I, the Heavenly General, hated war.

Ever since time immemorial, the War of Holy and Evil had been going on and on. During those times, all I did was kill demons.

As I stood above the corpses of demons, drenched in their blood, in my hand was the head of their king, the Demon Emperor. Many questions appeared in my mind.

What was the point of all this? Why was I even fighting in the first place? These questions bugged my head. I had waited for a long, long time, but the answers didn't show up to me.

I sighed in helplessness. I placed the head that I was holding on the throne and walked away, exiting the throne room. Before long, I was able to leave the Night Castle of Demons. The whole castle was dark and eerie, and the thick malice in the air made it a little bit hard to breathe.

Just as I passed through the gates, a loud roar of cheers startled me.

"WOOOHHH!! The General came out of the castle!!"

"Yes, I can see that! This means the General won!"

"Finally, the eons of war have ended! This is all thanks to the General! Long live the Heavenly General!"

""Long live the Heavenly General!""

""Long live the Heavenly General!""

""Long live the…!""

The millions of Heavenly Soldiers stationed in front of the gates had been waiting anxiously for a long time. Now that they saw me, their general, coming out in one piece, I guess they couldn't help but celebrate.

Still, what do they mean by 'long live'? We're immortals, so living for a long time is a given. Well, I suppose I can let them off for a while.

Ignoring the loud cheers, I called out for one of my trusted lieutenant generals. A man in shiny silver armor appeared from nowhere and kneeled in front of me.

"What is your command, General?"

"Immediately tell all the troops to retreat. I'll go ahead first," I ordered in a cold manner.

"Understood." Then the man vanished.

With a leap, I immediately left the Demon World and headed to the Heavenly Realm, the territory of the Heavenly Race. Entering the realm, I instantly went to my house. Different from the status that I had, my home was just like a commoner's. Well, Heavenly beings are devoid of any desires, so we don't actually have needs for luxuries and such.

I lazily jumped onto my bed. I took a deep breath and sighed in exhaustion.

"Finally, these eons of fighting are over… at least for a moment..."

As long as the Holy aspect exists in this world, the Heavenly Race can never die. Likewise, the Demonic Race is the same—once the Evil aspect still exists, the demons will just regenerate themselves, and the war will continue.

There is a simple solution: wiping out Evil. But the process is too troublesome. In any case, the Demonic beings won't emerge for a long period of time. That means I should have enough leeway to take a vacation, right? Why don't I relax in the Lower Realm for a couple of centuries? That's a really good idea! I grinned, rose from my bed in excitement, and rushed to the Reincarnation Well.

.

…

…..

The Demon World is the home of the Demonic Race. It only had one rule: the strongest will be king! Due to this rule, any place in this realm was in constant battle for power. But now, since they lost the War of Holy and Evil, every one of them had perished.

The whole world was silent. The corpses of demons were scattered, and the blood was thick enough to color the sky blood-red. Suddenly, each corpse of a demon turned into dark, shining dust. The dust gathered in one spot, forming a large black ball.

Although the ball was pitch black, it shone like a bright star. This black ball was supposed to go to the Evil Star and let the demons be reborn slowly—or at least that should've happened. A black smoke with a hue of violet emerged out of nowhere and swallowed the black ball in a single gulp. The violet-black smoke seemed to form a silhouette after devouring the black ball; it even burped in satisfaction. Finishing its business, the violet-black silhouette began to melt into the air and vanished.

***

The Reincarnation Well is a place where the souls of mortals are in a constant cycle of life and death. Although the place's name had "well" in it, it wasn't actually a well. The path of the souls formed a smooth, continuous curve that looped symmetrically around a central point, resembling a sideways figure-eight. It was divided into two sides: a white one, which represented life, and a black one, which represented death.

The Reincarnation Well was huge; it made me look like an ant in comparison. I took an object from my pocket and showed it to the well. The object was just a normal-looking brown bead without any special appearance. This bead is called the Soul-Holding Bead. As the name suggests, this bead is able to hold a soul within it. As for why I took it out? It's simple, really—I planned to put my soul into this bead.

Despite being created by the Creator as powerful beings, a soul is still incredibly fragile. I needed some kind of shell to protect my soul from the corroding process of reincarnation, and this is where the Soul-Holding Bead came in handy.

As I raised the bead, I closed my eyes and focused my entire senses on it. After a couple of seconds, a shining ball of golden light came out of my forehead. The light circled playfully for a moment before going inside the bead. My empty body seemed to lose color and collapsed to the ground while the bead floated in the air, shining a golden light. It shone brightly as if in excitement and charged at the Reincarnation Well. The bead came in contact with the well and, as I expected, it resisted. Well, I was practically forcing my way into it, so it wasn't a surprise.

It was a relief that I first contained my soul within the bead; otherwise, with just this clash, my soul would have perished into nothing. I let the bead continue to clash with the well until it was finally able to pierce through.

I was finally inside the Reincarnation Well. My soul, within the bead, was gushed along the path like a ball in a river. As the bead continued, it eventually reached the center point where life and death met. I could see the purple light where a new beginning of my life as a mortal would start.

***

The Sylvania Empire is an empire ruled by elves. In its capital city, Sylvia, a joyful celebration was currently being held. This was because of the birth of Arthur Sylvania, the First Prince.

All the people of the city gathered at the castle just to catch a glimpse of the newborn First Prince.

The people were excited at the news of the First Prince's birth. After all, he would be the only successor of Emperor Sylvania. This made all of them at ease, knowing that their empire would be passed into good hands.

I guess you're wondering where I am in this crowd of people? I am currently on the balcony of the Empress's room in the castle, being held by one of the most powerful men in this world—the Emperor of this empire, Emperor Alexander Sylvania. And the baby he was holding... was me.

He had a big grin on his face, full of pride. He took a deep breath and faced the citizens of his empire. I could predict what he was going to do.

"My people! The First Prince, the very successor of my empire, has been delivered safely! The Empress is also healthy and fine! This day will be etched into history as the day the greatest Emperor of our Empire is born! HAHAHA!!" The man laughed in delight.

For goodness' sake, just what went wrong?