Blood stained the grass as the two forces clashed violently! Men in armor charged forth and slaughtered beings with various features.

Some had the head of a jaguar, the feet of goats, and many other oddities, however they all fell under the blade of human experts!

"Matthew! The enemy is retreating! Push forward and kill these damned things!" A man with a burly frame wielding a huge sword said to a thin man with a scar under his eye.

"Garret, I know you want to fight some more, but we have orders to hold the line, if we push forward and are defeated, we'd be condemned as humanity's greatest sinners." Matthew said while wiping black ichor from his blades.

"Damn it! Always the voice of reason, huh? I see why the made you commander in this battlefield rather than me." Garret laughed loudly, ignoring the blood splattered all over his figure.

"Focus on your men, there are a lot more demons on the other battlegrounds, so beware." Matthew said as he moved forward to the wall that bore the brunt of the demon races attacks.

Massive holes marred the surface, and the wall seemed to be on the brink of collapse. Garret stalked over to a surviving demon and started to 'interrogate' it.

Shortly after, a hoarse growl sounded and the sound of a blade penetrating flesh made Matthew turn around.

"Just kill them, there isn't any information to be gained by torturing them." Matthew may not like demons, however he still didn't want to torture a sentient being for no reason.

"What? The Dark North Legion Commander is getting cold feet?" Garret sneered as he pulled his blade out of a female demon with horns on her head.

Correction, there were horns, but Garret sawed them off with his blade before stabbing her in the heart, ending her misery.

"No. I dislike killing things. Be ready, I just got word that the battle on the Southern Front is hectic. Be prepared for any signs of ambu-" An arrow seemingly melded with the darkness of night flew past Matthew's face and shattered the armor of a nearby warrior and drilled into his head, killing him instantly.

"Weapons ready. Advance!" Garret yelled as he charged over to the demons who had seemingly appeared out of darkness.

Orbs of magic flew back and forth between the two sides, causing explosions and waves of force to ripple outwards.

As a human expert at the Seventh Rank, Matthew had no problems shrugging off the damage of lesser Ranked demons.

With the swing of a sword, a frosty light shot out and the battlefield fell silent. The charging demons froze and then collapsed and shattered on impact with the ground.

"Fuck! If you keep killing everything, what are we going to fight?!" Garret yelled as he stomped on the corpse of a young demon with the appearance of a young boy.

'I hope this was the last wave. I can't be bothered to handle the rest, I'm nearly out of energy.' Despite being at the Seventh Rank, he could only do so much against the seemingly never ending demons.

After a few moments passed, the air grew ionized, as if a storm was coming. In the distance, darkness seemed to shroud everything and appeared like a dark sea, swallowing everything in it's path.

"I didn't expect to find a Titled Human Expert here on this small battlefield." A woman walked out of the darkness, her skin flawless and a cold yet beautiful face.

Her figure was also superb, however unlike Garret who started salivating, Matthew placed his sword on his shoulder and got ready to fight.

"Now now, I'm only here to complete a mission that was given to me." Hearing her words, Matthew frowned and then tried to sense the woman's power.

She looked like a beautiful human woman, however Matthew staggered back with a shocked expression on his face.

"Didn't you know it's poor manners to peek at a lady? Especially one as beautiful as me." Unlike Garret who seemed raring to go, Matthew took out a metal rod and snapped it.

Garret looked at Matthew with a frown. "Why did you do that? We were ordered to shatter the beacons when we can't hold out anymore! We can still fight!" 

"Shut up for once and sense her energy! She's a fricking Ninth Ranked Devil Queen! She's ahead of us by leagues!" Matthew said with a sigh.

"Oh? Someone is quite intelligent. I can kill everyone on this battlefield in under a minute, however I'll let you have three strikes, after which I'll do three strikes. Whoever loses becomes the winner's plaything." Hearing the devil, Garret pointed his sword at her, seemingly holding the sword as if it were light as a feather.

"Screw that! Charge!" Garret yelled and the human warriors started to move forward, faces filled with determination!

"Stop! Everyone fall back now! I agree to the-" Garret turned and swung his sword, making Matthew parry it with confusion.

"I am tired of you, you know? I had to withhold the urge to kill you when you were leading the legion, and now that they've charged foolishly to their deaths, I can end you now." The aura Garret emitted went from the Sixth Rank to the Seventh in an instant!

"Oh? Humans are always so reckless, killing even their own kind for mere benefits." The Devil Queen said as she waved a hand and a throne appeared. Taking a seat, she pulled a wine glass out of thin air and sipped it.

"Are you rebelling? Garret, stop before you can't undo the damage!" Matthew looked at the warriors almost at the Devil Queen's throne and then back at Garret.

"So you're really betraying humanity?" Matthew asked but Garret sneered loudly.

"The Dark North Legion Commander is a traitor who has been aiding the demons secretly! Death to traitors!" Garret yelled, and as if rehearsed, the soldiers roared after him.

"The Dark North Legion Commander is a traitor to the human race!" Hearing the roars of his former warriors, Matthew couldn't help but shake his head.

"I gave most of my life to preserving humanity, however it seems like this was planned. Tell me, who did it? Was it the Dragon Flame Commander?" 

"Oh, so you knew and came anyway despite it being a death sentence? Why do you think you were placed in such a secluded battlefield? It was all for you to die here." Garret laughed and slashed down, a ray of light formed on the blade's edge and shot towards Matthew.

"Sir, be careful! This way!" Matthew slashed out and a frosty sword light shot out, dropping the temperature around it.

Matthew looked back and saw his second in command standing a few feet away and the exhaled.

"Horace, fall back and tell the Alliance of Humanity what happened here." Matthew said as he parried another sword light.

Matthew swung his sword and a harsh sound of metal against metal rang out. Both swords were made of the hardest metals, and were incredibly durable despite being made without magical materials.

Horace nodded at Matthew's back and turned around, and Matthew focused his full attention towards Garret who kept attacking with roars.

After a few blows, Garret felt frost creeping up on his body from various points and growled as energy surged outwards, thawing the ice.

As if something were punctured, Matthew looked down and saw a blade protruding from his chest. Blood trickled down his lips as he turned around to see who it was.

'Horace! Even you too? I-' Blood poured from the wound as Horace twisted the blade in Matthew's chest.

"Haha, you thought you were infallible didn't you? Now even your own most loyal warrior has turned his blade on you. Nothing can't be bought with enough money." Garret walked over and smashed the flat side into Matthew's side.

Flying out a few meters, Matthew hit the ground and the blade sliced his chest half open. With a few weak coughs, Matthew opened his eyes and looked at the dark skies above.

"I gave my life for humanity, and in return I was betrayed and.." Blood spurted from his mouth as he felt a hot fluid filling his throat.

"And the Dark North Legion Commander is dead. Horace take care of the soldiers who are still loyal to him." Only then did Garret look at the throne and his eye twitched.

All around the throne were bodies of human warriors, something Garret didn't particularly care about.

"As per the agreement, I let you have this battleground and in return, we can secretly trade with you the resources and humans you need." 

Matthew heard the words, however his eyes were dull, and in a few moments, his consciousness started to fade. Soon all signs of life left Matthew, and Horace and Garret left.

The Devil Queen looked over and then shook her head softly. "I'll never understand humans..." With a flash of light, she vanished.

...