What defines a "Hero"?
His ideal?
The deed he did?
The power he has?
Or the people he saves?
The answer is all of them.
"Looks like victory is mine."
Ark, the first being who bears the title of the "Hero" falling on his knee.
Both of his hands are gone, and the wound is covered by a mysterious black liquid that stops the wound from healing.
a river of blood flows out from his wound but he still smiles albeit very faintly.
Because with his hand and his life he finally achieved his job as a Hero.
He defeats the Goddess of darkness.
"YOU!!"
The unholy scream comes from his opponent, the goddess of darkness.
Her body is black as the night and her eyes are hollow bright light like the moon.
But the middle of her body appears to be a gigantic hole that rapidly expanding
"How did it feel to be attacked by humanity's greatest blow? Must have hurt a lot doesn't it?"
Ark looks up from the ground into the goddess's eye and he smirks while watching his opponent disappear to nothingness.
With anger, the once strongest raised her hand but the hole grew too big that her hand got cut off and disappeared.
Bit by bit her body deteriorates until only the head remains.
Her eyes are wide open and her curiosity makes her ask with desperation.
"HOW? How does a human have such power?! Even if the other four gods combine their power this shouldn't be possible!!"
She knows she is the strongest! she should be!
The darkness should have reset the world to nothingness!
But her plan gets stopped by the hand of the weakest races.
Not the Mastercraft man like a Dwarf
Or a trickster like a Fairy
Or a great mage like an Elf
Not even the calamity being such as Dragon!
But by a human, a regular human with no other bloodline or hidden power.
A human that with pure conviction and determination, stole power from four gods and made it his own!
"Yeah, if It's only the four gods we probably lose but four gods and humans? That's a different story."
Ark laughs while looking at the clear blue sky.
"We are the weakest, that's why we always strive to improve and what you have witnessed is the result."
Ark smiles proudly as he leans his back to the ground.
The pain is slowly fading as does his feeling and sense.
"HEY! I give you a choice, if you combine with me you may survive!"
The goddess of darkness tries to give Ark a deal but quickly gets rejected.
"Nope. I already have too much power."
Ark closes his eyes because he no longer has the power to open them.
With that last blow, he put in everything he had.
His life, His skill, His dream, His faith.
Everything he loves, he believes in. He bet everything with the strike.
"I sense your life is fading! If you keep on waiting, we both will cease to exist! What about your reward? Don't you want to go back and claim your prize as a hero? If you absorb me you will survive!"
The goddess tries to persuade Ark to absorb her as he did with four other gods.
She knows humans like to be alive. it is common sense, but why
WHY IS THIS MAN WANTING TO DIE!
"And get corrupted by your power? No, thank you. I'm too weak for that now. You should have said that WAYYY earlier. And by the way, I remember you said I may survive, not I will, so you are lying."
He is not stupid enough to try to consume the strongest god in his current state.
If she wants him to eat her, she should have said before the battle begins.
Does she have any idea how hard it is for a human to steal god's power?
Ark shook his head, wondering why he had to die alone.
And then, he remembered the price that was paid to carry him to this point.
Once a farmer to a soldier
As a soldier to the Hero.
But the farm is long gone, as is a comrade he fought with as a soldier.
he no longer has a reason to go back.
No friends, No family, No Kingdom.
He is the strongest hero who stands at the pinnacle of all clans.
But the catch is that he stood there alone.
Other warriors that join the battle already die, all of them. leaving him as the last man alive.
What he wants now is rest.
"For a goddess of evil, you sure talk a lot after losing. Can't you just die?"
Ark said with an annoying face can his enemy just fade away faster so he can rest assured that he won?
The dark signal she omits is very disturbing for humans, it can break most humans into madness.
But for him? It makes him very annoyed.
He just wants to sleep peacefully.
"Fine then, as a goddess of darkness I congratulate you on your victory. But beware, the living without God is nothing but a savage, you that stole power from four elemental gods and killed me are the reason what the world will become after this."
The goddess, even if she was angry but with the pride of a god, accepts her defeat at last.
She closes her eyes and fades away to nothingness, leaving Ark alone peacefully on the battlefield.
"At least there is still a world to live in."
"Am I right?"
As he mumbles his last word with his last breath of life. the ground around him starting to crack open and the sea forming a storm.
The continent became his coffin and the sound of the storm became his prayer.
The legend said, for seven days and seven nights the sky around the world never stops raining and every living being can feel the earth crumbling.
And after everything stops. The continent that held the battlefield is long gone and replaced by a vast ocean.
Humanity and other races are now free to continue their civilization without fearing the end of the world.
Years and Years passed and many legends rise and fall as do the kingdom and religion.
The legend of the world's first hero has passed by so many times that it starts to become a myth.
Without anyone alive to tell the story of the last battle, his legend never has a real conclusion.
That is why after 4000 years have passed it is considered just a fairy tale.
Until now.
"Bruh!!" the baby crying out loud after getting dragged out by a doctor
"Honey look at our son, doesn't he look like you~" the mother smiles brightly while cuddling her confused son.
"All babies look the same, just wait for five more years and then I will decide." The father said coldly and left the room.
"…." The mother's mood quickly got demolished but she know what she did that why she stay quiet
"What will his name be, young miss?" the doctor wants to get out of here quick and ask the mother for her child's name on the birth certificate
"His name? I wanted his name to be…" but before she said it.
the baby screamed in pure agony.
"Ark!"
"Huh?!!"