to it. Incarnate ^8001 awakened to the taste of dirt, and the ruthless pelting from grains of what felt like sand to his face. He blinked a couple of times and then stood up from where he had been lying down. He felt very stiff, and oddly restrained, as though he had gears that hadn't been oiled in a very long time. Of course, if you asked the new Incarnate what a gear was, he would wear a puzzled face. Perhaps to him, the better analogy would be, that he felt like unwashed armor, full of dirt at the joints. He stretched subconsciously and found his condition to improve only slightly. He was still so stiff. "Why do I feel so...?" he had begun to speak when it finally smote him. "I have a body! I can speak!" He looked frantically at his body and fondled every part of himself that didn't resist. He indeed had a body, but it was unlike the one he ha
Mustering every bit of strength that he could wring from his quickly weakening body, Incarnate ^8001 forced himself to backpedal down the way he had come and tumble down the rise he had just scaled.He fell down, eating a mouthful of sand in the process, and thudded onto the somewhat soft sand floor.He took deep breaths as his hearts thundered in his chest, only relaxing after a full two minutes had passed.'What manner... of heretic object is that?!' he wondered while laying his hand over his chest and feeling the vibrations from his flesh. 'Were those people worshipping it?' he added in thought, his skin tingling dreadfully.The Incarnate had never really been religious in his past life, though not because he didn't have the desire for it his whole life, but because of a lack of time to commit. His conscription into the army, which led him to brave endless trials between the borders of life and death for twenty years, encouraged a more 'natural' pragmatic thought process.What he j