The demon king roared as his life passed in front of his eyes, there was no doubt that this would be the last day of his life and for the first time in a long time, since before he killed his own abusive father, before he enslaved that tribe of beasts in the land of the condemned, before he led that attack to his first city and the villages surrounding it, before the multiple monster races kneeled before him, and before he himself killed the alexandrine emperor with nail and teeth and a metallic smell which somehow, strangely never faded from his nose...
he felt fear.
… no, he would not cry for help as he did when he was a child, for he knew that it was useless, it was the first and last lesson he ever learned for he was stubborn as only he was, he was proud like the first creature of his kind, even when the “holy sword” got close to his head he confronted death head on without a shred of hesitation… he felt fear, but he regretted nothing, after all… those who kill must prepare themselves to be killed
The hero said some words, but the demon king didn’t understand what he had said. Who cared though? The human in front of him was surely the one who would bring his demise, yet in his eyes, the demon king saw a light which he himself saw when he looked at the reflection of the water from the well in his hometown as he fetched water for his drunken disgusting, pathetic monstrous father. He knew what it was; it was anger, sadness, and vengeance.
He felt fear.
But he would not feel it again, so the demon king unable to stop what was going to happen closed his eyes, the sword was just a fraction of a second away, but still it felt like years, but then when the sword was about to reach him it happened.
you have exchanged the following titles 【Cursed one】【Recognized Beast】【 Beast King】 【Monster King】【King slayer】【Legendary Demon King】
you have gained the title【Fearless one】
you have gained the title【lucky one】
you have gained the title【Remade one】
you have been cursed by【past abilities sealed】
『 what? 』he thought, how did he get 3 titles after death, and what was this “exchange” thing, it was the first time he had heard of it. Anyway, it’s not like it matters. He was dead anyway…
『 wait, why does death feel so comfortable? I can move, can’t I? 』he wondered as he tried moving his hands...
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『 I don’t know if I’m moving… it’s too dark and I’m too numb, maybe it’s the blood loss?... I doubt it』
『 I feel sleepy, but I haven’t felt the need for sleep in a while. Why is my 【sleep resistance】 not working? ... 』
The more he tried to move, the more tired he felt... was there something pushing him down? Was he being pushed by the hero? No, it didn’t feel like that, anyways, he felt too tired to think about it too much, and for some reason his mind felt foggy. And he was already dead, wasn’t he?
『stop pushing... I want to sleep. 』
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Alexa’s screams were heard through the entire village of Varen. How was it that someone that they many of them saw grow up being such an obedient child could scream so much and have so much strength, only the gods knew. But frank didn’t care how loud she was, she still felt like the quiet and sweet child he knew from childhood. If he hadn’t known her parents, he would have thought she was an angel.
“hold on a little longer Al, you’re doing great, just a little longer!” he screamed encouraging her, he knew that even without him she would be fine, after all she was Alexa of Varen, the hero who saved the emperor Xander the III and honorary knight, not to mention his wife.
They had met as children, when their parents would often go into the woods to look hunt together, however to be quite honest, he never knew her that well at the time, sure, she was a pretty lass and Frank always felt small butterflies in his stomach when he saw her, but they were never friends, or well, that’s how it was until they met again when Alexa was 21, and a bronze tier adventurer in the guild.
When Alexa had saved frank; he had heard that a couple from the village had an adventurer daughter, but when he saw her saving him, he immediately recognized her, after all, her burning red hair was a dead giveaway to her identity, that’s when Frank finally realized what he felt for her.
Even after killing two orcs, the other orcs just kept attacking, it was understandable; it was a cold winter and in such a dangerous forest and the orcs had to fight quite a bit to get the small amounts of food that they did to survive, so attacking Varen was the safest option for them.
when she came it was as if the world had gone warm again for frank, when frank had lost hope she appeared, as bright as a star with hair as red as fire and eyes burning with green determination to save him.
history was history after it, at some point they straightforwardly married and were happy for a time, they even wanted to have a child, hopefully children soon, and they tried, and tried for a few years…
But destiny can be quite cruel sometimes, for it seemed that her body was not made to have children, they were told by the priest that it would be dangerous for her to have the baby.
“Dangerous?” she said with a kind smile and jokingly continued “I’ve had plenty danger already, I think I Can handle 9 months of rest, Daniel”
not even the priest, an old friend of hers, could convince her she shouldn’t take the chances...
In the end the baby had been born, but there was something strange, it didn’t cry… for a few minutes the baby didn’t cry, which left the midwife a bit confused, but afterwards the one who was crying then was Alexa in fear was Alexa
“my baby…” she whispered, trembling in fear for the first time in a long time, “Is it alright?”
After a few seconds checking the child’s pulse and breathing, the midwife, relieved over the child’s state, finally breathed and told Alexa to calm down. The child appeared to be healthy and very much alive.
after that she just hugged him with the strength she had left, which wasn’t much
her hands became soft after a minute, and as she was about to fall she heard a slight cry, so quiet that it almost couldn’t be heard, and she smiled, looked at frank and told him “take care of him Francis” and after a breath, almost as a whisper she said “I’ll see you both on the other side, dearies”
those were her last words.