Calydonia wept for their fallen hero, their tears fell like rain. Seven days after gaining their final hero he was taken from this world. For the next month, all of Calydonia mourned Hikari. A statue was erected in Hikaris' honor. It depicted Hikari's fight with that devil in all of its glory. From first-hand accounts of people who'd witnessed the battle and survived, the story of Hikari's valiance made its way through the capital. There wasn't a single person who didn't show up to Hikari's funeral, even if there was no physical body to bury.
Oddly enough, it didn't rain at his funeral. The sun shone brightly, and as tradition required, everyone wore white. All twelve of the remaining heroes gathered in one place and honored Hikari. Tiki was the most emotional of the twelve there. She cried for Hikari alongside Rona, Maria, and Silvia. Hikari's Uncle Damyn (the doctor from chapter one) came to honor his nephew's passing. Although he did not know Hikari well, he was still his Uncle. His heart felt for the death of his blood, and so he came to his sister's side to try and comfort her bleeding heart. He did everything he could to comfort his sister, but how could he console the grieving heart of a mother who had just lost her son?
Elena did not come to Hikari's funeral. Elena had gone missing, she was like a ghost in the wind. The only trace of her left in the capital was a letter left for her daughter and the king. A note of apology and betrayal to the crown. Elena had discarded her position as a captain of the Royal Guard to leave for the Dark Lands, the country of Demons. Elena felt she had betrayed her country and needed to die as penance for her crimes so she decided to go to the one place that could give her death, and if the demons did not, the bounty hunters and assassins chasing her would. She left her home to her daughter and went on the run.
Agnimitra continues to look over the battlefield between Hikari & whatever that thing was. She had made an enemy of Hikari, but couldn't believe he was dead. She didn't understand why she couldn't let go. She just had a feeling that he wasn't dead, just gone. She hated him, they hated each other, but through this hatred, she had created a bond that didn't want to accept that he was dead.
I bet you thought Hikari must be dead, right? Well, he is, kind of. See, His body is gone, dead, reduced to atoms, but his soul is still alive. Let's reconvene with Hikari real quick.
When Hikari opens his eyes, he's inside the Infinite Azure. Hikari pats all over his body to see if he's all there. The last thing Hikari remembers is the pain of his body being torn apart, cell by cell, atom by atom. Hikari slowly gets up and sees Arcadia sitting on her throne, but something is different. Now that he thinks about it, the Infinite Azures' sky is less bright, and the water is murky.
"Arcadia, are you ok? You look tired, very tired." Hikari says quietly. "Thanks for noticing kid. You're the reason I look like this. You just had to go and get yourself killed. And now I'm dying." Arcadia says tiredly, but her voice still carries some attitude. Hikari takes a step back in shock. "Wait, you're dying! How? Is that even possible?" Hikari exclaims loudly. "Aren't you just a sentient weapon or something?" He asks. Arcadia chuckles weakly. "You don't know what the Infinite Azure is, do you? I guess that's expected of you. Most don't remember who or what I am. Well, get ready kid."
Arcadia gets out of her seat and slowly walks over to Hikari. At times she'd stumble and catch herself, and now that Hikari paid more attention to her, her skin was dull and cracked. Flakes of her skin would fall into the murky water below with every strained step she took toward Hikari. However, even in such a feeble state, there was a certain level of grandeur and respect that Arcadia's very being commanded.
"Hikari, I am not just some sentient sword. I'm something so much more. Your ancestors called me a god. I have many titles. I am Arcadia, the First Human. I am Arcadia, Progenitor of the Stars. First of the royal line, the first of the immortals, and the first Sacred Gift in human history. In the first age of magic after centuries of rule, I had surpassed my humanity and chose to have my soul bound to this blade forged from Mithril. However, it would seem that all of that is meaningless now. The annals of history have forgotten me." Tears welled in her eyes. "My lineage doesn't even remember my name. My people do not remember my name. To make things even worse, my power wanes. I've only been growing weaker as time continues, and I can barely reshape your body from oblivion."
"In my prime, life and death were nothing before me. I could resurrect my armies from death in true life. I was a god in mortal flesh, but then-" Arcadia gets cut short as her calves crumble to dust under her. She falls to the ground, and her face hits the water. She breathes weakly and looks up at Hikari. Hikari runs over to her and holds Arcadia in his arms. She holds Hikari tightly as large cracks form across her face. "Arcadia, what's going to happen to you now? Are you going to be ok?" Hikari asks worriedly, his voice trembling. Even as he asked this, he knew what was happening. Arcadia looked at him and said, "Well, if I'm like this that means your body is finished developing in the real world. After this place crumbles into nothing, you'll be sent back to your body. As for me, I'll go to sleep. I've used almost every drop of power I have left to bring you back from the dead. All I have left is enough to exist." As the Infinite Azure starts to crumble around them, Arcadia says, "I won't be gone forever, Hikari. But I'll need your help to come back. Destroy every dark creature you come across. If I can absorb enough of their essence, I might be able to rebuild myself."
Hikari nods his head quickly in agreement as tears run down his face. The rest of her body slowly crumbles away. Before she disappears, she says, "One last thing, Hikari. Please don't forget about me." With those final words leaving her mouth, her head crumbles into dust.
Hikari wakes up in a cave. He looks around him and is confused by his surroundings. Although he questions why he is in a cave, he notices the infinite azure and slowly gets up to grab it. When Hikari grabs the sword, it doesn't glow in response to his touch, and everything floods back into his mind. Every. Single. Last. Memory.
Hikari's eyes begin to water as rage builds up inside him unlike anything before. It was a rage directed at everything around him. Why did bad things keep happening to him? First, his town was ravaged and destroyed by demons destroying everything he'd ever known. Then his father died saving him from the same person that annihilated his home. After that, he worked his body to its limits training, only to die an agonizing and brutal death. Even when returning from death, he watches his mentor's soul crumble to dust in his arms.
Many thoughts ran through his mind, but the one that kept recurring the most was revenge. Revenge against all demonkind. His town was destroyed by demons. His community was destroyed by Demons. Demons killed his father. That thing that killed him was probably some form of Demon. As Hikari continued to think, the deeper he delved into madness, drawing wild conclusions to justify his hatred. The anger and rage that was once directed at everything now had a target, Demons. He would kill every single Demon in the world. He would eradicate them all and rid the world of their filth once and for all. That way, no one would ever need to go through what he did.
Hikari wiped his tears away as he was filled with new resolve. He got up and began to wander until he heard a few voices. One of the voices sounded older but kind and the other voice was soft and feminine. He slowly followed the voices until he made it to the mouth of the cave and looked outside, but what he saw made his blood boil. It was two demons standing right in front of him. Just casually talking to each other and setting up a camp for the day. Hikari hid in the cave a little longer as he listened to what they were saying.
"Sympha, you gotta pay attention to this kind of thing, kid. I know that times have changed a little, but it's important to know how to survive in the outdoors." The older dark elf said to the girl. He put his hand on his hip and started walking toward her. The girl was dark-skinned with curly hair. Her hair was only long enough to fall to the base of her neck, and her face was thin. Her horns curved to the front of her head and were obsidian black. She had a skinny build and was about 5'7" in height. She was leaning against the tree as her father approached her. "Dad, you know I hate this kind of thing. I haven't been interested in camping since I was a kid. Can't we just head home?" Sympha whines. "Nuh uh, kiddo. We made a deal, and you can't worm your way out of it. We're staying here for the night-" The Infinite Azure splits open the man's skull and splatters blood all over the girl.
As the sword stabs the man, his body shrinks and becomes shriveled. Hikari grabs the hilt of his sword and yanks the dark elf's spine out of his neck by ripping his head off. Sympha screams as she falls to the ground. She tries to back away from Hikari, but it's no use. Hikari reaches down and grabs the girl by her neck. He slowly begins squeezing her neck. While he squeezes her neck, he heats his body to ludicrous temperatures. The intense heat causes the girl to thrash around in his hand as he slowly cooks her.
By this point, her skin starts to burn, and she starts crying for mercy. Hikari doesn't care. He is beyond words like mercy now. Before he can snap her neck, she cries out for her daddy. She cries as a small girl would. As slim of a chance this has of working, it appeals to Hikari's humanity. Enraged, Hikari throws Sympha against the tree, shattering it. If that girl had been a human, she would've become a blood stain on the tree bark.
"You, where do you think you get off crying for your father? Your kind is a plague upon this world!" He shouts at the girl spittle flying from his mouth. All that did was make Sympha curl into a ball and cry even harder. This enraged Hikari even further. How could it act as if it were a victim? How DARE she act like she were a victim. "If you don't shut up, I will shove your leg down your throat and impale you on a stick the long way. I'll fucking do it. You know I will." Hikari shouts at her. The girl brings her cries down to mere sniffling. He takes a long look around him, and nothing looks familiar. The mountains in the distance look different. The trees are a dark color, and their leaves are red. Hikari walks to the curled-up girl and grabs her by her chin, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Where am I? What country am I in?" He asks impatiently. "This is what you would call the dark country!" Sympha says quickly. Hikari looks around him taking in all his surroundings.
He takes in a deep breath and sits on the ground. The girl gets up to run away before Hikari tells her to sit down. "What is your name demon? What should I call you?" Hikari says firmly without looking at her. "My name is Sympha, a-and I'm a dark elf, not a demon." The dark elf girl says softly while sniffling.
"It doesn't matter what you are or how you identify, just know that today is your lucky day. You get to live"
"I get to live!"
"Yes, but you will accompany me through this rotten land. You will guide me through this disgusting place to each…"Dark Elf" settlement so that I can purge it off the face of the planet"
Sympha's heart falls into her stomach as she realizes what's about to happen. What this boy was asking from her was insanity, he was asking her to betray her people. To lead them to the slaughter. Whoever this human was, he was sick in the head if he thought she would comply with his request. Well, right now, Hikari is very sick in the head.
"I…I-"
"Now just know that if you turn down my request, if you attempt to betray me, I will slowly cook you from the inside out. I'll flay your flesh, wear your skin as a cloak, and wear your horns as a crown. Do. Not. Test. Me."
The girl goes cold with terror and crawls backward. Her breath comes quicker the longer that they sit there in silence. Sympha had a simple yet deadly choice. She could either die a slow and terrible death by this monster in human skin or sacrifice her people to this walking catastrophe. Maybe it was cowardice or maybe it was a survival instinct, but she agreed to his terms.
"I'll…take you to nearby settlements. I will accompany you…what is your name?"
"You do not need to know that Sympha. However, you can call me, Light. Now start walking. We have places to be. Creatures to burn."
The girl gets up and starts to walk north toward her village with Hikari close behind. Before going over the hill, she looks back at her father's corpse. A dry husk that slowly begins to disintegrate in the wind. This was her life now.