[GAME OVER]
[CONTINUE? YES/ NO]
[YES]
Previously on GobboSekai:
The Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub was victorious against his longtime opponent and former ally Vi, but the victory rang hollow in his ancient, melancholic soul. Too sudden and random to be a proper triumph.
His game was a disaster, he tried to add in the details that would make it interesting for all involved, but it had quickly become a convoluted mess only he could properly understand, and the outcome was nothing but pure chance, a complete farce of a game.
The rogue goblin Fiffil was lost in the void as the game board collapsed, and it seemed all hope was lost.
-
The war between the allied kingdoms and the monsters led by the Demon Lord had raged on for thousands of years, and the king of the shadows had grown weary. When the Demon Lord’s armies raised the white flag and retreated, the allied forces couldn’t be more dumbfounded.
And when the Demon Lord invited his former enemies to his castle deep within the Vermilion Mountains, few believed his sincerity. But even though it seemed an obvious trap, the banquet was still held, with only the bravest of adventurers choosing to attend the event.
The first to arrive was the hero who feared nothing, the legendary Cobalt Knight Siegfried, the cursed sword The Everlasting Inferno, Incindra hanging off his belt. The Adventurer was greeted by a horrific creature, an unholy mixture of a human girl and a spider, dressed in a white and red maid’s dress.
“Welcome to Castle Tartarus, on behalf of the Master, allow me to show you to the dining hall.” The spider-woman bowed to the knight, who didn’t show any sign of fear in the face of such a creature. “I am Akki, and I have been instructed to tend to the guests' needs during this feast, so if you need anything, please ask it of me.”
He was led through the gothic castle to a large room full of round tables and chairs, with a variety of fruit, bread and other foods prepared on each table. He took a seat in the corner, then placed his sword on the chair next to him.
With a burst of flame, the elemental spirit trapped within his blade emerged, the Djinn of flames with the same name as his cursed sword, Incindra. Her body’s flames were not hot, and the wooden chair below her did not catch fire from them as she took a piece of well cooked, crusty bread from the table and bit into it.
The spider-maid bowed and left to return to the entrance hall, leaving the adventurer and the flame elemental alone. Shortly afterwards, the maid returned with three more guests. A human male swordsman, a female elf with a longbow, and a lizardman with a heavy axe.
“Please, relax, once all of the guests arrive the Master shall come down, and the feast will begin.” Akki bowed to the trio, who looked around and saw the already arrived Cobalt Knight and his supernatural companion.
“Sit down or stop staring, I’m just an adventurer like you.” Siegfried grumbled, biting into a green apple without any concern it might be poisoned. “My reputation isn’t deserved, all I did was cut up some fuckin goblins, I’m nobody special.”
“B-But that’s not true, you stopped the invasion of the Goblin King, Mikk’al the Titan!” the elven woman protested, but the knight shook his head.
“He was pretty tall for a goblin I guess… four foot eight maybe?” Siegfried sighed, putting the apple down on the table. “Really, it wasn’t that impressive, just a few hundred cave rats who got cocky. Anyways, you know who I am, but I don’t know you three.”
“Tyrael.” the young looking elven woman replied, taking a seat across from the legend. “This is Akira and Gox.”
As she pointed to her companions in turn, they bowed their heads to the legendary knight, then sat down next to her, one on each side.
A wild looking man walked into the room, his messy short brown hair and fang-like teeth gave him a beastial look. Behind him followed a thinner man with long, silky smooth black hair and a face framed with a small pair of glasses, who brushed some snow off his cloak. The third to enter was an extremely pale woman in purple and black robes with a matching oversized wide brimmed hat, on her shoulder sat a fairy, who was happily chatting away with the spider-maid.
The four sat down at a different table, too involved with themselves to care about the other table. Several hours passed, and even though they held separate conversations, the two groups easily picked up on the other groups names. The second table, in order of appearance in the room were the beastkin Griffin, the human Vardon, the albino sorceress Vi, and Liza the fairy, with them for moral support more than anything else.
The day dragged on, and no other guests arrived. The adventurers waited, but the host of the party did not arrive. The maid spider Akki returned, bowed to them, and apologized profusely.
“I am extremely sorry, but the Master is waiting for one final guest to arrive.” she said, signaling for a mantis-like servant to come in, carrying a large bottle of red wine and many glasses on a tray. “Please, accept this token of the Master’s apologies, it shouldn’t take much longer.”
While the banquet room had a large fireplace, the room still grew colder as the sun set and the snowstorm outside grew more furious. The two separate groups of heroes ended up moving closer to the hearth and began to talk amongst themselves. Crafting theories as to why the Demon Lord had suddenly surrendered or what the true purpose of the feast was.
“If ya ask me, I think he got scared.” Griffin boasted, downing an entire glass of the ancient, priceless wine. “He knew sooner or later he’d lose, we were gaining ground on his armies every day. So why not give up, try and strike a truce with the humans, ya know?”
“Yeah, with such strong adventurers like us, there was no way any Demon Lord stood a chance!” the young swordsman Akira, affected strongly by the drink, stood up and drew his sword, pointing it to the ceiling. “The great Akira, hero from another world and his loyal companions… our legendary feats surely made the big bad demon king scurry away like a frightened mouse!”
“I think I’m starting to like ya, kid!” Griffin hopped up and threw one of his massive, muscular arms around the much smaller man. “You and I, we’re cut from the same cloth!”
“Akira… that name is strange, but...” Vi looked at the boy, her pale face flushed red from only a few sips of the alcohol. “But it is also oddly familiar… have we met before?”
“Hmm, your face doesn’t strike me as a stranger’s, but I don’t remember ever meeting you.” he replied, staring at her pale, pigmentless skin. “And you seem like someone who would be hard to forget.”
Suddenly, one of the doors to the room slammed open, and a new figure walked in. A very short, cloaked silhouette staggered into the room, covered heavily in snow and ice. They walked forward on unsteady feet, nearly falling over twice, before tripping and landing face first on the red velvet carpet before the fireplace.
From the stairwell at the far end of the room, footsteps began to echo off the stone steps as someone descended from the upper level of the castle. At the same time, the spider-maid Akki returned, bowed, and several other servants followed with trays filled with food. Roast pigs, extravagant meat pies, thick stews… enough food for a hundred people was brought forth and laid out, and the maid addressed the group.
“The final guest has arrived, please rise from your seats for his Majesty, the Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub.”
From the stairwell emerged a man, or at least a being in the shape of a man. His long black hair flowed over a bright red silken robe. Two obsidian horns extended from the sides of his temple and curved upward. His eyes were white and milky, like one who had long gone blind, and his frame was thin and delicate. The adventurers couldn’t believe it, this was the Demon Lord? He looked incredibly weak, as vulnerable as a newborn calf.
“I’m so glad you all could make it to this humble party of mine.” he spoke, his voice conveying no emotion at all. “Now then, shall we indulge ourselves a little?”
The feast began.
I’m glad you’re back but I’m so confused
Everyone is perfectly fine now and they'll all live long and happy lives together, after all the previous events were merely a game...