Ashen grey clouds covered the sky as a seemingly gloomy atmosphere enveloped the world.
—Swoosh
Suddenly, a massive black light pillar shot out, spreading from the empty air.
Following the light, if it could be even called that, a terrifying pressure appeared, splitting apart the clouds as if to clear up the sky.
Yet the atmosphere of dread only becomes more intense with the passing of time.
Within the light, stood a dark figure, whose features indiscernible. But the mere pressure the figure gave out caused the air itself to tense up.
Whoever the figure was, they were absurdly strong, unparalleled even.
The feeling of loss and utter defeat loomed among the scarce survivors. Their insignificant presence, luckily or unluckily, remained unknown.
Slowly, the dazzling dark light dimmed down, clearing the silhouette of the dark figure.
However, that wasn't the end. The figure seemed to converge all the light in its surrounding as if absorbing it, causing itself to appear pitch black.
Its size wasn't gigantic; rather, it was similar to a human, maybe around 1.9 meters tall, donning pitch-black armor, or was it his skin?
No one really knew.
Well, even if someone did, they most likely lay dead by now.
Different from the hopeless survivors, one person remained, their hope.
Unfortunately, he too wasn't in his top shape, after the incessant battles.
"Huff... huff..."
Yet his condition too wasn't the best. Despite the pressure and fatigue drowning him after countless battles, he still stood his ground.
'For her sacrifice...'
He told himself for the umpteenth time before gazing around to take note of the destruction, his breathing erratic.
It appeared he too was on the verge of losing it all and tried to find something. Anything to ignite some hope, some will to fight...
His feet felt sticky from the small pool of pitch-black blood beneath him. The blood, however, wasn't his.
The scene around him was wrought with destruction—rubble, corpses, and blood of both allies and enemies alike.
'I am merely fatigued with minor flesh wounds,' he noted his condition before turning to gaze at the demonic figure still hovering in the sky, appearing superior to his race—humans.
Their eyes locked mid-air; everything around them seemingly froze from this minor event.
It was then, he saw its lips curl up ever so slightly.
'H-he smiled!?' He thought, shocked by the revelation. As a result, his barely restrained mana ran amok, just like his emotions.
His body turned paler with each passing second, blood flowing from his orifices.
—Riiip!
It was right at this moment that the figure moved and seemingly tried to grasp the sky itself as if it was tangible.
Suddenly, red floating windows appeared in front of the man, filling his vision, filled with the same message along with a neon sign of danger.
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
[Warning!]
Ignoring their blaring sound, as if they weren't the most absurd thing, he moved at a speed imperceptible to the naked eye, reaching the floating figure in a second.
In a flurry of motion, he swung his sword, a golden brilliance swirling on top of the blade.
All in an attempt to halt the figure's moves.
However, it seemed to just be delaying the inevitable.
"You are strong..." The demon spoke all of a sudden, his voice hoarse and raspy before he struck. "...for a human."
—Thud!
All it did was wave his free hand and the man fell to the ground filled with destroyed buildings as the fear-inducing words echoed in his mind, for a second.
Shaking his head to regain clarity, he kicked the ground to get out of the dust and destruction before pouring a fifth of his current mana reserves into the sword.
The metallic sword glimmered in the twilight along with its own golden brilliance as several intricately carved runes of various colors came alive.
The mana became explosive before they clashed once again.
—Boom!
—Slash!
After an unknown period of time spent clashing weapons and fighting a life-and-death battle against the figure, the Demon King.
He stood before the human.
Or rather, he knelt before the human.
"That was a tough fight," commented the human, locking eyes with the Demon King.
His chest had two glaring holes, one on the left side where the human heart ought to be and another on the right, just in case.
It was courtesy of the human's full-on blows during the time the Demon King had formed illusions, clones, and doppelgangers to surround the human.
If not for using his senses to predict the attacks, the man would have suffered far more grievous injuries.
"What'd you expect, human?" The Demon King sneered, despite his current situation, as if he wasn't on death's door.
Still, the man chose not to retort. After all, he too incurred a massive number of injuries in the trade-offs with the Demon King.
'It really wasn't an easy fight. It was the toughest one ever since I got the system, at least,' mused the man, looking at his sword which was stabbed through right above the Demon King's sternum, jutting out of his neck.
'Turns out, the Demon King has a unique physiology and anatomy. Maybe just his own bloodline?'
The man pondered in melancholy as the fights with so-called Noble demons who also had a heart, mostly on their left side, akin to humans, flashed through his mind.
He didn't believe for one second that humans and demons could co-exist.
It was a naive thought.
Well, even if they could...
Not like, he wouldn't kill them all.
"Phew~"
Taking a deep breath to bury the resurfacing painful memories before they could impact his psyche once again.
Interrupting his thoughts, the Demon King whispered, "Human. Do you want to know?"
The alluring voice gave rise to his inner turmoil.
It was a true devilish whisper.
"What?" I hissed at his dying form.
"My story.... My tale...." He rasped through the black blood leaking from his mouth.
It was a miracle how he was still alive, let alone have the capability to talk.
But then again, he had already noticed the signs of something similar to mana heart in Noble Demons.
Surely, their King would have the complete one, right?
"Why bother? Just die... like the invader... you are..." The man spat through gritted teeth, trying to prevent his emotions from bursting.
"Ha-ha... I will... die... Don't worry..." He responded calmly. Yet the hint of mockery in his voice couldn't be hidden.
It obviously irked the man, but he decided to entertain the dying Demon King for a while longer.
...
After hearing his story, it could be easily summarized:
A lowly demon, born to the whim of another, who abused him as his mother died at birth. All other demons ostracized and bullied him.
Then one fortunate day, he awakened his bloodline on the verge of death, alerting the previous King, who wiped out an entire Province after finding out about it.
It was done just for a simple reason: Just to keep it a secret.
After all, as the King, he had too many enemies.
Yer he taught everything before vanishing without a trace, leaving behind the next King and the strongest demon.
As he rose to power, he squashed any rebellious demon cruelly and lived like that for a long time, thwarting assassination attempts daily.
Finally, he felt a woman's pleasure and the emotions made him calm.
Yet history repeated itself. Born a boy, killing his mother just like his father.
Probably, a trait of their bloodline.
Anyhow, he ruled and taught his son while enjoying himself, knowing he couldn't impregnate any woman as such was the cursed bloodline...
The man seemed to have had enough of the story and exclaimed, "Skip all that nonsense, cliche stuff. I want to know who injured you and why the hell you appeared here. I am not interested in knowing about your life or your son's potential revenge."
The Demon King's story was... just too boring.
Yes, boring.
That was the only way to express it accurately.
"A being... He... shattered... space..."
At this point, the man doubted if the Demon King went senile with his approaching death and uttered random nonsense.
However, lowering his guard... it was a mistake...
—Riiip!
His sharp claws pierced the human's chest and held his heart, clenching it in an attempt to destroy it.
Feeling the hand through his chest, the man thought, 'I was already aware of his attempts to shatter my mana heart to kill me, but this...
How do I say it?
It was expected yet unexpected.
Whatever, it is something I welcome.'
Death.
The concept seemed elusive yet it was closer than one could imagine.
"Good... Riddance..."
The man murmured with a crazed smile as if he liked what the Demon King did.
Even the Demon King's facial expression showed a hint of shock and surprise, albeit for a second as he turned lifeless in the next.
Gazing around, the man's eyes darted to look at the signs of collapse around, showcasing the current state of Humans and the reminder of their civilization, if any.
Yet a content smile graced his face, as if it had nothing to do with him.
And truly, it didn't.
Slowly, the man felt his control over his body and senses fade before his consciousness waned. Despite the situation, the man chuckled as the realization sank in.
'Death is approaching...'
Ignoring the continuous blaring of the system like an everyday routine, his eyes closed with a small smile gracing his lips before he died.... or at least he hoped he died.
***
{A/N}
Yo!~
Welcome to my new novel!!
This novel will be slow and a slice of life one, better than the previous one.
But, no, I am not dropping my other novel, I will continue it after a one-month hiatus necessary for fixing the mistakes in it and sorting out a better schedule than now.
Tell me in the comments how you feel about it and share it with your friends!!
This novel is participating in June WPC, so give me your power stones, golden tickets, gifts and whatever you can! At least comment!!