The Author's POV

The color blue dominated the world within the Pillar of Pride.

A hazy, dark blue mist covered the entire landscape, with small peaks sprouting from beneath the mist.

The world seemed tranquil, but within the blue mist, all sorts of colorful lights flashed from within.

They carried different hues, and they flashed continuously. It wasn’t until the mist suddenly split apart to reveal several figures that the tranquility that lay within the world broke apart.

“Aarrrgh!”

A loud shout reverberated through the air, and a powerful wave of mana burst forth from Octavious’s hand.

It directly shot toward a demon in front of him, and shortly after, the demon’s figure disintegrated into nothing. 

“…” 

Silence returned to the world after that, and just as Octavious felt himself relax, an urgent voice rang from behind him.

“Behind you!”

Boom—!

He didn’t have enough time to react, and before he knew it, a powerful force blasted past his back, and he found himself hurling forward, eventually crashing against the hard ground beneath. 

“Akh.”

Octavious groaned in pain, using both hands to help himself up.

SHIIING—! SHIIING—!

He could hear the sound of fighting behind him, and he just barely stopped himself from collapsing again. The force of the impact was a lot stronger than he had anticipated. 

‘I’m glad Gervis is with me.’

Who would’ve thought he’d have such thoughts? While he wasn’t the same Octavious as in the past, he remembered everything that had happened in the past and didn’t think he would work well with Gervis.

He was wrong.

“Oy! Are ya helping me or not?”

Gervis’s voice broke him out of his thoughts, and Octavious disappeared from the spot, reappearing right in front of another demon. With his fist clenched, he threw a fist in the demon’s direction, and a powerful blast reverberated through the air.

Boom—!

The demon’s body hurled back several meters after the contact, and Octavious moved to where Gervis was.

SHIIING—! SHIIING—!

Wearing his armor, Gervis was currently dealing with two Prince ranked demons at once, and even though he seemed to be having a hard time, Octavious could tell he wasn’t disadvantaged in the least.

With his large gun like device and powerful shield that activated whenever a demon appeared, he wasn’t prone to sneak attacks, making things a lot easier for him.

His maneuverability was a bit questionable, but it wasn’t anything to be worried about, considering the defensive mechanism installed in his suit.

Booom—!

Arriving before one of the demons hounding Gervis, Octavious thrust his fist forward, and just by a few inches, he managed to hit the demon in the abdominal area. 

“Ueakh!”

Sensing the demon scattering away with an agonized scream, Octavious retrieved his fist. 

“Octavious!”

At the same time, the demon crumbled into dust, Gervis’ eyes sharpened, and the ray gun in his hand flickered with a green light as a powerful wave of mana sprouted in the air. 

It was a process that took several seconds, and under normal circumstances, it would have been difficult to pull off this move; however, he wasn’t alone in this endeavor.

Clank—! Clank—!

With Octavious helping him, Gervis had no trouble gathering up the mana required to charge the weapon, and his weapon flickered even more wildly as a large hue enveloped the area they were in.

The residual mana coming out of the gun killed all the weaker demons around them, leaving behind only the powerful ones who warily stared at Gervis’s weapon.

Many tried to interfere with his gathering process, but with Octavious next to him, it was of no use. 

“Now!”

Gervis shouted, and Octavious disappeared from where he was.

WHIIIING—! Almost immediately after that, an enormously powerful beam shot out of the gun in the direction of the demon, who was unable to react in time and was struck head-on as a result.

Surprisingly, or unsurprisingly, the attack passed through every demon that it had a chance of meeting, and wherever it passed, it left nothing behind. 

This included the mist that parted along the path of the beam, finally revealing what looked to be a forest with trees that seemed to tower in the hundreds of meters. 

There were some demons that managed to dodge, but they were in the minority, as most of them died instantly from the beam. 

“Shit.”

Seeing that he hadn’t killed all of the demons, Gervis cursed and reloaded his weapon before hastily pointing it toward his right side.

He felt something dangerous coming from there. 

WHIIING—!

Unfortunately, his attack missed completely. 

“Careful!”

Right as he was getting ready to reload his gun again, a loud shout echoed behind him, and that was when Octavious appeared. 

BOOOM—! A powerful force erupted from behind Gervis as Octavious’s fist clashed against another first, and circular pressurized wind rings spread from the point of contact between the two attacks.

“Ukh!” 

The wind was so powerful that Gervis was forced to take several steps back.

When he finally managed to stabilize himself, he was surprised to see Octavious standing before him with a rough breath.

“Ha… ha…haa… That…” 

In spite of his labored breathing, he appeared to be completely unharmed, which was not the case for the demon, who looked exhausted. 

Gervis wasn’t one to waste time. Since the opportunity presented itself, he didn’t waste a single second and pointed his gun toward the demon in front of him. 

His movements were swift, and pressing the trigger, a beam composed of mana shot directly toward the demon, who was only barely able to dodge the attack.

Spurt—!

Still, it did manage to graze the demon, and that was all that Octavious needed. After materializing behind the demon, he pressed his hand against the creature’s back and directed all of his mana into its back. 

Wooom—!

A terrifying wave of mana swept across the surroundings, and the demon’s body vanished into thin air, leaving behind a dark core in the air. 

Without hesitation, Octavious reached out for the core. He had just firmly grasped it in his hand when, all of a sudden, he felt a subtle breeze, and his entire body lightened. 

Swoosh—!

“Uh?!” 

“I’ll have to ask you to stop. He’s a rather dear subordinate of mine. I wouldn’t want him to die such a pathetic death.”

A voice that seemed to harmonize with the surroundings suddenly echoed, and Octavious’s entire body stiffened on the spot.

‘What happened? Why can’t I move?’

It was much to his horror that Octavious realized that he couldn’t move a single finger of his body.

“I’ll be taking this.”

His heart dropped the moment he felt his hand lighten up, but at the same time, he was able to catch a glimpse of what the one responsible looked like, and his expression hardened.

‘He…’

The first thing that hit him was the overwhelming presence he gave out. 

Standing before him, Octavious was reminded of his helpless days with the Protectors and how strong they were.

He had always thought that the only one who could ever reach the same level as the Protectors was the demon king, but it seemed like he had made a grave mistake.

The demon that stood before his very eyes was one such existence, and despair filled every inch of Octavious’s body.

All of a sudden, a black hue sprouted out from the demon, and the core in its hand started to shake. Shortly thereafter, the core jumped out of its hands, and a demon materialized from it. 

“I apologize for my incompetence, Prince Andria.” 

The demon apologized with their head lowered. One could tell from the tone of their voice that they truly felt remorseful about the situation. 

“You were indeed quite incompetent.” 

Prince Andria nodded his head. He indeed found his subordinate to be quite incompetent. The fact that they had almost died at the hands of two inferior creatures… 

“…I’ll deal with you later; we have more important things at hand.” 

  Prince Andria turned his head to stare at Gervis and Octavious. Under his direct scrutiny, the two of them suddenly found themselves unable to breathe as a terrifying pressure bore down on them from all sides. 

“Quite the prideful duo. Not bad…”

A strange praise, and the Prince’s mouth curled, if ever so slightly. 

“I’ll make it quick, then.” 

He extended his hand to reveal two contracts that floated atop of his palm. 

“Sign this, and join my side. How about it?” 

The way the Prince worded his words made it seem as though they had a choice, but Gervis and Octavious both knew that they had no such option. 

Either they accepted or they died. 

“Heh.” 

In the end, Gervis laughed. 

“Yer said it best not long ago, right?” 

He turned to look at Octavious, who turned his head to meet his gaze. 

“If yer know we’re prideful, yer should already be aware of our answers, right, Octavious?” 

Opening his mouth, Octavious looked at the contract in the Prince’s hand and Gervis. He eventually closed his mouth and smiled. 

“You’re rig—!!” 

BANG—! Octavious never got to finish his words. Rigth as he was about to finish his sentence, a terrifying power erupted from the area beneath him and clamped at the back of his neck. 

“Octavious!?” 

The sudden situation startled Gervis, who quickly drew his weapon, but it was a tad too late. Before Gervis could even fire his weapon, Octavious found his body hurling toward Prince Adrian’s direction, and a fist soon came into contact with his chest. 

BANG—! 

“Uakh!” 

It was a pain unlike any other, and Octavious felt his chest cave in at the force of the impact. If that wasn’t bad enough, the Prince’s grip on his neck didn’t loosen, and a knee came hurling at his abdominal area, hitting him cleanly there. 

BANG—! 

“Akghhh!” 

Spit and what seemed to be blood spilled out of his mouth as his back hunched. For a moment, he felt his heart stop and his vision blur. 

pαndα,noνɐ1,сoМ

BOOOOM—! 

Crashing against the ground beneath him, the corner of his eyes started to darken, and so did his consciousness, which was on the verge of slipping. 

Tap. Tap. Tap. 

The last thing he heard was the sound of a couple of soft footsteps that stopped right before him. 

“Beg me.”