(Attendances… plz…)
….
The instant the Dragon Sword was drawn, the white-haired demon vanished. There was no explosion, no final scream.
She was simply gone, erased from the mortal world so quickly that it was as if she had never been there at all.
The Archdemon, now just a limbless, hornless torso writhing on the ground, felt her presence disappear. It couldn't even use its magic to try and regenerate.
The air around the red-haired man was poison to its very nature, a blessing that negated demonic power.
The creature was scared. No, it was beyond scared. It was in a state of pure, soul-shattering terror. What have I done to deserve this? it thought, its mind fracturing. What did I do to face this kind of MONSTER?
That's all it could think. The woman who had just vanished was a Primordial, one of the first and most powerful of their kind.
The demon knew it wouldn't stand a chance against its master, even if it had a named body and its full power. Yet this human had just… defeated her.
Effortlessly. This wasn't a hero. This was a monster.
Reinhard landed softly on the ground and walked over to the broken demon. "Sorry for the wait," he said, his voice devoid of all emotion. "We can begin your erasure now."
The Archdemon's mangled face twisted into a horrifying mask of despair. "Do you know who she was?" it gurgled, black blood bubbling from its lips. "Do you know what you just did? Do you even know… that you are a literal MONSTER in a human body?! You monster!"
Reinhard chuckled, a low, humorless sound. "A demon is calling me a monster," he said. "A demon who slaughtered an entire village of innocent people, not even sparing the children." His cold eyes bored into the creature.
"Yes. I'm a monster. I have carried that name all my life, and I will carry it into the future, too. I'm a monster who kills monsters like you. And I will continue to do so."
Requesting the Blessing of Demon Exorcism.
«Bestowing Divine Protection: ⟪Demon Exorcism⟫.»
He reached down and grabbed the demon by its throat, lifting its broken body from the ground. A brilliant, searing white light began to glow from his hand, enveloping the demon.
The Archdemon's scream was not a sound that could be heard with ears. It was a psychic shriek of pure agony that echoed in the empty space of the mind.
It struggled, it thrashed, but it was held in an unbreakable grip. It felt its very essence, its soul, being shredded. It was not a quick or clean death.
It was like being unwoven, thread by agonizing thread.
Every sin, every life it had taken, every moment of its long, cruel existence was burned away as its soul was torn apart, fragment by fragment, until there was nothing left but a final, silent scream that faded into absolute nothingness.
…
Reinhard walked back toward the village, the Dragon Sword once again sheathed at his side. He found his party gathered with the survivors outside the ruined town hall.
"So there were other survivors," he said, his gaze falling on Kaval. "Is this all of them?"
"A-ah, yes. That's all," Kaval stammered, still looking at Reinhard with a mixture of fear and awe. "They are the only ones we found. It… it killed everyone else."
Gido stood silently behind Kaval, unable to meet Reinhard's eyes.
Ellen, however, stepped forward, her expression serious. "Reinhard… are you a Summon?"
Reinhard let out a long, weary sigh. "I did say that I would explain. And yes… you could technically say that I am. But in all honesty, I don't know for sure myself."
"What?" she asked, confused.
"I think this is common here if you have given it shch a term 'summon.' So, it will be somewhat easy. Yesterday, I woke up in a forest with no memories of how I got there," he explained, deciding to stick to the partial truth.
"I was lying by a river. At first, I tried to find my way back, but when I spoke to a merchant who was kind enough to give me a lift, I realized I wasn't in the world I remembered."
"So you're not a hero from another kingdom who came here to gain experience?" Ellen asked. It seemed they had already been building their own theories.
After a few more questions, Reinhard explained everything he could, waking up in the forest, the merchant, his arrival in Blumund, and joining the guild. About his profession and some simple things.
….
"So you are a knight in your world?" Kaval finally asked.
"Yes."
Gido, finding his voice, stepped forward. "That doesn't explain your strength at all. In your world, are all knights that strong?"
"No," Reinhard said quietly. "They aren't. You could say I'm a special case. I'm what is called a Sword Saint in my world."
"Sword Saint?" Ellen repeated. "Is that like one of The Seven Luminaries?"
"As I said, I've only been in this world for a day, so I don't know what The Seven Luminaries are," he replied. "But the title of Sword Saint is a blessing that is passed down in my family. I am the current holder of that title."
"So… you're strong, huh?" Ellen said, stating the obvious.
"Yes, you could say that," Reinhard admitted. He looked at their faces, at the distance his power had already created between them. "But I hope that doesn't change anything between us. And if it does… I can leave the party, if you want. No questions asked."
Kaval stared at him. Strong or not, the person in front of him was still thinking about their feelings, not his own power.
Anyone else would be showing off, demanding respect. But this kid was offering to leave so he wouldn't make them uncomfortable.
A slow smile spread across Kaval's face. "Don't even think about leaving," he said firmly. "You're one of us now."
"Really? Is that alright?" Reinhard asked, a flicker of surprise in his eyes.
"Why wouldn't it be?" Ellen said with a small chuckle.
"Yeah, why would it be?" Gido added, finally relaxing. "On the contrary, I think our chances of returning alive from quests will go up drastically. We get lost and find ourselves in crazy situations all the time you wouldn't even believe."
"So what did you do to that demon?" Kaval asked. "Is it going to come back?"
"No, it won't," Reinhard said. "I have taken care of him. He can't return. I killed him." He paused, the image of the white hair girl the demon master flashing in his mind, but he pushed it away not mentioning her at all. "He won't be a problem anymore."
"Well, if the demon problem is gone," Gido said, getting back to business, "we should take these survivors with us back to Blumund and report this to the guild."
"About that," Reinhard said, "I wanted to ask a favor. If you can, please leave me out of the important details in your report. Let's just say… anything. I don't want overcomplicated questions as to where I'm from, who I was? And all of that. You could say that you three did it. You're a B-rank party, after all. It would be more believable."
Kaval scratched his head. "Reinhard, we can do that if you want. But are you sure? If you take credit for this, you'll get promoted, probably get a huge reward, and all sorts of privileges from the guild."
Reinhard shook his head. "There is hardly anything I did other than defeating the demon. You three found and rescued the survivors. And as for promotion I think it will still be a promotion for me with your team and not to mention they will be investigating my background if you mention what happened truly. But of course, you don't have to do that if you are uncomfortable and don't want to. I completely understand."
….
A/N: I dont know why people are hung up about low profile and him being polite. Like guys do u not know who reinhard is at all.
I think you guys have read enough that any type of things will be cliche and unbearable to you.
I think you wanna read some revenge type thing and dark things, well if you are here for that sorry this one isnt that.
And if you want to read ahead you can do it by just joining my discord server.
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