Cursed Devourer

[1 Day, 0 Hours, 20 Minutes]

The quest timer was about to hit one day.

Malik's boots crushed the dry, cracked earth beneath him as he strode forward. The sight before him was a testament to the fear he had instilled in the world. The last bastion, Potix. A city so massive that even from a distance, its towering spires and grand walls loomed over the horizon like a titan's resting place. The capital of the empire. His final stop before facing the King.

And in front of it stood an army so vast that it swallowed the landscape itself.

The sheer scale ws mind-numbing. Soldiers stretched beyond the horizon, an unbroken sea of warriors clad in steel and leather. Siege towers loomed, their spiked battlements bristling with archers and mages. Artillery cannons lined the rear, their barrels aimed skyward, ready to unleash hell. War beasts, grotesque creations of flesh and metal, snarled in their chains, their handlers struggling to keep them from charging too early.

Malik exhaled slowly.

'Three billion.'

It was a number too large to comprehend even with his enhanced abilities, yet there they were.

And they had noticed him.

The frontlines began to shift as the soldiers adjusted their positions. The air tensed, the weight of an impending massacre settling over the battlefield like a suffocating fog.

Then, two figures emerged from the masses, the soldiers parting like waves to allow their passage.

'Leo and Katya.' Malik confirmed.

Malik slowed his approach, eyes locking onto the two as he came to a stop within earshot. Leo stood like an immovable force, his crimson armour gleaming under the sun, his black eyes sharp with anticipation. Katya, elegant yet deadly, observed him with a half-smirk, her silver hair flowing in the wind like strands of silk.

"Finally, the beast arrives," Katya mused, her voice carrying over the battlefield. "We were beginning to think you'd run off."

Malik rolled his shoulders, feeling the satisfying weight if his armour shift. "And miss this?" He gestured toward the army behind them, "I wouldn't pass up the chance to stretch my legs a little."

Leo chuckled, arms crossed. "You talk big for a man standing alone against three billion."

Malik tilded his head. "Big talk? No, just stating a fact. I've fought armies before. This isn't new."

Katya's eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of curiosity passing through them. "But you know this time is different, this isn't just numbers. There are monsters among them. And the King is watching. Im sure that big-mouth Goliath told you something."

Malik remained still, his thoughts devoid of emotion. "I expected as much."

Leo took a step forward, his expression growing serious. "You're strong. I wont't deny that. But strength alone won't win you this fight. You know that, don't you?"

Malik didn't answer immediately. Instead, he let his gaze drift over the army behind them, taking in every detail. The layout, the positions of the mages, the artillery placements, the war beasts straining agains their handlers, desperate to charge at him.

Then, he smiled beneath the helmet.

"Good," he muttered. "I'd be disappointed if this was too easy."

Leo and Katya exchanged a glance. Then, without another words, they turned and walked back toward their command posts. The message was clear.

The battle had begun.

The moment Leo and Katya stepped away, the frontlines surged forward. A thunderous war cry that shook the skies erupted from countless warriors as they charged like a tidal wave of steel and flesh.

Malik exploded into motion.

The first ranks of soldiers reached him in seconds. Spears thrust forward, blades swung in wide arcs, shields raised to block any counterattack.

Malik didn't stop, he was unfazed by their show of fervor.

His first step cracked the ground in a spiderweb pattern, and with a single swing of his arm, a wave of divine flames shot from his sword, consuming the first row of enemies in an instant. The fire wasn't just hot- it was absolute. Flesh melted, armour turned to slag, screams filled the air as the frontlines collapsed into burning husks.

'Next.'

A massive axe came crashing crashing down toward his head. Malik side-stepped, the axe narrowly brushing past his shoulder, and in the same motion, drove his fist through the attackers chest. Blood burst from the man's back as Malik tore his arm free, sending entrails spilling onto the ground.

He turned, catching a glimpse of a thousand or so archers pulling their bows back. Arrows coated in explosive enchantments were already mid-flight, whistling toward him.

Malik raised his hand. A thin, nearly invisible layer of compressed flame surrounded his body just as the arrows hit.

The explosions rocked the battlefield, dirt and fire spraying in all directions.

But when the dust settled, Malik was unscathed.

"Pathetic." A disappointed voice echoed throughout.

With a simple flick of the wrist, a razor thin blade of fire shot forward, slicing all one-thousand of the archers in half at the waist. Their upper bodies flopped to the ground, twitching as their dying breaths gurgled out.

More enemies swarmed him.

A war beast– a monstrous fusion of flesh and steel, easily ten times his size– roared as it lunged, its massive jaws snapping shut. Malik ducked under the bite, his body twisting and turning like a shadow escaping the light. With a fluid motion, he placed a palm upon its underbelly and ignited it from the inside.

The creature screamed as its body burst apart, intestines and molten organs erupting like a fountain.

'No time to slow down. Faster!'

He moved without hesitation, cutting through enemies like a reaper in a wheat field.

A mage raised his staff, chanting a spell.

Malik was faster.

Before the words left the mage's lips, Malik had already closed the gap, his fingers piercing the man's throat. He ripped out the mage's windpipe, tossing it aside like trash before stepping forward to the next target.

A giant with a hammer swung towards his head.

Malik caught the handle with one hand, twisting the weapon backward with brutal force, snapping the giant's wrist before slamming the hammer into his skull. Bone shattered, brains splattered, and the body crumpled like a rag-doll.

"More. Keep coming."

His movements were efficient, his attacks precise. He wasn't wasting strength, wasn't overexerting himself. This wasn't about showing off- it was about survival. He couldn't afford to drain himself when Leo and Katya were still perfectly healthy. He didn't know what they were waiting for but he refused to let his guard down.

'I'll hold back some surprises for them.'

He fought like a demon that didn't feel pain. Wounds that would cripple lesser men closed instantly thanks to his regeneration. Blades that managed to pass his armour dug into his flesh, but by the time they were pulled out, the wounds and marks to the armour had already vanished.

The battlefield became a slaughterhouse.

Malik swung his blade side to side without a care in the world, incinerating tens of thousands of soldiers with every blast of energy, his godly presence striking fear into the enemy lines.

From their vantage point, Leo and Katya watched.

Katya's arms were crossed, her crimson eyes glowing with understanding. "He's not just fighting. He's studying us. He's holding back."

Leo exhaled, his gaze sharp. "That means he's preparing something for us."

Katya smirked, licking her lips in a way that bordered between seductive and insane. "Good, it would be boring if he didn't."

The battle was far from over, but one thing was clear;

Malik wasn't here to survive.

He was here to win.

…

The battlefield was a canvas of blood, and Malik was the brush, painting it with strokes of flames, gore and death. The sheer magnitude of bodies surrounding him meant that every movement had to count, there was no room for mistakes. This wasn't about killing a few dozen at a time- he needed to wipe out thousands with each attack.

The enemy surged like an unstoppable tide, but Malik was the storm that broke it.

The second wave of enemies advanced.

After tearing through the first wave, Malik barely paused. The army responded with precision, sending forward legions of heavily armoured infantry, supported by mages hidden behind massive, mobile siege shields. The hulking abominations of flesh, bone and steel known as war beasts charged at him, their monstrous roars shaking the earth.

Malik's lips curled into a grin.

'Good. Let's see how far you can push me.'

The first war beast lunged, its gaping maw large enough to swallow a man whole. Malik didn't dodge. Instead, he thrust his left arm directly into the beasts mouth, allowing it to bite down.

CRUNCH.

Bone snapped. Flesh tore. Blood gushed.

But Malik's expression didn't change.

With his arm still lodged inside the creature's throat, he pumped it full of compressed divine flames, charging the energy until his mangled limb glowed white-hot.

BOOM!

The beast's head detonated like an overfilled pressure vessel, sending shards of bone and burning viscera raining down on the unfortunate soldiers behind it. Malik's arm was nothing but charred bone and muscle stumps, but even as blood poured from the wound, the tissue began to stitch itself back together, new muscle fibers weaving over fresh bone in seconds.

"Next."

Another beast charged. Malik pivoted, using the still-regenerating stump of his arm to hook onto the creature's tusk, pulling himself upward with inhuman strength in one fluid motion. He vaulted onto its back, driving his fingers into its thick spine, igniting another burst of divine flame directly into its nervous system.

The beast convulsed violently, its legs buckling as flames burst from its eye sockets and throat. Malik rode the collapsing corpse to the ground like a wave, landing in the midst of another tight formation of soldiers. It was a well calculated attack.

Before they could react, he slammed both hands on the ground, releasing an earth-shattering pulse of empowered flame. The ground splintered and cracked, a massive eruption of fire spreading out in every direction like a shockwave. Millions of soldiers were incinerated instantly, their bodies turning to ash mid-scream. The shockwave didn't stop at just burning them- it vaporized those within 1000m, leaving behind only blackened skeletons that crumbled to dust with the faintest breeze.

But there was no time to admire the destruction.

Archers from the rear ranks fired a hail of enchanted arrows, each tipped with magic designed to pierce the toughest of armour. Malik's eyes flicked upwards, tracing the swarm of projectiles that blocked out the sun.

'Let's see if this works.' He grinned.

Instead of dodging, he tore off his own right arm at the shoulder, blood spraying in an arc. Holding the severed limb by the wrist, he charged it with an abundant amount of explosive energy, turning it into a living bomb.

As the arrows descended, Malik planted one foot forward and hurled his burning arm like a javelin that rippled through the air. The force alone pushed all of the arrows aside– but then it happened—

BOOOOOOM!

The arm detonated as it met the arrows, creating a blazing vortex of divine energy as it consumed the entire volley and sent burning debris cascading on the soldiers below, their screams muffled by the sound of the sky tearing. Flaming bodies collapsed like ragdolls, the smell of charred flesh thickening the already oppressive air.

His right arm began to regrow immediately, bone sprouting like jagged crystal before muscles and sinew wrapped around it like a living sculpture being formed in fast-forward.

'The pain isn't permenant, but still uncomfortable. Although, compared to before I'm becoming numb to it.'

He only thought for a moment, but his full focus never left the battle at hand.

He had managed to whittle down their numbers to about two-and-half billion, but it felt like he had barely made a dent.

'Time to up the power.'

The next wave hit him like a tsunami. This time billions of soldiers rushed in, using sheer numbers to try to overwhelm him. Blades pierced his flesh from every direction, spears stabbed into his sides, and a massive hammer crushed his ribcage, caving in part of his torso.

Malik didn't flinch.

He grabbed the hammer's shaft, ripped it free from the attacker's hands, and then swung it in a wide arc, using his enhanced strength to turn it into an unstoppable whirlwind. The weapons weight, combined with Malik's force, was enough to pulverize everything in its path– bones exploded, skulls cracked open like ripe fruit, and bodies were flung through the air like broken dolls.

'Break the formation and don't give them time to regroup.'

A ginormous mage battalion compiled of millions attempted to create a barrier- a shimmering wall of blue energy stretching across the entire battlefield.

Malik reacted immediately.

He broke into a sprint, closing the distance between him and the battalion in an instant, and with a savage leap, crashed through the barrier like it was made of glass.

The mages didn't even have time to scream. Malik's divine flames gushed out from his body in a spiraling torrent, a vortex of fire that devoured millions in the blink of an eye. The mages robes caught fire, skin melted from their bones, and their dying shrieks became part of the ever-growing symphony of death.

'They're beginning to adapt. Good, this'll be fun.' He chuckled inwardly, his eyes continuously scanning the army.

Explosions erupted around him as artillery units fired enchanted shells, designed to pierce through magical defenses. Malik sprinted through the blasts, his body catching fire from the concussive waves, but he didn't slow. He let the flames cling to him like a second skin, using the burning pain to fuel his rampage.

Charging directly into an artillery line, Malik caught one of the shells mid-flight.

'Maybe with this…' A terrifying thought popped into his head, one that would make the entire army buckle in fear if they knew.

But now they would know.

The moment the thought passed he was still in the air with the shell in his hand. He poured condensed divine energy into it, so much that he felt his body slightly weaken before his reserves replenished right after.

The destructive potential of the artillery shell was amplified beyond its normal capabilities, thrumming with a power that made the soldiers below weak at the knees.

Malik looked at the army coldly from above, a lifeless gaze that sent shivers down their spines.

Then he dropped it.

Leo and Katya watched all this unfold, unable to contain the expressions of shock that now plagued their faces.

"No fucking way!" Katya roared in panic. Leo just stared with his mouth agape, but silently agreed with Katya's reaction.

Time seemed to slow as the shell let gravity guide it to the earth, the screams and roars channeled out by the suspense.

Then— it touched the ground.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!

The resulting explosion was beyond catastrophic. It was beyond what any nuclear explosion could produce.

A mushroom cloud of golden flames stretched so far into the sky that Malik pushed himself further upwards to avoid it, divine flames licking at his feet as if they wanted to swallow him.

The wave of fire travelled so fast and far that it vaporized a billion soldiers from existence. Soldiers within the radius were reduced to scorched shadows, etched into the ground like fragile artwork.

No bodies. No ash.

It didn't stop there.

A second shockwave blast forth, not as powerful as the first but strong enough to kill all those it touched, shattering all of their bones and flinging them like ragdolls across the plains.

Silence.