Ruby red eyes stained in madness turned to us. We all hastily readied our weapons, but it was no use.

“Two.”

A cry of pain accompanied that bone chilling voice. Another member of the hero party had died. My eyes could barely follow the monster's movements.

“Defensive formation!”

Eden’s frantic cry spurred her comrades into motion, but they were too slow.

“Three.”

Indifferently, as if commenting on the weather, the monster proclaimed another’s death. The hero party was picked off one by one before they even managed to ready their defenses.

“Four. Five.”

Ruby red eyes fell on me and I felt death’s scythe hanging over my neck. Those eyes told me that I would be the next to die and that Eden would follow shortly after. The two of us were all that was left of the hero party.

The fight left me. I was only here to fulfill my promise to Eden. Now that the raid had ended in failure, there was no more reason for me to struggle. This was enough, right Mom?

In the end, Eden was wrong. Hope was powerless before absolute power. Unlike usual, I couldn’t take any joy from the hero party's miserable defeat. I relaxed my guard and waited for death to claim me.

“Iris!”

A burst of movement appeared in my vision. A strange liquid splattered against my cloak and the small exposed portion of my face. It took my mind several seconds to process what had happened.

Eden stood in front of me with her head turned towards me. She was smiling. Her green eyes glowed with satisfaction as she looked at my unscathed appearance. It was as if my health was all that she cared about.

A black, hazy hand pierced all the way through Eden’s chest and out the other end. The power of destruction ravaged her body. I finally realized. The strange liquid that splattered against me was Eden’s blood.

“Thank goodness…”

Eden only had time to leave an exclamation of relief before her body completely disintegrated, leaving me alone with the monster.

“Six.”

A cold voice announced Eden’s death. My mind reeled in disbelief. The [Lux Staff] fell from my powerless fingers. Uncontrollable, dark emotions welled up from the bottom of my heart, drowning out everything else.

It was only a game. Eden wasn’t actually dead. Even so, that changed nothing about how I felt. I spoke up for the first time since Eden began her livestream.

“Dying with a smile on your face and leaving me alone… As I thought, I really hate you.”

Nothing mattered anymore. I really did not give a damn about anything. My worries were pointless anyways.

A click resounded in my mind as I drowned in old, half forgotten memories. Everything I had sealed deep inside of my mind bubbled up to the surface and I remembered who I used to be. Nostalgic instincts took hold of my body.

My eyes watched as the destruction demon prepared to end me. Not even the haze of destructive energies could hide its movements as its body tensed in preparation to launch itself at me.

Powerful legs kicked off the ground and instantly shrunk the gap between us to zero. A fierce gust of wind shook my cloak as the monstrosity swept past me. The flapping of my cloak was the only sound that filled the silence. The word, seven, never came.

“Is that it, Serafall?”

My words were greeted with an angry roar. Consumed by the power of destruction, the Demon King fell onto all fours and savagely leapt at me. She was honest to a fault without any hint of tricks. That made her easy to read. Serafall sailed right past me.

“A healer should always be the first to die. If it is any other way, then it means that a healer has failed to do her job.”

The crazed Demon King leapt at me from all directions, but none of her simple, telegraphed attacks managed to land. Her explosive speed and destructive power were the only things she had going for her. I didn’t particularly care if Serafall understood my words.

“That is right. I am a failure. I always have been. I experience failure after failure, never managing to manifest the possibilities buried in the depths of my heart. So be it. Some of us are simply not destined for greatness.”

It was the truth of the world that there would always be a loser for every victor. I was that loser. Unlike Eden who always shone brighter than the sun, I was destined to be a nameless bystander lurking in the dark.

“I couldn’t even fulfill a simple promise to Eden. True to your title as the King of Destruction, you destroyed what little remained of my pride.”

Furious growls answered my words. Truly, a crazed Demon King was not a suitable conversation partner. Alas, we were the only two left in this pure white world. Everyone else that I could have voiced these words to were dead.

“Wake up Serafall, or is this all that the pride of a Demon King amounts to?”

The crazed Demon King froze in place. She clutched her head and screeched in pain. The screech faded and a bewitching light returned to those ruby red eyes. Her seductive voice dripped with arrogance.

“Truly a foolish move, human. Did you decide that you wanted to perish like the rest of your friends?”

“No.”

That wasn’t at all why I had ‘woken’ up Serafall.

“I won’t be satisfied unless I trample on your precious pride beneath my boots and shove your arrogant face into the muddy waters that the rest of us spend our lives in.”

“Ho? How does a mere Disciple of Regeneration like you expect to do that?”

All of my echo weapons were focused on support rather than attacking or defending. Whether it was [Lux Staff], [Holy Word], or [Umbra Sanctuary], none of them would be able to break through the destructive energies surrounding Serafall. Similarly, [Umbra Sanctuary]’s weak barriers might as well as be nonexistent in front of her. This battle could only end in my defeat.

At least, that was how it was supposed to be. I reached into my cloak and pulled out the black, jagged dagger from its sheath on my hip.

“Do you believe me to be ignorant of my enemies, human? You humans can only wield three of those weapons at a time.”

My finger traced along the cool blade of Mom’s echo weapon as I mentally apologized to Eden for what I was about to do. 

“You are mistaken. As long as one is willing to pay the price, a human can wield as many echo weapons as they want.”

Under the confused eyes of the King of Destruction, I stabbed Mom’s [Key of Destruction] into my chest.

“Urgh!”

My world exploded in pain. Destructive energies ravaged the insides of my body. I hunched over in pain. Bright red blood splattered onto the pure white ground from my wound. Mocking laughter filled my ears.

“Tell me, human. What was stabbing yourself with a mere echo of my power supposed to accomplish?”

“Did you forget my main job Serafall?”

I reached through the haze of pain to the only echo weapon that could save me. [Lux Staff] materialized in my left hand. Golden light fell on my dying body and the power of regeneration clashed with the power of destruction inside of me.

Strength flooded my limbs. I smiled at my foe despite the immense pain I was in. Black destructive energy whirled around my body, disintegrating the cloak covering up my body. The skimpy battlesuit I was wearing would have been destroyed too if it wasn’t such a strong piece of equipment.

“Know that your death will not be merciful, damn Disciple of Regeneration.”

“You took the words out of my mouth, damn Demon King.”

We kicked off the ground and shot towards each other at the same time. Serafall formed a massive greatsword of destruction in her hands and swung it down at me. I gathered up the destructive energies in my body to my palm and created a small dagger. Our two disparate weapons clashed.

The outcome was obvious. My small dagger easily cut through the King of Destruction’s greatsword like a hot knife through butter. The two of us passed each other, swapping our starting positions.

The Demon King’s hand rose to her cheek, which sported a fresh cut. She looked at the red coating her fingers in shock.

Unfortunately, I was in an even worse state. The regenerative power of the [Lux Staff] was slowly losing to the destructive power of the [Key of Destruction]. I suppressed my pain and taunted my enemy.

“What is wrong, Serafall? You look surprised.”

“Impossible. I am the King of Destruction. There is no way I could lose to a mere echo of my power. What trick did you pull, human?”

“It is simple, really. You didn’t lose to me, but to the generations of heroes that wielded my [Key of Destruction]. Humans are far better at utilizing your power of destruction than you are.”

“You!!!”

Serafall waved her hand and hundreds of destruction arrows appeared in the air. It was useless. The small black knife in my hand reshaped into a hand fan. With a simple wave, I directly scattered Serafall’s arrows.

“How does it feel to be losing to a mere human?”

Strangely enough, Serafall’s panicking red eyes regained their confidence.

“Hohoho. You don’t seem to realize it, but blood is leaking from your mouth, nose, and ears. Using my power hurts, doesn’t it? Unlike me, you humans aren’t built to withstand the power of destruction. How much time do you have left? A minute? Thirty seconds?”

She was right. Even with the power of a healer, every use of [Key of Destruction] slowly shaved away at the life of the wielder. My body was breaking down and not even [Lux Staff]’s regeneration could keep up with it.

“I have enough time to kill you.”

That was all that mattered. It was time to end this.

“Good. I won’t be satisfied unless I kill you myself.”

A beautiful, black rapier appeared in Serafall’s hands. I let the black fan in my hand fall away and controlled all of the regenerative and destructive energies towards my right hand. Our bodies launched at each other in one final clash.

“Die!!!”

“Die!!!”

If there was one mistake that Demon King Serafall made, it was that I had no intention of dodging her attack to begin with. A jet black blade stabbed into my body and carved out a hole in my torso.

At the same time, my right hand pierced cleanly through Serafall’s chest. The destructive and regenerative energies contained within hand exploded inside Serafall’s body, instantly destroying her heart.

The two of us stood close to each other like lovers locked into an embrace, only I had my hand stabbed into her chest and she had a rapier pierced into my body. My thoughts grew hazy as Serafall’s power of destruction ate away at my body.

[Lux Staff] fought against it, but the power of regeneration was only delaying the inevitable. There was something I needed to tell Serafall before her power claimed me for good. My thoughts eventually came together and a bloody smile formed on my face. She had heartlessly counted the number of her kills. It was only fair that I returned the favor and added her death to the count.

I disregarded the pain and leaned in to whisper in the King of Destruction’s ears.

“...Seven.”

My hand disintegrated, leaving a bloody gaping hole in Serafall’s body.

“Y-You…”

That was all that Demon King Serafall managed to utter before the bewitching light of her ruby red eyes faded. Her body slumped to the ground. Serafiall’s power of destruction consumed her own body in a desperate attempt to keep her alive. It was a futile effort.

I won.

As soon as I thought that, my body lost its strength. I fell towards Serafall. The light of regeneration faded and the power of destruction rapidly consumed my body. My vision went dark.

…

…

…