On a bed in a cottage, an old white-haired man was laying in a bed. He was old and frail, it seems he was going to die soon. He felt his body grow weaker, and his mind less clear. He had done and experienced many things in life, he had some regrets, but nothing he could fix. He closed his eyes and took his last breath, it seems he was at peace. Darkness engulfed him and he felt everything disappear.

After a long while, he felt sensation again. He opened his eyes and felt he was still old, everything around him was dark but he could see everything clearly. In front of him stood Eszero, she looked at him with a neutral face. Memories flooded the old man and he remembered everything. He did not feel hatred upon regaining his memories, only thought of why things went the way they did.

“What and why?” Old Joy said with a tired old voice.

“Would you like to hear a story?” asked Eszero.

Old Joy felt like Eszero was playing and toying with him again but he couldn't seem to get or feel mad.

“Sure,” said Old Joy.

Eszero started the story. In the story, there was a country with a government and two groups of people. One group of people made ninety percent of the population while the other made ten percent of the population.

One day, the government ordered the nine percent majority to execute the ten percent minority. A few ninety percent immediately started attacking the ten percent. Many ninety percent were hesitant to kill as they did not know why the government wanted them to kill the ten percent, but with the government easing, they slowly joined in on the killing.

There was quite a few ninety percent who did not join in on the killing, and they did nothing as they watched the ten percent slowly get massacred. A quite many ninety percent did not believe in the massacre and protested against the government, their words reached the government's ear and the government stitched their mouth.

The massacre raged on and a very tiny few ninety percent were mad with rage at what the government was doing. In the middle of the night, a mad ninety percent came into the government meeting room and hid with a sword. Morning came and the government officials came to start the meeting.

During the meeting, the mad ninety percent learned that a few ten percent had been plotting to overthrow the power of the ninety percent government. The mad ninety percent stayed hidden where he was and decided to let the government and the massacre go on.

However, hidden in another part of the meeting room was another ninety percent. The ninety percent family had been killed and he only wanted revenge on the government. He rushed out and attacked the government officials. Seeing the attack, the no longer mad ninety percent rushed out and killed the revenge ninety percent. After the massacre was over, the no longer mad ninety percent was crowned a hero and lived happily to old age.

“The story is a little sad, but what does it have to do with this,” said Old Joy.

“If I was the government, then you were that ninety percent who immediately obeyed me and started the massacre. I did not want that from you, I wanted you to defy me with every part of your bitter soul, even if it was meaningless to defy me,” said Eszero.

Old Joy gave a small laugh, “A wise man submits to circumstances,” said Old Joy.

“And a fool defies circumstances,” said Eszero, “I don't like fools but this is an exception.”

“Would you like me to defy you now?” Old Joy said with a grin and burning light in his eyes.

“If you do that, your giving into circumstances again,” said Eszero.

“In front of you,” Old Joy said with a bow, “my struggle is meaningless, better to bow my head and live another day than die today."

Eszero sighed and asked, "Do you wish to live another day?"

Old Joy gave a smile, "Ever since you sent me to that world, I have always wanted to live every day."

"Very well," Eszero said coldly, "I will give you another chance."

"Before I go, may I ask you something?" said Old Joy.

"What is it?" said Eszero.

Old Joy's face showed no emotions as he looked at her, "Did you treat me harshly because I kicked that baby?"

"Yes," Eszero replied.

Tears fell from Old Joy's face and he smiled with relief, it seemed as if a huge weight had been taken off his soul.

"So it was an illusion after all," said Old Joy with emotions.

Eszero looked at him with no emotions, "How could you tell?"

Old Joy looked at her with a small sad smile, "If they were real, I'm sure you wouldn't have let me live this long."

Eszero's gaze changed and became softer, "They were indeed illusions, good luck."

Eszero's words pulled more weight off Old Joy's soul, for an Externity like Eszero, he was sure they didn't become what they were by not staying true. Darkness engulfed Old Joy and he lost all sensation.

After a long while, Old Joy regained sensation and felt a hard slimy wall around him. He thought of his status screen and it showed up.

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Old Joy - Arch Demon Egg

Race: Armstalker Demon

Str: 4

End: 3

Agi: 4

Demon Energy: 3/3

Demon Essence: 0

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Old Joy gave a small smile and cracked the wall around him. He got out of the demon egg and saw the same old demon hatching ground as he remembered, there were already many demons who had hatched and were fighting each other. He took a breath of air and the hot air energized his body.

He came close to a round egg and grabbed it with all four hands. He threw it up into the sky and it fell to the ground with a crack. He pried the crack opened his hand and killed the demon inside. After eating the tasting stone, he grabbed a few stones and threw them at a winged demon he liked.

The winged demon crashed to the ground and Old Joy killed it. He tore off its strong pair of sharp batwings and flew into the sky. He killed another flying demon and obtained another strong pair of sharp batwings.

He flew with great speed and started killing the demons around him. The demons around became fearful of Jim and avoided him but they couldn't outspeed Old Joy and fell one after another.

Old Joy did not waste any second of his time and he kept killing and killing till a wave of red energy from the black sun descended upon the land. He descended on the world where the hatched demon would grow and woke up. He saw that he was on a cliff by a ravine with high walls behind his back. He was in a land filled with many giant rising jagged lands.

In the jagged lands were many ravines and canyons that had flowing river lava. There were dark spaces, cracks, and holes everywhere for demons to hide. In the red sky above, many flying demons would sometimes swoop in to kill.

Old Joy thought of a plan and decided he would hunt for demons till he grew very strong. Currently, he did not know much about the demon world or the Below world. After he became very strong, he would find an intelligent demon to gather information.

Old Joy looked around for a hiding spot to sleep and use his demon essence. He spotted a dark hole and threw stones in. A demon rushed out with rage and Old Joy stoned it to death. He devoured its soul and went inside the hole.

The hole was spacious enough for Joy and he threw the demon corpse into the ravine. He found a big stone and covered the hole as he went inside the hole. The hole was hidden by the big stone and Joy felt safe as he quickly fell asleep. After a long while, he woke up feeling stronger and energized. He checked his status to see how strong he got.

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Old Joy - Hatched Arch Demon

Race: Armstalker Demon

Str: 7

End: 7

Agi: 7

Demon Energy: 3/3

Demon Essence: 0

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