Pant…Pant!!
Between the destroyed road ran one guy as fast as possible, not looking back.
On his right, all he could see was a destroyed collapsed building and tens of corpses lying. On his left was also the same and remained the same as he ran helplessly.
He passed many obstacles, buildings, and copses but never looked back, for he feared the death chasing might catch up to him but the luck of this man was not with him as, after some time, despair overtook him in the form of the wall that stood in front of him.
It was not a wall of bricks, but a wall of bones and corpses. Erected by the bones of the humans he once saw alive, now they are the thorns in his path. His eyes frantically searched everywhere, looking for any nook or cranny, but only the giant wall of bones came into his view.
“H-Help!! ANYBODY!!”
Not finding any way to survive, his last attempt was the desperate call for help, but in the midst of utter silence, what answered him was the voice of death.
[This is the end, O final one.]
Gathering his every energy, he turned around only to have that energy disperse at the sight of death standing majestically in front of him.
“Hiik!!”
Upon a mountain of corpses stood a figure, covered in dark who revealed his face by pulling back the hood. What lay behind the curtain of darkness was a horrendous face, full of scars.
His eyes, were full of darkness, spewing out dark blood as he looked at the only person in front of him to bring his sword out in his last defense.
[Please, do not resist. You know you do not have a long time left. Join me in death, O final one.]
The voice of death permeated every part of the man’s body, rendering him to do even a single thing. But even then, he took his stance as he pointed his sword bravely at death.
“Don’t kid with me, you monster!! You murderer, who joined hands with the devils, have no right to even speak.”
[You said I joined my hands with the devils. Do you even know who pushed me to do all this massacre?]
In an instant, the shrouded man appeared in front of the other man, leaving a trail of black mist behind. The man, terrified of the being in front of him, tried to swing his sword with all his might, but something caught the sword.
Clang!
After opening his eyes, he found the one who caught his sword.
“D-Death knight!!”
That’s right, a death knight. A knight of death, called upon by his master, Death to serve him as he orders him to slaughter every single living being that stands in his path of absolute destruction, is now standing in front of him.
From behind, a neighing of a horse was heard. Even though he knew who the source of that noise was, he still looked, only to lose the last bit of hope he had.
A humongous army comprising several death knights, lichs, phantoms, hounds, bone dragons, skeletons, dullahans, and various minions of death stood behind the shrouded man.
The death knight, who caught the sword, snatched it away from the man and kicked him away, before kneeling in front of his master, presenting the sword to him.
The shrouded man then took hold of the sword, lifting it as he then examined it with great interest.
[Beautiful, isn’t it? The hope of humanity, the sword of salvation, which is said to be the only hope in the time of apocalypse that will save humanity, fell into the dirty hands of you humans who stained its purity. At first, like any other human, I thought that by the hands of someone chosen, humanity would survive.]
[But in my opinion, humanity doesn’t deserve this hope.]
He caught the blade from his left hand and the hilt from the right.
[Now, watch with your eyes as I shatter this hope of yours.]
He applied force on his grip, which slowly started to bend the sword. Looking at this, the man lying down looked desperately at the sword as he called out to the shrouded man.
“STOP!! Even though you are dead, do not take back the only hope of humanity. That sword is the only salvation of humankind. If you will break it, this apocalypse will never end.”
[And whose salvation are you talking about? Yours? Did you seriously believe that anyone is alive by now? O final one, you are the only one left after I killed everyone on this planet.]
“What?”
[Don’t be shocked. I have already killed everyone, even the ones who brought forth this apocalypse, the devils, and also the ones who flamed the destruction of our planet, that is humans.]
“H-How?”
His expression asked about the explanation of the rambling he was hearing about, as humanity from the first day of the apocalypse never could imagine eradicating the devils completely.
Year 3XXX, the year when everything changed on earth. On a normal day on earth, peace was uprooted from this world as humanity faced an unprecedented situation.
Unknown creatures later known as the devils appeared with their minions out of nowhere as they slaughtered every single human, plunging the world into blood-stained chaos. Amid this, humanity also gained something that is, awakening. A power said to be bestowed by the gods to fight the devils. Many humans awakened as they slowly started to thwart the devils, establishing peace but over time, the number of awakeners decreased.
Nobody knew the reason as to where they had gone but soon, desperation overtook humans again. They seek the remaining awakened, but the awakened, drunk in their power and feeling so high and mighty, abandoned their own kind as they saved only those they deemed worthy or got profits from. Some even sided with the devils.
And the shrouded man standing in front of the awakener is one victim. A fruit bore from the desperation and destruction.
[You awakeners abandoned us helpless people. Do you not feel even a bit of shame as you protected those with power and abandoned the ones you should have protected? If you would, I would not be standing here in front of you like this.]
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“Why should we save those who shackled us? Every time we tried to kill the devils, the casualty was from the non-awakener’s side. We simply protected those who were worthy of our protection. Protecting you all only resulted in more casualties. Many awakened died to protect those worthless vermin.”
[Then you should feel proud of yourself. Your choice has finally bore the fruit-]
The shrouded man, with a hoarse voice, finally broke the sword. The sword, the last hope of humanity, finally broke into pieces as it fell down in front of the awakened.
[-in the form of your destruction.]
Seeing the pieces of the sword the man finally gave up, and not long, he was savagely torn into pieces by the army of the shrouded as the shrouded overlooked, with nothing but pity in his dead eyes.
[It’s finally over. I will finally be able to close my eyes. I will finally be able to see my family.]
It was when he was killed that he awakened and soon after he received a quest.
[Quest
Kill every single human being and devil on this planet.
Reward: Liberation from the body of death.]
After seeing the quest, he made up his mind. In order to reunite with his family in the afterworld, he became the death himself as he marched across the globe, killing without discrimination, whether it is an awakened, a non-awakened, or the devil. He killed everyone mercilessly till he finally killed the last human.
And now, the day of his salvation finally came. Looking back, he found his army of death kneeling, bidding him their farewell. The dried tears regained moisture as black blood flowed from his eyes.
[Ha... hahaha!!! Now, at the end of this dead life, I regained my emotions. This world, why did it turn out like this? Why? WHY!!]
With a roar full of sorrow and agony, he asked the skies about their ultimate end, but nobody answered. Finally giving up, he sat down and opened the status window.
[Now, give me the freedom I deserve.]
[Congratulations!!
You have succeeded in killing every human being and devil on this planet.
You can now leave the body of death.]
“Finally. Finally, I will die. I will meet them again.”
In his eyes, the picture of his parents clearly lit up, and so another window appeared in front of him.
[Will you finally liberate yourself?
Yes/No]
[Yes. YES!!]
His salvation is within his view. His long-suffering will finally end. With his already rotten fingers, he tried to touch the yes button, his ultimate form of salvation, just when a bright light appeared behind him.
[What the...?]
***
Pant, pant...
In a long majestic corridor ran a man, breathing heavily while holding various documents. His eyes, panicked, looking nowhere only looked forward.
“Open the door!!”
“Y-Yes!!”
At the end of the corridor was a decorated gate full of gems and gold. On both sides of the gate, stood guards who saw the man running towards them frantically. Upon seeing the man running, they hurriedly opened the door. The light, which escaped the door momentarily, blinded the three, but the man never minded as he passed the guards and entered the room.
After entering, he kneeled, while concealing his heavy breathing.
“H-His Highness. I have an urgent report.”
Standing in front of him was a man of tall stature, wearing shining silver armor, with a bright velvet cape. His lush black hair tucked, glowed brightly making him even more beautiful to look at. Then from his mouth came soft yet a manlier voice that can charm even a man.
“Be at ease, my royal advisor. Control your breathing and then tell me about the report.”
“I-I apologize, your highness.”
Turning back, he revealed his face, so bright and clean with facial expressions that of an angel made even the royal advisor gulp in shame. Even an angel would hide before this beauty. A human is not even a comparison.
After waiting for a while, he again spoke to his advisor.
“Have you calmed down? Then speak what you have to say.”
“Yes. His holiness has done the preparation, but...”
“But?”
After hesitating for a while, he spoke.
“His holiness has received another revelation from the goddess.”
“What!!”
The man, who was calm moments ago, spoke hastily.
“How is that possible? The goddess herself said that there will be no prophecies anymore before this summon.”
“E-even his holiness is confused, your highness.”
The advisor kneeling sweated buckets after looking at the face of the man in front of him. He, for a long time, has served the man in front of him as his advisor, yet he never saw this side of him.
“Then what did he say about the prophecy?”
“T-That...”
After hesitating, he gathered up his courage and spoke.
“Say it, advisor.”
“Death will descend into this world.”
“!!”
Hearing the words of his advisor, the man stumbled before being caught by his advisor.
“Y-Your Highness!!”
“Hehehe..hehe!!”
“Your Highness?”
The man laughed like a maniac, unfitting of his position while his advisor looked at him with worry and tension. After a while, he stood up, but the worry was clear on his face.
“Prepare for the summoning.”
“Yes.”
The advisor, after the order of his master, exited the room, leaving the man alone. The man, looking outside the window, looked at the sky full of black clouds.
“Demon king, will your words really become true?”
And after a minute of staring at the sky, the man also left the room, with guards following him.
“Let’s see who this summoning finally brings. Death or another awakened.”
***
[What the....?]
The shards of the broken sword of salvation floated in front of the shrouded man in circles while emitting a bright white light.
[Holy light, huh? This sword is still trying to kill me even though it just watched his previous holders dying without it being of any use to them.]
Every previous holder who held the sword could never release even a bit of holy light from the sword. All of them were unworthy, unworthy to hold the sword, yet the sword still helped them by giving up his sharp blade as a help to humans, yet they died.
And now, after this many years, the shards of the swords glowed, with great holy light seeping out of them.
[Are you trying to kill me by showering me with that light? Then you are a fool. Nobody can light up the darkness that is me.]
[Embrace of death!]
The skill of his, like a soft hand embraced every undead, protecting them from the holy light of the sword. Even though the man himself is resilient to the holy light, the undead of his will become fine dust in front of the holy light.
[So, what do you have to say, sword of salvation?]
Calling out to the sword, the shrouded man came near the shards.
[Are you disappointed that you cannot protect humanity? Then do not be sad, as they deserve death, and so do I. So cease this last resistance, and at least let me, the last symbol of humanity, get liberated from this body.]
The man then tried to reach his hand out towards the center of the circle. Just then, another window appeared, and the light of the shards of the sword changed.
[Warning!!
The sword of salvation is now becoming the Eternal Scythe of Death.
You are now the owner of the Eternal Scythe of Death.]
Shards of the sword of salvation circled even faster as the gap between them decreased, and slowly they took the form of a scythe. A vicious, yet elegant-looking scythe levitated in front of the shrouded man with all its majesty.
Its blade emitting the power of death, compared to the holy light, looked sorrowful, full of the agony of the dead. Its handle pitch black represented the deepness of the darkness of death.
With a grim aura, the scythe levitated in front of him. The shrouded man, looking at the scythe, looked shocked as he tried to hold the scythe, just when a bright light fell upon him. Under his feet appeared strange symbols and a huge circle.
[Warning!!
A crack in dimension was detected!! Please escape the area!!]
[Warning!!]
[What? Dimension crack? Didn’t this appear when the apocalypse first started?]
Many a time, this notification came in front of everyone. Nobody knew the reason, but once it came, it never came with good news.
Even though he tried to escape, the shrouded man’s body started to disintegrate. His hands became dust and melted in the surrounding light, making him realize his end was near.
The option from before again appeared in front of him.
[Will you finally liberate yourself?
Yes/No]
Without hesitation, he pressed the yes button and soon closed his eyes.
[My time has come. Bye, my earth. I am sorry, I couldn’t save you all.]
And soon, his whole body disintegrated and the white light also disappeared, leaving the army of the dead kneeling and the scythe levitating.
And so, the man feared death finally died, or so he thought.
***