Becoming the Dark Lord

“There are three warships here, each packed with men ready to kill you. After all the mana you’ve burned, you really think you can handle that?” the Hero said.

On the decks, the men started moving. Orders were shouted, weapons raised, cannons slowly turning toward the coast. The metallic grind of gears and the crack of boots against wood mixed with the distant roar of the ocean.

Luke glanced at the ships, then turned his attention back to Maxwell.

“I’ll deal with them after I kill you.” He spun one of his kukris in his hand. “You’re missing your partner. The pistol assassin.”

“Unfortunately,” the Hero said with a crooked smile. “He went out in a pretty anticlimactic way.”

Maxwell charged with his burning sword. The first clash sent sparks scattering between them. Luke parried what he could and dodged what he couldn’t. The hero’s blade burned hotter with every swing, and his free hand blazed like it had been dipped in living fire.

“Casper dying sounds pretty damn convenient,” Luke said, taking half a step back before slipping under a slash aimed at his throat. “For a guy who brought enough men to fill three ships, that was probably part of the plan.”

Maxwell smiled, pressing his sword against Luke’s kukri. Heat bled through the metal.

“At least one of those ships is mine. Those men answer to me.” He tilted his head. “I’m cautious. Serena’s sword glowing for you already told me enough. My gut told me not to underestimate you. And as you can see, I was right.”

Luke threw himself aside as a jet of fire tore through the spot where he’d been standing. He rolled across the damp stone near the shore and threw two knives in response.

“That why you sent the assassin in first? To size me up and burn through my mana?”

“Who knows?”

Maxwell hurled a fireball. The explosion lit up the night like a small sun, and through the glare, the hero came charging again.

“And as a bonus, you could take Casper’s body with you,” Luke said, barely dodging. “If that story about him being a wanted criminal is true, and if you’re the kind of hypocrite hero I think you are... that’s what I’d do.”

In the middle of their exchange, Maxwell pulled back. For the first time, some of the amusement slipped from his face.

“Damn, you’re sharp. Been reading my mind or something?” He spread his arms, gesturing to the armada behind him. “But look over there. You killed their bosses. Now they’re your problem.”

Revolvers cracked through the night. Luke moved on instinct. Some bullets skimmed past him. Others hit him dead-on. Most of them were made of mana, and luckily, the horns raised an invisible layer of protection over him. It still hurt. Still shoved him back. But they didn’t punch through like they should have.

The cannons started right after. Luke sprinted between shots, dodging explosions that shattered stone and sent columns of water bursting upward. Maxwell kept backing away, maintaining distance, until he raised both hands toward him.

A torrent of flame surged forward like a wall. Luke cut through the heat at a narrow angle, but Maxwell had already abandoned his sword. The hero came in barehanded, his whole body swallowed in fire, and started hammering him. Every hit landed like an anvil.

“Burn, you bastard!” Maxwell laughed as he struck. “Burn!”

The flames clung to Luke’s clothes, his skin, the air in his lungs. He tried to counter with a kukri and heard a metallic clang when the blade hit the hero’s fists. Maxwell’s arms were covered in a layer of metal beneath the fire.

So that’s his trick. A second class built for close combat, just like Charlie.

Luke gritted his teeth, took another punch, and answered with short cuts. Even through the metal defense, he managed to open wounds on Maxwell. Not deep enough, but real. The hero’s fiery aura intensified. Maxwell lunged with brutal force, grabbed Luke around the torso, and fire exploded beneath his feet. Both of them shot into the sky. Luke felt the heat bite into him just from being trapped against him, but he started stabbing anyway, one strike after another, until Maxwell kicked him upward.

Luke went into free fall.

“Where’s all that arrogance now?!” Maxwell shouted, chasing after him like a burning star.

They collided in midair. Blows, cuts, and punches blurred together as they plummeted. Luke threw both kukris and pulled them back with telekinesis, trying to make them return like boomerangs into the hero’s back.

“I know that trick!”

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Maxwell veered upward, then dropped with his fist raised, ready to crush him.

“How about this one, asshole?”

The instant the hero grabbed Luke, a conjured knife buried itself in Maxwell’s back. It exploded. The hero’s body spun through the air, thrown off balance. Luke activated the cloak’s power to steer his own fall, caught one kukri out of the air, and dropped onto Maxwell, driving the blade into his stomach.

“It’s not over,” Luke said.

Maxwell staggered away through the air, and Luke threw more knives.

[Knife Storm activated]

A cry of pain tore out of the hero. Even wounded, Maxwell turned with two fireballs swelling in his hands and launched them at Luke. Luke dodged in midair, falling faster and faster. Above him, the hero kept hurling attacks. The ocean rushed up beneath them, black, violent, alive. At the last second, just before he hit the water, Luke landed. His feet touched the surface and didn’t sink.

Thanks to the horns, Luke pushed [Transmutation] to its limit. Wherever he stepped, the water shaped itself into something almost like glass, solid just long enough to hold him. He walked across the sea as if crossing a transparent road. Maxwell landed soon after, also standing on the water.

Heroes get stronger in the presence of the demon lord, according to Azazel. But maybe this guy doesn’t even know that part.

The waves churned around them. The current below pulled hard toward the abyss.

Luke lifted his eyes to Maxwell. “So you dragged me out onto the water, Hero of Flame?”

“I thought you didn’t have one of those special boots.”

“I don’t.” 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Fireballs appeared above Maxwell’s palms. He fed them more mana, making them larger, denser, more dangerous.

“At least out here, nobody gets in our way.”

“Smart,” the hero said. “We’re out of the ships’ range. But your mana has to be close to empty.”

“You should worry about yours, hero.”

“You first.”

Maxwell opened fire. Luke ran across the water, dodging the explosions. Each fireball hit harder than the last, carving temporary craters into the sea before the waves closed back in.

It’s a charge skill. The longer he focuses, the stronger it gets.

Luke lifted part of the water with telekinesis and transmuted it into glass. The fireball exploded against the wall, spraying steam and glittering shards. He kept advancing. Ahead of him, new glass barriers rose one after another.

[Telekinetic Stasis activated]

The walls locked in place, and Luke ran between them like a shadow.

“No point hiding. Thermal vision, remember?” Maxwell fired another fireball.

The explosion destroyed several glass walls, but more rose right after.

“What the...?” The Hero froze for a second. “A wall shaped like you? What the hell?!”

Luke stepped out from one of the shadows. His kukri opened a wound across Maxwell’s stomach. The hero tried to dodge, but Luke slammed a hard kick into his chest and sent him skipping across the surface of the water.

Luke chased after him, then stopped for an instant. What was that?

He could’ve sworn he’d heard something from beneath the water. Something like singing, low and distant, hidden under the roar of the waves.

“Eyes on me!” Maxwell hovered above him, hands loaded with fire.

Luke dodged the first explosion, drew his second kukri, and gathered mana.

[Burst Throw activated]

[Knife Storm activated]

“That won’t work on me twice!”

[Telekinetic Pull activated]

[Telekinetic Impulse activated]

One of the kukris violently changed course and slammed into Maxwell.

“Worked just fine,” Luke said.

The hero crashed down near the city’s edge. Luke reached him before he fully recovered his balance. With no choice, Maxwell drew his sword again, and they went right back to trading blows. Just standing near him was enough for the heat to press into Luke’s skin and scorch the air around him.

“Stop!” The voice cut through the chaos.

Luke was already about to throw a kukri at whoever was approaching, but froze when he recognized her.

“Zoe?”

In the distance, the ships turned to adjust their cannons. Maxwell didn’t stop. He lunged with a jet of fire, forcing Luke back.

“You know him?!” the Hero shouted.

“He saved me.” Zoe stared at them both, pale. “I didn’t know he was your target.”

Luke threw knives while Maxwell dodged.

“And how do you know him, Zoe?” Maxwell snarled. “Don’t tell me he’s the bastard who won the Battle Royale challenge. Is he the one who killed my other assistants?”

“Yeah, that was me, asshole.” Luke landed a kick on Maxwell and drove him back several steps.

“Stay back, Zoe!” the hero shouted.

“I didn’t know, Luke,” she said, her voice shaking. “I didn’t know it was you. They told me we were hunting a dangerous criminal.”

Luke didn’t even blink. “Right now, I don’t believe a damn word you say.”

“Back off, Zoe!” Maxwell roared. “And turn the damn support skill back on!”

Support skill?

The next instant, Maxwell leaped toward Luke. Luke dodged at the last second, and the ground erupted in fire. The hero ripped a chunk of burning rock loose like it was paper and hurled it at him. Luke tried to get clear. The cannon fire hit him from behind. The rock exploded against him right after, and the impact launched him back into the ocean.

On the shore, Maxwell turned to Zoe, eyes blazing. “Zoe, whose side are you on? Mine? The side of good? Or his? If you’re with me, then shut the fuck up and let me do my job. I’m killing him.”