Chapter 77

**Noch**

After Ela and Hezerial managed to get the others out of the chamber, I scrutinized Dermon from head to toe. Just the other day when we fought in that destroyed village, he was in a way still his old self. But after the few blows I had just exchanged with him, he seemed like a completely different person from before, power wise. His personality still pissed me off like it did that day.

“What have you been up to lately?” I glared at him as I probed the energy surrounding him.

“You’ve noticed?” Dermon smiled playfully. “I just thought that there was no need for me to try and stay just out of reach anymore.”

I raised an eyebrow. I had an idea of what he was talking about. “So, you decided to completely throw your lot in with the demons now instead of only trying to use them to your benefit?” 

“That’s right. This way, things have gotten a lot better for me actually. I give them what they want, and I get what I want. It’s a pretty fair exchange if I do say so myself.”

“Care to share this great ambition of yours?” I itched to attack him, but also wanted to know exactly what it was that he was after.

“What would any person want that had been turned on by their own people? I was on the verge of a breakthrough in the Council. If only that stupid law didn’t exist, then we would be far better off right now already than we currently are.” He sneered as he readied himself to attack me.

“Those Laws on Taboos are there for a reason. The fact that you no longer see that reason means that it’s a good thing that it’s still enforced. You know very well that Taboos corrupt the mind and soul.” I said while readying my staff. “Not that you would see it that way anymore. Since you are already far too corrupt to even recognize it yourself.”

Dermon shot my way in an explosion of movement that I could barely see. Luckily my other senses knew where to pick up the slack. Demon’s blow reverberated off of my staff and sent him skidding backwards a few steps.

“You know nothing!” He bellowed, the veins on his neck standing out in anger. “All of you just bury your heads in the sand against the unwanted things that happen in this world. Making like they mean nothing, making like they never existed in the first place. Things left behind from the time before the Cataclysm are treasures worth remembering and bringing new life to. But no, you all only see what you want to see and close your ears to anything else that could be of value and benefit to us in this era! I thought that you, of all people, would be able to understand my sentiments.”

I glared at him. Picking at my past was something I never liked doing myself, not to mention someone else picking at it without my say so. “It is precisely that I know what it could bring about, that I supported the Laws concerning Taboos. They are Taboos for a reason you imbecile. Not that you ever listened to me in the first place.”

Dermon laughed hysterically for a minute, like I had uttered some hilarious joke. “Oh, I listened, I listened for the better part of more than a century. Then I got to realise that not everyone is perfect, and not taking some things into consideration could lead to a stagnant development in our cultures. Nothing comes without risk. The humans are alike in that aspect. Someone had to take the plunge to test the waters.”

“Let me guess, that someone had to be you?” I asked sarcastically.

“If not me, then who else?” He said as he dived towards me again. Dermon was most certainly not the same man that I had met at the Council so long ago anymore. He had been swallowed by the ambitions of a madman.

I had seen it before, in the long past. Someone wanting to change the world’s rules to suit their own ambitions and plans. Trying to force others to follow in his footsteps like imprinted ducklings. Getting way too in over their heads with what they are planning to realize that they were losing themselves. It was after all, what had brought the previous world to an end. Normal people thought they could encroach on the realm of higher beings. Thinking that they could be equals if they could prove themselves capable. That thought was all over the place. The only problem was that one side wanted to accomplish it in grand and pure ways, while others thought completely differently. 

It was only because of that different half, that the tragedy of the deity Denaue happened, which led to the Cataclysm and the separation of the deities from this mortal realm. It was because of that tragedy that not a single deity had set foot upon this realm again, and that led to our magic being reduced to the sorry state it was in now. The veil that separated this realm from those that were rich in magical energy, was now incredibly thick compared to before.

The deities might still be portraying themselves as patrons to certain individuals, covens or sects. But never again will they walk among the mortals like they used to.

Some of these facts were passed down to the newer generations of this era, but there was so much more that they were obviously better off not knowing. Knowing certain things could spark a relapse of the past, or worse.

Each blow that Dermon struck against my staff was heavy and powerful, but still something I could handle. I wondered if he thought that he would be on par with me after the deal he had obviously struck. Too bad for him that I was still much stronger.

His strikes were so obvious that I could easily move into his range and drive the tip of my staff into the bottom of his chin. And that was exactly what I did.

I could hear several of his teeth cracking against each other as I hit him. The blow struck him so unexpectedly that he didn’t have time to dodge or regain his balance. He went flying off his feet and crashed headfirst into the wall right behind him.

I then noticed a stalactite falling into the ground right next to me and shattering into a million pieces. With a raised eyebrow, I took notice of the surrounding area again. Everything was rumbling like the cavern’s surrounding structure was struggling to stay upright. Behind us, the tunnel that the others had escaped through had already caved in. Judging by the insistent groaning of the surrounding stone, the cavern couldn’t endure more than one more hit.

A laugh bubbled up from where Dermon was regaining his balance again. “It looks like you had always been holding back when fighting Nochtandriel.” He sneered as he spit out the pieces of teeth that had cracked loose from my blow.

“Not really…” I muttered. “It depends on the person.” Which was the truth. Fog could beat my ass any day, but that was because he was even more sneaky than Raska. Thyrion was a close second, although he could never beat me no matter how hard he tried. I could see the Demon Spawn making her way into the list as well when she grows older.

“It’s such a shame that you never saw eye to eye with me. As someone from the time before the Cataclysm, I thought that you’d be happy to have something familiar brought back from those days.” Dermon smirked. I didn’t like that smirk. That smirk looked like he was planning something again.

“Unfortunately for you, I’ve been there, done that, seen it all. And from what I had seen, I’m glad that none of it is in this era right now.”

“Hah! Of course you would say something like that. You’re a stickler for ‘Let things be the way they are’.” Dermon mocked as he planted his palm on the ground. “Things are going to change soon though, as long as no one gets in my way.”

I saw a pulse of energy run through his arm and into the ground beneath. A series of lines and symbols immediately lit up blue with magic and encircled the whole area. I cursed under my breath. I never would have thought that they would have inscribed a magic circle in this mountain using only traces of energy.

Dermon laughed as his demon Guardian latched onto him from behind. The inscriptions lit up as more energy got poured into it, making them light up the entire shuddering cavern. That’s when I realized that there was more than just one thing this magic circle was meant to do.