During a full moon night in a gray, barren, wasteland filled with the remnants of a castle and the skeletons of numerous bodies…

“Hahaha! It looks like it’s my loss!”

A giant of a man said with hearty laughter as blood spewed from his mouth. He was impaled on all sides with swords, spears, axes and the like by a group of men dressed in dirty gray armor. They made no movement nor sound. 

“...Any last words?”

Looking at the impaled man on his knees, I ask him through a series of deep and labored breaths. I had wounds deep enough to see bone and my left hand was burnt almost to a crisp. This battle was a very intense one, the hardest one I ever fought yet.

It’s safe to sayI’m on my last legs here.

“I do. But first put those blades away. I can’t fight any longer.”

Staring at the black sword that was stabbed in his chest and still grasped firmly in my hand, the man said with a bitter smile. To his words, I only twisted the sword some more, and in response, the soldiers in armor did the same, causing the man’s face to twist slightly in pain before putting on a smile.

“Well it’s good to know you’re still on the cautious side. As expected of the person who defeated the great Demon Lord Wilbert… I have a request for you.”

“Speak.”

“My wife and daughter… Please take care of them.”

“What? Fuck no, they’re not my responsibility.”

And on the off chance that I would agree, I can’t forget they are the wife and daughter of the Demon Lord. the same Demon Lord who conquered most of the world and killed countless people in order to achieve it. The effort to hide their identity would be too troublesome. 

“Please. While it isn’t right for a loser to ask such a thing, I know my death is warranted due to having lost, theirs isn’t…My wife tried numerous times to steer me away from this path but alas I didn’t listen. I envisioned a world where only the strongest survive and I will stop at nothing to reach my goal. But my wife had a way with words and I was starting to waver. Therefore, in order to stay dedicated to my ideals, I locked her and our child up in the deepest part of the castle.”   

“...That castle?” 

Nudging my head towards the destroyed castle that was burning with both purple and orange flames, I said calmly. But on the inside, I was slightly nervous. I don’t know about him but I don’t think they’re alive. They were either burned alive due to the spreading fire or they were crushed due to the collapse of the castle. 

While I don’t want to have the responsibility of taking care of them, I don’t want innocents to needlessly die. 

“It’s alright. I made their room the safest place in the entire castle. They should still be… alive right… now. Cough! Cough! Cough!”

In the middle of his sentence, Demon Lord Wilbert begins to cough up blood, resulting in some of it to splatter onto my face. His face was now deathly pale. 

He’s now in his last moments.

“It looks like my time has come… Please, I beg of you. Take it as a selfish man’s last wish, get my family to safety. They don’t deserve to be hated due to the things I’ve done.”

“Quite ironic is it? How the last wish of an evil man would be to protect his family. Even though he took away the family members of others.”

“Haha…like I said. I’m a selfish man.”

“Hmph, no doubt about that. As for your last wish…I’ll think about it.”

“Thank… you.”

And with that, Demon Lord Wilbert breathed his last breath. But because I experienced first hand how powerful he was, to make sure he was dead, I decapitated him and took a certain thing from his body. With these two things taken away from his body, he can never be resurrected. I’ll be damned if I let a monster such as him roam the lands while I’m still here. Let me get back to my world first before spawning another heavyweight like that.

As for the soldiers in gray armor, they disappeared like dust in the wind. I sent them from once they came, the Limbo

“Sigh, fuck I’m tired. I need a break.”

Saying this, I fell back onto the ground like a puppet with its strings cut…I think I broke a bone doing that but shit, who cares about another broken bone? Also, I can feel the heat leave my body as blood slowly pools around me, it’s slowly starting to get cold. 

“Lilith, with the way things are, it’s going to be a while before I can get back to a hundred percent. Aren’t you happy?”

Raising the sleek black sword up above me I asked with a wry smile. I initially planned to return home soon after I killed Wilbert, leaving Lilith quite downtrodden (she tried to hide it but I instantly figured it out). Heh, I bet she’s happy that I’ll be staying in this world for a little while longer. 

*CLANK!*

In response to my words, Lilith slightly trembled and I felt some energy drain from my body a little bit. 

Looks like someone’s embarrassed. 

“Looks like someone’s embarrassed.”

All of a sudden, I hear a cold but demonic voice coming from beside me. Recognizing this voice, any and all emotion from my face disappears as I turn my head sideways. In my view was a skeleton dressed in a decayed clown suit laying exactly six inches from my face. His face was covered in clown makeup, his eye sockets were as dark as the deepest abyss and he sported a wicked smile. 

…What do you want, Jack?

“How cold. I just came out to see how pathetic you are. Fighting even though you won’t be thanked. Oh, how I wish you were drawing your last breath right about now. Then I could finally take over.”

Oh? Then why don’t you try it?

“Because now isn’t the right time. But don’t you worry. I’ll one day take the role of Marcus. It’s only a matter of when.”

Jack said coldly. If it wasn’t for the fact that that creepy wide grin of his was permanently affixed to his face, I would’ve thought he was saying a creepy joke. 

But I knew he was serious. 

Contrary to as one would expect when you see his appearance, Jack is a cold and calculating entity. He won’t try anything unless he knows for certain that he’ll benefit from it. 

Heh, that matter of when is slowly closing. The moment I finish healing, I’m gone. But before I do that, I have something that can handle you. 

“…You think that’ll stop me? It won’t. No matter what you do. No matter what you try. There’s no escaping me! I’ll always be here. After all… I am you. Hahaha!”

At his demonic laughter, I merely closed my eyes and ignored him. A few seconds later his voice faded and I opened my eyes. He disappeared as quickly as he arrived.

…I hope whatever that old hag is coming up with can actually contain him. 

“I can’t wait to get home. I hope They won’t be mad with me for disappearing for so long.”

Saying this I remember the family I left behind on Earth. Just you guys wait, I’ll be back! 

It’s only a matter of when and how. 

***

Author’s note

- here’s the prologue chapter. It took a minute but slowly but surely I’m straightening the story out as I go. Therefore I hope you can put up with the shit imma do for now. As a heads up, I’ll be changing the first chapter sometime later on. I’m going to have it in first POV but that’s as far as I’ve got.