Chapter 2: Hero's Prophecy
Hero Xavier.
Summoned by the king of a small country, the king requested this hero to defeat the looming threat demon lord Pethnor.
But Xavier was not his name. His name was Steve.
He originated from earth.
Steve had fought in World War 2, accomplishing and achieving many great feats on the battlefield, but due to an accident, he lost his ability to walk.
Once the war was over, he was rewarded with many great things and had enough money to live the entire rest of his life in retirement.
But he had no family, no children, no wife, no one to care for him. All he had was his useless medals and money, his honor, and his crippled legs.
He donated to the poor, he helped the homeless, he did kind acts, but he felt no happiness.
In fact, he felt pretty much nothing.
The war had a great effect on his mind, and the PTSD severely changed him.
As a psychological response to the trauma, he suffered emotional detachment.
He lived a life of constantly dullness. Stale. Tedious.
In the end, he committed suicide.
He was not unhappy, but he wasn't happy either. And to him, that was enough reasons to kill himself.
But when he opened his eyes again, he was in another world.
"Hero Xavier! Wake up!"
Steve was confused. Hero?
During the war, many of his comrades had called him a hero, a war hero, but that was so long ago.
And who was Xavier?
Steve stood up, and looked around trying to access his situation, when he suddenly realized something and looked down.
He just stood up…
His legs…
They could move again.
His legs that had been crippled could move again.
He touched his face, and he was younger.
His hair was no longer gray.
His bones no longer creaked.
His skin was smooth.
And his mind, he felt like… he was young again.
This new world, he didn't know what it was, but it restored the life in him.
But then, he was given the task of defeating the demon lord.
That meant, he must once again participate in a war. War which Steve so despised.
A prophesy of this world claimed that a hero from another world will be summoned.
He will be given the title "hero" and the name Xavier, the name which the first hero had.
He will rise up to the challenge and defeat the greatest threat to ever exist, the demon lord.
But Steve refused. He rejected the name Xavier and title of hero and escaped from the country.
In all honesty, Steve could not care less if the entire country were to be killed. He was no hero, he didn't want to be involved anymore.
Given a new life, given fresh emotions, given a fully functioning body, Steve wanted nothing more to live his life normally, free of war and battle.
That dream was naïve.
The demon lord's threat affects all, regardless of where you run.
No matter where Steve went, demons attacked.
And Steve had to fight. He was weak compared to the demons, but he was the hero, and he won.
No matter how tough the fight, as long as he was determined, it was physically impossible for him to lose.
That was the hero's skill. Undefeatable.
Using this, he quickly grew stronger, and his battles became easier and easier.
At that point, he had still not accepted his role as hero nor his new name "Xavier," but world had already accepted him as Hero Xavier.
Despite his rejection, the world viewed him as that.
With no choice, he gave in and accepted it, and began his journey to defeat the demon lord. Steve, now named Xavier, just wanted to quickly kill the demon lord and then live his life normally.
He gathered a few companions, and together they travelled.
It only took a few years before they arrived in the demon world and headed for the demon castle.
To his surprise, the demon lord was already defeated, and everything was destroyed. Although confused, Xavier didn't care, he returned home to live his life peacefully…
Until everything went wrong.
The city he was living in, within the span of 3 seconds, was wiped off the face of the planet.
As a soldier on Earth, Steve had witnessed the destruction of nuclear weapons. After being transported to this world, he thought he'd never see it again, but he was wrong.
What laid before him, was chaos and destruction even greater than that of Earth's most powerful explosives.
The aftermath of the new demon lord's destruction.
Demon Lord Lenier.
Steve knew that he didn't stand a chance against such power, and for the first time in a long time, felt fear that numbed his entire body.
Despite his fears though, he once again had to pick up the name Hero Xavier.
A meeting between the world's strongest individuals was held to discuss the take down of Lenier.
Steve was invited.
At the meeting, he met 16 other absurdly powerful individuals equally if not more powerful than even he was.
Originally, there were actually supposed to be 24 members, but 7 of them were killed by Lenier.
Even the former demon lord Pethnor, the one who Steve was supposed to fight, had shown up.
Steve was confident in not losing against any of them due to his undefeatable skill, but he still felt lacking in comparison.
However, as the true hero of this world, Xavier did not fall behind in strength due to him possessing another ability that allows him to grow indefinitely more powerful depending on how much courage and determination he has.
The 17 individuals discussed plans for invading demon lord Lenier's current residence in an abandoned castle.
They formed an army by gathering the strongest of all the world, the angels, humans, and demons.
These forces which usually would rip each other's throats out if met, were now all willingly working together.
Considering demon lord Lenier's strength, they had no time to waste, and began the attack as soon as they gathered their forces.
The 17 heroes approached Lenier's castle from behind, while the army was approaching from all other directions.
But the army didn't even manage to serve as a distraction, as they were all wiped out instantaneously.
They were all aware Lenier was powerful.
Powerful enough to wipe out the entire world, but these heroes were confident.
Each one of them were peerless beings, with absurd cheat abilities on par with an anime protagonist.
They were an undefeatable party. Literally. Their skills made it impossible for them to lose.
So even in the face of overwhelming god like power, they felt no fear.
But the same could be said with Lenier.
The demon lord gazed down upon the 17 heroes, with not an ounce of hesitation in his eye and smiled.
"Welcome heroes."