Chương 108: Bonus Chapter! The Missing Chapter 34

Hey guys, it's Riley!! Y'all!! You did it!!! You made it to 325 Review/Ratings. Please enjoy and thank you for sticking with me!!! Emily - 17 years ago. Emily walked through the ruined throne room with her sword resting against her shoulder. The Demon Lord stood at the far end, one hand braced against the broken arm of his throne. His armor had cracked across the chest, and black blood leaked steadily between the plates. The wound in his side should have killed him already. It would have killed most things.

Emily stopped a few paces away and looked him over.

"You can still stand," she said, half impressed. The Demon Lord lifted his head. Smoke curled from between his teeth with each breath. Emily shrugged one shoulder. Her sleeve was torn near the elbow, and blood had dried along the side of her face, though she didn't seem especially bothered by either. She lowered her sword from her shoulder and let the point hover near the floor. His expression twisted.

"You speak to me as if I am an errand." Emily's eyes moved across the room. There were crumbled pillars and many many… many many dead guards. The remains of three summoned beasts near the entrance. A circle of old magic still glowed faintly beneath the throne, though most of its lines had been cut during the fight.

"You made yourself into an errand. Why do you lot always have to push for more and more power? Just be content with what you've got." The Demon Lord's fingers tightened around the throne. Stone cracked beneath his grip.

"I burned kingdoms." Emily sighed in annoyance.

"I drank the blood of the saintess."

"You keep talking about that like it's impressive. She was an old lady in her eighties." Emily replied, then she shifted her stance. For a moment, the Demon Lord only stared at her. Then he laughed. It was a low sound that stirred the ash on the floor around him. His hand moved toward the massive blade lying beside the throne, and Emily watched without hurrying him. He wrapped his fingers around the hilt and dragged it free, the edge scraping a dark line through the stone.

"You have no reverence," he said.

"Blah blah blah… is this the incoming speech?" His eyes narrowed. Emily raised her sword with a taunting smile on her face. The Demon Lord struck out at her. The first strike came down hard enough to split the floor where Emily had been standing. She stepped aside before it landed, letting the force carry him a little too far forward. Her sword flicked out and opened a clean cut along the inside of his wrist. He pulled back with a hiss. Emily didn't press him. She just waited.

He came at her again, this time with a series of heavy, sweeping cuts that would have carved through armor, bone, and stone alike. Emily moved between them with small adjustments, never retreating more than she had to. When his blade passed close enough to tug at her hair, she turned her shoulder and let it miss by less than an inch. His strength was still monstrous but he had no rhythm in a one on one fight. Emily had seen it in warlords, liches, and even dragon kings.

Strength meant little if you didn't know how to use it. The body always told the truth eventually. His left foot dragged after the third swing. His grip slipped after the fourth. His side opened farther each time he turned. The Demon Lord feinted high, then drove his knee toward her stomach. Emily caught the movement early and stepped in close. Her elbow struck the cracked plate over his ribs. The impact drove a sharp breath from him, and she followed with a cut across the back of his thigh.

He stumbled and the floor trembled as he caught himself.

"Fight me!" He snarled.

"I am." Emily looked at him for a long moment. She saw it in the half-second pause before his next strike. He wanted fury or he wanted fear. The demon lord wanted the last person standing before him to carry the weight of everything he had done. Emily had carried enough weight. The Demon Lord lifted his sword with both hands and gathered the remaining darkness around him. The old magic beneath the throne flared, and the air tightened until the torches along the walls guttered low.

His shadow stretched across the ruined floor, reaching almost to Emily's feet. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon. She watched the spell build. Then she threw her sword. It struck the cracked center of his breastplate before the magic released. The blade sank through metal and bone with a dull, final sound. The darkness collapsed inward. The Demon Lord stared down at the hilt protruding from his chest.

His mouth was opened, but whatever last words he had prepared did not come. Emily crossed the distance, placed one hand against the guard of her sword, and pushed until the blade drove fully through him. His body went still. Emily held him there for a moment to be certain, then twisted the sword. The Demon Lord died before he hit the floor. Emily - 14 years ago"Why!?" The false god yelled into Emily's face, spittle hitting her cheek.

"I am the only reason you…" He coughed as her sword pushed deeper into his chest.

"Had a place to call home. We could have been great togeth…" Emily twisted the sword, hearing the familiar cracking sound as ribs popped and organs ruptured.

"Ew." Is all she said in response. The false god's limbs went limp as he died. Emily 10 years ago. The Elder Lich Queen fell to the ground. As her soul core was shattered by Emily's sword tip she began smoking and turning to ash. Outside of her throne room her hordes of undead fall to the ground and begin doing the same. Emily 5 years ago. Emily stood on the black shore with her sword in one hand and sea water running from her coat.

The World Serpent rose from the ocean before her, its body coiled beyond the horizon. Each movement dragged waves backward and exposed miles of glistening seabed. Ships lay broken against its scales, and the clouds above it turned slowly from the force of its breath. Emily looked up at its head and sighed.

"You're larger than the last one." The serpent's eye opened, gold and ancient, wide enough to swallow the moon's reflection. The voice that answered rolled through the water and stone.

"You have come to die, little blade." Emily adjusted her grip.

"Yeah sure. Whatever." She had heard these sorts of threats from dead gods, and eldrich beings with too many mouths to count. The serpent laughed, and the shore split beneath her boots. Emily stepped away from the crack without looking down. The serpent struck. Its head came down with enough force to empty the bay. Emily moved before the jaws closed, running along one curved fang as it buried itself in the shore. Salt spray hit her face which she ignored.

As she climbed, Emily drove her sword into a scale near its jaw, and used the hilt to keep her footing when it thrashed. The serpent twisted, trying to throw her into the sea. Emily held on, easily and unbothered.

"You are persistent," it said.

"I get that a lot." She pulled the sword free and moved higher, cutting between scales where the hide thinned near the skull. The wounds were small and insignificant. The serpent reared back, dragging half its body from the ocean. Its coils rose around the shore, closing the horizon behind walls of black scale. The air tightened as it gathered breath deep in its throat. Emily reached the crown of its head and knelt beside the ridge between its eyes. The serpent paused.

"You think that sword can reach my heart?"

"No. But the divine blood poison will." Emily reversed her grip and drove the blade straight down. The serpent screamed. Her sword sank through bone into the knot of pale tissue beneath, the one place every ancient serpent kept the first nerve of its body. Emily leaned her weight into the hilt and turned it until the scream cut off. The coils crashed into the sea. The great eye beneath her clouded. As the poison spread and paralyzed portions of its body, they collapsed under their own weight.

Emily sheathed her sword and sat down, waiting. The World Serpent died. Emily a few weeks ago. The edge of the cliff was beautiful this time of the day. The sun was setting and it was doing that beautiful pink sky thing that only happened when there was pollutants in the air. Behind her the Ancient one writhed, pinned to the eldritch eating rune she carved into the rock face. The sword was enchanted to move only for the being it was soul bonded to.

"That's what I meant." She called back to the mass of tentacles and eyes.

"This is the only good part of pollution. I mean look at it." Emily kicked her legs casually as the Ancient one slowly evaporated. She knew she had to wait for the rune to eat the whole thing. Not that she had a choice. After ten minutes of watching the majesty of the sky do its thing, the Ancient One was finally no more. — The beautiful sky was replaced with an all-too-familiar face and a bright sunny day.

"... t's why I can't imagine going anywhere without him." Torrie finished explaining.

"Uh huh." Emily replied. She was so tired. So so tired.

"So? What else is new with you? You never come back to town. It's been what, eight years since you…" Torrie vanished. As usual. She was replaced by complete darkness. This happened sometimes. It was most likely because she had been standing in bright daylight and was brought somewhere with just candles.

"W…what!?" A haughty voice exclaimed.

"No. No no no."

"Apologies but the fact that it worked at all…" An old woman's voice tried desperately to explain. The first voice scoffed at the woman as if she were an idiot.

"Fine. You there human! What am I supposed to call you?" Emily's eyes finally started adjusting and something completely new took form. She was staring at averaged sized people… but they had wings and horns. Were they a type of demon or something? She realized she hadn't responded after a few seconds.

"Uh…" She was startled. Startled more than ever before. This has never happened. Forty-four times and it's always been the same Emily. She reached up and touched her face. There was a chiseled jawline and stubble and short hair. She felt around at herself. Her chest was flat and hard. After a moment she realized she could feel something touching fabric in her pants. She was male for the first time. She realized again she still hadn't answered the question. If she was male, she couldn't very well call herself Emily.

So she scrambled for a name. She settled on her husband's name in her twenty sixth summon.

"My name is… Gerard."