The vast empty room the throne resided in was originally pure white, but dark red stains now coated the walls and the floor. A particularly impressive swath of blood led to the similarly blood spattered throne. On the throne was a figure, raggedly breathing his last.

The once imposing figure was coated with wounds, notably five strange shimmering blades embedded into his body. He held no weapons, abandoned long ago when swords and magic cut through his gauntlets innumerable times rendering his hands useless. Around him lay hundreds of bodies, seemingly scattered like toy soldiers. Among them, none other then figure were still alive.

The figure recalled the events that had led to this point. He went through his memories, recalling the many faces he met from his years as an orphan begging and stealing, to his rise to power. He knew that all his friends were dead, and he was soon to join them. He recalled the trusted aides, the loyal soldiers who fought to their deaths against the enemy.

He began as an abandoned child, but nothing could stifle his optimism. He lived his days free of vice. When the young demon was old enough, he enlisted in the city's militia. He quickly found himself rising through the ranks, with combat skill, talent, luck, and most of all, hard work. Before he knew it, he found himself at the head of his city's forces. But he saw a bigger vision, an united demon continent, a truly massive empire spanning coast to coast. With his own power, he began the work of uniting the continent. But his actions were noticed.

After his efforts to coalesce the various city-states and kingdoms of the demon continent into the infernal empire, the other 5 continents began to fear for their positions. Afraid of the power he wielded, they united into one force to oppose his legions. They crudely forced their way to the capital, pillaging his country and killing all who opposed their "defense" coalition. Bolstered with divine aid, they cut down innocent civilians in their crusade, looting from his once vibrant cities. Finally, their 500,000 elite forces with 20 blessed "heroes," entered the capital. Confidant of their victory, the rest of the coalition force began moving to destroy all of the demon cities.

But the elite forces found the capital empty. The residents and officials had long been ordered to evacuate, leaving only him and the four surviving demon generals inside. The battle began as a one sided slaughter of the coalition troops, but the 5 demons quickly began to tire of the killing. Each day a demon general silently succumbed to his/her wounds, until on the fourth day he was left with only one companion. They spoke no words, as they had stopped long ago to concentrate on pure violence. He watched as the last general was fell, leaving him alone against the horde of crusaders in the throne room.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Finally, the "blessed heroes," who had killed hundreds by that point of the war made one effort and managed to kill him in his weakened state at the cost of their lives. However in a twist of irony, 5 heroes of each race managed to survive his onslaught. Even in their damaged state, they all began to bicker about who was the one who slew the demon emperor, and how the spoils of war would be divided among themselves and their countries. They soon began to fight, and managed to inflict mortal wounds on each other, leaving only the dying emperor alone with his thoughts.

He cursed the distant gods who supported the coalition. Their incessant meddling foiled his plans at every step of his empire's rise. He would have felt better if they had wiped him out with their infinite power, but the only thing they did was to provoke him with petty tricks. They viewed the world as a plaything, a mere distraction to ease the dullness of their immortal lives

Once again his thoughts drifted back to the past, his in hindsight carefree days in the city militia. He thought of the cherished friends he would never meet again and stretched his arm weakly as if to touch their shining faces before as the world faded out entirely around him

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This is my very first fiction, so feel free to comment about things I should correct in my writing. It might seem a bit grimdarky and edgy right now, but it will change in coming chapters. Also inspired by a bunch of other reincarnation stories.