New Game Plus

Side Story 1: The Final Battle

After I put a considerable amount of distance between us, I wait for this unknown effect to subside. When it finally stops, I can hardly move my left arm anymore, and the left shoulder guard was beginning to crack. What is this dangerous armor-piercing attack? No, it's even worst than that. The vibrations continued because my armor was able to endure it, but my body isn't able to absorb the same amount of damage my armor can. Therefore, it was an attack that forced the enemy's high defense to backfire on them, destroying them from the inside.

Why is he so powerful? A human's level limit is 100, I believe, and I am level 500, which was a demon's limit. If I hit him even once, that's a guaranteed death for him. His attacks shouldn't even chip away 1% of my health, yet that one hit took out a solid 15%. That's over 50,000 points of damage done to me in a single hit. Is it his trump card? As I think that, I look back over to where the [Hero] was, and I saw two of him. One with it's leg blown off, and another standing next to him.

I use my [Eyes of Magic Perception], and the world turns into an array of colors, similar to what one would see as thermal vision, except much more clearer. The figure with the leg blown off is completely blue, indicating that it was a being created with magic. It couldn't be called a simple illusion, because it had physical substance. I know I felt my spear piercing flesh and bone, so it was probably a spell at the highest tier of magic, towards the pinnacle of [Spatial Magic].

A valkyrie told me about this the other day, about a legendary spell that only exists in legends. The perfected illusionary spell, [Phantasm]. There was no other explanation for that figure next to the [Hero]. As I keep my distance from the [Hero], and examined him, I see mana gathering in front of him. I turn off my [Eyes of Magic Perception], and watch what exactly he was doing.

I guess I'm learning a new fact about the [Hero] now, and it's that not only is he powerful in close combat, but he can use the largest arsenal of magic spells I've ever seen. First, a blast of extremely cold wind was released by him, and covered the entire throne room in ice within a few seconds.

Next, a huge burst of light filled the room, and a heavy bolt of magic power strikes me right in the chest. To be precise, it was a large bolt of lightning, which was powerful enough to completely destroy my chestplate. Fortunately it didn't pierce through, something like that would've mortally wounded me if it hit my actual body.

Right after, a heavy force pulls me down towards the ground, and slams me deep into it. The ceiling of the throne room began to collapse, and most of the debris was coming towards my direction.

This is a bad situation for me, so I guess I have to use 'that.' I gather mana within my body, and just before the debris hit, I recited a single word.

"Mode, Devil." Instantly, flames erupt from my body as red, runic markings began to carve themselves into my body. My skin blackens and hardens, and small line cracks run through them that makes them seem scale-like. The wings I had also received markings, the edges became extremely sharp. Two horns protrude from my head, and the transformation was complete.

[Mode: Devil] is a skill I obtained upon becoming a [Demon Lord], and it made me undergo a transformation that heavily increased my physical and magical defense, along with enchanting my strength and speed. I wasn't able to stay in this form for long though, at max I can last two minutes. Therefore, I must defeat him within that limited frame of time.

All the debris that was about to hit me completely melted from the flame wave I released upon transformation, and most of the room was now destroyed. The afternoon sun was exposed to both the [Hero] and I, facing each other and waiting for the other to make a move. I couldn't afford to wait like this though, and the [Hero] knew, so he began to gather mana in preparations for stopping my next attack. This will most likely be the exchange we'll make.

I flap my wings once, and that was enough to propel me forward at the speed of sound, allowing me to reach my opponent in less than a second. With my spear in my right hand, I thrust it at his neck, and it pierces, but there was no blood. Another [Phantasm]. I immediately turn around to see if I was able to strike again before he landed his attack, but instead, I find myself surrounded by several more [Phantasms], all who began sprinting circles around me at high speeds, prepared to strike at any opening I give.

This will probably be my last stand, so I'm going to make it where it's either I kill the [Hero], or drag him to death with me. One of the [Phantasms] circle behind me, and makes the first strike. The final stand starts here. I thrust the blunt end of the spear behind me, hitting the illusion straight to the neck, killing it instantly. Two more try to take advantage of me temporarily focusing my attention on the surprise attack, but I quickly spin the spear around me and slash at the two illusions.

One more came head on, and dodged my first thrust, ducking under and trying to hit my abdomen. Instead of pulling back the spear to try for another attack, I straight up kick the [Phantasm] and send it flying with it's head bent a complete 180˚. There were only two remaining, and they both come at my from both sides. One of them was the real one, and there was only two, so I should be able to eliminate both of them before they hit me. I raise the spear and thrust it at the [Hero] coming from the left, and released a spear made of dark magic, which instantly killed it. There was no blood, so that means the one to my right was the real [Hero].

I turn around and began to swing to the area I thought the hero was going to be, but he wasn't there at all. He completely disappeared from the right side. Suddenly, I feel an extremely heavy impact from behind, much heavier than the kick from before. Even though my magic and physical resistance increased, the strength of this attack was at least 10 times stronger than the previous, and the vibrations were so powerful that I can feel my bones breaking, organs bursting, and muscles tearing from it.

This is the end for me. But I'm not going down alone. Gritting my teeth and bearing the pain, I turn around and thrust the spear with my remaining strength, which hit the [Hero] who had a surprised look on his face. I smirked at him as I fell to the ground, the vibrations getting worse. Before my lungs were crushed though, I was able to say some final words to the [Hero].

"Got you, you teleporting bastard." My lungs burst immediately after this, and I can no longer speak. Soon enough, my heart will be crushed by these heavy vibrations, but I was able to hear the [Hero] reply before I died.

"Good job." What a thing for him to say, even though he was about to die as well. Though I can kind of understand how he'd be feeling after this. I bet he's even smiling right now, glad that everything's over even though he's about to die. If I could, I would be chuckling to myself right now, but unfortunately, my time was up.

Soon enough, I feel a heavy pressure on my heart, and the pain immediately disappears. In fact, my entire body went numb. This is what death was like? It was only a few moments later I would find myself reincarnated with the appearance of the [Hero], and as a female as well.