It was raining. The outside of the castle was covered in bodies. Some humans were fighting demons, and it took at least eight humans to fight a demon on equal footing. Neither elves nor dwarves could match demons in combat. The beastfolk could almost reach a demon's level, but they were still weak, far too weak.
Inside the royal hall, two men faced each other. One wore heavy armor, golden and filled with crystal adornments. The crystals served to enhance the strength of whoever wore the armor. The other man was a demon, stronger than the rest. He had two large horns and ears similar to those of elves. He wore no armor. The red clothing he wore seemed as resilient as armor, even though it was made of red silk fabric.
"You are better than I thought, hero," the demon said to the armored man.
The man laughed, but said nothing.
A woman entered the hall. She wore a long red dress, and her full breasts drew the hero's attention. He could not contain his carnal desires.
The demon simply watched the hero. He stopped all attacks and asked the woman to stop using seduction magic. That way, both of them could fight on equal terms.
A girl who looked no older than ten entered the hall. She wore clothes similar to a butler's uniform and quietly observed the two of them. After that, a thin man entered. He wore glasses and a white mantle with golden details.
Finally, a woman entered. She had pale skin, as if she were dead. Her eyes looked lifeless. She wore a black dress, and the hero's eyes were drawn to her breasts. She stopped using seduction magic as soon as she noticed the demon's gaze.
"Let us continue the fight," the demon said.
The hero's attacks did not seem to cause any damage. The demon was fast. He was not attacking, only evaluating the movements and dodging them. It was as if he did not want to fight, or was simply studying his opponent.
The hero was exhausted. He could no longer maintain fast movements. The demon did not seem tired at all. He was laughing.
The hero grew angry and began to accumulate mana. He made a prayer. The demon allowed him to pray without interruption. The four demons were curious about it.
"I ask that the four of you leave this place. I do not wish to harm any of you," the hero said.
"Very noble of you, but if the Demon Lord dies, we must die with him," the pale woman said.
The hero continued. He unleashed an attack that destroyed the entire castle. The blow was strong enough to annihilate everything, except the Demon Lord.
The hero began to laugh when he realized that the Demon Lord's right hand had pierced his abdomen.
"You fought bravely. It would be a mistake not to recognize you as the Great Hero, but I failed." He paused as he wiped a drop of blood from his face. "This blood is not yours. You managed to wound me. As promised, I will grant you the peace you desire. I hope you can make good use of the time you asked for to plan a victory."
The Demon Lord approached the four generals.
"Die together, yet you used a barrier," he said, looking at the ten year old girl. "Heal that man."
The girl ran to the hero and used healing magic on him. After some time, the hero woke up.
"As promised, until a thousand years from now," the Demon Lord said as he snapped his fingers.
A staircase emerged from the ground. It led to the Inverted Tower, the true castle of the Demon Lord.
The girl used magic, and all the demon soldiers were resurrected. They entered the tower first. It was a grand march of thousands of demons.
A woman approached the hero. She was human. The woman looked at the Demon Lord. He merely smiled and entered the tower with the generals.
"What does he intend to do?"
"He gave us a thousand years to grow stronger. He will return and try to conquer our continent."
"You were very kind to him, don't you think?" the pale woman said.
"You should put yourself in his place," the girl said.
"No, you do not need to speak to her like that. It would be boring. Our advantage was obvious. I feel no desire to conquer anything without effort," he said as he gently stroked the girl's head. The woman with the full breasts watched with envy.
"A thousand years is a long time. Do you think they will manage to at least reach our level?"
"I do not know. Maybe they will achieve something, or maybe not."
"Still, if you allow me to speak, I consider it a poor decision. They destroyed our continent, and now we granted them peace."
"You should not disagree with his orders."
"No, it is fine. I allow you to say everything you think. I agree, but I made a wrong decision in accepting the Hero's wager. Now all that remains is to accept it and keep my word."
The Inverted Tower had eight floors. Each floor was guarded by a general. In case of an invasion, all soldiers could defend any of the floors, as could the generals. The division was purely hierarchical. However, in all training exercises, only the general of the floor would defend it.
The count was made from the top floor down to the deepest one. In addition, the Tower was larger than it appeared. Everything was maintained by ancient magic from Miko.