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0.61% The Damned Demon / Chapter 2: The Painful Betrayal

章節 2: The Painful Betrayal

"I what? Derek, are you drunk or what?" Cedric asked as his brows pulled together, feeling that something was off.

He didn't realize it before because he was distracted after surviving the battle against the Demon King. But now he noticed that all these Hunters before him were looking at him with serious, unkind expressions.

He could see them tightening their grip around the handles of their weapons while their eyes became focused. All these signs only happened whenever they were about to engage in battle, which didn't make sense since this was supposed to be a moment of happy reunion unless…

"I have never been more clear-headed, Cedric, especially since our mission involves taking you down before you could threaten humanity," Derek said in a gruff voice as the others exchanged glances.

"Enough with the jokes, Derek. I am not in the mood for this," Cedric said as his tone turned serious. Even though he said these words, Cedric felt these guys weren't playing around.

Lenny's expression also became solemn as he said, "Cedric, I am sorry, but this is no joke. The WHA has decided that you should be put away. The other Hunters had voted for the same as well. Honesty…this was a very hard and tough decision, but considering the circumstances, we have to do this."

"What circumstances?!" Cedric's tone became unfriendly as he asked with a glare.

Derek stepped forward and said, "The Oracle had passed down a new prophecy, and it mentions your name and that you will one day bring about doom in this world. The Oracle has never been wrong and never will. We already know how powerful you are, and this prophecy made us realize that one day you will lose yourself in bloodlust and power. It isn't that surprising since Hunters in the past had fallen prey to themselves. But you are different…You are already the strongest among us, but if we let you grow even more, then nobody in this world can stop you. It is the will of the heavens that the Oracle was able to pass down the prophecy before it was too late."

Cedric dryly chuckled as he shook his head with a look of disbelief, "Aira, do you hear the nonsense they are spouting? Tell me—" Cedric forgot his words when he saw Aira slowly walking away from him with a lowered head while covering her face.

"A-Aira?" Cedric didn't want to believe what he was seeing but seeing her silently walking away from him made him feel like his world was starting to crumble down.

Aira's expression was continuously faltering as she meekly looked at him with watery eyes, "I-I am sorry, Ced…I—"

"That is enough, Aira. You don't have to stay here any longer. Come with me," A woman in her late thirties, clad in armor, stepped forward and grabbed her wrist to lead her away. She was one of Aira's friends, Lena, and someone Cedric was friendly with as well…until now.

"Lena, don't you dare bring her away! Aira, what the fuck are you doing?!" Cedric still didn't want to believe what was going on. Even if everyone else were to turn on him, the last person he expected to turn on him was his girlfriend, whom he had known since childhood.

He had lived, fought, and bled alongside Aira for the most part of his life. He and she were there for each other through thick and thin, no matter the situation. They were practically inseparable…or so he thought.

Aira stopped in her tracks as her figure trembled, but she still had her back turned towards Cedric.

Cedric, who had his arm extended in her direction, had his eyes quivering in disbelief, sadness, and dismay. But then she continued to walk away as Lena led her away, and her figure began to fade in his vision.

"Aira…no…why…" Cedric mumbled as his voice cracked. The pain of his injuries seemed to bother him the least now. But it was the pain of his heart being slowly torn apart that was hurting him the most.

Why would his own lover betray him? Did he imagine her love for him all this time? No…This cannot be…

"Don't be angry at her. It is only best for her that she walks away. Associating with you any longer would only make her a target as well," Derek said without a change in his expression.

She left me to save herself? Was she really that selfish and cowardly? All because of a stupid prophecy?

'Heh…what a joke…So your promise about living and dying together was just a line to fool me?' Cedric wryly thought as he remembered something that had happened more than a decade ago.

"It's time, Cedric. This is it," Derek said as he lifted his heavy hammer with both his hands while the other Hunters began to slowly surround a devastated Cedric.

"Don't worry…You will still die as a hero, and your legend will live on. There are countless Hunters who would be willing to die to leave their mark in history. You should consider yourself lucky," Lenny said as he took a deep breath, preparing himself for the most unnerving battle of his life.

"Shut up…all of you cunning dogs…" Cedric mumbled with an empty look as he lifelessly drew out his blade.

"Do not fight back, Cedric. You are outnumbered, 25 to 1, and your injuries are another story. Just let this end quickly, and you won't even know any pain," Derek said with a narrowed gaze.

"Pain? You think I haven't felt enough already? I trusted you all…especially you two…my own team…You two even invited me to stay and have food with your family countless times. But I should have known all of you were just opportunistic dogs waiting to backstab me like cowards," Cedric said as his gaze became frigid.

Lenny swallowed his saliva as his heart thumped nervously. Even for a Catastrophic Level Threat, the World Hunter Association never sent more than ten Hunters to take care of it or two teams.

But for Cedric, they sent 25 Hunters whose ranks ranged from A to S class like Derek. However, Lenny wasn't that surprised as he knew how powerful Cedric was, especially since he was at the peak of S rank. Even if he was now in an injured state, Lenny had no doubt some Hunters would surely fall.

"I will take you all on!" Cedric said as his blade began to shine with a blinding golden light and charged forward with a resentful shout.

All twenty-five Hunters charged at him at the same time as well with a battle cry, ready to take down the strongest Hunter in the world.

….

30 minutes later…

"Ha…ha…How pathetic…You don't even have the balls to face me alone," Cedric said in an exhausted tone as he continued to bleed profusely all over his body while kneeling on the ground and holding onto his glaive for support.

"Cough…cough…you were not even in your best state, and yet you killed twenty of us. Even Lenny is barely standing," Derek coughed out blood as he wiped the blood off his lips with a grimace. One of his eyes was a bloody hole as blood trickled down his face. He was severely injured and standing before Cedric, yet not in a state as bad as Cedric's.

Dead, bloodied corpses were lying around Cedric while the battlefield was a scorched mess. Half of the mountain was wiped out, while the rest was just scorched land.

"This only made me realize how really dangerous it would have been for all of us if we had decided to let you live," Derek added with a wary glint in his eyes as he slowly lifted his heavy hammer with a grunt to deal the finishing move.

"Just get it over with…you piece of shit," Cedric said with a vengeful look as he looked up. He was no longer worried about dying since he realized that there was nothing to live for. The WHA whom he had loyally served since the beginning of his Hunter career, his friends, his own team, and even the love of his life had betrayed him. What was the point of struggling? It was best to let go…

Cedric saw the heavy hammer coming down on him slowly as it filled his vision. And before he knew it, he was plunged into a cold dark abyss.


創作者的想法
Resurgent Resurgent

Prologue ends here...What do you guys feel about it? Comment your thoughts :)

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章節 3: 14 Years Of Hell

Cedric felt as if he was drowning in eternal darkness as all the memories of his life flashed before him, making him feel that everything he did was useless. Despite growing up to be the strongest hero, he was too blind to see the true nature of the people closest to him.

He felt so woeful he just wanted to disappear into nothingness and forget everything. He didn't expect that it would be even more painful even after dying.

But right when he thought this, he felt a strange coldness filling him, making him wonder why he was feeling all this if he was dead?

"Father, who is this strange-looking child? Where did you bring him from? His appearance looks weird. He doesn't look like any demon we know."

"He is only five years old, Rona. And be nice to him since you will also have to help me take care of him for the years to come. He is not from around here, so he will look different. I happen to find him abandoned by the Infernal Volcano. It's a miracle he survived but unfortunately, his mind is crippled and can't use mana as well."

Cedric was puzzled hearing this conversation while also faintly seeing glimpses of a place he had never seen before. He could barely make out that he was holding a tall person's hand, and before him, there was a small girl whose face was blurry and looking at him. However, her eyes which were dark red, didn't look human, and after vaguely making out her appearance, why did she seem like a demon?

"What the hell am I seeing? When did I experience this?" Cedric had his entire life flash before him right after he died. So he thought what he was seeing now were his memories as well, but he never remembered such events.

—-

"Ugh, why did His Majesty bring home this wretch? I even have to clean his shit up every day. Eat this if you want, you retard!"

*Thwang!*

Cedric saw a plate filled with food and some liquids being thrown over him by some woman who also didn't seem human. But he couldn't clearly make out the details since everything seemed blurry again. However, he sure as hell felt pissed off upon feeling the wet food falling down his face and his body.

"Jenna! Please…you can't keep doing bad things to that poor kid. What if the king learns about this?"

"Ha, who cares about this ugly cripple? His Majesty has bigger things to worry about, and he barely comes here. Besides, if this thing can't speak or think, who else is going to know, hehe..."

He shook his head inwardly, thinking that this could not be his memory since he doesn't remember going through such things but then why was he feeling so angry and hateful?

The scene kept changing one after the other while this boy became older and older. But in every scene, he would feel a heaviness in his chest, especially when each time he felt(saw) this boy getting mistreated and tortured by those around him.

Sometimes they would kick him or press their feet against his face. Sometimes they would immerse his face in a bucket of muddy water as if trying to drown him but pull him up before he could die. But the worst didn't even come close. Some of the nasty ones would injure and break the bones of that boy(him) and then heal him to make it look like nothing happened.

Not a day did they ever leave him alone, and Cedric felt like he was also experiencing this along with this boy. Never had he felt such strong killing intent and couldn't understand why all of them were torturing him(that boy).

If there was a living hell, this was it.

—-

"Rona, this is the first and final time I am giving you an order. You have to marry him even if you feel like you are marrying a corpse. There will be no more discussion on this. He will turn 18 tomorrow, and we will have the wedding."

"Father…how could you do this to me? Do you really want me to spend my entire life looking after him? Ignoring my feelings, he can't even hold any feelings in the first place. He had been sleeping on the same bed for 14 years, totally lifeless. I still don't understand why you took him in. His life is as miserable as it gets. Whenever I see him, I feel like he doesn't want to live anymore."

"You have no idea what he truly feels. Things might seem confusing and shocking, but all I can say is that if you truly believe how much I care about you, then promise me you will do as I say. That is all I have to say now."

"..."

—-

"Look at how peacefully the future Royal Consort is sleeping. How dare this crippled white-haired trash dare take my place?!"

"Careful, Young Lord! The walls might have ears."

"Shut up, you fool. Nobody here will dare to say anything anyway. And this cripple wouldn't even scream even if I tortured him, haha. Every servant, maid, and guards has pissed and shit over him for the past 14 years, and yet he is too dull to even say a word. The best he can do is open his eyes while I try and get a scream out of him, hehe. Last time I failed but this time, I have the Dark Blood Beetle. Once it enters through his mouth, it will make his heart feel like it is exploding every second."

"T-Then wouldn't he die?"

"Nah…the Dark Blood Beetle is too weak. It will kill itself within an hour or so without killing the victim. But we have an hour to enjoy ourselves and see if he screams, hehe."

Cedric felt something slimy entering his mouth as he helplessly watched some young man force some weird creature into his mouth. All this felt so foreign yet familiar to him, but he was unable to move his hands or legs to kick this dirtbag away.

He wished all this was just fake and something his mind was making up after his death. But he could feel his body tense up as if he was really feeling nervous and scared, along with seething anger that was making his nerves quiver.

But suddenly, he felt his heart being slowly cut by a blunt blade…the pain indescribable but agonizing enough to make one pluck out their heart, to say the least.

And the worst part was he couldn't move a single inch and was helplessly lying on some bed watching the blurry face of a young man mocking and laughing at him.

He could only endure this excruciating pain while all he could feel was his blood boiling in painful humiliation and resentment.

Cedric didn't know if the emotions he was feeling belonged to this 18-year-old boy or his own emotions after getting influenced by experiencing this despicable scene. It all felt short, but at the same time, Cedric felt as if he had experienced 14 years' worth of pain and suffering even though it was not really him who suffered.

But despite having no idea what was going on, Cedric was affected by the things he saw, and he simply wished this to end as if the pain of the betrayal he experienced wasn't enough.

And as if his wish was answered, everything became dark and silent while Cedric felt like he was floating. However, his mind became clear in this strange stillness as he reflected on something.

The only thing he realized from his own life and what he saw from the eyes of this unknown boy was that the world doesn't play nice to those who follow the rules and stick to their morals, even if they never harmed a bee in their life.

To survive, no matter which world, one has to become a demon that devours others before they get devoured.

"Sigh…what's the point of thinking all this…I am done anyway…" Cedric thought in despair when he suddenly felt like his entire being was getting sucked to someplace else

But as if he wasn't shocked enough, he began to feel the cold air brushing past his skin and could smell the stench of blood passing by him. And before he knew it, he was able to feel his limbs and even move his fingers, 'I am not dead??'


創作者的想法
Resurgent Resurgent

Things doesn't seem simple, hmmm...

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