Supreme Swordfiend

He spoke, all his anger drained by the revelation of her identity.

“Leon Knox. Swordsman.”

Versa frowned at his curt reply and for a moment, Leon thought about running. For all her feigned emoting, her eyes remained static, filled with a singular need.

Hunger. She didn’t even pretend to hide it, smiling so sweetly while her eyes dissected you. Leon nearly missed her next words, his focus suffering after the events of the day.

“Leon, you don’t mind if I call you by name, do you? Oh good! I’m sure dear little Zerasos handed you our letter. Such a pleasant boy he is. Silly me, I’m getting ahead of myself- you are interested in joining our family, aren’t you?”

His hands itched, his words clipped and short. Every second near this thing masquerading as a person unnerved him more.

“Getting a feeling that saying no isn’t an option.”

Another one of those false laughs, face crinkling even as her eyes unflinchingly bore into him.

“Of course, you can say no, dear! But why would you? I know you better than you know yourself, Leon. You are so terribly impulsive, so quick to draw on any who cross your path- you do whatever you want, consequences be damned.”

Those red pupils roved over his body for a beat before flicking back to his face.

“That is why we took an interest. The mindset of a true demon is painfully hard to cultivate, yet here you are. A man after our own heart. A delightful treat begging to be snapped up.”

Her crooning tones set his teeth on edge.

“I will need an answer, Leon. Yes or no.”

Tilting her head to the side like a perplexed animal, she grinned and her teeth poked over her lips, each one blacker than black should ever be.

She would kill him one day. Maybe not today, maybe not even if he refused their offer- but that a day would come when this malevolent being decided he had exhausted his value.

He knew it as surely as he knew his own name.

Just as surely as he knew, he would one day kill her for her transgression against him.

She had violated his very being.

For lack of a better comparison, this creature had molested his soul.

Cut and changed what made him Leon Knox, and he had no way to check if she had done anything else. Even his current seething hate could be of her design, his emotions and thoughts now compromised.

The second he could gauge her power and it felt within reach, he’d rip her apart, limb from screaming limb. Then he’d heal her and start over, until naught but a broken shell remained and every atom, every molecule that made up this monster, sang a plea in perfect harmony, begging him for death.

The body would die and then the process would begin again with her soul until Leon made sure all and sundry had received his message.

Then he would continue. Her family, every friend, every acquaintance anyone and everyone she held dear would die by his hand and once the last body cooled, Leon would snuff out the wretched bitch’s soul.

They would call it ‘Versa’s Folly’.

An object lesson in why a Swordfiend should never be antagonised.

But for now- he would keep this enemy close.

Schooling his expression and concealing his hate, he answered.

“I’ll join- sounds like a good deal to me.”

The hunger in her eyes grew worse, a ravenous madness behind her polite veneer.

“Wonderful! If you would be so good as to offer me your hand once more? No soul magic this time, Leon, pinky promise- oh, am I using that correctly? Earth slang can be quite confusing!”

Thrusting his arm across the table, her claws once more sent his gauntlet running in fear, his bare skin exposed, a spark of mana running down her claws and into his hand.

It took all his willpower not to draw steel.

A tattoo formed on the back of his hand; a crouching demon complete with wings and horns, intricate despite the limited size of the canvas, though it remained an uncompleted outline instead of a finished piece.

Clapping her hands together, Versa stood, voice serious and grave.

“You are now a candidate for the True Demon Sect. We issue a trial to assess our candidates before they gain full membership. Four others caught our attention from this backwater. Kill them and bring their hearts to me. Leaving the planet won’t be possible with our mark on your skin- cutting your skin off merely transfers the tattoo. You’ll feel it when another candidate draws near. Oh, goodness, speaking of- have fun, I’ll see you soon!”

No mana vortex swallowed her.

One second she sat there, the next she vanished.

Quietly pulling up his newest insight for inspection, Leon’s eyes narrowed as he read.

“Embodied Storm- Middle Shallow- Increased storm affinity. Greatly boosts the efficacy of all storm tempering techniques. Greatly boosts resistance to all storm techniques.”

As good as it looked, Leon didn’t care.

He felt it, an electric crackle in the air that presaged a battle worth having.

Rising to his feet and drawing the Abyss Brand Leon strode forth to meet his next challenge.

Octavia awaited him.

Magic had not intimidated Leon before.

Every mage he met died to cold steel as easily as their martial counterparts.

Then, he supposed, he’d never faced a competent mage.

She recoiled from the sight of him, her prepared bravado fading into hushed apologetics.

“Your soul. Oh, Leon.”

Her sadness made it worse. He could have spoken then, but he kept his silence. She chewed on her lip, brows furrowed as she thought.

His feelings for those he had met during the Tutorial remained untouched. At least, he hoped so.

All those warnings about soul magic made sense now.

“Who did this?”

The question snapped him back to himself. Commanding his gauntlet to recede, he extended his arm for her to better inspect his marred hand.

“A demon. A True Demon named Versa. She’s far stronger than me. The strong will do as they please, the weak have no right to object.”

Before he let her voice the scorn clear to see on her face, Leon continued, his blank face reflected in his blade.

Chopped messy hair, his short beard and those eyes. Colder than he remembered, like pools of ice.

“It’s funny. I’ve never really hated another person until today. I’m going to kill her Octavia. Everything and everyone that gets in the way will die.”

Turning his face up from the mirror sheen blade, he saw concern warring with anger on his partner’s face.

Both on his behalf.

Allowing his armour to roll back across his fist, Leon noted his sister’s house had vanished, an empty lot taking the place of their home.

People spilt from their homes, enamoured with their new status screens and fearful of the man radiating threat, four swords strapped to armour blacker than the night.

He didn’t need reassurances.

He needed bloodshed.

“Treat me like I’m a ticking time bomb. She said she’d only removed my prior attachments, but I don’t trust her. I act funny, burn me. You’re probably the only human on Earth with a chance of taking me on. Promise me. If I lose control, promise you will put me down.”

He got a mute nod in response.

That would have to do.

“Alright, one more fight before bed. Versa implied another True Demon candidate was on their way to die. Let’s get this over with.”

On cue, his hand burned white hot, a thin man breaking from the crowds, striding down the road towards Leon.

He stuck out from the mortal masses by way of his ragged leather armour, the manic look in his eye discernible even at a distance.

Those around him parted as he approached Leon, hand raised, burning demon tattoo spreading a baleful crimson light around the once peaceful suburb.

He spoke, his grating voice fanning Leon’s rage.

“Salutations, fellow demon! Our glorious mentor hath sent me here to engage in murder most foul! No hard feelings, I hope?”

A dam burst in Leon’s soul and he stopped holding back.

The merciless aura of an apex predator burst forth and found this ‘demon’ wanting.

Sheathing Abyss Brand, Leon stared back at the insect who’d bent to the will of that demon and spoke.

“Not in the mood. Die.”

He pounced across the open ground between them, a blue gleam tearing through the air and colliding with rocky scales.

Bounding backwards, Leon stared at a familiar form.

Spreading his arms wide, the demon boasted as though he’d already won.

“Behold! While you philistines exited our Proving Grounds by slaying this magnificent creature, I have bent it to my will! You have the dubious honour to be consumed by my darling Bahamduin! Now, feast my pet!”

The volcanic wyvern roared, the crowd screamed and Leon laughed.

Committing a quarter of his mana to Ebb and Flow, Leon kicked off the ground, leaping over a burst of fire to approach the defenceless master.

Jamming Wavecutter’s edge through the prospective demon caused the illusion spell to collapse. The man’s voice rang out from above and below.

“Typical of a Neanderthal. You fell for my trick! ‘Twas merely a hologram, good sir! Bahamduin. Keep the muscle head occupied- me thinketh, I spyeth a milady in need!”

A tail lined with jagged spikes whipped Leon into the asphalt as the wyvern took flight, a quick recovery all that saved the swordsman from being cooked in his armour.

Enraged at his survival, the wyvern dove, talons extended to rake across him.

A blue flash tore a gash on the creature’s underbelly, the spray of blood sating Leon’s desires and dousing him in gore as the beast lost balance, careening into a nearby house.

In a crash of wood, brick, mortar and plastic, the beast destroyed the home and set it ablaze with a burst of flame from its scales.

Leaping upon its back, Leon sent his blade into the creature’s flesh, between the wings.

Shouting to be heard above the rising din, Leon made his offer.

“Well! You wanna die scalie!? If not, take me to your master and I’ll grant you freedom!”

It ceased thrashing, singular visible eye narrowing in suspicion at the grinning fiend.

“No tricks! I can’t stand people who try to control another’s mind! I just need that bastard’s heart! You can eat the rest!”

The explosion of flame reassured Octavia.

So long as the battle raged, Leon lived.

“Milady, did that dastardly half-wit harm you in any way? There is no need to fear, my sweet, you are safe now! A gentleman like myself cannot simply allow such scoundrels to abduct tender pure girls like yourself!”

His greasy hair splayed from beneath his trilby, envy and lust warring behind his deadened eyes even as he tipped his head to her.

Octavia would have ignored him- but he’d been foolish enough to approach her with his true body. An illusionist beast tamer could be a devilishly tough opponent. Every second he wasted on her would be one Leon could use to gain an advantage.

So she played along. Forcing her bottom lip to quiver, she made sure the enemy’s gaze stayed glued on her chest rather than on the surprising turn of events in the battle.

“Oh, thank you so much! He killed so many people...”

Trailing off, Octavia let the idiot fill in the blanks.

Clenching his fist, the illusionist grit his teeth.

“A blackguard and a scoundrel. Fear not fairest of fairies, once he is dead, we will wash away all memory of him.”

Batting her eyelashes at the fool, Octavia pushed her arms up providing an ample distraction.

“However will we do that, sir?”

The wyvern and fiend struck as one before the man could reply, a snarling maw clamping down on the man’s legs, snapping both off and a gleaming blade cleaving his greasy head from his shoulders.

Dismounting his steed and expelling a weak Tsunami slash that sundered the road in two, Leon punctured the dead demon’s ribcage with his bare hand, the heart vanishing into his storage ring.

Gesturing to the rest of the corpse, Leon spoke aloud for Octavia’s benefit.

“Go ahead scalie. All yours.”

The first dead True Demon candidate slid down his own ‘tamed’ creature’s throat and far from Earth in a citadel, both profane and sacred, stood an altar hosting five flames floating in the air.

A black flame winked out of existence.

Four remained burning.