Clyde furrowed his brow. Above the sky, there was a portal that had suddenly appeared. The portal seemed to lead to somewhere sinister, from the brief glimpse Clyde could catch.
'What the hell?' Clyde wondered. However, he quickly realized that the portal was not a good sign. His intuition and guess told him the same thing; this was all related to the Celestials who had decided to hunt him down after he killed God Kane.
If that was true, then maybe there was a spy who had reported to whoever the Celestial was that sent their forces through that portal. This could be bad news for Leon and his friends. This fight was almost certainly beyond their capabilities.
Several explosions echoed a few dozen meters ahead as a dozen meteors landed among the ruins. Clyde immediately descended from his vantage point and approached Leon, Rosie, Albert, Wiley, and Lola.
"We have to go, now," Clyde said firmly.
From the anxious expressions on his face, the others could tell that something was seriously wrong.
"What's going on? Are those meteors?" Lola asked.
Clyde looked at her. "It might be some creatures summoned to attack me."
The five of them exchanged glances. Something attacking Clyde? What had happened?
"What have you done?" Wiley asked.
Clyde returned his gaze. "I can't tell you, for now. But it doesn't matter. You have to get out of here. Now!"
Clyde took out his amulet and was about to open a portal. However, something snared his body and yanked him backward with tremendous force. Clyde was pulled away so quickly that he didn't have time to say anything to them.
"CLYDE!" Lola shouted, trying to run after him. But three creatures landed in front of them, forcing them to abandon their intentions.
The three figures had bodies with a dark red hue, like blood. They stood over three meters tall and had a pair of spiraling horns on their heads. They wore armor that appeared to be made of dark-colored, crude yet robust metal. In their hands, they held three different weapons: a mace, a sword, and an axe.
The creatures looked like the demons they had heard about in stories and religious mythology.
Without saying a word, the three demons began to attack them. The demon wielding the axe swung it toward Lola, who had been about to run.
Fortunately, Leon arrived just in time in front of Lola and halted the massive axe with his sword. The pressure from the axe's swing made Leon groan.
Rosie, Albert, and Wiley immediately realized they were targets and had to fight back. Wiley fired his dart at the demon that had been menacing Lola.
The dart pierced the demon's left hand, and decay began to spread. However, something unexpected happened.
The demon with the sword severed the left hand of the demon with the axe before the decay could spread too far into its body. The hand fell to the ground, accompanied by dark red fluid.
The demon with the sword hissed at the demon with the axe, its gaze warning him to watch himself if he didn't want to die.
"HYAAAAA!!!" Rosie screamed, unleashing a massive amount of lightning at all three demons simultaneously.
Fortunately, Rosie's lightning attack managed to throw all three of them backward, giving them time to recover.
"What the fuck?! Who are they?!" Albert cursed, feeling terror as he looked at the appearance of the three figures. His friends seemed to share the same sentiment.
"They must have come here to attack Clyde. Unfortunately, we're caught up in this situation," Wiley said.
"The creatures look like... Demons," Lola said, her expression filled with fear.
"Perhaps... They are indeed Demons," Rosie said, her entire body displaying the same fear as Lola.
"Let's focus," Leon said, rubbing his sore hand from blocking the Demon's axe swing. "We need to get Clyde's amulet so we can leave. The amulets we have can only take us back and forth to the Ruin we planned, but right now we're in Clyde's chosen Ruin. We can only leave with his amulet."
"Don't we have to help him?" Lola asked.
"We'll help him by getting out of here. You know Clyde. He's strong enough to handle his own problems, but us? We'd just be a burden if we stayed," Leon replied.
Lola bit her lip but had to admit that what Leon said was true.
And so, with no other viable options, the five of them decided to attack the Demons and assist Clyde, at least until they could retrieve his amulet.
Meanwhile, on the other side, Clyde was in his own predicament. Five Demons surrounded him after snatching him from his group. They relentlessly attacked him, not giving him a chance to counter.
One Demon grabbed his leg and repeatedly slammed him into the ground until the earth was shattered. Then, he was thrown upwards, and another Demon was ready to slam his fist down to send Clyde back down.
Clyde crashed into the ground, creating a small crater. Shortly after, three Demons descended upon him and used all their might to pummel him.
However, it didn't last long. Clyde suddenly unleashed a force that sent the Demons flying away from him.
Clyde emerged from the crater. The armor and clothing he wore were torn and battered in places, but his body was unscathed.
He gazed at the Demons surrounding him. "Who sent you?" he asked.
The Demons didn't respond. They only exchanged glances with expressions that Clyde couldn't decipher.
Clyde observed them. They were clearly sent by one of the Celestials, probably the Demon King. But why did that Celestial send only a small force to attack him? Did they think it was enough to kill him?
Clyde snorted. 'They certainly don't know about the new powers I've gained.'
"You don't want to answer?" Clyde asked.
The five Demons surrounding him only emitted angry growls and stared at him with bloodthirsty eyes. From their gazes, Clyde knew they had only one goal, and that was to kill him.
"So be it." Clyde lunged at them first.
~~~
