A long time ago, when Darius was little.
A group of assassins infiltrated the capital to assassinate the king.
The job was easy due to the lousy security of the knights.
It was midnight and no one was patrolling.
The king and his mistresses were sleeping peacefully in bed when a group of men in black approached quietly.
Before they reached the door, they found a child standing guard.
They hurried to eliminate him as he might scream and arouse everyone.
As the darkness gave them camouflage, it was simple to do so, the child was illuminated by moonlight.
That's how easy the job must have been.
In the morning where the knights would have to be looking for the king's murderer.
Everyone was surprised by what they saw.
Darius was standing at the side of the door, which was covered in pieces of cut flesh and blood.
He was a six-year-old boy and had killed twelve men all by himself.
In his hands he held a small red spear.
This event would become known sometime later as the birth of the spear hero.
◇◇◇
The battle between Rei and a fired-up Darius was about to begin.
But for some reason...
"I don't like this."
Rei didn't want to fight.
Despite being pumped to defeat him.
"What are you talking about Rei?"
"That guy is a dangerous enemy, you must eliminate him as soon as possible."
Kurono told him, but Rei still had his strange feeling.
"I understand that you say he's a threat, but I don't want to kill him. I don't know why, but I don't want to."
"Hah?"
"Did a moment of reflection of life and death come to you?"
"Don't bring in a main character growth now do you want to!"
"Here I go."
While Kurono and Rei were fighting, Darius saw his chance.
He used his spear and due to the sheer size of its length, it reached Rei's perimeter in a second.
Rei was quick to notice and deflected his face from the attack.
The length of the spear was so long that it should take time for Darius to return to his position.
But that didn't happen, Darius used the length of the spear as a toy, he sent it backwards so that the tip of the weapon was in the distance of Rei's face.
He held it up after sending it backwards.
Rei activated a defensive spell.
"Barrier."
The barrier protected him, but it only lasted for a moment.
Rei stepped back and decided to attack with a fireball.
The fireball was so large that due to its density it was easy for Darius to split it in two.
After doing so he ran zigzagging at high speed.
"Are you a fox to run like that?"
Rei watched as despite running in sand, Darius' speed did not slow down.
He approached from behind him and launched a strong attack, which even with an activated barrier, Rei had to dodge it so it wouldn't pierce his heart.
It didn't end there, again it approached and started attacking Rei.
Even if Rei used teleportation, it would take a while for it to charge.
At least about ten seconds, that's enough time for a spear master like Darius to kill him.
Rei decided to find out that discomfort he felt it was.
He turned away from Darius and manifested the status window.
"Open status!"
Behind Darius' head a floating panel materialized.
Rei used another ability.
"Quick Read."
"Speed Reading" allows Rei to read anything and process it at a great speed.
Despite the fact that it carries the word "fast," the letters only appear in his head after he looks at them.
That gives him a headache and that's why he doesn't use it for studying.
As I read Darius' information while dodging his enemy's attacks, Rei saw it.
"That's it!"
The reason why that feeling of not wanting to kill Darius.
After reading it, Rei activated another skill.
"Ladder!"
From the ground grew a spiral staircase made of sand that stretched up to the sky.
Rei and Darius were lifted up, Darius stuck the spear into the sand to hold on while Rei just sat there.
After rising almost to the clouds, Rei said to him.
"I wanted to talk to you and this the only way I could make it."
Darius pulled out the spear, looked around if he had a chance to fight.
It was impossible.
"I don't know what kind of weird magic you used, but this is very cowardly."
"I told you. I want to talk to you."
"I don't have anything to talk to you about."
"Sure you do."
"After all..."
Rei said the words to him that left Darius disconnected from reality.
"You want revenge for your mother."
Darius broke out in a cold sweat.
"H-How do you know that?"
Rei answered him without a lie.
"I have a magical ability that allows me to read people's status."
"Status... you say?"
"This status lets me know all of someone's private information."
"That's called being a stalker."
"..."
"Back on topic."
Rei ignored that he was qualified as a stalker if anyone knew about this ability.
"I saw how you loved your mother, but the prejudices of the people of your country took her away from you."
"Your mother was killed by the people you protect."
Darius lowered his gaze, clenched his fists and confessed everything.
"It is as you say..."
"My mother was killed on my own father's orders."
Darius related his past.
"My hair and eyes are of a special ethnicity that inhabits these lands. Because they were killed for the lands their numbers were less and less."
"They came to this country under asylum, doors were opened for them and they were given jobs. But the real problem is how hellish life is and how the citizens treat them."
"They treat them like garbage, they even beat and spit in their food."
"My mother was a maid, my father abused her and brought me into this world with love."
"When I turned six, I listened as my father the king shouted at her that it was unforgivable that she gave me life."
"His pure blood mingled with hers, and I was born."
"My father ordered my mother killed that morning."
"I saw her... pleading for me... begging to be spared at least my life..."
Darius' teeth bled from the force with which they were clenched.
"They tortured her before killing her, due to the king being tired they postponed my execution to the next day."
"They locked me in my room where I lived with my mother."
"There among her things I found this spear, according to what an old man told me some time later. This spear is a weapon that reacts to the blood of its bearer, namely mine and my mother's."
"It can change its size at will and also wound in a vital area which it marks since you mention its name."
(That's why your spear always seemed to want to cut off my head or pierce my heart.)
Rei thought after hearing that.
Darius calmed down and finished his story.
"I escaped that night and went to kill the king, the security was lousy. I ran into some criminals and killed them due to the anger I felt."
"I found out the next morning after reacting that they were assassins."
"The king noticed that and appointed me as a prince, to use me for his security."
Darius lifted his face and looked at Rei with blazing eyes.
"I want to destroy the royal family, I want to destroy this country. But here live the people who are just like my mother, looking for a life to live quietly."
"That's why, I want to change this country, I tried to tell my older brothers to help me in exchange for helping them. But they are such idiots that they don't see beyond their noses."
"... How pathetic I am. Telling my enemy my life as if that makes a difference."
Darius focused his gaze back on Rei.
Which was ignoring him.
"Guh. Damn idiot, even the children's story they read me wasn't as heartbreaking as this."
"I'm not crying, sand got in my eyes!"
Darius was taken aback.
After Rei wiped "the sand" out of his eyes he turned to look at him.
"Good! I decided."
He pointed at Darius.
"I'll help you."
"Hah?"
For the first time in his serious life, Darius showed an idiotic expression.
"I'll help you get your country back so you can get your revenge."
"That way I'll get Norden to be an ally of the kingdom."
"We take over Gabino under the excuse that they are traitors."
"And so Sasha will fall at my feet, I'm a great genius. hahahaha!"
As if he was a classic villain telling his plans.
Rei's ego inflated.
Darius couldn't believe his ears.
"This guy... he's an irrational idiot."
◇◇◇
"What's going on up there?"
Tubalcain wondered due to the fact that Darius and Rei were at the top a while ago.
He was starting to get exasperated everyone.
A soldier said to him.
"Your Highness. Shouldn't we attack?"
"Even our enemies have a look on their faces wondering what to do."
Tubalcain became angry.
"Agh. It's really annoying this."
"Fine. We'll attack now."
As Tubalcain was about to dictate the attack order, the ladder descended.
Everyone could see Rei and Darius coming down.
Tubalcain asked, "Why didn't you kill him?" In response to that question, Darius pointed his weapon at his face.
"We came to an agreement after much talking. It hurt my head to understand this guy, but I found that we can dialogue without any problems."
"Rei-dono, do you agree with what we talked about?"
"Rei-dono? Just call me Rei, it's rare to be called with honorifics."
"Sounds good to me, you'll take care of that guy and I'll take care of the other problem."
"...!"
Tubalcain couldn't understand the meaning of this betrayal.
But he didn't care.
"You... I gave you my hand and you betray me..."
"It doesn't matter. Anyway, you are no threat to my plan."
"Soldiers! Kill the traitor and then the invading forces of the kingdom!"
The shouts of the soldiers indicated that the war was about to begin.
"It is useless. They're all in my range."
In a swift moment, Darius used his spear which sought the heart of the enemies, in less than ten seconds he finished off thirty enemies by himself.
"... How is that possible?"
The desert prince wondered as he saw what happened.
Darius pointed his spear at him.
"I challenge you to a duel. Prince Tubalcain."
"You and me in a fight to the death. Winner takes all, you get Norden and I get Gabino to help us."
Tubalcain's mind went blank for a moment.
He smiled sinisterly and said.
"What a fool you are. Are you serious?"
"That's fine with me. I can't lose after all."
"No one intervene!"
Tubalcain drew his sword and pointed it at Darius.
"This weapon is unique in this country, it's been a long time since I've used it, so let me have some fun with it."
The moment he said that, the sword broke.
Or so everyone thought.
What happened was that, due to the magic power, the sword made especially for Gabino's royal family with alchemy, could be turned into a whip.
Tubalcain used the sword that turned into a whip to attack at long or short distance as he pleased.
It was a simple and easy method to use but it took a lot of practice.
But it was not the only one.
Thanks to Darius' spear, the sword that moved like a snake could not touch him.
Darius used the spear as a shield to repel the attacks.
Tubalcain could not believe it. But he didn't care, he kept attacking wildly to defeat him.
Darius broke through Tubalcain's defense and got close to his face.
"This is the best you can do? Even Rei-dono was a better opponent than you."
◇
After convincing Darius to be our ally, and before Rei returned the sand to normally, he noticed something strange.
"What is that?"
In the distance Rei saw a storm approaching.
It didn't appear to be a sandstorm, but a stampede.
Something was running at high speed towards Norden.
The place they were coming from was where Markus said an enemy camp of the empire was.
I said to Rei.
"Rei. It's possible that's something bad, go see what it is."
"Don't give me orders. I know."
"...?"
Darius didn't understand why Rei told him that.
No one could do that since he can't hear me, only Rei.
I always wondered why that was possible.
I never found the answer.
But it doesn't matter.
"Rei, let's go quickly."
I told him that and then we descended.
Darius was going to defeat Tubalcain while we go to see that.
He quickly told Markus that Darius was not an enemy.
I hope he believed him.
Being a few meters away from arriving, we saw some strange silhouettes.
"What the hell is that!"
I shouted, Rei backed me up on it.
Some deformed monster-like creatures were running at high speed.
They stopped as they saw Rei descended.
There were ten of them.
I was disgusted by their appearance.
One had a giant right arm, another was very thin showing its bones.
His left arm looked like razors with fused whips.
Another one disgusted me more, he had an upside down head, thin body and his right arm was too long, curved and red.
The only one that looked decent and normal was the middle one.
He was six feet tall and well-muscled, he didn't look like a mutant like the others.
"Captain Jerome, how did that guy fall out of the sky?"
"I don't know."
One of them turned to the one in the middle.
"Never mind. Take him out."
"Even if he's a civilian?"
"He saw us. This chimera team is secret and no one must know of its existence."
"Chimeras he said!"
I was shocked to hear that it was a chimera.
That is, it's a living being... even if it's artificial.
Therefore...
"Sorry kid. But you got in the wrong place."
It's a flesh and blood body!
The guy in the middle jumped up and from his back came out a large, deformed hand, which appreciates a falcon's claw with five fingers.
I was about to catch Rei, but I told him this.
"Rei, this is a divine order."
"Capture the one in the center alive and eliminate the others!"
"... Huh? Why do you want me to leave one alive?"
"Just do as I command! Please."
"Fine, fine. You sound like Rose ordering me things."
Rei raised her hand and used an ability.
"Freeze Area."
Both the guy who jumped and the others were frozen in their personal space.
I mean, like it was an ability to stop time like in the adult sleeves my dad had hidden and checked him out.
"Why... I... can't... move?"
Said the guy in the middle.
"Rei. Get it over with quickly."
"Yeah, yeah."
"Smash."
Rei activated another ability and then as if gravity fell on him, the guy who was about to attack him was shattered by gravity.
Being just a bloodstain.
The same thing happened to the others.
Red spots were on the ground.
When the leader was left alone I asked myself.
(How can I defeat him without killing him?)
It was simple indeed, I will create a new cheat skill.
"Rei say this..."
"... Ok."
Before Rei says it.
"... Who are you?"
Said in a trembling voice the leader of the chimeras.
"Reidel Redblade of the Brune Kingdom."
"Don't tell him your name you idiot!"
"Well, it's not like he'll make it out alive this guy after what I'll do to him."
"Now Rei."
"Knock out."
At that moment, a green light manifested and the chimera's yellow eyes rolled back.
"There. Now what do we do?"
"Keep it in your treasure space."
"Huhh~. I don't want to, it would touch my stuff and it looks repulsive."
"I said put it away Rei! That's an order."
(Wait. Why does this feel similar to a parent telling a child to eat vegetables?)
(Is my bond with Rei that we see each other as a father and his son?)
That would be very repulsive. I'd better delete it.
"Okay, okay."
Rei opened a hole in the air and put the chimera's body in there.
Now that this was settled, we'll go see Darius.
◇◇◇
At the republic's secret camp, located near Norden.
Platoon captain Jerome pounded the table in fury.
"What the hell was that!"
He was so angry that he cut his hand on a glass.
"This didn't have to happen!"
"We had to interrupt in Norden and Gabino's fight to secure a trade route for our country."
"Now not only did we lose the advantage of accomplishing that, we also lost the chimeras."
His eyes filled with blood as well.
"I hate you so much, Reidel Redblade from Brune!"
◇◇◇
Tubalcain was in a predicament.
Only five minutes had passed since the duel began.
But he was severely wounded.
Tubalcain was trained in every possible way.
Therefore, this was inconceivable.
In the game he was a cunning man who achieved every victory by using his head.
But that reason was because, by means of the plot, he was supposed to win so that the protagonist would learn from his defeat and thus defeat him in the end.
As that never happened, Tubalcain learned that his destiny was always to lose.
As he could not resist any longer he said.
"Soldiers! Finish this guy off!"
He shouted that and went straight to a horse.
Mounting it he ran out of there.
Darius sighed.
"I thought he was an opponent, you were just a fool."
The soldiers were approaching, Darius watched as Markus and the others made sure they didn't touch him on Rei's orders.
Again he sighed and prepared to launch his final attack.
"You tasted his blood. You have him marked."
The red spear began to glow brightly.
"Go, devourer of life and snatcher of it. Pierce my enemy's heart with your sharp sting."
"Spear of painful death: Gáe Bolg!"
Like an Olympian throwing a javelin, the red spear streaked through the skies like a missile.
In less than ten seconds it reached close to its target.
The spear sharpened further, like a needle.
In a single moment it pierced Tubalcain's heart.
"Gah!"
He fell to the ground and the spear only embedded itself further.
"I... the fourth prince of Gabino... I can't die─"
Those were his last words before his consciousness shut down forever.
The soldiers were in a panic.
Their commander and prince had died.
No one could command them now.
"Soldiers of Gabino, listen up!"
"Your commander died, therefore you must surrender. The kingdom will not hurt you if you do nothing."
Perhaps out of panic, the soldiers threw their weapons to the ground.
Markus wanted to ask Darius a few questions, but at that moment Rei arrived bringing Tubalcain's body.
"You really killed him from so far away."
"More important than that, did you finish your business?"
"Yes. Now it's time for the second part of the deal."
Rei smiled wickedly.
"Take Gabino and Norden in full."