The Damned Demon

Asher couldn’t believe that all it took was one measly threat from Derek for her to betray him.

He wished he could just shut off his senses, unable to watch this anymore.

But then, her voice cut through the room—calm, deliberate, and sharp as ice.

“Derek… it seems like you never truly understood who I am… or what I’m capable of.”

Derek blinked.

“Your ambitions to become a god… to crown yourself the last ruler of humanity, a savior in your own twisted image… they will never come to pass.” Her hazel eyes glinted like twin stars in a winter sky. “As long as I draw breath. As long as he is with me… You will never rise.”

If Asher could feel his eyes, they would have widened to their extremities upon hearing what she just said.

“I’m going to give you one last chance. Renounce your title as a Hunter before you tarnish it further. Confess your crimes. Or fall and be forgotten.”

The tension cracked like a snapped string.

Lena’s voice shook as she took a step back, “Aira, y-you can’t be serious… You’ll lose everything. For him?!”

“I knew it. She will always side with that motherfucker,” Rhino King muttered with a bitter look.

“She’s gone mad!” Lenny let out a nervous scoff while glancing at Lena, asking her silently what to do next.

Lena secretly gave a subtle nod to Lenny, and the other Hunters sneakily began reaching for their weapons.

Derek’s calm expression slowly contorted with a sneer of fury, “You’ve always underestimated me, Aira. That ends today.”

In a flash, a radiant blue spear formed in Derek’s hand and surged toward her throat with impossible speed. Around the room, bladed weapons, spells, and mana projectiles flew toward her from all directions.

But just as the tip of the spear reached the soft flesh of her neck—

Time. Froze.

Everything stopped.

Every spark of light. Every ripple of heat. Every breath of movement.

The entire room became a painting trapped in eternity, every Hunter frozen mid-strike, unaware that their fate had already sealed.

Asher, watching through the veil of memory, gasped soundlessly. Aira… she had stopped time!

Something only whispered in ancient myth, buried as a mere mention in forbidden tomes. A power no mortal was supposed to possess.

He had always suspected it but he could never confirm it. No wonder…she hid it so well.

With ethereal calm and her eyes glowing a radiant white, Aira gently pushed the spear away from her throat and walked past Derek, her expression an icy sculpture of grim resolve.

“There was never anything to underestimate in you,” she whispered coldly, walking around the cabin in silence.

She reached out and pulled a blade from one of the frozen Hunters’ belts. It slid out soundlessly, its polished surface reflecting her face—a portrait of silent vengeance.

And then… she began.

Aira moved like wind cutting through snow.

With graceful, effortless precision, she severed Derek’s head from his neck in a single stroke. His expression was still frozen in mid-snarl.

Next was Lenny. His lips locked mid-command, his eyes wide in surprise. Her blade whispered across his throat.

Then Lena. Then Rhino King. Then all the rest.

Each decapitation was swift, silent, merciful in its precision—though no less terrifying in its inevitability. Blood did not gush. There was no chaos, no violence in motion.

Only inevitability.

When the last had been felled, she turned toward the cabin’s entrance, her boots soundless as she approached.

Then—

Time resumed.

THUD. THUD. THUD.

Heads hit the ground. Bodies collapsed in slow motion, like puppets with cut strings and blood spilled against the wooden walls like paint.

Gasps never came.

Screams were never heard.

And in Aira’s hand… was Derek’s severed head, his expression still frozen in righteous fury.

She dropped the bloodied blade on the wooden floor, its clatter the only sound breaking the haunting silence. Then she stepped outside into the snowy air, the sun casting a red-orange hue against the white-covered peaks.

Asher, watching from the shadows of memory, could barely breathe. His mind reeled. None of this should be real. He had lived this day. He had died this day. But… Aira had never done this.

What was he seeing? Was this some sort of twisted illusion?

But then he heard someone else coming and it was none other than…

Cedric came to a halt, his breath frosting in the air, eyes widening as the grisly reality before him registered in slow, nightmarish clarity.

The snowy clearing had turned into a macabre stage of death, the cabin door yawning open behind her, revealing an interior painted crimson. At the center stood Aira, auburn hair whipping gently in the cold wind, a serene yet unsettling calm upon her face.

But it wasn’t the tranquility of her expression that froze him—it was what she held in her hand. Hanging limply from her grasp was the severed head of Derek Sterling, once the most trusted figure in his life, mentor, friend, almost family. Blood still dripped slowly from the stump, splattering silently onto the pale snow.

“A-Aira… what did you do?” Cedric whispered hoarsely, disbelief etched painfully across his face.

Aira didn’t flinch. Without ceremony, she dropped Derek’s head at Cedric’s feet, the heavy thud echoing in his ears like thunder. Her voice, steady but tinged with quiet sorrow, filled the tense silence, “He and everyone working for him were going to betray you. I always knew they’d try today, while you were vulnerable. I’d hoped they would reconsider, choose better… but I see now I was naive.”

Cedric staggered slightly, knees weakening, his voice shaking, “Derek? He—and everyone—betray me? What are you saying, Aira? He would never…” His voice cracked, his gaze falling to Derek’s lifeless, furious eyes. “He was more than a friend… he was like a mentor, my family. He helped me reach where I am today. This…This can’t be real!”

Asher, experiencing this scene through Cedric’s eyes, felt the confusion and grief acutely, his chest constricted as if an invisible hand was crushing his heart. It was a familiar version of what he felt that day.

But he’d never seen this—this wasn’t how things had happened.

Derek and the others had betrayed him, yes—but never had he seen Aira step into this madness for his sake.

Aira swiftly stepped forward, gripping Cedric’s hand firmly, her voice gentle but insistent, “I know this is shocking, and I’m sorry I had to show you the truth this way. They intended to kill you when you returned exhausted from defeating the Demon King. I couldn’t let that happen. I know you would have confronted them first, tried to understand why they would do it. But Cedric, they weren’t worth it—they never were.”

Cedric’s voice trembled, barely a whisper, as he ran a shaky hand through his hair, visibly shattered, “I-I don’t understand… Why… Why would they even want to kill me? None of this makes sense.”

“Derek knew you’d never stand for his plans. Plans which he had masterfully hidden from you and even his own family. You would never accept ruling humanity as he wished or approve his darker ambitions. To fulfill his twisted dreams, you had to be removed,” Aira explained, her tone patient yet heavy. “But that’s all in the past now. Defeat the Demon King first. Let me handle the aftermath. Don’t let this distract you.”

Cedric drew a shuddering breath, his gaze holding hers, searching desperately for truth.

Slowly, painfully, he nodded. “Okay… if you did this for me, it must be true.” His voice broke slightly, but he composed himself, gripping her hands tightly, “We’ll sort this out together after I return. Until then, stay safe. The WHA will be suspicious of their sudden deaths.”

Aira smiled softly, squeezing his hands gently, “Don’t worry about me. I’ll be fine. Go now. I’ll join you soon.”

Cedric nodded again, giving her a heavy, conflicted glance before turning slowly, trudging away through the snow, each step heavier than the last.

Asher’s mind spun in disbelief, unable to process how this was even possible. This memory—this impossible vision—conflicted with everything he knew. He wanted to pull away, scream that it was all false—but he was trapped, compelled to watch further as the scene shifted yet again.

Yet a part of him also wanted to see what was going to happen next. Where was this so-called memory supposed to end,

This time, the wind howled fiercely atop the mountain peak, sharp ice crystals stinging Cedric’s battered skin. He was on his knees, breathing labored, bruised and bleeding but triumphant. The Demon King was gone, the world saved.

Through half-closed eyes, Cedric glimpsed Aira approaching slowly, calmly, a soft smile lighting her face. His lips twitched upward wearily. “Aira… I did it… the world is safe now.”

“I knew you would protect us all,” she said softly, reaching him, her hazel eyes full of warmth and pride.

Cedric nodded weakly, his brows knitting in concern, “But… the WHA won’t leave us alone after what happened to Derek and the others. They’ll come after us.”

Aira smiled reassuringly, unfazed, “None of that matters as long as we’re together.” She stretched out her delicate hand toward him, silently inviting him to take it, her gaze warm with unwavering trust.

Cedric’s tired golden eyes brightened as he reached out, but suddenly, without warning, everything froze.

The wind ceased its howling, the snowflakes suspended midair. Cedric’s hand hovered mere inches from hers, his expression stuck between hope and exhaustion.

Aira gasped softly, her hand trembling as she slowly drew back, bewildered. Her heart thundered, “C-Cedric?” she stammered, fear creeping into her voice as she stared at his frozen figure.

Only silence answered her. Then, the sky rapidly darkened, clouds twisting unnaturally, rolling in from all directions. A heavy, suffocating pressure pressed down, an oppressive shadow shrouding the mountaintop and everything at once.

The clouds above began to blacken, rolling unnaturally fast. Lightning crackled—an eerie dark green, not white—and the world dimmed as if night had swallowed the sun.

“You dared to rewrite a damned fate… and so I have come.”

A voice spoke from every direction—an eerie, unnaturally hollow, deep voice, echoing ominously. Aira’s blood turned to ice as she slowly, tremblingly raised her gaze to the pitch-black darkness above.

Asher, seeing through her eyes, felt every ounce of her terror, his own pulse quickening, shocked to his core upon seeing what was happening.

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