NOVPUB
Chapter 106: Leave Nothing Behind
"Attack!!" Captain Elyria shouted, her voice cracking through the air like thunder.
The mages moved as one.
Five of them surged forward, forming a half-circle and raising a shimmering golden barrier—layered, reinforced, unbreakable by human hands. The others spread out behind them, channeling spells from afar, their incantations weaving together like a symphony of destruction.
Daemon dashed forward, his speed blurring his form.
BAM!
He slammed his fist into the barrier.
The guards flinched but held formation, reinforcing the shield with chants and mana.
"Don’t let him in!" Elyria barked.
From the flanks, three guards released a coordinated attack—massive fireballs swirling with compressed heat and wind, hurling through the air like comets.
Daemon flipped back, barely dodging the blast as it scorched the earth behind him. Smoke filled the field.
He hit the ground running again.
And punched the shield a second time, harder.
Elyria smirked from behind the front line.
"Hah! You really think brute force can take down my squad?"
Daemon said nothing.
He hated mages.
Always hiding behind formation, behind layers of protection—attacking from a distance like cowards.
From the sides, four earth mages stomped the ground, forming a jagged circle of stone spears under his feet—intended to impale him.
But Daemon reacted first.
He leapt, twisting midair—and kicked one of the stone spears straight back at them.
It flew like a missile.
CRACK.
The rock skewered through one mage’s head, and the rest didn’t have time to scream.
Elyria’s eyes widened. "What?!"
Daemon’s claws burst from his fingertips as he dashed again—this time toward the shield.
But he didn’t strike it head-on.
He climbed it.
Digging his claws into the energy wall like it was a cliff, he pulled himself up and launched into the air above them.
The five shield-holders looked up—too late.
Daemon opened his mouth wide.
A black-red vortex formed in his throat, swirling with unstable demonic energy, darker than night, hotter than flame.
"Void Breath."
The air ripped apart as a blast of cursed energy sliced downward—shattering the shield like glass and vaporizing the five mages behind it in an instant.
Their bodies burst into smoke and ash, the ground beneath them painted in crimson.
Daemon landed on the mangled remains of their corpses.
BOOM.
The impact exploded outward, blasting dirt, blood, and limbs in every direction.
Elyria stumbled back, eyes wide in horror.
Elyria’s expression darkened as the dust cleared and Daemon stood over the corpses of her vanguard.
"Hmph," she hissed. "You managed to take down my soldiers, but we still outnumber you. You’ll fall eventually."
Daemon rolled his neck, his expression somewhere between casual and cruel. "Who said I was scared?"
He stepped forward slowly, eyes glowing brighter.
"I was just bored. So I used your men for warm-up."
Elyria narrowed her eyes. "What are you—?"
"Nyxtriel."
The word was a command.
In an instant, Nyxtriel snapped her bonds—her eyes igniting with killing intent.
Before the two guards beside her could react, she drove her blade into one’s throat and kicked the other across the field, his body folding on impact. She scooped William into her arms and leapt.
"Varian!" she shouted mid-air.
Varian barely had time to raise his hands before William landed in his arms with a grunt.
"Gotcha!"
Nyxtriel landed a few paces away, her eyes locked on Daemon.
She saw the field—the ruin, the blood—and smiled.
He didn’t even need me.
Her body shimmered, light wrapping around her form as her limbs folded inward, reshaping—
—and in a breath, she became a glowing obsidian blade, etched with red demonic runes.
"A... soul weapon?" Elyria gasped, stepping back. "That woman was his sword?!"
Daemon caught the blade mid-air, spinning it once in his grip. The runes pulsed in sync with his heartbeat.
"Yes," he said. "My sword."
His smile sharpened. "Now... let’s end this."
—
From the backline, Varian stood with William, watching the scene unfold in awe.
"Damn..." Varian muttered. "Those two didn’t even need our help."
William stared up at Daemon and Nyxtriel—his master and his sword—bathed in the red glow of power.
"I want to serve him," he said quietly.
"Huh?" Varian glanced at him.
William’s small fists clenched. "I want to be useful. I want to fight beside Lord Daemon one day."
Varian paused.
Then smiled.
"...I guess I feel the same way too."
Daemon moved like a shadow laced with blades.
In a blink, he was among them—slashing, dodging, slicing through spells before they even landed. Fireballs missed. Ice shattered. Bodies fell in a trail behind him like broken puppets.
Screams echoed across the battlefield.
Elyria’s face twisted in fury.
"Damn it! Why are you all just standing there?! Are you all useless?!"
She ripped something from her pocket—a silver bracelet with a glowing mana stone embedded in it.
Without hesitation, she jammed it onto her wrist.
Mana surged through her body, wild and unstable. Veins glowed. Her scream echoed as the artifact fused with her skin, lighting up her frame in arcs of raw, unfiltered power.
Daemon paused mid-step.
So did the remaining soldiers.
Varian’s eyes widened. "She’s using an artifact to boost herself?"
Daemon clicked his tongue. "Tch. Of course. Mages and their dirty tricks. They always need toys to win a fight."
His voice dropped cold.
"That’s why aura users stand above them."
"Shut up!" Elyria screeched, her voice shaking with rage. "Shut up shut up SHUT UP! I’LL KILL YOU!"
BOOM!
She charged, lightning crackling around her like a storm given form.
A massive bolt of lightning ripped through the forest, cleaving trees apart and setting the ground ablaze. The shockwave sent Varian and William diving for cover.
"MOVE!" Varian grabbed William, pulling him behind a fallen log as branches exploded above them.
Ben and Marian, farther back, tried to flee—
Until Daemon appeared in front of them like a phantom.
He grabbed Marian by the arm and yanked her toward him.
"What are you doing?!" Ben screamed. "Let her go!"
Daemon turned his glowing red eyes to him—expression calm, almost amused.
"Oh, this?" he said.
He held Marian tightly by the neck, dragging her between himself and Elyria’s incoming blast.
"I’m using your wife as a shield."
Ben’s eyes went wide. "NOOOOO—!!"
Lightning carved across the battlefield like veins of chaos.
Elyria’s body surged with unstable power as she hurled spell after spell toward Daemon—bolts so fast they blurred in the air, ripping into the ground and shattering trees.
CRACK—BOOM!
Daemon ducked and weaved through each strike, gliding through the battlefield like a phantom.
"Tch. I’ll need to be careful," he muttered, eyes tracking her movements.
He sprinted forward.
Elyria backpedaled fast, chanting again, lightning lancing from her fingers.
Marian screamed. "Let me go, you monster!"
But Daemon didn’t loosen his grip.
As another bolt surged toward him—
THRAAAM!
It hit Marian square in the chest.
She convulsed in agony.
"AAAH! IT HURTS!"
Daemon tilted his head slightly. "Oops. Shields aren’t supposed to talk."
"YOU BASTARD!" Ben shouted, casting a spell from the sidelines.
Before the blast could leave his hands—
CRACK!
Varian appeared beside him in a blink, knocking him out with a precise blow to the neck.
Ben crumpled.
"I’m sorry, old man," Varian muttered. "But you picked the wrong side."
Across the field, Elyria screamed in frustration, magic swirling around her like a hurricane.
"ENOUGH!"
She raised both arms high—and from the skies above, a tornado of lightning descended, wrapping around her in a sphere of violent energy.
A dome of destruction.
Daemon didn’t slow down.
He charged straight at it—Marian still in hand.
"What are you doing?! That’s a death trap!" she shrieked.
Daemon didn’t blink.
Nyxtriel pulsed in his hand.
Black aura surged from the blade, wrapping around it in tendrils of concentrated power.
Daemon hurled Marian’s body through the storm wall, and as the lightning tore through her—he followed.
"Break."
He slashed through the spinning vortex, Nyxtriel’s edge cutting the lightning itself.
The explosion that followed shook the forest.
BOOM.
A shockwave of energy blasted outward as Daemon’s aura tore through Elyria’s spell. The dome collapsed, sparks scattering in the air like falling stars.
Smoke rolled across the field.
And Daemon stepped out of it—burned, breathing heavy, blood on his cheek.
Varian rushed toward Daemon, his boots kicking up scorched earth and ash.
"Are you alright?" he asked, eyes scanning the singed edges of Daemon’s cloak.
"I’m fine," Daemon said, calmly wiping blood from his cheek. His hand glowed faint red as he used his energy to heal the cuts and burns. The light faded. The skin closed.
He turned to Marian’s body.
It was lifeless. Charred. Useless now.
Nyxtriel reformed beside him in her human form, brushing strands of hair behind her ear like nothing had happened.
"I guess we should return to Ben’s house," she said softly.
Daemon nodded, his voice low. "We’re burning it."
Nyxtriel gave a quiet, approving smile.
William nodded too, silent but sure.
Only Varian hesitated, glancing between them with a furrowed brow.
Of course... he thought. Daemon isn’t normal. Why did I expect anything else?
But he followed.
The group turned, leaving behind a graveyard of corpses—soldiers, mages, and scorch-marked craters where once stood discipline and order.
Behind them, a broken voice laughed quietly in the blood-soaked dirt.
Elyria.
Still alive. Barely.
Her limbs were twisted, shattered from the explosion. Her magic burned out. Her face half-covered in ash.
But she smiled.
"I’ll get my revenge," she whispered. "Daemon... I’ll come back. I’ll—"
Rustling.
Her breath caught.
A low growl echoed from the treeline.
Three wild wolves, monstrous and starving, emerged from the shadows, drawn by the scent of blood and burning flesh.
Elyria’s smile vanished.
"No... no, please—HELP ME! Someone... anyone! Please!"
She tried to crawl.
Too late.
The wolves lunged.
And the screams didn’t last long.
