Twenty years.
Twenty fucking years I had been fighting those filthy monsters.
The wind carried the smell of rot across the ruined field as I stood alone among their corpses. Black blood soaked the dirt. Broken armor, shattered claws, and burned flesh covered the ground like the remains of a battlefield that had never truly ended.
Because for me, it hadn't.
Twenty years ago the sky had split open like a wound.
And from that wound came monsters.
At first there were only a few of them. Horrors that slaughtered entire towns before anyone even understood what was happening. Then came the waves. Endless waves.
Cities burned.
Kingdoms fell.
Humanity fought back with everything it had—armies, magic, machines.
And still we kept losing.
My grip tightened around the broken hilt of my sword.
I looked around the battlefield, though I already knew what I would see.
Nothing.
No allies.
No banners.
No living voices.
Everyone I had ever fought beside was gone.
My family.
My friends.
My comrades.
My mentors.
Dead.
Every last one of them.
I was the only one left.
For a long time that fact had nearly broken me. The weight of it had crushed my chest every time I woke up and realized the world had grown quieter again.
But their deaths had also left me something else.
A burden.
A promise.
They trusted me to keep fighting.
Even when they couldn't.
Even when the world had already given up.
I exhaled slowly.
"I'm still here," I muttered to no one.
The wind answered with silence.
Somewhere along the way I had lost count of how many monsters I had killed.
Hundreds.
Thousands.
Maybe more.
It didn't matter.
Because none of them were the one I had been hunting for.
The one who started it all.
The one responsible for everything.
The sky above me suddenly trembled.
A ripple passed through the air, like reality itself had been disturbed.
I felt it immediately.
A presence.
Heavy.
Ancient.
Overwhelming.
My heart began to pound.
After twenty years…
He had finally come.
The air split open like glass shattering.
Darkness poured from the crack in the sky before forming into a tall figure that descended slowly to the ground in front of me.
He looked almost human.
Tall.
Elegant.
Wrapped in black armor that seemed to drink in the sunlight. Two curved horns rose from his head, and behind him stretched a cloak that moved like living shadow.
But his eyes were wrong.
Glowing.
Cold.
Ancient beyond comprehension.
The Dark Lord.
The one who had unleashed hell upon this world.
For twenty years I had imagined this moment.
Dreamed of it.
Hated him.
Now he stood only a few steps away.
He studied me silently for a moment, like a king examining something mildly interesting.
Then he spoke.
"Mortal."
His voice carried strange power, echoing slightly in the air.
"You have managed to impress me with your… wasteful struggle."
My jaw tightened.
"Twenty years," he continued calmly. "Wave after wave of my creations are sent to exterminate your species."
His glowing eyes narrowed slightly.
"And yet you remain."
He extended a hand toward me.
"Now cease this useless resistance."
His tone turned almost generous.
"Join me."
I blinked.
He continued speaking as if offering the most reasonable proposal in the world.
"I will make you commander of my armies. Fight for me instead of against me."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"You know resistance is futile."
For a moment, neither of us spoke.
Then I looked at his hand.
And started laughing.
Not a quiet laugh.
Not a polite chuckle.
I laughed so hard my chest hurt.
Like I had just heard the most ridiculous joke in the history of the world.
The Dark Lord's expression slowly twisted with confusion.
Then irritation.
Before he could start another one of his speeches, I wiped blood from the corner of my mouth and grinned at him.
"Wow."
I shook my head.
"So much for the terrifying dark lord who wants to destroy humanity."
I tilted my head slightly.
"You can't even kill one human."
The temperature in the air dropped instantly.
"What happened?" I continued. "I thought you were supposed to wipe us all out."
I spread my arms mockingly.
"What, am I not human anymore?"
For a moment, the Dark Lord simply stared at me.
Then he moved.
I didn't even see it happen.
One second he was standing across from me.
The next—
Pain exploded in my stomach.
His kick hit me like a cannon.
The world blurred as I flew backward through the air and smashed into a tree hard enough to crack the trunk.
The impact knocked the breath out of me.
Blood poured from my mouth as I collapsed to one knee, gasping.
Before I could even recover,
He appeared again.
Standing directly in front of me.
He looked down at me with calm indifference.
Once again, he extended his hand.
"Now," he said quietly, "do you understand the difference between you and me, mortal?"
His voice held absolute certainty.
"You are strong… for a human."
A faint smile returned.
"Join my army."
I stared at him through blurry vision.
Slowly…
I reached up.
And grabbed his hand.
His smile widened slightly.
Victory.
That's what he thought this was.
But then I spoke.
"You know…"
My voice came out hoarse.
"My girlfriend gave me an interesting gift before she died."
His smile faded slightly.
"She placed a spell on my heart."
I tightened my grip around his hand.
"It's actually a very simple spell."
His eyes narrowed.
"All it does…"
"…release every drop of mana in my body."
For the first time since he appeared—
The Dark Lord's eyes widened.
Realization.
He tried to pull away.
I held on tighter.
Every last bit of strength left in my body went into that grip.
Before he could escape, I leaned forward and whispered:
"Die, you fucking asshole."
And I activated the spell.
For a single moment,
Everything became light.
Mana erupted from my body like a star being born.
The explosion swallowed the battlefield.
Trees disintegrated.
The earth cracked.
The sky burned white.
In the center of it all, the Dark Lord's face twisted in fury and disbelief.
And as the world disappeared in blinding light…
A smile spread across my face.
Finally.
My vision faded.
My body dissolved into nothing.
And I died.
When I opened my eyes again, I was holding a teacup.
Steam drifted lazily from the surface.
I blinked.
Confused, I looked around.
A beautiful garden surrounded me.
Sunlight filtered gently through tall trees. Flowers bloomed everywhere, their colors brighter than anything I remembered from the ruined world.
Birds sang somewhere nearby.
For a moment, my mind struggled to understand what I was seeing.
Then I noticed the person sitting across from me.
He sat comfortably in a chair, pouring tea with calm precision.
He looked completely ordinary.
Like a polite host enjoying an afternoon break.
He glanced up at me.
He was just about to speak.
But I interrupted him first.
My voice came out rough.
"Did that fucker die?"
## Hi, author here. This is my original fan fiction I am creating. if you like plz comment. I have use a.i. to polish my chapters.