Chapter 47

Demonic blood painted the sand in wide, sickening arcs as Azid drove his iron spear straight through another of his own kind. The force of the blow split the demon nearly in two, viscera flinging outward in pulsing gouts. As the creature collapsed in the dirt, barely clinging to life, its mangled head tilted up, eyes swimming with confusion.

"Why…?" it gurgled.

Azid leaned in, lips peeling into a sharp grin. "Because it's fun," he answered without hesitation—and then, with one brutal stomp, crushed the demon's skull into pulp.

"Okay~! That's the last of them~!" Azid called cheerfully, spinning his blood-slicked spear with a flourish as he turned. Behind him, three others were finishing off their own opponents, demon corpses littered in their wake.

"Man, it's really creepy how you can kill other demons like that with a smile," muttered a man striding over, dressed in a black leather jacket, red t-shirt, jeans, and scuffed sneakers. Mark Stetson, the off-worlder, scratched the back of his head as he eyed Azid warily. His brown hair stuck out messily under the sweat and sand.

A low chuckle came from behind him as an older man stepped up, dragging a glaive through the sand before casually wiping it clean. He had gray hair, bright yellow eyes, and was armored lightly for movement—Hoshikang the executioner.

"You have been around him this long and you still have not figured it out?" Hoshikang asked with a smile, clapping a hand to Mark's shoulder. "Azid doesn't care about things like that."

"I-I don't bla-blame you for thinking he's c-creepy, M-Mark," came a softer voice. A young woman stepped forward, a striking contrast to the battlefield carnage—white-haired, blindfolded, dressed in a tailored black suit with elegant gold trim. Despite the cloth covering her eyes, she moved without faltering, sliding one of her four katanas into its sheath with a practiced motion.

Yuna Hintan, the blind swordswoman, wrapped her arms around herself nervously. "I-I mean… Azid is pretty scary, after all…"

"And that's why it's a good thing he's on our side, right?" said Mark, turning toward Azid with a wary glance.

After Azid had been brought before the Emperor of Aeruna, he had become a 'member' of The Order: a group of elite enforcers that handled… well, pretty much anything The Emperor told them to do. Today, they are dealing with the demons and the portals the demons come from.

The group stood now in the heart of a vast desert within Aeruna's borders, a town only a few kilometers away. The sand around them was littered with the mangled remains of demons—all of them named. That alone was cause for concern.

"They are getting stronger as the days go by," Hoshikang murmured, his bright yellow gaze scanning the blood-soaked sands.

Azid just laughed, tossing his spear over one shoulder. "Don't worry. Sure, they're stronger—but they're still just strays. It'll be a long time before we've got the numbers for another real invasion."

Not the most comforting reassurance, but it didn't seem to bother him as he turned.

"Now… time to deal with this." he added, talking about the portal—the glowing wound in reality.

Mark sighed. "Alright, I hope nothing goes wrong with this," he muttered, stepping toward the portal. With a practiced flick of his wrist, he produced a twenty-sided die from his pocket and tossed it high into the air.

The die glittered under the desert sun as it spun, then dropped sharply toward the sand—only to bounce unnaturally, as if it had struck something invisible and solid just beneath the surface.

"This never gets disinteresting," Hoshikang said, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as he watched the odd spectacle.

The die clattered to a stop. A sharp eighteen gleamed up at them.

"That's a twenty-two with my plus four," Mark said, raising his hand toward the portal. "That should be enough to close this."

A faint light began to build around his hand, growing brighter by the second. His fingers moved as if pressing along the edges of something invisible, miming the closing of a book no one else could see. Slowly, the rippling edges of the portal began to shrink as his hands drew closer together.

"Its working, its working," Mark muttered, though his voice trembled. His hands were shaking now, straining as if the energy between them was resisting.

"Are you su-sure its working?" Yuna asked nervously, stepping back as she instinctively wrapped her arms around herself. The pressure in the air was shifting—volatile, uncertain.

Then a sharp shockwave burst outward with a snap as Mark's hands met.

The portal vanished.

Mark let out a heavy breath and crouched down to retrieve his die from the sand. "I think it worked," he said, flicking sand from its edges and inspecting it briefly before slipping it back into his pocket.

"Wow! No matter how many times I see it, its still so cool!" Azid leaned in close to him with a gleeful grin, crouching beside him like a curious child. Mark shifted away slightly as he tucked the die away.

"Working like a character in a board game is such a fun power, shame I never got into them though," Azid laughed. "I mean why fight monsters in a game when you can do it in real life?"

Mark's expression twisted with offense. "Its not board game, its a TTRPG! You should know this, come on, you understand stuff from my world unlike everyone else."

Azid gave a casual shrug. "I do, its just I don't really care about stuff like that. I mean I'll play it with you if your desperate enough but otherwise I don't really care."

Mark blinked at him, clearly thrown off. "Why would I be desperate one? Isn't it usually the other way around?"

Azid just chuckled impishly in response.

"Well anyway," Hoshikang spoke up, clearing his throat with a subtle gesture. "You did good, Mark. As expected of you," he said with an approving nod.

"I don't know about doing well, since my powers are completely based on luck, but thanks," replied Mark, frowning slightly as the praise felt undeserved.

"Since we're done with the po-portal can't we go back already?" Yuna asked, clearly uncomfortable. Her shoulders were tense and drawn up, as though the surrounding corpses, the heat, and the unstable air were all clawing at her nerves at once. How was she even a member of The Order?

"Yes, yes, we are done here," said Hoshikang with a few measured nods, strapping his glaive to his back. "Let us go back. We have been out in the desert sun for quite a while."

With that, the four of them turned and began the trek back toward the nearest Order base.