Mercy of The Damned (1)
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"K-kiyu... kugh..."
A human drenched in blood groaned in pain as he was stabbed by a sword. He glared at the perpetrator, clenching his spear in his hand tightly. However, just as soon as he was going to retaliate, the perpetrator immediately grabbed the spear's shaft and stepped on the man's foot, binding him down and making him unable to move.
"I told you, go to the Yevel Isles." The man before him coldly spoke. "Yet here you are pretending to be a deaf bastard."
The man then turned the sword clockwise, making the already severely wounded man shout in pain.
"Haa... haa..." Exhaled the man. "It turned out the rat in hiding was in here... just my luck... haa... haa..."
"And don't put your stinky mouth in front of me, idiot." The man slapped the bloodied person directly in the face. His slap was so hard and rough that it made the muscled warrior flew onto the ship's rails.
The man icily-stared at the wounded person. Since when did this start? How did this happen? He thought as he looked at the mess he made. There were blood and corpses everywhere, both civilian and armed militia alike. There were also traces of fire, blood, and scattered items everywhere.
All of this just because of a petty refusal.
Nonetheless, the man walked towards the one he stabbed and crouched down, directly facing the man.
"And now this is the result. Can you see what you have done? You're cruel."
He blamed the man in front of him. For some petty ego, the man turned the former smooth-sailing commercial ship into a ship of blood and fire, cursed into eternity.
"Feron... Smithsteel..." The man, on the verge of death, tried to collect his words as he uttered out his final message. "They will... hunt you down..."
Feron grabbed the sword's hilt and slashed him from within, gushing out blood and internal organs onto the deck. He silently stood up, walking towards the ship's wheel.
"You." He pointed his bloodied sword at the cowering person hiding before multiple barrels. "If you don't want to end up like the others, take the wheel while I put out the fire."
"Y,y-yes!" The person stammered. He weakly stood up before Feron and immediately headed to the wheel as his life was dancing in front of this murderer's palm.
Cowering, the man took the wheel and begun piloting the ship towards what Feron ordered the ship's crew to go to earlier on.
Feron scoffed at the cowering person. These were the people who ruthlessly slandered and blamed my family for their miserable existence? These people who cowered as soon as they see a sword and blood?
'Hah, if his family were of witches and ghouls then I am god of death personified.'
Feron sent a piercing glare to the newly appointed helmsman. The helmsman shivered in return, further lowering his head to evade Feron's judging glare.
As the helmsman steered the ship towards Yevel Isles, Feron began putting out the flames one by one. After finally putting out the remaining fire that was burning the main deck, Feron leaned on the wooden rails, looking at the seemingly never-ending ocean before him.
Just how did he end up in this miserable state? And what did he even do to deserve this undeserving fate?
He was the first child of the house of Smithsteel, a family of iron and steel forgers. He was a successor to a highly-praised family line and had a promising future. Coupled with a fiancee that was the topic and ideal of many, he was the luckiest man alive.
But all of it flipped upside in an instant.
"Just because of that bastard." Feron clutched the wooden rails, immediately shattering them down with his hands. Splinters prickled his hand and blood flowed afterward but he ignored the pain as he recalled the bastard in his mind.
While living the best moment of his life, that man suddenly appeared and took his stuff one by one. His ability to craft was outmatched by the seemingly new prodigy's once-in-a-lifetime talent. His house's reputation was shattered by dozens of slanders and rumors. His group of friends slowly distanced themselves away from him as they look up and curry favors to the newest prodigy.
And to top off the list, his fiancee stolen away, alongside her fiancee's friends.
"Haha... Hahahahahahaha!" Feron pulled his hair as he laughed maniacally. His life was ruined just because of that bastard's existence. No, his entire fate was stolen away from him. His birthright. His future.
Feron imagined the myriad ways he would torture the bastard. He vowed to make his life as hellish and miserable as possible. Undeserving of proper death, undeserving of living.
"Ren Orbis! I will fucking kill you!" He shouted, giving all his might as he cursed out his name onto the sea. "I will feed your remains to every dogs and pet humans you manipulated and torture you until gods bleed and the world collapsed!"
He lashed out. There was nothing he could do other than shout and curse. His family was already dead and he was weak and alone to fight. He did not deserve this. Yes, this was all because of his manipulations! Ren tricked the gods!
Feron's voice became weaker and weaker as he felt drained. He couldn't accept it. If it was only his talent and close friends, then he could just let it go but taking away his family was too much even for the stone-hardened Feron. He initially tried to end his life to escape the miserable fate that loomed over him but his rage over the loss of his family outweighs his reason to escape this madness.
Had the gods abandoned them? Feron thought while on the run. He started to pray to god but god didn't answer. He tried persuading the entities above the skies to avenge him but he met a still silence. Then, he begged but the answer remained the same, despite the bastard Orbis receiving multiple blessings in one go.
Finally, he abandoned god. It was useless. No, the god was utterly useless and had no use other than an idol of mockery. Feron contacted the hidden, darker side of the world in turn, worshiping demons and sacrificing the blood of the innocent to get what he wanted.
And soon enough he got his answer. A shrine of prophecies told Feron to go to Yevel Isles to greet the demons of the end. The demons in question would help Feron get his desirable fate, the ones Orbis took, and finally, his revenge. Feron thanked the demon of apocalyptic prophecies and silently trekked to the port of Elfi to board a ship heading towards Montigard, an archipelago near the Yevel Isles.
Feron looked at the small lump of land near the horizon and calmed his thoughts. After all, this was not the time to be angry. He turned his head towards to helmsman and yelled, "Is this the Yevel Isles?!"
"Y-yes!" The man stuttered in fear.
Feron answered back with silence. He took out a pocket watch from his pockets and opened it. A faint portrait of his family appeared before his eyes. Feron tried to wipe the dust away from the watch but instead of wiping, he managed to mess up the glass even more with his blood.
'Feron, this is for you.'
Feron recalled his father's voice, albeit faint.
'As for you Nina, this is for you...'
Feron laughed solemnly. He was alone, solitary fighting his way out through the thick veil of darkness. Solemnly fighting against fate unfitting for him.
"Mother, father, sister..." He mumbled, putting the bloodied pocketwatch onto his forehead as he vowed, saying, "I will avenge you. Don't worry about me, your unfilial son is alright and well living. So take care of yourselves in afterlife."
He swore an oath as he glared at the ocean.
"Sen!"
Heard Sen as he entered the portal. He looked around, seeing Jun Euri freely floating around the area like a bug. He ignored the easy-going Jun Euri and surveyed the area, seeing nothing but rocks and stalactites everywhere.
They were inside a cavern.
"Oh you're here too?"
He heard another voice. He traced the source and found the diabolical entity floating still and looking at the two of them. Jun Euri also noticed the demon and waved at him. The demon waved back, smiling and revealing its fangs to Jun Euri.
"Before the two of you appeared, I roamed the area for a bit." Jun Euri spoke as he buzzed around. "But for some reason I can't pass through these rock walls and the door over there despite being a literal ghost." He continued, showing a sad face.
"It seems we're stuck here until for the time being." Said Sen as he looked at the door pointed out by Jun Euri. It was made out of wood and metal. Sen floated towards the door and tested if he can knock and produce sounds.
However, instead of knocking, an invisible force repulsed Sen, knocking him into the air. Jun Euri looked at him and shrugged, telling him there's nothing they could do.
"Hm, I think I can hear something." The demon who was silent up until now spoke. "They seem to be... hmm... praying."
"Ehh..." Jun Euri copied the demon and tried to focus to hear what's happening around them. Several seconds pass and Jun Euri opened his eyes and mouth, stating, "You're right Kliard! I think I can hear them chanting over and over!"
Sen focused his ears and heard a bunch of faint whispers muttering the same phrase over and over. As the voice was too faint for them to hear, they could not gather much more information aside from the words "save" and "banish."
"You two." Kliard, the demon, called the two.
"Hm?" Jun Euri replied while Sen stared at Kliard in deathly silence.
As if he was in the wrong, the demon scratched its cheeks before saying, "Ah please don't look at me with such gazes. I just want you two to check out something" He snapped his hand and his card appeared before him floating. "I presume you two had noticed the gibberish words on your cards right?"
The two of them nodded.
"Those are your otherworld information." Said Kliard as he explained the gibberish written on their cards. "As soon as you enter a world, the gibberish will sync to what your role in that said world is and will turn to a more readable language." He said, looking at the two of them. "But once you leave a world, the gibberish will return back to normal, back to what it looked like."
Kliard pointed to the middle part of his card and spoke, "This part summarizes the life you are supposed to be portraying as. As for what my role in this world is, let's see... Hm, it's seems that I must play as a 'Demon of Ruination.' Hm, this doesn't seem far off."
Sen looked at his card and spoke, saying, "I must portray myself as the 'Demon of Seven Judgement.' That is quite the name." He said, thinking his name is somewhat over-the-top.
Both Sen and Kliard looked at Jun Euri. However, instead of becoming jovial, Jun Euri was disappointed, saying, "Eh... What is this? Heavenly Killing Demon of Oblivion? Isn't this a bit too childish?"
The other two nodded.
Moving the topic, Kliard moved his hands above. "Above lies the skill which you can impart or sell to your contractor. Think of it as a barter exchange for a soul. You can also use it, though given that it's your skill that you can use freely whenever, it probably wouldn't matter much." Kliard laughed. "Mine is... 'Ruined World.' What about you two?
"Professional Armament Proficiency. Doesn't seem too bad." Sen answered. Although this skill was somewhat useless to him, given that he had an extreme proficiency on the majority of armaments he had sold, this skill might fetch quite the price.
"Euri, what about you?" Sen continued, looking and asking Jun Euri before him.
As if in a dilemma, Jun Euri scratched his head. He looked at Kliard and Sen and sighed. "It's also childish. Haa..." He proceeded to read the card with a tone similar to that of a robot, saying, "Ritual. For. The. End. Blood. Sacrifice."
'You tried your best.' Sen applauded inside his head as he looked at Jun Euri trying his best to convey the skill to the rest despite utterly hating to even think of it.
The two of them nodded to Jun Euri. Kliard then pointed at the symbol right before the skill and said, "This is your attribute. I never really knew about what attribute is given there's one for every person so my guess is that it's another exclusive stuff." He shrugged before continuing, "I sadly do not know how to activate this so I can't say much."
"Oh it's alright. No worries." Sen assured. He looked at the symbol on his card, seeing a weird eye and clouds everywhere. Seeing no further use other than a lucky charm, Sen, despite being a spirit, put the card back to his wallet and blankly stared, pondering on what to do next.
As the room became more and more silent, the faint whispers became much clearer. Jun Euri stuck out his ears on the cavern walls as he listened intently while Sen and Kliard closed their eyes, choosing to remain silent.
"No!" A shout was heard by the three. It belonged to one of the people who were continuously chanting earlier. "This is a forbidden place! And you have no right to enter it!"
Jun Euri looked at the two and said, "They seem to be arguing on some sort. I wonder why..."
"Someone's trying to break in and summon us." Having multiple experiences of working as a Soul Agent and lived his life as a demon, the demon Kliard instinctively knew the reason as to why. "Given that this is a forbidden place, the place we are in must be a monastery or some sort."
"Monastery..." Jun Euri squinted his slanted eyes and put his hand onto his chin and mumbled, "That is quite creepy..."
"And I don't care." The three heard another voice. They then heard the sound of metal clanging then finally, deep silence followed.
"... We're stuck here, I guess." Jun Euri's shoulders fell dropped. "It seems that our savior has been killed by monkeys or whatever those guys are."
"No." Sen disagreed. "Listen clearly. I can hear footsteps."
Indeed, The sound of footsteps became clearer. Someone was trying to break in and summon them. Jun Euri enthusiastically buzzed around while Kliard prepared as he readied himself to portray as the 'Demon of Ruination.'
"You." They heard the same cold voice outside the door. "Open it."
"There is an arch-demon inside s-sir!" A trembling voice replied. "If y-you open it, t-the world w-will f-fall into chaos!"
They then heard a bang. No, they heard someone getting thrown out and forcefully breaking the door before them. The trembling voice groaned after the loud bang.
"I entered this sanctum and killed everyone opposing me yet you still dare to defy me?" The cold voice harshly questioned. "Open it." He ordered, his voice so cold it made the trembling voice stammer in fear.
Seeing no further reply other than stutter, another sound of metal clanged. It seemed that the man on the opposite side of the door killed the person who vehemently defended the area the three are in.
Silence descended. Footsteps became fainter as the vicious murderer's footsteps left the area. After several minutes the footsteps came back, this time followed by several other footsteps.
"Open it." The voice spoke. "Or I'll kill you one by one."
Immediately, they heard several people chanting. The three patiently waited as the door seemingly opened by itself. After a couple of hours of waiting, they finally saw what was happening on the other side.
There were traces of blood everywhere. There was also a mutilated corpse of a person dressed in white robes, his head separated from his body lying on the door. Although they had expected this scene to happen, the handling of the killing of the monk somewhat outperformed their expectations.
Jun Euri reacted with his smile getting eerie and his snake-like eyes squinting in joy. He now knew that their future contractor was somewhat similar to him in terms of how he handled killing.
The three looked at the group before them. Other than the man in the black coat, the rest of the group were trembling, as if they had seen eldritch abomination face to face.
"Ho?" The demon Kliard spoke in a deep voice. "And who dared to awaken us from slumber?"
"I am." The man in black coating spoke. He then knelt and put his sword before Kliard and spoke, "This one's name is Feron Smithsteel. I humbly greet the god of end."
"Hm." Kliard scoffed. "I know greedy mortals like you, creature. Those who break the rule of the world to serve their selfish ambition, you are like that mortal. State your desire."
Kliard expelled a threatening aura before him, making Feron Smithsteel tremble. In reply, Feron Smithsteel clutched his sword tightly and courageously expressed his desire, stating, "I wish to bring the world to ruins."
The monks gasped. They already knew and seen Feron's murderous behavior and they had expected him to wish to be stronger. But bringing the world to an end? That is pure madness!
Even the ancient demons of the past couldn't defeat the gods defending this world yet this worm dared to wish that of all things? If that is not madness, then it's pure stupidity and foolishness.
However, instead of a frown, they saw the gigantic figure of the demon smiling before them. No, it was not a genuine smile but rather, one that of a vile smirk, a pure, sinister smile with the intention of agreeing to this madman's wishes before them.
"You have quite the ambition mortal. What are you willing to offer in return?" The demon spoke, its chin up. It was looking down on them like how a god looked at ants.
Feron Smithsteel remained silent. He couldn't give anything in return. No, he doesn't have anything valuable other than his life and soul. Given how big his desire is, their belongings wouldn't matter much. Even him and the monks behind would be just bread to the never-ending glutton who is staring down on Feron Smithsteel.
He despaired. Was this journey all but naught? He despaired at the sight of unable to take revenge for his family. Internally, he raged at the idea of that bastard Ren Orbis living in leisure and luxury while his family rotted in hell.
"Oh wow, there's dark flames surrounding that human." Jun Euri whispered both to Kliard and Sen. "And it's getting even stronger? Wow."
"Those are wills." Kliard replied. "The bigger the will, the larger the sum we'll get. Wouldn't that be better?" He smiled. However, his smile was pictured as a sinister smile by the monks before them.
"So you tried to provoke that human over there to have him produce a larger will?" Sen whispered.
Kliard nodded. "I noticed that he was desperate as soon as we heard him earlier on. I just took advantage of that."
Sen didn't answer. It was a sly move, but it didn't matter much for them aside from getting more reward in return.
"Kliard." Jun Euri turned his face at Kliard and whispered. "Can I take the spotlight here?" He continued with a malevolent expression on his face.
"Oh yeah sure. Let me just conjure an avatar skill to make you appear on the living realm." Kliard spoke before conjuring a spell silently. In reply, Jun Euri thanked Kliard and waited for his spell to finish.
Soon after, another demon appeared before the group. Although it was still a spirit, it was staring at Feron Smithsteel with a smile. The monks cowered in fear. They had heard from the elders that there is an arch-demon who can threaten the world inside. But two of them?
Instinctively, they knew that the world is under heavy threat. No army can defeat an arch-demon, nor even a kingdom. Even worse is that there are two of them, waiting for the fool to speak before they start their march to end.
No matter what they do, only gods can save them.
Feron Smithsteel immediately felt killing intent from that smile compared to the sinister expression the demon in the middle had earlier on. The second demon wasn't even trying to hide its ghoulish aura before them. It was like the demon was begging for a fight against the gods.
"You are weak." The second demon spoke, its eyes turning cold at Feron Smithsteel. "You have nothing else yet you dare to ask the unthinkable? Hah, foolish and arrogant yet weak and stupid."
The second demon didn't coat its words. No, there was no reason to. After all, the demon knew that the mortal before him was alone and just a stupid creature begging to challenge the entities ruling this world.
However, Feron's resolution didn't falter. He could be called weak, stupid, and any other slurs but he could not give up his goal. His vow became more firm, and soon the second demon took notice of his resolution.
"Hoo? I see that you have the guts." The second demon laughed. It then snapped its fingers and stared at the monks behind him and continued, saying, "I have a proposition for you, mortal."
Feron Smithsteel knew what the second demon is going to ask. However, he kept silent as to not anger the demon.
"What is it, my lord?"
He spoke, readying his sword.
"Kill them for me mercilessly and in a cruel way, then I will listen to your request."
The demon spoke, sneering as it pointed its red, thin fingers at the group of monks.
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