Matthias swung his sword of light impulsively, cleaving through the upper torsos of three undead ahead of him. There were several more of them ahead, and they lunged at him simultaneously as he recovered from his attack.

A flash of light painted the cave a pure white momentarily. As the corridor darkened once again, all of the undead in front of him, as well as those that were facing off against Spear, had dropped to the ground.

“Tch,” he grumbled. “There’s more and more of them as we go.”

“Understandable. We’re near his abode. A necromancer as powerful as this one must be aware that we’re near the prize. Are you still well, boy?”

Spear extended her hand out to him. He looked up and wondered why she was so tall. It was only then that he realized that he was on his knees, short of breath and covered in sweat.

“Thanks.”

He took her hand and she pulled himself up. Once again, he was surprised by the strength in her skinny arm despite not feeling like she was using any sort of augmentation magic on her limbs. He also noted that her hand felt unusually cold, but he dismissed it as a product of the environment. It was quite frigid inside the cave, after all.

“Come on now, boy. There’s no time to lose. And more of them are coming.”

Despite the sudden increase in resistance, their progress remained steady and quick. Part of that was because Matthias had an incredibly effective weapon against the undead, and another part of it was Spear’s flexibility. When he heard that she was a support, a guide to be specific, he expected her to leave all the fighting to him. But as they traveled through the dark corridors together, with Spear at the lead, he found out that she didn’t need any protection at all.

Well, he should have expected that to be the case ever since he saw how she almost beat Manna, even when the latter ambushed her.

“... Are you all right, dude?”

“Yeah. No problem.”

Manna had been mostly silent since that time. Those were the first words he heard from her since that incident a quarter of an hour ago. While it wasn’t concerning at all given that she was usually silent whenever she was in hiding anyway, Matthias couldn’t help but feel like there was something wrong.

But he pushed his curiosity away. He had all the time in the world to have a good talk with her after everything was over.

“Tsk. Foul cretins. If that necromancer wanted to hinder me, he should send something worse than these filth.”

It was a wondrous, horrifying sight. As Spear walked onward, the undead that came close to her seemed to… writhe in pain? But zombies and skeletons shouldn’t be able to, right? Yet that was the only way Matthias could describe the scene. The moment they came within about three meters of her, they would suddenly collapse, convulse on the ground, and even clutch parts of their bodies. Then, they would expire. And it wasn’t like Spear had anything visible on her to make it happen. There was no glowing piece of gemstone or a barrier of light surrounding her body. She simply walked with her eyes on the triangular plate and occasionally provided some snide remark like earlier.

“It’s not any holy magic that I know of.”

He agreed. It must have been something original, or something undocumented.

“What is it, boy? Is something bothering you?”

Everything was bothering him. Though he had just started adventuring a little bit over two weeks ago, the realization that a mountain of books wasn’t enough to prepare him for real life still hit hard and fast. But although one could make the argument that it was fine since they were still beginners, Matthias didn’t like that. He was supposed to be a hero. In all the stories he had read, the hero had always come up with great plans for every situation. Instead, all they did was wing everything and rely on their high individual abilities.

Reality sure was different from fiction.

“Yeah. Guess you could say that.”

Spear raised her head to look at him for a moment. After a while, she sighed long and hard.

“Well? Spit it out.”

Even with Spear’s “permission,” Matthias struggled to respond. It wasn’t due to him not wanting to share his worries. But it was more like… he didn’t know what to mention first. So, he stuttered.

A look of pity and disappointment crossed Spear’s face. Realizing what she meant, Matthias could only hang his head.

“You shouldn’t need me to lead you on, boy,” she said. “But I shall. For now.”

The line of light traced on her triangular weapon flickered slightly. Spear lowered her gaze towards it and observed carefully, all the while continuing to talk.

“Your friend is still alive. Don’t worry.”

But then, she gestured towards her plate. According to her, it was called the “Mirror of Dust”. While it could be used as a weapon, its main use was to guide people along the “path they were meant to tread.” in their case, their path was set towards where Soleil was being kept. It did so by directing a beam of light toward where the direction they should take. And the intensity of that light depicted the “possibility” of them “arriving at their goal.”

“We need to hurry, boy.”

As time passed, the light dimmed sporadically. In the beginning, it still held strong, only being interrupted once every few seconds. But after a mere few minutes, it started flickering like a candle fire on its last breaths. Of course, that greatly worried him. But at the same time, he knew that Soleil was someone far stronger than him, at least physically. And that was why he couldn’t help but be confused about his priorities.

“Why are you confused? It’s fine to prioritize your friends above the riff-raff. That’s what any normal “human” would do, is it not?”

Spear’s words were reasonable but were the result of cold logic. Matthias felt that she was the kind of person that would not hesitate to turn away from someone in need if it “made sense”.

“You’re thinking of something rude, aren’t you, boy?”

“Oh, no! I wasn’t–”

She looked at him intently. There was no light in her gaze like she was looking at some pebble that happened to catch her eye.

“You said your friend was sick. What use is worrying about others who can fight above when your friend is here, alone, in dire trouble? And besides…” she paused, looked at the Mirror of Dust, and squinted. “You’ll regret it if you distract yourself any more than you are now.”

Spear stopped talking after that. Matthias complied and followed her in silence. All the while, he was thinking.

“Something else bothering you?” he heard Manna ask.

Matthias thought for a second. But he couldn’t make sense of his thoughts. Like previously, he knew he was forgetting something important. But even until that time, he couldn’t figure it out.

So he simply shook his head and said nothing.

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

“The forest where Soleil and her parents lived was a quiet place. There were no large monsters, other humans, or raging waterfalls around. But since it was blessed with many rivers and streams, and with a tropical climate, the area was lush with trees and wildlife. It was a paradise for many, free from the hustle and bustle of the city, as well as the labor and hardships in small settlements and villages. Life there was peaceful.

Then, that peace was disturbed by a loud explosion of dirt and rock.

“Woah!” a middle-aged man exclaimed. “You’re really good!”

Soleil shook the dull sensation off of her hand and grinned wide at the compliment. “Thanks!”

In front of her was a small rubble pile of what used to be a decently-large boulder. In an attempt to impress upon the man, Kyle, the things she had learned from her parents, Soleil had smashed it with just one punch from her small, augmented fist. The result was plain for them to see. The poor rock didn’t stand a chance at all. Everything from where Soleil had landed her hit and above had been blown away, while the remaining half-rolled away from her after it had split into several pieces.

“You’re just as strong as your mom. Did she teach you how to use augmentation?”

“Umm, nah. Dad taught me. My mom can’t explain anything about magic properly.”

Kyle chuckled. He raised his head and stared into the distance. “Ah. That brings me back. Hilda hated mages, even though she was so talented with magic. That’s why she picked up a sword and a lance. But Mayes was also made for a good mage, so it was all well and good. Well, he’s slightly stronger than an average mage at least.” Then, he looked back to Soleil and said, “You know, your dad used to be an apothecary. But when those two joined our party, they were still not sure what they wanted to do. Hilda was still a mage who kept running towards the front. Because of that, Mayes had to focus on supporting us instead of the entire party. Good times, good times…”

The way he spat about her mother’s penchant to run ahead was mixed with fondness and… a great amount of annoyance.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Hearing about her parents’ past intrigued Soleil. She immediately ran over to sit in front of Kyle to listen. Her eager expression surprised Kyle, but also solicited a smile. It seemed like adults were partial to children listening to them regardless of who it was. Without needing to ask what she wanted to hear, Kyle continued his story.

“I think it took us an entire year before we decided that they should settle with what role they wanted to take. We were D-rank adventurers back then. Small fry. The best small fries in the land! And I was the leader of that small fry party!”

He raised his chest proudly after declaring such a minor and quite possibly belittling detail. It was obviously a joke. But instead of laughing, Soleil simply looked up at him with innocent admiration and even started clapping. After seeing her reaction, Kyle blushed and coughed out of embarrassment.

“Anyway, I’m curious. What did your parents tell you about us?”

Soleil thought about it for a while and said, “Nothing much. My mom just said you were noisy and dad said you wet the bed.”

“I am going to beat you up, Mayes.”

Suddenly, Kyle stood up and presented himself to her.

“All right, if that’s how it was, then I’ll fill in the blanks. How about I tell you the story of our greatest quest ever?”

“Ohhh!!” Soleil clapped and eagerly nodded. By that time she had already completely dismissed going home early. She still had a couple of hours to waste, she thought. And her house wasn’t that far from where she was, anyway. “What is it about?”

“It’s the story of when we defeated the Demon Lord.”

His tale was a simple one. Any child her age would have already heard about it from their parents many times. After all, those who participated in the greatest combined effort by humankind were venerated as heroes. They were the subjects of awe for kids who dreamed big. And that fact wouldn’t change just because a decade or so had passed.

However, Soleil wasn’t just “any child”. She had heard nothing about those events. Her parents never told her that story for some reason, even if it was, according to Kyle’s own words, their greatest achievement. And that was why simply hearing about it captivated her. She wanted to listen to more. Curiosity aside, she likes hearing about her parents’ achievements. The more she heard, the more justified she felt in idolizing both of them.

If it came down to it, all she needed to do was to apologize to her mother for being late. She could handle a bit of roughing up for their next training session.

Like any standard storyteller, Kyle started with the setting.

A decade ago, the war between demons and all of humankind was at its peak. The demons, in their destructive march through their lands, annihilated many settlements and towns along their way. Nobody was spared. Families were lost, friends were killed, and families were split. And while the humans, elves, dwarves, and beastkin all fought together, they had never made a united front. Their efforts were spread out, and the demons, with their vastly superior physical and magical abilities, were able to slowly expand over the course of a century by pressuring all fronts and making concentrated pushes without warning.

Was that the kind of story that children liked to hear? Not really. Most would tremble in fear at the thought, even if they weren’t old enough to understand the significance of death. Just the words “scary demons” were enough to elicit a reaction from them. But again, Soleil wasn’t an ordinary eleven-year-old. She could even proudly say that she had faced death multiple times already, so she was quite aware of what “death” meant.

Such was the life of being her mother’s student.

“... What kind of torture did Hilda put you through?”

“Mmm? You get used to it.”

“You do? What…? Anyway…”

The war between demons and humankind went back farther than recorded history. But it was during that time when the demons had gained something that allowed them to make an unprecedented push toward the heart of every continent.

Though the two sides had always been at war, it did not mean that there was no information being exchanged from both sides. Magic that allowed people to see from a great distance existed. And from the information scried with great difficulty, everybody had become aware of what changed in the demons’ ranks; the crowning of a new Demon Lord.

It was an occurrence that most humans live their lives without ever witnessing. Since demons had an extremely long lifespan, demon lords were able to serve their terms for a few centuries before abdicating the throne to the next generation. And that was what usually happened. However, similar to human kingdoms, coups might happen. These were extremely rare, as demons were usually wholly united under the demon lord’s rule. They valued power over everything, and demon lords were the most powerful of them all. But if a coup happened, then there was only one explanation for it.

A demon far stronger than the demon lord at that time had appeared.

That was a big problem. The demons had another trait that made them different from other races. It was that their abilities increased depending on the strength of the one that ruled over them. And with the appearance of someone far stronger than the last demon lord, who was already strong enough to successfully push against all of the races at the same time, the situation only became worse.

They started to lose land at an unprecedented rate. Before long, the demons had taken over a quarter of the human continent, while simultaneously conquering slightly less at the beastkin and the deep ones’ lands; totaling more than double what they had previously taken within several decades under the previous demon lord’s rule.

Faced with mutual destruction, the humans, beastkin, and the deep ones, the elves and the dwarves, decided to temporarily overlook their disputes and focus on the demons. The representatives of each race signed three documents.

The first was the truce declaration.

“Umm… So they were still fighting among each other even while the demons were attacking?”

Kyle shrugged carelessly. “Everyone’s an idiot like that. Politics is stupid anyway, don’t mind it too much, kid. And don’t be a politician.”

The second document was to officiate an alliance between the four races.

“Ugh! So they haven’t been working together at all?”

Once again, Kyle shrugged, helpless to explain. “Like I said, kid. Everyone’s an idiot.”

And the third was the Hero Development Treaty.

“That one’s a bit vague, but basically it means each of the four races will cultivate a group of heroes within five years. That was the longest amount of time they estimated that they could hold back the demons’ advance before they caused irreparable damage to each continent. After that, they would begin a full-blown counteroffensive against them with the heroes at the helm.”

Soleil cupped her cheeks and looked up at the sky with a baffled face.

“Why didn’t they do that in the first place?”

To that, Kyle laughed out loud.

“It’s simple. Because it was expensive. Do you think the nobility will just shell out money for something that doesn’t benefit them directly? Get real.”

“... What’s a “nobility”?”

“Err… Basically a rich person? Rich and stupid. Make sure to remember that, okay?”

“Ohhh! Okay!”

He told her of how their party was part of humanity’s heroes. The revelation of that fact impressed Soleil. Admiration, respect, and excitement burned in her eyes. She knew that her mother and father were strong, but she didn’t know that they were actually heroes.

“Your father is particularly good, you know? He might not have been the strongest, but he took care of everything from handling our finances, to cooking, laundry, navigation, and stuff. Man, if he wasn’t there, we’d have starved to death before we could fight the demon lord,” Kyle laughed fondly. “Anyway, after some divine assistance blessed by the church, us humans, elves, dwarves, and beastkin managed to make a decisive offensive, just enough to allow all the heroes to gather at the land of the demons. There, we pushed on by ourselves and eventually faced the demon lord.”

It seemed like he skipped a lot of details, but judging by the way he talked, it seemed like he thought all the other events were boring minutiae. Well, Soleil didn’t care. That was all she was interested in, anyway.

“The demon lord was as strong as the rumors said he was. His magic was strong and was able to blow away a hundred heroes at once!” he said while making poses for a visual show.

“After several hours of continuous fighting, only our party and a few others were left. Many had died to one man, no, one demon. Yet still, he stood there in front of his throne like our attacks meant nothing to him, laughing.

We had almost lost all hope. He was too strong. A swing of his hand tore the earth, while a flap of his wings split the air. His very breath was pure magic.

But then, something happened.”

Kyle deliberately paused. The suspense caught Soleil. She leaned forward, careful not to miss a single detail. Then, he raised a finger and said;

“The demon lord’s wife arrived. And she was a human!”

Soleil was shocked. A lengthy pause followed with Kyle waiting for an even louder reaction. And for a moment, Soleil did look like she was about to shout in surprise–but then, she just tilted her head and asked, “So what?” To that, Kyle’s jaw dropped.

“Girl, what have your parents been teaching you? The “Demon Lords” all come from the same clan. They’re all Overlords. And in order to preserve their bloodline, no overlord has ever mated with someone not their kin. That’s why they’re so strong. But this one, the strongest Demon Lord, probably, had a human as his wife!”

“How could you be so sure that she was his wife?”

“Ah! Simple question!” Kyle bragged. “It was because she was holding a human-looking baby. But it was a spitting image of the Demon Lord!”

“And? What happened?”

“Well… we were pretty out of it back then,” he said somewhat sheepishly. “When she appeared, we thought she came as reinforcements. Kinda stupid of us to think so when she was holding a baby, but hey; we were near death at that time. So when we tried to attack her, the Demon Lord started going berserk. I never thought that guy could become even stronger.

That was the start of the real fight.”

As the story reached its peak, Soleil found herself completely glued to the story. As Kyle told her everything that had happened in wondrous, flashy detail. He told her of earthquakes, plumes of lava, lightning, storms, and tidal waves. Everything was destroyed. And even though Kyle was absolutely terrible at telling a cohesive story, Soleil’s wild imagination allowed her to fill in the blanks.

His story was everything she had imagined a hero’s fight would be.

“That was awesome!”

“Exactly!” Kyle approvingly said. “Somehow, we managed to resist and even push back. We felt like the deities were behind us. The pain disappeared and we felt power once again fill our bodies. Then, with a stroke of genius, one of our party members directly attacked the demon lord’s child. We had left them mostly alone before then. In surprise and desperation, the demon lord thrust out his left arm, and I managed to cut it off!”

As she imagined the scene in her head, she felt like she was there with everybody else, fighting the greatest evil in the world. Sweat trickled down her back, and she felt her foot tremble from the imaginary earthquakes. A cold feeling gripped her skin, while her hair stood up. Her body replicated every feeling that she thought the heroes experienced during that time. And when he told her of how the demon lord reached out for his baby, even Soleil couldn’t help but do so, yearning to experience what everything was like.

Then, something hot shot up Soleil’s shoulder. She suddenly felt light in the physical sense. But then, something felt amiss. The augmentation magic felt off… like it couldn’t embed itself into her body.

Particularly, her arm. Her left arm.

It was gone.

“Just like now.”

She looked at the stump in disbelief. Blood squirted out of the severed flesh. She could even see parts of her bone where it was cut.

“That’s strange,” she thought. The shock turned into confusion as her senses still registered an arm attached there through the shared feeling she had with her augmentation.

Her mind blanked out. Everything around her slowed down. But the pain that followed attacked her in full force. Though she was so used to pain by that time, she couldn’t stop herself from screaming a wretched scream.

Kyle simply stood before her. The light and mirth in his eyes were gone. And on his hands–

Was a sword of light.