CRUNCH! CRUNCH! Kayden walked across the frozen hills, looking through the ice storm, his eyes darting left and right. The wind howled, moving mountains of ice into the sky.

“Cain, this place is weird.” He looked behind him.

Cain stood a few feet back. His eyes closed as he inspected the magic surrounding the place. “This whole plane has morphed into the shape of Silver’s soul.” He swung his palm down, “And it wasn’t even intentional. His mere existence froze one of the hell’s layers.”

“And you’re saying he’s a human?” Kayden stared at Cain, “It’s hard to believe. Humans don’t have that potential without divine powers.”

“And he wants to kill the gods. It doesn’t make sense for him to be a divine.” Cain approached Kayden, “History stat he’s a human, but we can’t trust that observation to be true,” He smiled, “For all we know, you look human most time,”

Kayden nodded, pulling his sword, “We have company. Should I get rid of them?”

Cain smiled, “Can you handle them? Those aren’t mere Ice devils.”

CLACK! Kayden opened his six eyes, staring in every direction. “They have the same magic as this place. I would say they got some power from silver.” He walked behind Cain and took a deep breath.

“You’re right, don’t get injured,” Cain created a floating platform and sat on it, “Next fight is on me,”

CLING! Kayden disappeared in the blink of an, leaving an explosion behind that blasted all the snow, showing the ground that didn’t emerge in the last one thousand years.

ROAR! A large mantic-like devil popped out of the ground, swinging its massive claw arm.

CREEK! As Kayden got closer to the devil, the cold got harsher, slowing him down significantly.

^I’m freezing? No, I’m just slowing down. Magic? No, a byproduct of the cold.^ CRACK! Kayden stomped the ground, shifting his strike upward and deflecting the devil’s claw.

ROAR! The devil roared again, swinging at Kayden again with his second arm.

CLING! In the blink of an eye, a dark aura engulfed Kayden’s body as he swung faster than the eye could see, beheading the devil before the attack could reach him.

“If you’re slowing me, I only need to swing faster.” Kayden sheathed his sword.

SWOSH! The devil’s body crumbled into the snow. BAM! Seven more devils emerged from the white ground, all swinging at Kayden at the same time.

BAM! As the seven devils crumbled, another forty-nine devils popped out. “What?” Kayden looked around, killing the devils in the blink of an eye.

BA-BAM! Two thousand and four hundred and one devils burst out of the ground, grunting like pigs.

Cain smiled, “Hoo! They are multiple from the snow after dying. We would have millions if you kept killing them like that.”

Kayden looked around, “This seems like a fight for you,” He looked at Cain, “Do you know how to kill them?”

Cain waved his hand, “Not really. I have to test a few spells and elements.” He jumped off his platform, landing beside Kayden, “You go rest.”

“Sorry,” Kayden jumped into the platform, sitting and staring at Cain as he got ready for a fight.

Cain closed his eyes, thinking of what to do, “Those are made of ice. I wonder if fire would do anything?”

The devils charged at him, grunting and growling.

“Doesn’t matter, let’s try it,” THUD! Cain stabbed the ground with his staff, “Burn everything into ash, Spirit of Phlegethos, Inanna!” He shouted, the staff turning into a silver sword, sending waves of fire across the land.

The flame quickly evaporated all the devils as he stood in the middle of the charred land, smiling.

“It didn’t work,” He looked at the sky, Seeing thousands of ice shards falling.

“Five million, seven hundred and sixty-four thousand, and eight hundred and nine devils,” He sighed, “Can’t you just die?”

BABABAM! The devils fell, shattering the ground as they swarmed Cain like crazed dogs.

Cain lifted his palm up, “I didn’t want to use this, but you left me no choice.” Divine magic started flowing from his fingertips, crackling like lighting.

[Divine Smite] Cain swung his arm down, and a brilliant light fell from the sky, blinding the devils as it flashed. CLAP! As the light touched the ground, it charred it, burning the ice before it could even melt.

The devils didn’t resurrect, and Kayden stared at Cain.

“You can burn ice?”

Cain shook his head, “Of course, I can’t,” He replied with a passive face, “What burned is the devil curse in it. What Silver left so they can multiply like that,” He smiled.

“I see. You can only achieve that with divine magic,” Kayden stared at Cain.

“It’s easier to target the devils’ curses with it,” He looked around, “I hate to admit it, but Amaterasu, Kossuth, and Master Lilia would have burned them with fire just fine.”

“I thought you were just as skilled,” Kayden jumped off the platform and landed beside Cain.

“I use Inanna for fire. We aren’t as precise as them.” Cain replied with a smile, looking at his sword, “You’re powerful enough,”

[I know I’m not as powerful as the true fire goddess,] Inanna grunted from the blade.

Cain giggled, “I said don’t worry about it,”

“Humph,” Inanna sighed, shifting back into a staff.

***

Back in the mortal world, Chad sat on a marble chair in the midst of a ruined castle. He stared at the large oak tree in the middle, smiling.

Evelyn approached him from the back, touching his shoulder, “This place is in a worst shape than I expected,”

“Alseria got destroyed in a rebellion, and unlike most kingdoms, no one took over the throne. It got ruled by gangs and bandits for a decade before finally crumbling.” Chad replied.

Ariel approached, “You’re right, no one bothered to be the one cleaning the bandits, so the kingdom was doomed,”

“It’s all thanks to the dragons going crazy everywhere. Mobilizing armies is almost impossible for humans,” Chad stood, “But, we should be able to clean it, right?”