Chapter 33
Corrupted Legacy
“Athena: The wise
Loki: The jokester
Atlas: The mighty
Venus: The lovely
And Demon King, the corrupted.
Obviously you guys know who these five beings are. They are the gods that once rule over this world. Well they like to call themselves “Entities”, but it’s hard not to consider them gods. Anyway, each Entity possess a unique power that defies logic. Like Athena for example. It is said that she has heighted senses so powerful that she can notice people using magic on the opposite side of the world.”
Trust me Claire, it goes further than that. Athena’s annoying ability allows her to stalk anyone from anywhere. As long as she knows that person exist, she can spy on that said person. And unfortunately there is no limit to that ability, nor is there a way to counter it. Out of all my “siblings”, I can’t stand her the most, because of her stalker ability. And also because she created Excalibur, creating a weapon design to specifically kill me kind also of contributed to me hated her, but just a little though.
“Even though the entities are vastly different from each other, they do have one thing in common, immortality. Due to their bodies being made entirely of magic, they are immune to physical and magical harm. In fact the only way to harm them is Excalibur, which was made by the Entity Athena to deal with the Demon King. Even though Excalibur was design to fight entities, it still isn’t strong enough to kill one.
It’s been stated multiple times throughout history that all the heroes that fought the Demon King were able to defeat him, but couldn’t kill him. And that brings me to the biggest question that history for some reason, refuse to answer.
If the Demon King is immortal, and Excalibur is too weak to kill him, how exactly did the Demon King die? And that my friends, is where my two theories come in.
Theory number one: The hero failed to kill The Demon King, but was somehow able to weaken him to the point where he had to go into hiding for two hundred years. Due to being in a weaken state, the Demon King can’t create demons no more and is instead using monsters as his soldiers.
Theory number two: The hero actually somehow manage to kill The Demon King, but since he is a godlike being, The Demon King is still somehow interfering with this world even in death.
These are nothing more than my theories and can be completely wrong, but I’m confident that the Demon King is one way or another, involve with the evolution of monsters.”
“Jeez, talk about a stubborn guy, even in death he’s still trying to kill us all.” Max shook his head in disbelief. “I seriously hope your theory is wrong Claire.”
“I know it’s wrong.” Aaron ball his hand tightly into fist desperately trying to contain his anger. “You’re telling me that you suspect a man who’s been dead for over two hundred to somehow be behind be all this.”
“Well as I said before, Entities possess powers that goes far beyond common sense. It wouldn’t be too surprising if the Demon King found a way to interfere with this world even after his death.”
“Ok, so what if the Demon King found a way to come back, so what? What makes you think he’s behind all this?!” Aaron voice grew louder as he continue to talk.
“Aaron.” I call him softly hoping to calm him down. I understand what he’s trying to do, but he’s making everything worse by trying to defend me.
“Aaron, you heard the stories of The Demon King right?” Claire looked at Aaron weirdly. Probably trying to figure out why he’s defending me.
“The Demon King was a cruel man. Majority of this world sorrows originated from him. So it’s not weird for him to be the number one suspect when something goes wrong.”
Aaron turn to face me. I guess he wanted me to say something, but there was nothing for me to say. Claire is right about me. I was….well still am, a cruel person that on multiple occasion I nearly ended this world.
Aaron walk away from the group once he realized I wasn’t going to say anything. I could definitely tell he was upset. Although I’m not sure if he was mad at me or Claire, most likely both.
“Aaron, wait up!” For some reason Claire chase after Aaron. This makes the second time Claire went to help him after I upset him. Why the hell does she care about him? Well knowing her, she probably just going to bombard him with questions.
As I watch the two walk away, I notice Alexander was also leaving his group and was heading deep into the forest by himself.
“Where the hell are you going?” I whisper to myself as I head towards the direction Alexander went.
(I believe that one way or another, the Demon King is involve in the evolution of monsters.) Claire’s words repeat in my head
Sheez, I understand that I’m an asshole, but do you guys really have to always put the blame on me. I mean, I don’t even have the power to create an army of demons anymore, what makes you think I can make a fucking mutt smart?
I look down at myself to see small pale hands that had little bruises on them, due to me holding my sword so tightly.
“I’ve become so weak…..” I quietly said to myself as I look at my feminine hands.
Two hundred years ago, I was known as “The Demon King”, the most fear man on this planet I had the power to single handily conquer this world. Now I’m just go by “Anna,” a little girl running around with a sword. That’s quite a huge leap backwards, if I do say so myself.
Ever since I found myself in this body, I’ve been chasing after an apparition called Alice. I kept chasing her, expecting that if I find her, somehow everything will work out, but now I’m starting to think that even if I do find her, things won’t go back to normal. I mean how exactly am I going to get my powers back if I find her? Matter fact, where exactly did my powers go?
I remember when the last hero killed me, I felt my powers slowly drain away from me before I died. Is it possible that my powers were destroy along with my body?
I shook my head to rid myself of that doubt. Now is not the time to be thinking like that.
I look back at Alexander who was walking deeper into the forest. I sped up a little bit so I wouldn’t lose sight of him.
First I lost my power and then out nowhere a human who possess power that’s very similar to mine show up. This can’t be a coincidence. Although I do doubt Alexander has my power. If he did, then the corruption would tear him apart both physically and mentally.
The more I think about the situation I’m in, the more my head hurts, I should just shut my brain down until I get to Athens, because I’m making things more complicated the more I think.
“So where are we heading now?” I nearly jump once I realize that Max was beside me. I was so lost in my thoughts I forgot he was still following me.
“Nowhere….hey you think you can give me some alone time for a bit”
“Sorry Anna, but I think the best thing to do right now is to stick together, especially after what Claire told us, don’t you think?”
This guy acting like he’s reliable even though he’s can barely stand on his feet. I bet he thinks he’s cool by trying to help me in his current state, well I got something that’ll knock him off his high horse.
“So you plan on watching me pee than?”
“What?!” Max jumps away me.
“I said I was going to go pee, and since you’re so adamant about following me, I guess you plan on watching me?”
“I’m sorry… I didn’t know.” Max looked away from me embarrassed.
“Why don’t you go check on Aaron, I’ll be back in a sec.”
“Right…” Max went back towards the cart, while trying to hide his beet red face. I guess that take care of him.
With Max out the way, I headed into the forest where Alexander went. The sounds of people chatter was replace with an eerie silence as I went deeper into the forest. It almost felt like the nature itself was planning something sinister.
For a while I walk through the dead silent forest following the trail Alexander took, at least I think he took. I enter the forest almost a few seconds after he went in, I shouldn’t be that far behind, yet I haven’t seen any signs of him.
“Maybe, he got killed.” I said to myself.
I mean he did walk into a forest filled with hostile creatures, it’s kind of idiotic to walk around by yourself, even though I’m doing the same thing. Well I hope he’s not dead, it’s kind of impossible to question a dead man.
Just as I was about to give up on my search, I spotted one of the hooded man that was with the hero and Alexander.
The man didn’t have his hood on revealing himself be a guy that looks to be in his forties or maybe fifties. His short hair was fully gray.
I guess he's mediating, since he was sitting crossed legged near a tree, although I have no idea why anyone would be mediating in such a dangerous area.
Normally I would just leave the man alone, and let him continue to do whatever he’s doing, but he’s currently the only person that can help me find Alexander.
“Hey, do you happen to know where….” The man quickly pulls his sword out and place it near my neck before I could finish talking.
“Woah, calm down, I’m not going to hurt you.” I place my hands in the air to make myself look as harmless as possible.
“What are you doing here?”
“I was looking for Alexander, I wanted to thank him for saving me from the orcs.”
“….” The man open his cloak up, revealing black kimono under it.
A samurai huh? I haven’t seen one of them in a while. The man carefully places his sword back in its sheathe before walking away from me.
“Go back.” The samurai said as he walk away.
“I will after I talk to Alexander.”
“I won’t repeat myself.” Even though the samurai back was facing me, I could tell he was reaching for his sword.
“So you plan on cutting down an innocent little girl?”
“We both know there’s nothing innocent about you.” The samurai turn back around to face me, the look in his eyes told me that he saw me as a threat.
“You may look harmless, but you have the eyes of a wild beast, and the aura of a murder, so cut the act and tell me the real reason why you’re here.”
“I already told you, I came here to speak with Alexander, so would be kind and let me pass?” I ignore the massive amount of killing intent the samurai was giving off, and continue to act innocent and stupid. I even gave him the best possible smile I could conjured.
“….” The samurai simply ignore my stupid act and slowly pull sword out.
“I don’t even know why I tried.” I reach for my own sword, but instead of taking out of its sheathe like the samurai was doing, I instead held onto the hilt and gather my magic into my hand, for a single powerful strike.
“Well it seems like you’re not willing to let me pass, but I’ll ask again just to be sure, would please let me pass, so I won’t have to cut you into pieces.” Even though I threaten the samurai, for some reason my voice came out happy and cheerful, which to be honest kind of creep me out. I bet if I look in the mirror right now I would look like one of those psychotic killers that always smiling.
“If you take a step forward, I will kill you.” The samurai place both hands on his sword and lower his body an preparation for an attack.
Great, the last thing I wanted was for this to turn into a fight. I guess it didn’t help that I threaten him, but seeing how stubborn he is, this probably would’ve turn into a fight regardless of what I did. Oh well, I’ll just have to end it before I draw any attention.
A dagger lands directly by my feet, just as I about to attack the samurai.
“Miss I wouldn’t do that if I was you.” I look behind me and spotted the other hooded man that travel with Alexander sitting on top of a tree. Unlike the samurai, this man hair was brown and he also had dark brown eyes.
“What, you guys plan on ganging up on me?”
“He won’t interfere.”
“Yea trust me when I say this, we’re not friends, we’re only working together due to strange circumstances.”
“Ok so why did you throw a dagger at me if you don’t plan on interfering?”
“That’s because I’m trying to save your life sweetheart.” The dagger man gave me a smile and points towards the samurai. “I really don’t want to be that guy that brags about other people and turn them into a big deal, but as you can see that man you plan on fighting is a very serious guy. When he says he’s going to kill you, he really is going to kill you.
I look at the samurai who still had his hands on his sword waiting for me to take a step towards him.
“I see, but I was also serious when I said I would cut him into pieces.”
“Wow… you’re pretty hostile for a little girl. Well good luck Miyamoto, you’re going to need it.”
“I took glance back at the dagger man, to see that he was watching the samurai and I get prepare to fight each other.
I guess he really isn’t planning on interfering, but that probably because, he thinks the samurai won’t lose. The moment the fight goes into my favor, he’ll probably jump in to help him.
What a pain, I got to keep my eyes open for the dagger man, while fighting the samurai. Especially since his daggers is coated with poison. Well at least they’re human. So I don’t have to worry about taking on attacks that can crush mountains. That should make things easier for me, it should…
As I examine the samurai, I realize he didn’t have any openings. A weird thought pop into my head as I watch him, that repeatedly told me that no matter how I approach him, he’s going to cut me down.
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Right, I forgot humans have their own thing going for them. While monsters are far stronger, humans make up for it with techniques and skills. This guy definitely must’ve train his ass off, seeing that I can’t find an opening, but that doesn’t matter, just as I kill a lot monsters, I fought my fair share of humans too…
I finally took a step forward and prepare for the samurai immediate attack. But for some reason he didn’t attack me. His eyes were focus on bushes right beside me. The sounds of the leaves rustling and sticks cracking where coming from that direction.
A monster? This is real bad time for one to show up. I face the direction where the unknown sound was coming from and prepare myself for whatever may pop out.
“What are you guys doing?” Unexpectedly, what came out from the thick bushes wasn’t a monster, but was the bane of my existences.
All three of us welcome the hero by quietly staring at him, the hero in return awkwardly stare at us.
“Hey, you guys weren’t planning on fighting were you?” The hero looks down at both me and the samurai hands, to see that we were both getting ready to draw our swords.
“No not at all!” The dagger man jumps down from the tree and run over to us. “They were just comparing swords to see which one was better, isn’t that right?” The dagger man wraps his arms around me and the samurai pulls us close.
“Isn’t that right?” he whisper to both of us.”
“Whatever.” I remove his hand from shoulder head back towards cart, where everyone was gather. Taking the samurai and the dagger man on is one thing, but the hero is another story altogether. As much as I hate to admit, I don’t stand a chance against him right now. It’s best that I avoid contact with him.
“Joseph, why don’t you escort the lady back. It’s starting to get late, and we don’t want no one to go missing.”
“What?!” I look back to see that dagger man was smiling at me.
“Roger!” The hero gave the dagger man a salute and ran towards me. “So what’s your name?”
“Go away.” I walk slightly faster leaving the hero behind.
“Ok, let’s try that again. May I please know your name?”
“No.”
“…You’re not a talker are you?”
“No.”
“Ok, that’s cool, that’s cool. We can walk in silence if you want.” The hero continue to follow me. I kept throwing angry glares at him hoping he’ll get the message, but he simply shrug them away. And so we walk in silence for three whole minutes, until he started laughing for some reason.
“What’s so funny?”
“Nothing, I just realize we contrast each other.”
“Huh?”
The hero pointed upwards towards his hair.
“I have blue eyes and white hair, and you have red eyes and black hair. We’re the complete opposite of each other, isn’t that weird?”
“…..Yea I guess it is, its almost like we’re enemies.”
“I don’t think so. I think this is a reason why we should become friends. People with weird hair color should stick together don’t you agree?”
“That sounds like something a person who been pick would say.”
“You got me there.” The hero let’s out a weak laugh. “What about you? Did anyone ever make fun of your hair?”
Would people trying to kill me count as getting pick on? Well I guess that had to do more with me being the Demon King than my hair color. As a human, I expected everyone to attack me because of my curse black hair color, but what I got instead was nothing but praise. I even had people begging me to let them do my hair.
“I was…” I stop myself once I realize I almost I made a mistake. This guy, he’s pretty good at getting people to talk, I almost had a full conservation with him.
“No.” I pick my pace up again and walk ahead of him.
“Oh come on, are you really going to do the ‘no’ thing again?”
“Yup.” I continue to walk ahead of him until something even more annoying than the hero showed up.
A large four legged creature cover in sharp quills jumps from behind a tree, I guess it was waiting to ambush me.
“Woah, you’re pretty big for a porcupine.” The creature wasn’t as big as a blood wolf or any other creatures I recently fought, but it was big enough to head butt me in the stomach.
“I don’t think that’s a porcupine….”
“I know it isn’t, but you don’t surely expect me to remember every second rate creature name do you?”
The wanna be porcupine fires a barrage of quills at us. I guess it was offended I called it a porcupine.
“Get behind me!” The hero jumps in front of me in blocks all the quills with his bare hand. “Ow, ouch why did I do that?” Blood drip from the from hero’s injury arms.”
“I’m not a combat expert, but I think it would’ve been smarter to block with your sword instead of your hands.”
“The hindsight isn’t really necessary right now.” The hero gave me a pained smile, I guess that was his way of telling everything going to be alright. Even though I wasn’t really bother in the first place, if he fails to kill the wanna be porcupine, then I’ll just do it.
More quills begin to grow on the wanna be porcupine back, replacing the ones it fire at us.
“It seems like it doesn’t have any attention of getting up close.” The hero mumble to himself. “Fine, I’ll end this from here.”
The hero pulls out one the quills that pierce his arm, and throws at the wanna be porcupine. The quill lands near the porcupine feet.
“You miss.” Just as I said that, a bolt falls from the sky and lands on top of the quill the hero threw, burning everything that was near it.
“Oh yea, I got him!” The hero pump his hand in the air after seeing the charred corpse. “Ow, ow, ow.” Immediately after he shouts in pain, I guess he forgot that he was injury.
It’s ok, I’m fine I’m fine.” The hero said, even though I didn’t ask him if he was ok.
“Are you sure, I heard that these creatures hold poison in there quill.”
“You serious?” The hero face went pale.
“No, I was just joking.”
“Hahaha, that wasn’t really funny.”
“It was to me.”
“Well even though dark humor isn’t really my thing, I’m glad you are making a joke in this situation. Most people right now would freaking out from the attack, I guess you’re use to these types scenario aren’t you?”
“You have no idea.”
“I would if you tell me.” He’s trying to get me to talk again, sorry but I won’t fall for it.
“No.”
“And the 'no's' are back again. Oh well, I’ll get you to talk one of these days…ouch” The hero starts to yank out all the quills in his arm. For some reason there was no wounds where the quill pierce his skin. Don’t tell me his body can regenerate.
“Phew, finally there all out.” The hero toss the last quill to the ground.
“Tell me, why didn’t you use Excalibur? This wouldn’t of happen if you just use your sword.”
“Oh you feel you like talking now?”
“No I’m just wondering why you did something so stupid.”
“Yea, I guess it was kind of stupid of me” The hero reach behind and grab Excalibur as if he was going to pull, but for some reason let’s go of it. “Believe it or not, I really don’t like using it, I feel like there someone else out there that deserve it more than me.
By someone, I assume he means Alexander. Since he always following whatever he says
“But it’s kind of attach to me so I really can’t give it away.” The hero reach behind him again and pulls out Excalibur.
“Here catch.” The hero lightly toss Excalibur to me.
….He just handed me the only sword that can defeat me. I look down at Excalibur that was laying in my hands. I can’t remember how times I wanted to destroy this blade, at some point I thought it was impossible to get my hands on. But the hero himself just casually handed it to me, as if it was just a toy.
I dumbly looked at Excalibur waiting for a trap to go off, but since I’m in a human body, I guess Excalibur doesn’t realize who I am. After few seconds had pass, Excalibur floated out of my hands and went straight back towards the hero.
Shit I was so focus on why he handed to me that, I lost the only chance to destroy it.
“See told you its attach to me.” The hero reach up in the air to grab it, but before he could Excalibur gave off a radiant light.
“Huh, that’s new.”
“Hey what is it doing?” I started to get nervous as the light grew brighter, did it realize who I was?
“I don’t know, maybe it chose you as new partner.”
“Yea, real funny.”
Both of us watch Excalibur get brighter. once the light it reach its peak, the light faded, the moment light vanish, I felt myself getting push by an invisible force, which slam me into the nearest tree.
Lucky for me I didn’t get push that far, so I didn’t suffer any injuries. The hero quickly rushes over to my side, as I try to get up.
“Hey are ok?!”
“Yea, I’m fine.”
“Listen, I have no idea what that was, I never seen Excalibur act so violently before.”
“Maybe it doesn’t like me, I let out a little laugh as I struggle to my feet.”
“Here let me help you.” The hero offering me his hand, but I push it away.
“I told you I’m fine.”
“Are you sure? I can carry you if you want?”
“Get away from her!” Aaron rush out from the forest and pushes the hero away from me. “What do you think you’re doing to my sis?!”
“Nothing I’m just trying to help her!”
“Really? From what I saw you’re the reason why she injury.”
“Yea, but… it was an accident!” The hero stumble on his words. I have no idea why they’re both panicking, I’m not even injury, I was just caught off guard by that attack.
“Will you two calm down, I’m not even injury.” I pick myself off the ground and brush away the dust that gather on my skirt. “C’mon Aaron, we’re leaving.”
“Hey, wait….” I raise my hand up to stop the hero from talking.
“You followed me, because there was no one else to escort me back to camp, but as you can see I got someone else that will take me back, so you can return to your group npw.” I walk back towards camp without waiting for the hero’s response. Hopefully, he’s too distraught to follow me.
“Sis, are you ok?”
“Yea I’m fine, but how did you find me.”
“Max, told me you went in this direction, plus that flash of light from earlier help me to find you.”
“I see.”
“I’m sorry sis, I should’ve stay by your side especially since we’re in a dangerous area.”
“Yea, yea so tell me why did you come looking for me?”
“Isn’t it obvious? I wanted to make sure you’re ok.”
“You’re lying.”
“Huh?”
Both Aaron and I stop walking and face each other.
“That’s not the real reason why you’re here you came here, because you wanted something from me isn’t that right?”
“….Yes” Aaron looked as if he was too embarrassed to look at me. “How…. How did you know?”
“Aaron, they don’t call me the God of Corruption for nothing, I have the ability to sense people inner desires.” Although I kind of forgot I had this ability since everyone I been around really didn’t want anything. Except the orcs, but it was pretty obvious what they wanted.
I sat down on a log that was lying on the grass. “I have to say though, I never expected you to become someone that deeply desire something. So tell me little brother, what do you want from me?”
(Aaron: P.O.V)
“…..” My sister eyes, even though I should be use to them by now, they gave off a haunting feeling, as if she was staring directly into my soul. I couldn’t help but to feel naked, it was like I couldn’t hide anything from that gaze of hers. Is this what it’s like to face an entity?
“Well I’m waiting.” My sister continue focus her powerful gaze on me.
“I….” I felt my words get trap in my throat. For some reason I was scared, I was scared to talk to my sister. I close my eyes and focus on the conservation I had with Claire, that alone was gave me the strength to face my sister.
“I want to get stronger so I can protect you…. That’s why I’m asking you please turn me into a demon…”
A/N: I was going to talk about something irrelevant, like Overwatch and how you’re an asshole if you play as Mei or Bastion. But I notice I got a review that wasn’t a four or five stars, so let’s talk about that instead. Don’t worry I’m
not going to complain. I accept and respect the review.
I would like to say thank you for the review, I’m glad to know where I’m at as a writer, although I think you exaggerated on the grammar, but I get it, I suck. Speaking of grammar, i have an embarrassing confession I need to make. You see i'm a full blown American. I know surprising, I always did laugh when you guys assume english wasn't my first language, all I could say was damn I must really suck. I thought I have improve, but I guess I didn't. Well I guess the main thing I should do is go back and fix my earlier chapters, since I really didn't know how to write back than.
Anyway besides the review, there something else I want to talk about, i'm thinking about starting another story, i'm not dropping, nope not at all. It's just want to try something new out. As I said I started this story when I didn't know how to write for crap, so it be interesting to see how people would react, to a new story of mine, when I actually have some skill behind it.
I'm thinking of trying the virtual reality world out. Its going to be a death game where if you died in the game you die in real life stuff. And I think it might be a gender bender story, i don't know yet. So let me know what you think, should focus solely on this story, or should try to write two stories at once.
Anyway, that's all folks thanks for reading.