Overlooking the vast forest beneath him, a man with long, flowing silver hair tied in a ponytail with a black scrunchie sat casually at the edge of a high cliff.
His bright purple eyes gleamed underneath the moonlight, his stoic expression taking in all he surveyed.
'The scenery here in this world is still as peaceful and beautiful as ever, even during the night.' The man thought to himself as he sighed. He's seen this view countless times for the past 400 years.
His life back then was a stark difference compared to what it is now.
When he was first summoned into this world, he was suddenly told by a person that seemed to be a king that he was the "Great Hero" that was graced upon them by their Goddess and pleaded him for his help in defending their Kingdom and the world from the threats of evil that sworn to destroy the world.
The Demon King Valzo, the Champion of the Abyss and Ruler of Demonkind. And under his rule are 7 Demon Lords, 21 Evil Dragons, and an army of loyal monsters.
Being only 16 years old at the time, he readily agreed to the role that was thrust upon him.
He was young and naïve at the time, with a strong sense of justice, a penchant for getting himself and those around him in all sorts of trouble, and the will to push forward in what he believes was right.
He trained under the guidance of a variety of people from humans about the world's common sense, language, currency and swordsmanship. The elves for magic, archery and alchemy. The Beastmen for outdoor survival skills and hunting among many others.
As a side effect of being a hero, he had the innate ability to quickly learn the skills that was taught to him and gained mastery over them in the time of two years. Granted to him also were High pyhsical capabilities five times more than the average trained human and an almost limitless amount of magic.
The summoning also came with the Goddess' blessing of Longevity, making his existence similar to dragons. Now from a mere human lifespan of 100 years, he now only needed to absorb the ambient magic in the air to live, that means that as long as there is even a whiff of mana in the area (which is basically the entire world, according to the elf that taught him) Alex can absorb it and continue his existence. Additionally, even if for example Alex got sent somewhere with zero mana in the area, he could still survive from the mana he has in his body, though using mana will weaken him until he runs out of mana and he dies.
Immediately after his training, he started his journey, he fought through many battlefields and joined the war against the Demon Kings forces. There he killed for the first time, he travelled all over the world and met comrades he could trust with his life that accompanied him on his journey. And at the span of eight years, he alongside his comrades finally saved the world. Killing all the Demon Lords and Evil Dragons that burned down and destroyed entire Kingdoms and cities to the Demon King himself.
Though his journey was not a smooth one, it nevertheless ended in a happy one. At the end of their journey, He, alongside his comrades were celebrated as "Great Heroes" and peace was brought back to the world.
And even though he knew that he wouldn't be able to return to his old world, he was happy and content at where he is for he also found the love of his life in this world.
He met her first on an encampment on a foreign kingdom where he and his comrades once faced the armies of one of the Demon Lords four years after he began his journey. She was a Knight Captain at the time, assigned to be their new companion throughout the battle against the invading Demon Lord's army.
She was Katheryne Weiss, a beautiful and kind noblewoman from a Knight Family that was renowned for their skill with the sword. She was also the same age as him, they were both 22 years old back then.
He and Katheryne got along almost immediately and would always spar on their training together and hang out to the city on their free time, they were a compatible match for each other with their similar personalities and ideals.
They were coordinated on the battlefield, fighting and slaying monsters and demons with great skill, they also had each other's backs and supported each other when one needed assistance. Due to their efforts, it wasn't long until they defeated the Demon Lord, an Evil Dragon—that arrived as reinforcement—and the army under it annihilated off the face of the planet.
Shortly after that, he offered to her a chance to be with him on his journey and join him in saving the world with his other comrades where she happily agreed. Throughout their journey, their relationship improved and from then on, their friendship bloomed into love towards one another. Supported by their comrades it wasn't long until they proffesed their love towards each other and became a couple.
And their love only continued to grow from them on until at the end of their journey, they had decided to get married and settle down at the capital city of the Kingdom where he was summoned. He formally retired from his Hero duties and Katheryne's family gave him their blessing in their betrothal.
They lived happily and it was, without a doubt, the best time of their lives. He started a winery business and his tavern became known and famous all throughout the land with bards almost fighting over the chance to perform in his establishment. In 2 years they were blessed with a baby daughter, that made their lives all the merrier.
But their time of peace never lasted.
And as if his happiness was all just a fleeting dream, he woke up to a terrible nightmare that would change his life forever. Three years after their daughter was born, a noble faction from the Kingdom he and his family lived, staged a coup that threatened to kill the royal family and usurp control over the entire Kingdom.
A lot of innocent lives were lost and the Kingdom soon was drowned in the fires of a civil war. Villages were burned, citizens were killed and shops were looted among the many atrocities that were committed during times of war.
In such desperate times, the Kingdom have decided to ask their retired hero and his comrades for aid. He was reluctant at first, fearing for the safety of his wife who was pregnant with their second child and his daughter. But at the behest of his wife, he reluctantly agreed.
For six months he and his comrades who also joined him fought in the civil war against the rebels and they singlehandedly turned the tides of the war. One by one, the rebel forces were defeated and captured.
The Hero's presence in the war greatly affected the rebels, they feared the presence of the Hero who saved the world from death and destruction. They soon relayed a message to the royal family for a formal surrender.
But on the day of the meeting between the noble faction that led the civil war and the royal family arrived, calamity occured. For the rebels never had the intention of surrendering peacefully and staged a final desperate act of attack. One that would spell the doom of the noble faction the led the civil war and all the rebeles that joined their cause.
All over the royal capital, buildings and houses blew up. The capital trembled as the clear sky above turned murky red and a beam of light suddenly appeared in the middle of the capital that shot up into the sky.
Appearing from the pillar of light was a 10-meter tall humanoid monster with smooth jet black skin, red glowing veins, bat-like wings, and large horns jutting out of it's forehead twisting around it's head. Wielding a giant great sword, An Ancient Demon appeared and mightily roared.
The Ancient Demon brought chaos and destruction upon it's wake as it destroyed and killed everything on its path. It was only after the Hero had arrived on the scene did it's rampage cease and its fight with the Hero began. And finally, after a long and gruesome battle, he finally slayed the Ancient Demon.
Later that day a total of 12,772 innocent citizens were confirmed to have been killed by the Demon attack. News of the victory of the Hero over the Ancient Demon brought the Kingdom's army's morale to soar and they began to gather their army to march to the territory of the rebel faction. They planned to attack them as soon as night fell and catch the rebels off of their guard, but by the time they arrived it was already too late.
For as soon as the Kingdom's forces made it at the rebels territories, what awaited them was an entire city set in a hellfire blaze and all the buildings crumbling to the ground.
The entire city was on fire, lifeless humans and demons were all over the place and a strong and oppressive magical aura was flaring in the middle of it all, bringing the soldiers to the ground in primal fear. An uncountable number of swords were seen embedded basically everywhere, from the walls, the ground, the trees, the buildings, and from the demons and humans corpses.
Eventually, the troops advanced forward and arrived at a noble's household, the manor of the rebels leader. There they saw even more dead bodies and blood almost everywhere, from the broken windows, the front door, and the flowers. There was even an armless corpse of a human dangling on a tree, blood was still dripping from the cut arm to the grass below it.
Numerous mutilated bodies of knights and nobles scattered in the area, their faces showed great despair in their final moments as they were stabbed by multiple swords, gutted out, and decapitated among the various ways a person could painfully and brutally die.
At first the soldiers thought that another demon had caused this bloody massacre. But they were quickly proven wrong when they saw the familiar silhouette of their Hero, tears running down his face as he repeatedly stabbed a large number of swords on the lifeless body of a gaudily armored man he was straddling.
The soldiers were too shocked too see their respected hero doing such an evil act that they were momentarily stunned. Only after continuously stabbing the lifeless corpse for five minutes, did the hero silently stand up and immediately vanish from the place with a teleportation spell.
When the Royal family heard the news of the Hero's actions, the entire palace was evidently shocked and they quickly started an investigation to see what had caused their beloved hero to cause such a brutal massacre.
The comrades of the Hero in his party also joined in on the investigation, wanting to know the truth behind the brutal act. But after that incident, the hero had never returned and disappeared from the kingdom.
Days later, the investigation concluded and they found out that among the casualties of the Ancient Demon's rampage on the capital were the Hero's pregnant wife and daughter.
Though not at the Demon's hands, but at the rebels that summoned it. In a state of grief and anger, the Hero blindly stormed to the rebel territory on his own and killed every living person he could find leaving none alive and without a single ounce of mercy.
As the people killed by the Hero were all rebels and enemies of the Kingdom, the Royal family concluded that the Hero was innocent of any crimes and buried the truth from the public. They then announced days later the end of the civil war. The Kingdom celebrated their new peace, but their hero was never seen or heard of ever again. The truth buried throughout time.
Now, 400 years has passed since then, and it seemed like any other night for him until all of a sudden a thick beam of white light dropped down from the heavens 10 kilometers from his position, with his enhanced eyesight, he could pinpoint the location where the spell came from clearly on where he was. His eyes widened in shock as he felt a familiar sensation when he saw the white light.
"It was like back when I was summoned..!" He exclaimed before he hurriedly leapt off of the cliff and ran in the direction of the light.