Thousands of years ago, a powerful demon cut his way out of the Netherrealm with the aid of his trusted spear in a quest to search for a purpose beyond endless battle. This demon, upon fighting his way out of the hellish dimension, found himself in a world blessed by the gods, filled with honey, life and endless beauty. The demon, upon seeing this reality, swore to never return to the abyss and gore-filled reality that was the Netherrealm.

The demon toured the unfamiliar realm in the form of an ordinary man in order not to alarm the several races he came across during his journey, called humes, favored by Aethir, mother of creation. He found the everyday lives of these short-lived creatures fascinating and decided to spend time amongst them to learn their ways, and understand why the gods granted these races so much favor and grace compared to those who made their homes in Netherrealm.

Unfortunately, the demon was destined to face disappointment. Humes were no more special than any other creature out there. They cheated, stole and killed each other over the stupidest of issues. Sure, there were those who loved, and gave their lives for their friends, family or country, but as far as the demon was concerned, there was nothing special about any of that.

Warriors in Netherrealm often gave their lives for their brethren. In fact, the demon found the denizens of Netherrealm to much more trustworthy than these so-called favored humes. In Netherrealm, you knew everyone was out to kill you, and thus you could react accordingly. Partnerships and the like were often based solely on profit, leading to few cases of outright betrayal.

Humes, on the other hand, often made emotional decisions that went contrary to any logic. They would happily forego long-term goals in place of short-term satisfaction. They were irrational, but fascinating creatures. However, there was nothing so special about them that warranted special treatment from the gods.

Disillusioned with the world, the demon left civilization and traveled to the far fringes of the planet, to the forgotten, untamed forests and wildernesses. These areas of the world still followed the law of survival of the fittest. Beasts and plants fought for their lives with a fervor that could only be understood by those who danced on the edge of life and death every day.

The demon finally found his home in this chaotic landscape. The constant fear of death, coupled with the desperate, bloody battles made the demon feel right at home. While touring these regions, the demon came across a savage race that looked similar to him. These creatures had the torso of a man and the body of a horse and referred to themselves as centaurs.

The centaurs, like most creatures in the forest, were wild beasts who were engaged in endless tussles against other beasts for supremacy of the land. The centaurs reeked of blood and their eyes held a dmaning glare that promised death to anyone that wasn't their kind.

The demon took an instant liking to the centaurs and decided to live among them. Using knowledge he had gained from observing other civilizations, he taught the centaurs the art of farming, and weapon crafting. Under the demon's tutelage, the centaurs soon transformed from a band of savages to a well-organized community. This allowed them to not only, conquer the forest in record time, but also set up a thriving economy, built on selling rare items in the woods to outside civilizations.

Over time, many centaurs left their village, to venture out and build new lives for themselves within the civilized world. However, quite a few remained to stay and live with their god. The years passed peacefully as the centaurs continued to grow in both stature and prominence in the world. The demon grew content with his role as god of the centaurs. Seeing these creatures who looked like him rise up in the world filled him with more accomplishment and pride than any victory in the Netherrealm ever could.

Unfortunately, it was this very growth that doomed the demon in the end. The centaurs' rapid rise alerted the Adjudicators, who arrived at the centaurs' village to investigate the source of their rapid increase in stature. As expected, the Adjudicators found the demon who, for all intents and purposes was an illegal being in their realm.

The Adjudicators immediately ordered his return to the Netherrealm or face the consequences. The demon did not dare refuse. He knew how powerful the Adjudicators were. Fighting them was akin to suicide. But at the same time, he was reluctant to leave the centaurs behind without a means to protect themselves in the event some catastrophic monster or demon like himself chose to attack.

To combat this possible scenario, the demon channeled a large portion of his power into his spear. This process severely weakened the demon, as it was not a matter of simply transferring some mana. Mana could finish, and that would render the spear useless in the event of contintuous attacks. No. He needed to be sure the spear could be used indefinitely regardless of the number of times it was used. So, what he infused the spear with, was a permanent portion of his lifeforce. The spear would live as long as he did, and would contain a portion of his powers for all time.

Naturally, this meant that the demon would forever be in a weakened state, which would increase his chances of getting killed in the Netherrealm. However, as far as he was concerned, this was a worthy sacrifice.

However, to prevent his power from being misused, the demon laid down a formation in the forest connecting six major clans in the shape of a spear. This formation ensured the power of his spear could only be used within its boundaries, thereby preventing the centaurs from going to war against other races.

Finally, he broke his spear into six parts, and gave one each to the chiefs of the top centaur clans. Each spear part contained unique cultivation methods and skills, which would later become the unique characteristics of these clans. Only when joined together would the spear regain its previous glory. The centaurs might have tested its powers, but the demon gave a stern warning before he left.

The centaurs were only allowed to use the spear in the worst possible situation. The demon warned the centaurs that if they carelessly used the spear's power, he would take it from them.

Denizens of Netherrealm were a proud bunch. Even if they lent their power to mortals from the world, they would never permit it being used for mundane purposes. Because of the demon's warning, despite the passage of several centuries, and a few extinction-level situations, the centaurs had not dared to combine the spear parts to summon the demon's full power.

At least this had remained the case... until today.

Lymar Village.

8:00 a.m. 18th Banem 1092.

Shadow's expression hardened after Balasius recounted the tale of their great demi-god. The assassin frowned as he looked at the chiefs who wore sullen expressions as they placed their left hands on their right arm and softly chanted. The centaur chiefs' arms began to glow with bright, yellow light. Seconds later, spear parts emerged from each of their arms, like they were gates to another dimension.

The chiefs stumbled, looking decisively haggard as they placed their respective spear parts on the table. It appeared the ritual had taken a significant toll on their body.

"What do we do about Ranius' spear point?" a chief asked with concern as he examined the parts on the table. So far, the handle, and pieces of the spear head had been assembled, but the final tip was missing. This part used to belong to the chief of Aethon, but who knew what had happened to it now that he had fallen in battle with no one to pass it on to?

"Do not worry, I have it with me," Mando said, drawing curious and slightly suspicious glances from the other chiefs. "I will explain later," the chief stated as he pulled out the missing spear tip from his arm. "For now we must focus on what is important."

Mando placed the spear tip on the table...

BOOM!

A massive gale exploded outward from the table, sending the centaur chiefs skidding backward. The chiefs and shamans coughed up blood as their bodies were assaulted with vast amounts of dense, and violent mana.

Shadow, however, stood his ground, violently gritting his teeth as he watched the broken spear slowly fix itself with crazy flourish and fanfare. A few moments later, the gale died down as quickly as it started. There was nothing to show that it ever existed aside from the magnificent green spear that now floated above the table.

"My god," Mando exclaimed as he gazed upon the beautiful spear with shock and disbelief. The centaur chief could admire but did not dare approach the spear, as even now, the mana storm surrounding it was far too violent for any living being to approach.

*cough* *cough*

A series of loud coughs brought everyone's attention back to the daeben who was still lying on the table. Surprisingly, the daeben was unaffected by the chaotic storm. No, wait that wasn't it. Although the mana was chaotic everywhere else, it was eerily calm, and even had a sense of warmth in a small radius surrounding the daeben.

Shadow's eyes narrowed, and he was about to move toward Kashi, but to his shock, Kashi suddenly reached out and grabbed the spear. BOOM! The building shattered as a massive burst of mana exploded from the spear.

The dust eventually cleared to reveal the occupants of the building protected by mana shields quickly erected by the shamans. Shadow peered into the dust cloud as it cleared. His eyes were drawn to a glowing silhouette within the smoke.

One of the shamans summoned a wind spell to dispel the remaining dust. The dust cleared to reveal Kashi floating a couple of feet above the ground with the spear tightly clasped in his right hand. An ungodly amount of pressure oozed out of the daeben, forcing all who looked upon his visage to suffer pain in their eyes.

It was like a god had descended upon the mortal realms and did not permit the mortals to gaze upon him.

Luckily, this phenomenon did not last for long. Kashi suddenly pointed the spear at his heart, and before anyone could react, ran it through. To their shock, the spear drove into his heart but did not come out of his back. To the onlookers it looked like Kashi's heart had devoured the spear whole.

The loss of the spear caused Kashi to lose the powerful halo. He fell to the ground, still unconscious as Shadow, and the shamans ran up to his side. The shamans quickly examined the daeben's body and frowned.

Shadow did not like the look on their faces. He frantically asked, "What's the problem!?"

The shamans shook their heads. "We've done all we can. The battle raging within your friend is not something we can interfere in."

Shadow frowned. He could sense the shamans were hiding something. "There's more to it than that, isn't there?"

The shamans shared a look and sighed. "The powers within your friend are too much for any normal hume to handle. Even if he wins in the end, we cannot tell how much damage he would have incurred. In the worst case scenario, he could perish regardless of whether he wins or not."

Shadow's expression stiffened. This was not something he could accept. "Earlier, you said there's a world inside him right? Can I get in there?"

The shamans shook their heads. "No. Only the daeben can summon into that world. We do not have any way of entering ourselves."

Shadow gritted his teeth and stared at the unconscious daeben. "Don't you dare die, Kashi. Lune will never forgive you."

Kashi's World.

Meanwhile, within Kashi's world, the daeben sported a wide grin as he grasped the demon's spear in his right hand and gazed at a colossal monstrosity. This monster was as tall as the Tokyo Tower and was covered in dense vegetation, making its original form impossible to discern. Dark aura oozed gushed out of the monster and battled against Yggdrasil's green energy, each fighting for supremacy over the world.

"This is yours right?" Kashi said as he handed the spear to someone on his right-hand side.

A white, bony hand grasped the spear as a voice replied, "Yes, it is... Master."

Video of the Day

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