The Hero of Hypnosis

"Tell us everything!" The two demons demanded.

"We were fighting the kingdom's forces like normal. I even managed to use the mist on them, weakening the soldiers. But then, the hero suddenly arrived! He single-handedly killed every single demon on the battlefield and even cleansed the mist from the soldiers' bodies. I managed to escape without being seen, and I covered my tracks. But I fear we might be exposed."

The two demons sat in deep thought for a bit before asking another question.

"Did Horith come with the church forces?" The demon woman asked

"H-Horith? No. It wasn't Horith who arrived, it was the one named Kai."

The color nearly drained from their face as they heard which hero arrived at the battlefield. Kai was one of the people they were keeping an eye on, but suddenly, he arrived on the battlefield, cured the kingdom's soldiers, and slaughtered the demons.

He was way more powerful than they thought.

"This is bad. With a hero on the front lines, we won't be able to overwhelm the kingdom. Dammit. How is everything coming along?" She asked the one-eyed demon.

"The plan is coming along perfectly. After kidnapping the superpowers, we've managed to expedite our lord's rebirth. Originally, he was set to arrive in two weeks; now, he's coming in a few hours, max. I haven't checked on the operation in 24 hours, so the time could be shorter."

"You go and check on our Lord's resurrection, I'll handle the army and cult." The demon woman stood up to leave, and the one-eyed demon prepared to check how much time until their king would arrive.

"W-What should I do, ma'am?"

"Get the fuck out of my sight."

"Y-Yes."

---

Kai followed the one-eyed demon. Since he confirmed that they were responsible for the kidnappings, he knew that following him would lead right to them.

"Since the hero wants to mess up our plans, I'll just suck the life force out of these humans and give it all to my lord! They're nothing but expendable power sources."

When the one-eyed demon made it to the room, he opened the door, and Kai saw dozens of people held up by their arms and legs, strapped to demonic magic circles, having their mana sucked out of them and converted to energy the demon king could absorb.

They bellowed as their body writhed in pain. Skin was torn from their wrists and ankles, and their bodies were skinny as their mana was stripped from them. Some people passed out, others died, while most still screamed.

'Damn. That's unfortunate.' Kai said as he looked at everyone there. If it weren't for his overprotectiveness, Kassandra could have been one of them.

"You meat sacks better be thankful that you're being used for a great cause! I'll be extracting more mana from you starting now!" The demon pulled a lever, and the mana extraction process went into overdrive.

"Woah, looks like the demon king is really going to awaken soon, huh?"

"Haha! Yes! Isn't that great?! Our lord will finally return!"

"Yeah. That's pretty neat, I guess." Kai said unenthusiastically.

"Hmm? You don't seem to be as excited as I am."

"Why would I be?" Kai asked

"Because..." The one-eyed demon turned and saw Kai casually sitting on a chair, looking at all of the people getting their mana sucked out of them.

"K-K-K-K-K-KAI!" The demon jumped back and prepared himself for battle.

"Actually, it's just Kai, with one K, not six."

"Quiet! How did you find this place?!"

"I followed the dumbass who informed you about me arriving at the battlefield. Can I just ask you a question, man?"

The demon hesitated, tinkering with something behind his back, a way to attack Kai, but then nodded and stopped his hand movements.

"Why do you hate us 'mortals'? Why do you see us as people you wish to eliminate? You're people too, right? You have friends, family, loved ones, right? What makes you so different from us?"

"What are you saying? All of that is bullshit! Loved ones? Please! Everyone has a purpose, and that purpose is either to follow the demon king or die!"

"Haha, that's great! I was hoping you guys were just monsters with intelligence, which you are! Well, it's not like I would feel bad about killing you either way."

"Stupid human!" The demon lunged at Kai, but all Kai did was flare up his energy, and the demon instantly disintegrated.

"Fucking clown." Kai waved his hand, and all of the people were separated from the demonic magic circles that drained their power. He healed all of them, putting them back at full strength, but they were still out of it because of the mental stress they suffered.

"W-Who are you?" A woman managed to ask

"Your fairy godfather," Kai responded, picking all of them up with his telekinesis.

"B-But I don't sense spirit energy around you."

"Yeah, when our godchildren get captured like this, we usually give up on them for being weak. When you get back to the clan, you'll lose your ability to use spirits and be kicked out."

The woman started to cry, which didn't make any sense to Kai until he realized that the bullshit he was spouting actually had truth to it.

"Hey, I'm just fucking with you. I have no idea who you are. I'm just here to rescue you."

"R-Really?"

"Yeah, now enjoy the ride back." Kai teleported above the mountain, waved his hand to blow it up, then teleported back to the military fort.

---

A demon woman coughed violently as she made her way down to the room where they were using people to aid in their lord's return.

The place was completely trashed, and all of the prisoners, the human power sources, were gone.

However, there was something she spotted on the ground. It was a magic circle, pulsing on the ground as if needing someone to answer it. So she did.

The woman used all of her remaining power to feed the magic circle, hoping that it would be enough, but then, it cracked and vanished into the air.

'N-No! We failed!' She collapsed, dead on the ground.

But then, after ten minutes, a large, muscular, pitch-black hand with claws shot out of the ground, and a being clawed its way to the surface. Once it fully emerged, an overwhelming amount of demonic energy flooded the entire area, causing all living things to die.