The throne room is an inferno, as fire races up once magnificent banners. Arcane magic crackles in the air as the castle groans under the stress of its own mass. At any minute the entire building could come crashing down upon the two individuals approaching each other. One, a human of beautiful complexion with black hair and blue eyes. He is known as the Hero of the People: Rolland Aldera. The other is an aging giant man, his massive wings and flaming horns denote him as a demon. He is known as the Demon King of the Dark Realms; Enemy of the Kingdoms of Light; Helvair Rall. The king spreads his wings and holds his head high.
[https://i.imgur.com/LJIQfDy.png]
“Oh Hero, Rolland, you grace me with your presence. To what honor might I be graced with your company? Was the slaughter of my subjects not enough? Do you now come for me and my kin?” Helvair spoke with sarcasm thick enough to smother a rock.
“Helvair, your reign ends here with your demise. You have terrorized the kingdoms for generations with your family’s mere existence. There is no honor to be had here, only justice through my sword,” Rolland announces this with pride as he readies himself. His black hair flows majestically in the furnace like wind that races through the room.
“Terrorize? I merely sought to impose our equality upon your people. Yet by some misguided fortune your saint and her church have brought about this… extermination. You have come here to kill me, not deliver any form of justice save what you have been told is just. How is it, Hero, that I am the evil here?”
Rolland pauses for a moment, body tensing as he seems to reflect on these points. “All of your sort are just monsters. You do your best to sympathize with a human and then strike when they aren’t expecting it. The second I call you an equal is the moment your heel comes to my neck. Despite this, I will listen once, give me one good reason to not finish this here and now?”
“I do not lie, think of this Rolland. When you came to this world, you were flung into combat. Into a war you had no understanding of. When have you ever stopped to listen to our side of the story?” Helvair spoke as Rolland seemed to listen. “What have I ever done to you personally? When have my armies attacked their cities first? Any fighting, any raiding, was done in response to their actions… or not done by us at all. We are not mindlessly unified, the actions of one do not reflect the greater whole! So why, why was there never –“
A spell flies out from the distance, the magic bolt just narrowly missing Helvair. He turns his gaze towards the other people joining up with Rolland. Helvair glares in the direction of a woman with green hair, ice cold eyes, and a flowing white robe. She holds out a blue staff with glowing orbs, aiming it at the hero and chanting in an arcane tongue. “Don’t listen to its lies Rolland. The monster is only trying to confuse you with a curse! I just broke it!”
[https://i.imgur.com/erGcUNp.png]
Rolland smiles to himself briefly. “Thanks Linette, go and stop the transference, I’ll finish this off.”
“Rolland you idiot, we can find them AFTER we beat this monster!”
“THIS is the DEMON KING. It is my holy duty to fight him in one-on-one combat. You cannot help me further. While both are at their weakest is the time to strike. Simultaneously!”
Linette frowns and walks around the edge of the throne room to the side door. The other party members are with her as they file into a passageway. Rolland looks back to Helvair, who now stares at the door with intent to follow. “Now, where were we old man?” He draws out his sword and walks between the door and Helvair. The hero pushes forward with his shield up and at the ready, arming sword to the side. Helvair materializes a massive flaming blade while his human-like appearance burns away as if made of dried leaves.
“Ah, there’s the true form of an end boss. Monstrous. Then let us see who the victor shall be.”
The improbably large weapon swings down at Rolland.
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Saint Linette rushes down the hallway with her companions. In the distant background the fighting between the Demon King and the Hero can be heard. With a blush she comments, “Oh Rolland must be kicking so much ass.” Running beside her is a dazzling blue and yellow cat person with a large poofy tail. They wield a bow with an arrow notched, before releasing it at some unseen threat down the hall.
“Oh please, Linny, you know as well as I do that he’s out of your league. The Princess has her eyes on him.” Another arrow notched; another arrow loosed. The shot sings through the air with a haunting sing-song melody. In the distance, a skeleton dressed in a maid outfit is obliterated.
Linette scowls and turns an icy gaze towards the feline Bard. “Like Hell I’ll let that bi – I mean, Princess get her hands on him!” she hikes her skirt a bit to avoid tripping over some steps. Clearly she isn’t dressed for combat or running, yet she makes do. “Though, Oro you flirt around everyone but our Hero. That’s suspicious as hell! You have designs on him!”
Oro grins back, “I won’t lie that I wouldn’t lay with the guy, but please, I have no designs to betray. He is practically my brother. Us boys share a bond closer than love~” He grins at Linette while gracefully shifting into position to fire at another monster. Behind the two is a blond man with a long lance, his eyes practically rolling to the back of his head.
“Oh, my gods shut up,” he growls, “We’re in the middle of the final battles of this war and you two are talking like school girls. Fight now, talk later.” He presses forward to take the frontline whilst jabbing his lance forward and low into the gut of a large piglike monster. It squeals in pain before he rips upwards and disembowels it. Oro narrows his eyes with intense anger as the lancer fights past him.
“Fine, fine, Viece. All business no chatter. I get it, we still need to stop the ritual...” She huffs and returns to the matter at hand, “According to Feya, when she was sneaking about she had found the young girl being prepared for the transference.” Linette’s expression hardened again as she picked up the pace. “Red door ahead, that’s our target, kill the mage inside and the demons lose their last hope.”
Oro frowns. A party should never split up is what Rolland always told them. Yet here they were. “We’ll be fine yeah? Just us four? Feya is up ahead but Moe is outside with the siege general and Warn is… Warn is wherever the most demons are on fire. So, you think four of us can handle whatever they have inside?”
Viece smirks and puffs his chest out with enough hot air to fill a blimp. “Yes, yes. I’m sure we can. Rolland and Moe have the two heavy hitter demons held up, so we’ll be fine. Even so, you’re safe with me. Hasn’t all these months taught you that? I mean, I probably can take on the Demon King myself even…”
[https://i.imgur.com/EhPlZxp.png]
The three arrive at the red door as Feya practically materializes out of the shadows beside the door. Despite her full body, Feya moves with the grace of a deer and silence of a feather. The husky brown elf smiles to them without looking away; her green eyes are still locked on the entry. “In this room. One mage. One child. Have not entered,” she briefs quietly.
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Everyone takes well-rehearsed positions around the entrance, and each nod in affirmation of readiness. Without a word, the lancer steps back with a purple glow racing along the haft. Suddenly Viece thrusts forward and explosively bursts through the wood. Simultaneously, Linette casts a blinding light spell into as Oro effortlessly fires a singing arrow right at the heart of the enemy mage. Feya moves along the walls with her eyes closed and adeptly finds a path to the back of their target.
By the time the mage has taken another breath, he is already dead. The brown, monkey-like monster stands in place with Oro’s arrow lodged in its chest and Feya’s dagger in piercing its back. The rogue lets the body slide off her blade before wiping it clean on a nearby curtain.
At the center of the room lay an unconscious young girl with porcelain skin and silver-white hair is laid out on a ritual table. The runes around it have burned out entirely, indicating some form of success. “She’s a bloody demon already,” Oro exclaims as he notched another and aims at unconscious child.
“Stay your hand!” Feya exclaims, “Is she merely cursed? Can we save her?”
“Not a curse,” Linette replies, “the magic in these runes have already ran its course. The new monster just hasn’t woken yet.”
Viece whines, “So is it an enemy or not?! Clarify so Oro and I can skewer it.”
Linette sighs with a shake of her head, “It’s corrupted already. I briefly thought maybe we could save it… but – ” Oro lets the arrow fly. The tip digs into the stomach of the demonic child. Her red eyes fling open as her face grimaces with pain; the spell keeping her under having clearly broken now. She gazes right at Linette with confusion. A loud shriek of pain is quickly silenced when Viece’s spear skewers the neck. Linette growls angrily, “I WAS NOT DONE TALKING. I could have performed rites before we killed it!”
Viece laughed, “Rites? It’s a monster. The real child died long ago. Either way, the ritual is stopped. We’ve prevented the birth of a new demon king. I say we should burn the remains,” Viece suggests as he looks around for fuel.
“Monster or not, it was once a child. We do not need to burn it, though, the castle is doing that for us,” Linette gestures to the fire encroaching the halls, “Let us quit this place.” In agreement, the party exits with Linette leading the way. As the smoke thickens, Viece slows and looks back. Almost second guessing the decision before Linette calls, “Hurry up!” He frowns before turning to follow Linette away from the room.
Beside the dead child there is a brief blink of light as Linette reappears. The saint coughs in the smoke as she kneels down next to the demon girl. “I’m not ignorant. I know you’ve survived. You usually do. There isn’t much time, so listen to me you little brat…”
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The Hero approaches the broken, defeated Demon King. With a sneer he announces, “Dark Lord, Demon King, Bringer of Silence. Helvair, those are some impressive titles, don’t you know?” Rolland brushes off his own dented and burnt armor. “When your reign has ended I will be free of this duty. Free of these people. Free to do what I want to do without someone crying for me to fight your forces,” he dictated as he lifted his sword, “Any last words for the historians?”
Helvair looks up with one good eye. His broken form laying limp across the steps to his now destroyed throne. Helvair replied with anger in his voice, “are you, seriously, just now asking for a talk? After refusing for so long? If you really cared you would have sought that right away! We aren’t mindless monsters… so I request that you at the very least spare my daughter. Please.”
Rolland kneels down, “I know you have a daughter. That’s where my companions went, to prevent her ascension in your place.” The hero flashes a brief, wicked grin at Helvair. “I know you aren’t all monsters, in fact, I probably could get along with you. Problem with that? The people dictate that I defeat the Demon King. Endlessly fighting you is a boring and lifeless second life, and Frankly Helvair? I like living. You should try it sometime,” he stands back up and puts a boot to the demon’s neck. Helvair’s eye widens with recognition and understanding of the Hero’s true nature.
The gleaming, holy sword ends him before anything more could be said. Demonic blood boils off the weapon and Rolland steps back with an exhausted sigh. “You aren’t even a demon, you look it, but you don’t act it. This world is a disappointment,” he bemoaned, “Nothing like the games I played back home. Three decades of hard work to be rewarded with… this?”
“Really now? You’ve earned your endless freedom to do as you please. Don’t you know? You weren’t supposed to win. Seven’s system wasn’t designed for conclusions as it’s an endless cycle,” a voice whispered out from nothing. Rolland rolled his eyes and stood back up as the castle groaned around him. “A great adventure and a new life, isn’t that what is it you truly wanted?”
“As a famed man once said: sex, drugs, and rock and roll. I want fame, money, power,” he retorts, “That is what an adventure is like. Three decades to earn it was a pain in my ass, Sari.”
“Well with the Demon King lineage removed, you have that I guess,” says the voice of Sari, “I take it you’re going to overthrow the world’s order and make yourself the new ruler and all that stereotypical human stuff? So very boring and predictable isn’t that? Why not marry and settle down?”
“I was supposed to be the demon king, I was supposed to have a harem, a giant dungeon with dangerous maids, and terrifying monsters. You know damn well why I was even in this world Sari. I’ll never marry again.”
“I remember seeing that in your profile. If people knew their hero’s heart, then they’d have a stroke. I’m surprised no one has noticed your… tendencies. The fact that two of the most famous women want to marry you tickles me in ways you will never understand.”
“No one suspects a Holy Hero or questions him when a child or person goes missing,” Rolland says smugly, “Regardless of my woes, as agreed Sari, I am free of that fate Seven dictated and now I’ll ruin her world for you.”
“I said cause some chaos in the world, not ruin it,” corrected Sari, “Just because the corrupt of this world and yourself leave a trail of death and ruin, does not mean we Gods like it. Evil tempers good, after all. So do try to… be modest in your havoc.” Sari sighed and then added, “Officially: you are now free from your duties of this world so long as the demon king is dead. Congratulations, Oh Hero, you have led your people to victory. Now… I have something else to attend, so enjoy your new lease on freedom.”
“Frustrating rabbit from hell,” Rolland curses. He shuts up as footsteps denotes the return of his party. Standing up tall and proud, he lifts the head of Helvair and tosses it down the steps. His fellows cheer while he proclaims, “The enemy is defeated! Let us return and make merriment!” The castle groans and a burning support falls over, “Now let us make haste before this castle comes down on us.”
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[https://i.imgur.com/98HtXLz.png]
Somewhere hums a white rabbit wearing a top-hat and purple bow tie. About him, or her, lay countless cards stacked high. Sari flicks through the cards, “Flick, flick… flick… flick… ah, that’s a good one!” A portal opens up and a gray shoebill stork struts into the parlor. It looks over the cards and then to a pile of neglected poker chips. “Ah, good timing Emel. Latest joke: So, a stork and a rabbit walk into a casino… the stork says, hey I’m a dork! Then the rabbit replies, hey, I’m a god!”
“Please, Sari, you are the God of Gambling, and other assigned duties. Not the God of Jokes, thank the Superiors,” Emel said as he shook his head. He perched next to Sari and looked at a scrying mirror propped next to the cards.
“Not YET the God of Jokes, Palvor hasn’t answered my call for a friendly game of blackjack,” Sari whines.
“Not every God has a gambling problem, Sari. Anyways, I came to see what your plans are now. Rolland was supposed to lose years ago to make room for the next reincarnate, given how corrupt he is. Why did you change that now?”
“Emel, I have twisted Rolly-Polly’s luck plenty of times because luck is outside of Seven’s system. Fate is inside Seven’s system but sometimes luck has the better hand! Now that he is free of her fate, he can do as he pleases. For better or worse,” Sari replies joyfully.
“Likely for the worse,” Emel groaned, “Yet I hear there’s a second reincarnate? She’s a rising star in the arena. A lot of bets are on her,” Emel sighed, “Can you please tell me why you have permitted two at once? The system’s old state only permitted one.”
“Two? Oh, oh yes two. A rare sight! Only two. Yes, what are the odds? Definitely less likely that, say, five, or ten, or twenty or…”
“Sari! How many reincarnates have you permitted?!”
“I don’t know, but it’s my rules now not Seven’s, she lost the bet several times now. Poor girl is addicted... she has yet to win in any game we play,” Sari grinned a rabbit’s grin. “So, I now administrate several other functions of this world too…”
“… just how much gambling did Superior Seven do with you?”
“Enough for me to win big,” Sari chimed, their rabbit ears flicking with delight. “I’m sure she’ll try something to get control back. I’d imagine at least a few incarnates have her blessing, given how many died with Four… plenty of a chance for that.” Sari hums and leans back into their chair as Emel skulks off, dazed at how out of control the world was going to become.
...
Elsewhere in the multiverse, a woman can be heard screaming. Her wonderful, pretty world is being so thoroughly abused and ruined!
...
"I live for this," Sari sighed happily.
End of Prologue