"Noooooo! Attack from the left, the left!"
"Just barge right in! Take them head on!"
"Use stealth to take out all the runts first!"
"Just blow the bitch up!"
"Burry them all in the fucking ground!"
Everyone looked at the woman who said that. "Whoa! Kyana!"
"My bad, my bad, I was just frustrated."
"No need to be excessive, man. This is just a little mission."
She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, as if killing people isn’t excessive."
"Well, at least we wouldn’t bury them in the ground," Kai argued. "That’s like, top ten worst ways to die."
"Umm, I’m sure there are worse ways to die than being buried alive," Gwen argued.
"Yeah? Like what?"
"Torture." Sasha got the obvious out of the way.
Kai wasn’t here for that, though. "Torture is already in the top ten. Do better."
Amaya raised her hand. "Ooo! I know, being tickled to death."
All of them wanted to argue, but they had to admit that being tickled to death would be pretty horrible.
"Okay, we’ll allow that."
"How about being eaten alive?" It’s crazy how Nadya was the one who said this. You’d think that she would suggest something a little more...subtle.
"Well..."
Before Kai could speak, Nadya cut back in. "Imagine being swallowed by a huge creature, then being dismantled in its stomach acid with no air. I think that’s pretty horrible."
Kyana nodded. "She has a point."
"Eh, but the odds of that happening are like...super low." Kai was thinking about common ways to die. In his mind, tickling was a kind of mental torture, so he included it.
"We’re adding it to the list."
"Fine."
"I got one. How about suffocating?" Cornelia said that with confidence, only to be shut down instantly.
Kai shook his head. "Nah. It’s in the top 10."
"Damn."
"What about bleeding out?" Gwen asked
"Well, if you bleed out, you’ll just pass out from the lack of oxygen in your body, and you’d die while unconscious, so I wouldn’t count that."
As the seven of them continued to list horrible ways to die, Barry, Iris, and Patty were making their way through the demon base without any issues.
Most of the people there were demons, so Barry had no issues cutting them down. Those who were human were just knocked out and grouped in a corner to be taken to jail later.
"This is much easier than before!" While it was always easy to take out the runts, Barry found that he didn’t need to use as much effort as before. The power coursing through him really made him see things differently. He started to see what it would be like to have power, and he liked it.
"Now I can use all this power for the goddess." Yup, he wasn’t going to go crazy or anything. He was just excited that he could use his new, awesome power for Aquaphina.
"This has never been easier!" Iris threw her sword in the face of a demon, then clenched her fists to make the sword erupt into flames. Once the demon was burned to a crisp, the sword flew back into her hands.
"We don’t need to fight back to back anymore, Iris." Parry placed her fingers together, casting a spell that trapped demons in a locked space. Clasping her hands caused the space to collapse, crushing the demons to death.
They quickly made their way to the main room, where the demon lord was waiting for them.
"Hello, friends. You finally made it! Tea, anyone?" The demon offered.
"No thanks. We don’t accept anything from your kind!" Barry growled, aiming his sword at the demon.
"Wow, so rude. I offered you tea, and you’re insulting me. What did I do to you?" The demon prepared tea for himself, relishing in the noce auroma, and took a sip which burned his tongue.
"Really? You don’t know what your people did? You kill us, make us slaves, and try to kill all life on the continent for your demon king!"
The demon sat back down, opened a box filled with cookies, and took a bite out of one. "Is that such a bad thing, though?"
Barry didn’t even know why he was speaking to the demon. He should have just cut his head off, but he decided to listen. "Of course it’s bad! What did we do to deserve this?! We’re just trying to live our lives!"
"We are too. Do you think demons are classless? Ruthless savages with no order or loyalty? If so, then you’re wrong. This land, this continent, is neutral ground. A demon king or god can claim it. However, to do so, they have to fight for it. The gods won, we lost. But we have won before."
Barry didn’t understand. "What are you talking about?"
The demon finished his cookie and took a sip of his tea. "Long ago, like, thousands of years ago, this continent wasn’t comprised of many islands, but was just one huge continent. During that time, demons ruled the land. We lived like you, peaceful, kind, and loving. But just like how the demon king rises after some time, so do the gods if they lose. The goddess Aquaphina raised her army against us in a brutal war that fractured the land. We lost and were thrown into the demon world."
"Lies! Demons are from the demon world!" Barry yelled
"And that’s where you’re wrong. Demon Kings are from the demon world. Gods are from the divine realm. We are all known as Hominoids, beings of the world. Do you think we worship the demon king because they’re the strongest? No, we worship them because they’re gods, just like the ones you serve."
Barry didn’t know what to believe, nor did Iris or Patty. What he said was impossible, yet he was speaking as if it were history, lost history. This meant that there was some truth to it.
"I-If we are a part of the same species, then why are we fighting?" Barry knew that if he asked that question, then the demon would falter.
"Because we worshipped different gods." The demon took another sip of his tea.
"Are you serious?! For a reason like that?"
The demon laughed, spitting out their tea. "I’m just fucking with you, little hero. Everything I said was a lie. We fucking hate humans because ya’ll are nothing more than livestock!" With a snap of his fingers, the floor opened, and Barry, Iris, and Patty fell into a hole.