I don't know what is the truth or lie anymore.

All of my life, I was bombarded with misfortune and grief that didn't belong to me. Harassed by people I barely knew in the first place.

Yet I wondered what was the truth behind my existence.

Was my life not as bad as I thought? Was my life nothing more than ordinary?

Tell me, who am I? Why do I still live in this world of monotony?

And despite the lies unveiled before me, why am I not satisfied?

----------------------------------------

Outside the large wall between the world of light and darkness, men and women from a world away from the current one stood in front of the soldiers as the leader stepped forward and stood at the wooden podium in front of the fort's entrance.

"Alright, you useless others! Listen up!" He barked to the disheveled otherworldly civilians gathered in front of him. "Today, we marched to the Demon Border! While we can't step into it due to its harmful effects on us humans, we can at least deal with the one fleeing from the Border. Of course, you others have no place in the army due to your lackluster blessings, so be happy you might be able to contribute something to our cause."

Everyone looked at each other with panic and confusion.

"Anyways, the commander did give you some equipment to aid you. I don't know if a wooden shield might help you survive the first wave, but it might be enough for you all to start praying for mercy to our almighty God of Creation." The general gestured for the guards to bring the crates of weapons to the otherworlders. "It might be a while for the demons to come out though, so you should start doing whatever you want if you still want to kill any remaining time here. Make some regrets, fuck some girl, or do anything you can do in an hour. I don't mind scoring a fe-"

"Sir?"

The general turned to a guard approaching him with concern. "Should we take heed of that adventurer's warning about the wall?"

"And what of it? "A large Wild Demon attempting to breach the walls on the other side"? Ha! As if I believe a suspicious adventurer's warnings," the general scoffed. "Have you forgotten that the wall is made by the mages and alchemists of our forefathers? There's no way a mere demon is strong enough t-"

"General, we have a problem!"

Another soldier suddenly rushed to the general as he was covered in sweat while holding a telescope.

"What's wrong?" The general asked. "If it's another rowdy bunch, just tell them to..."

"No, sir! It's an emergency!" The soldier interrupted. "T-The outpost... I-It's been breached by demons!!!"

Everyone gasped as soon as they heard this. The general, on the other hand, couldn't believe what he just heard. The wall was made from the toughest magical and holy steel made by famous blacksmiths and alchemists before his time.

"Already?! We barely have the expendables ready for the attack! If you're lying about this..."

The soldier sheepishly backed away from the general. "H-How can I be lying right now?! I saw three of the wall guards died from them a-and...they're heading right in this very camp!"

With those last few words, the border erupted in panic and horror as many otherworlders screamed while some began to declare that they would die from the demons. The general was conflicted by this sudden mass hysteria. There was no way the adventurers' warnings were true! How could even know this would happen in the first place? He refused to believe that the wall had been breached! He knew something was up about those two men. He wanted to execute them immediately. But if he delayed it over those adventurers, there would be nothing left for them to protect.

"Settle down, you useless others! Don't start panicking unless I say so! Now, why don't you stop screaming and start m-"

SLASH!

It was all too fast for him to react. But the general froze as he felt numb in his stomach. He slowly looked down and saw not only his legs were far away from him, but he saw nothing but blood and guts below him. He didn't know how to react, but it didn't matter anymore.

The claw quickly cut down his head next and the whole border was now covered in screams in horror.

----------------------------------------

[At the same time...]

Dammit, how long were we going to stay in this poor excuse of a prison cell? It was nothing more than a stone box with none of the amenities such as plumbing or a mattress to sleep on. I should have stood my ground and forced those humanoids to listen to reason! But now, I may fear the worst to come and their arrogance and pride would become their downfall...

"HEY, CASS! ARE YOU OKAY?!"

One of the guards quickly banged on the bars of the cell next to mine. "What part of "quiet" do you not understand?! Do you want us to take out the brand to shut your yap?!"

I sighed with a hint of concern. I'm glad that Val was worried about me. But I'm worried his bolstered concern might become his downfall.

"I'm fine. You should do what the guards say."

I close my eyes next. Those guards will be up on my neck if I say anything unnecessary in front of them. So a telepathy call should be enough to circumvent our current predicament.

<>

I heard Val sighing over the call. <>

I chuckled. <> I slap my forehead at the thought of it. <>

<>

<>

<> I could hear him chuckle in my mind. <>

Key to peace, huh? He wasn't wrong. If it wasn't for the chain of events that caused my current existence, then I would remained a power-hungry and desperate dragon.

<>

BOOOM!!!

What the hell?! That almost broke off the ceiling above us! I also felt a quake below me. Dammit, don't tell me...

"Whoa... Did you just feel that shake just now?" A guard asked another.

"Yeah... Must be another otherworlder mutiny," his partner answered nonchalantly. "Either way, the guards upstairs will take care of them. We just need to do our job."

No... It's way too strong for a non-hero otherworlder to cause that large explosion enough to make the border quake. Just as I wondered more about it, I heard footfalls coming towards us.

"Huh? What are you doing here? Aren't you supposed to help the general with the debriefing? If you're goofing around..."

I gasped in horror along with the prison guards at the sight of the soldier coming down the stairs. He was covered in deep gashes, blood around his armor, and a broken spear on his hand.

"R-Run..." The guard muttered as he weakly limped towards the guards. "T-The demons...T-They're..."

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

My eyes widened when I heard that word from a human soldier.

"Demons?! Don't be daft! Do you know where we are right now? There is no way those demonic rats breached through the wall!"

As expected, they aren't going to believe him just like us. However for that poor soldier, he only believed us once he saw the real demon seconds before he was attacked. If he heeded our warnings, then he would have ended up in a state without any scars and horror.

"There's no time! The general is dead, the others and the soldiers are dying left and right... All of us will die if we don't get out of here!" I watch the injured soldier grabbing the guard's armor and pulling him to his face. "Call the heroes! Call the royal army! The whole world will be doomed if w-"

That was all the soldier could say before I witnessed his head cut off by a fiend behind him. After that, all that was left was one guard's scream and another frozen in fear at the sight of his fallen comrade. As Vander and Thurkith warned, the red demon had breached through the wall. I couldn't believe my eyes, but the sole fiend snickering at its kill reaffirmed it. Plus, I doubt Thurkith's band were not the types to slack off and recklessly charge in without a plan with Vander with them. So the possibility of the mysterious Wild Demon's strength might be terrifying even for someone like me to face.

"N-No... No!" My thought quickly broke and looked up to see one of the soldiers about to be pounced on by a gray fiend that appeared with the first one. "Get away from me, you mons-"

SLASH!

My eyes widened as I saw another guard being bisected by the gray fiend. This time, the frozen guard snapped back to reality and screamed at the sight of another lost soul. If there were two fiends already breached through the inner wall, then the situation might be too dire for us to ignore.

"I-It's all true... Y-You were right..." The surviving guard muttered. "The demons have breached the wall! Hahaha! The God of Creation has truly abandoned us! HAHAHAHAHA! We're all gonna die!"

"Why don't you save your insane rantings for later and let us out of here first?!" Val yelled. "You won't gain anything from surrendering from these demons!"

"HERATICS!!!" The guard suddenly raised his blade with a maddened look in his eyes. "Do you expect me to believe you right away?! The general is dead and everyone in the wall is dying left and right! Hell, I don't even know what happened to the others right now! And yet, both of you remained calm despite everything that's happening right now! You knew this would going to happen! You knew we all die when we imprisoned you! It's no surprise you two are demons in disguise!"

I wish I could deny him. But with the current situation going on, there was no more trace of common sense and thought in the guard's eyes.

"Huh. What gave you that idea?" Val snarked with his eyes narrowed. "But it doesn't matter if we're demons or not, you will die if you keep insisting on those half-correct claims!"

"My friend is right," I calmly added. "I suggest you see the reason behind these attacks and listen to us for once!"

"Forget it! If I kill you two right here, those demons will be gone!" The guard then raised his sword to Val and he started to chuckle. "Consider this as punishment for your trickery, demo-"

STAB!

"...Huh? W-Wha..."

And just like that, the guard dropped his sword and looked down at the source of the pain. On his chest was a clawed leather hand emerging from it in blood holding what seemed to be a still-beating heart. It began to slow down as he started to cough out blood.

KeHekekEke!

The moment I heard that unnatural cackle, I look what was behind him. A demon with a canine head grinning and cackling madly as it twisted its claws inside his gut. It's as if it was playing with its food with guts and blood. As I watched this horrible scene, the guard weakly reached out his hand to me. I saw tears coming out from his bloodshot eyes mixing in the blood from his mouth. As I looked closely at his other hand, it seemed like he was reaching out to his deceased partner. Now that I thought about it, the keys were still inside his pocket. Was he trying to set us free despite his state? It's already too late for him. Yet I couldn't help but to reach out his hand...

"H-Help...me..." He weakly muttered. "H-Help..."

He took his last few breaths and his arm fell into a limp. All I could hear next was the cackle of the hyena demon.

...That human could have been saved. Everyone in the wall could have been saved. If only the general could swallow his pride and listen...

KEkEKeKEKE!!!

Dammit... Dammit! In this world of light, why did it have to be cruel with the innocent and the guilty together?! I wanted to save them despite my demonic birthright. Why, God of Creation?! Why did you forsake all of them?!

"Keep your act together, Cass!" My eyes snapped back to my surroundings and saw Val glaring at me. "I get you're sad about their demise. But this is not the time to grieve! You said before there's a time and place to use our powers. So why not hesitate?! If you want to release your frustrations, then deal with those assholes first!"

Val...

Dammit... Of all demons to snap me back to reality, it had to be him calling me out for moping over the dead. But he's right. I can't bring the dead back to life now. Some of them deserve their fate, but the innocent were in the wrong place at the wrong time. And now with all of the guards dead, it's finally time to unleash my wrath.

"Consider yourselves lucky, heartless fiends." I could feel the dark flames welling up in my throat. I resist it, but only to gather enough to burn them and the bars into molten steel. "You have earned my flames that will send you to the depths of despair. Take this time to reflect on your sins, damn monsters."

With a deep breath, l exhaled a stream of flames to the fiends through the bars of my cell. I don't care if I'm losing my breath the longer I let out the dark flames gathered within me. I'm already angry at the humans who cared more about their pride than safety. I'm already frustrated at my passiveness. If it meant killing these damn wilds, I don't care about the consequences anymore!

It took a few more seconds to let my black flames consume the fiends. Once they were gone from my mouth, I could only see the charred and disintegrating corpses of the wild Demons and the melted bars right in front of me. Looks like I overdone my flames this time. Even after years of self-control, it's not enough to appease my rage over the injustice of the world.

"Geez... I get you're angry, but tone down the temperature back there!"

Thank the Goddess Val is stuck in a cell next to me or else, he would have been part of those poor souls caught up in my rage. Unfortunately, the keys were back in the guard's pocket at the time of his death. So using my draconic strength, all I could do was to leave my cell and bend the bars of his own wide enough for him to escape.

"Are you okay, Val? The guards severely roughed you up." Despite our enhanced recovery rate, I could see the cuts and bruises around his arms, probably from their weapons. No wonder how they managed to control the demon attacks until now.

"This is nothing, Cass. It took one hour to heal the biggest stab wound I got and it was only from a normal broadsword." He sighed as he slowly stood up. "But what's the plan now? If the [Cruel Hyena Fiend] and [Lesser Fiends] are here, does that mean the young Master and Thurkith's men failed to contain them?"

Good question. Thurkith was meticulous when it came to eliminating Wild Demons along with controlling potential outbreaks. Even with the unknown threat, they can't fail. Yet I have a nagging feeling it might not be the case. A Wild Demon who could bypass the powerful force the border cast? Something didn't sit right with me.

"I don't know. Thurkith isn't the type to lose his prey and Vander said this demon was mixed with other species..."

I hummed again, trying to figure out what was missing in this picture. Yet no matter what kind of conclusion I come up with the current evidence we have from Vander, ended up with nothing. Unless...

<> I focused all of my mental mana on this telepathic call. By the number of fiends infiltrated in the prison, the chaos outside might be much worse than we thought. So if that was the case, then Vander might have the answer behind this contradicting dilemma. <>

...

Still no answer. Does that mean...

<>

That groan...

<>

I couldn't help but chuckle at his priorities. Still, I'm glad he's still alive. <>

<> So my fears came true. The wild demon truly breached through the walls between the Demon Territory and the world of light. <>

I sighed in relief. Thank the Goddess Thurkith survived the breach. <>

<>

...Huh? "Didn't fail"? Don't tell me he was still delirious from the attack. <>

<>

I almost choked at his last line. <>

<>

He has a point. The wall was already made with the best anti-Demon materials in humanoid history. So the mysterious force denying the wild Demons was nothing more than an overdone protection. Yet if what Vander said was true, then why did it fail?

<>

...Oh no. Was it even possible?! I couldn't believe it would do that!

"Val, get to that village as soon as possible," I ordered.

"Huh? Why are you telling me to go back there all of a sudden?!"

It sounded off-topic, but I have a few ideas on how it might relate to our current situation. "It's just a guess of mine, but that Wild Demon might be related to them somehow. Isn't that what you're trying to tell me, right, Vander?"

<> Vander took a deep breath in the call. <>

...I thought so.

This wasn't any other Wild Demon we were facing. Rather, we're facing against the manifestation of despair and rage. A [Revenant Fiend]. And in order to become a true demon, it needed to fulfill its last regrets.

And that was to destroy his old village which abandoned him.