“The Demon King was something Humans gave rise to? What are you talking about!”

The Demon King laughed in response, “Don’t worry, I never expected you of all people to know what I was talking about. Besides, it’s likely anyone whoever said such a thing in your holy empire would be branded a heretic and be chased out if not killed on the spot. But tell me how do you think they made you?”

“Made me?”

The Demon King turned around and began walking towards his throne, “Is it really that much of a surprise? Think about it, who was the first Hero? According to your Holy Empire, a nameless Knight who upon seeing the destruction left behind by the Demon King choose to take up his sword and with a few comrades went on to slay the Demon King. Afterwards, he sacrificed himself becoming the first Divine Artifact so that others may take up the mantle as Hero when the time arises. Am I correct?”

The Demon King stopped for a moment and glanced behind him. Hiro nodded, it was even a tradition for later Hero’s to cast away their names after taking up the Divine Artifacts so that they may pay tribute to the first Hero.

“The Hero tell me, what was your name?”

“Excuse me?”

The Demon King turned back around and began walking towards his throne, “I’m sure you heard me. In the history books, the first Hero was some nameless Knight who stood up against the tyranny that was the Demon King leaving behind a single golden sword with his memories and experiences. Every Hero from henceforward would the take up the first Hero’s sword and cast away their names as they fought the Demon King. But inheritor of that very sword what was the first Hero’s name?”

Hiro paused, “That's…”

Hiro went through his head and but no matter how he tried he couldn’t recall the first Hero’s name. And the more he thought about it, the more he realized he couldn’t recall any of the Hero’s names. Not the second, nor the third, nor the fourth or fifth, not even his own name…

Hiro’s face paled slightly and his complexion dulled slightly as he said, “I-I’m just a little forgetful. I can’t recall it now, but I’m sure if…”

Hiro gulped, “If just given a little more time I could remember it…”

The Demon King sat down on his throne and rest his chin on his right palm, “Well alright, you do have over a century's worth of memories so how about I let this one slide. But how about the Divine Artifacts?”

“What about them?”

The Demon King laughed, “Don’t you just think it’s a little suspicious? The Sword of Victory, the Shield of Justice, the Radiant Amulet, man these names really are pretentious don’t you think? But think about it, the first Hero’s sword on its own was a top class sword.”

The Demon King raised his left arm and suddenly a golden ray appeared over his palm before transforming into a golden broadsword. Hiro’s eyes widened as the first Hero’s Divine artifact slowly fell into the Demon King’s hands.

The Demon King caressed the sword, “It’s really a work of art, passive strengthening that’s multiplicative rather than additive allowing the sword’s effects to further grow in strength as the user grows in strength. It’s an almost unbreakable sword whose edge will never grow dull. And it possesses the Holy element that naturally counters the Demon King’s natural abilities. Not to mention it possess the natural ability to strengthen any magic sword techniques you use. A hero couldn’t ask for a better sword.”

Hiro clenched his fist, as he tried to call back the divine artifact, but the sword simply didn’t react to his calls.

The Demon King noticed this and laughed. He raised the sword into the air and smashed it against his throne causing it to shatter into pieces.

“Don’t be surprised, we’re in a space formed from the combination of our psyche, our souls per se. It’s only natural that I can twist the world to my whim here.”

“I see…”

“But anyway, with such a good sword, why do you think they decided to include something like memories and experiences? If they wanted to pass on techniques they could have just written it out, there was no need to leave it in a sword only one person can use. And have you ever thought about this? Why are the divine artifacts capable of storing something as obscure as emotions?”

“The divine artifacts don’t store emotions! What I felt when I inherited these memories, these techniques, these experiences were all my own. And it was thanks to these memories that I got to experience their hardships and their difficulties, their resolve! It was in seeing their fate that I gained the resolve to face my own like the Hero before me, and the Hero before them!”

“Oh?”, the Demon King smirked, “But how can you be so sure? How are you sure what you felt was genuine? How can you be sure what you saw was the truth? Sure it could have been the Hero’s memories, but it could have also been something the artificially, manufactured, something entirely false. How can you know!?”

Suddenly the floor under Hiro’s feet cracked as he shouted, “Because how could it be false! I’ve seen what you’re capable of, I’ve seen all the death and suffering that you Demon Kings bring. And then so what if they were false, what if these memories were fake, these emotions were fake, at the very least there’s something I know that’s true!”

“Oh? Enlighten me.”

“It’s that you are evil. I may have been a young Hero, and I may not be the brightest man out there. Even with all the memories and techniques of my predecessors, there was a limit to what I was capable of and in the end, I primarily just used brute force. But I’ve seen this war between our two worlds with my own eyes. I’ve seen good men die, and countless lives sacrificed in order to stop you. It was for the peace of the world and justice that I killed-”

Suddenly landscape changed, the brightly lit throne room suddenly changed into a dark cave. Hiro paused and looked around, the cave was filled with a bunch of makeshift buildings made of some mud or some broken pieces of wood and stone.

A number of monsters and demons could be seen just lying around, some of them were covered in bandages or missing limbs. Hiro could see a variety of monsters stumbling in the dark to go places, and in the distance, he could hear the sound of metal hitting stone and distant coughs.

“This is...”

The Demon King suddenly appeared behind Hiro, “My hometown in a sense, in truth I don’t really know where I was born or my real hometown. At some point, my father died somewhere in a ditch, and my mother fled with me to this godforsaken place when my tribe was slaughtered about 600 years ago.”

The Demon King looked around, “This is an underground village, they’re a lot more common than you’d think. They’re well hidden and it provides sufficient shelter against the harsh weather outside. Though…”

The Demon King looked at a gray-skinned child with two small stubs on his head. The child looked only about six years old and his body was incredibly thin. The Demon King kneeled down and his eyes had already gone white and his body stiffened.

“In the end, this is the underground. There’s only so much one can do for food.”

Hiro looked at his surroundings before turning to the Demon King and asking, “What’s the point in showing me all of this…”

The Demon King sighed and looked towards the dark ceiling above lined with jagged rocks, “Well if I’m being honest I’m venting really.”

The surroundings rapidly changed once more and the two of them were atop a snowy mountain looking down at a field of snow, “You see Hero, I can’t stand you. But you know after I grew older I stopped hating you, the ones who took away my father and led to my mother’s death. Instead, I came to detest the world that necessitated your existence, the world that cheered for a false Hero who brought about anything but peace under the name of some twisted Justice.”

The Demon King turned to the Hiro, “So let me level with you for a bit.”

The Demon King snapped his finger and suddenly they were in a throne room again. However, as Hiro looked around his mouth gaped as he realized was in a different but familiar throne room. This was the Emperor’s throne room, the Emperor of the Holy Empire.