The putrid odor invades my nostrils. The penumbra swallows the rest of the light that pierces the dense layer of toxic fog. I intensify my eyes to see through the darkness, turn the halberd and track the noises of the demon. He hides in the pitch, his heavy and uneven footsteps echo down the mountain.

  Hundreds of trails go deep into the carefully built structures, channels on the sides interconnect the mountain. Before, fine art decorated the joint effort of gnomes, elves, and dwarves. Now, I see carts thrown, jewelry knocked over, trails destroyed. Weapons thrown to the ground, broken. Abandoned in despair.

  They say Hilda broke into this place. I feel the rotten spring rot spread and kill the nutrients in the soil, grow plants in the canals and invade the command areas. Standing water and dense dusty air. The mana of those who invoked the demon is already gone, and all their traces have been taken over by the sickly green. An investigation is useless; this is a war mission.

  Spin on its own axis and strike an attack that comes from the shadows. The Halberd ax collides with claws in a metallic sound, the air explodes, the ground heats up and breaks below us. After the bang, the creature disappears. Dash your mana and advance against it through one of the side tunnels, claws, and steel meet in a blur that illuminates the pitch.

  He disappears. I have to be careful not to destroy the mountain when entering supersonic speed—Vanusia still depends on its resources. I can sense your murderous intent. If even with that speed it couldn't catch up to me, I should be able to stop it with the power I have now.

  Great. I think. The less I need the seal mana that holds the Demiurge, the better.

  Groans of hatred and suffering Echo. Roars of a deformed throat. To hear the city from here, the demon must have some kind of extraordinary hearing. I follow the trembling of his steps and the weeping of his voice. It's a trap, of course. I don't mind. The faster to finish all this, the better.

  In the heart of the mountain, a giant circle that was once the center of operation had become a huge hole. With kilometers of depth, the light no longer touches its bottom.

  “Lux.” I chant and create a small sphere using light manipulation—my main type of magic.

  With a smile and without further ado, I accept your challenge and jump in. I feel the wind hit my face as I fall for minutes on end. I flex my legs and crash to the floor. Dust rises, golden eyes shine, the creature stares at me.

  He is a giant, more than five meters high, with huge pointed ears, but twisted in circles. Its body is deformed and patched, with various pieces of flesh clumping together to maintain shape. Grendel is covered in black, giant-fanged fur and bends over, watching me with murderous eyes that glow red.

  I spit out a laugh. “So many bodies to choose from, and you decided to become a monkey? Reveal to me, demon, what is your heart like?”

  Grendel gnashes his teeth and babbles half words: “An unfulfilled desire. My stomach growls, and my ears have been wounded so that I hear only that which I do not possess. I will devour them.”

  He moves forward in a blur, but crashes into the wall when I throw myself to the side. I get into posture, point the halberd at the creature and take distance. The monster tears the wind in my direction, I roll to the side of his attack and advance before he recovers.

  I pierce the spear into his abdomen at supersonic speed. The air bursts, the temperature rises, Grendel roars and stumble. Red blood flows from the wound. I don't let him get away. I press the blade against him and force the demon to match my strength, his feet claw into the ground and spin. The monster grab the handle of the weapon and throws me alongside her into the wall, then chases me. The long limbs of the beats prevents contact with the iron, and his shape contorts to make movement possible.

  A competition of power. Grendel extends his other arm and I grab him, the ground gives way below us and an earthquake follows down the mountain. Rocks fall and the structure of the tunnels sways, stones crash to the surface.

  I firm my feet below his guard, then pull his body and use his own strength as momentum. I throw the creature against the wall and create a crater in its place, reverting our positions.

  Brothers. The Holy Emperor is now seated on the throne that governs mankind. The others are dead. Screams echo in my mind and make me long for the throne I once rejected to do my duty as a golden hero, or the sweet peace of a tomb.

  I throw myself on the beast, turn the weapon and hit his chest with the hammer. It sinks against the rock and stones collapse, a slip increases the area of the circle that is our battlefield.

  Dust in the air. Pulverized skeletons. The environment is even more dangerous than Hilda's toxic cloud. The waste would tear my body apart from the inside out if it could, but whether chaos or poison, the miracle of order protects my body from any disease.

  “Remember!” He screams. A heavy blow. I raise the halberd to grab, but its claws pierce through the reinforced wood and shatter it. Grendel punches me with the other claw and throws me to the ground, rolling until I get support.

  I feel the tremor of a slide on the surface of the mountain. Even with concentrated force, the environment suffers from the consequence of attacks and collapses every second.

  Ah, brothers. I remember the days when I thought I would sit on the throne and deal with humanity. I remember when I wanted to save the world from death at any cost.

  I throw the metal of the halberd against the eye of the beast, Grendel narrowly dodges to the side. I take advantage of his imbalance and cover the distance, jump and punch the creature's deformed ear. The demon digs its claws into my ribs in a roar and crushes me to the ground, I feel the burning climb up my spine.

  I grab his fists and pull him close, land a headbutt on his jaw and launch myself against his right arm. I lock my legs around the demon's shoulder, throw it hard against the ground using my weight, and apply the arm lock.

  Family. The Holy Emperor must pass his lineage forward, then developed a royal family. Charles, before he died, also cultivated his own. I still remember how I dreamed of a happy and complete family in childhood—one that would be a model for all those who did not know how to navigate.

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  Amelia. Valkyries. The duty of the Golden Hero cost me everything.

  Grendel tears his own arm. It heals the wound and rolls to get out of the grip, then anchors itself to the wall. I throw the severed limb away, inhale and prepare.

  Against the monsters, mankind armed themselves with swords and spears, strength and technique, and proved that they can be killed. But demons are not ordinary monsters. Their heart is vile and irredeemable, and worldliness cannot hurt them: it is only by eradicating the evil represented by the devil in their own heart that their blows will strike it.

  “I'm sorry.” I smile. “Envy was one of the first things I learned to deal with.”

  The Beast recoils, wounded. He lunges into their tunnels once more, and our fight turns into a chase. It is obvious that Grendel wants to take my time so that the invasion continues.

  Still…

  Countless openings loom over me, alternative paths that Grendel has dug. I ignore the destroyed architecture and check my surroundings. I stare at the channels and follow the sounds of footsteps, but they circle me.

  Something's wrong.

  I thought Grendel repurposed the old paths and dug some new ones, but there are too many of them for that to be the case. Why would you make so many useless tunnels, especially small openings that your body does not pass through?

  Abandoned carts and resources thrown into the depths below the ground.

  Where do these tunnels lead?

  ***

  Sieghart and the others are on the battlefield, but I'm not dumb to be dragged along with them. I fled the first second I could, first because I don't want to be used as a cannon fodder for a city of strangers; second because I can do something much better than killing random monsters.

  I throw myself at a guard and knock a guard out with the handle of the spear. The body falls against the impressively clear waters of the sewer and is carried away by the current. I'm close to an exit and I smell freedom. I walk through a few more corridors, knock out a few more guards, and run like a blur.

  The stone structure shields me from the screams of horror that happen on the battlefield. Some powerful spell exploded outside the barrier and I think it was Sieghart's doing, but I'm not sure, and I don't want to be. If I hold my breath and maximize the intensification of my body, maybe I can withstand the injuries of the toxic cloud and get out of the city still whole.

  The sewage system stretches for tens of kilometers below the city and concentrates all the technology that was not exposed from above. I see systems so complex they could be called machines; fueled by elemental spells that purify water to the point of becoming crystalline.

  Although men have the technological advantage, it is impressive what Elves have been able to do, even if they have rejected the handling of iron.

  I walk through the tunnels until I find the outlet of a waterfall, illuminated by blue crystals on the gray stone. I launch myself from the top and am carried by the current to the depths, where the structures are slowly taken over by vegetation; earth and roots. I ignore the cave paintings and hide my presence to sneak around. Countless oddly shaped holes surround me, their bottoms closed by probable geomancy.

  Guards. Against enemies who can sneak through the Earth, protecting underground points of interest and preventing a possible invasion is necessary. But the barrier protects the elves, so it's not a priority. No, these guards are not here to protect someone, but because they were selected to be here.

  Their eyes almost glow in the dark, his stature is slender and strange, their ears pointed, with some member of an animal or vegetal now and then. Too many strangers to be considered human, too earthly to be fairies—and they know I'm here.

  They hear me. I maximize the emission and knock one out by surprise with a punch to the chin, briefly fight another, and he makes a cut on my arm. I kick his leg and make the puny one lose balance, then knock him out too. I close the wound, intensifying regeneration and look for more elves.

  The worst rats hide in the sewer, and I'm not talking about the animals. With a better detection system than Dufae, it's impossible for them not to have noticed me. Your reinforcements must be arriving, and it is curious how the soldier's round has changed from the pattern I observed while investigating Serdin.

  Traitors. I imagine these are the routes they use to contact Hilda in unofficial meetings. I imagined that they would be here and that they would try to sabotage the city in some way, but there are not enough guards for this. Something is wrong—a drop of sweat falls from the side of my face. There's something else. What am I not discovering?

  It's not important. I just need to get out of here before everything falls apart.

  But even I do not believe that I will really do it.

  “Shut up.” I whisper to myself.

  That's exactly why being altruistic is stupid. I could taste good chicken instead of blood if I hadn't jumped into that portal. And big shit if I jumped: Elron was already dead when I arrived, missing among the tons of rock. Now, I am trapped in the sewers of annoyingly crystal clear waters; fighting for a people of which I am no part, for a ruler I do not know, for a flag I have never sworn to.

  Now it's up to you.

  “…”

  It is apparent that the Flame illuminates some better than others, but if I am going to receive crumbs even from something infinite, then the gods cannot blame me if I call them a cheapskate and decide to take back what I was denied.

  Now, you know what I've done and what I'm going to do, I've tried to create a good reputation. There is a reason why Zherdos turned me away from you and why I am frowned upon by the noble snobs. They wouldn't understand. They never had to play dirty to get anything decent done, they just chose to do it to stuff their fat asses with money even more.

  “Heh. Nah. It's not about that.”

  Today, I will afford to ignore the tattered excuse. I throw myself over a stone wall and inhale, dive into the water until I pass to the other side, grab onto a vine and pull myself out. Turning a somersault in the air and landing on an elevation, the terrain has already become uneven.

  I can still get out of here. Keep following and sneaking through the stones, and even if I have to dig a tunnel, get under the enemy army unnoticed. I'm almost out of the barrier. I don't need to figure out any plans, they don't need me.

  Earthquake. Under my feet, cracks form. I turn my body and look around. Something's wrong. The holes that were previously closed open in several bangs. From them, a putrid smell and toxic fog. Steps. Laughter.

  They weren't holes. They were tunnels.

  I maximize the emission, then run along the path I came from and feel the presence of hundreds of creatures get stronger. I jump across the rough terrain, grab a vine and lash myself over the water, hide my presence and watch monsters pass by me; dead animals and sustained by Hilda's rotten vegetation that spreads over their bodies.

  They ignore me and climb through the tunnels, not towards the army, but into the city center.

  It's not important.

  I swim. I run. I pray they don't find me. I don't need any of that. I don't have to. I don't have to.

  Now it's up to you.

  Oh, how poor I am, not to be born in a cradle of gold like most people. I'm too smart to really believe that kind of excuse, and even smarter to avoid the noose around the neck that comes with it. Low-level thugs may delude themselves into thinking they are justified, but I know what I do, and that is why I have never gone too far; woe to me if my mother knew that I pointed a sword at someone innocent.

  That's exactly why Elron chose me. He was different. He didn't hate me, even though it was good to do it. I wanted to put judgment in my head, even if I mixed with retards. I wondered if it was stupid, but I want you to know that I thank you for not looking at me with pity.

  Run. I step between one or another creature that managed to get ahead of the rest and decapitate them. I let them notice me and whistle to get their attention while I kill theirs. Despite the fact that several of them have already climbed, I manage to divert the attention of the group. I run through the rough terrain like an arrow and draw them to the waterfalls, jump over the walls until I reach their top.

  I laugh. Please, entrust the city to me? Where the hell were you with your head?

  You know me. I won't do that. You failed.

  “…”

  Now it's up to you.

  “…”

  Monsters swim against the current. Orcs, trolls, carnivorous plants and mutant animals approach.

  And I stand my ground.

  “I hate you, Elron.”