“Your majesty”

Knight of Light, Leon Revilles proceeded to bow before the highest authority within the human kingdom.

He was summoned here before his ruler.

Before him stood an elderly man, with a beard that reached down to his chest. He was wearing clothing befitting of royalty, with a purple cape, and a crown on his head.

From the endless years of working hard for his kingdom, he looked much worn out, his body in obvious pain as he walked, yet he forced himself to move forward regardless while leaning upon his staff.

This was the king of the grand kingdom of Kizilalem, Candor Gregor Kizilalem himself.

As the ruler of the biggest kingdom within the continent, he held enormous power, but an equally great burden.

Kizilalem may be the grand kingdom of humanity, but it was under a constant threat from the demons, undead, and monster on the inside, and the threats of other kingdoms from the outside.

Without a doubt, managing the kingdom to keep it safe, for more than fifty years took its toll on the king; now many of his children managed the tasks that did not require his direct involvement.

But today, he called upon the mightiest hero, to have a word with him.

“Young hero, there is no need to be so formal”

“As long as I am a knight and you are my king, I shall call you by your title. That is the least I can do”

“If you insist, but I would much rather have you call me father-in law”

“I am sorry, but my answer remains the same. There are countless lives I must protect and so many foes to vanquish, until I make sure the kingdom is safe, I can never promise to make the Princess happy”

That was an excuse, of course, but as far as the king knew, that was the reason why Leon Revilles, the only person who received a blessing from Solaris, the King of Gods himself, would refuse to marry into royalty.

The number of times Solaris had granted a blessing to human beings in the entire history can be counted on a single hand, which is why the king had desperately wanted to join Leon’s bloodline with his own through betrothal to his daughter.

“Such a shame. But if that is the case, then there is still hope, once the kingdom is truly safe from our enemies”

King now frowned, while looking out of the window.

“What happened to the Holy Maidens was a tragedy, even if their minds were restored, their bodies were sullied; they will never be able to cast the barrier upon the Holy City ever again. And gods will not be able to make keys to protect the kingdom for another one hundred years”

Addressing Leon, king said.

“About what happened to the Demon Lord you captured, I am truly sorry, I was overconfident and careless. I never would have thought that such a powerful demon could slip through the barrier and free her. This demon even managed to best one of the heroes, no doubt, he was sent by the Demon King Draco himself”

Leon tightly clutched his fist.

“Knight of Mind told me that the culprit was known as the ‘Dark Lord’, do you know anything about him?”

Leon silently nodded. He tried his best to suppress his rage.

“I see. What do you know about him?”

“He is a very dangerous demon disguised as a human, no matter what, he must never be underestimated”

“Do you believe that he might be one of Demon Lords under the Demon King Draco?”

“Of that I am most certain. According to Knight of Mind and Knight of Ice, he was behind the abduction of Holy Maidens as well. If I presume to be as bold as to present my opinion, your majesty, I believe he is one of the new Demon Lords the Demon King Draco recruited after we had slaughtered many of them in our past victories”

“So in the end, the one behind everything is Demon King Draco, huh? And this Dark Lord is just his pawn, acting according to his king’s orders. Damn that Demon King Draco!”

Demon King Draco, the leader of demon-kind, an enigmatic figure that controlled the demon forces from the shadows. None knew what he looked like, but his existence alone inspired countless demons to keep fighting against humanity.

He was their hidden leader.

“Your majesty, if this ‘Dark Lord’ is truly one of the Demon Lords, then sooner or later, our forces will encounter him on the battlefield, and then, I shall slay him myself”

“We have lost three heroes due to Demon King Draco’s schemes, including you now we only have twenty five heroes left to protect the entire kingdom; we can’t afford to lose any more of our heroes. So may the gods help you in your endeavor, Knight of Light”

“It shall be done, your majesty”

* * *

A large man, missing his right hand, left leg, and with a gigantic slash mark across his eyes, was resting upon the bed.

The healers did all they could to stabilize him, but he still was in a sorry state.

Even if by some miracle they managed to restore his sight or give him replacement limbs made with earth magic, there was one thing they could not restore- his blessing.

Blessing was a seed of power, given by a god and cultivated by the user.

There were many ways of becoming powerful, but certainly, to those who possessed a blessing, the path was all but given on a silver platter.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

There are many who believed that those who never received a blessing are inferior to those who did, favored by gods.

Considering that most of the heroes have blessings and only a select few reached that level with sheer effort alone, the people with blessings were seen as fortunate people, with bright prospects for the future.

But now, that future was snatched away from him, just like that.

Holding on to the Knight of Earth’s only remaining left hand, a large man proclaimed.

“Elder brother, I, Soroi Daren, shall avenge you”

After a finding some semblance of tranquility within his mind, the large man stood up.

He was just as tall as the Knight of Earth, but he was bald. He wore no armor, wearing only pants, exposing his bare chest for everyone to see.

Yet, his well-sculpted muscular body was truly a sight to behold.

This man was the Knight of Steel, younger brother of Knight of Earth, now fueled by vengeance towards the one who condemned his beloved elder brother to such a fate.

“Dark Lord, I will crush you, or my name is not Soroi Daren!”

* * *

“Well, isn’t this a pleasant day? Finally a day off for me to do whatever I want~”

Meros took a breath of fresh air.

As he walked forward through the Sevilles territory, he heard a very audible shriek.

“HELP!!!”

Without a second thought, Meros rushed forward to the source of the sound, only to find a very strange scene before him.

A winged young man was on a tree, holding on for his dear life as the pack of dogs were jumping up towards him, desperately trying to reach him.

“Morphus, what the hell are you doing?”

“Meros! Thank goodness, you are here! Please, help me!”

“Why don’t you just teleport out of there with your Teleportation Ring?”

“I dropped it on the ground when I panicked!”

“Then how about flying off then?”

“No can do, my wings wouldn’t unfold, I am too scared~”

“Oh for crying out loud, they are just dogs, nothing to be scared of!”

“They may look innocent, but these things are four legged, sharp fanged, flee-ridden monstrosities! And now they want to eat me!”

“The more you panic, the more eager they will be to keep chasing you, they can sense fear, you know”

“That does not make it any better, Meros!”

“Just trying to help”

While he could have just used the Teleportation Ring to save Morphus, Meros found the situation too hilarious to pass up.

“Ha ha ha haaah hhaaaa, Oh, gosh, you are something else, Morphie…Ha ha haha…”

Meros found himself laughing to his heart’s content.

So he watched Morphus screaming for another half an hour before the dogs got bored and left him.

Like a stone, Morphus limply fell on the ground, shivering in a fetal pose.

“Uhm, Morphus? Are you ok?”

Meros asked as he approached his angelic colleague.

“Meros, you are horrible, simply horrible!”

“He he he, but I sure have not laughed like that for a long time~”

“That was not funny!”

“If you are this scared now, I can’t imagine what you will do when the season of flying dogs comes to town”

“I truly hope that was just an expression, you are joking, right?”

Meros shrugged his shoulder as if to say ‘suit yourself’.

“Just when I go outside after staying in the same room as Master got too disturbing to watch, this happens….”

“Speaking of whom, what is Milord doing right now?”

“Playing hangman”

“That doesn’t sound too bad”

“With the actual humans”

“Oh” Meros uttered.

Unfolding his wings, Morphus proceeded to sit down while pulling his knees in with his hands.

“I understand his goals, and I support them, but I can’t imagine myself ever resorting to such extreme means”

“Perhaps, because we never tried to do so, we have reached a dead end, and needed someone like him to guide us. Frankly, I thought he was completely nuts when I first met him and he told me of his plans, but now that I am seeing his schemes slowly unfold, I can’t help but express my admiration to that man. He saved me from the brink of self-destruction and gave me a new purpose”

Meros looked at his left hand, a gift from his master.

“I guess I have chosen the right master to serve. For better or worse, I shall be his sword, till the end”

“He sure is a kind person, at least to us, those who follow him” Morphus had to admit.

After a moment of silence, Meros asked.

“Say, Morphus, how exactly did you, an angel, end up in this world? You told me once that you are not originally from this world, then where are you from?”

“I don’t know the name of my home, I just call it angel-realm. I was one of the last flowers that bloomed to my mother tree before the archangels consumed her and went after me”

“Flower? Mother Tree? Archangel? Consumed her? You are not making any sense, buddy”

“Apologies, I can explain. Unlike this realm, angels have bodies within my realm, and when an angel chooses to have offspring, the angel plants itself into the soil, becoming a Mother Tree. Mother Tree absorbs the energy of my realm into itself, and soon enough, it sprouts flowers, from which new angels are born”

“I see”

“But in exchange for having offspring, the angel that became a Mother Tree becomes immobile until the process is complete. Which brings me to the….archangels”

Apparently this was a sensitive topic to Morphus.

“Meros, you know about how some animals eat grass, while others eat those animals, right?”

Meros nodded.

“It is practically the same deal with us and archangels. To archangels, we are food, nothing more. Merely moments after I emerged, the archangels came and they…devoured my Mother Tree, along with my countless siblings”

“My Mother Tree was there for hundreds of years, giving birth to countless angels, but then, the archangels came and then….there was nothing left”

“I managed to run, as far as I could. I flew as far as my wings could carry me. But then, I got lost”

“Wandering aimlessly across the angel-realm, somehow, without even knowing at first, I ended up within this world”

“I only knew this was another world because I ended up passing through one of the inhabitants of this world. You can imagine just how freaked out I was at first”

“So you got lost? You ended up in this world because you got lost? Just how bad is your sense of direction?”

“I never really got a hang of navigating, to be completely honest”

“An angel with no sense of direction, that’s a new one”

Morphus continued.

“By a stroke of luck, I found myself in the care of another angel, a far more experienced one, while occupying a body of a canine”

“She was occupying the body of a human girl and had chosen to merge with the vessel, which she told me in time would make her become truly human, losing her angelic powers in the process. She taught me nearly everything I know, frankly I owe her so much….But then, the gods showed up at our doorstep”

“I could do nothing to stop them when they took her and as punishment for not submitting to them and choosing to become a human being, they banished her to the realm of Purgatory.”

Morphus’s expression now took on that of clear determination.

“No matter what, I wish to find the entrance to the Purgatory and save her”

“When you say her, do you mean a female angel or just an angel occupying a female body… do angels have genders?”

“Huh? Well, as far as reproduction goes, all angels are the same. Unlike you, humans, we don’t really have a concept of gender. Though some angels are more feminine or masculine than others and their forms reflect them as such. But in angel-realm, any angel could become a Mother Tree, though I am not sure how an angel would reproduce in this world, everything is so different here….”

“Wow, just wow. Sounds like you have a lot on your mind”

“He he he, sorry for being such a blabber mouth, Meros. But….what about you? What made you go on this path you have taken?”

“Promise you will not laugh”

“You have my word”

“Chasing a girl”

“What?”

“Well, more like trying to catch up to her, yeah, that is more like it. Yes, call me a hopeless skirt chaser if you want. I was and still am a lovesick fool.”

“Have you accomplished it? I mean, catching up to her, not whatever the skirt means”

“Not even close. If my last duel with her is any indication, I am still far below her level. I need to become at least a hero level warrior in order to at least come close”

“I guess every one of us has different circumstances, huh, Meros?”

“I couldn’t agree more, Morphus”

“It is strange, none of the members of the Shadow Lords have anything in common other than the fact that Master recruited us. But maybe that is for the best; at least we have someone who can lead us”

“Very true”

Shadow Lords, consisting of people with different personalities, talents, and pasts, united under a single goal, were an organization they were proudly part of.

And their leader, as strange as he may be, seemed to know so many things ahead of time, planning everything beforehand, rarely making any mistakes, almost as if he could see into the future…