"Ow!", he yelped in pain.

Finally collecting himself, Argyle found himself in a world of fire and ruins.

Surrounding him was a destroyed landscape covered no longer in green grass, but flames and infernal flora. Black grass grew where death was, blood fungi lived where blood was shed. It was a world of death, a world of demons.

"Roth, what the hell was that? What's wrong with you?", Argyle finally turned to his demon and scolded him.

The demon shook its head, shaking off its confusion.

"Bad, bad cannon", grumbled Roth.

Their discussion however was interrupted by a massive explosion in the distance, shocking Argyle.

"What was that?", Argyle shouted, running up the hill to find out.

With Roth floating behind him, Argyle ran up to see a terrifying sight.

A battle was happening on the ground below. The wasteland of ruins was filled with an army of demons, pushing forward. On the other side, was a much smaller army, though they were easily matching the advancement of the demon army.

Argyle became wide-eyed as he noticed the defending army was wielding the very same weapons he saw demonstrated in The Citadel-- The Mana Cannon. Hundreds of them being utilized on the battlefield, easily vaporizing thirty demons in one shot.

The soldiers on the ground utilized similar technology-- swords of magic beam, hand-held pistols firing magic bullets. Though one thing Argyle noticed, much to his surprise, though they were within the demonic plane...those technology-wielding soldiers were humans.

"Roth, what is this? What is happening down there?", Argyle asked.

"War. Bad humans use bad cannons", Roth sadly said. "Roth hates war. Roth wants to go back to Argyle's world"

Argyle felt bad, sensing Roth's sadness, but he wanted to find out an explanation."Roth, I need to find out what's going on here. How can there be humans here, in the demonic plane?

"Roth seemed hesitant but he answered. "Humans came from hole"

"Hole? What hole?", Argyle asked.

"Hole came a thousand years ago. War started a thousand years ago", Roth said.

"Roth, take me to this hole", asked Argyle.

After a few bits of convincing, Roth took Argyle a mile east of the battlefield, towards a more desolate wasteland.

Peeking from the hill, Argyle saw the hole. A massive hole in the middle of the wasteland, seemingly going deep to the center of the earth.

"Roth hates hole", Roth grumbled, unamused.

"Roth, I need to go down there", Argyle hushed.

Though he disagreed, Roth followed Argyle behind. Discreetly going down the hill towards the hole, Argyle could see more humans coming in and out of the hole-- soldiers guarding the perimeter, some hauling more cannons out.

Fortunate enough that the hole was as massive as a city, there was a lot of openings where the hole was not guarded. Quietly sneaking pass, Roth grabbed Argyle and flew both of them down the hole.

Hundreds of kilometers they went down through the darkness. Argyle's heart thumped, anxious. What could be down there, he wondered.

Closer and closer they went to the bottom; Argyle was shocked seeing a ruined city lying on the bottom of the pit. Though he could sense a strange sensation of familiarity, it was all shattered as he saw a familiar white building.

"The Citadel", Argyle muttered. Standing tall still, though he could tell the magnificent structure was weathered by time.

"But how can this be?", Argyle wondered when suddenly a beam of magic bullet struck Roth.

In a painful yelp, both of them fell down onto the ground. Tumbling painfully, Argyle could fell a few of his bones were broken. But he didn't care, turning his attention immediately to the wounded Roth.

"No, no, Roth, please!", Argyle tended to the bleeding demon, unconscious on the ground.

"Step away from the demon!"

Surrounding them were human soldiers, wielding those magic guns with them.

Argyle didn't hear them however, as he was much too worried about Roth.

"You're human. Why are you helping the demon?", the soldier asked.

"You hurt him", growled Argyle, tears of anger in his face. In his wrath, Argyle casted a fire spell. His unbroken arm glowed red, ready to strike the soldiers.

"Warlock!", the soldiers screamed, and they began to shoot.

As they did, Argyle instantly changed his spell to a defensive one, surrounding himself and Roth in a protective barrier.

As the firing ceased, the soldiers looked on in awe at the unscathed warlock.

"Your kind was exterminated hundreds of years ago. How are you still here?", the soldier asked, fear began to culminate.

Argyle could feel Roth's life was wasting away. In his desperate grief, Argyle chanted his final spell-- a forbidden spell of soul bonding.

"I will not let you die", Argyle whispered to his friend.

Placing his hand on Roth's chest, Argyle let the demon's soul flowed into him, becoming one with his own essence.

As soon as the bonding complete, Argyle spread his newly formed wings and sent a blast of wind, knocking the soldiers away.

"Fire! Fire!", the soldiers desperately tried to take down Argyle, but the angered warlock had had enough.

With his magic boosted with demon soul, Argyle easily burned the soldiers with infernal flame with a snap of his fingers, leaving charred ashes where they stood.

The warlock finally calmed himself down as he heard more footsteps running towards him. Blinded by rage of the death of his friend, Argyle attacked the humans, destroying the ruined city even more.

The powerful warlock was made even more powerful than even an arch-demon, and he easily devastated the humans.

But it was not enough for him. Every one of them must suffer...Argyle casted his summoning spell, summoning himself back to his world, taking him back to the middle of The Citadel, a moment after he traveled away with Roth.

Flying above the city, Argyle looked down at it with contempt, and he knew what to do.

The arch-warlock extended his arms towards the farthest corner of the city and with magic powerful enough to shatter the continent, he destroyed the ground around the border of the city and pushed the city down with a force strong enough to crush the planet.

Down, down, and further down the whole city went. In his rage, Argyle screamed his grieve out as he sent the city down into the abyss. Afterward, he sealed the hole, throwing massive rubbles into it, piling it high up until a mountain was created above where the city used to be.

One last roar he let out; his scream was heard all around the continent.

It was a signal of a new era as those who were unfortunate enough to hear it would remember. Argyle's mind was lost, lost within his grieve and the madness his demon friend must endured.

"The age of men is over", Argyle declared. "The age of demon has begun"

r/HangryWritey

Edit: spacing