In a completely white space that seemed to infinitely stretch into the distance sat a young brown haired boy sitting in front of a tall black door with his eyes closed. Naturally, this child was Quinn, and like his brother, he was sitting in the space formed from his psyche, his mind, and soul.

Then suddenly this white world of his began to violently shake, and as Quinn opened his eyes and looked behind him he noticed the black door that’s been there ever since he was born began slowly turning into dust and fading away. However Quinn didn’t panic, and he merely stood up and said, “So I assume you’ve finished.”

Then a grey-skinned Demon with broken horns appeared in front of Quinn and laughed, “Of course!”

Quinn stared at the Demon King who even now was slightly transparent and shook his head, “How’d it go?”

The Demon King walked around Quinn and stared at placed his hands upon the fading black door, “In the end, he didn’t believe me, though I already predicted that would happen.”

“He’s a stubborn man.”

The Demon King shook his head, “It’s more than that, from the very beginning the Hero’s were a very broken and twisted existence. I should know after all I spent all my life studying the Heroes and Demon Kings and the end I eventually became one.”

“Broken and twisted?”

The Demon King stared at the black door fading away in his hands meaningfully and said,

“I’m sure you understand to some level how pitiful of an existence this curse is, an amalgamation of broken souls and emotions used to drive one mad in exchange for power beyond anyone being’s. Its strength is derived from the theory that souls are the origin of strength, and by fusing countless souls together and uniting them under a single powerful emotion it gives rise to tremendous strength. But in the end, these souls truly are pitiful…”

The door before the Demon King finally vanished in its entirety and the Demon King continued, “The Hero’s in a sense are a similar existence, a single-minded being that exists for a singular purpose. Though how they accomplish it is the opposite of the Demon King. A Hero doesn’t need something like emotion, they simply need something to adhere to `justice` something to believe in `peace` and something to achieve `prosperity`.”

Quinn thought back to only moments ago when his own brother had drawn his sword and in a single deceive stroke tried to end his life for peace and prosperity.

“So in the end what the Divine Artifacts had to do was simple, every single one would shatter its user's soul into pieces and insert into it memories, emotions, and the holy empire’s false justice. And in the end, their soul would be used to strengthen the Divine Artifacts and what remained would be used to forge the next one. From the very start after the Hero receives their divine artifacts they’ve already become a shell of a Human being and have become akin to a living weapon.”

“I see…”, Quinn stared at the Demon King and his eyes widened as he noticed the Demon King’s legs had disappeared, “Aslo!”

However the Demon King Aslo merely laughed, “I had intended to remain a bystander, someone who observes from afar, I have even intended to allow the curse to inevitably consume your mind. However, in the end, it’s impossible to predict everything, to think the curse would be rendered into that state after being transferred to another world.”

The Demon King turned around and smiled, “This is goodbye Quinn.”

Quinn grit his teeth and clenched his fists, “What are you doing Aslo!? You said everything would be fine after this!”

“They will be, this is a turning point, Quinn. With this the curse will no longer dwell in your body, you won’t have to worry about being consumed and losing your mind. This is a good thing…”

“But what about you! Are you just going to die after everything? What about your daughter? Don’t you want to go back to see her!? I know with enough time you’ll-”

The Demon King interrupted him, “I died Quinn, the moment that sword pierced my chest and the curses strength began to fade I already perished. The one before you now is merely what remains of my soul, I’m nothing more than a ghost.”

The Demon King's torso slowly began to vanish and he floated over to Quinn and patted his head. Quinn looked up at the smiling Demon King, “In the end, I wasn’t a good husband or a good father. I dragged you into this mess, and frankly, I’m no better than the ones I criticize. I sacrificed your world to save mine, I sacrificed billions to save millions, and all the blood that I’ve spilled would make rivers flow with blood. I haven’t been a good man, so I hope you can be a better one.”

Quinn’s fingers dug into his flesh, “Of course, I’ll be better than you or the Hero ever was!”

Aslo smiled, before turning his head to the sky, “Now then why don’t we send your brother off…”

Aslo’s eyes flashed red and he transformed into a beam of light that shot into the distant white sky.

~

“GAAHHHHHH! WHAT DID YOU DO!”

Hiro in his magic armor grabbed his younger brothers arm and threw him across the room causing Quinn to violently crash into the wall. Hiro screamed in pain as the white aura around him began to twist and turn as it was slowly dyed a black color.

The magic armor around Hiro’s body began to morph as the lion head’s jaws widened as he roared causing the entire southern district to shake. The white cloth covering Hiro’s right arm flew off and suddenly a very thin black arm that appeared to be made of strands of black lines formed.

Hiro felt an immense heat in his body that tormented him and began scratching his face and neck. While his left hand covered in gauntlets didn’t do much, his newly formed right hand easily tore through the armor and even cut his body causing Hiro to bleed.

A voice came from Hiro’s left side, “Now, now we should all just calm down.”

Hiro suddenly paused and turned to his brother Quinn whose eyes had turned completely red. Hiro roared one more time and charged his own brother like some kind of beast similar to what Baldar did to him a year ago.

However, Quinn merely grinned as he raised his hand. Suddenly a black light shot out from Quinn’s body and enveloped Hiro. The light around Hiro then shoot out black spikes that anchored Hiro to the ground, before Quinn began rapidly chanting a bunch of incomprehensible words.

It was almost as if Quinn had multiplied as if one were to listen closely to him they would notice that it sounded as if several Quinns were rapidly chanting at the same time. Everyone stared in shock at the two brothers when suddenly a massive magic circle formed in the air and the Baron suddenly paled.

The Baron shouted, “Retreat this instance.”

The Baron suddenly teleported beside Karen and grabbed Eris with one arm and Karen with another before teleporting away again. Noel wanted to charge over to Quinn, however, she was suddenly tugged by another knight who shook his head.

Noel bit her lip before turning around and running away with everyone else as Quinn finally completed his spell and the massive magic circle finished forming. He shouted, “Black Calamity!”

Then several dark pillars of light descended upon Hiro causing a massive explosion that completely obliterated the warehouse and despite being right in front of Hiro, Quinn was seemingly unaffected by these explosions.

Hiro screamed as he tried to break free from his restraints, but as one pillar of black light hit after another he continued to be battered and his screams began to die down. After a full minute of continuous firing, seventy-two pillars of black light descended upon the warehouse each striking Hiro and leaving dozens of holes in the ground.

The warehouse at this point was nothing more than a big crater due to Quinn’s magical bombardment and Hiro lay unconscious in the black binding spell.

Quinn walked over to his brother huffing and puffing as he tried to catch his breath. Quinn placed his hand on Hiro’s chest, and the Demon King Aslo said, “I pray at the very least in the next life you become a better man too.”

He twisted his hands and a pillar of light shot into the air and Hiro disappeared. The Demon King Aslo turned to the sky and smiled in content.

“Dear I’m coming…”

Then for the last time, the red within Quinn’s eyes disappeared for good, and the Demon King Aslo, the man known to the Holy Empire as the Truth Seeker, and the man who had, in essence, defeated the Hiro perished.

He was a legend who had lived over six hundred years, leaving behind three successors…