[Location: Winterhold - The Frozen Plains]
[Event: The Second Wave - Demon Invasion]
The sky above the capital was bleeding.
Rifts torn in the fabric of reality spewed out Hellfire Legions.
Red-skinned Imps. Armored Fel-Guards. And massive, lumbering Siege Behemoths carrying cannons on their backs.
[Enemy Count: 50,000+]
[Boss Unit Detected: Demon General Moloch.]
Below, the armies of the Northern Empire were breaking.
"Hold the line!" Commander Draven (who I spared and re-hired because he was cheap) screamed, waving a frost-blade.
His men were brave. But bravery doesn't stop fel-fire.
BOOM.
A Behemoth fired its cannon. The impact vaporized a platoon of Ice Mages.
"They're too strong!" a soldier cried. "We're doomed!"
WHOOSH.
The air pressure dropped.
A massive shadow fell over the battlefield.
Not a cloud.
A Dragon.
"ROAAAAR!"
Glacies descended like a meteor.
I stood on his back, wind whipping my coat.
"Did someone order a miracle?" I shouted over the noise of war.
I pointed the Soul-Eater's Fang at the Demon Army.
"Glacies. Breath Attack."
"WITH PLEASURE."
Glacies opened his maw.
He didn't breathe fire. He breathed Absolute Zero.
A cone of white death swept across the demonic ranks.
Magma hardened into rock. Imps froze mid-scream. The Behemoths groaned as their joints locked up, turning into ice statues.
[Multi-Kill: x500.]
[Environmental Effect: Flash Freeze.]
The Northern soldiers cheered. "The Emperor! The Emperor is here!"
I jumped off the dragon, landing on the highest tower of the city wall.
"Sylvia!" I commanded via earpiece. "Deploy the Sniper Corps."
"Affirmative, Master."
On the battlements, 500 Shadow Snipers (my personal undead unit) materialized.
They raised their X-99 Mana Rifles.
"Ahri! Light them up!"
Ahri stood on the wall, her nine tails blazing with Fox Fire. She cast a buff over the snipers.
[Skill: Enchant Weapon (Fire).]
The rifles glowed red.
"Fire at will," I ordered.
PEW-PEW-PEW.
It was a massacre.
The Demon infantry didn't stand a chance. High-velocity mana bullets, enchanted with fire, tore through their armor. Heads popped like melons.
"Push them back!" Draven rallied his troops. "For the Emperor!"
The tide turned.
But the Boss wasn't done.
"INSOLENCE!"
A roar shook the city.
General Moloch stepped through the main portal.
He was 20 feet tall. Red skin. Bull horns. Wielding a flaming axe the size of a bus.
[Boss: General Moloch]
[Rank: Demon Lord (Low Tier)]
[Level: 55]
"You dare freeze my legion?" Moloch bellowed. "I will mount your head on my—"
"Blah, blah, blah," I interrupted.
I activated my Black Gold Card (The Necromancer Credit Card).
"System. Override."
I pointed the card at the Siege Behemoths.
The demons thought they were biological.
But I knew the lore. They were Cyborgs. Part meat, part machine.
And machines can be Hacked.
[Skill: System Override (Alpha).]
[Target: Behemoth Control Chips.]
[Action: Change Target -> 'Friendly Fire'.]
"Execute Order 66," I whispered.
The five remaining Siege Behemoths stopped moving. Their eyes turned from Red to Blue.
They slowly turned their cannons around.
Aiming directly at General Moloch.
Moloch paused. "What? What are you doing? I am your Commander!"
"Not anymore," I broadcasted over the battlefield. "I offered them a better dental plan."
"FIRE!"
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
Five Hell-Cannons fired simultaneously at point-blank range.
Moloch was engulfed in a mushroom cloud of his own fel-energy.
"AAAAAAGH!"
The explosion cleared.
Moloch was still standing. But he was missing an arm. His armor was shattered. He was bleeding black blood.
[Boss HP: 30%.]
"Tough bastard," I noted.
I drew my dagger.
"Seraphina. [Blessing of Speed]."
"On it!"
I glowed gold.
I jumped off the wall.
I didn't fall. I used [Shadow Walk] to step on the falling snowflakes.
I dashed through the air, closing the distance to the Boss in seconds.
Moloch saw me coming. He swung his massive axe.
"DIE, INSECT!"
It was slow.
To me, with my stats boosted by drugs (potions), buffs, and pure adrenaline, he was moving in slow motion.
I slid under the axe swing.
I landed on his chest armor.
I looked him in the eye.
"You have something I want," I said.
My Left Hand glowed Red.
[Trait: The Usurper.]
I grabbed his horns.
[Skill: Soul Harvest.]
"NO! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"
Moloch thrashed. But I held on.
I wasn't just stealing a skill. I was stealing his Rank.
[Absorbing 'Demon Lord Aura'...]
[Success.]
I ripped the aura out of him. A black, jagged crown of energy formed over my head.
Moloch shrank. He lost his fire. He became... small.
"Please," he whimpered. "Mercy."
I raised the Soul-Eater's Fang.
"Mercy is a currency," I said.
"And you're broke."
SHUNK.
I drove the dagger into his skull.
[Boss Slain.]
[Level Up: 28 -> 30.]
[Class Advancement Available!]
The Demon General dissolved into ash.
Silence fell over the frozen plains.
The remaining demons looked at their dead leader. They looked at the traitor Behemoths. They looked at the Dragon circling above.
And they looked at me. Standing in the crater, wearing a Demon Crown, covered in black blood.
They dropped their weapons.
[Enemy Morale: Broken.]
[Victory.]
I stood up.
I adjusted my coat.
"Clean this up," I ordered Draven. "Loot everything. Horns, claws, armor. If it sells, I want it."
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
I walked back toward the city gates.
Sylvia ran up to me. She was beaming.
"That was amazing! You hacked the Behemoths!"
"Standard procedure," I said.
"Master!" Ahri shouted. "Look at the System! You unlocked a Class!"
I opened my menu.
[Level 30 Reached.]
[Job Advancement Quest Complete.]
[Select your Path:]
[A] The Void Knight (Melee/Darkness)
[B] The Necro-Lord (Summoner)
[C] The Chaos Broker (Unique)
I looked at option C.
[Class: The Chaos Broker]
[Description: A class for those who treat war as a business. Skills focus on buffing minions, manipulating enemy stats, and converting Gold into Power.]
I smiled.
"Is there even a choice?"
I selected [C].
[Class Acquired: Chaos Broker.]
[New Skill: 'Market Crash' (Debuff enemies based on your wealth gap).]
[New Skill: 'Liquidate' (Turn enemies into gold instantly).]
"Liquidate," I tested the word. It tasted sweet.
"I'm going to monetize the apocalypse."
I looked at the sky. The rifts were closing.
But I knew this was just the beginning.
The Third Wave would be worse.
And somewhere in the stars, the Monarch of Greed was watching me steal his Behemoths.
I raised a middle finger to the sky.
"Come and get me."
[Quest Update: The Second Wave.]
[Result: Flawless Victory.]
[Loot: 5x Siege Behemoths (Repaired), Demon General Soul.]
[Next Arc: The Auction of Nations.]
Where Cain sells the captured demons back to their own dimension for a profit.