The air around me is filled with thick smoke, causing my surroundings to take on a orange hue. In the distance, I can hear the clash of swords, the crackling of lightning spells, the war cries and screams of pain, the sobbing of soldiers who just lost a best friend... But I have no time to worry about this.
"Hero, hurry ahead! We might not get another chance like this."
Next to me are my dear friends. Nillie, an elven archer, lost an arm and had her torso ripped to shreds by one of the enemy generals. Siyan, a human healer, is doing her best to close the wounds. She brought me back from far worse, so I believe in her ability, but she will need far more time than what's available to us. And finally, Miro, a human mage, is maintaining a barrier around them and keeping watch. He's the one who told me to hurry ahead. He continues:
"If we accompany you now, Nillie will undoubtedly die. With the Four Generals down, the only thing standing between us and peace is the King. I know this wasn't the plan, but I believe you can defeat him by yourself. If we let him escape today, there's no telling how many more years of war will be inflicted upon us."
He's right. They've been with me so far, but I must now go forward and face our enemy by myself. I strengthen my grip on my sword, and its gentle voice resonates in my head:
"You are not alone. Let us end this, together."
That's right, I still have Revelation with me. Through it, the Goddess will grant me protection.
I nod to Miro before answering:
"I'm counting on you. Survive. Drinks are on me once we win."
He smiles. Siyan seems to be too focused on her healing spell to have heard, and I choose not to distract her. I turn around, take a good look at the blackened spires of the Monster King's castle, and start running towards it.
I run up the stairs as fast as I can, casting various spells on myself to improve my speed and endurance. This castle is a lot taller than I thought, and the throne room is all the way to the top. I thought the purpose of a room like that was to grant audiences, does the Monster King ask his subjects to climb all these stairs if they wish to meet him?
I shake my head. Now's hardly the time to be thinking about this. I accelerate further, allowing me to reach the large reinforced door in just a few minutes.
I put a hand against it, but I hesitate to push it open. Inside is the source of our suffering. The most powerful of all monsters, the one who declared war on us, razed countless villages, murdered every civilian he came across, and turned our rivers red with blood. This is the moment of truth. The future of every civilized nation rests on my shoulders. If I falter here, there's no telling what kind of atrocities will be unleashed on the people I swore to protect when I took on the mantle of Hero.
My heart starts beating faster. I must be ready for anything that might await me beyond this door. There's no guarantee that the King is alone. There's no guarantee he didn't trap the place while waiting for me. He's willing to do anything for victory, after all.
I take a deep breathe, then push the double door open. Inside, there is nothing, except for a long red carpet leading to a large stone throne decorated with sculptures of various monsters, many of which I fought myself on this quest. Sitting on that throne is the Monster King himself, tapping his claw on the armrest and smiling at me.
I activate a few spells to help me notice traps and magical effects, then start walking towards him, carefully. This is my first time meeting him. I knew he was a Daemor, so I'm not surprised by his red skin, the black claws at the end of his fingers, or the large leathery wings he's currently sitting on, as if they were a cape. However, the two horns on his forehead are far larger than anything I've seen before, curving back over his head and then back up to finish is sharp points. He keeps his red eyes on me as I advance, his horizontal pupils staying fully focused on his target.
Once I reach the halfway point between the door and the throne, he speaks:
"You're awfully careful, Hero. I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have put no spells or traps, no allies in hiding, or any such form of foul play in this room. It's only you and me. A pure test of strength and skill."
"You expect me to believe you, after everything you've done?"
"I want to see just how strong you are for myself. How familiar are you with our shared history of war, and of the previous Heroes and Monster Kings?"
"I know that a new Monster King appears on a regular basis, unifying the monster tribes living beyond the mountains, and launching an attack which begins a new war. A Hero rises in response, wielding Revelation, and defeats the King. The cycle repeats continuously, as our side is unable to launch a full-scale assault on the monster territories to finally end it, and your side remains unable to achieve victory over us."
"An acceptable summary, but... Do you know why this cycle began in the first place?"
"According to the Sacred Texts, the first Monster King coveted the power of the Goddess, and launched an assault to claim it for himself."
He laughs loudly in response, throwing his head back. The echo bouncing all around me causes shivers to run down my spine as I prepare myself to draw my sword at the first sign of aggression.
His fit of laughter calming down, he says:
"And you really believe that? Tell me, what do you fight for?"
"I fight to protect my friends, family, the people I met on my travels, and the many more I will never meet. I fight so that they might have a future."
"And why do you think we fight?"
"To bring pain and destruction and steal the Goddess' power, as is in your nature to do."
He smirks, then grabs the sword that was resting against the throne. He stands up and slowly unsheathes it, revealing the red reflections on its blade.
"Have you ever considered that we might be fighting for the same reasons you do? That we fight to get a future that was stolen from us back? That we fight so that our children won't have to go hungry and die anymore?"
"If that truly is your goal, then why not stay at peace and manage your country to solve these issues?"
"Have you ever heard of the Great Mountain Lakes?"
"... The what?"
"It is as I thought... I believe this is a history lesson best kept for later. Worry not, I shall not be the one teaching it, for today is the day I die."
I take a step back hearing those words.
"Are you giving up?"
"I gave up a long time ago, not long after I became the current Monster King, in fact. Your Church tells stories of the first Monster King seeking to obtain the power of the Goddess. We have our own story, similar on the surface, but it has always been treated as a riddle to be solved. Every King before me did their best to understand it, to seek out further clues and answers, noting them down in a document passed from King to King... And I believe that I finally found the answer we sought all along. And, unfortunately, for this to come to pass..."
He takes on a combat stance, pointing his sword towards me. I draw my own weapon and take on a defensive guard, ready to react to any attack.
"... I must let our destiny play out, and be defeated by the Hero. Be warned, however, that I have no intention to make this easy on you!"
With this, he dashes forward, lunging his sword towards my throat. I see that it's a slim and delicate blade, likely better at piercing than slashing. With a swift movement, I push the blade aside with my own, causing the point to go past my head as I step forward and execute a downward slash towards him.
As expected, he sees it coming, and quickly moves out of the way by stepping back, causing my tip to barely miss his nose. I decide to also jump back to give myself more room to react to a followup attack, but he simply looks at me from a distance.
No, that's wrong. He's not waiting, he's casting a spell!
My thought barely has time to finish that a bolt of lighting materialize above me and shoots down. My body is too slow for me to avoid this, so I summon a very quick barrier which shatters as soon as the spell hits it. Thankfully, this was enough to avoid any damage, but I can tell that he was holding back. His ability to control magic is obviously far greater than mine, which puts me in a dangerous situation. Now's not the time to hesitate.
I grab the scroll at my belt and throw it up, causing it to start unfolding. The Church told me to use it when I really needed it, and since this is the final battle against the Monster King, I see no better opportunity.
The runes on it start activating one by one as they get revealed, each of them casting a spell on me. My speed increases, my physical and magical power increases, multiple protective barriers form around me, and I feel the world slow down around me as more and more spells get added to the stack.
With this, I might just have the upper hand.
I run towards the King. His movements appear clearer, I find myself being able to more easily predict what will happen next, and my own thoughts about how to react also form faster.
He manages to parry my strike, but I feel my strength overpowering his. His eyes grow wide as he finds himself launched backwards towards the throne, which he hits with a loud thud.
He gets back up, seemingly in pain. From the way he moves, I can guess that his left arm is broken. He's also coughing some blood, a clear sign of internal damage.
"Yes... Now we're talking! Come at me, Hero! Hold nothing back!"
As he speaks, a dark cloud starts forming around his body. The black mist grabs his broken arm and moves it back into position with a loud cracking noise. The King's eyes fill with darkness, and he comes back for another attack.
I've heard of this spell, the King's Mantle. It puts the user in a semi-berserk state, forcing them to keep fighting until they run out of targets or run out of magical energy. In exchange, they receive a massive power boost and can surpass the normal limits of their body. According to the Church, it's something every Monster King so far has been able to use.
As our swords collide, I realize that the gap between us has been completely closed. I deflect the hit, but he manages to quickly parry my counterattack. We exchange a few more strikes before I decide to throw a feint and use it to disengage, casting a beam of holy light at him in the process. He dodges it by jumping upwards, then... stays there, floating.
Flying enemies are hard to deal with. The normal procedure is to either damage a wing, or interfere with the spell that allows for flight. In this case, I can tell from the lack of movement of his wings that he's not using them, which means that there's a spell at play... But it's probably the King's Mantle, which I cannot interfere with. Miro might manage, but I don't have the kind of training he does.
From high up, the King launches a volley of spells at me. Beams of fire, lightning, and darkness rain down as I try my best to dodge them. A few of them hit, causing some of my barriers to shatter. Despite this, I manage to close the gap between us, and I jump as high as I can to reach him.
Our swords clash, but I'm at a clear disadvantage, being unable to move freely in the air. He exploits that weakness and strikes one of my arms, causing one of the more potent barriers to break. I fall back on the ground, expecting another volley of ranged attack, but I see him falling towards me instead, sword aimed at my head. I manage to dodge, predicting that he's going to hit the floor, but he instead stops his fall with his wings and immediately attempts another strike. Taken by surprise, I fail to block it, causing another barrier to fall.
He managed to land multiple hits on me, while I have yet to land a single one. There's no doubt, at almost equal power, he's the more skilled and experienced of us two. However, as far as I can tell, King's Mantle provides no defensive benefits. This means that as long as I manage to land a single, decisive blow, I win this fight.
I see that he's charging more spells, so I start running away to avoid them. There's no opening when he launches an attack like that, there's simply too many spells flying around between us. I'll have to get it done when he's using his sword.
As soon as I dodge the last beam, I close the gap between us and attempt to hit his head. He blocks it, and counterattacks by aiming at my chest, but I manage to dodge it and launch my own attack. We trade blows like this for a bit, but I can't find an opening at all. Is there really no way I can win this, aside from sheer luck as he makes a mistake?
I jump back to try to think things through, but he immediately launches another salvo of beams in my direction. The attacks really never stop.
However, I suddenly have an idea. I still have a few barriers ready to absorb hits around me. While he's concentrating on casting this many spells, he's wide open. If I move the right way within the barrage, I might be able to take few enough spells to still reach him and land a hit. It's a gamble, but I must try it.
As the next wave launches towards me, I jump in the direction of the King. I try my best to avoid the beams, but I still feel one, two, three hit me, causing my barriers to break. Despite this, I find myself able to close the distance between us.
I pour everything I have left in Revelation, causing its blade to start glowing a bright white. The King tries to stop casting, but it's too late. As a beam of darkness hits my left arm, causing a wave of pain to go through my body, my sword pierces his heart. As the light washes away the darkness of the King's Mantle, I let out a sigh of relief.
I won.
However, I don't have much time to celebrate. I hear a dripping sound to my left, so I turn my head in that direction, only to see that my whole arm was blown away by the spell that hit me. I only needed one more barrier. That's bad, I need to stop the bleeding until Siyan gets here. As I'm about to pull the sword out of the King's body, he grabs my right forearm. I was too busy looking at my missing arm to notice he was still conscious!
I feel his claws dig through my bracer and into my skin as he says:
"Yes... you really were... just who I needed. Become stronger... Hero. May the next Monster King... be the last."
With his dying breath, he casts a spell through his claws, causing my whole arm to erupt in black flames. I manage to pull myself away, but my attempts to put the flames out bear no fruit. They're definitely magical, so maybe I can get rid of them with some kind of cleansing spell. I cast the strongest one I know, but it has no effect. During that time, they expand to my torso and parts of my face, causing the pain to become unbearable.
I can tell that they're not actually burning me, but I get confirmation when I see my right arm fall off. The black flames are consuming me, completely erasing my body.
The flames reach my right leg, causing me to fall to the ground. I'm sure Siyan could take care of them, but she's still down there, taking care of Nillie. I turn towards the part of my right arm that fell. It's gone, the spell finished consuming it. I then turn towards the Monster King, who still have Revelation piercing his chest. At some point, he fell, and is now laying down on his back. I lose sight from my right eye as the flames reach it, but I feel tears forming in my left one.
I'm going to die, but at least I managed to defeat the Monster King. I won't get to go back home and celebrate with my parents and my little sister. I won't get to pay the drinks for Nillie, Siyan and Miro. Well, I hope they still celebrate and don't mourn me too much. I won't get to go back the the Saint-Leiric Cathedral and put Revelation back on its pedestal, like all Heroes did before me.
As breathing becomes harder, I close my eyes. However, I hear Revelation's soft voice, resonating in my mind, as if its speaker was very far away:
"Hero, your soul... There's a curse on it! I can't undo it! I'm sorry, I..."
The voice stops as the whole world falls to silence.
