Troy: The Demon Knight S2: by Nick Venom (distant reading .txt) 📖

the darkness. He was alone, left on the First Layer by himself. Kim had left him, possibly even descending. In her place were her final words to him. Now that you know the people by your side and your regret, try your best to follow a different path than me. She had given him a way out, but he wasn’t sure if he wanted to leave. When he first entered the strange plane of time, he wanted to leave but the longer he stayed, the more he wanted to stay. Nothing was great in his life that he could think of. 

Until the thoughts of his trip to the movie theatre with Amanda and Kelly entered his mind. However, it was quickly tainted by the demon lords appearing within the movie theatre. To add insult to injury, Zane’s cruelty and his demonic condition worsened his memory of the trip.

Then another thought of his life with his adoptive parents and the memories he had with them… until they were killed by him and his demonic fires. 

A third thought then entered his mind, carrying good memories of when he was able to bond with the Duel Lazarus Blades, which was then ruined by the reappearance of Reid and Merlin and being cursed into a cat.

Every good thought that he was having was quickly attacked by bad thoughts. Every memory had its bad sides being more prevalent than the good sides. It was a vicious cycle of doubt and depression that Troy suffered from. He could only think of the bad things and never the good parts of his life.

Now that you know the people by your side and your regret, try your best to follow a different path than me. Kim’s final words coursed through his mind again. “A different path than her?” He questioned. “Can I even travel that path?”

He sat up, looking around to see nothing. Nothing changed and nothing differed from earlier. Everything was the same… except he now noticed a small but dim light some distance from him. He stood up and took a step towards it, but stopped before taking a second one. “... It could be a trap. I shouldn’t…” He took a step back, hesitant to pursue the light. Then Victoria filled his mind. The sight of his elder sister and how she worked diligently to undo his curse. How she cared for him, treating him as her real sibling and not as an adoptive one. He remembered the warmth he felt having a family and not a woman who berated and abused him. It felt unnatural… and natural altogether.

“I deserve to leave. I need to return home. I need to see my siblings… even Casper.” He trudged towards the light, surprised to see that the light was expanding. It wasn’t running from him.

“I will tell the truth, I will fix my broken family. I’ll tell my sister how much I love her. I will tell Casper how much of a good brother he is to me. I will fix my life. The past no longer concerns me.” Tears were streaming down his face as he neared the light. “I WILL UNDO THIS CURSE! I WILL LIVE A NORMAL LIFE. I WILL FIX MY BROKEN FAMILY!”

***

Victoria awoke to see Jessica receiving an ax in her shoulder blade. Draggak dug the ax deeper into her shoulder, grinning smugly as he did so. “I am more powerful than any of you. You’re all a disgrace to my race.”

“My?” Jessica asked, grinning. “I see… you were probably some loser human who made a deal with the devil and lost his soul in the process. This power isn’t yours.”

Draggak responded by digging the ax deeper out of frustration, winning several painful grunts from Jessica, but no shouting. She intentionally didn’t let her voice out to prevent Draggak from feeling satisfied. 

What is happening? Where’s Frost? She thought to herself, her gaze approaching Frost’s body lying some distance away. His semi-broken shield was not far from him. What happened while I was out? She gripped her sword, which was still in her grasp, and stood up. She then pointed the sword at Draggak, which got a chuckle out of him. 

“You really think you can beat me?”

Victoria shook her head. “I can’t… but there’s no way I’m letting you go any further even if it costs me my life.” She declared. Draggak laughed at her, ripping the ax out of Jessica. He watched as she crumbled to her knees, a large gap between her arm and her neck. 

He now headed towards Victoria, grabbing at her. He grabbed her neck and raised her high into the air. “Weak,” he muttered, slowly choking her. “You’re nothing, but a shadow of my past. Of my weak and dumb self.”

“That self is still here.” Jessica retorted behind her. She stood, her knees shaking. She grabbed her shuriken off the ground and walked forward, walking with a limp. However, her legs gave up before she could be close enough to attack him.

“Hahahaha!” He laughed at her, one hand choking Victoria while the other held onto the ax. “Shadows of my past, you are. Nothing more and nothing less.”

“LET HER GO!” Troy barked, bursting through the front door. He wasn’t in his cat form, but his mortal form. He was dressed in his casual clothes of a loose black tee-shirt, black joggers, and a matching black pair of sneakers. He glared at Draggak, armed without a weapon.

“You… I remember you.” Draggak remarked, furrowing his brows. “You’re the kid from the theatre.” 

Troy tilted his head, now recognizing him. “Zane?”

Draggak grinned. “I am no longer Zane. I have shed my mortal body and-”

“Dual Lazarus Swords, I summon you to me,” Troy ordered, interrupting Zane. A few seconds passed before they appeared, the black hilts and golden-red blades jumping at him. He swiftly grabbed them, pointing them at Draggak. “Help me, Dual Lazarus Swords.” He whispered before charging forward.

Draggak threw Victoria to the side, charging towards Troy. He swung a downward swing, nicking Troy, who darted to the right and barely missed being hit.

Troy counter-attacked by striking at Draggak and somehow managed to scratch his skin. Draggak took a step back, staring at Troy dumbfounded. He scratched me… how? What are those weapons?

Troy jumped forward, slicing into the Demon Knight. His swings were dealing damage to Draggak’s surprise. None of the other weapons, even the other bonded weapons, did any damage to him. It froze him for a few seconds as he racked his mind for a way to counter Troy. He wasn’t expecting this. However, before he could come up with a counter, Troy backed away from him, muttering to himself. “I call on your help to protect my family, Dual Lazarus Swords.” The swords responded, a layer of demonic flames covering them. Following the flames were two words, “Demonic Blades.” 

Troy grinned. “Dual Lazarus Swords… activate Demonic Blades.” He muttered. “First Article.” Sudden energy followed his chant as the flames grew larger, encasing the swords and his entire body with them. Fortunately, they dealt no damage to him.

With his Offensive Skill now activated, he charged forward. He sliced at Draggak, who couldn’t keep up with him. Desperate for a way out, he tried to activate another of his skills. “Worldbreaker, activate Atomic-” He was interrupted by Troy who stabbed him in the shoulder blade. He pushed the blade deeper, the teeth munching on his flesh. 

Draggak let out a scream as the flames covering the sword penetrated his flesh. His insides were weaker and less defended than his outsides, giving the flames an easier time.

Troy continued his attacks, bringing the other sword into Draggak’s other shoulder and pushing both down. Draggak collapsed to his knees, looking up at Troy with an expression of pity. Troy simply scoffed. “You tried to kill my sister and the swords are hungry. Dual Lazarus Swords… increase fire output.” He ordered. His swords listened to him, charring Draggak’s outside. 

“Please! Stop! Please! I’ll leave and never come back! Please! Mom! Dad! Help me!” Draggak screamed, begging for mercy.

Troy shook his head, glancing at the state of Frost, Jessica, and Victoria. “You don’t deserve mercy. In this form and your last.” He glared into Draggak’s eyes as his insides were being charred, his blood evaporating, and his organs shrinking at the lack of moisture. The outcome of the increased fire output was becoming apparent as Draggak began gagging as no oxygen could reach his damaged lungs; his heart was next, being tickled before being assaulted by the fire. It was being burned like a pot of water over the stove. 

Troy dug the swords deeper and deeper until only the hilts could be seen. He stared directly into Draggak’s eyes, seeing the flashes of pain and agony flooding over his face. He begged for mercy but got none.

“Your time is up.” Troy barked. He twisted the hilt, going from horizontally in Draggak’s shoulder blades to vertical, tearing up the charred flesh. “Atone for your sins in Hell. You can beg Satan for another time.” He ripped the swords out of Draggak and stuck them through his eye sockets before his brain. 

Draggak collapsed soon after, his body empty of moisture. His guts had been heated to non-existence. He was an empty cadaver.

Troy, satisfied at Draggak’s death, turned to Victoria. He looked around and noticed Zac appearing with his teacher, Mr. Inuzuka, and the remaining Angel’s Riders. Tanner quickly provided healing to the wounded members while Mr. Inuzuka and Hillary dealt with the body of Draggak, formerly Zane.

“A Demon Knight,” Mr. Inzuka deduced. 

Hillary stared at him, stunned at what he said. She shushed him quickly. “We don’t speak about that class.”

“Sorry, it was a slip of the tongue. However, I am right to say this is one of them.”

Hillary nodded in agreement. “Let’s get rid of it before anybody sees. We also need to make sure none of the people here say a word.”

“I’ll take care of that part, let’s focus on getting this corpse out. We’ll investigate this matter further later.” Mr. Inuzuka said. Hillary nodded, helping him to take the body away via a carriage being brought to the scene.

Meanwhile, Kelly and Amanda popped their heads out and helped Troy to the ground, resting after the fight. During this, Frost and Jessica had gotten up, thanks to Tanner’s help. However, they both distanced themselves from Troy and the others.

“Where are you going, Frost?” Jessica asked Frost as he turned to leave.

“Home. I’m done what I came here from.”

“Which is?”

Frost glanced at her, grinning. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” 

“Yeah, I kinda do.” She said, “What’s wrong with Troy aside from the curse?”

Frost turned his head back to face his front. He then shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not entirely sure, but… he’ll cause the apocalypse. However, he should be fine as long as he relies on his friends and family.”

“Which means that the time he doesn’t rely on them and sticks it out on his own… He will jumpstart the apocalypse.”

Frost nodded, not looking at her. “I believe so. Mind keeping an eye on him.”

“Don’t worry, I will. I already registered Zac for Hiro’s class. He’s going to become more independent, but I also want an easy way to monitor him.”

Frost shot out a thumbs up. “See you, Jess.”

“See ‘ya, Frost.”

Meanwhile, Victoria embraced Troy, tears streaming down her face. “You’re alive, thank the Heavens! You’re really alive.” She sobbed into his shoulder, happy to see him still alive.

“You were the one with the bad injury.”

“Who cares about me. It’s you and your brother I’m worried about.” She said through her tears. The rest of her words were incoherent sobs. 

“Speaking about your brother,” Kelly interjected, pointing at Casper and Oscar who had joined the fray a little too late. 

Oscar pushed Casper forward. “Don’t freeze.” He reminded him.

“I know, I know,” Casper said as he walked away from Oscar and towards Troy and Victoria. “Victoria… Troy?” He asked.

Victoria looked at him, her face a mess. Troy stared at him, ready to look away