Chapter 1B: Awaken Betrayed and Forsaken Hero

He felt drowned as if he was in a sea of earth, the suffocation was clogging up his breathing thus he used his strength to climb out from wherever he was. He felt the crushing force of the earth against him but continued on until he reached the surface. He coughs out the dirt within his mouth and briskly looks around in a state one would call crazy. After fully getting his body out of the earth he stares at his body, it feels strange. Strengthened even. His armor is rusted and the crest of the kingdom is completely faded out, his cape is ripped in several areas, his sword has the dried blood of the Demon King on it thus staining it in a black color he picks it up with the thick skull it had struck crumbling upon taking it out. David begins to trod his way from the site he was supposedly buried, he recognizes the place. It was just a safe distance away from the Demon King’s Palace, the darkness envelopes the scenery. This was the cavern where he fell as the memory of that single moment flashes right before his eyes once again, his hatred was very real. So real he brought himself back to avenge himself. The emotion burns in his heart as he begins to climb the walls of the gorge, the light was within his reach and he finally appears on the other end of the gorge at the scenery where he was. The palace was empty, decaying as dead silence ruled over it. Where had the girls who were with him gone?He had no time to think about such, the goddess had already taken care of that, in his mind and heart was home. He needed to go back home and finally say what he needed to say. He walked over to one of the mirrors that the Demon King had in his throne room and stared at his new self, hair as white as snow itself, crimson red eyes and his skin was pale as if he never saw the light of day for a long time. He was different, he could feel it however he couldn’t explain it. His mind was elsewhere as he began to make his way out of the abandoned palace, for a moment when he got out he thought he saw a massive dome that covered the sky but then that disappeared. He ran across the land that he slaughtered so many demons at such a speed that frightened even him, there was not much demons that had intelligence here it was as if they had moved out of the area. The ones left were the type that couldn’t think for themselves and would be good at horde tactics like low tier goblins and kobolds. But even those had taken a toll on him and his party however as he was right now he was killing them with one slash across the neck, head and chest. It felt rather too easy. The strangest part was his loss of fatigue and exhaustion by now he would be breathing heavily however he kept on going without stopping, something was definitely wrong with his body but he didn’t know what.

☆

His memory of home seemed hazy as he scavenged of what remained in his mind, the days of peaceful bliss he worked at the farm, the smile that his mother gave each and every morning, the sunshine that soaked his skin as he and his father worked to hunted. The promise he made to Elaine who was his love, he ran and ran and ran. He stopped as he wanted to know what happened to the bastards who betrayed him and what happened to the kingdom, the Dark Continent was far behind him as he was now nearing one of the towns that was frontlines to the demons onslaught.

“Ah I thought I was alone in the night, it’s nice to have someone walk with you!”

The voice of an old man rang in his ears, he turned around and saw an old peddler with a huge bag.

“You’re not from around here eh?”

“……”

“I can tell, maybe you’re from one of the villages that were around the area where the demons were said to have increased. Poor chap, c’mon let’s get to the city”

“…….”

David had nothing to say because the old man had assumed something that had not happened, it was better off that way. He turned his back once more and began walking with him to the city.

“It is really such a tragedy for whole villages to get wiped out like this”

“What happened to the Hero’s Party and the Demon King”

He had to ask this peddler some questions, for all he knew he could have a little bit of information because he was a businessman who traveled, he could have asked the same question to a merchant but those people had great influence and could later on expose his honest ploy.

“The Hero after killing the Demon King the most unfortunate thing happened to him”

“What?”

“He and The Sage and the Saint all got possessed by the soul of the Demon King and tried to kill the remaining party members. They were forced to slay them…..Truly saddening, the kingdom has since then banned the mention of his name because despite his great effort the Hero ended up becoming a traitor by being possessed by the Demon King’s soul. But those who live in the frontier villages should know better”

“…….”

The whole world was fed a lie, he got betrayed by his own party members stabbed in the back. Surely the people would know that something was fishy about this whole thing?No, this is the way humans would act, if the higher ups said something the public would listen. A complex emotion begins to ride within David’s heart, it resonates with his soul.

“But worry not boy one day a new Hero shall rise and protect us all and those who defended us from the Demon King shall rise once more”

The real traitors were out there walking scotch free whilst his name was dragged in the mud. Suddenly in his anger he remembered Lucas’ words stopping his walking entirely.

⎡ Because you were a nuisance, the kingdom and the church felt that you would one day go against all of them so they chose us to dispose of you……..Do not worry I will take care of the little loose ends- ⏌

Before he could let those words in his mind finish David began to run towards the city in a hurry. It couldn’t be true, it wasn’t. He didn’t care about images right now, the old man is left alone on the road and suddenly smiles before vanishing into the darkness. To David it didn’t matter who or what was in his way, he slashed any enemy who was in his path as he ran across the city and land. He ran and ran and ran and ran, night and day seemed to briefly pass before his eyes as he ran in full sprint using magic to even camouflage his presence. A familiar air entered his nostrils, the scenery was the same of his memories. The beautiful meadows were still there in the beautiful moon light, David walked slowly in the forest that he usually walked when he wanted to relax from the stress of the daily farm life. The weeds were overgrown in the fields, the air of abandonment could be felt wherever he looked, the walls were crumbled one could even see the burnt marks that surrounded what used to be buildings. David froze as he stood at the ruins of what was his home. He could see the souls of those who used to smile with him in the days before he became a Hero. No one was left alive.

“no……..”

“I am so sorry David….”

“Elaine….”

“They took us by surprise and slaughtered us all”

Elaine’s spirit was missing an eye, its face was bruised with knife marks, her clothes were ripped in several areas. He could even see the blood from between her legs, she suffered through and through.

“I waited for you until my last breath. Welcome home David”

“…….why?”

“That is what the kingdom planned for this village, our fate was tied with yours”

“Who….who did this to you?”

“……..”

“WHO DID THIS TO YOU ELAINE?!WAS IT LUCAS?!WAS IT SCOTT?!WHO MURDERED YOU?!”

“It was General Isaac Salvatore”

His eyes widened as that name rolled out of her mouth, the name had a certain level of importance to David. To him it was a father figure, a mentor , a man who he could trust. His soul at that moment felt black, it felt like he never left the abyss that he found himself when he woke up. He was living inside of it for quite some time but was rejecting it and now there was unmistaken undeniable proof that he was truly forsaken by everyone he knew and loved. The miasma that surrounded his body could be felt within the forest, it thickened to such a degree one would become instantly weak from just entering.

“Everyone……I have failed you”

David or rather what was David stood at the middle of the ruins of the village with the souls of the ones he loved and knew surrounding him. He then noticed what was so different about him, why he felt no fatigue, why he felt no hunger and why his strength was doubled. He was reborn as an undead, none in the human realm except the insane necromancers could see the souls of the dead.

“……….The David you know is no more, he died on the same day you guys died. I am nothing more than a tool of bloodshed”

The shuffling of boots and hooves could be heard surrounding the area, a mixture of holy knights and adventurers had heard of what he had done to the city near the frontlines.

“Oh look there it is!”

“That’s one unique undead!”

“Calm yourselves you scumbags it will take all of us to take it down.”

“Well it chose a pretty bad place to get purified in, isn’t this the traitor’s village?”

“It is”

“Lots of people died here, because of the sins of the person they raised. I pray you find peace in the Almighty Father Zeumaxis”

“Hey are you hearing anything?!”

“You are going to get purified in a trai-“

The adventurer’s head was sent flying as the undead moved forward slicing his head off with the crimson afterglow in the dark highlighting its speed. This was a shock to everyone who was here to kill this undead monster, his pitch black sword seemed to have a being inside of it laughing. The adventurer next to him is too slow to react as he has his body cut in half in no time, the undead takes the daggers that was on his person as it throws them into the heads of the holy knights who charge at it. The blood on its blade shines brightly in the moonlight unnaturally as all of the vanguard adventurers rush at it. The sound of a swing is heard as the sword growls like a ravenous wolf covering itself in black miasma transforming into a black scythe whose blade reaps many heads, holy magic is thrown at the undead but that has no effect on it as it runs forward to the holy knights on horses. Before one of them could chant another holy incantation the undead is in front of them bisecting them in half without effort. One of them manage to remove its hood to reveal its face but in doing so their blood freezes over as they see the face of the dead traitor. The crimson eyes are covered in an ocean of indifferent darkness as it transforms its weapon once more into a sword with jagged edges.

“Wai-AAAAAAARGGHHHHHHH?!”

The holy knight screams as the blade tears through flesh and armor with several maggots crawling into his blood and bone. The other holy knights see this and all cower in fear.

“FEAR NOT ! THIS UNDEAD SHALL RETURN TO ITS GRAVE IF WE WORK TOGETHER! EVERYONE WE SHALL WIN WE ARE ON THE SIDE OF JUSTICE!”

“Justice you say?I too was on that side and look at where that landed me”

The voice was the same too which seemed to make their hearts race in complete cowardice but they had families and lovers to go back to. The adventurers who were on the floor began to rise back up as zombies which made their current situation even more worse. The undead soon broke into a blood curdling grin as it ran towards the holy knights, the horses froze not wanting to move at all leaving the holy knights falling over as they opted to fight on foot. An audible crack is heard in their midst as the undead breezes past them in quick speed with the neck of the leader who was opting them to be brave broken into a weird direction , as the undead quickly turns to them as if in dance swinging its sword which chops off their limbs in quick succession. Before they are able to do anything that is considered a counterattack the undead is already within their sight mowing them down, one of the spell based holy knights points his cane at the undead who sprints at him charging the spell at high speed so they could end this nightmare once and for all however such dreams do not occur as the undead arrives where the knight is grabbing the still charging cane orb that was emitting large amounts of mana forcibly breaking it away from its cane and throwing it at the dumbfounded knights who all let out a scream as they burn with their armor which melts into their skin. The knight himself is not spared from the undead’s wrath as it takes the dagger which was on his left side and thrusts it deep within his left eye causing him to fall back screaming but he is not done yet as his arms are broken in weird directions before being quickly stabbed in the throat and left to drown in his own blood. They in their number began to drastically reduce one by one falling to the highly skilled zombies that the undead had created.

“……hahaha…hahaha…hahaha..HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT’S THE MATTER YOU GUYS ALWAYS SAY THAT DEATH ISN’T THE END DO YOU NOT?!C’MON ACCEPT DEATH! BE TRANSFORMED!”

The increased malice that it had was unfathomable, they say when a light goes in enough darkness it will end up succumbing to the abyss. After enjoying itself torturing the holy knights even in their deaths it walked up to the last living holy knight.

“Alright get up”

He picked him up easily like a person would with a cat but in this case it was mere trash. He looked down on this imbecile who dared disturb his speech with his people.

“Alrighty~ I want you to send a message, not just any message though. A really good message. I want you to be the example that I will show to General Salvatore. Don’t worry about speed, that horsey over there died of a heart attack I induced with the magic known as a miasmic attack its an undead horse it should run all night long with its speed you should reach the town in like what 2 hours?Nonetheless~ you’ll get there “

The Undead Hero smiled as he stared down the holy knight with a grin and eyes that could be treated as innocent as a child’s.