Chapter 2 Epilogue: The Sound Of Damned Screaming Is Pleasant To The Ear

He could feel his consciousness begin to stir, his mind was starting to function again. He finally opened his eyes and saw the king right in front of him. Isaac was confused, how was he here when he was in Mayberk?

“Y-Your Majesty…”

He tried to prostrate himself but Isaac was unable to because his hands and feet were chained to the wall.

“What is…?”

“I have a question for you Isaac. Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why did you attempt to seize the kingdom by force”

The question was rather too severe for someone like him, he had undying loyalty to the kingdom of Astraea.

“My King but I didn’t do such!”

“Oh?What about the knights you made an example of after they disobeyed your iron fist rule”

“That wasn’t me!It’s the demon, no rather its the Hero David!He’s become an undead and was the one who attacked the frontier town of Albenick!”

“Interesting little story you have there. Considering it was all just a ruse to your grand plan of staging a coup of the throne. I do not know how long you have planned this but its over. You are done for, such a ruthless man sending his wife to be tortured by his knights and shutting his son up by throwing into a cave filled with goblins that had a special aphrodisiac that would make them ravage him despite his gender.”

“That’s the hero’s doing you’ve got to believe me!”

“The hero has been dead for two fucking years!Do you take me for a fool?!Do you think your testament can really stand against the people’s?!They were afraid of you and despised your guts, you did not allow them to be free and took away their freedoms. You even tried to force the mages from the Mage’s Guild to erect a barrier on top of that!To put insult to injury you attempted to attack the royal capital and laid siege to it for twelve days!Twelve days!I lost a lot of men because of your folly, the nobles and people for once are in agreement, they are fuming in anger due to the things you did Isaac. If you had admitted I would have let you off easy by trapping you here for all your life but no you had to spit into my face by putting the blame onto the Hero. I know I sent him to death because the kingdom didn’t need a threat that strong but I was far too blind to see the threat was so close to me all this time.”

“Your Majesty…..”

“Good bye Isaac”

“YOUR MAJESTY!!!!!”

“The next time we meet is when you are facing your public execution. Enjoy the time you are in here.”

“YOUR MAJESTY WAIT NO!!!”

The door slammed shut as the king said that, the gravity of the situation was heavy. What the hell did that monster do?His eyes were wide from shock as he was left in the darkness for a while with a single light coming from out of nowhere, he was unfocused and disturbed to the highest degree.

“Well then I guess that is how the General dies”

“Hero….WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME?!!”

“I told you didn’t I?Your nightmare was only just beginning”

“TELL ME WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!”

“Just like what you did to me I did the same to you. I ruined your reputation, put you in one shit pile of a mess and made it such that you have no way of rejecting the things you have done.”

“…….”

“In other words you were in an unconscious state I induced I made you lead your army to march down to the royal capital and stage a coup with your ambition trailing a blaze after deceiving the king of a demon that is not there. You made the people of your territory suffer a dictatorship and the people of the royal capital see blood and fear stain on their streets. Heh you are in some pretty deep shit.”

“no….no…”

“Yes better yet you are going to be publicly executed but before that humiliated you know the way the kingdom treats traitors right. I’ll be watching eating some roasted corn whilst I am at it.”

That demon went as he appeared with a soul crushing despair left behind in Isaac’s heart as he realizes the whole situation is more grave than he imagined.

💀

“It is time for your execution Isaac Salvatore”

Words he didn’t want to hear, he shook as the knights unshackled him from the walls making him wear dirty rags instead of what he was found. He was less distinguishable now than ever, he walked out of his cell with the sounds of chains and steel boots accompanying him. The other prisoners of the dungeon all stared at him not with pity but with disgust, they who were lower than him had more dignity and honor than him a traitor. Their gazes were of pure revile and hate. He soon stepped out into the light which seemed to shine brightly, the dungeon of the kingdom did not lead into the royal palace no that would stain the royal family’s home with the blood of criminals, it led to the main road of the kingdom leading to the execution platform. And what a long way it was. Now the knights who were with him paced themselves a short distance away from Isaac as a chime sound rang in the collar they had put on his neck, he was unable to move his own body. He wanted to scream but was unable to, the knights did this with a purpose as they rode their horses opening the door towards the main street. The anger, disdain, frustration, sorrow and pain of the people was all mixed into one Isaac could clearly see that the actions he was forced to do had a great effect on them. Insults were thrown at him at first but then came the rotten vegetables, afterwards to those who were very brave literal shit. But he kept on walking it wasn’t enough for the people, some actually knew he wasn’t walking of his own will and decided to make the road ahead of him hard thus they smashed glass on the road to make him walk on it, soon after that there was a special part of the road that reacted to his mana signature which began to heat up into a road filled with hot brim, he wanted to scream but he couldn’t. He was shackled with the weight of the crimes he did not do, he was committed to the role of being the punching bag of the people for the loss they experienced. Those bold enough would have punched him and kicked him down but that was against the whole purpose of him walking towards the execution. The plaza were many a person was filled with many citizens of the kingdom all with the same voice of anger and hate towards Isaac almost overwhelmed him. The knights stop at the middle of the plaza where a pair stands, the two are of different occupations and rarely talked to one another but it was times like these that their cooperation shined. The high priest and the court mage opened their books with solemn looks on their faces.

“Before we begin we are allowed to mention our personal feelings with the criminal.”

“I am thoroughly disappointed in you Isaac, I thought you were better than this. But I was wrong you are worse than scum”

“…..”

“I trusted you with the protection of the kingdom, I even trusted you with my sister but I was horribly wrong to do so. I know that I should believe in forgiveness and such but I am afraid I cannot in this case, I hope you suffer for all eternity for what you did to my sister and my nephew”

These words coming from Sevil broke Isaac’s heart, he was the court mage and Heather’s older brother. He was the most angry out of them all and had a hostile gaze that directed to no one else but him.

“I curse thee with pain tenfold, suffering that resonates with one’s soul, may thee find no rest in your torment”

“May the Lord Our God Zeumaxis not receive your soul into your gates, curse of damnation”

His gaze strayed away from the high priest and the court mage, there amongst the crowd was the devil who smiled and waved at him childishly. He wanted to scream that the real culprit was right in front of them but he couldn’t.

“Away with you”

“I am glad that this is a fitting end to a shitbag such as yourself, goodbye Isaac. You may begin”

Suddenly his body began to etch into his skin black tattoos which pained him to a degree he could very well lose his mind. Then from out of nowhere a whip lash breaks onto his back with the pain radiating into a storm of feelings, he felt angry, sad, confused and afraid all at the same time. They whip him one hundred times before making him walk once more, his eyes were beginning to see the people as demons at this point, their shouts were like indescribable roars and shrieks, their image was akin to something one would see in a nightmare and it was continuing on, the show was reaching its climax.

💀

A battered man had reached the large podium from which everyone could see him, he was hated through and through. This was the result of his sin, he went against his nation, treated his people with an iron fist, murdered his wife and subjected his son to a fate one could never possibly imagine. Dressed in ripped rags, his body covered in blood and shit, the black tattoos still emitting the black mist of the curse he felt whilst he was being subjected to a humiliation worse than death not even a great criminal was put through what this man had gone through. The voices of the people were in one voice, the deed had to be done. The death of a criminal of his caliber was the Blood Eagle. His knees were broken to ensure he would not escape not that he could in his state. He was left on the ground to kneel on broken knees, arms outstretched and tied to the wooden supports. At that moment he was given his own will back but he was still very much a prisoner, his eyes darted about as if to look for something.

“IT IS NOT ME I SWEAR!!I AM BEING FRAMED!!THE HERO!!THE HERO IS THE ONE WHO DID THIS!!!I ONLY DID THINGS TO PROTECT MY TERRITORY AND KINGDOM!!”

He spoke words of madness, the hero was resting in peace. Long dead after killing the demon king, to the end he didn’t admit to his atrocities. The knife pierced his back to make an opening to his ribs which began to be hacked away by the axe, he screamed in a voice that could be said not to be human. It satisfied them to see him act like this, the executioner rips his lungs out and spreads them out like an eagle’s wings. This was the death of traitors of the kingdom, a death most criminals wanted to avoid if they could. That was the end of Isaac Salvatore, well in the kingdom that is.

💀

“ENOUGH!!ENOUGH I SAY PLEASE I BEG OF YOU I AM TERRIBLY SORRY!!”

Despite him dead and being buried at the capital Isaac’s soul had fallen into Alastor’s hand and it was transferred into a homunculus that greatly resembled his last body, it was here where the undead villagers began to torture him and his men back in their ruined village. Alastor smiled as he looked at the scene of carnage that was meant to happen again and again and again, even if he died he would come back to be tortured by the villagers.

“But where shall we go now?”

“Village Chief we are going to go to the Demon King’s Palace, we are to meet up with the others who were brought back like I was”

“Hmm we shall follow you wherever you go Alastor, you avenged all of us and for that we are indebted to you”

“Alastor is a kind child”

“Mom don’t say such a joke, if I was kind I would let Isaac and his knights off the hook”

“Fufufufufufu that is certainly true”

“Just you wait you bastards I am going to show you all hell”

Alastor the undead hero who became a demon smirked as he started making his journey back towards the Demon King’s Palace where it all started.