Battlefield- Evolution

by Daniel Dragon

  Some of the demons even had said that Earth was just a copy of their world, but with an alternate history and different races… Did that mean orcs were just a different outcome than humans? Dracon thought that was ridiculous as suddenly a sharp wind passed by him.

  Before he could blink, a large man had appeared in front of him with three large wings on his back and an axe in his hand. His eyes were red and he had two extremely long arms at his side as his cape billowed behind him…

  How… how had he appeared so fast?

  “Why… why aren’t you bowing goblin?” The supreme demon said, putting his hand out and pointing to all the demons currently bowing around him… “Where did you grow up you bumpkin… get on your damn knees!”

  “Yes! Yes!”

  Dracon said, immediately prostrating himself before the monster as he smiled and tapped him on the head…

  The most horrifying terror swept over him as the man walked off as three other beings appeared holding what appeared to be a girl in their hands… Dracon couldn’t help but nearly puke as a feeling of dark mana suddenly made him want to vomit… The touch alone from that being nearly killed him instantly, but somehow, he survived…

  “I heard that you served of the best wine in the entire continent,” The supreme being walked up to a vampire who was currently half bowed to the supreme demon, finding his red eyes shinning into his own. “I give you permission to move vampire…”

  “It’s nothing compared to the wine you have at your mansions,” The vampire got up, and opened the door to his shop, letting the vampire in after him as everyone in the town panicked…

  A supreme demon, a level 100 or over existence, had chosen to enter into their city to drink some of their wine!

  Dracon couldn’t help but feel a sense of terror inside of him! They’d definitely found out about him and this blade in his hands! He had to flee immediately if he had any chance of survival!

  In his entire life, he’d only heard of supreme demons when he used to work on the farm from some of the hobgoblins that ran the place. Supreme Demons were single handedly enough to cut a mountain in half, and had been able to destroy jet fighter planes when they still existed during the times of war…

  They were the entire reason that humanity seized to win that apocalyptic battle 300 hundred years ago, during the golden age of humanity. Dracon took a deep breath and got up slowly as everyone in the town remained bowed with their eyes closed…

  He had to leave now!

  He had to leave before he was killed, and his chance of saving humanity perished along with his chances of survival!

  More and more thoughts spread into his mind… Maybe he should just do what Jase did and just settle down with a wife and have kids?

  After all, these demons wouldn’t dare harm his first two kids! He could still live a good life if he just learned how to obey the demons!

  “You’re out of your mind…” Bob said, sighing as his voice appeared in Dracon’s head. “You’re not allowed to move when supreme demons are inside your city… It’s the entire reason there is a twilight hour! It’s for demons to honor the supreme demons that brought them victory 300 years ago!”

  “I remember they were actually surprised by the guns, tanks, and artillery that humans had to offer… However, it was the supreme demons that destroyed all the jets and robots that humanity kept hidden! Don’t you dare move…”

  I have to run… If I don’t run, those supreme demons will kill me as soon as they leave that bar… I doubt they came here just for a drink from some level 40 vampire…

  They landed right in front of me… I don’t know what continent we’re in, but I doubt they’d be here if they weren’t aware of the weapon in my hand! Aren’t they prescient of the future? If I don’t run now, I’m going to—

  “Little idiot… bow you fool…” Jase said, kicking Dracon in the shin as he tried to amble past his shop and escape for the woods. “I don’t know what kind of bumpkin you are, but get on the floor…”

  Damn it!

  Dracon dropped down onto the floor and bowed, leaving his weapon behind the door as he put his head down. He remained there for ten minutes, praying to himself as the moon slowly started to rise higher in the sky.

  For some reason, though, after the ten minutes, and then after an hour, the supreme demon stayed inside the bar. It wasn’t until four hours later that he finally exited the bar.

  It felt like the longest four hours of Dracon’s life, and he did his best to remain calm as his mana got closer and closer to zero.

  It seemed that he had basically enough mana to sustain 5 hours of his transformation without his blade, and any longer would ruin him, causing him to turn back to a human in front of all these demons…

  At this moment, though, an orc galloped into the city and pulled on the reigns of his horses, sweating as he jumped off and walked into the town…

  Dracon instantly recognized that orcs’ face, Mactrid, and tried his hardest to remain calm as his forehead covered with sweat. If it wasn’t for all his survival instincts kicking into high gear, he probably would’ve screamed in disbelief…

  That was the man who controlled his life back on the battlefield in BlackRock Village. If he wasn’t here to tell about his escape, then what was he here for?

  “Ah, we have a visitor?” One of the supreme demons appeared in front of the orc as he just figured out why everyone was bowing. “So.. I see you… like that stupid goblin… wanted to insult me by not bowing in my presence! Well, since you’re the second one to do it, di—”

  “Wait, I… I came here because a human escape—”

  The orcs head flew into the air, and spun off his body as Dracon shivered in the corner by the medical house. The blood from that kill, however, reached all the way to him as did the orc head which stopped an inch from his eyes as he bowed on the floor… For some reason, Dracon had a feeling that the clean cut and trajectory was intentional, and he couldn’t help but piss his pants as the supreme demon appeared above him.

  “You… you’re in luck… little goblin… If you were the third one to piss me off today, you’d also be dead… Freaking orcs, they think just because they’re better than hobgoblins that they can walk in my presence…”

  “Now, since I didn’t hear what he said, I suppose I should revive him, so he can continue talking…” The supreme demon picked up the orc’s head and suddenly turned, slamming it back onto the orc’s spine – moving ten meters in an instant - as a dark energy came out of his hand and wrapped around the orcs spine and neck…

  A moment later, the orc somehow was reanimated and was able to get up on his feet, however, his face was attached backwards to his head as if life was a joke for the supreme being!

  “You… you had something to tell me… If it is worthy of your impudence, I’ll perhaps turn your head around!”

  “I’m so sorry wise one! I didn’t mean to offend you!” Mactrid said, struggling to breathe as he thought about that terrifying feeling of watching his head fall off his body. He’d lost the ability to breathe and saw only the sky spinning before everything went dark. Now, though, his head was back on his body, and he could see a trail of his own blood as he tried his hardest to answer clearly and concisely and immediately… “I… I… I heard about a human that was able to turn into a… a goblin! Apparently, it has to do with a weapon he has on his person! We just got a new shipment of blades from the weapons department… Unfortunately, I don’t know what city it was from , supreme--”

  “So you think because of some goblin, you shouldn’t use your brain when you walk into a town where everyone is bowing? Did you forget who gave us this beautiful Earth while we lived in that horrible world for thousands of years!”

  “NO! NO!” Mactrid cried, trying his hardest to breathe in a deep breath as blood gushed out his nose… “I… I just think it has to do with the rebellion! If the humans find a way to get to level 100, they might be able to go against even you, great one!”

>   “Heh…” The supreme demon smiled, and turned around Mactrid’s head, slapping him away and into the wooden wall to his right. He crashed so hard against the wall that the sound of cracking bones could be heard by all in the city.

  “I trust that you’ll find that goblin since I’m letting you live, orc… I’m not worried about humans making a simple transform to goblin weapon… ” The supreme demon looked up in the sky before he disappeared, leaving his voice behind as he vanished into the clouds of the night… “I… I liked the wine, vampire… I’ll be back in four weeks to make sure this territory is operating smoothly, and no little human goblins are left remaining…”

  ‘Yes! Thank you Aril for your efforts!” The vampire bowed before the three remaining supreme demons disappeared into the sky. They were so fast that they left behind a sonic boom, shaking the foundation of all the houses, bars, and hotels on the strip around Dracon and his ‘allies’…

  After ten minutes, everyone finally got up again, and continued performing their tasks . A few humans even passed by and headed into the bars to his right…

  Those were probably the humans that had reached past level 5, Dracon realized, as he pushed himself off the ground and turned to his side.

  He rushed to his sword as fast as he could, huffing as he grabbed it as his mana nearly reached zero…. This was an extremely terrifying situation for him to be in because of his lack of mana! He also basically just learned that he had four weeks to cover his tracks!

  “That orc is probably going to need a doctor,” Jase said, patting Dracon on the back as he held onto his hilt to maintain his balance. “Why don’t you bring him here for me before he kills you? Maybe if I tell him you tried to save him, he’ll let you live…”

  Dracon had no choice but to obey him, and carried his former boss over to Jase as the rest of the town recovered to its normal vitality… However, he now suddenly felt more terrified then before as he left the orc on the bed…. The orc, Mactrid, would probably stop at nothing to kill him once he found out where he was, and he now had four weeks before the supreme demon was back looking for his head!

  Dracon took a deep breath and firmly resolved himself as he prepared to exit the medical house and head back to the barn! He had to kill a hobgoblin as quickly as possible, or else he’d have no way of covering his tracks!

  Chapter 7: Concessions

  Invidia looked out at the town, and sighed before he turned to look at two of the girls currently fainting from exhaustion in the crop field beneath his desk…

  He couldn’t hit them because of the accursed twilight lingering in the sky. That only happened when the supreme demons were around, and he waited impatiently before the clouds above started to clear up, bringing them their usual early night at around 3 pm…

  Invidia also noticed that the goblin he’d sent off over four hours ago with a small girl was finally returning… He sighed and picked up the whip before going down to the crop field and putting it against the girls backs as Dracon walked up to him…

  “There… there was a supreme de-- Demon!” Dracon said, bowing as he passed by the two girls on the floor… “I’m sorry… I’m sorry I took so long to return!”

  “How long did he say till the girl recovers?”

  “Three days!” Dracon replied, raising his head… “However, I think the girl only needs two days most to get better! What do you think?”

  “I think this is all your fault, Goblin!” Invidia slapped Dracon in the face, knocking him into the dirt and causing him to slide across the barn floor. “All the other goblins have already left for the day, and not a single new one has come to help me because of that long twilight hour!”

  There were new goblins every night, but because of the supreme demons landing in the town no battlefields were covered with blood today because no orcs had left town to go to their nearby farms and villages.

  That meant the goblins were still all back at their respective orc territories and didn’t need a place to spend the night. Invidia relied on those goblins to help him watch the girls, but now he was here making sure they worked while receiving no food at all to eat!

  This was the job of a goblin, and he didn’t want to do it!

  “You’ll… You’ll stay here and watch these girls! If… If I find any of them slacking under you, I’ll not give you any food tonight! Do you here me, green turd?!”

  “Yes! Yes!” Dracon replied, smiling as he watched the hobgoblin go up the stairs, leaving the whip on the floor. He’d been waiting for an opportunity just like this to kill a hobgoblin, and definitely wasn’t going to waste it…

  Still, he didn’t feel good about hurting the girls behind him as they weltered on the floor. However, he also couldn’t save too many of them. He had no choice but to whip them as lightly as he could as they cried beneath him.

  A few hours later, night came, and they were finally allowed to stop working. He nearly cried as the girls barely managed to walk back to the small series of cots on the bottom floor of the barn.

  There was a rancid smell in the sleeping quarters of the girl’s first floor space, and he had trouble not feeling bad for them as a few collapsed instantly on the bed.

  He walked up the stairs at this moment and made it up to his cot from the night before, finding it still the same as he’d left it.

  He held tightly to his fist as the hobgoblin remained at his desk, turning through a book with rage from how his day had gone…

  Dracon realized at this moment that there was something strangely human about the anger coming from the hobgoblin…. Was he angry about staying here by himself?

  Wait, maybe if I try and be his friend, he’ll lower his defenses towards me… However, if I try and talk to him, he’ll probably just treat me like shit… Is there anything valuable I can give him that’ll at least let me get close to him?

  There has to be something around here that he wants? Is there anything that I can do to make him lower his defenses?

  “You’re playing with fire… That hobgoblin is level 10 and he always keeps his sword by the side of his desk… However, don’t you have that skill Silent Feet… You haven’t used your skills yet right?”

  Would that make it easier to sneak up on him, Bob, or are you trying to get me killed?

  Bob’s pitch rose before he replied in anger, “No… I don’t want you to die because I’ve been around for a long, long time… I’ve been around for 150 years, so no thank you! Don’t need to die because I have some crazy person in charge of my theta…”

  Dracon sighed and got up, walking down the stairs and to the fields where he could let off some steam. He sighed and looked back at the hobgoblin as he stared at him, paying attention to his every movement…

  A second later, something moved in the bushes, and Dracon decided to try and run after it. The hobgoblin instantly got up with an incensed expression, running down the stairs as Dracon ‘chased’ whatever made the nose…

  “You… you stupid goblin! Why are you chasing the wind!” The hobgoblin screamed as he got angrier and angrier about having

  to work this shitty job… “I… I’m so tired of this! Get out here, and show me your hands! You have to lose a finger for being such an idiot!”

  How… how do I activate Silent Feet? Dracon asked in his head, moving through the field as he stopped a few feet away from the hobgoblin… They never taught me how to use this skill at school…”

  “Just think the work “”Silent Feet”” and it will activate… Geez… I swear… I thought you humans used to at least try to figure things out for yourselves… I remember my first owner, back when humans first came—”

  “It’s not story time now…” Dracon thought Silent Feet and slowly exited the bushes as the hobgoblin stayed by the farm with a blade in his hand. He angrily slashed at the bushes as Dracon made his way around the barn with the skill activated… He had no choice but to go up the stairs and wait for the hobgoblin to lose his patience and return.

  Silent Fee
t only decreased his visibility and didn’t make him invisible. A skill that granted true invisibility would never be a level 5 skill, nor would it be given to hobgoblins, or kobolds, or orcs…. Vampires were the first true species that were considered more than bottom tier demons, which made Dracon somewhat afraid as he planned to jump down and attack.

  Five minutes and then ten minutes and then twenty minutes passed as he stood in the corner of the barn… Finally, the hobgoblin walked up the stairs as he rubbed his neck as Dracon waited to count the steps for the right time to jump and strike.

  By the time he made it to the third step, Dracon knew it was time to strike, and activated Silent Feet one more time as he jumped in the air…

  His blade went through the hobgoblin’s neck, and spun his head onto the floor. Blood dripped down the stairs as Invidia’s head bounced down and rolled around the bar. That same blood, shockingly, turned into a stream that seemed to flow into his weapon…

  What is happening? Why is it absorbing the blood into its crystal? Is this… is this how I’m going to be able to transform? Bob… do you know what’s happening?

  “I know virtually nothing about anything above a tier 2 weapon., sorry… If you ever let me upgrade in a mainframe, then I promise to fill you in on the information I find about tier 0 weapons…”

  “I barely trust you at a terminal… I think your upgrade is going to have to wait a long time…”

  Dracon sighed and looked at his experience bar, noticing he’d only gained 3000 experience out of the 5000 necessaries to level up to level 6. He picked up the body of the hobgoblin, at this time, and dragged it up to the top of the stairs, leaving it underneath the hobgoblin’s desk as he looked around to see what items he could take before he left.

  He grabbed three knives, a small map, a few jars of pig entrails, and two bottles of alcohol and put it in the bag he found to his right… He then looked at the blood soaked clothes on the dead hobgoblin… They were clothes for a level 7 hobgoblin, so he took them and stuffed them in the bag before turning to look at the forest…