-- Sora's Perspective --

“Haaaa… haaaa… haaaa.”

I’m exhausted. I see myself running away endlessly in the corridors and hallways of the castle. I finally realized that my mother really longed for this to happen. She wanted me to be crippled and be fed like a child I was before.

It all started yesterday. The researchers were already prepared to conduct their research on the Demon King but they were too afraid to talk to Freya so they waited for me to wake up. When I told Freya about this, she obediently went to the adjacent chamber which was already prepared for her, though it took some convincing to do so.

My mother heard the news from the researcher that it will take another decade or so to revive the Demon King. My mother was smiling, an odd smile unbecoming of a mother. She thinks that I won’t be able to get away in the royal castle for a long time because of the promise I’ve made with Freya.

The moon is about to reach its zenith. A man came to my room claiming he was sent by my parents. He introduced himself as the son of the deceased Financial Advisor, Miglet. He looks like a pig and snorts like a pig. He’s far worse than his father. He added that he’ll be my husband in exchange for mending the past. I don’t know what he’s talking about. The cardinal’s death? His father’s death? I do not know.

The dark knights have already gone back to Freya’s chamber, it will take another hour before they get back.

Miglet is wearing pajamas. The buttons are barely hanging from his fat belly. He jumps on my bed in all four like a wild beast. He licked his lips and snorted like a pig. His face is already red. Hot steam is coming out from his mouth and nose. I backed off, pushing myself away from him with my feet and barely with my right arm.

I hit the wall behind me. I threw my pillow at him but he deflected it with his hand. He immediately grabbed my left foot covered with bandages and licked it several times. I couldn’t get away. My body shivered in disgust. It was soaked with his saliva in an instant. He looked between my thighs. He licked his lips wilder than before and laughed like a pig.

He grabbed my right foot and spread my feet apart. His crotch has already built a tent from the lustful scene.

His hand let loose a bit. I grabbed that opportunity and made a solid kick on his head.

He passed out.

Back to the present. My left leg is bleeding, it must have been because of that pig that made my wounds reopen. I’m so furious right now. My parents sold me out, especially my mother. My father wasn’t supposed to be like that… but why! why! why!

Is this how low I am? I became a hero to stop this kind of thing from happening. I want to be treated with respect and not like an object!

That’s it. I’m done. I’m done being a hero. I’m done being a princess. I’ll kill myself here and now! But before that, I’ll drag you all along with me!

I gritted my teeth furiously as I remembered the past.

My running is getting rougher along the way. I’m leaving traces of my own blood. I hear the guards looking out for me.

“So he’s already awake. Too bad I’m already here.”

“She’s here!”

One of the guards saw me. The dark knights were behind him.

** gabam **

I closed the door with force and locked it.

“Open the door now!”

The knights endlessly knock on the door.

I went inside the chamber and saw the Demon King lying on the table, his upper body is bisected, exposing his magical core. Research papers and tools are everywhere. Then something caught my eye. There’s a tray of pointy-crystal rocks lying on another table near the Demon King. There are dozens of them. It gives off a faint dark-violet light in the room. I grabbed one.

“Mmmh.. mmmh!”

It’s hot, but I manage to endure it. A steam of hot air is coming out from my right hand. I don’t care anymore, I’m going to die anyway. If Freya see’s this, she’ll make a hell of a show and destroy everything in her path.

I started stabbing the magical core, desperately. I stab and I stab repeatedly. My eyes are filled with uncontrollable rage. My teeth gritted intensely. The cast on my left arm is breaking apart as I force myself on stabbing the Demon King in front of me. As I stab the magical core, sparks are starting to generate inside.

The knights have started banging the door. I could hear my mother’s voice calling out for me. That’s good, make it louder so Freya can hear you all.

It looks like the magical core is about to break.

I raised my right hand higher than before and stabbed it with all my might.

“aaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh!”

I let out a war cry.

As I stabbed it with brute force, the magical core began to glow and radiated a dark violet light. Particles in the core randomly spin around. The Demon King’s body started to shake. His limbs are shivering. His eyes are flickering the same light as his magical core. He’s like being electrocuted. The table is trembling.

When I looked around, the chair, the tools, the research paper, the crystals, and everything were floating around me.

I was suddenly sent to the void, everything went silent in a blink of an eye. I’m alone. I could see myself clearly but I couldn’t see what’s in front of me.

I sense a strong presence. A presence that I’ve never sensed before, far worse than Freya. My heart aches. I sense fear, despair, terror, distress, and panic all at the same time. I couldn’t describe this feeling any longer. My heart is pounding and I can’t breathe. My body won’t budge even though my instincts are telling me to run away.

I sense two giant violet eyes behind me. They opened in an instant and stared directly behind me. The eyes don't hold any expression yet I feel like I have committed a grave crime. I just thought Freya has already gone senile. I thought she’s just insane. I doubted her words that the Demon King is still alive. I did not fear death before, but now I don’t think I’ll be able to escape even if I die.

“I see you...”

A malevolent voice whispered in my ears.

“Hikk!”

I let out a squeak and I unconsciously dropped the crystal in my hand.

“Agh! Ahhhhh!”

The back of my right palm is burning. A magical seal is forming.

The strong presence has left, along with the void. The darkness around me faded away like a fog. I came back. I could see and hear everything again. I saw the light inside the magical core has already died out..

The floating objects around me dropped in an instant. Everything went back to normal, or so I thought.

“Acchhhh!”

My right hand! My right hand is choking me! I couldn’t breathe. I can’t control my hand, it’s like it has a mind of its own.

I dropped on the ground struggling with my own hand and passed out.

--

Deep within the Forest of Fero, not far away from the Kingdom of Arcadia. The moonlight barely passes through the shade of trees.

There’s a crooked tower made out of stone bricks, it resembles the rook in chess. The height of it is four meters, it’s barely a tower.

Down below, there's a man sleeping underground. He’s been doing that for 3000 thousand years already. A world record that no one knows. He doesn’t eat nor excrete, he just sleeps for eternity just like a dead one. He barely moves as he sleeps.

He lives in a small room. A room succumbed to darkness. There’s no light source around even before. Around his bed, he is surrounded by his own creations. Different limbs and bodies of the puppets are hanging in the ceiling. Some of his blueprints are spread out on the wall in odd directions. The rest of his belongings were scattered on the ground. If one would be able to describe this room, it’s a total mess.

For the first time in so many years. Still sleeping, his brows started to furrow once again. He felt something itchy from his chest. The sensation gradually changed to someone poking his chest. It’s getting annoying yet he remained sleeping.

“Mrrrgggghhh!”

He woke up. He felt someone punched him in the chest. It was painful. The burning sensation went inside his chest and through his heart, and isn't fading away.

He immediately raised his upper body. He thought to himself that someone managed to get into his secret lair. He looked around, not with his eyes but with his other senses. He tilted his head sideways.

“There’s none...”

He said to himself.

Yet the burning sensation is still there. He then remembered the puppet he once used before he left this world. It’s coming from there. He noticed the mana going towards him, It’s his own mana but it’s unstable. Someone is using his own mana against him. He began tracing the mana going into him.

A few seconds later in his vision, he saw a girl; blue hair, red eyes, covered with bandages - a human. In front of her is a puppet that he once used back in the old days. He restrained her movements. He was about to kill her but he quickly changed his mind. Killing her won’t do anything good. People like her might appear again and start doing the same thing.

“I see you…”

He whispered to her ears. She let out a squeak. He quickly noticed the weapon she used against him. He put a magic seal on the back of her right palm. She let out a shout of agony. With this, she won’t be able to tell it to the others and he’ll be able to track her.

The burning sensation in his chest has faded away. He went back to bed. He wants to go back to sleep but his mind is filled with annoyance and anxiety. Nothing will change if he stays in bed. He looks up to the ceiling. He noticed some of the limbs hanging in the ceiling had fallen to the ground.

He put his arm on his forehead.

“How long has it been already?”

He questioned himself. But he didn’t know either.

He closed his eyes. He’s thinking about how to efficiently destroy that puppet without raising the awareness of his enemies. Is she an enemy in the first place? He doesn’t know either but the possibility is high. He started massaging his head as he thought of every possibility.

The magical core of that puppet he made is bound to his soul. It enables him to control it directly like him. The rest of the puppets he had made are controlled by magical radio waves, but the delay of command becomes troublesome if they get too far away from him. The magical radio waves can also be affected by weather and other magical presences that emits higher concentration of mana. So far, only a few of them are aware about this type of knowledge. Too few that you could count them in your hands, most of them are probably his followers.

Sending a puppet to get there is easy. He’ll just give a command and it’ll do the rest but the problem lies on the magical core itself. It was designed to withstand the impact of all types of projectiles regardless of force; it won’t break even if you threw it in the lava or let Freya make a one-hit-delete marathon for an entire year.

The only one who could destroy it is himself. A day he had never thought would come one day. He must get out of his room, find that girl, and destroy the magical core. He slowly stood up from his bed. Still thinking of those ideas.

He swayed away the mess in front of him with his feet and hands consecutively. He navigates the room with ease even without lights. He could see everything through his senses. He could smell the colors. He could utilize echolocation with his ears. He could tell the components of an object through his sense of touch. An odd way of sensing things around him. But the sensation of looking with his eyes remains to be unique but he never bothered to use it since he often used a puppet to look around at the outside world.

He wears a black sweatshirt with white collar and long pants. He has tall stature, long silver hair reaching his hips, sharp violet eyes, and a face worthy of a noble person. Yet he’s a demon without a tail, horns, nor wings.

His name is Demon King Belphegor, the Founding Father and the First Ruler of the Great Floating City Of Arcadia; Master of all Puppets; Conqueror of The Whole World and The Underworld; Uniter of all races; and The Merciless King Against All Enemies.

And in this present day, without his knowledge, he gained another title - The Forgotten One.

His name has already been wiped out in history books. Stories of him remained but it gradually changed in time, it became a story of a human rather than a demon king.

He grabbed his satchel and started putting the necessary items for the journey. He grabbed two magical cores he previously made, he thought to himself that he’ll be needing those in difficult times, the possibility of it may be low but it never hurts to be prepared.

He started wearing the grey robe and grabbed the staff used for controlling most of his puppets. It has a wide range of 10 kilometers but the problem of delay of command is still there.

“This would be enough.”

He said to himself. As he was about to go up, he paused for a moment. People outside would be able to sense his strong presence including his followers. He doesn’t want to end up meeting them and see him alive and well, after what happened in the catacombs. That would damage his pride and dignity.

He went back and searched under his bed. He swayed the scraps around until he found a plain dark neckband and a dark ring with silver linings.

He wears the accessories. A dark magic seal of linings spiraled throughout his body and limbs, it stopped at his neck. It was enough to conceal his presence but he put a neckband to leak out some of it. Now his presence is similar to a human and not of a demon king. He could still use his powers if he wishes too but the seal would break if he released too much mana.

He began climbing upward.

** thud **

The trapdoor won’t budge. There’s something stuck above it. It’s a pile of dirt.

“I guess, It can’t be helped, huh.”

He went down to the ground and he firmly grabbed onto the ladder with his left hand. He sent a signal to his staff. The room began to rise up. The crooked tower went straight and the ground rose up. It started to shake like a dog. The dirt around the tower flew off in odd directions. The tower slowly burrowed itself back to the ground.

Back to his room. The place has become messier than before. Surprisingly, he wasn’t injured. He doesn’t care much after what happened.

He climbs up.

“Aah!”

** bam **

“My eyes!”

A flash of light surprised his field of vision. He falls to the ground in pain. He hasn’t even peek outside yet. But it's enough to burn his eyes. His eyes have become too sensitive to sunlight. He wasn’t aware the sun had already come out after several hours of thinking and preparations for the journey. He grabbed a white cloth and used it as a blind fold. He thought to himself that he’ll just pretend blind along the way, it might even lower the suspicion of the people he might encounter on the way. Which is a win-win situation.

He went outside. The breeze of the wind in the forest brushes his hair. The smell of the ground is new to him. The birds are chirping outside. The trees are swaying to and fro. The sunlight pierces through the shade of the trees.

His new journey starts today. A life where he experiences the world around him for the first time.