Upon hearing Milton's words, everyone was ready to break. If the commanding officer himself admitted defeat, who were they to argue or take the blame?
At that moment, an officer loudly asked, "Lord Milton, what should we do now?"
With a calm demeanor, Milton responded, "The entire army will stay put. Whether it's the matter of the hero's emergence or the intelligence on the new weapons, I will inform His Majesty with utmost urgency. For now, everyone must simply maintain our defensive formation."
While the words were reassuring, everyone knew the momentum of the war now lay in the hands of the Northwest rebellion. The generals had no choice but to withdraw, subdued.
As the officers strategized, a strange atmosphere enveloped the ranks of the kingdom's army camp. Word of mouth was hard to contain, and despite the military judges and enforcers executing over a dozen gossipers, they couldn’t quell the spread of news from the front—rumors of a hero’s birth and the astonishing casualties of the skirmish rippled and fermented through the camp.
"Have you heard? That light in the sky today was the signal of a hero's birth."
"Really? That's some legendary figure right there. Wish I’d been closer to see. I'd have a story for my son about witnessing a real-life hero."
"Closer? Are you mad? Didn’t you hear that hero is one of us? They say everyone around him on the battleground died, not a single survivor."
"Seriously? Then why didn't the hero just kill all the rebels?"
"Kill them? We're lucky he didn’t turn around and slaughter us. My cousin was close by; he told me the hero's just a kid, probably some lord's pawn thrown onto the battlefield."
"Wow, we're lucky to be alive. If the hero’s gone to the rebels, does that mean the Goddess has forsaken our king...?"
"Are you trying to get us killed?!"
The soldiers glanced around in panic, relieved when they saw the nearest military judge was still a good distance away. "Stop worrying about nonsense. We're all in the same boat here. I heard what you just said, and if you get your head chopped off for it, I doubt they'd let me off easy either."
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On the distant top floor of the Mikhail Magic Tower, a disheartened young man was conversing with an old mage.
“Sigh.”
“Hey, Old Mel, why the long face?” Murphy cracked a smile, “I’m not moaning, so what's got you in a hurry?”
The birth of the hero didn’t seem to trouble Melrose much. The centenarian acted as if he'd foreseen this day coming, just offering a light sigh before diving back into his magical experiments. But it wasn't long before he found himself blocked by the befuddled Demon Lord, who, using tracking magic, had stormed up to the tower demanding, "Old Mel, you need to explain this!"
“I had a premonition, but it’s all happening too fast,” Melrose said slowly.
"What’s too fast? The new hero?" Murphy asked. “You know, after we parted I did a lot of thinking, and I realized a few things.”
"If you'd like to ask now, I wouldn't mind," the old man remained serene as ever.
"First off, you don't refer to the hero with ‘former,’ right?"
"Correct."
“And powerful individuals like us face severe repercussions if we break our word, don’t we?”
"Correct."
“That means either you don’t believe the previous hero is really dead, or you’ve gone mad, believing your own lies, right?"
Murphy was quite direct. Melrose furrowed his brows and said, “Correct.”
"You'll laugh, but I thought you’d lost it. However, after I sensed the remnants of the soul, I understood. The hero isn't completely dead, just partially."
"Yes."
"But in your theory, there can only be one hero in a world, just as I only emerged long after the previous Demon Lord’s demise. Did you ever consider why another hero would suddenly appear out of nowhere now?"
"I suspect my theory might have been incorrect," admitted Melrose, unashamed at the prospect of being wrong, resembling an honest child.
“It's possible,” agreed Murphy. “But it’s highly unlikely. After reviewing all the demonkind’s remaining history records, which admittedly, some parts have decayed, it’s clear both humans and demons struggle in cycles spanning centuries.”
“The hero and the Demon Lord are like two sides of a coin, always emerging in succession, albeit briefly on the scale of our known history,” Murphy added.
“When the hero and Demon Lord rise one after another, the conflict reaches its zenith. Once one side falls, the other enters a dark age lasting a hundred years, with civilization’s decline being inevitable. But throughout history, there's never been a Demon Lord like me potentially facing two heroes in the near future.”
After his exposition, Murphy leveled his gaze at Melrose's fading blue eyes, as if searching for answers, only to be met with a sympathetic look.
“I'm not saying I'm the unluckiest!” The regal Demon Lord felt a tad sheepish under the former hero companion’s pitiful stare, “I'm simply stating, according to history and experience, there should only be room for one hero and one Demon Lord at any time, like heads and tails of a coin, ensuring the game of world struggle remains fair.”
“So you're suggesting the newly emerged hero is a fake?” the old mage asked after listening to Murphy’s rationale, nodding approvingly.
"Impossible." Murphy stared back at him, "The awakening reverberated throughout the world. You felt it, I felt it, and all the apex beings felt it. If it’s fake, then I wouldn’t be real either."
“Maybe you are fake,” Melrose quipped with a rare hint of jest.