Many members of his squad suddenly disappeared, leaving Blancus Aurelius and many others, perplexed over what could have happened. Among the ones who have disappeared were Blancus’s older sister and best friend.

It happened not too long after the madman, a self-proclaimed Lord of Darkness, was finally slain in a grand battle, with the heroes and gods emerging triumphant.

Many thought that the evil threatening their world was finally vanquished, only for something like this to happen.

Using all the resources at his disposal, Blancus managed to track down his missing squad members, leading it an ominous looking lair. As soon as Blancus stepped foot into it, the mouth of the cave closed. He clearly had walked straight into a trap, but Blancus could not care less.

The only thing he could think of was his sister.

“I am afraid you are a little too late to the party, mon ami”

Suddenly, a round object was thrown in his direction, fell on the ground and rolled towards Blancus, only stopping after hitting his leg.

The sensation…it did not feel like a stone, or a ball, it was much softer.

When he picked it up, Blancus’s eyes went wide in horror.

It was not a ball at all.

It was…the head of his older sister. Then, more heads followed, each a head of Blancus’s squad members, his dear friends.

Tears streaming down his face, Blancus let out a deathly wail, filled with nothing but despair.

Blancus: “I-I-I…will…will…kill….you…I will…kill you…I will kill you!” the shock was enough to make him stutter.

“You seem to be feeling unwell, let me give you a hand”

Blancus’s lips trembled as he was offered a disembodied hand. From the ring with a sapphire stone, he recognized it as the hand of one of his squad members, it was the hand of his best friend.

Blancus: “You…YOU MONSTER! I WILL KILL YOU! I WILL KILL YOU!”

Blancus unleashed his magic power, a white light that should have pulverized everything in his path, but it was stopped by a mass of darkness.

Blancus was no ordinary hero, he was a demi-god, descended from a deity, and inheriting some of the deity’s power.

Until today, he had absolute confidence in his strength, knowing that aside from gods, none could match him.

But his power had barely any effect on his surroundings.

Whatever it was he was facing, it was powerful.

“I made sure to use their parts the most efficient way I could find. The womb of the girl proved invaluable to spawning countless goblins and the organs of her and others have made my adorable monsters evolve into something truly breathtaking….”

No…. this cave was not covered in this monster’s power…the cave was made entirely of massive number of monsters and he had foolishly stepped right into it.

“You should be honored…the entirety of this could not have been possible if it were not for your demi-god friends”

Blancus: “BASTARD! YOU WILL DIE FOR THIS!!!”

Brandishing his divine blade, Evil Slayer, Blancus attacked the shadows, fully intending on killing whoever was hiding within them. The monsters were a threat, but this mastermind behind it all, he needed to die.

His sword was easily countered by this monstrosity.

Now they were face to face, but all he could see within the dark silhouette were a pair of glowing crimson eyes.

He had seen those eyes before. No, they were blue back then, but somehow, he knew for a fact that the one facing him was not a new threat, but an old foe.

Blancus: “Those eyes…are you a member of the Order of Darkness?!”

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All those led by the Dark Lord should have perished. Each one of the members of the Order of Darkness was strong enough to be a threat even to the strongest of heroes. Even gods considered them too dangerous and ordered their execution. If even one member of that group of evildoers survived, then it would mean disaster.

“I guess there is no need for introductions… I am, the new Dark Lord. Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Blancus Aurelius, the heir of the Goddess Lilicia.”

Monsters started to show their faces, each one hungry for his flesh.

The monsters had no heads, only a mass of branch-like tentacles. The tentacles attached themselves to the severed heads of his sister and comrades, wearing their heads in a sick fashion. At a glance, it looked almost like a tree with enormous fruits hanging at the top.

“YOU WILL PAY FOR THIS!”

“Let’s see how well my creations can fare against a demi-god, shall we?”

It was the first of the many battles he fought against the Dark Lord….

* * *

Blancus woke up with a scream.

It has been so many centuries since he battled the embodiment of evil, the Lord of Darkness…and yet, he still haunted his dreams.

Unlike his predecessor who was easy enough to erase from history as if he never existed, the second Dark Lord proved to be a menace of global proportions.

So many heroes and gods have fallen due to him.

In their last battle, Blancus was the last one standing against the invading power of the Dark Lord.

He fought with determination, anger fueling every strike and spell, but in the end, he almost lost his life.

Yet the death did not claim him.

He felt a strange sensation, and then in a moment, he disappeared, only to find himself in the middle of a forest, with a clear lake reflecting his wounded visage under the light of the full moon.

Much later, he learned that this world was not his native world, but entirely different world called Elam. Blancus’s native reality was named Alem, ruled by the righteous power of gods.

Some things were exactly the same as his original world, but some things were radically different. The highest ranked deity was Solaris in this reality, same as his original world. For that much, Blancus was relieved. If he was in a world ruled by some mad deity, it would have been a complete disaster.

But if it was his Lord, the Almighty Solaris in charge of this world’s fate, then Blancus could rest easy.

As for everything else, it was completely different, even the kingdoms of this world were not the same as that of Alem.

After he ended up stranded, he did everything in his power to find a way back, but each one proved to be futile.

By visiting countless libraries, some belonging to lost ancient civilizations, he learned of a theory of existence of parallel realities, with Elam and Alem being only 2 of them.

Having traveled from his native world of Alem to a foreign world of Elam, he knew for a fact that it was no mere theory, it was iron clad truth.

It was said that only the true creators or those who have ascended may travel between the worlds unhindered, but it seems like some of the lost civilizations have managed to create a flawed machines that allowed one to travel to another world.

None of the machines have survived the downfall of civilizations and from the texts, there was no intact instructions left on how to reverse-engineer those machines.

Blancus was not sure of how to get back to his world, and after all his search proved ultimately fruitless, he accepted that he could never go back. This reality was his new home.

Just a few months ago, he celebrated his 425th birthday. Due to having the blood of God, even if it was just a minor god, the descendants would often have extremely decelerated aging, allowing them to live much longer than most humans. Unlike gods, demi-gods did still age and they were not immortal.

After reaching a certain age, the demi-god’s looks would stay mostly the same. His sister once told him that if you take the demi-god’s actual age and divide it by ten, that would be approximately how old they look compared to normal humans. This was not an official rule, but it was right most of the time.

During his time in this world, he became known as one of the strongest heroes, currently serving the Midgard Kingdom, the kingdom with most heroes, as one of it’s few Champions, Heroes above other Heroes. Each one of the Champions was given a Color as an Epithet.

Blancus Aurelius was known by most of the kingdoms as the long-lived White Hero, a Champion of Justice and Goodness, and one of the top candidates to become the next Legendary Hero.

And yet, he never considered himself worthy of the title of a hero.

Why, you would ask?

Getting to be a famous hero in another reality after failing to defeat the ultimate evil in his home reality sounded like a sick joke. Sadly, this was his life.

At the very least, there was no Dark Lord plaguing to world, unleashing the armies of monsters, bringing all of creation to nothing but ash and ruins.

His old scar over his left eye used to ache whenever the Dark Lord was nearby, but for the last few hundred years, ever since ending up in this world, that scar did not tingle.

Perhaps he had earned his peace.

Maybe it was time to let go of the past and move towards a brighter….

Then, a sensation came over him, a sensation he thought he had long forgotten.

His scar…it was not just aching, it was pulsing.

Blancus’s long-dead friend once offered a theory to explain why some scars ached. He theorized that the scars are imbued with the aura of the one who inflicted them, so once that being is active or nearby, it would act like a detection beacon.

It sounded absurd back then, but after facing off the Dark Lord not long after the scar started to tingle, Blancus had to admit, maybe his friend had a point after all.

Excluding phantom pain, his scar pulsing this badly could mean a few thing…

…the worst scenario being that the Dark Lord somehow found his way to this world after laying waste to Alem, and intended to subject Elam to the same fate.

Many heroes of Alem fought against the Dark Lord, only to end up suffering fates worse than death. Blancus could still hear the screams of the heroes as the Dark Lord literally ripped them into pieces, one limb at a time.

“If he is back…. I will stop him…no, I will slaughter that vile wretch. That black winged monster does not deserve to live!”