The moment Kaede stepped out of the portal, she felt the shift immediately.
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You have entered the Demon Realm, A Sub Realm of the Chaos World
As a Monarch Candidate, all stats increased by 200%.
Please locate shards of Chaos to form Chaos Key and enter the Job Trial Tower.
Current Shards: 1/3
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The air was denser, almost viscous, and she drew a slow, cautious breath. "The mana here is off the charts… even higher than Hosha's mountain," she said under her breath.
Around her, jagged black rocks rose from the ground, streaked with lines of bubbling tar. The sky was a rusted orange, and long, faint cracks laced the horizon. As she surveyed the area, her gaze settled on several bodies, predators, torn apart and left to decay.
"So this is where the predators came from," she mused, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "Looks like Querersha went this way."
A sudden crash shook the ground, the sound sharp and brutal. Kaede sprinted towards it, weaving between the spire-like crags until she emerged in a clearing. The scene before her was both fascinating and grotesque.
A pool of viscous, black tar bubbled at the center of the clearing, and from its surface predators clawed their way into existence, screeching as their monstrous forms emerged from the darkness.
"Whoa… that is so cool," she whispered, unable to hide the hint of awe in her voice. "I never thought about how these things were made. This is so edgy… it's awesome."
Another crash ripped through the silence, shaking a nearby spire until fragments of rock cascaded down its side. Kaede darted towards the sound, peeking from behind a crag just in time to witness a brutal clash.
Two predators were locked in a brutal struggle. The first towered nearly eleven feet tall, its four arms ending in sharp, curved claws, a massive jaw lined with tar‑black teeth snapping violently. The second was even larger, a hulking beast well over three meters tall, trying to use its sheer bulk to overwhelm its smaller foe.
But size wasn't enough. The smaller predator was faster, launching itself from the rock spires with a speed that belied its monstrous form, forcing the larger one to crash wildly into the surrounding stone. Another deafening crash! shook the area, sending fragments of rock and tar flying.
"Look at the little guy go," Kaede whispered as the smaller predator dragged the larger one down, tearing the top half of its skull clean off.
Kaede blinked slowly. "I feel like I should be reacting to this somehow." She watched as the smaller predator started eating its prize. "And now he's eating it."
A faint smile crossed her lips. "Aww, look at that scawy mouth trying to eat something bigger than its whole body. It's… actually kinda adowable."
She paused, thinking. "Yep. There's definitely something wrong with me."
The predator stopped feeding, suddenly sensing her presence. Its sharp head rose, fixing crimson eyes on the newcomer as it bared its teeth and growled.
Kaede stepped into the open, voice soft but confident. "Hey, buddy. No need to get antsy. I'm not going to eat you… I think. I've eaten a predator before, and it was bitter."
"I'm just here to beat up a freaky mosquito lady… one that went the other way while I got distracted here. Shouldn't have done that."
The beast rose to its full height, growling louder until Kaede sighed and leaked a faint shimmer of crimson and black from her armor. Suddenly, the beast faltered. Its growl dwindled to a whine as it sank down, pressing itself low to the ground in submission.
Kaede froze, blinking down at it. "Huh. Maple strikes again. And I didn't even do anything this time."
The silence felt almost judgmental, hanging in the air.
"Alright, alright." Kaede waved a hand and sighed. "It's probably the Atrocity skill or something." She stepped closer and gave the beast an awkward, gentle pat on the head.
"Now," she said, voice rising as she turned away from the clearing, "it's time to find Querehsha and beat her to a pulp for threatening my guild."
With that, she turned and strode away from the clearing, crimson and black mist rising faintly from her armor, leaving the subdued predator whining quietly in the silence she left behind.
Step.
Thud.
Step.
Thud.
Kaede paused mid‑stride and glanced over her shoulder, only to find the massive predator following a few paces behind her. It had somehow grown even larger,. probably due to feeding on the larger predator, now closer to thirteen feet tall, and watched her with a wary tilt of its monstrous head.
"Are you… following me?" she asked, then she waved a hand dismissively. "Wait, don't answer that. You clearly are."
She turned to face the beast, resting a hand on her hip. "Here's the thing. I'd love to take you with me, but you're too weak for where I'm going. Sure, I can summon you guys, yet only in large numbers… but one-on-one? As you are right now, you wouldn't last long."
The predator whined, lowering its massive head until its chin nearly brushed the ground.
Kaede sighed and offered a faint smile. "Alright, how about this? I'm in the middle of something right now. Predators get stronger the more they eat, right? Stay here. Feed and become strong, strong enough, and when I return, I can take you with me."
The beast perked up instantly, letting out a sharp, eager yelp. Its long, slick tongue unfurled from its gaping jaws.
"Adorable," Kaede said softly, brushing a hand across its monstrous snout. Straightening, she waved it off. "Alright, then. Time for me to find the Monarch of Plagues."
As she spoke, the shadows at her feet deepened, and Hosha emerged from the darkness, rising from a kneel before her. "You're an elf right? How good are your tracking skills?" she asked sharply.
Hosha lifted his gaze, his form confident.
"Then lead the way." Without looking back, Kaede left the predator to its feeding frenzy, completely unaware of what she had just set in motion, or what her words had unleashed.
Behind her, the beast grinned, baring its dagger-like teeth. Its excitement bubbled out in a low, monstrous growl as it turned towards the ruins of the Demon Realm.
Let the hunt begin.
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Far across a jagged expanse of broken earth and burning skies, a colossal centipede thundered through the landscape. Towering over twenty feet in height and stretching hundreds of meters long, the monstrous arthropod barreled forward with relentless force. Its countless legs tore into the scorched terrain, carving a deep, winding path of devastation as it slithered toward its destination.
Perched atop the beast's armored back sat a throne, crafted from bone and dark carapace, its design as grotesque as it was regal. Upon it sat Querehsha, Monarch of Plagues, her expression shadowed by frustration.
She extended a hand toward the air, and a swirling green portal sparked to life before her, only to flicker and die a moment later.
She sighed deeply. "I didn't expect the Demon Realm to have deteriorated this much. I can't even open a gate to my own realm from this distance. What are those damn nobles even doing?"
Her gaze lifted to the rust‑colored sky, where vast cracks spidered through the clouds like fractures in glass, pulsing rhythmically like a heartbeat. "The Void is bleeding in... it's corrupting the mana drastically ."
Beside her, the half-devoured corpse of a tainted high ranking demon twitched, swarmed by countless tiny insects feeding on it, each one an extension of her own will. She glanced down at the remains with mild annoyance.
"Every demon I've encountered is tainted as well," she muttered. "My necromancy doesn't work on them anymore."
She leaned her chin against her fist, posture relaxed but thoughtful. "At this rate, leaving the Demon Realm will take longer than I thought. I wonder… is that human girl still following me?"
A moment of silence passed as her eyes narrowed. "Though now that I think about it, is she even human? I didn't feel the usual disgust when I was near her. She opened a gate to Chaos World... that shouldn't have been possible."
She sat up straighter. "Was I too hasty with her?"
The insects around her quieted, sensing her shifting mood.
"I know next to nothing about her or her abilities. Even after I released my full power, she showed no fear. None. That shouldn't be possible. Only the Monarchs, or the Rulers, are on par with me." Her fingers tightened against the bone armrest. "And yet…"
Querehsha's gaze turned distant. "She has a connection to Chaos World… and doesn't feel like a vessel, or a human. Could she be a candidate for the Monarch of White Flame?"
She paused, shook her head slowly. "No, she's not a demon. I'm sure of it. But to possess such a connection… Unless…"
She fell silent.
"Could it be?"
Rising from her throne, her many insect familiars scuttled into alert formation around her. "She mentioned someone else calling themselves the Monarch of Lightning. But there's no such thing. There have always been eight Monarchs. That's the law of balance. At least until Ashborn."
"Ashborn used to be a Ruler, until he fell and joined our ranks. If it happened once, it can happen again."
She slowly sat down again, her thoughts racing.
"If she really is a Monarch Candidate… then what domain does she fall under? How powerful is she truly? Could she..."
Her words were cut short.
BOOM!
Her entire throne jerked violently as the colossal centipede beneath her was launched skyward, crashing through rock and sky alike.
Querehsha's eyes widened in shock. "What in the Abyss..!?" She leaped off the soaring beast, hovering in the air as she looked at the culprit. "You."
Kaede smirked as she looked up at Querehsha. "Me."
Beside her, Hosha vanished in a flicker of red light, reappearing in the air next to the massive centipede. With a single, fluid motion, he slashed downward, his spear slicing cleanly through the creature's armored midsection, severing it in two.
But the beast didn't die.
The moment its halves hit the ground, the upper half twisted violently, hurtling toward Hosha with surprising speed. He barely managed to raise his spear in time, bracing as the impact sent him hurtling down like a meteor. He crashed into the earth with a thunderous explosion, the ground splintering beneath him.
Above, a sickly green glow pulsed from the sundered halves. The two pieces of the centipede writhed and lurched, rejoining with a miasmic flash. The beast shrieked, a piercing, metallic screech that echoed across the Demon Realm.
SKREEEEEE!
From the center of the crater, Hosha rose without a scratch, crimson sparks flickering from his shoulders as he spun his spear in a slow arc. His expression was calm, unreadable.
The predator and the elf faced off in silence, tension thick in the air.
Then they vanished.
With a thunderous BOOM, the two shot toward each other at impossible speed, vanishing and reappearing in flashes of motion and bursts of energy as their battle ignited once more.
Kaede didn't flinch at the violence. She walked forward slowly, her boots crunching over blackened rock, the hem of her dark cloak billowing around her.
"You didn't really think I'd let you escape after all that bravado, did you?" she called out, her voice light, almost sing-song. "Weren't you going to kill me and feast on my corpse?"