A sword slammed onto the ground as blood splattered on the ash-covered land. Grey barely even managed to stay on his feet after the demon king's strike nearly ended his already miserable life. His breathing became labored as it sucked out the air from his lungs that were weakened by the hot embers. His faith was slowly collapsing, but his body seemingly refused to stop fighting.

This person, who calls himself a hero, battled this monster for several days and made his body immune to almost all of its attacks. Grey hoped this would end his misery after spending years in this rather lonely place filled with the silent screams of the demons that he had slain.

After roaming this burning place, he annihilated the entire demon army and forced his way to fight the almighty demon king. And now he had to make a noble sacrifice to kill this terrifying monster who had plunged his entire country into the pits of terror. Standing in front of him with his towering height, two twisted horns that symbolize wrath, and his red eyes full of rage, looking at the foolish man with his sword in his bare hands, the demon king, Satan.

"You're a stubborn one!" The gigantic demon king spoke to the pitiful man below him, who was barely even breathing yet refused to surrender. His deep voice echoed through the entire demon world, gazing down at Grey with its furious red eyes that pierced through the darkness.

"Still, I'm impressed you managed to withstand this place despite being a mere human." His eyes are full of resentment that could make anyone scream in despair. "But a human is still a human. You're just another sacrificial lamb to entertain me." His eyes finally met his, staring at him agitatedly. "Do you not fear me?"

"Fear? Haha!" He responded with a slight, almost-mocking chuckle. His wild golden eyes are staring at the creature like a beast looking at its prey. "That feeling died the moment I abandoned everything twenty years ago." Grey was enraged and at the same time, almost yelling in excitement before picking up his sword that was drenched in bloody ground. He took a deep breath and tasted the blood in the air before charging towards his ruthless foe, tightly gripping the sword in his right hand.

A battle between humanity's strongest and the darkness's embodiment once again will start. Both of them are hoping that this will be the last time they cross their blades.

"We're both destined to die here, so just shut up and let me stab your heart!" The hero sneered. He jumped before the demon could even notice him. His sword pierced through the air as he violently swung it, carrying momentum.

"Purification slash!" The movement was followed by a chant as Grey flew in the air using mana to lift his body up in the air by forcefully thrusting it downwards.

"Heh!" The demon king almost immediately swung his sword at Grey, with the intent of killing him in the process. However, his sword caught nothing but dust, and before he knew it, Grey had already jumped above him using 'Quick Step' and was tightly squeezing his sword with both hands.

I was sure my timing was precise. It's hard to believe that he managed to evade that, considering my speed. The demon was dumbfounded as he cautiously stared at Grey in midair. He quickly lifted his free arm in an attempt to block Grey's attack.

But almost instantly, Grey moved in midair and averted his angle of attack. The movement was so fast that the demon king couldn't even follow it with his naked eyes. Before Satan could even react, the hero's sword bit into the flesh of his shoulder, causing him to scream in agony as the person who left a wound on his shoulder once again vanished from his sight.

"You damned human!" He was screaming in pain as his shoulder bled, tainting the ground red. After weeks of fighting the hero, the demon king appears to have weakened. And at that moment, Satan knew that this would be the end of their long battle for justice. But still, he tried to resist the upcoming end as he aimlessly and violently swung his sword around him. "You pitiful human... die! die! die!" The demon seemed to have lost his mind and started rampaging, slightly shaking the ground below them.

With the demon weakening every second, Grey took the chance and flew towards its front. He felt faster, or just perhaps because the demon king just slowed down constantly as it slowly lost its power. Dodging every swing, he went straight above its head and used all of his mana to propel himself towards its chest, carrying his sword in a thrusting form..

"SWISH!"

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In a blink of an eye, the demon king's chest was suddenly pierced. The blade penetrated his heart, and before he could even realize it, he was already bathing in his own blood with the sword left buried in his chest, causing an intense pain greater than he ever daydreamed.

"You've gone weaker, you damn monster!" Grey sneered, hopping away from the monster, victoriously looking at the demon.

"You insolent human!" A scream escaped his mouth as the agonizing pain worsened, bringing him to his knees. The ground below was tainted by his own blood as he struggled to breathe. "How did you manage to deeply wound me? I was protecting my body with thick mana! " His anger quickly escalated. The ground beneath started to tremble violently, sympathizing with its ruler.

"Maybe staying in this place for almost three years got me used to cutting demon flesh effortlessly, or maybe perhaps you've just gone weaker to the point where any human could kill you." Grey was grinning at the prideful king with such a mocking expression.

"I'm afraid that wasn't the case." Holding on to the pain and anger, the demon suddenly started speaking calmly. For some unknown reason, his body seemingly refused to heal on its own. With his body gravely injured, he knows that his body will soon collapse on its own and will eventually end his life.

This guy, just... who the hell is he?! For the first time in a millennium, the demon king feared death, but even so, his mind is seemingly thinking of something else as he stares at the face of the man who stabbed his heart.

"I see now why you managed to pierce through my skin." His gaze darted back to Grey's sword that was thrusted into his chest. "This is..." His eyes stared back at Grey, "...a soul weapon?... the demon slaying blade?" He sure managed to blurt it out, almost startling Grey.

"I guess you're not just a nobody." Grey spoke with his cold eyes fixedly staring at the king's face. "That was indeed a devine weapon." He answered the question with a confident grin across his face. "That thing devours and purify demon essence and will definitely end your life... that thing is just a replica of the real one though."

"But why... you're not supposed to–" Before the almighty demon even managed to finish sorting his thoughts, he suddenly felt a dying pressure slowly fading from his domain, this instantly answered his questions. "Don't tell me... you've used a portion of your soul as a fuel to create this sword?!"

Grey closed his eyes and got lost in his thoughts before opening it once again. "Precisely!" He softly uttered, cautiously staring at the shaking surroundings. "It was an experiment out of curiosity. That would've killed me if I wasn't strong enough."

"I see, now I'm completely convinced why my life should end in the hands of a mere human like you." Satan seemingly accepted his fate, taking one last glance at the raging inferno before closing his eyes. "You know that this place will crumble upon my death, don't you?" A blunt question coming from the king himself.

"Yeah..." Grey dreamingly stares at the flames that slowly dies along with the king's heart, "...this was always been my sole purpose as a hero. And that... is the reason why I've resorted into using a large portion of my soul as a fuel to create a weapon. I'll die eventually." He let out nothing but a cold reply before letting out a sigh of relief. Finally, his own end has come. He can finally live peacefully without the burden of being a hero.

He watched as the floor below them started to crumble and fall, slowly collapsing every second. Grey hoped to get out of this place to atleast claim his freedom from the people who imprisoned him with this heroic task. But he was afraid he couldn't, he was meant to die along with this place ever since the beginning.

"Hmmm," The demon king felt nothing for him but pity as his magical body started fading. "I really hoped that you wouldn't come to this regretful path." With his eyes still closed, he continue to speak as he approaches the near destruction of his own core. "But I guess this path was also the reason why we stumbled upon each other."

"You mean the path to death?" He uttered, almost chuckling as he fell on his butt. "I'm fully prepared." He looked around him and saw the collapsing ground already approaching both of them. At the moment, he felt a prolonged pain on his chest, indicating his own soul's destruction after taking almost his entire life force to create the weapon.

"Beyond this world are so many secrets that you better not knowing. Those secrets will be completely buried upon our death. Hahahahaha..." The demon king suddenly started uttering nonsense and laughed hysterically afterwards. "I was really hoping to fight you much longer... But my weakened state cannot simply match yours"

Grey's ears are already tired enough to even listen. He slowly lied on his back as the ground below him started to fall apart, drifting him towards a seemingly bottomless pit. The air he was breathing started to vanish and the flames of the inferno no longer scorching him. "This will be the end of my string... the pretty long string that brought me in this place and will eventually kill me." His final thought came to his mind before completely falling to the unknown void, drifting towards a seemingly bottomless pit.

Despite all of that, the voice of his foe that died with him is still ringing in his head. "Live your life differently now. I really hope to meet you again on the same path someday. Be more wise about who you're going to trust. I've already done my part. Hahahahahahahaha... " It sounded like a death wish and perhaps a final request, vanishing with a hysterical laugh that Grey would surely remember even in the afterlife.

Falling deeper into the dark void, he couldn't help but wonder what those words meant before a strange light suddenly appeared, surrounding his body. What the—? His consciousness slowly faded as he found himself being dragged out of that darkness with a single thought in mind, Is this...the afterlife?