Silence.
A terrible silence spread across the battlefield.
The Demon King was gone.
The ruler of Nethoria.
The protector of demonkind.
The father who had spent centuries building peace between two races.
Gone.
Lothan stood motionless in the ruins of the royal palace.
The smoke from burning buildings drifted through the air.
Around him lay the remains of everything he had ever loved.
His mother.
His brother.
His father.
His home.
For several moments, nobody moved.
Not the human soldiers.
Not the demon warriors.
Not even the Hero.
Everyone stared at the young demon prince.
Waiting.
Watching.
Then the sky darkened.
Clouds gathered unnaturally above the city.
A cold wind swept through the battlefield.
The ground beneath Lothan's feet began to crack.
At first, the change was subtle.
Then it became impossible to ignore.
Dark crimson energy slowly emerged from his body.
It spread across the ruins like living shadows.
Human soldiers stepped backward.
Fear appeared on their faces.
Even the commanders who had planned this invasion felt uneasy.
Something was wrong.
Terribly wrong.
Elias narrowed his eyes.
"What is happening?"
No one answered.
Because no one knew.
Lothan slowly raised his head.
His crimson eyes had changed.
The sorrow remained.
The grief remained.
But something else had joined them.
Rage.
A rage so deep that it seemed capable of swallowing the world itself.
"You took everything."
His voice was calm.
Too calm.
The kind of calm that existed before a storm.
Elias crossed his arms.
"You lost a war."
Lothan's gaze locked onto him.
"No."
The air trembled.
"You murdered my family."
The dark energy surrounding him intensified.
Nearby buildings shook violently.
Cracks spread across the ground like spiderwebs.
Several soldiers stumbled backward.
Some dropped their weapons entirely.
For the first time, the Hero looked genuinely concerned.
"Lothan."
The Hero stepped forward cautiously.
"Stop."
Lothan ignored him.
The Hero continued.
"If you surrender now, more lives can still be saved."
For several seconds, Lothan stared at him.
Then he laughed.
A quiet laugh.
A broken laugh.
The sound sent chills through everyone present.
"Saved?"
Lothan looked around the burning city.
At the destroyed homes.
The frightened survivors.
The countless lives already lost.
"Tell me, Hero."
His voice grew colder.
"Who saved them?"
The Hero fell silent.
He had no answer.
Because there wasn't one.
The invasion had already destroyed everything.
The peace was gone.
And no words could bring it back.
Suddenly, one of the human commanders raised his sword.
"Attack him!"
The order echoed across the battlefield.
Thousands of soldiers charged forward.
A wave of steel and magic rushed toward Lothan.
The Hero's eyes widened.
"No!"
But it was too late.
The soldiers were already moving.
Lothan slowly extended one hand.
A single hand.
Nothing more.
The world exploded.
A wave of crimson energy erupted outward.
Not fire.
Not lightning.
Pure power.
The shockwave swept across the battlefield.
Weapons shattered.
Magic dissolved.
Entire sections of the battlefield were flattened instantly.
The charging army was thrown backward.
The attack ended before it had truly begun.
Silence returned.
This time, it was accompanied by terror.
The soldiers could barely believe what they had witnessed.
One attack.
One movement.
And an entire army had been stopped.
The Hero clenched his fists.
"This power..."
Even he had never seen anything like it.
Far above the battlefield, Elias finally looked worried.
"Lothan!"
The Hero shouted.
"Listen to me!"
The demon prince slowly turned toward him.
"Why?"
"Because this path will destroy you."
Lothan stared at him.
Then he looked toward the sky.
Toward the stars hidden behind the smoke.
For a brief moment, memories flooded his mind.
His mother's smile.
Kael's laughter.
His father's final words.
You must live.
Do not forget who you are.
Pain gripped his heart.
For a moment, he wanted to believe those words still mattered.
Then he saw the burning city again.
And the hope vanished.
"Who I was died tonight."
The darkness surrounding him surged violently.
A pillar of crimson energy shot into the heavens.
The clouds above split apart.
Lightning flashed across the sky.
The battlefield trembled.
Everyone present felt it.
A power beyond anything they had imagined.
A power that seemed almost endless.
Elias stepped backward.
Fear now clearly visible on his face.
"Impossible."
The Hero drew the sword from his back.
Its silver blade shone brilliantly.
The legendary weapon radiated holy energy.
Yet even its light seemed small compared to the darkness surrounding Lothan.
The Hero lowered into a combat stance.
"If I must stop you..."
Lothan looked at him.
For the first time, there was no hatred in his eyes.
Only sadness.
"I don't want to fight you."
The Hero hesitated.
"Then don't."
A long silence followed.
Then Lothan slowly looked beyond the battlefield.
Toward the distant horizon.
Toward the kingdoms responsible for this war.
Toward the people who had supported Elias.
The people who had celebrated the destruction of demonkind.
His eyes hardened.
"This isn't over."
The words echoed across the battlefield.
Every soldier heard them.
Every commander heard them.
Even Elias felt a chill run down his spine.
Because he suddenly understood something.
The invasion had succeeded.
The demon kingdom had fallen.
But in doing so, they had created something far worse.
A legend.
A nightmare.
A force powerful enough to threaten the entire world.
Lothan slowly rose into the air.
Crimson energy swirled around him like a storm.
The surviving demons looked upward.
Some with fear.
Some with hope.
Some with despair.
Because they knew their lives would never be the same.
The Hero watched silently.
Unable to stop him.
Unable to reach him.
Unable to change what had happened.
Lothan gazed one final time at the ruins of Nethoria.
At the kingdom he loved.
Then he made a promise.
A promise to the dead.
A promise to his family.
A promise to himself.
"I will make them remember."
The sky thundered.
The storm answered.
And as darkness swallowed the battlefield, the age of peace came to an end.
The world had lost a prince.
And gained something far more dangerous.
The Demon of the Abyss.
To be continued...