This was hours before the disaster that Euri brought upon the Titans, just seconds after Arad left and appeared in the Volcanic Titan’s Kingdom. Arad didn’t have any major reason to feel worried, but somehow, he had a faint feeling in the back of his head that he was forgetting something important.
It was vague and unimportant. Arad quickly forgot it as he drowned in a horde of Lava spawns, slashing and dicing them into cubes and splatters of cooling stone.
He has now regained his incarnation that was in the Storm Titan’s kingdom and could use it to sneak into the throat of the volcano where Damnation slipped, but he should first find out if she is watching them or not.
Arad was certain that Damnation was observing them through her Spawns, but he wasn’t sure if she had scouts or magic to scry the location of people or watch them from afar as Claug did. To be on the safe side, he decided to find a moment where he was sure no one could possibly be watching him so he could safely let the incarnation sneak away.
That wasn’t going to be easy, but nothing that a bit of patience won’t fix. The strange feeling that he was forgetting something returned, but Arad immediately attributed it to Damnation possibly watching them. She might’ve noticed something in his power, magic, or behavior that indicated a change. Did he smile? Did the waves of his magic shift, or did he say something stupid? Arad didn’t know, but he was almost certain that Damnation had picked up that he was up to something.
Arad and Tempo were now advancing at an astounding speed, liberating the Volcanic Titans’ keeps one after another and slowly whittling down Damnation’s spawns.
“This will take a while.” Arad looked down at the city from the massive walls of the fortified hold. They keep killing the Lava spawns, but more just emerge from every hole in the city. He has a hunch that Damnation is still spawning them from the Lava of the pool and sending them to fight.
But that couldn’t be the case. Her power shouldn’t be unlimited. She needs souls to create the Lava Spawns, and Arad is destroying the Lava Spawn’s souls or freeing them.
“How long do you think?” Tempo sighed. Both of them were now resting as the soldiers took their place to defend the hold. Arad didn’t need rest, but he had to play his role perfectly, just as a void dragon was supposed to live.
“Your and the soldiers’ kills are meaningless. Only those I do count. You can’t destroy the souls. I bet that Damnation just whisked them back and spawned more Lava monsters for us to fight.” Arad sighed, “She must think I’m the biggest threat, literally, as I’m the biggest Titan around. She wants to exhaust me.”
“She is a cunning monster. Even the Lava Spawns aren’t fighting like mindless monsters anymore.” Tempo pointed into the distance at a fight. “They are sending a team of frontliners while a steal scout team attacks from the side. Basic strategy, but it’s something. There is a hint of intelligence at play here.”
Arad looked at the fight and frowned, “Is it the souls or Damnation that is giving orders? Probably the latter, those souls aren’t in a condition to think.”
Tempo glared at the fight and then back at the Obsidian Tower with disdain, “That thing, it is playing chess against us with near-immortal pawns.”
“We’ve also got our immortal pawns.” Arad looked at his Void Creatures, now being called Fire Creatures. “Do you know how to play chess?”
Tempo nodded, “I’ve played it a lot. But it never mirrors real fights. The odds are too equal in the game to be realistic.”
Arad smiled, “You’re right. What is the sure way of winning a chess game in your mind?”
“Olay carefully, read your opponent’s moves and then act. Never be the one who reacts. Be the one who takes actions first and predicts.” Tempo said with a proud smile, but Arad shook his head, “You’re half right, half wrong.”
“You’re right. Chess doesn’t mirror life. It is just a game at the end of the day. That’s why you’re wrong about how to win a chess game. The easiest way to win is to never play at all, kick the table down, and punch your opponent in the face.” He smiled and stood, “We won’t play Damnation’s stupid game of chess. We’ll just force her to play our game.”
“What will you do then? Go straight to the Obsidian Tower?” Tempo stood with him, ready to jump into battle at any second.
“Tell all of the Titans to retreat inside the hold. I’m going to show them something fun.” Arad stepped forward, and Tempo shouted at all of the soldiers to retreat and regroup inside the hold.
The Lava spawns saw Arad land alone in the middle of the battlefield, his long hair dancing with the fiery wind, and his graceful figure shifted as a smile crossed his red lips.
And then, he screamed, a deep, terrifying roar that shook the ground. A massive golden hand appeared behind his back and swung down, ripping a crack in reality and forming a dreadful black portal behind Arad’s back, from which thousands of demons marched out. A wave of horrors groaned and moaned as the ugliest, most vile of demons appeared, sending shivers in the Titans and Lava Spawns alike.
Arad wasn’t the same either. He grew two more pairs of arms, two black horns burst from his head and pointed forward, and two leathery white wings grew from his back.
After a deep roar, demonic magic crackled from Arad’s horns and exploded forward in a blast of pure destruction and annihilation.
Kali is the Demon Goddess of Destruction and the Patron of orphanages. People tend to focus on the destruction part and forget that she is the literal goddess of demons.
Since Arad was masquerading as a paladin of destruction, it would make sense for him to be able to call upon his goddess to send her demons to help him.
Usually, it would take the most devout of paladins to get their god to send them help, to send them an angel or a demon in Kali’s case. The last strongest paladin of Kali was only able to summon five demons once per day to assist him in his fights.
But Arad wasn’t a paladin, and Kali wasn’t his goddess. Kali was his wife, and this was the most power she could pull in the world without destroying it.
Damnation growled, “Damn it! She is an Angel of Destruction!”
