BOOM… FLASH…
The ground shakes violently. .
The sky cracked open like shattered glass.
I looked up and for the first time in my life, I saw a giant portal.
Dozens of giant portals blazed across the skies.
From their endless depths came monstrous shapes, they were demons, horned beasts with burning eyes, winged fiends trailing smoke, and giants whose footsteps split the very ground.
The once-blue sky turned into turmoil, and the sun disappeared behind a curtain of chaos.
The air burned hot.
The ground shook again as flaming meteors fell from above.
And through it all, screams filled the world.
I stood there, my sword in hand, surrounded by what was left of my army, my brothers-in-arms, my friends, my family in battle.
But one by one, they fell.
"Hold the line!" I shouted, swinging my sword at a demon charging forward.
The blade cut through its neck, but another beast replaced it instantly.
"Protect the civilians! Don't let them—ahh!"
A claw slashed across my shoulder, throwing me back into the dirt.
I rolled, gasping for air, and looked around.
Dead bodies everywhere.
People I had trained with, laughed with, fought beside—they were being ripped apart by monsters from the skies.
I felt tears sting my eyes. "Damn it… damn it all!"
And then I saw him.
Far above the battlefield in the sky was my king.
He floated beside the largest of the portals and his golden armor was glowing like a dying sun.
In his hand, he held the sacred sword, Vermilion Edge, that once protected many humans.
But now… it pointed toward us.
My breath caught in my throat. "No… no, it can't be…"
The King, my King, raised his sword high, and the giant demon beside him roared.
Then, with a flick of the blade, he pointed it down.
And the demons obeyed.
They surged forward in a tidal wave of destruction, roaring and shrieking, crushing everything in their path.
"Just why…?" I whispered, falling to my knees. "Why did you betray us, my King?"
We had fought side by side for years.
We had laughed, bled, and nearly died together. I had sworn my life to him, believed in him more than anyone.
He was my light in the endless war against darkness.
But now that light had become the very darkness we once fought.
"We've cleared dungeons together… traveled across the world… we fought side by side…".
"And now you—"
A scream tore through my thoughts.
"Please! Don't kill me!" one of the civilians said.
I turned.
A mother was covering her child as a demon towered over them.
"That's my son! Leave him!" she screamed.
The demon grinned.
I tried to move, but my legs felt heavy.
And then she arrived.
Mingkong.
A name that once meant hope.
She descended from the sky like a black comet.
She landed beside the mother and child—and for a fleeting second, I thought she would protect them.
Instead, she cut them down.
Just like that.
I froze. My blood ran cold.
"Mingkong…" I shouted.
She turned toward me.
"A pest" she said.
"You always were too loyal for your own good."
"What are you saying?" I asked, gripping my sword tighter.
She smirked. "Using you was easy. You followed orders blindly, believing every word the King said. You helped us—no, him—achieve this."
I stared at her in disbelief. My whole body shook.
"You… you betrayed us?"
"Betrayed?" She tilted her head, stepping closer.
"No. I simply chose the winning side."
"You fool," I spat, fury rising in my chest.
"You've doomed us all!"
"Doomed?" she laughed bitterly.
"No. We've been doomed since the day we swore loyalty to him. You just never saw it."
"You fucking betrayed us all!" I shouted, drawing my sword and charging toward her.
My blade met hers in a flash of sparks.
CLANG!
Our swords clashed again and again, the sound of metal ringing through the burning air.
I fought with everything I had left—every ounce of rage, grief, and pain—but she was faster.
Maybe the demon had helped her.
"You still don't understand," she said between blows.
"This world needed a god, not a king. And he became one."
"You call that thing a god?" I shouted, parrying a strike.
"He's a monster!"
"Maybe. But monsters survive."
She kicked me in the chest, sending me flying back.
My sword fell from my hand, clattering across the stone.
As I struggled to get up, a shadow loomed over me—a massive, winged demon, twice the size of a man.
It raised its claw, and before I could react—
SLASH!
Pain exploded in my leg. I screamed as blood poured from the wound.
"AHHHHH!"
I collapsed, clutching the stump where my leg had been.
My vision blurred from agony.
My leg was cut off and it's completely separated.
"Is this… how I'm supposed to die?" I gasped.
"After everything I did—for my King, for my people—this is how it ends?"
The demon growled. Then it swung again.
My arm flew through the air.
I screamed again.
The world around me dimmed.
I could barely see now, barely breathe. The sounds of battle grew faint, distant, like echoes through water.
Somewhere far above, I saw the King—standing beside the massive demon lord.
He looked down upon the burning world like a god watching his creation die.
"M-My King…" I coughed, blood spilling from my lips.
"Why…?"
My strength was fading fast. I could feel the warmth of life leaving my body.
Around me, the cries of dying soldiers filled the air.
"Help me! Please!"
"Run! RUN!"
"I don't want to die!"
Children screamed.
Mothers wept.
The ground was soaked in blood.
And all I could do was watch.
I pressed my hand to the ground, leaving a trail of red as I tried to crawl toward my fallen sword.
My vision flickered.
"I'm sorry…" I whispered.
"To my people… to my family…"
I remembered my mother's voice from years ago.
"promise me… if the King ever asks for your loyalty, think before you give it. The crown can be cruel."
I laughed then. I had said, "Mother, he's not that kind of man."
How wrong I was.
"I should've listened to you…" I breathed weakly.
"You were right…"
Another explosion tore through the battlefield.
A wall of flame erupted nearby, searing the skin on my face.
I could barely keep my eyes open.
Through the smoke, I saw Mingkong walking away.
"Mingkong…" I croaked. "You'll… regret this…"
She stopped briefly and looked back over her shoulder.
"Regret?" she said quietly. "I buried that word a long time ago."
Then she vanished into the smoke.
I was alone.
The last of my strength slipped away.
My fingers brushed the hilt of my sword one final time.
"I gave everything… for you…" I said weakly, staring at the King in the sky.
"And you… gave me nothing but death."
The demon beside him raised its claws, roaring in triumph as announcing the end of mankind.
The King didn't even look at me.
He simply turned away.
And at that moment, I understood.
We weren't his army.
We were his sacrifice.
As the light faded from my eyes, I felt something strange.
A whisper echoed inside my head.
"Do you wish to live again?"
I tried to move my lips, but no sound came out. My mind was slipping into darkness.
"Do you wish… to change your fate?"
My heart stopped. My body turned cold.
But in my last moment of consciousness, I forced a single thought—
"Yes."
The world shattered.
And everything went black.
The time travelled five years back.
At the Monarch of Fortress!