Why Did You Summon Me?

The lone stranger — who had a sorcerer’s armor on — standing before the horde of demons was akin to a leaf bracing for a thunderstorm.

None of the distraught soldiers cheered, as they regarded the stranger’s actions as an attempted suicide. Only Dante the hound looked spirited; after shouting at the top of his voice for a while, he urged the other soldiers to gather together and ready their weapons.

No one paid him any mind, though. The other sorcerers had lost all hope, so they secretly plotted to flee the moment the city gets overwhelmed.

The armored stranger stirred. He glared coldly at the demon horde stampeding towards him and raised his right hand. “Sleep in the dirt, where you belong.”

The stranger then balled his right hand into a fist.

Suddenly, blazing black flames appeared out of nowhere, and before anyone could react, the roaring flames had coalesced into a wall, blocking off the demons. The Abyss Lord, who was at the rear of the demon army, felt terrified when it spotted the black flames.

The Abyss Lord had never seen anything like those black flames before, so it figured that the flames had not been created by a demon or a human. However, the Abyss Lord was instinctively terrified of the flames, so it decided to make a wise choice — retreat.

Demons were not known for heeding orders, especially orders to retreat. They already struggled to maintain their battle formations during the attack. The small demons came to a stop when they saw the black flames, but the large demons foolishly lumbered forward and tried to force their bodies through the wall of black flames. It was as though they wished to test its might with their flesh.

The Devil Walker once said to Baiyi, “The most insolent of my kind are very stupid; they don’t even know how to protect themselves from danger.”

A jaw-dropping scene followed. When the large demons, which the soldiers considered imposing and terrifying, reached the other side of the flame wall, they had become ash. Rushing winds quickly blew by and dispersed the ash!

The other demons sensed something awry and immediately stopped, reluctant to approach the ghastly wall of black flames. The demons’ march was not synchronized, and while the demons at the forefront of the horde had suddenly stopped — after watching the demons in front get burned to a crisp by the wall of flames — the demons at the rear continued marching forward. The bumped into the demons in front of them, causing the demons at the front to be pushed forward — into the wall of flames.

Chaos ensued. By the time the demons at the rear understood what was going on, half of the horde had become food for the wall of black flames. Some demons began to scream unintelligibly, conversing with others demons in their language. It seemed as though the demons were saying “Such an evil power! Those flames are really profane! That thing defies common sense!” — words that would, in the future, be repeated by the members of the Church.

The stranger seemed to really hate demons. He raised a finger and swiped the air with it.

The wall of black flames began to burn more fiercely, and suddenly, it surged towards its demons like a rogue wave. Rings of flames separated from the fiery wall and formed a ring around the army of demons. In moments, the demons had been encircled by black flames, and with expressions of horror, they watched the circle of black flames begin to shrink towards the center.

The ring of flames soon filled out its center, and the demons that had been trapped were burned to a crisp; not even their ashes were left behind. The wall of flames then dissipated, leaving silence behind. It was as though an army of demons had not been there at all!

The scene was bone-chilling. The soldiers could not stop trembling after what they had witnessed.

“Is… Is that bloody it?! Are the enemies gone, just like that?!” A sorcerer exclaimed. “What sort of monster is that armored stranger? How did that… thing defeat an army this massive by itself?!”

“There is only one person I know who is just as powerful. That person is His Majesty. So, who the hell is this guy? Where did he come from? Is he really just a conman?”

“Can anyone explain what the hell happened? Does anyone know what kind of magic that was? Why did the demons just…vanish like that? Was it some sort of spatial magic?”

Although the sorcerers had just been saved from the jaws of death, they did not celebrate; instead, they began to debate loudly amongst themselves. The level of power displayed by the strange had been so unnerving, everyone seemed to forget about the victory.

“No. They did not  simply vanish,” Dante shouted. As the only person that was composed during Baiyi’s performance, Dante had observed the incident more closely than others. “They were utterly annihilated . Even their ashes were not left behind! It happened so fast; the moment the flames torched the demons, they were gone!”

“So, what in tarnation were those black flames?! Even though I was far away, I could not help but tremble…” squeaked a novice sorcerer.

“Who is this prophet? I’ve never heard of a spell that can conjure black flames!”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” Dante replied, shaking his head. “All I can think of is how lucky I am to not have gotten on his bad side.”

“Am I the only one that noticed an aura of darkness and evil in those black flames?” A sorcerer standing nearby wondered out loud. “Are you sure he’s not an enemy?”

Another sorcerer, who was crouching, tried to hold back his sobs. “If he was so p-powerful, then w-why… why did it take him so long to come to our aid?!” Tears streaked down this sorcerer’s face as he looked down at the motionless body of a young sorcerer in his arms.

“Are you questioning a fellow sorcerer’s motives? Is this not someone whose skills at sorcery eclipse yours?” Dante snapped. “Are you foolish enough to believe the mumbo jumbo that mystic peddlers say about the darkness of power?”

The sobbing sorcerer shook his head sideways and no longer spoke. The other sorcerers could be seen backing away from the sobbing sorcerers. Those that had interacted with him earlier had already begun to wash their hands of him. [1].

As there were no thought-policing organizations, such as the Church, in this era, ancient Rohlserls enjoyed the freedom to express their opinions. In this era, morality had yet to be forced on the masses, so not many people understood what was good and what wasn’t. Thus, they were not prejudiced against the concept of power, and they were not as judgmental as the people of the modern era. The people of this era did not think that the source of a man’s power could be used to measure his morality.

However, this open-mindedness was what allowed dark magic to flourish in this era. This open-mindedness also contributed the most to modern-day Rohlserlian romanticism.

Baiyi knew about the open-mindedness of the ancient Rohlserlian society. This was why he did not attempt to hide his Void Powers. The Book of Servitude’s recent inertia had reduced Baiyi’s power, so he had no choice but to rely on his Void Powers, instead.

Baiyi had no reason to hide his power. The conservative Church had not been founded yet, and no one knew what Void Energy was. He did not even have to worry about an Angel descending just to punish him.

From the moment Baiyi informed Dante the hound of his intention to help, he had been waiting for the Abyss Lord to show itself. When the seemingly-metrosexual Abyss Lord finally made its appearance, Baiyi sifted through his memories to dig up whatever he could about the demon.

When Baiyi finally discovered who this demon was, he could not contain his excitement and made a mad dash for the city wall.

Unfortunately, it had taken Baiyi some time to sift through his memories, so the Abyss Lord had been able to kill some sorcerers before he could arrive.

According to the Devil Walker, this Abyss Lord was a Terrorblade — a rare species of Blade Demons. It was humanoid in appearance and possessed great intelligence and power. Each Terrorblade had unique abilities, such as shadow creation and size expansion. Since Terrorblades were born with these unique abilities, no one else could replicate them.

No one knew how Blade Demons could mutate into Terroblades, and because the number of Terrorblades was little, it was classified as a rare species of the Endless Abyss. The superior traits possessed by Terrorblades greatly shortened the time they needed to mature, and it allowed them to subjugate other demons. Hence, most Terrorblades were Abyss Lords in the dog-eat-dog environment of the Endless Abyss.

The most interesting part of Terrorblades was that after some time, a certain organ would begin to grow in their bodies. The organ is called the ‘Fractal Horn of Inner Abysm’. It was the core of a Terrorblade’s powers. It was also a very powerful material used by humans to forge powerful weapons, such as the Advanced Abyss Horn. This horn could be used to command an army of demons.

The Fractal Horn of Inner Abysm could also be used to forge magic staffs. The horn would be used in place of magic gemstones, and its ‘Sinister Energy’ would greatly increase the potency of dark spells cast with the staff. The horns could even be used directly. If its wielder was powerful, they would be capable of displaying the unbridled power of Terrorblades!

In a nutshell, a Fractal Horn of Inner Abysm was just as valuable as a Divine Regalia. This was why Baiyi got excited when he identified the Abyss Lord. In history, Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm had appeared only three times. Reports of its sightings were always followed by bloodbaths. The horns would change hands so many times until they were lost.

Thus, Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm were extremely rare. Baiyi considered them more uncommon than the loli Mia cipher card in the Archmage’s gatcha game. In their time, the Devil Walker and the Lich Walker had tried their best to acquire Fractal Horns of Inner Abysm, but they were never able to get their hands on even one. Now, however, this extremely rare treasure was right in front of Baiyi’s eyes, so how could he not be excited? He felt as though Christmas had come early!

One question remained unanswered, though: Had this Terrorblade Abyss Lord grown its Fractal Horn of Inner Abysm?

Baiyi was sure it had. It could not call itself a true Terrorblade otherwise!