Chapter 4

Defeated

“This isn’t good; this isn’t good at all.” Nervously muttering to myself, I quickly drop to the ground and watch a large group of wart infested creatures marches through the empty streets.

Goblins?! What should I do?!! Should I fight them? No, there’s no way I can beat all of them. But I just can’t ignore them. My hometown is nearby, and they’ll definitely attack it if someone doesn’t do something. My only other option is to warn Alexander, but that isn’t possible either.

I look back at the castle. A bright flickering light radiant from the top floor followed by what sounds like explosions.

I’m not sure what’s happening up there, but I’m pretty sure I’ll die if I go back and check. It seems the goblins are thinking the same thing. Just like me, they’re silently watching the flashy spectacle that’s taking place on the upper floor of the castle. No, rather than watching, it looks more like they’re waiting.

“!!!” The goblins let out an excited roar as one of their members quickly climbs up a building. Unlike the others, His skin was free of blemishes and warts instead; there's a red painting of a bird on his chest and back.

That must be there leader and from the looks of it he knows there’s a fight going up there. Did he come here to challenge the Demon King too? Well whatever the case is, it seems whoever wins the battle in the castle will have to deal with the goblins next.

(Demon King P.O.V)

What the hell is going on? My left arm isn’t regenerating at all. I’m not sure what trick he used, but right now, what’s bothering me more is I have no idea how he got into striking distance. One moment I was fighting a giant idiot, and in the next, the blonde boy was in my face. If I don’t want to lose my head next, I need to quickly figure out how he instantly closed the gap between us.

“You let your guard down, Demon King!!” Again, somehow not learning his lesson, the giant brute of a man charges directly at me. I easily sidestep away from his predictable attack and wrap my arm around his neck.

“I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but it’s not really wise to announce your attack.”

“Bastard, let go of!!!” I tighten my grip on his neck, choking the words out of him. As he gasped for air, the idiot once again expands his muscles desperately trying to break free from my grip. In response to his growing strength, I simply pour more power into my arm to hold him.

That’s strange. I can still freely transfer energy into my arm, which means I should still be able to heal. But my left arm, the one that bastard cut, I can’t gather energy in that place at all.

I think I’m starting to understand, that glowing energy surrounding the pretty blonde boy’s sword isn’t just a simple power boost. From the looks of it, its main purpose is to seal off energy in the area that’s been struck. ‘Made you mortal my ass.’ I’m sure if I kill you, the curse you place on my left arm will be lifted.

Now that has been solved, I just need to figure out how he got close to me so fast. And something tells me my little hostage will help me solve this mystery.

I dug my fingers deeper into my hostage’s throat causing him to gag. Both the blonde and the samurai tightly gritted their teeth as I strangle the life out of their friend.

My, my, these guys are quite cautious. Most people would’ve attacked me the moment I started torturing their friend, but they’re just watching from a safe distance debating whether to interfere. I guess I need to push them a little more.

“You know, I can’t stand people like you. You guys that go around talking about justice like your something special, but I got news for you; you’re not. I see plenty of men like you before. Men who cowered in fear the moment their ideas are tested. Just like now, you’re watching in silence as I strangle the life out of a person who believe in your goal. Watching people die to accomplish your goals, aren’t you exactly like me?”

“We’re nothing alike!” The samurai who was mostly mute the entire time snaps at me and throws three swords that appear out of nowhere.

More swords huh? As long as it's not that glowing sword I should be fine, but just to be safe…

While still tightly holding onto his throat, I place my hostage in the path of the swords. Just as the blades were about to turn my meat shield into a pincushion, the brute vanishes from my hand and teleports near the samurai.

So, it was the samurai doing huh. Now that I figure out who the culprit is, I just need to figure out how his ability works.

“I wasted three swords saving you.” The samurai said coldly.

Wasted? My eyes fell on the broken swords that littered the floor. A wide grin formed on my face as I quickly put the puzzle pieces together.

“What an interesting ability you possess.” The three men immediately took up a fighting stance the moment I spoke up like they just remember that I’m a threat to them.

“At first glance, it looks like you’re only capable of creating swords, but the truth is your real ability is reverse summoning, and those little swords of yours are like summoning circles.” Well, I guess the better word is sacrifices.” Summoning a human requires a lot of energy. So, to lessen the burden on teleporting his friends around, he sacrifices those swords he throws at me.

“I'm impressed, and here I thought you were just a mindless beast.”

I know he's messing with me, but I still accepted his compliment. It’s been such a long time since I got into a fight like this, that I couldn’t help but be proud of myself.

“Now that I know how all your abilities work, it’ll be rude if I don’t show off mines.” I slam my fist into the ground cracking the floor beneath me. Giant vines that have been growing inside the castle burst from the cracks and lunge themselves at the samurai. The brute quickly jumps in front of him and rips straight through the thick plants with his bare hands.

If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

What the hell is up with that guy?! Is strength rival that of a demigod! I mean I can still beat him easily, but I just can’t carelessly approach him while that arrogant blonde is still carrying the so-called “god slayer” sword. Plus, I have to watch my back since I have no idea where the samurai might teleport them next. And to make things worse, I can’t go all out since Anna is nearby.

This really sucks. Oh well, at least I know how heroes feel when they try to protect a damsel in distress. It’s not a good feeling.

While trying to come up with a plan, I shroud my arm in a black aura. The samurai responses, by pulling two swords out of thin air.

Why two this time? Last time he threw three, and the time before that he threw five. Seeing how upset he was when rescue his partner, I’m sure there’s a limit to how many swords he can create. So why is he throwing so many?

Let’s find out. Vines breaks through the floor beneath the brute feet and pulls him into the hole.

“Ed!” More plants burst out from the cracks and chase the samurai away before he could grab his partner.

“Relax, I doubt the plants can kill him, although he fell quite far, so if you what him back in the fight, you’ll need to summon again.”

“Bastard.” Another sword materializes in the samurai’s hand. The three swords shatter into pieces the moment he threw them. Just like I predicted the brute magically appears right where the swords broke into pieces.

From the looks of it, the amount swords he needs to summon depends on their body size. Since the brute has a large muscular build, he needs to sacrifice three swords and order to summon him. And since the samurai was holding two swords before I threw his idiotic friend down a hole, I’ll assume it takes two to summon the pretty boy.

“Demon King!!” An obnoxiously loud voice jolts me out my thoughts. Balling his hands into fists. The brute stomps his way towards me, his face beet red from anger. “That’s the second time you almost killed me; you’re going to pay dearly.”

“Why are you mad? What I’m doing right now is nothing more than self-defense, the only person who's allowed to be pissed in this situation is me.”

“Playing the victim card? You have no right to do that, after all, it’s because of you, humanity and is in such a terrible state.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” It took every ounce of my willpower to stop myself from recklessly charging in and choking the life out of the blonde. There’s nothing I can’t stand more than being blamed for something I didn’t do.

“Are we really that insignificant, that you can’t even see how your existence is a detriment to humanity?”

“No, I can’t see, nor do I care.” My voice grew flat. It looks like I might end up back on Athena’s hit list because there’s no way I’m letting these guys leave my castle alive.

“A response I expected from a self-proclaim god. I guess we have no choice but to show you that we humans don’t need you, creatures, anymore.” With those words he brandishes his sword and lunge at me, at the same time, the samurai throws a couple of swords in the air.

“Yea right, you seriously don’t expect me to believe that a self-important man like you will risk his life to challenge me head on?”

“Why don’t you stand there and find out!”

“Fine, I won’t move an inch.” I let my arm drop to my side leaving myself completely open for an attack. Taking advantage of the situation, the blonde headed man thrust his sword directly into my chest, but before it could pierce me, he vanishes into thin air. Unsurprised by the feint, I turn my attention to ceiling to see a sea of swords falling from the sky.

This doesn’t look good, the samurai only needs to sacrifice two swords to summon that blonde guy, and with all those swords hanging above me, he can easily do it an infinite amount of time, well if he has the energy to do so. I’m positive summoning all those swords took a lot out of him, which means he won’t be able to teleport the pretty boy out of my attack anymore.

I push my senses to the limit as my eyes darted between swords looking for the one the samurai will use as to summon him with.

“There you are!!” I thrust my hand at a pair of swords that were breaking apart. The pretty boy appears in front of me the moment the swords crack into pieces. His eyes widen in surprise when he saw my hand already reaching for him.

“It’s my….”

“Win.” The samurai suddenly appears in my peripheral vision, before I had a chance to react, his sword sinks into my arm, cutting it in half.

“You were so focused on finding Alexander that you let your guard down.” I could hear the samurai talking to me, but none of his words reach me. I was too busy trying to figure out how I would get out of this situation.

The samurai wounded me with a regular sword, so my arm will heal, but the blonde is already in the midst of swinging his sword there’s no way it’ll regenerate in time to stop him. Should I use corruption? No, if I do that then Anna will….

My thoughts are completely halted the moment his sword pierces my chest.

“Damn.” I collapse to the ground completely drain of my strength. Honestly, there’s nothing more infuriating than losing a fight you could’ve easily won.

“We got him!” The brute fist pumps like he just did something even though he really didn’t do anything in this fight.

I take that back; there’s nothing more infuriating than watching the people you could’ve easily beat celebrate your defeat.

“Let’s finish him off.”

“Wait.” The pretty boy held out his hand stopping the samurai from finishing me off. “There’s something I want to ask him.” Despite his victory, the blonde didn’t smile at all, he kept a scowl on his face like something was bothering him.

“I know you’re stronger than this. So, tell me, why didn’t you use your full power?”

“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you.”

“Humor me.” For a moment, I debated whether or not I should tell him the truth.

“There’s something I want to protect, unfortunately, my power isn't designed for protecting anyone. And because of that, I couldn’t fight you guys with my full strength.”

“…” The blonde man quietly stared at me processing my story. “You’re right, I don’t believe you.” The sword in his hand once again gave off a brilliant glow as he placed it on my chest. “Monsters like you don’t have a conscience.

“Is that so?” I wide smirk form on my face as I waited for the final blow.

Even though I sacrifice everything to protect someone, in the end, people still treat me like a monster. But I guess that’s to be expected, after all, I am the villain of this story.

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“I guess it’s time to fulfill my promise.” With my body destroyed, my soul sank through the castle’s floor an into a little room I kept hidden from the rest of the world. Inside the room was a ghostly pale girl slumbering peacefully in chair like my desperate struggle for survival didn’t happen.

A part of me was relieved to see her unharmed from my fight, but another part of me was filled with regret. If her body was destroyed, I wouldn’t have to go through with my promise. Actually, I don’t have to keep my promise, I can still resurrect myself, there’s still a lot of things I haven’t accomplish.

Like what?

I completely froze in place as I try to answer the question that invaded my mind.

What did I want? Conquer the world? Yes, that has to be it, I spent a good amount of my life trying to achieve that goal. But if that’s the case why did I give up on it so quickly? The moment I discover this kingdom and Anna I focus all my effort trying to cure her, but why? What the hell am I actually trying to achieve?!

“Hahaha” I couldn’t help but laugh at myself. I was supposed to be selflessly sacrificing myself and order to save someone else, yet here I am having a mid-death crisis trying to figure out what my true motivation is.

In the end, it doesn’t matter. Even if revive myself and figure out what I truly want, I’ll never be able to accomplish anything. The other Entities will tirelessly hunt me down, the moment I leave this accursed castle. My life both literally and figuratively is over. But you, you’re a different story, aren’t you?

The room darkens as I spread my soul out creating what looks like a black mist. My conscious began to fade as the empty shell absorb what remained of my soul.

You slept long enough. It’s time to wake up, Anna.