The Hero of Hypnosis

When Kai teleported back to the battlefield, all he saw was destruction. Every single person that he remembered being there when he left was dead, except for a handful of them. He looked around for Saintess Celeste, whom he found, barely alive, and healed her back to full strength.

"K-Kai. You're back." She smiled. Celeste wasn't angry or upset at him, regardless of the circumstance. She suspected Kai had something that he considered more important to do and knew he would be back once it was handled.

"Sorry, I didn't come back in time." He smiled wryly.

"I-It's fine. B-But the demon king, h-he's destroying the c-capital. Please help them."

He turned around, sensing the demon king's presence in Vaudrille. It was hard to miss with all of the negative energy radiating in the air.

Kai healed everyone on the battlefield, dead or alive. Some people managed to come back to life as they had enough vigor left in them, but others weren't so lucky, including the hero himself.

"Rest in peace, my friend. If you have a family, specifically women relatives, I'll treat them well." Kai bowed over Horith's half corpse, then flew in the direction of the demon king.

---

"Hahaha! Now that your hero is dead, none of you pesky mortals can stand in my way! Gracia, was that your final line of defence against me? Pwahaha! If so, then you're better off trying again after I've taken this continent for myself, just as my sister did to one of them a millennium ago!"

Over in Gracia's realm, she was pulling her hair in fear after Horith died, and Kai was nowhere to be found. She nearly contemplated descending to handle the demon, but Leo stopped her.

"Just wait." He said. "Kai will show up."

"B-But supreme one, my land! My people!"

"They'll be alright. Have a little faith. Besides, losing a few thousand people is nothing in the long run."

"I know, but.." She still didn't like seeing them get killed by the demon king.

Back in the Sarkylla kingdom, the King led the charge against ShadowEdge. With or without the hero, the king wasn't going to sit back and let the demon king destroy the kingdom.

"Father! We have to wait for Kai! He will come! Please trust me!" Tyria begged her father to wait for Kai.

"We cannot sit back any longer, my sweet. I know you wish to wait for your friend, but I cannot sit back and watch that monster kill my people, our people, any longer."

Annabeth comforted Tyria as she directed her to a safe place to hide for the time being.

Clone Kai had teleported Gwen, Amaya, Sasha, Kyana, Nadya, Vanessa, Mia, Rose, Emerald, and Emily back to his mansion and used his power to fortify the place.

"A-Are you serious?! The demon king is here?!" Kyana didn't know if he was joking or being serious. But regardless, she was a bit spooked.

"Yeah, apparently, Horith died as well."

"Why aren't you doing anything? Can't you go fight him?" Gwen asked, shaking with fear.

"My main body is close. He'll handle it. I'm staying here to keep all of you safe. I won't risk anything happening to you all. In the meantime, why don't you sit back and watch me kick that demon's ass!"

Kai connected his mind to his girls, showing them himself as he raced toward the demon king.

"Hahahahahahahahaha! Yes! This is it! Run in fear! Cry with despair! And die by my hand!" ShadowEdge slammed his fists into the ground, and a brutal shockwave destroyed everything caught in it, ripping people to shreds from the force of the wave.

He watched as soldiers dropped their weapons to flee, smiled at the king, who stood firm but was clearly scared out of his mind, and looked up at the sky, seeing the nervous look on Gracia's face as he destroyed her continent.

"Now, it is time for the era of the demon king!" ShadowEdge gathered a storm of demonic energy in his palm, ready to drive it into the earth and twist the land into a writhing hellscape. But just as his hand neared the ground, a sudden force clamped around his wrist, halting the strike.

"Why don't you take it easy for a minute and have a chat with me?" Kai swung the demon king's arm away, causing the demon to stumble slightly.

"Heh, interesting, a powerful mortal. Do you wish to challenge me as well?"

"Challenge you? Heh, nah. I'm here to kill you." Kai blitzed the demon king, attempting to clobber the man in the face.

But Shadowedge reacted quickly, shielding his face and letting his arms take the full force of the punch. He was knocked back far, so far that he was sent out of the city and into the wilderness. He tumbled on the ground, bouncing up occasionally, but eventually regaining his footing.

Kai was already one step ahead, charging up a blast of pure, raw, focused mana behind Shadowedge's body.

The demon king threw his arm back, knocking against Kai's own, and the attack was directed to the ground, but it still blasted them both back.

Kai's arms burned as his own attack managed to harm him. His skin healed, and he returned his focus to the fight. As he was about to charge back in, a spike from his shadow sprang forward, nearly impaling him as Kai moved out of the way.

Then, moving faster than the eye could see, a shadow in the form of a slash tore through the ground. Kai made a barrier, but it shattered, and his shoulder was badly sliced.

"Nngh!"

ShadowEdge appeared from the shadow shash, grabbing Kai by the face and throwing him up into the sky. But before he could follow up, two blades connected by chains impaled his shoulders and dragged him upward toward Kai's direction.

Then, as Shadowedge was pulled upward, he summoned his blade, and Kai did the same, summoning the hero's sword. He stopped his momentum and rocketed downward toward the demon.

"Let's see if your steel is harder than mine!" Shadowedge shouted.

The blades collided, unleashing a cataclysmic storm of divine and demonic power. The earth split and heaved, clouds were ripped from the sky, and the air itself howled with destruction. The shockwave shattered mountains into dust and erased every trace of life caught within its reach.

When they both dropped to the ground, ShadowEdge burst into laughter.

"Hahaha! Amazing, mortal. I commend you for having such strength. Tell me your name."

Kai played along. "Kai LuForia."

"Well then, Kai LuForia, I shall remember your name after I kill you. As a sign of respect, I shall introduce myself. I am Malgus, the ShadowEdge, the Demon King of this continent."

"So you're the bastard Franklin was talking about, huh? Where did you get the name 'shwdowedge'?"

Malgus grinned. "It's because the last thing my prey sees when they die is the edge of a shadow."