Demonheim

chapter 1

Screams of dying soldiers mixed with the thunderous roar of demons. Men fell, fewer demons did too, the battlefield was a gory mess of blood that flowed like streams on the mountain pass. Roy tried to filter out the irrelevant information, like how they were outclassed though they outnumbered the demons four to one, he tried not to dwell too much on how they had lost formation lond ago and it was pretty much a one-sided massacre now. Yeah, all those are irrelevant information.
He twirled the kusarigama with a skillful flick of his wrist and forearm. The curved blade at the end of the chain shot forward and buried itself in the skull of the beast charging at him. He calmly sidestepped the large lifeless body as it crashed past him. Another came from his left, with a loud roar, gaping it's wide mouth with tusks sticking up, it swung a double-edge battleaxe, cleaving through the air where his head had been only moments ago.
Roy rolled to his feet, ditching the kusarigama, it was a good weapon but only for mid-range attacks and this enemy was too close for that.
The demon stepped forward and heaved it's battle-axe for another swing. 'Too slow' Roy thought as he shot forward and buried his dagger in it's throat, or where he thought it's throat might have been seeing as no one has actually deemed to conduct any study on demon anatomy, he assumed though since they looked relatively humanoid except much larger and far more grotesque. Although, in the demon's defense this ugly fecker reminded Roy of the butcher's daughter down haughtywhore street.
The demon gurgled and convulsed as blood spurt out of the wound. Soon it dropped to the ground and was immediately forgotten as Roy sheathed his dagger and went to get his kusarigama. It took some effort to pull the scythe out of the other demons skull. 'It was thick skulled' Roy laughed at his own joke even while he watched another soldier's head get bashed to pieces by a mace-wielding demon. The soldier's eyes stared at him as his life faded.
'Poor James, the last thing he saw was my manic smile' Roy shook his head, 'he does kind of deserve it though, he still thinks I don't know he ate my last jerky' he thought with a frown and a satisfied nod.
'Any soldier who would steal another's last jerky deserves a horrible death'.
His eyes scanned the battlefield, their numbers had thinned significantly, the killing had dulled to a leisurely massacre concentrated around Princess Odiana, the greatest knuckle head that Roy had ever had the misfortune of encountering. She had been fooled into this crusade by Prince Phillip, her head was filled with thoughts of glory and valor, she had led them against the demons and now they were being mowed down like hay in dry season. There was a pile of corpse surrounding her, most of course were her own soldiers who had given their life to protect the noble Princess who fancies herself a paladin, admittedly she was quiet good with magic along with her large claymore, Roy acknowledged, but the soldiers were even more stupid, they ran to her aid and fell, and even more ran to their deaths at the Princess's side. It was stupid cause the princess was perhaps the second most capable fighter in the battlefield, she did not need soldiers rescuing her and with her brand of magic and large blade what she needed most was space to swing her sword and cast spells without worrying about friendly fire.
With a shake of his head, "we're all going to die today" he said out loud as he threw the grappling hook at the other end of the kusarigama, a demon's leg got Tangled in it and dropped down to it's knees. He jerked the other end of the chain and scythe spun forth and the pointy end bit into the eye socket of the demon. It gave a loud howl and flailed helplessly. Wrenching the blade out got another agonised howl out of the abomination. Grabbing the handle of the scythe, Roy spun and cleaved at the demon's neck, if it were human it's head would have fallen off in one swoop. With a grimace, Roy pulled out the blade and chopped again though not as elegantly as he did the first time. He got only halfway through the fat neck.
"Well that will have to do"
He kicked the body down and untangled his blade. He gave another glance around the battlefield, the number of soldier had dwindled, of the nine hundred or so soldiers that were part of the crusade only less than thirty were still alive at that moment and the number was still decreasing.
Roy shook his head again and cursed his luck, it would be pitiful for the greatest warrior of all time to be fallen by a crusade leader's inexperience.
"I mean" he said out loud as he pulled a spear from a fallen demon and chucked it at another, "who the hell leads an army against a horde of demons on a bloody mountain pass?!"
The noise of the battlefield faded slightly at his outburst. Red eyes turned to him, the Princess's helmet shifted his way too and he knew she was glaring through the slits of her helm.
Roy focused on the red eyes, in the overcast gloomy weather, they were the brightest things on the battlefield. The demon stood out amongst the rest, not only because it surveyed the battlefield calmly while the others attacked mindlessly, it's physique was also much different from the other. It was smaller, though compared to humans he was still quite large at over six and half feet tall but it gave an aura that was much thicker and substantial than the larger demons who were mostly over seven feet tall. The demon's armour was minimal, only covering his forearm, chest and shins. Roy was surprised how well crafted the piece was, demons were always portrayed as savages it seemed inconceivable that they were capable of such fine craftsmanship but this one defied everything he had heard so far. It stood authoritatively before the raging battle, batting away any soldiers that got too close to him.
Silence reigned on the battlefield as they stared each other down. Roy didn't need to look around to know the army was dead, completely annihilated by the demon horde. There were only two of them left now, and to give the Princess credit she did not cower in the face of certain death.
"Come down here and fight me yourself you coward!" She taunted angrily. The demon smiled.
"As you wish", his eyes glowed brighter, he tensed like an arrow being pulled back in a bowstring.
Roy's eyes widened.
The Princess's reaction was fast. She threw her left hand forward and a transparent blue film materialised in front of her just before the demon slammed into it.
Roy started running, "looks like I'm just like the other stupid soldiers" he thought as he ran towards the Princess.
The magical shield didn't stop the demon, it only slowed him down, very briefly at that. He tensed and swung his claw tipped finger at her. It was just his hand, he wasn't even carrying a weapon whereas the Princess was clad in full body armour and had her large sword, Roy feared for her.
Wisely enough, she wasn't overconfident in her shield and leaned away early enough as the shield crumbled.
Roy dodged around corpses that had piled up to form an obstacle course on the battlefield. He spun the kusarigama as he boosted himself off a dead demon and twirled, sending the scythe in a wide arc.
'Damn that would've made a very impressive sight' he thought, imagining how the blade would bury itself in the demon's back while it was distracted with Princess Odiana and the momentum of his jump would pull it straight through it's ribs. He believed with such absolute certainty that he didn't register it when the demon caught the handle of the weapon and pulled him down.
The world flipped over as he somersaulted and slammed face first into the ground, his entire chest and ribcage exploded in agonising pain.
'Yeah definitely just broke one of my ribs'  Roy thought dejectedly as he laid motionless on the ground, hoping the whole world would forget him there.
The Princess gave a loud screech, which she may have assumed was a warrior like roar, "for the glory of Berrion!".
Roy would have rolled his eyes if he could but he had more pressing matters as he felt a large fist clamp around his ankle and he was hurled through the air like a ragdoll. He could have sworn he heard Odiana whisper "shit" before he crashed into her.
'Did that fecker just throw me at her?!' Roy questioned disbelievingly even as the mass of armour moved underneath him.
"Argh" he groaned and rolled off her, she pushed off forcefully when he didn't move quick enough and he thanked her silently as a large feet slammed into ground shortly after she rolled away herself.
Roy got on his knees, grabbed a round shield and swung it upward as he rose. A loud bang reverberated over the mountain pass, the demon's head shot backwards as he staggered.
'a hit!' he celebrated vainly, oh how far you have fallen Roy, you were slaughtering demons only moments ago.
His celebration was a little too early as the demon recovered quickly from the blow and snapped a kick towards him, he got the shield up in time but the force threw him at least six feet back.
princess Odiana used the opportunity to use force blast while the demon was off balance. A blue luminous force slammed into the demon and flung it away not unlike Roy had been flung earlier. The demon recovered flawlessly, rolling effortlessly to his feet.
"This asshole is so freaking OP!" Roy cursed silently as he struggled to his feet too.
There was a moment of silence as the three combatants watched each other, then the silence was interrupted by a loud booming laugh.
"Ha ha! I never expected such a sorry party of humans to actually throw me!"
"Wow it speaks!" Roy exclaimed, "words!" He said slapping his cheeks with his mouth gaping in exaggerated surprise.
"Do not be so arrogant demon, today is the day you fall" The Princess declared heroically.
Roy gave a sarcastic look, "really?  Cause from where I am standing we're surrounded by demons who are just waiting to tear us apart the moment their leader is done with us"
The Princess grabbed her helmet angrily and wrenched it off her head, her eyes looked crazed as she glared at Roy.
"Do. You. Ever. Shut. Up?!" She screamed, 'with her blonde hair plastered to her pretty sweaty face, she would have looked very much at home in an asylum' Roy thought. Still he was struck by how young she looked, perhaps a little over seventeen, her features were smooth and clean cut, her square shaped jaw paid homage to her warrior life, no soft features for this paladin.
'Totally not what they drew on the posters, female paladins are supposed to have plump lips and heart-shaped pretty faces! I want my money back!' he chuckled internally.
"No way, you want me to be quiet moments before my death?"
"Well you have certainly said enough to last me a lifetime" she retorted.
"Ha! Not for me though, I still need to tell king Brandon what a huge asshole he is"
The Princess's eye widened in outrage but Roy had already turned to the demon to see him sending confused glances at them both.
"So I guess we interrupted your grand introduction, carry on" Roy said with a twirl of his fingers and a polite bow, just like a jester had done at a banquet.
The demon snorted sarcastically, "you two would make a good pair"
"Well I'm glad you're about to kill me before that happens" Roy shot back.
The demon laughed, a genuine laugh.
"You are funny, and a great warrior. Tell me your name"
"Roy"
Silence.
"Just Roy? No superficial last names that you humans attach so much value?"
"No" Roy replied, he gestured at the Princess, "that's her domain".
Odiana's gauntlet creaked as she tightened her grip on the handle of her sword, she seemed to contemplate killing him first before the demon got to him. 
"The elder father has done me great disservice" she said between teeth gritted in anger, "of all people to have the honour of dying by my side he chooses a foolish jester"
The demon nodded, he almost looked sympathetic at her.
"I am called Warrick" he said simply.
Silence reigned again. No one spoke as though in recognition of this crucial moment.
Roy reached over and picked up a shield and a gladius, he mirrored the Princess and settled into a stance himself while Warrick the demon watched them both impassively.
The rest of the horde watched silently from the sidelines while they idly picked apart the remains of the human soldiers.
An eery breeze howled as it blew through the mountain pass. Silence again, then at once all three burst into action.
The princess attacked from the left, Roy took the right, Warrick stood at the center, unarmed but far more dangerous. The large sword cleaved forth in an arc, Warrick deflected the blade with his forearm guard and while he did, Roy rushed forward and thrust the gladius. Warrick deflected again and his claws flashed forward with blinding speed, it left deep gouges in the shield, similarly on Odiana's chest armour as she got too close.
The battle descended into a series of hacks and thrusts with the demon countering every move with his own and not leaving room in his defence for even a fly to get by. Odiana was the first to get frustrated by the standstill and she charged him while letting out a girlish shriek. She swung the claymore, Warrick caught the sword by the blade but didn't have time to move as Roy bashed his shield into the back of his leg. He dropped on one knee with a groan, still holding the blade in a death grip until Odiana slammed her heel into his face. She wrenched it out of his hand and raised it high above her head, the blade glowed bright blue and ready to split him in half. She shrieked again and brought it down forcefully.
'yes!' Roy screamed internally in triumph, certain that even the demon's forearm guard could not block a magically sharpened sword, again his celebration was short lived as the demon's eyes glowed and a crimson vaporlike aura engulfed the demon.
The Princess's magically sharpened sword slammed down on the demon's head and shattered. Her eyes widened, Warrick smiled, Roy leapt infront of her with the shield before the blow came. It was like Warrick has grown ten times stronger in an instant. The punch hit the shield squarely, it was still the hardest Roy had ever been punched before. His back slammed into Odiana, her body weight did nothing to stop his momentum, the princess herself was flung away despite the weight of her armour.
Roy crashed through a multitude of dead soldiers before he finally came to a stop with his head resting on the belly of a headless corpse.
There was loud crack like thunder and a thud, Roy raised his head to find Warrick standing over Odiana's motionless form. He was certain she wouldn't be getting back up again. The demon's eyes were on him.
"King Brandon is a fecking bastard" he whispered weakly. What kind of a king sends his only daughter on a crusade against a horde of demons?
Warrick started walking towards him. 'Well Roy, seems your story ends here'.
Roy smiled and stared at the darkening sky not wanting the demon's face to be last thing he ever saw.
The heavy footfall stopped next to him.
"You're an asshole, you know that right?" Roy said,
"Oh? How so?" The demon enquired with amusement.
"Well", Roy began, struggling to speak despite the multiple broken bones in his arms and his ribs and all the internal injuries. He coughed up a little bit of blood. His vision went blurry for an instant.
"Roy?" Warrick called, his voice strangely soft, "are you still there?"
Roy blinked watery eyes, it took a while to focus them on the figure above him.
"Yeah as I was saying" he gurgled a bit of blood. Warrick nodded encouragingly as though he was a physician listening to a patient complaining of his various ailments. He could almost hear the palace physician's voice speaking in that strange monotone 'patient is bleeding into his lungs'. 'well thanks for reminding me that I'm dying fecker!' Roy shot back at the voice in his head.
"While you're better than most demon's I've met, you are unquestionably the biggest asshole for making me die on a smelly headless man's thighs".
"Hmm" Warrick's red eyes glowed brighter, he smiled a mischevious smile.
"Well Roy would you like an offer? A second chance so you would not have to die on a smelly headless man's thighs? Would you like to know the truth about your pathetic human world?"