"Wh-what?"
The man looked down at his abdomen. A sword protruded from it, and blood flowed through his stomach.
He saw his palms; they were covered with beautiful, crimson blood smeared all over.
He coughed out some more blood. 'Wh-Why is this happening?' His dark eyes were filled with fear.
"Is this how it ends?"
He turned around to see a group of men jumping and shouting, celebrating all over.
"Yes! We did it..."
Cold air filled the battleground.
"We killed the genius monarch!"
The entire crowd went into chaos, screaming with joy. Both his enemies and his allies were jumping together, celebrating with each other in the rocky area.
Amid all that joy, a pale young man with sharp blonde hair combed properly stood there with a sword pierced into his guts. His scarlet-blue eyes were filled with sorrow, and his body was covered with blood.
"Halt."
Everyone in the area stopped celebrating and cheering.
"Look, it's Leader Baros."
Everyone's attention went to the shirtless leader who was walking towards the almost corpse of a human.
The cheers from killing a monarch shifted to cheering on the leader of the army.
"BWHAHAHAHA." A bulky man with a long beard and shaved head walked towards the young man. He held a huge battle axe on his shoulder.
"Well, well, well, look at you. Once, a genius young man rose through the ranks as if it were nothing. One who was shining always," he smirked, "is now in a pitiful state, covered with blood, grief, and despair."
The young man clenched his sword. 'Don't close your eyes, Louis. The moment you do, they'll never open again.'
(Pronounced: LOO-ee)
His breathing became heavier, and he turned to look at the man walking toward him with a huge grin on his face.
Louis stood up straight. He flung his right hand into the air, his left hand went behind his back, then, in a graceful manner, he brought his right hand in front of his stomach and simultaneously bent his right leg behind his left leg, and then gave the man in front of him a beautiful bow.
The whole crowd went from cheering Baros to complete silence.
Even Baros stopped moving and looked at the man in shock.
"You have gone mad, you fucker. What do you think you can do in that sorry state?"
"D-did he just perform the graceful death right now?" a mere soldier spoke while trembling.
"Ye-Yes, he did," another added.
Every time Louis performed this bow, he did something legendary, doing things that no one expected to be done. It was as if he were sending a message, something like, 'I am going to win no matter what.'
The citizens loved the bow so much that they even gave it a name — The Graceful Death.
And while he stood there, not like a monarch but rather a measly corpse, he performed another bow to the enemy in front of him.
Louis clenched the sword in his hand, and with all the strength he could muster, he ran forward as fast as his body would let him. 'Come on, Louis, you can do it. One last time.'
His eyesight was blurry, and his eyelids were heavy, but nothing could stop him — and the next thing he knew, he was right in front of the bulky man.
Baros took his axe and swung it to strike. Louis raised his left hand, sacrificing his wrist.
The pain shot through his body, but at that moment, he didn't care about it. 'Just a little more.'
The axe hit the ground after slicing his wrist. In an instant, he jumped on top of the axe to make it too heavy to move, jumped forward, and pierced his blade into Baros's chest.
"You madman of a King!" Baros shouted as he punched Louis in the back.
'Ignore the pain.' Louis didn't stop there. He then grabbed Baros tightly, making the sword that pierced him go into Baros's body too.
The muscular man spat out some blood and continued cursing Louis. He kept slamming his hand into Louis's back, trying to make him let go, but nothing happened.
Louis looked up and smiled at the bulky man. His teeth were covered in blood, and blood kept gushing out of his mouth.
"What are you smiling about? When you die, you'll let go of me."
Louis's smile grew larger, which made Baros tremble a bit. In a soft and calm voice, "Let's test your theory, bastard."
His breathing gradually decreased, and his eyes slammed shut, making a man who was once considered a genius die in vain at the betrayal of his troop. The young boy was merely 23.
The whole crowd was still stunned by the exchange that took place in front of them, but the silence was broken by a huge shout.
"What are you guys doing? Fast, get the medical group to help me!"
He shouted and then tried to release himself from the grasp of the corpse in front of him, but unfortunately for him, the grasp was too strong and it didn't let go.
"You punk, you already died. Why aren't you letting go?"
A group of soldiers came to pull the late king's corpse away from their leader, but no one could do it. The grasp was too strong.
Baros's face became dark. "I won't die here, not like this!" he shouted.
He punched the face in front of him as hard as he could, breaking its neck and making it just dangle from its body. The corpse became more hideous.
Baros trembled, teeth clenched. "This... this can't be how I go..."
The dead king's grip only tightened.
More soldiers came and tried to help their leader, but it was all in vain.
...
"I can't believe my troop betrayed me after all I have done for them." Louis laughed a bit. "From a mere street rat to a great king — what a story my life was. But the story ended abruptly."
He paused for a second before continuing, "Now will I go to hell for killing my enemies or to heaven for protecting the people of my kingdom?"
...
His thoughts faded into darkness. No pain. No sound. He felt nothing at all.
Ash screamed as he woke up and sat back up. The eerie void around him felt louder and clearer; he held his head, and the aftereffect of his memory remained in his head.
Thud,
He rolled forward and fell onto his face.
"Hey, who told you you could break that shard?" The afterimage was behind him, his right leg lifted a bit as if he had just kicked someone.
Ash sat back up and turned around to see the mirror image glare at him, a white aura emanating around him.
'I'm screwed.' He slowly smiled, "Sorry."