The Dawn of the New World

"Ah...there he is..."

The demon replied without hesitation, "There is no other mortal left in this cursed plac-" (Reference image for the demon is mentioned in Author's Notes and in Discord)

But it could only take one more step before some of the smaller demons started crying and snarling, alerting it to the presence of another being.

"-Or not?"

It turned on its heel to peer in the direction where they had seen someone but there was no one there. Its brow began to furrow because there was no way for them to be wrong but it couldn't sense anyone nearby.

It poked Wern on the side, "Human, who did you see? Hey, are you listening?!" but Wern had already lost consciousness.

"Tsk, stupid mortals," it cursed loudly, "No regard for their own life even when a demon is carrying them back to hell."

"It's because he knows he will be safe now that I am here," a voice replied from the right, startling the demon down to its very core.

It turned towards the voice robotically, unsure if it was even real. But upon seeing a tall figure standing over the mutilated corpses of the two guards a chill ran down its spine.

'How did he get there without me noticing?!'

But it acted as if it already knew he was there and smiled gently.

"And who might you be?"

"Hao Xuan. Were you not looking for me?" he replied nonchalantly before finally tearing his eyes away from the corpses and looking all the smaller demons up and down.

"Are these mortal souls trapped in their physical bodies? They're not dead but...not alive either."

The demon let out a derisive laugh, "Haha, they are demons! Cant you even tell that much, boy?"

But inwardly it was having a meltdown.

Hao Xuan slowly followed all the smaller ones to reach the demon itself and shook his head, "No, you are one but not them. They are poor souls trapped in their bodies but you...you are something else."

In Hao Xuan's eyes the smaller demons looked like they were lumps of light surrounded by a black cloud that was encased in a suit of human skin. They were trying to break free but no matter how much they struggled the black cloud would not let them out.

"Can't you see how much they are suffering?"

And when he looked at the demon he saw a horrifying mismatch between its physical appearance and its actual demonic body.

Its real body was almost three to four times larger in every aspect. Every feature from the sharp teeth and black eyes to elongated limbs was exaggerated to the extreme. Its forelimbs were so long that Hao Xuan couldn't even see where they ended.

But even with such a disproportionally large difference between both forms, its real body was wrapped around itself multiple times and pressed inwardly to fit into the traditionally humanoid form.

'Why can I see its true form? I didn't do anything myself so it has to be something that happened from the outside,' Hao Xuan's mind was racing trying to come up with a plausible explanation.

'The old witch? No, I met with Eurig after that and I could see him normally. Then... when I went to hell to meet with 'Light' and...the feather! It has to be the feather! The old witch said it belonged to an Angel so that must be it.'

The light of comprehension lit up his pupils as things started to make sense.

'Then...was he also the one who put me to sleep? It can't be a coincidence that the world went to shit in the two-and-a-half days that I slept for...those fucking demons.'

The killing intent was palpable as the demon recoiled instinctively. In its eyes Hao Xuan was already holding a bloody blade aimed at its throat.

"But then again, why would you care...you're a demon after all," Hao Xuan's expressed his thoughts coldly before giving the demon an ultimatum, "Put him down and kill yourself, I will allow you that courtesy."

The demon overwhelmed by the sudden turn of events didn't know what to do. On one hand, it wanted to follow the orders of its master and report Hao Xuan's presence as soon as possible but on the other...its greed could not be satiated that easily.

'There has to be a reason why master wants him so badly. If I make him my puppet then I can finally climb the ranks and get more powerful!'

It gently placed Wern on the ground and raised both its hands, "You win human. I don't want to fight, take him and go. I won't stop you."

***

Authors Notes:

All images are posted in the Official Discord.

Link: https://discord.gg/AHdSBFQ

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Reference Image Link: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/23/f0/94/23f0944e7068cf3efe6c423960a8b723.jpg

Shortened Image Link (case sensitive) : https://urlzs.com/nSuTG