Becoming the Dark Lord

The battle with the stone angel had begun. Luke stood atop the fortress wall, kukris flying from his hands, but the creature didn’t stop to fight. Instead, it sprinted straight for the warhorn. He clicked his tongue. The damn thing wasn’t interested in a duel. It wanted to wake the entire army.

“You hit the ANGEL LADY’S BEAUTIFUL STONE BOOBS!” Artemis yelled.

“Head and heart are damage multipliers, what’d you expect?!” he snapped back.

He recalled the kukris with a magnetic pull, then launched them again. Even with its back turned, the angel twisted and dodged mid-run like it had eyes in the back of its head. Its awareness field was no joke.

“Sinner. Terrible, terrible person,” Artemis muttered.

Just as the angel leapt toward the horn, it smashed into a barrier. Charlie emerged from behind the structure, spectral ward still glowing around her. With her other hand, she drove a punch straight into the statue’s chest. The impact flung the creature backward, crashing it into the ground near the fortress interior.

[Mark of Doom has been activated]

She’d managed to tag the angel. For the mark to work, she had to land a physical hit—now every incoming attack would deal 10% more damage. Still perched on the wall, Luke recalled the kukris, threw them again, then repeated the process. Every time he felt a blade hit, he yanked it back and launched another.

Charlie was already sprinting toward the angel when something flew at her. Luke’s eyes snapped up. The angel was back on its feet, gripping an enormous bow. It moved with terrifying speed, all four arms in sync—two holding the bow, one pulling arrows from the quiver, the other nocking and drawing. Then it aimed straight at Luke.

The shot came fast. Luke bolted along the edge of the wall, but the arrow struck with explosive force, sending up shards of stone.

“Luke, you goddamn virgin! That’s the second pair of real boobs you’ve seen in your entire life, and you went and destroyed them!” Artemis shouted again.

“I’d only still be a virgin if I hadn’t destroyed them!” he snapped.

Charlie rushed back in, unfazed, but something about the angel’s movements made both of them freeze. Its arms were a blur, and the arrows came in rapid bursts. One after another slammed into her, breaking through the spectral barrier and shoving her back. It was relentless.

Then the creature turned its bow toward Luke. He dodged as best he could, each arrow screaming past him like a jet engine. Behind him, he heard them crash into buildings, reducing stone to rubble.

This angel is a goddamn arrow machine gun!

Charlie roared and ignited. Flames burst around her body as she activated her berserker mode. The angel turned and fired again, but this time, she dodged in a blur and closed the distance, spinning into a wide slash with her sword. And that’s when the angel did something that made both of them stop.

It flew!

The monster kicked off the ground, wings flaring wide. One of them was cracked, and it was clear it couldn’t maintain stable flight. The thing started falling, flapping harder to stay airborne, but the chain tethered to it reached its limit and yanked it down.

Midair, the angel locked eyes with Luke and loosed a glowing golden arrow.

Luke leapt into the air, body erupting into mist. At the same time, Charlie yanked hard on the chain, pulling the creature out of the sky. The angel slammed into the concrete below, cracking the stone on impact.

Charlie didn’t waste a second. She charged in, blade sinking deep into the creature’s side. With her free hand, she rained down punches.

The angel caught her wrist mid-strike. Its grip was brutal—stronger than she expected. The bow vanished from its hand as it locked down both of Charlie’s arms, then began pummeling her with its remaining limbs. Blow after blow hammered her until a pair of heavy punches launched her backward, crashing into the dirt yards away.

Then the mist coiled tight around the angel, and Luke emerged from within—kukris in hand, glowing with stamina. He activated Assassin’s Mark. The contours of the angel’s form lit up, sharp and defined. He layered it with Assassin’s Tracking. The synergy between the two abilities heightened everything. He could see intent, follow the faintest shifts in mana. His perception zeroed in. And he struck.

A clean, fluid slash. The blade swept through with the grace of a dance, catching the creature across its side. The statue staggered. Its bow snapped back into its hands and it fired rapidly, a storm of arrows screaming toward Luke. He dodged, vanished back into the fog. And reappeared behind it. Another attack. This time at its back.

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The creature spun, launching another arrow. But Luke was already gone, sliding low beneath the fog line. His blade slashed across one of its legs. A crack. The leg shattered. The angel stumbled, loosing another arrow at Luke’s head. He twisted just in time, the arrow whistling past his cheek.

He hurled a kukri. The angel reached to intercept, catching it midair. But Luke smirked. That one was a fake. The real kukri, imbued with stamina, drove into the angel’s chest with a burst of force. The blow knocked it backward.

Luke sprinted, leapt—and double-kicked the creature in the torso. The angel was launched out of the fog. Its bow clattered across the ground. He landed and stalked forward, emerging from the mist like a predator, hands now glowing green.

Not just using Plant Growth—he was channeling its mana directly. Studying it. Understanding it. Making it his. He twisted and struck. The angel raised an arm to block—and it shattered. It tried the other. Same result.

Luke had flooded his muscles with stamina, sharpening his speed to the limit. His strikes came from all sides, overwhelming the creature. It couldn’t counter, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t react. Then, for a split second, that green glow flickered from his hands into his kukri. He drove it home. The impact blasted the angel off its feet, sending it crashing into the soft earth beyond the stone courtyard.

Luke stepped closer and raised his hand toward the ground. Roots burst upward, wrapping around the angel’s broken form, thorns sprouting and tightening their grip. He knew they wouldn’t hold her for long, but they didn’t need to. With a flick of his wrist, he hurled a kukri, its blade glowing with infused stamina. It struck dead center, burying itself in the angel’s forehead.

She tried to rise but couldn’t. One leg was shattered, both arms severed, and cracks were spreading out from the wound on her face. The statue was dying. She writhed, stone groaning under pressure, unable to stop the fractures crawling through her face. She had been stronger than him in every way. Stronger, tougher, built for war. But Luke had been faster. Smarter. He’d gone for the kill from the start.

Charlie appeared beside him, slowing her pace as she reached his side. Luke approached the fallen angel. She glared up at him, furious and defeated, as he reached down and gripped the chain that still bound her. With one clean stroke of his kukri, he severed it.

The angel blinked, confused. She didn’t understand what he was doing. Luke wasn’t even sure he did either. How had a creature that powerful never broken the chain herself?

He removed his glove, sliced his palm open, and let the blood drip onto her body. Then he crouched beside her.

“You and I are trapped in this tutorial,” he said quietly. “Thrown into this world, forced to fight each other like we’re just pieces on someone else’s board. But it doesn’t have to stay that way. You don’t have to be a prisoner anymore. If you accept becoming my servant, we can fight together. We can escape this place, both of us.”

The angel tilted her head, studying him. A soft golden light flickered in her eyes, even the ruined one shimmered.

Luke stepped back instinctively, bracing for an attack, but before he could react, a soft, feminine laugh echoed from the statue. The sound came from within her, but her mouth didn’t move.

“A demon… feeling pity for an angel?” she said, amused, not hostile.

He blinked, startled. “You can understand me?”

The angel gave a slow, deliberate nod.

“Hey, sexy stone angel,” Artemis said. “Please forgive this idiot and agree to be his second servant. I come from Greek culture. We kind of have a thing for hot statues. I mean, I might’ve just become your number one fan.”

The angel let out a small, musical laugh. Luke discreetly pinched the edge of the pendant to shut Artemis up.

“We don’t have to kill each other,” he said, softer this time.

The angel looked at him, expression unreadable, then exhaled a long, silent sigh.

“I’m only a fragment of the real angel who once lived,” the voice said gently. “And my fate was always to die here.”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Luke insisted. “We can finish this place’s challenge together. Win the final trial. If you accept being my servant, we can rewrite your ending. Whoever trapped you here, screw them. You can leave now.”

She shook her head slowly. “You still don’t understand. I can’t become your servant. I’m not a whole soul. Just a sliver of what once was.”

Her eyes turned skyward, as if seeing something far beyond the fortress.

“For millennia, I prayed for someone to come. For the ones who abandoned me to return. And now, ironically, it’s a demon who offers me freedom.” A faint, bittersweet chuckle echoed from within. “But I’m glad the item will help you. My lord.”

The golden glow in her eyes began to fade.

“Maybe one day… we’ll meet again,” her voice whispered, already distant. “An angel. And a demon.”

With that, the light vanished. A thin crack split across her face, and then the statue crumbled, collapsing into lifeless stone.

[You have slain a Fallen Stone Angel: Lvl 60]

*Your class [Demonic Assassin] has reached Level 39! (+5 Per, +4 Str, +4 Agi, +3 Vit, +2 Int, +3 Free Points)*

*Your class [Demonic Assassin] has reached Level 40! (+5 Per, +4 Str, +4 Agi, +3 Vit, +2 Int, +3 Free Points)*

[You have unlocked a new Class Skill]

*Your class [Demonic Assassin] has reached Level 41! (+5 Per, +4 Str, +4 Agi, +3 Vit, +2 Int, +3 Free Points)*

**[You have reached Level 29! Half-Demon (Rank F)] (+1 bonus point to all attributes, +1 free point)**

[An item has been added to your inventory]

“Congratulations, Luke. You screwed up by not having a second hot servant,” Artemis said with a deadpan tone.