Evil

You?

I came face to face with two rank 11s and three rank 10s.

A chuckle escaped my lips,"Five people at the very top of this continent. Two fiends, a beastial and two humans. To what honour do I hold to be able to make distinguished people like you move so quickly to find me?"

The first rank 11, a fiend, spoke. The man had blueish-white skin, purplish almost pink eyes and ears which resembled shorter elves' ears, a head of dark blue hair. He was dressed in a bulky coat, bits of armour visible underneath, a white scarf around his neck.

"Young one, you may not have heard of me. I am the one called Emperor Lorak Ha'lijik, leader of the fiends. If you weren't aware, any person above rank 9 must join our group and sign a non-violence pact or face the wrath of us five. Now, make your choice Artemis Blythe."

A pocket watch appeared in my hands. I let it fall, hanging freely by a chain,"Lorak. May I call you that?"

"Go ahead."

"Well, Lorak you see, there's this thing called a Doomsday clock. Have you heard of it?"

"What are you getting at? Make y—"

"Ophelia. Calm yourself. We've gotten this far, no need for violence. No, I have not this clock."

"Well, the clock itself is...Symbolic. You see, it represents the time the world has left before it goes boom. By boom, I mean the time the world has left before Quarvantcoatl arrives."

"Such an item exists?"

"Indeed. But this clock, you see isn't a normal one. I can go counter-clockwise too. Say when Tarkyol's son was stopped. The clock turned back."

"You know about Tarkyol's son? You must be someone from the old era then? Just who are you Artemis Blythe?"

"Don't worry about that. Tarkyol's son is barely any threat now. He's fallen for a rank 4 magister. They're probably holed up somewhere fucking like rabbits."

"How do you know this?"

"Me? Oh simple, I'm the one who awoken him. Tarkyol, in turn gave me his powers. But back on point, Lorak. The clock symbolises how much time one has till their eventual doom."

"Where is this clock located?"

"I'll get to that very soon. But there is one you must know. When the clock strikes 12, Quarvantcoatl descends and swallows the world whole."

"Have you seen this clock?"

I nodded mysteriously,"Oh yes, I have. It's very close to noon. In fact..." I raised the clock, the final tick before my mana stopped the clock hands in place.

12:00 on the dot. Not a second more, not a second less.

"Noon has arrived."

"What sick game are you playing, Artemis?"

I caught sight of Charlie miles away having reached rank 11 before stopping entirely. It seemed this world could only let one go this far.

"Game? Oh it's not a game, Lorak," I let out a cackle filled with villainous, murderous intent, licking my lips in anticipation,"It's a hunt."

"I am the hunter—"

"Thorny Roses!" In an instant, the impatient rank 11 shot out a spell, piercing my body to a pillar which appeared from the ground, stabbing several stems through my organs, puncturing them.

My head drooped, heartbeat stopped completely.

"Some weak rank 10 she is..."

9 lives remaining.

I coughed, letting out a laugh as I raised my head, a bloody smile greeting their horrified faces,"La Bestia—Three." I laughed as mana surged from all sides, creating a torrent of wind which snapped trees in half. The ground fissured as the skies which had been clear moments ago, turned jet black as purple hail slammed into the ground, the wailing wind whipping the plants as the beginning of a tornado formed.

It was all conglomerating at my core, my body growing in size once more as my eyes never left their figures.

"She's using that move to turn into a rank 10 again!"

"Rank 10? Heh. Not quite, my dear prey." My frame grew even larger than before, wings ash coloured wings spreading outwards as I opened my maw, hundreds of razor sharp teeth larger than a human lined my mouth, a monstrous grey tongue dripping with saliva revealing themselves to the world.

Letting out a guttural, primal roar to the skies, the world seemed to tremble under my might as nearby mountains rumbled tremendously, landslides forming, ground not just shattering but practically disintegrating and giving way the moment my weight crashed down upon it, the full might of a rank 13 appeared before this world, intoxicating power rushing my veins as I zeroed in on the rank 10s and 11s who had grim looks on their face.

A rank gap of 2. Insurmountable by them.

The world was rapidly beginning to show signs of deterioration. Rank 12. It was the magic number. A world could handle the pressure of individuals rank 11 and below. But anything above that would mean the world would collapse under the pressure, leading to the rapid destruction of the world.

My sudden increment in rank had sent the world spiralling down the rabbit hole of devastation, as I felt my body only growing bigger, magic wrapping around Charlie, placing her down on my head where she sat securely, protected by a layer of mana,"That ability is broken!" She whined,"There's a barrier that stops me from breaking through!"

"Set down the stones and imprint. Then enjoy the show." Following my request, she did as told. I took out all the stones and very rapidly sent thousands into my mouth, crunching down as I drained the ring of its remaining few trillion stones in a matter of minutes,"Delimiter." My aura shot up to rank 15 in a matter of moments before I felt a huge bottleneck appear. Yet—With a clawed hand, I slammed it down on the barrier, easily shattering it with my might as the world's end only hastened. I rose to 16 in a heartbeat before stopping firmly on rank 17, exhilarated laughter leaving my mouth as I zeroed in on them.

"And you?" I chuckled deeply, the ground quaking as the skies above hailed even harder, ice the size of boulders smashing into the ground as piping hot magma sprung up from the ground, innumerable tornadoes and cyclones littered the general vicinity as the thunder rumbled loudly, crackles of lightning striking the earth like whips, the wind prowling the skies as if it were a dragon traversing the caelum, trees and animals killed and ripped apart.

"You are the prey."