Glenn coughed heavily, his vision blurry as he dragged himself on the rocky floor. Blood flowed freely out of his wounds, the life draining out of him. When was the last time he was hurt that gravely?

'I can't remember...Shit, I need to use C.P.R., but my Mana...!' He tried to push himself up, but Laurance kicked him away violently. The little breath he had left slipped away from his lips.

"Damn it, how did you find me?" Laurance grunted as he pointed his sword at the new arrival, a knight wearing dark steel armor and a masked skull helmet.

"...You're not hard to find." His voice was deep and old, filled with anguish and regret. Glenn rolled to the side, his heart beating loudly as it desperately pumped blood through his wound-ridden body. He tried to muster the Mana to perform a C.P.R. but it was impossible. His Mana reserve was empty, drained by the powerful Meteor he used as a last resort against Laurance, to no avail.

A hand grabbed him by the collar and dragged him back, away from Laurance and the Hell Knight.

"Cough..."

"Don't worry, Big Bro, I got you. Don't close your eyes, alright?" Lucian's voice pierced through the veil of pain and death, seeking to reassure him, but Glenn could hardly understand. He looked down, his eyes widening at the large wound in his chest and his stomach ripped open.

The last time he was wounded so critically... He remembered now.

Back when he first woke up in this world. A spear in his heart and a ghoul eating his entrails.

"Don't die, please, don't die..." Lucian prayed with all his strength as he applied the little knowledge of healing spells on Glenn's wounds.

"You already know that you can't kill me, so why bother?" Laurance mocked as he circled the Hell Knight. The latter sighed deeply before taking one step toward the enemy.

"Because it is right. Now, die."

A powerful sonic bang rang out as Laurance and the Hell Knight disappeared out of sight. The sound of explosions in the distance echoed madly, a constant destructive clash.

"Glenn!"

"No!"

Milena and Liara arrived at the scene and ran up to Glenn. Sahro cursed as he frantically searched his dimensional pouch for healing potions.

"I- I did what I could, but he lost a lot of blood!" Lucian stammered, his hands pressed against Glenn's wounds. The latter grunted amid two coughs, his mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood. Nelg suddenly appeared next to Glenn in his shining armor, panicked.

"Wh- What do we do? W- We need to save him, damn it!"

Lucian's eyes widened at the sight of a second Glenn, but he concentrated back on the wounded one. Milena teared up as she assisted Lucian in applying basic healing magic to Glenn's wounds.

"I- I just got back, why would you...?"

Liara breathed in deeply before slapping her cheeks. She grabbed Sahro and pulled him in, muttering in his ear.

"Ask the demons for a healer—I refuse to believe they don't have one."

Sahro's eyes brightened and he darted away while Liara worked with Lucian and Milena to stabilize Glenn. Nelg paced anxiously, his hands trembling uncontrollably.

Glenn's eyelids were heavy, closing slowly but surely.

'This doesn't look too good, huh? Hmm, but I'm sure you'll pull it off without me...won't you?' Diamanes' voice was like a mirage, a hallucination that Glenn had difficulty not disbelieving. He closed his eyes slowly, the cold invading his body. He could feel it. Without help, this would be the end.

Sahro grabbed Ialkris from the ground, ignoring the demon's cries of pain.

"Where are your healers? NOW!" He shouted in his face, his red lightning flaring up with full force. Ialkris coughed heavily, only for his eyes to roll back in their sockets. Sahro cursed in the Black Heir tongue before dashing into the Last City, desperately searching for a healer.

"Come on, you must hold on! Listen to me, Glenn, listen to me!" Milena cried, sending as much Mana as she could in her basic healing spell. Lucian followed her example, blood flowing from his nose, ears, and eyes as he overstrained himself.

"You're the only one I can compare to..." muttered Lucian. "You can't die."

Liara wiped her tears away and concentrated twice as hard, her eyes determined. Glenn was one of the rare individuals she could trust and call a real friend. She refused to let him die in this place, to let him perish under the watch of the thousand eyes in the sky.

'I know you'll pull it off,' thought Liara as her confidence shook. 'So heal up already!'

Sahro returned with Vilkris and a three-horned demon following him closely. The three-horned was a healer, as proven by his instinct to rush to Ialkris' side to heal him.

"No, take care of him first!" Sahro screamed as he pulled him away from Ialkris and practically threw him at Glenn.

"This is my Elder—" The healer tried to protest, but Sahro unsheathed his blade with silent rage.

"Do as you're told, or you and your Elder will both die!"

The face of the red-skinned demon paled. He hurriedly rushed to Glenn's side, pushing Milena, Liara, and Lucian away.

"This isn't looking good, he is suffering from Mana deficiency! His body can't handle the counter-shock of fighting that monster Laurance!" The demon healer exclaimed, panicking. Nelg froze in place.

"I'll return to his Mana Heart and do what I can," he declared, resolute. "Save him!" He disappeared in a cloud of deep blue particles. The demon's dejected expression changed to hope.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

"It's working! The Mana is returning to his body!"

Glenn's wounds began to heal with visible progress, the flesh knitting itself together and the bones growing back from their shattered state. Sweat covered the demon's forehead as he guided the regeneration, pulling out the shards of bones or cutting away the mangled meat. His healing spells reconnected veins and broken vessels, soothing Glenn's pain and returning him to life.

The sonic bangs that were echoing in the distance suddenly occurred right above their position, and Laurance crashed next to Glenn, his team, and the healers. The monster turned his head and took barely a second to understand what was going on. Another second was enough to slice off the head of the demon healer before returning to fight with the Hell Knight. Glenn's healing, which was in a good way, returned to a critical point. His heart rate slowed down to a stop as his chest stopped rising.

Every single one of his friends rushed to his side, their eyes widening in horror as Glenn let out his final breath.

"No..." Lucian took a step back, shaking.

Sahro fell to his knees, his face hardening and his fists bleeding from how tightly they were clenched. "I was too slow. I should have been faster. This is my fault..."

Milena laughed in disbelief, reaching out to Glenn with trembling fingers. "T- This is a joke, right? Like always, you'll rise back up and survive, right?"

Liara held her breath as she pressed her ear against Glenn's bloody chest, listening for a heartbeat. The blood in her veins turned to ice.

She couldn't hear anything.

The tears flowed out of her eyes freely as, for the first time in her life, she cried. She wept her eyes out, the sadness submerging her. Milena fell to her knees, the emotion draining out of her face, replaced by pure blankness. Sahro roared to the sky, screaming his anger and grief at the Beyond's eyes. Lucian hid his face in his hands, refusing to look in Glenn's direction.

That day, Glenn died.

Laughter interrupted their grief as Laurance crashed back into the ground. The Hell Knight landed a few meters away, his greatsword dripping with dark blood.

"Hahaha, what's up with your faces? Are you all weeping for this fool? How heartbreaking!" Laurance cackled mockingly. Sahro was instantly wrapped into red lightning, his fox form appearing once again. He lunged for Laurance with all his might, but the monster knocked him away with the back of his blade while laughing.

"I could have killed you, but it's just too funny to watch bugs like you suffer! Hahaha!"

"Damn you!" Sahro raged. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you, your family, and anyone related to you!"

Laurance waved his hand dismissively, his eyes still glued to the Hell Knight who remained unmoving for now, waiting for an opportunity to strike.

"Sure, sure, whatever. I don't have relatives, and my friends are all stronger than you. I'll cheer you on anyway! Woohoo, cheers for the loser Black Heir who watched his friend die helplessly!"

Sahro rushed forward, blinded by his thirst for blood. Laurance knocked him away again, laughing as he did so. Lucian was lying down, his strength and determination drained. There was nothing kingly to him. His regal clothes were ripped, and his expression was a painting of depression and despair.

Liara's forehead was pressed against Glenn's chest as she wept, unable to let go of her dear friend. Milena was staring at Glenn's face, her eyes empty and her emotions gone.

"Cruel bastard..." hissed the Hell Knight. "I knew the moment I set my eyes on you that you deserved nothing but death. Even if it takes me an eternity, I'll destroy you, Laurance."

Laurance laughed as he agitated his sword in the Hell Knight's direction. "You say that, and yet you still can't defeat me! You can just try, but I'll always return! Nobody can beat my regeneration powers! I'm healing faster than most monsters now! Even the spell that took all of this dead fool's strength barely managed to hurt me!"

He opened his arms widely, a large grin appearing on his split face. "You can't do anything to me!"

A gust of wind suddenly pushed Liara back from Glenn's corpse and made Milena's raven-black hair sway. Lucian saw a purple light shoot past him, suddenly reigning the dead hope in his heart. Milena's eyes lit up as she watched Glenn grab Laurance's throat and strangle him.

"Glenn!"

A dazzling smile graced Milena's face, while Sahro and Lucian breathed a sigh of relief. Glenn grinned from ear to ear as he crushed Laurance's throat with his bare hands, his strength incomparable to what it was before.

Liara's heart tightened. Why...why did she feel so uneasy? Why did Glenn not feel like...Glenn?

Laurance coughed as he gazed down in horror at the human strangling him. "W- What are you?"

Glenn smile's grew to a disproportionate size as his entire skin turned to a deep shade of purple. Liara gasped as she finally realized.

"I'm the Devil's Hand," Diamanes grinned, "...And I'm here to take you for myself."

***

Glenn squinted, using his hands as a visor to protect himself from the bright light. He was standing in a simple room alongside four other individuals. He blinked a few times, confused.

'What happened to me?' He felt his chest for wounds, but he couldn't find anything. 'Did I die for real this time?'

"Damn it...Sevirox, what does your knowledge from another world think of this?" A crowned man with perfect blond hair and blue eyes crossed his arms. He wore regal clothing with the symbol of Munirp embroidered on it, the famous setting sun.

Sevirox was a man with long and straight red hair that reached to his knees. He had pointy ears and sharp red eyes, with an angular jaw that gave him a serious look.

"It thinks nothing. This isn't something I ever dealt with back on Earth. This is the very opposite of scientific—logic can hardly be applied to this situation."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed another interlocutor, a crowned elf. His skin was as black as ebony and he wore tunic similar to those worn in feudal Japan. A katana rested at his waist, sheathed. "This is very logical. W***** is threatening the Limbo, so we four must fight him! That's as simple as that!"

Glenn rubbed his eyes, wondering what was going on. 'Hello?' He tried speaking aloud, but his voice echoed in his head, silent in the present conversation. He tried to reach for the elf king or the human king, but his hand simply went through them as if he were a ghost.

Another scoffed from the corner of the room. "I don't disagree with the battle-crazy idiot, but I doubt we can hurt *****W with just our strength. He's a god, after all." The voice came from a muscular red-skinned demon. He had a single, sharp black horn poking out of his crowned head, and he wore a white toga proudly. A diagonal scar crossed his face.

The Human King grinned wickedly as he grabbed Sevirox's shoulder. "Don't worry, we've been thinking about it! Our draconic friend already taught us magic, and he's halfway through creating a new material that will harm even that W***** bastard!"

Glenn paced around the room, his mind racing to understand what was going on. 'Sevirox, a human King, a dark elf King, and a demon King. Exactly like in the story that Ialkris told us about.' He walked up to the human King, studying his features a little closer.

'So he's the First King...Sure, he's handsome, but he doesn't look strong.'

Suddenly, the faces of the four friends around the table darkened. They rushed out of the room, with Glenn closely following behind them. They stood on a balcony, craning their heads out at the night sky. Glenn looked up at them, his fists tightening as he realized what they were so serious about. The Blood Moon was shining brightly above the Limbo's land, its little white sister hidden behind it.

"Alright, let's continue discussing this after we're done with that," said the First King as a cloak of orange and purple light appeared on his shoulders.

Sevirox frowned deeply as scales appeared on his face. "And I was just getting used to a human body. How unfortunate."

"Hahaha, another opportunity to show the might of my kingdom!" The dark elf laughed broadly, excited eyes turned to the sky. His katana gleamed ominously under the crimson moon.

"Let us prove that mortals aren't tools nor toys..." muttered the demon King.

As if one thought, the four flew up, charging head-on against the opening Moon Rift. Glenn's eyes widened to watch this spectacular show, but a hand grabbed him by the collar and pulled him away.

'What—?'

A purple hand dragged him out of the dream, back into the darkness he was drowning in earlier.

"Time to wake up, you lazy bastard!"