11.P.M

"-ke up."(???????)

my head was dizzy, what is happening? Ugh, damn it. I should have keep my guard up even if just a little so this sort of situation wouldn’t happen. Because of my recklessness, Sakura disappeared again, she may be in danger right now for all I know. As I slowly lifted my body I noticed Lune and Noir were here. Why are they here? Before I can ask them a question they already hugged me in worry. Looks like I slept to long. Why does Jessica only make outstanding things when it is not necessary, that injection is way too potent. It makes me worried about for what she has made it like this.

"Daddy!!!"(Lune and Noir)

Both of them are crying, but I noticed that they already had tied their hair with a new ribbon. Lune was white while noir was black, looks like Yume did his job well.

Hmm? As I thought that I noticed there was plastic bag behind them. Yume was truly thoughtful. That plastic bag probably contains my Christmas present to Sakura. She always looks lonely, I hope this present helps her. Still where did she go? While I was thinking that I soothe Lune and Noir who were crying on my chest.

"Sorry to make you worry..."(Forvish)

....after soothing them for a few minutes, Yume went to beside me. Then he passed me a paper. When I read I was shocked, the same happened to Lune and Noir.

"If you don't want the demon to die then come alone to the location indicated by the map. The time limit is midnight 

Great HERO of justice, Leon-sama."

Leon!!!!!

Calm down Forvish, think positive. At least with this you know Sakura is still alive. After a second to recompose myself I let out a breath of relieved. Now I must ensure her safety. But before I could do anything Lune who stopped me.

"Dad, let's go home."(Lune)

"Lune!! You know she is in danger!!!!! Why your reaction like this?!"(Forvish)

"I don't care about that!!!"(Lune)

Hearing that, I stopped talking for a while. Lune was angry hearing this Noir grabbed my hand tightly.

"Dad, I don't know her. Dad only met her recently. Yet why? Why Dad must endanger himself for her?"(Lune)

Then Lune continue to said..

"Isn't she just a stranger to dad!!!! Beside she is the demon lord's daughter!! Whe learned in class that all that have demon blood are thieves and killers!!! And isn't she the one who hurt you badly before? Yet why? Why you must save her, DADDY?!?!?!"(Lune)

"Lune listen to me!!!She-"(Forvish)

"Don’t care!!! Don’t care!!! Don’t care!!! We don’t want you getting hurt!! Answer me this daddy, can you defeat the hero??"(Lune)

What Lune says was valid. My power still can't be compared. BUT there is no way I can leave that girl alone a lone, she is a friend and Lune and Noir older sister. But I can't persuade them, why must they do a tantrum no of all times. At this rate it will be too late. Noir who was scared until now then finally opened her mouth.

"One-chan, Daddy. Fighting is bad."(Noir)

With teary eyes Noir says that. Hear this Lune feel guilty and also become teary.

"Daddy, please don't go!! We don’t want you to die!!"(Lune)

Lune also started to beg me. Noir too grabbed my clothes tightly. Because of them I started thinking.

Sakura life's is at stake...

but my life is as well...

If I die, what will happen to everyone?

Lune and Noir will die as they are my mana even through they have their own souls. And I can't fulfill their mother wishes.

Luna. We already met. We already promised to be together.

Shiroyuki. She already risked her life for me. If I choose Sakura then it may be for naught.

Alice, will she be able to stand the sadness losing a loved one? I don't want her to cry.

Lisa will be living a live where she is without anyone to protect her, and her sister is also the same. I don't want to that happened.

Jessica and Iris will probably return to their parents. But a parents that never truly loved them? Never cared for them? Then they will return to being surrounded by a world of false feelings all over again. I don’t want that

Lumiere, she was the one that sheltered me when I was homeless. She was strong outside but inside she was a truly weak girl. She was like a rose, have her spikes and look dangerous but can get hurt all to easy.

The risk was too high. Sakura was only a stranger if I compared with any of them. Why I must risk my life.

Not to mention... she wanted to kill me before.

If I made the wrong choice than I will die. No it is wrong to think this way, TO save Sakura and survive is impossible. Fighting a hero? Not even I with manarize can survive that. Not to mention he also can do manafication. If he use manafication I won’t stand a chance. No way, there is no way. I can't even beat Sakura.....if Leon can kill her, then I will just be throwing. I am just a regular guy, not a hero. The location was an abandoned orphanage quite far from here. I would need at least 2 hour to get there and my dad will take even longer as he is quite a distance away. Sakura will die before that. What should I do? Should I sacrifice 1 for the rest?

Realistically it was more like 1 person suffering or all of them suffering. Forvish. You know the only choice here... the right choice. Even a kid can answer. Beside she was the one who drugged you so she can escape. It was her fault. Not yours. No one will blame you if she was killed. After all she was the one who ignored your warning. It was her fault. It was her fault. It was her fault.

Beside if she died, no one will care. She was the demon lord's daughter. Even if you save her you only put everyone lives in danger.

The reason you save her was because you didn't want to be her enemy. You only felt pitiful for her. You only pity her. Pity her. That's why you protected her. That's why you took care of her. Another reason you protected her was because you wanted Lune and Noir to be happy. But she didn't want it. She was the one who run away. Sakura was afraid of changing. She was afraid of the life you could had given her.

...Right, that's why she did that. She drugged you by stealing the injection and knocked you out, she even said her goodbye. She said we won't meet again. There is no need for you to help her. She is also thanking you for helping her.

She was the one who refused your help. That's right, there is nothing I can do. Nothing I can do. He was only a regular kid.

Narrator POV

Somewhere in the orphanage.

11.50 PM.

"In the end Forvish didn't come..."(Leon)

Leon said that as he check his own clock. Sakura hearing this only smiled while she was tied at the stake. It was just like in the witch hunt during the inquisition.

"He won't come, you lose..."(Sakura)

"In the end he is human, he would not sacrifice himself for something as useless as you, demon."(Leon)

........Sakura won't blame Forvish. He had a family to take care. She knows Forvish will only die if he comes.

Forvish had a family that he was often mumbling about. Beside she don't want him to die. Her death alone is enough. She just hopes that Forvish will forget all about her. It would be for the better. She was worried he would take revenge on her.

"Well...The ritual will be finished soon anyway. It may be a degraded version but your power will be put to a better use if it turns into my own. You can be proud, your life will finally be usefull for the word, as an incubator for my future power. Rejoice, little tool."(Leon)

Leon was using a special stone. It was one a taboo evil item called greed god stone. The stone allowed a person to devour another person essence taking it all, body soul and mana to reforce the power of the owner. It was an item known for being against the gods and evil beyond all else, to be destructed as it was the most despicable thing ever made, Leon had one for years. He probably obtained it on the lab that he found Forvish so long ago. It had only 2 weakness. It needs 12 hours to activate. The target need to be weak to the point of death. If not devouring will fail.

"Still I underestimated you too much. To think you was able to destroy 1 of my arms. It was a great feat. You are really as evil as your father. Such evil that dares to hurt justice."(Leon)

Sakura hearing that only close her eyes. In the end she was only able to destroy one of his arm, but his mana body was still intact. If only she could destroy his leg then maybe she could run. But in the end she was captured all the same, and was handcuffed which made it so that she can't cast any magic. Thought, to begin with she can't cast any magic.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

"The reason you give resistance, it was because deep down you were hoping Forvish will save you right?"(Leon)

"...."(Sakura)

Sakura can't say anything ,she can't refute anything. Because what Leon said true..

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! That is the most hilarious joke ever made. Why would anyone cares about some tool like you, you only exist for one thing. BE MY GIMMICK FOR THE GREAT ME! You were born for my sake, to be my power one day, YOU EXIST ONLY FOR ME, FOOLISH TOOL!!!! "(Leon)

"You are the fool."(Sakura)

Hearing her rebuke Leon was surprised, that is new, since when was she able to rebuke? Then sakura continued..

"Forvish, saved me. Not just once, but twice. He gave me dreams, he give me hopes. He cares about me. In the end Forvish gave me a place to call home. IF I was born for something it was for protecting him of you, scum."(Sakura)

Hearing that Leon grimed evilly.

"A home? You? It even make me want to puke hearing that!!! Dreams, hope and a home are for humans, not demons like you. Forvish is human and have hero blood, why would he cares about a dirty being like you, DEMON?"(Leon)

"I am not a demon."(Sakura)

"!!!"(Leon)

Sakura answer with full confidence made Leon surprised.

"Demon, Human. It only depend on the person point of view."(Sakura)

"What doesit matter? If everyone see you as demon, you are demon. Such a thing even a kid know."(Leon)

Leon made fun of her by saying that. No one see her as human...it was a fact.

"It doesn't matter, even if the whole world see me like demon, treat me like me like demon, it doesn't matter."(Sakura)

Hearing that Leon was surprised, just what this girl was saying? But her next words made him understand everything.

"Because Forvish treat and see me as human. It doesn't matter how many people see me as demon. As long he still say I am a human, then I am human. After all it was the only thing that mattered to me"(Sakura)

"I see, what a great coincidence. If you had meet later you would become enemies. If I know this I should had be less lazy and had erased your memory too. This is what I get for letting you move around, I should had removed your arms and legs when you were a kid so that you learned your place better, little tool."(Leon)

"Don’t matter what you say the past won’t change. No matter what I had met him."(Sakura)

'What did you say?"(Leon)

"No matter what you do it will stay the same. Forvish will always be like this. Even if I become the next demon lord. Forvish would still will do this. He will always lend me a hand. He is just that kind of guy. An honest and gentle guy."(Sakura)

A guy that was so foolish. A guy that even lend a hand to the enemy. Because of that, he was betrayed, by his friends, by the heroes, by all. But he still choose to ignore that. He always trust others.

"Heh, so what? In the end neither of you can beat me. He is a human just like me, the only difference is that I am a hero and he is only blood related to one."(Leon)

In the end Forvish chose his family. Leon wanted to see the despair on her face her wailing and crying, but Sakura:

"Forvish. He beat you, he win from you the hero. He defeats me as well. He win from us flawlessly, beyond our expectation. We can never beat him."(Sakura)

"Why you said that? The fact i-"(Leon)

"The fact is, he saved me no matter what you do. Even if you erase his memories. He always stay like that. He is always like that, he never change. It not happened because of revenge. It not happened because of anyone guidance. No matter what kind of failure he face, he always look for what was in front of him... and never delve in the past. That's why, Heroes. You won't beat him no matter what you do. Forvish is stronger than you ever will be."(Sakura)

Leon think she was laughable, he can kill both Forvish and her easily, why she think he is weak? He is a HERO, no human can match him!! Only 30 seconds until he can take the power that is his by right.

"In the end your rambling ended up useless. Forvish choose to abandon you for his family. Now you can die here alone."(Leon)

Sakura hear this smiled. Leon was surprised but begin to use the stone.

"Any last word?"(Leon)

Then Sakura said this with a smile and tears running at same time.

"Nothing, after all I am already happy enough."(Sakura)

She knows that there was no way he would choose her. He only knows her for a number of days.

BUT, what made her crying was sadness. She wanted Forvish to choose her. She wants to be an important person for him. And like in the fairy tale he told her long ago she wanted to live with him forever and ever. But in the end it was impossible. She had nothing to regret as at least for a moment she could live like she always dreamed. As she thought that she closed her eyes like accepting her end.

"Forvish you truly were created by me. You chose safety and family. You are a normal human deep down."(Leon)

But before Leon can use the stone power the window nearby was broken and someone force his way in. It was totally outside of his expectations that is why Leon took to long to react and because of that someone fist falls on his face and send him to the wall.

Thanks god he was in his manabody and the opponent didn't use any sharp object. If not then he would had already lost. Still why he couldn't sense him? Why he can't trace any mana nearby?

"Leon. What you said was right. I am human, a normal one."(Forvish)

That voice made Sakura slowly opened her eyes. When she saw Forvish her eyes turned teary once again.

"Forvish!!! WHY?!?!?! Why you do this?!!!"(Sakura)

"To save you of course..."(Forvish)

Forvish answered without a second thought which made Sakura want to cry more and more.

"Why?!!! Didn't you have a family to protect? Why did you choose me? Why you choose to save the life of a stranger!!"(Sakura)

"Sakura you are not stranger. You are part of my family."(Forvish)

"But!! To choose 1 person instead of many people. Why?"(Sakura)

"Because I do not want to sacrifice anyone..."(Forvish)

"!!!"(Leon and Sakura)

"I won't sacrifice anyone. It may be harder but I decided that I will protect everyone I care about. That is my decision."(Forvish)

As Forvish said this he slowly he started to manarize. Once its complete Forvish said:

"If I started to that to sacrifice some to the benefit of many then I won't be any different from the heroes! They choosed to change the word so that many could live a better life, but they forsake their love and family for that. I could not care less I won’t abandon the ones I love even if I must make the word my enemy for that."(Forvish)

Then Forvish face sakura who was tied at stake...

“The path I chose may be harder, even impossible BUT I will not end up as a hero that saves the word by stepping on his family and friends. Iwill help the word second and my loved ones first.  I will help all the ones I care for, as I am just an human and as such I chose to be as egoistic as one. I AM HUMAN.”(Forvish)

A world without your loved ones? What is the worth in that? If you can you should help the word as without it only suffering will remain for his family. BUT the most important fact is that you should always care first for your family as only they are always there for you.

"Maybe you think I will lose and will die as I am fool. A fool that stick to his own decision. So please understand okay."(Forvish)

He said while smiling cheekily which made Sakura want to cry at him.

"Well enough of this teary reunion.

Sakura, can you fight?"(Forvish)

"Yes."(Sakura)

"Then there is a higher chance to survive this. Let's survive Sakura!!"(Forvish)

She nod, and then both of them enter battle mode...the outcome will decide everything. With each of their live at stake they begin to fight. A fight to survive and to take back destiny on their own hands.

The last seven chapter(now back to the usual cycle)