As I surveyed this dying city, I felt some conflicting emotions. On one hand, it was a nightmarish sight filled with death and monsters. On the other, I realized that this was the exact place where heroes were born. If anyone could bring order to this chaos, then they would be hailed as the kingdom’s savior. Just the thought of it was enough to make me shiver. Me, the son of a merchant, the trash that endured torture from bandits, the worthless mercenary who cleaned and cooked for the fighters, that person would become a legend known throughout the land.

Of course, there were some people who didn’t deserve to see my rise to fame. Howes’ execution raised a lot of red flags. It was expedited for seemingly no reason and the King even ordered the use of a guillotine instead of a noose. He clearly knew about the properties of Howes’ blood. How else would you justify these actions? Then there’s Elver, that snake. My teacher had insisted that I stay inside the castle while he prepared for this festival. In the end, it was all wasted effort. The King betrayed him, throwing my teacher away without a second thought.

Once I understood the situation, there was only one thing for me to do. The King might be a sorcerer but he was nothing compared to someone with a mark. I told him that Elver had actually planned to wait out the grim festival from within his house. When he asked why, I said that it had been fortified with magic. The King believed me, or at least he believed in Elver’s cunning, and he allowed me to lead him outside the castle. That was all it took to remove the King. Even if he was corrupt, it would tarnish my name to kill him in public.

Elver was easy as well. He was too excited after escaping the castle. The old fool didn’t even notice me preparing my anti-sorcerer chant. I’ll bet that he’s died by now, cursing me with his last breath.

Unfortunately, there was one more trial for me to overcome.

“Even after killing those big-names, somehow this guy is putting up the best fight of my night.” I said to myself while wiping sweat from my brow.

Ten, that mysterious demon hunter from the abandoned town. I was surprised to learn that he was a demon but I was even more surprised by his strength. I’ve never met a demon that couldn’t be restrained with Elver’s chant. Even so, my fire attack must have done something.

After a while, the smoke finally began to clear. I peered at the smoldering ruins of the building I’d hit. Just as I began to sigh in relief, two spears of pure darkness shot out from the smoke. I barely managed to dodge them.

“I noticed them earlier but it wasn’t really the time…” Ten grumbled as he stepped out from the rubble. “You’re carrying quite a lot of souls around, aren’t you? I was really wondering where those went.”

I grimaced. Hearing him speak before me in such an unconcerned, emotionless tone was infuriating.

“Oh, now you’re talking about food? The two of you were begging me to sit down and talk but now you’re just hungry? Are you underestimating me? Be serious, you shouldn’t be thinking about anything besides this fight.”

“Well, I am being serious here…” The shadowy substance that surrounded Ten’s arms began to coil around his entire body. “When you think about how I’m going to get those souls, then it becomes a pretty serious question.” Ten narrowed his eyes.

I gripped my sword tightly as I considered my options. Paralysis wouldn’t work, at least, not until I weakened him. My fire attack wasn’t very effective either. Plus, it takes too long to cast. The sorcery I used to disarm Elver has no effect on demons. I only had one spell left to try.

Ten rushed me and I began my chant. Four more spears erupted from his shadow. They barreled towards me, overtaking their owner. Fortunately, I had already finished my chant. The spears passed by harmlessly as I dodged to the side. Ten followed up with his own claws but I batted them away with my sword. As he fell backwards, I strafed around to slice a chunk out of his flank.

“Elver may have lied about a lot of things…” I laughed as Ten hit the ground. “But he was right when he told me that I could achieve my dream of becoming a swordsman with sorcery.”

Electrifying power surged through my body. I felt as though I could run for days without rest. This was the sorcery that I had developed myself. Building off of my predecessor’s knowledge, I was able to improve my own physical state. It puts a lot of stress on my body and only lasts for a few minutes but even so, I was happy to finally have my movements match my imagination.

Another barrage of spears wrenched me from my thoughts. I danced around them with ease. Once again, Ten tried to attack with his own body and once again I denied him. We repeated this pattern again and again but neither of us would yield. Even so, there was no doubt that I was winning each exchange.

At some point, Ten stopped putting any thought into his actions. He would charge at me with no regard for his own safety and get nothing in return. It was sad to see, but his hunger must have gotten the better of him.

“What’s wrong?” I chided. “Before this fight, you seemed somewhat intelligent. Now you’re nothing more than a beast.”

Ten’s only reply was a desperate roar. He shambled towards me with neither the spirit nor the stamina to continue.

“That’s it then.” I shook my head and began a chant.

Ten suddenly stopped, paralysis was finally affecting him. The demon struggled in vain as I slowly approached him. In the end, he was just another monster. I silently thrust my sword through his skull. It was over.

As I prepared to pull my sword out of his head, I noticed something odd. There had been no resistance when I stabbed him. This thought came only a moment too late. I tried to jump back but an uncountable number of spears burst out of Ten’s shadow. They plunged into me in a gruesome staccato rhythm. All my strength left me, I only remained on my feet because the spears held me up.

Was that his plan!? I thought in a panic. Did he make me think I’d won?

“Out of all your attacks, that was the only one I could see…” Ten said with a low groan. He stumbled to his feet and spat out some blood. “But it’s over now. Fighting with so many souls under my nose was driving me crazy.”

No way… I tried to struggle but it was no use. My body couldn’t go on. This can’t be, I was going to be a hero!

My whole world became dark. It felt as though I was being pulled into a black void. I was suddenly reminded of Edil, my fair weather friend from my days as a mercenary. When he died, I had always admired how peaceful he looked. Meanwhile, my end was anything but peaceful. I raged inwardly, kicking and screaming as I was flung into the void. We had both lost to a more powerful opponent but I couldn’t abide it.

Well, we were really different people… I reflected. Edil was always content to take whatever life threw at him. A hard-worker like me would never be satisfied with this kind of end.