"Hah... hah... hah....."

A middle aged man found himself bending over as he panted, as if he had been running from a menace.

"Ugh..... urgh.... hah....."

The time: 3:00 AM, the previous night.

"I.... ugh..... huff.... I think I lost them....", the man whispered, speaking to nobody in particular.

Perhaps he simply wished to hear his own voice, as if the verbal confirmation that he had lost his pursuers was enough to put him at ease.

"This..... this is the last job. I transfer this last batch.... and then it's over."

The man reached his hand into the pocket of his coat, looking around him with nervousness.

He was in the middle of an alleyway in a densely populated city, although within this particular alleyway not a single person showed their face.

The buildings towered above the man as he walked through the streets, his eyes darting back and forth from behind him to the T intersection ahead.

"Turn left at the junction, then 2nd building on the right..... three knocks and a kick....."

The man followed his own words, taking a turn as he came to the intersection and approaching the 2nd door- at which he knocked three times and then kicked the door.

Looking back and forth to ensure that the kick had not caused a commotion, the man begun to sweat as he grasped his pocket.

"Come on.... come on..... I get rid of this..... and then I'm done. They won't have any evidence anymore, and I'll be free of this debt....."

The door peeked open, revealing a single eye.

"Kicking the door is rude, you know."

"Wha- I was told...."

"Ah, so you were told, eh? And which fool told you that kicking the door is something you should do? I might have to kick him."

"Er.... his name? Nobody in this business would so easily give up their name...."

The man looked around with caution, clearly antsy as if every second he stood here was a risk.

"At any rate, can we just hurry up and-"

"Tsk. Based on your responses I guess you're our guy. If you weren't pissing yourself I'd be a bit more suspicious, but whatever. Hand it here."

The man slid a package of white powder through the door, at which the door was closed.

"Er..... is that it? Can I go now?"

The man asked this question, stepping back from the door, however the door quickly opened.

"What if I told you that this stuff was fake?"

"Fake!? Wha!? How could it be fake!?!? If it is, then it was that dealer who tricked both of us!! He's the one-"

"It isn't fake, good grief. Whatever. I'll let the top dogs know that your debt is clear. But lemme warn you of one thing. We know where you live. Even if you relocate, we will always be able to find you. Don't think that it will just end with this. If we have a need for you, your wife and daughter will always be a liability. You wouldn't ever want anything to happen to them, right? If you care about them, then without a doubt you'll ensure to keep your mouth completely shut about everything you know. Is that clear?"

"O.... of course..... I would never rat you out. Just please.... leave my wife and daughter out of it."

"If you want them to stay out of it, then keep them out of it. I hope I never see you again. If I do, it would mean something has really gone wrong."

With this, the door shut and the man let out a sigh of relief.

With a smile on his face, this man walked down the alleyway, his eyes tired with worry.

'Ah..... I can live now.... no more drug dealing.... no more black market gigs..... I just need to work a normal job, for a normal wage, living a normal life. For my daughter's sake..... for my wife's sake.... I'll never let them get involved in anything like that. And now.... I'll finally be free....'

The man walked out of the alleyway, passing by a bar as he walked through the inner city.

'Should I go for a drink to celebrate?'

Hearing the cheerful voices from the bar, the man smiled as he approached.

'Why not? This is a good day, after all! I didn't get caught by those guards, and I'm no longer involved in anything illegal! It's time to begin my new life as a clean man!!!'

So the man thought as he entered the bar.

The amount he drank, he did not remember.

The blaring music, the shouts of those around him, everything became a blur.

He partied and he partied, and the next morning he awoke in a garbage pile, penniless.

'Ah.... I guess I got a bit too crazy last night..... I better head home to see those two again.....'

The man picked himself up, shaking off the trash as he walked through the city.

After traveling for a while, he eventually came to an urban residential sector.

It was a densely packed place with townhomes filling the area, and the man made his way towards the stairway, soon ascending it.

As he did so, he took note of something.

"It is.... strangely silent..... I suppose everyone is at work?"

This man had spent his life selling drugs in order to pay back for his debts to a black market association after he failed to pay back a loan.

After having taken the loan, this man met the woman he loved and was able to flaunt his money in front of her, acting like he was a big shot for long enough to get her to commit to him.

When she reared their first child, their bond had been set in stone, and there was no longer a need to keep up the facade.

"I..... am not actually as rich as I said I was. That was... it was all a loan. One I have to pay back."

On that night a few years ago when the woman found out about her pregnancy, the man had told her the truth, guilty of his own deception.

Expecting rejection, hatred, and retribution, the man braced himself, preparing for the worst of this woman to be drawn out. However...

"Did you think I was stupid? I know when a guy is trying to look good in front of me you know."

Widening his eyes, the man looked at the woman who lay peacefully in a bed, holding her stomach with a motherly smile.

"You.... knew the whole time?"

"The thing that really annoys me is the fact that you thought I was some gold digger who needed a rich guy."

It was that night that this man truly fell in love for the first time in his life.

His woman, the one who came to bear his child, was willing to accept him for who he was.

She knew that he had deceived her.

She knew that he was penniless.

She knew everything, and yet she still accepted him.

It was at this time that this man truly changed.

He begun to despise what he did, and wished for nothing more than to return his life to normal.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

He wished to restart with a clean slate, and did everything to ensure that his wife and daughter lived a normal life.

Yet it was never enough.

His debt was so grand that he had to work more and more jobs, all with increasing risk.

If he was caught by the guards doing illegal activity, it would all be over.

If he refused to do so, his family would be targeted.

If he went to the guards on his own accord, he would have to pay for his crimes in jail, and his family would likely still be targeted. Even if they weren't, they would have to survive without a father to provide.

His only option was to comply and to not get caught.

And he had done exactly that.

After 3 years of dangerous and risky jobs, transporting illegal goods from one place to another, this man had finally paid back his debt.

"Hm? What's that smell? Is someone cooking something? It smells like.... charcoal? Cooked meat? It's so early in the morning.... why would anyone...."

It was as this man ascended the stairs that he was met with a horrifying sight.

Bodies.

Intestines were sprawled all around the 2nd floor balcony, and the bodies of many people were laying on the ground, completely mutilated.

Many doors had been left wide open, some bodies lying in between the doorways.

Certain areas of the bodies seemed to be frozen over, as if they had been sliced with a freezing blade.

"Blergh!!!"

The man bent over, throwing up as he witnessed the gory scene before him.

It was too much for him to handle.

"Blergh!!!!"

The faces of the people were all filled with unsuspecting terror, as if a monster had appeared out of nowhere to perform this horrible act.

"Blergh!!!!"

Wiping his lip, the man looked up with fear, his eyes making his way over to one doorway in particular.

This doorway was closed, and as his eyes landed on it the man begun to tremble.

"No..... no..... they're..... they're...."

Standing up while still shaking, the man stepped forth through the sea of bodies.

'We know where you live.'

'Don't even think about leaking information about us.'

'We don't like leaving loose ends around.'

The words of many of the brokers he had dealt with through his years in the black market flooded into the man's head, and his own fears were confirmed by the bodies around him.

'A warning? Or....'

The man gulped as he reached the door, opening it slowly while closing his eyes, too scared to even look.

'Please.... please.... please.... let them be alive.... let them have escaped.....'

The man opened his eyes, entering the home and then looking over to a hallway in the back.

'In.... her room....'

The man stumbled over to the hallway, turning as he came to the bedroom door.

'She.... won't be in here..... they..... no.... they..... they tie up loose ends.... but if they killed the ones out side.... then maybe the neighbors were the warning..... not my family!! They wouldn't kill my family!!! If they were going to do that, then they'd kill me too!!! Without my family, they can't control me!!! Even if they were trying to scare me into compliance, I'd be..... I'd be a loose cannon!! It would be too risky for them to lose their only leverage over me!!! They won't be in here!! They're alive somewhere else!!!'

With tears forming in his eyes, the man smiled as he nodded, assuring himself that beyond this door nobody would be present.

Grabbing the door handle, the man could have sworn he felt something, however he could not explain what.

Whether it was a horrible chill or an immense heat, he felt a strange feeling in his own heart as he begun to choke up.

'They..... won't..... be..... behind..... this..... door....'

Turning the handle, the man grabbed his heart with his other hand as he begun to breathe raggedly.

Slowly opening it, he saw it.

The room was covered in ashes.

The bed had been burned to a crisp.

At the side of the bed was a burnt lump of flesh.

Inside the hands of this burnt lump of flesh was a smaller lump of flesh.

Sparks of flame still jumped back and forth as if the scene was freshly produced, and the man fell to his knees in torment as he saw this.

"Ugu....."

Placing his head to the ground, the man begun to cry to himself, horrified at the gory result.

"This..... is this my fault? This..... is my fault..."

With quivering voice the man let out these words, however it was then that he heard a voice behind him.

"I suppose in one way you could say it was your fault, human. For your kind has disturbed her eminence, and unsettled her to the point where your mere existence..... is a sin."

----

Evelyn found herself assigned to a large city within what was a part of the former Vythguard Empire, even before it's expansion.

This woman, who once took up the stance as a proud knight, who would do anything to protect the innocent, now stood at a crossroad.

She walked beside her sister, Envidia, the former Host of Envy.

Her goal was but one.

To eliminate all targets within the city.

And to give them their due suffering.

Having been thoroughly defeated, killed, and taken captive by the antiheroes, and having witnessed as the Determined was inaugurated as the Queen of Evil, Evelyn understood two things very well.

The first was her own relative weakness.

Power flowed from them, and with their backing she could do anything she wished, taking on any opponent no matter how powerful.

Without them, however, she was nothing.

On their whims, she had been allowed to live- however it was under the condition that she became their pawn.

Evelyn had convinced her people that the antiheroes were people worth serving, lying blatantly to them so that they would be put at ease and accept their leaders without resistance.

For any and all resistance was not only futile, but a grave mistake.

One which Evelyn believed she was resolved not to make.

"Hmm.... so we have to kill a bunch of humans today. Ah, you were once a knight, weren't you Sister? Are you gonna be alright with this?"

"I..... will do what is necessary. There is no need for you to worry about me, Sister."

Two elemental females walked alongside one another, approaching the city casually.

They were identical figures of one another, both wearing pony tails which draped far down their heads behind them- however one being was made from ice, and her expression cold and serious.

The other was made from raging flames, and an excited smile plastered her molten face.

[The time: 9:55 AM.]

Evelyn was grateful to the antiheroes for what they had done to an extent, as her own captivity had forced her to come to terms with her sister.

Her sister was able to forget her resentment towards Evelyn and the two were able to come to a resolution- one which would never have occurred had the antiheroes not intervened in the chaotic way which they had.

However, they had told Evelyn something.

That so long as she served them, she would one day have to use her sword to commit evil acts.

That day had come.

It was a day where she would slaughter hundreds, or even thousands of innocent people.

And that weighed on Evelyn.

"Why do you feel so bad anyways? That's another thing I never understood about you knights. Chivalry this chivalry that, yet you had no problem killing my men on that battlefield. What was the difference?", Envidia asked.

"They were warriors. And to kill a warrior on the battlefield-"

"You know that army was full of civilians right?"

At hearing the statement of her sister, Evelyn widened her eyes.

"What?"

"Yeah. They were all the civilians. Avarco convinced em to fight and uh..... well he powered em up."

"Perhaps... but they had approached the battlefield with the intent of making war. Even if they were civilians, the moment they took up arms they became warriors. However the people who we are about to kill..."

Evelyn looked down in shame, conflicted beyond measure.

She understood that the orders of the Determined were absolute.

She knew that with every fiber of her being, and held not a single intention to go against them.

Yet that didn't mean she liked it.

"Will not even have time to take up weapons against us."

"Yeah yeah. Anyways, Let's get to it. We got a job to do, and I have no intention of letting anyone get the better of us."

Ignoring the solemn demeanor of her sister, the flaming woman shot off, and the icy woman thinned her eyes, letting out a sigh before she followed her sister into the air.

'I know.'

Having come to her decision, the two flew into the sky, looking down on the city.

[9:59 AM]

Holding out a hand, Envidia smiled as her flames fluttered back and forth, barely able to contain her excitement.

"And... now."

It was then that two beams shot into the city, as if they were bolts of energy.

Not a single person could even realize what was about to happen before they had been killed quickly.

Shooting from person to person on one side of the city was a blue flash, and her icy sword traced a number of arcs as she chopped people in half with it, shooting from person to person.

On the other side of the city was a flaming monster who engulfed her victims in her fire, roasting them instantly.

When those outside had all been swiftly taken care of, the two shot back to the center of the city.

"Take the buildings, sister. Make sure not to kill the class 2's instantly."

"I know that."

After regrouping for a moment, the two once more shot off into the city, going from home to home and coming out in moments.

It was at one home in particular however, that Evelyn stopped herself.

She had killed all the people outside the home with ease, able to shut off her conscience for a moment, but when she entered this home, she witnessed a woman carrying a young child in a bedroom.

The child was only a baby, and the woman hugged her with all her might, falling back in terror as she protected her child with fear.

"Who.... what are you!? Why have you entered my home like this!?!?"

The woman shouted as she held her child, looking down to it with concern.

At seeing this woman and her response, Evelyn froze.

She could not kill this woman or her child.

She couldn't do it.

[E-ve-lyn. Didn't I tell you earlier? I had a feeling you'd have trouble with something like this.]

It was then that the corrupted voice which plagued her heart spoke to her, inspiring terror in the former knight.

'I.... I know.... I.... it's just..... do I have to..... kill the child?'

[You act like I am some horrendous monster who loves to kill children. Ah.... but I suppose that isn't all too far from the truth. Well, just make it quick. It will be as if nothing had even happened.... right? Heh..... but no, you won't do it. You're a good person, Evelyn. I know that pretty well. That's why I sent you with your little sister. After all.... she's suffered a lot more than you. So something like this.....]

It was at that moment that the woman and child burst into flames.

"AGH!!!!!"

The screams of the woman and the cries of the baby pierced the ears of Evelyn, who looked forward with traumatized expression as she watched the two be killed before her very eyes.

[Isn't even worth mentioning.]

It was then that the smug voice of her sister entered her ears, in a tone which was almost mocking.

"Sister, I thought you said you'd be ok. Didn't you know? Leaving them alive to see this land of destruction..... is the most evil thing that could be done."

Taking a deep breath in, Evelyn felt a frozen tear form and fall from her face, melting in the heat as it touched the ground.

"I....."

Closing her eyes and biting her lip, Evelyn was torn.

She truly did not know what to do.

However, an image then flashed in her mind.

The image of this happening within her homeland, Iciclaris.

As these images flashed past her, Evelyn stood up with pained expression.

"I understand..... your eminence. I will not fail you again."

[That's more like it!! Now kill.... kill.... heh.... kill them all..... and allow me to enjoy their deaths from afar.]

----

"Enjoy their deaths? What are you, a psychopath?"

"Er.... well you know.... gotto play the villain here! I mean, if everyone has to die anyways, I might as well enjoy it.... or something like that....."

An angelic being spoke to herself from a demonic throne, clearly conflicted.

"You're trying too hard to hide your emotions. They'll be found out in a second if you don't get yourself together, my other self. Heh.... now then.... let's see what other destruction is going on right now....."

Sitting back in her throne with legs crossed and a seductive grin, the woman thinned her eyes.

She was a demon lord, the Queen of Evil.

At her hands, destruction reined.

And this destruction reached the entire world on that day.

----