In a luxurious-looking room, a young man tossed and turned on the bed he laid on, reliving a nightmare he always dreamt of.
He saw the same laughing faces of strangers surrounded by fire. He felt immense pain all over his body while a beautiful women smiled at him with contempt, only for her face to morph into something demonic as she lunged at him.
"AHHH!!!!" The young man woke up suddenly and looked around his room.
Nothing was out of the ordinary so he flopped back down on the bed with a sigh.
"Fucking bitch really messed me up." He mumbled to himself thinking of the woman from his nightmare.
The one he used to love, and the one who betrayed his trust.
'We don't need a hero anymore.' The last words that woman ever spoke to him echoed in his mind as he unconsciously turned to his left where a locked chest was right under the window of his room.
He continued staring at it for a bit, reliving his old life, but less dramatic.
He was Lloyd. He had forgotten his last name over the years as well as a lot of memories from the time when he first showed up in this world. He was born on a planet called earth, when one day, he found himself in the hall of a castle, talking to nobles and a king about vanquishing a Demon King that terrorized the lands.
It was a classic Isekai scenario, one that was very cringe-worthy now that he thought back on it since it was full of so many clichés. He was overwhelmingly strong, could use Lightning magic, and had a harem of girls to fight with on the frontlines.
The Princess of the kingdom was even his betrothed!
He was living the life, and even when it seemed like he would almost die during his push back against the demon army, he would always make a comeback stronger than before. As a teen, he certainly said some embarrassing catchphrases or one-liners from animes and mangas while in the middle of battle.
Lloyd skipped over those as he relished in the joy of being able to slay the Demon King after a decade of fighting. He hadn't looked any older than he did when he first arrived, but he was a much more mature.
Except he wasn't mature enough.
When his harem came back with the Demon King's head in hand, he was given a grand banquet not only to celebrate the victory, but to prepare for his wedding with his fiancé, Princess Rosette, or Rose, as he often called her.
The night before their wedding, she talked to him on the terrace that looked over their beautiful kingdom. They drank the finest wine in all the land while they spoke of their future together, as husband and wife, and the future king and queen of the kingdom.
All was well until his stomach wasn't.
He suddenly collapsed, and looked at his love in confusion, who was only looking down on him like he was a peasant. She started going into a long villainous monologue that he couldn't remember jack shit about since he was too shocked by the betrayal.
He had so many questions and the only answer he got was that he was too naïve for this world.
After that with his magic sealed, he was beaten up to the brink of death by guards, commoners, and even the king himself, before being thrown onto the stake and burned alive.
Even when he was screaming, and surrounded by the curses of others, he could still hear those words clearly from the mouth of his betrayer.
"Now that the Demon King is dead, who can stop the Teval Kingdom, the one who slew the creature of darkness, from conquering the rest of the world? It was decided long ago that if your quest was successful, you would be the first to go.
"You are the only one dangerous enough to stop our ambitions, and with that weak will of yours, you surely would have tried to stop us. That is why father asked me to marry you, and butter you up for the roast.
"How could any woman ever love a child like you? You obediently follow every order you're given and then wag your tail waiting for praise. It sickens me.
"Thank you for being the hero, but we don't need a hero anymore."
After cursing them out one last time, he decided to go out with a bang as he literally extinguished his mana core to make himself explode, he took down a huge chunk of that square with it, killing hundreds, even the king supposedly.
He wasn't exactly sure himself since he died, but he found out later on when he was suddenly brought back to life by the Gods. He was confused and frustrated since he was tired of this world.
They didn't even bother to send him somewhere else, only dropping him in the forest just outside of the Teval Kingdom he hated so much. Ignoring the message from the Gods he got about why he was given a second chance, he took for the hills to live the life of a hermit.
He realized that although he really wanted revenge, he was just too tired of war and misery. A revenge story would have been nice, but then what? What would he do after that? Kill himself again?
It wasn't like he had anything tying him to this world anymore. He felt he would never love or trust again so why was he here? He didn't want his entire existence to only be about betrayal, anger, and revenge, he wanted to do something with his life.
With that new ideology, he hid himself away from the world to learn about his magic, and the mana of this world.
As he was accused of 'treason' which got him on the burning stake, their reasoning was because his magic was the "work of demons," and "not the holy light of the Gods."
His lightning magic was blue, but he knew from his old earth knowledge that lighting could generally show up as many different colors depending on the weather. The mana here made those rules disappear, but it was still the same general principle since other lightning users also had different colors like white, yellow, and even rare colors like purple and green.
Unfortunately, the church of this world was very fanatical and used their power to excommunicate him, even though he was never baptized.
It then became a slaughter as all lightning users who didn't have white or yellow colorings to their magic were executed as workers of the Demon King. It was also around this time that he was on the chopping block and realized that there was a more sinister evil at play.
During his long isolation in the mountains, he would take short trips to the Teval kingdom and neighboring ones to blend in and hear the latest gossip. There, he was able to find out that the Princess had survived, and took over the Teval Kingdom, and invaded several neighboring kingdoms to expand her own.
She was revered as a Goddess and had the undying loyalty of her people. It felt all too fishy so Lloyd decided to find out more into her background, only to get more than he bargained for.
She was in fact, a Demon! And not just any old demon, a Succubus, whose magic had incredible potential and she used it to brainwash the entire kingdom.
He didn't even need to know any more info on her to know she was the one behind everything. It wasn't the king or the nobles, it was her. Since everyone was already dancing in the palm of her hands.
He realized he was her puppet too, and he felt a massive weight lifted off his shoulders when he was reborn again.
He decided that although he didn't want his existence to be all about revenge, he would still watch her movements and wait for a good time to strike. In the meantime, he dedicated his life to research, and also saving lightning users who were persecuted.
It was kind of his fault, after all, so he set up a small village to help keep them safe.
It started as one, then two, then five, then 20, then 100, then a thousand, until it became what it was today.
As he continued his thoughts on those he saved, able to recall all of their names and even the ones who passed on too early, he opened the curtains of the window above his chest of memories.
Outside was a vast utopia of futuristic-looking buildings. People walked around happily and some also used hovering bikes or cars to get around. Elevators that were visible to the outside moved up and down with small sparks flying around as people went to and from their homes and work buildings.
Lloyd smiled knowing that even if he had many regrets in life, he would never do them over again and risk not having the life he had now.