I still remember. It was a somewhat misty morning, and slightly wet as it rained the day before. The scent of iron and smoke was strong, mixed in with the sight of red water and black air.

Every single face that laid down on the puddles of mud as fire scorched the battlefields. The smell of burning flesh was burnt into my nose, the sight of disembowelment became a common scenery, the idea of slaughter became an afterthought.

I slashed through the battlefield, rippling across the wetlands slowly. Donned in my black armor, I was shielded from arrows and spells alike, reinforced after daily practice.

There was nobody left to fight. The battle was over, and as medics rushed to help those that were injured. Out of the corner of my eye I saw an enemy. He wasn’t dead, but he laid down face flat on in the mud. Our soldiers wore peculiarly shaped gray armor that stood out from the typical army uniforms that the kingdom used to deploy. And so when one of our medics ran past him, the enemy sprung up from the mud, knife in his hand.

The medic, surprised, attempted to cover himself.

And as the knife came down, it was met with a dark shield, forged by my magic. I walked over, slowly trekking across the mud, and gazed down upon the two. The medic had fallen onto his back, crawling away in fear.

“Go,” I commanded. He obliged, grabbing his supplies and rushing across the battlefield. And I turned my attention back to the sole enemy that had dared to oppose us. I grabbed him by the collar, raising him up from the vicious mud.

He said something, but at this point, I could hear nothing but the echoes of the dead around me. It was completely silent, even though his mouth was moving rapidly and it seemed as if he was shouting.

I couldn’t care less what he had to say anyways. My dagger unsheathed swiftly, taking off his head with a single stroke. The blood dripped down my armor as I discarded his remains, tossing him among the others.

“We’re done here,” I heard Ivan’s voice behind me. I turned around, to be met with him as he walked out of the light mist. He used to wield a spear, but he had asked for a weapon better suited for him. It was a rather large weapon, much like a shield however instead of a short tip it was a large blade at the head, for increased range and a heavier weapon to match his herculean strength. It was stained with blood, much like my sword. He had been busy.

“Nobunaga’s waiting at the gates, ready to siege. Prepare for things to get ugly,” Ivan explained.

I nodded, and I began to follow him, slowly walking upon the remains of the battle. We had been sent to one of the nearby villages that surrounded the city in order to create an outpost. We had chosen a village that was nearby wetlands so that we could supply the city with food as soon as possible. And now we made our way back to rendevouz with the main body of Nobunaga’s army.

It took another hour to reach the city. We rode on horseback, talking about the upcoming siege.

“The whole city’s plagued with gang wars and factions right now. Prostition, drugs, stealing, gambling, gang wars are at an all time high,” he explained.

“I know.”

“Nobunaga already told you?”

“Yeah, last night.”

“Oh, really?” Ivan scratched his head. “Why didn’t he tell me?”

“Because you went whoring,” I reminded him.

“Right.”

“So remind me what the plan is,” he asked.

“According to Delilah,” I tried my best to recall everything. “ The houses are infested with insects and small critters. There’s also a plague going around, so we have to be wary. Apparently the plague doesn’t spread in the light, so everyone’s down on the streets. The gangs have set up camp outdoors, and anyone that’s being held prisoner will be in cages.”

“Kill anything outside of the cages?” Ivan looked like he just got a good idea.

“Use your judgement,” I snickered.

He laughed heartily. “I know, I’m just messing with you.”

We arrived at the rendezvous point, where thousands of our own had lined up, preparing to march upon the gates of the city. There were no guards to man the walls as the whole city had fallen into chaos. It was simply a matter of us storming in, and to take over.

My horse was very time, and quiet, much like myself. It stepped across the soil, calmly staying still as the soldiers made way for me and Ivan to reach the front. On the other hand, Ivan’s horse was wild and bright red, much like its personality.

A lot of the soldiers smiled as Ivan waved at them, but they bowed as soon as I crossed their path. Of course, they respected Ivan. The soldiers loved Ivan, because Ivan treated them all like brothers. But to them I was a stranger. Another soldier on the battlefield, too shaken to speak another word. A soldier that they fought with, but would never understand.

I wouldn’t have had it any other way.

We reached the head of the army, where Eileen, Lucy, Delilah and Nobunaga were waiting for us. Delilah showed up occasionally, depending on whether or not she was needed at the front.

“How did things at the fishing hamlet go?” Delilah turned to me. It appeared to me that after all this time that Delilah wasn’t the most fond of Ivan. She often turned to me instead of him.

“Fine,” I answered, stopping my horse.

“Aren’t you going to ask me anything, sweetie?” Ivan tried to jump in, only to be ignored by her.

“Here,” Delilah handed the two of us something, a mask. “The city’s infested with disease, you’re going to be careful.”

I felt it in my hand. I felt its weight, it’s texture, its size, its softness. Leather. Filter in the front. Meant for medical purposes. And within a split second I had memorized its material, its purpose and black matter crawled up my neck. An almost perfect replica stretched across my face, protecting my face from any infectious material. It was smooth and comfortable, for it was molded for me and me only.

The soldiers besides me muttered and stood back as they saw my magic. I had received the same reaction many times, for it “unnatural and alien,” as most people described. I handed the mask back to Delilah, who looked somewhat impressed.

“Not bad,” she commented. “Looks good on you.”

Ivan put on his mask, which looked a bit too small for him. He shaked his head in discomfort, but couldn’t complain about it. After all, the battle was to begin very soon.

“Ready?” Nobunaga turned to the two of us, on his left.

Me and Ivan nodded in unison.

“Ready?” Nobunaga turned to the right, where Eileen and Lucy stood.

They nodded in unison as well.

Nobunaga drew his sword, raising it up in the air. And with that the horns of war blared through the air, echoing through the city walls and our declaration of blood was heard by its residents.

I was at the front, the sole vanguard of the army. My horse raced to the gate swiftly, leaving behind a dust storm for the main force to follow. As I approached the gates, my body turned. Stems of black bursted from my body, covering me in black armor once more. Once I was close enough, I dismounted my horse, and I set it free, allowing it to leave the battle. Hopefully it would find peace in the forests, far away from any humans. Behind me, a storm of black had spiraled itself into existence, and something akin to a battering ram rose out of the storm, slamming into the city gates.

The gates shattered and the machination of my creation faded away, and we stormed the fallen city.

* * *

I still remembered when I first joined the front lines, with Ivan and Lucy. They were both acknowledged the moment that they entered the barracks, and it didn’t take long for them to mingle in with the crowd. Lucy was fond of other sorceresses, sticking to her own crowd while Ivan was close with both common foot soldiers and the prostitutes.

And of course, when I was introduced as a general of the army all of them burst into laughter. After all, what purpose could a mere child serve in an actual battle?

It was interesting to watch as I went from limb to limb, slaughtering dozens without remorse, leaving behind a mountain of corpses as I fought over control of villages and small towns. Naturally, people began to pick up on the fact that I wasn’t just a mascot. I was an actual soldier.

But the first test of resolve didn’t come until my first siege. I was at the front lines, waiting for Ivan to arrive. We had agreed to rendezvous after seizing the nearby villages and trying to establish camp in appropriate locations. The siege began, and five days passed before the walls gave away, and we were able to enter the city of Avalon, overrun by corruption and starvation.

The smell, the image, and the colors I will never forget. It was like the whole city had been rotting away, and what remained were mindless animals.

There was a particular man that shocked me to reality.

The man was thinner than a branch, and it took five of our own soldiers to get him off our own. We wanted information, so we wanted to interrogate him but we realized that he wasn’t trying to kill us. He had bitten off a chunk of our soldier’s face.

“He’s not trying to kill your soldiers.”

He had been so starved that he had resorted to cannibalism. It was my first time seeing such a thing. The way that he lunged was so beast-like that for a moment, I had thought that it had been an animal. And that look on his face. That look as he chewed on human flesh, satisfied with himself.

He was happy.

I didn’t know what to do, so I killed him on the spot. When we went inside the building what I saw would haunt me in my memories forever. There was a little girl on the table, staring right up. She was dead.

She had no limbs, just her head and her body. And on the side, were several people chewing on her body. Arms, fingers, toes, everything. My stomach churned at the sight, and even when I killed them all, the eyes of the small girl had already been carved into the darkest depths of my memories.

The rest of the soldiers were spooked now, I could see their hands shaking as we continued our way through the city. Eventually, I met up with Delilah before a cathedral. Delilah stood by the side of the building, as if waiting for us. I could sense her two assassins atop the rooftops, watching us.

“Busy?” Delilah asked.

“No.”

“Good.”

“Why?”

“We’re going to the one in charge here.”

“To?”

“Negotiate,” Delilah began walking, pointing at a very tall structure in the far distance. It looked like a cathedral, decorated with holy symbols. I recognized some of the scripture, because I had seen the spells before. “His name is Henrik Consul, he was one of the few that grabbed power as soon as the kingdom began falling. If we get to him, we should be able to get to everyone else of importance.”

“Why did you ask me, but not Ivan?” I was curious.

“There’s something I want to test,” was all she said. I knew that I would get no further answers from her, so I didn’t ask anything else. The path I began to notice that more and more people were beginning to peek outside their houses, wondering what was happening. I checked the wound that I had suffered during battle. They were already healing, leaving nothing but light white scars that would disappear later as well.

Some of our soldiers were up ahead, scouting the area right outside of the cathedral. They seemed to have no problems exploring the place so far, the security barely existed.

“Have you checked the inside?” Delilah demanded.

“Yes, it looks to be clear!” one of the soldiers answered.

“Good,” Delilah turned to me. “Let’s go, shall we?”

The inside of the cathedral was almost completely empty. Lights flickered upon entry, the wind blew in quietly like a whisper. There was nothing to note, I couldn’t sense any life up here. Delilah quietly followed me. She was looking for something, or someone. Then I felt something from below. A very faint sign of life, so faint that if I hadn’t been looking for it then I would probably have walked away without having noticed it. I could sense human life pretty accurately now, however I was still practicing.

“I’ll go down,” I told Delilah. She nodded, her two assassins following her without me around.

The stairs downstairs were well lit. Some of the steps were caved and irregular, so I assumed that they were frequently used. However, what bothered me was the smell. It smelled off, a somewhat putrid stench. I couldn’t put my finger on it and it made me curious to what could be the smell. On top of that, there was someone down here. I made my way through what looked to be the lower levels of the cathedral. It was dark, but my eyes immediately adjusted to the darkness. A few rats crawled on the ground as my feet made their way across the wet floor. The stench was going stronger, and so was the dim pulse.

It felt like going through a long hallway, but eventually I stopped in front of a door near the end of the hallway. It was made of metal, and locked. The horrid stench leaked out from behind the steel door, infecting the air around me like a miasma. Now that the stench has gotten stronger. I couldn’t tell what that was, because I had never been on the aftermath of a battlefield - at least not yet. What I was detecting was in fact the smell of decaying flesh.

I drew my dagger, black matter reinforcing the tips as I thrust at the hinges that held the door together. The metal frame shattered as I pushed, and the door in its entirety slid down what seemed to be a set of brick stairs that led deeper underground. Up ahead, would be the source of the putrid stench and the faint source of life that I was looking for.

“Are you sure you want to see what’s down there?” Asura asked as if he already knew what I would find down there.

Never before could I have imagined what awaited me down there. Even I knew that something was wrong as I saw the workbench of saws and torture tools hanging on the wall like some sort of trophy. My heart skipped a beat as I looked around. It was dark, but I could still make out the cages that hung from the ceiling below. Some were empty while some were occupied by dozens of skeletons. There were nothing but bare bones up there, but they were human. I could tell.

Then I could hear the barking.

Five starving dogs rammed the cell in which they were locked in. They were bare bones, and looked as if they were on the verge of death. They barked so softly it was like their lungs could no longer hold any air. I walked to them, taking a closer look. Scratches adorned the bars of their cell, but right outside of the cell in a cage was a single, rotting leg. It was too small to be an adult. I held my breath, getting away from the thing while the dogs wagged their tall as they drew closer to the basket before barking at me again, as if asking me to give them the leg. I wanted to puke. I wanted to get out of there.

“Animals too? How vulgar.”

But there was still someone down here.

I began looking around frantically, looking for a sign of life, and at the very end of the dungeon was a single child. And upon seeing her every single ounce of hope I had left my body. What I saw wasn’t just a child, but a horror story. I could sense a heartbeat that had gotten even softer than when I sensed it from above.

Dozens upon dozens of bodies lined the walls, chained or nailed to a board like they were a display. Most had their limbs missing, a few were whole but had been gutting, as if their organs had been taken out. I nearly tripped backwards as my eyes better adapted to the darkness, and I saw the full scenery that was in front of me. I was anxious, agitated and mortified. I began to grow dizzy, repulsed and almost fell to my knees.

And then I saw her. A single child whose heart was still beating, chained at the very middle of everyone else.

“Look at what you humans do to each other.”

One leg had been cut away, a hacksaw was on the floor less than a few feet away. She had a few fingers missing, but as I got even closer I could see that she had only one ear. On her left was the ear of a cat. I raised her up, my hands shaking. I looked at her rear, to find a short stub like a tail had been cut. She was a beastman. I tried my best, holding her up carefully. I almost dropped her as my hands shook. It was worse than something that you’d expect to find in a horror story. I placed her on a table, ripping off a part of my shirt to cover her with. She was so tiny that my shirt could wrap around her easily. Bruises and scars lined up her body, so many that I couldn’t count them all before I heard a small, quiet voice.

“Help.”

It wasn’t even the whole word, but I could tell that was what she wanted to say. It was quivering, small and weak.

“Help.”

I heard it again, like the echo of a ghost.

I held her in my arms.

My heart was thumping.

Her very faint breathing slowed down, and I immediately ran up the stairs, leaving the dogs to bark after me. I traveled as fast as my legs could carry me, slamming my feet into the flooring and shattering the stone brick. It wasn’t even a second before I reached the entrance from where I entered, and immediately I began shouting.

I shouted at the top of my lungs. I couldn’t recall the last time that I had been this vocal. Lucy, Ivan and Eileen were there now, giving commands and turning towards me as I burst through the entrance, holding the small child in my arms.

I panted, grabbing whatever potions that the soldiers passed to me.. Anything with healing properties I tried putting in her mouth, gently pouring the fluids down her throat. After a mouthful, she began puking up blood and I tried whatever else I could. The full damage could be seen out there in the sun. Lacerations covered her across her whole stomach, and there were even more wounds across her body that I still remember to this day. A hand pressed against my back. I knew it was Lucy’s. She was an alchemist, after all she was the one to teach me the basics. I looked at her, hoping she could help but all she did was shake her head.

I looked at the small girl, laying on the ground. I wrapped my shirt around her once more, so that she could at least have something to wear. All of a sudden her right eye started to flicker. As she attempted to open her left I realized that there was nothing there. It was a hollow socket, and there was nothing but for the flesh that resided behind the eye. I wanted to regurgitate. She tried speaking again, but nothing came out this time. I stroked her head, patches of hair falling off as I did. And with one last struggle, with one last burst of strength, she breathed a mighty breath, before all air and life finally left her body. Her heart slowed down, and everyone around me watched in silence, as her single eye laid open, staring up against the endless expanse of the sky. Just like the way Emery looked as her head rolled across the air. My mind was dragged down memory lane again, and I went through the same scenery once again. That singular night that changed my life.

And as she faded away in my eyes, my hands dropped to the ground.

Ivan put a hand on my back, grabbing it tightly.

“We have a war to fight,” he managed to say out loud. “No time to sulk.”

“Is he up there?” My voice was hollow.

“Yeah,” Ivan said firmly. “Our target’s up there right now. We have to make a move-.”

“Why is he still alive?”

“He’s surrounded by dozens of the strongest soldiers in this city. On top of that we might be able to use him to negotiate-”

“Is that all?” I interrupted.

A chilling, vile aura began to build up around me. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Delilah, watching me with great concern and interest.

“You know, you keep doing the exact same thing. Over and over again.”

“So what?”

“And you keep expecting things to be different the next time.”

I paused, listening very carefully as my mind grew more warped.

“Do you think men fear other men, Magnus? Do you think that the tip of the sword can truly change their personalities?”

No. Not anymore.

“Men fear what they cannot understand. What they cannot control. What they cannot defeat.”

That’s right.

“Men fear monsters.”

That’s right.

Black matter coiled around me, wrapping me in demonic armor once again. But this time it was different. I wasn’t fighting so that I could live. I wasn’t trying to find vengeance on the ones that had wronged me. I wasn’t training, I wasn’t practicing so that I could learn to fight. There was no more rage, no more anger, no more hate.

After everything had been filtered out, what remained was just a complete disregard for human life.

From then on I became something else.

And this was when I realized that nothing else mattered. That everything up to this point was irrelevant. This was what I was missing. The primal urge and desire to kill, because I had no reason to. I had forgotten why I was doing this. It was because I hated the way the world was. And for a moment, I forgot what it meant to be human.

“You’re using too much mana”

“I don’t care.”

The air around me splurged outwards, as I descended into a spiraling madness.

The black aura around me was far more threatening and deadly. I could see Ivan back off, shoving nearby soldiers away from me. Was I really that terrifying?

Good.

My demonic armor was completed, and I looked at the area around me. I was a lot taller than when I began. It didn’t feel like I was walking on stilts, in fact it felt like I had just gotten bigger.

“Move,” I demanded coldy, walking back into the cathedral. They were above us, waiting.

I lowered my body, gathering strength in my legs.

“Stop being so reckless.” Asura hissed.

“All of you want to see what kind of person I am underneath,” my voice was monotonous. “You’ll get exactly what you want.”

The floor beneath be cracked and with a single flex I sprung upwards like a cannon, breaking through the ceiling and up the next floor. Then up the next, and up the next. I shot and destroyed three ceilings until I reached the highest floor, where an unfortunate soul had the misfortune of standing directly above where I had decided to ascend. I grabbed the person’s leg, crushing it. The bones crunched inside their armor as I used my other hand to grab their stomach. Three black arms extended from my armor, lifting me up into the air and like it was a show, I raised the soldier up and before he could even begin casting a spell or slash at me I separated his body in two, sending both parts flying to opposite ends of the room.

An aura of pure hatred lashed out towards everyone in the room, causing some to recoil back while causing others to kneel on the ground. I looked around. There were more than a dozen remaining. Black spears formed in the air, impaling those that were on the ground. Those who had their vitalls exposed had the luxury of being killed instantly while those that didn’t were maimed and left to bleed out. The ones that had maintained their spirit came charging at me. One spear user in front of me and two mages from the back. A large pillar formed behind me, shielding me from their spells while I dealt with the spear user that was coming at me. He swiftly dodged to the side, trying to throw in a feint.

However at this point it wasn’t even a battle anymore. It felt more like a recital, where we were playing out a scene from a script exactly as it was written. I could see his every move, what he would do and what options he had. Asura’s years of experience had carried over in my mind, and just as I had seen it play in my head the warrior came in for a stab to my hip. I grabbed his spear by the tip, snapping it with ease. A look of horror overcame him as he tried to retreat, only to fall into a coffin I had made for him. As he entered it, the door snapped shut and as he banged on the coffin, it grew smaller and smaller until his own bones stabbed him, killing him from the inside.

The two mages behind me tried to take a different position but before they could cast their spells I had already appeared behind them, too fast for their eyes to keep up. The mage on the other end of the room pointed at me, warning the one in front of me to run. I grabbed him by the neck, twisting it as the sound of broken bones and torn flesh rippled across the air. The last remaining mage began running for the stairs.

A single spear formed in my hands. With precision and strength, I threw it and it impaled him as he ran across the room, leaving him half dead in the ground, screaming. I didn’t care enough to make sure that he would die.

There was a short corridor that led to a bedroom. As I entered I could smell the scent of perfume and women as I entered quietly, closing the door without a squeak. I could hear sounds of the bed shaking as I wrapped around. It was less of a bedroom and more of a theatre, how shameless I thought. Even when I walked behind him as he continued, he didn’t realize that I was there until one of his whores began screaming. The women left the room fast, while the fat, bloated man could barely move before I grabbed him by the leg, dragging him to the window.

“I’m curious. What will you do to him?”

“Please, please, please!” he begged. “I”ll give you anything. Anything! Women, gold, whatever you want. Please, just don’t kill me!”

He crawled up, putting his back against the window. He was sweating, and as I approached him a wet stain appeared on his crotch. His heart rate was so fast he might as well have been going through a heart attack. I put my hand on his shoulder.

“Who else is responsible for this?” I asked him calmly.

“Huh?”

“Who else ran this city to the ground?”

“You mean the other nobles that’re doing the same thing I’m doing?” he seems to have gotten excited. “I can give you names, I can give you locations!” he shouted excitedly.

“Go on.”

“I want your promise that you won’t kill me!” he tried to negotiate.

“Will you give him a chance?”

“Do you know how high up we are?” I asked him.

“What?”

I raised him up, slamming him into the window behind him. The window shattered into pieces, glass falling down onto the ground behind him. As he realized his poor choice of words and struggled to hand onto my hand, I dropped him, and he screamed as he fell through the air. I lept down, following after him. He landed on the ground, breaking every single bone in his lower body and his leg had twisted and turned in an irregular way. He limped, trying to get away from me as I crash landed on the ground next to him. Black matter coated my whole body, consuming me as I raised him up once more.

“Speak,” I spoke quietly.

And the next few minutes consisted of him crying out whatever information he could give. I memorized the names and locations of everyone else in the city, after all they were my next targets. As soon as he finished, he stopped struggling, perhaps hoping that I would let him go, or maybe even give him a gentle death.

“What are you going to do with him?” Delilah asked behind me.

I turned around, looking at everyone. All of my allies, including Nobunaga stood behind me, watching. Did I really want to go through with this?

“Let them gaze, for men’s eyes were created to watch. Show them, exactly who you are.”

He was right. I reached into the man’s throat, pulling out his tongue with such force that his esophagus came flying out as well.

“How far will you go?”

A muffled screaming began, and then I placed my hand on his left leg, holding it for a moment. Then like one would twist a chicken’s neck, I spun his leg slowly, hearing every sinew twist and tear, and finally I slowly dragged his leg and separated it from his body. I lowered him onto the ground, taking my hand and shoving it into his eye. I felt veins and sinew hold his eyeball as I pulled it forcefully, blood splattering everywhere as I did. But I wasn’t done just yet. I placed my hand on his head. Black matter spiraled into his body, scratching and pressing against every single wound on his body. From inside, I felt the matter make its way through the bones, breaking every single one. Marrow spilled out from his body, mixing in with the blood and I watched as he wanted to scream, but didn’t have the organs to.

I held him up for what felt like an eternity. I watched, making sure that every moment before his violent death that he was in extraordinary pain. I yearned for it.

Every single emotion inside of me had disappeared. It felt like I had been cleansed of being human. My anger disappeared, my hatred receded, and everything else that had been decaying away at the back of my mind finally died. I felt like a hollow husk.

Pure, incorrigible.

Empty, formless.

Immortal, unvanquishable.

“Excellent.”

Everything that I created, every single object and the armor around me began to shed. The black “layer” that gave everything the black gleam faded away like dust. Slowly, it revealed another layer underneath. Like dying embers, the color of decayed ash floated across the air. Black smoke like material gusted from under my armor, like thick and viscous ash flooded up into the clouds, before turning a different color.

I was told that the color underneath was such a pure, innocent and unstained white, the exact same color of dirty snow. It crawled up my face, peacefully eating away at every part of my mind. A mask formed, hiding my face and giving me a new one. I was told that although it looked pure, it also looked stained at the same time. Imperfect. It had no shine or reflection, as if the color was lost.

It was cold, pure, the color of emptiness.

I began to march alone, walking past my allies.

“You’ve exceeded my every expectation.”

I couldn't form a sentence in my mind.

“You were born for this.”

A pure white blade formed in my hand. My broken sword in my left, to remind me of what happened in the past. A light longsword, to cut through the enemies of the future.

“And the color of white signifies a purty of your state of mind.”

Purity, he called it. I told myself that I couldn’t cross the line, back when I was torturing Malcolm. I sat at the edge of madness, preventing myself from calling into the pitch black ravine. And now I wished that I threw myself in there.

In order to change the world, I had to change myself first.

I embraced the monster within, to become the very thing I sought out to destroy.

* * *

The same thoughts ran through my head as I charged once more in this battle. Again. And again. I have to fight. I remembered how I thought I had to kill Emery. How I robbed her of the life she should have had, because I was weak. I remembered how the nameless girl asked me to kill her, how I was unable to do anything because I was utterly powerless.

I realized that the world wasn’t looking for a hero. A hero wouldn’t be able to save every life, a hero would be revered. But not feared. Men feared monsters more than they worshiped justice. The answer was simple.

I had to be a monster.

So I changed. I became something greater than I had wanted to be. A child of the devil they called me. For I razed the land with black and vile matter, leaving behind nothing but bones and corpses. I cut through armies, emotionless, objective. And once again, just like before, the black layer drifted from my skin and faded away, and ascended to become the White Rider.

To become the white knight, to conquer all those before me.

My fight was eternal. As long as man existed in this world, then my existence as needed. So that I may bask in the fear of men. To stand as a reminder to man for the sins that they commit. That I was their consequence.

I swore an oath to fight, as long as I was needed in this world. Until there was true peace in this kingdom.

Judge, jury, executioner.

I was the White Rider.

Conqueror.

Monster.

Murderer.

As I rejected the sanctity of life.